Wish Upon A Discord

by ShadeJak

Rating: everyone
Tags: Random, Discord, Slice of Life, Twilight Sparkle, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Rainbow Dash, Comedy
Length: 13961

In his path of 'redemption' Discord offers to grant a depressed Rainbow Dash any wish she wants... what could go wrong?

Depressed from boredom and being envious of her friends having found places in life they are happy with and of course Twilight being an alicorn princess now while she's still trying to get somewhere in life, Rainbow Dash is not in the best of moods, and the arrival of a certain draconequus chaos god isn't making it any better! After reluctantly doing him a favor, Rainbow is offered any one wish she wants, with a pinkie promise of following her wish to the letter as a chance for him to further show how redeemed he is! What can possibly go wrong?

My try at slice-of-life humor as opposed to the long-runner 'adventure' fics I've done

Published 2013-08-12 13:40:02 UTC
Last updated 2013-09-14 18:26:20 UTC

Make A Wish!

Despite the sunny day in Ponyville, its top weatherpony was in a stormy mood.

“So. BORED!” Rainbow Dash protested as she rolled over on her cloud. With Twilight going through that whole princess thing that meant she’d be away in Canterlot for a couple days, she wouldn’t be seeing her for a good while. No reading partner, and the ‘flying buddy’ thing was gonna be put on hold. Rainbow Dash was never one to enjoy a wait, even a short one.

Her other usual haunts were no better. Thanks to a big birthday bash Pinkie Pie was busy, and Rarity's dressmaking skills had not gone unnoticed in Canterlot and now she was up to her shoulders in requests! Then there was Applejack; an unfortunate stampede of animals that got startled by a stray Everfree monster resulted in her barn getting destroyed and as a result she was busy working on repairs. As for Fluttershy, well, her new bestest best friend who once tried to turn Equestria into a warped freakshow was over for a surprise visit which was all the reason the pegasus needed to avoid going to her. All in all, she'd have only herself for company today.

With a groan, Rainbow felt the weight of realization come over her. Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy were all content with where they were. Rarity was already having her work become more and more known throughout Equestria, and of course, Twilight was a freaking princess and an alicorn now to boot! And where was she, the fastest young flier in Equestria? Still the same weatherpony. Sure she was in the Wonderbolt Academy, but who knew how long it’d take until they had the opening for her on the actual team? It was a dream played by chance. “Sure, I’ll be first pick, I mean it’s me after all!” she said, though her smile didn’t quite reach her eyes, nor did her enthusiasm feel as strong as it should be. The others were either moving up in the world or were already where they wanted to be and she wasn’t. Then there was Twilight… she had moved up in ways way past what anypony would have expected or could achieve, and she didn’t even ask for it!

True, Twilight’s dedication to her studies was matched by Rainbow’s dedication to her own athletic prowess, but Twilight had hoped to be a renowned magic scholar like that Starswirl the Bearded guy; and instead got way bigger. Another… and perhaps biggest example of a pony moving up in the world, and the pegasus couldn’t help but feel left behind, and for that, a little jealous. She’d helped save Equestria too… stopping Nightmare Moon, keeping the Crystal Ponies occupied while the Crystal Heart was being sought out, helping defeat Discord…

Rainbow turned again, only this time, her cloud felt… sticky?! Struggling, she found the cloud was now pink and gooey, rather then white and plush. Not only that, but it smelt like…

“Cotton candy?!” the pegasus said out loud.

A loud, obnoxious, and all too familiar laugh could be heard down below. Looking over, she saw a familiar chimeric beast standing on the ground, pointing and laughing at her.

“Oh that was priceless!” Discord said, snickering. “The way you struggled and just got even more stuck, the look on your face when you realized what you were laying on! Oh the hilarity of it!”

Grumbling, Rainbow bit away the chunks of cotton candy that she was tangled in, and tore herself free. As soon as she did, she flew towards Discord, who raised his claw up and… somehow plucked the cotton candy cloud right from its spot like a filly removing a cloud sticker off a weather board at school and placed it on a cone he’d pulled from out of nowhere. Nevermind how the cotton candy cloud was now suddenly the size it looked from the distance it’d been from the ground and fit perfectly on Discord’s cone.

“Mmm, strawberry flavor! Hungry, Rainbow Dash?” the chaos god asked, grinning at her and holding the cone out.

“Very funny, Discord. What the hay are you doing out here, anyway? Weren’t you hanging out with Fluttershy?” Rainbow asked.

“Awww, is somepony being a grumpy-flanks?” Discord teased, pinching the pegasus’ cheek as he ate the cone and tossed the cotton candy aside like trash. “Fluttershy’s doing her little feed-her-pets round, which given how many she’s got and how much TLC she gives each one as she feeds them, you know that’s going to take awhile! So, I decided what better way to show off the new, reformed Discord then hanging out with my new other pal Rainbow Dash?” he asked, putting his paw around her and giving her a smug grin, knowing he was only getting on her nerves even more and enjoying every bit of it.

“Really not in the mood, Discord!” Rainbow snapped, wriggling out of his grip and walking away slowly, only to have Discord descend in front of her upside-down.

“Oh? Why might that be? Anyway I can turn that frown…” he began, and suddenly Rainbow noticed he was on the ground and she wasn’t, resulting in her promptly landing on her back. “…Upside-down?” he finished, chuckling to himself. “Come on, Rainbow Dash! Word has it you love a good prank, when did you get your tail in such a twist?”

“I don’t wanna talk about it. Especially with you,” the pegasus said, trying to continue on her way, but the draconequus continued to poke and prod.

“Tell me!” he insisted as he hovered beside her.

“No.”

“Please?” he asked, appearing right in front of her with enormous watery eyes.

“No!” Rainbow answered as she went around him and began moving faster.

“Pretty please?” Discord asked, popping out of a hole in a tree she was coming close to.

“NO!” The pegasus took to the air and began to fly, she immediately landed on a cloud and lay down, hoping he’d leave her alone.

“You hoped wrong! Now tell meeeee!” Discord pleaded, the cloud was now his body, coiled around Rainbow Dash, startling the pegasus as it unwound itself and hovered in the air, watching Rainbow fall back to the ground. The pegasus beat her wings as hard as she could, slowing her fall and landing safely as Discord landed beside her seconds after.

“Fine, you wanna know so bad?” Rainbow demanded, now livid with the chaos god. “I’m jealous, alright? Jealous that all my friends have gotten their dreams to come true and I’m stuck waiting for mine to decide if it should or not! Even when I finish at the Academy, it could take months, a year, who knows, till they got an opening for me on the main team! And what’ll I be doing till then? Same dead-end job that’s what! I mean Twilight’s an alicorn princess, beat that!” Taking a few breaths and her rant over, she looked at the draconequus, who she realized was just bending and contorting in various ways.

“Oh, sorry, you say something Rainbow Dash? I was a tad busy trying to deal with this killer itch on my back!” Discord answered, causing Rainbow Dash to facehoof and fall over backwards in exasperation. “So, can you be a dear and help get it for me?”

Getting back up, her patience practically worn out now, Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Please! Like you’re incapable of scratching your own back?” she asked.

“Oh, I’m very much aware that I am, but then I would have to do it!” Discord whined. Rainbow knew he was doing this to annoy her, she’d expect no less, but knowing he’d probably just keep pestering her if she didn’t oblige his request, she looked over at one of the trees and tore a branch off with her teeth, walking over to him as he gleefully laid down and she moved it back and forth between his mismatched wings.

“Ohhh YES! That’s the spot! Right there! Oh, you should join that spa or something, Rainbow Dash! You’ve got a talent for this!” the chaos god complimented. When he was finally satisfied, he rolled over and took a reclining position as Rainbow spat out the stick she’d used.

“There, now can you leave me alone?” Rainbow asked.

“Oh but you CAN’T go yet!” Discord pleaded, standing up. “Since I’m all reformed now I need to repay you for your kindness!”

“You can repay me by leaving me alone,” the pegasus answered, turning and spreading her wings as she prepared to fly away again.

“I’ve got a better offer for you. I will use my power to grant any one single wish of yours! Free of charge, free of cost, no substitutions!” Discord offered, leaning forward with a grin and his paw outstretched.

“Yeah, right! Why should I trust you? You’d probably just screw it up for a cheap laugh! If I ask for a cupcake you’ll probably place me inside of one, or if I want to see Twilight you’ll just make me watch that awful play about the sparkly vamponies!”

Discord snickered in amusement. Those would be quite funny, but he wasn’t going to risk being turned to stone again or lose Fluttershy’s friendship by causing that level of havoc on her friends.

“Very well, Rainbow Dash. I Pinkie Promise that I’ll follow your exact words to the letter so you can be assured I can’t change a thing or cheat you!” Discord said with perfect confidence. “Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye if it helps,” he offered, making all the gestures and even literally poking his own eye out, removing it off the tip of his claw, and tossing it back where it belonged good as new.

Rainbow snorted but decided if he was aware of the consequences of if he went back on this and caused a bunch of trouble, and given how he seemed to genuinely value his friendship with Fluttershy she’d give him this one chance. Plus there was the added benefit he’d leave her be after.

“If you leave me alone after,” she said.

“Of course, of course!” Discord said, looking to the side with a smirk and folding his arms. “Why stick around and impose on your appreciation. I’m not that desperate for approval, unlike some ponies!”

Ignoring the insult, Rainbow took a moment to think about what she’d ask from him.

Be a wonderbolt? No, too easy, and she had to trust Spitfire’s judgment, right? Fly faster? Nah, she was faster then anypony already! Have ponies think she was cooler? Like that was even possible with her coolness level! No, she had to think of something better.

Wait, what way could she become cooler then to experience the kind of awesomeness Twilight had to be feeling? She was admittedly a little jealous… mostly of Twi even though she was ashamed to be. But still, the whole alicorn thing was like the most awesome thing ever, and if Twi could be an alicorn, so could she! Finally a chance to enjoy a little bit of moving up!

Somewhere in her mind, Rainbow felt that tiny voice suggesting this may be a bad idea, but she as she often did when her mind was set on something, she ignored it. She was sick of her depression and her boredom, who knew what excitement this would bring her life… she could travel about Equestria or beyond fighting evil with lots of power and a lot more coolness if she wanted and put Commander Hurricane to shame! Well, that was it then.

“Alright, Discord!” she said with a grin. “I’ve decided, I wish to be an alicorn like Twilight Sparkle!”

Discord’s eyes widened in surprise at her request.

“What, you suddenly unable to do that?” Rainbow asked, smirking in amusement. “Figures.”

“Oh, no no, I can. I’m just a little surprised. Is that your final answer, Rainbow Dash?” he asked, a grin beginning to spread on his face.

“Did I stutter? Do it already!”

“As you wish!” Discord said, grinning widely as he snapped his claw, and a flash of light engulfed the pegasus.

Rainbow felt dizzy for a moment, shaking her head she stood herself back up. She felt… different, though she couldn’t quite place her hoof on it. Discord hovered in the air in front of her, his paw and claw clasped over his mouth and his eyes wide with apparent glee as she struck a pose.

“Well, how do I l—“ Rainbow brought her hoof to her mouth, realizing how different her voice now sounded, it sounded higher, less raspy, and very familiar. Looking down at her hoof, she realized it was no longer her cyan blue but a light lavender. “Discord, what did you…?“

“Well, what do you think, am I great or what?” Discord asked, making a mirror appear in front of himself as he held it up for her and was biting his lips as if trying to stifle laughter. Rainbow approached and saw Twilight Sparkle’s reflection looking back at her. Panicking, she brought her hooves to her mane, realizing it was now her friend’s length and style, and reaching her forehead she found a horn present. With a nervous glance back, she saw the rest of her was just as much Twilight Sparkle as well and screamed up at the sky as loud as she could.

“Sheesh, warn me next time!” Discord said, removing his ears and shaking them out before placing them back on his head. “So, you like it?” he asked with a grin, catching the transformed Rainbow’s attention.

“LIKE IT?! You bucking turned me into Twilight! You broke your promise, Discord!” the alicorn shouted furiously in the draconequus’ face.

“Now, now, I did no such thing!” Discord answered, throwing his paw and claw up in defense. “I Pinkie Promised I’d follow your exact words to the letter. You wished to be an alicorn…”

“….Like Twilight Sparkle…” Rainbow muttered, realizing the loophole.

“And I followed your words exactly!” Discord said, a fancy suit appearing on him as he held a briefcase in his paw and a paper with the wish written on it in his claw held out in the alicorn’s face. “So you can’t blame me if I just happened to misinterpret your wish!” he said, laughing as the suit and supplies vanished off of him.

Rainbow collapsed to her haunches, staring down at her new lavender hooves. “What am I supposed to do now?! You have any idea what Twilight… the real Twilight’s gonna say when she sees this?!” she demanded.

“Hm, no idea, but I’m sure it’ll make for a very interesting conversation if you’re so willing to tell her how all this happened!” Discord answered with a smug smirk on his face again. “Imagine how Celestia’s going to react to finding out you came to me to become an alicorn!”

Rainbow hung her head, not sure how to answer that. She’d acted so recklessly and now she was paying for it, and for all she knew, it’d only get worse if Twi or especially Celestia found out about it!

“But… then again…” Discord mused, rubbing his chin. “I could get a lot more fun out of this then I thought!” he turned towards the transformed alicorn with a smirk. “Tell you what, since you’re now Twilight I’ll play the part of Celestia and expect you to learn a valuable lesson from all this!”

“What the buck do you mean by that?!” Rainbow demanded.

“Now now, enough with the course language, Twilight,” Discord replied with a barely repressed chuckle. “I mean that if you can truly learn the lesson I wish to teach you from all this, then I will change you back and we can put this all behind us!”

With a snap of his claw, a calendar appeared next to him in a flash of light that featured a picture of himself in a swimsuit with a lipstick kissmark over it on top. “As you probably know, Twilight’s not going to be in Canterlot forever so you’d better hurry, unless you’re keen on the idea of telling her she’s got a twin sister now!” he explained. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I believe somepony asked that I leave her alone after this was done!”

Before Rainbow could answer, Discord spun around several times laughing, and vanished in a flash of light, leaving behind bits of confetti that fell to the ground spelling out the letters U, M, A, and D before a faint breeze blew them away in the shape of a question mark.

The newly-made alicorn let out an angry snort. “Well this stinks!” she muttered, spreading her wings and flying back home, grumbling to herself about stupid chaos gods and wondering how she’d get out of this mess.

Author's Note

Story is inspired by this comic. Once I read it, I laughed and wanted to make a story inspired by it. Sometimes, one needs to be careful what they wish for, or HOW they wish for it...

What Now?!

Rushing inside her cloud home and closing the door behind her, Rainbow tried to slow down her rapid breathing. This day had gone so drastically downhill thanks to that stupid draconequus, and her own bad judgement! Now she was stuck looking like her friend, in a place where everypony thought said friend was away and no explanation ready should she run into any of the others, or anypony for that matter!

Hovering in front of her, she just realized, was a very confused tortoise with a propeller strapped to him.

“Hey, Tank, good to see you’re still alright!” Rainbow said, then realized she probably didn’t look like his owner anymore and he was now wondering why this pony was in Rainbow’s house. “Tank, it’s me! I know I don’t look like me but it’s me!” she insisted. The tortoise just cocked his head.

“Taaaaaank!” the alicorn whined. “Please believe me! Can you really doubt the most awesome flier in Equestria?” she asked. Tank still appeared rather skeptical.

“Come on, buddy! It’s me, I swear! Remember you freed my wing from that boulder and brought me to the finish line, and that convinced me you were the best pet in the world?” she pleaded, and thankfully this time the tortoise seemed to believe her and hovered towards her, nudging her with his forehead in acceptance and causing Rainbow to throw her hooves around him and hug him tight.

“Thanks, pal!” she said, smiling. Her smile faded, however, when she saw her reflection; that of Twilight Sparkle holding Tank instead of her usual awesome cyan-coated, rainbow-maned self. Gently letting go of Tank, she walked closer and stood herself up, pressing her hooves against the mirror and leaning in close inspecting every detail.

“This is so messed up! I really am Twilight! Down to, like every detail!” she said, looking at her flank and sure enough there was Twilight’s star pattern cutie mark instead of her own.

“Oh no… he changed everything!” she shouted, and suddenly her horn glowed a bright magenta and several objects in her room began floating about. Yelping, Rainbow tried to think. “Okay, there has to be some logical, reasonable explanation for this! This is Twilight’s… my unicorn magic, the stress must have been causing some kind of subconscious output that was not much different then bursts of power unicorn foals got due to its instinctive power and lack of control—WHAT IN TARTARUS AM I SAYING?!”

Rainbow froze in place, she was thinking like Twilight! She looked back down at the star pattern on her flank, and memories of the incident where everypony’s cutie marks got swapped around came to mind. If she now had Twi’s cutie mark, it meant her special talent might be changing with it, and with that, some of who she was! Did that mean the longer she stayed this way… the more she was going to become Twilight?

“Tank!” Rainbow shouted, rushing over and grabbing her tortoise pet, causing him to duck his head into his shell. “I gotta get outta this body! It’s important! If I don’t I’ll turn into a total egghead! Who knows what could happen! I might start liking academic books and doing math problems and stuff! How uncool is THAT?! I mean sure Twi’s one of the best friends I could ask for and hang with but she can be such a nerd sometimes! I don’t wanna be that! And if she sees this she might like that I’ve become another her and she can compare the pages of notes she takes on her studies and I’ll enjoy them because I’ve turned into Twilight and I’ll probably have like twice as many notes full of mathmatics and stuff and AAAAARRRGGH!!!” The tortoise just blinked at the alicorn with a sympathetic look as she finished her bizarre rant in his face.

Looking around at all the floating objects, Rainbow stood on her bed and closed her eyes, trying to focus. “Come on, come back down!” she said, but they just slowly started hovering in a circle around her. “Please?” she asked, but they didn’t seem responsive to her request. “Wait, the library! Twi’s gotta have books on this stuff!” she said, perking up, but then slumped her head down again. “But that’d require leaving here and being seen! Forget it, I’ll just have to stay here and try to figure this out mysel—“

A soft knock came at the door, interrupting her.

“Um… Rainbow Dash? It’s Fluttershy,” a soft voice said on the other side of the door. “I just… wanted to know how you’ve been, if that’s okay, I mean,” the pegasus said. “I-I’m not trying to impose or anything. Just, Discord said he saw you just leaving in a huff last he saw you and I wanted to see if you were okay.”

Rainbow snorted angrily, it'd be so like Discord to compound her situation by sending Fluttershy up here. How was she going to get out of this? Fluttershy couldn’t see her this way! Quickly, Rainbow let out a few coughs.

“H-hey, Flutter…shy,” she said in a weak tone and trying to lower her voice a little in hopes of sounding a little more like herself. “Sorry… I came down with... Feather Flu and decided to head home!”

“Oh my!” Fluttershy answered from the other side. “You poor, poor thing! How about I stay with you and help you get better, I got a great new soup recipe for Feather Flu and—“

“NO!” Rainbow shouted, forgetting to change her pitch and sounding like Twilight again. “I-I mean… no, I just need some rest is all!” she said, attempting to disguise her new voice again.

“Are… are you sure?” Fluttershy asked, worry in her tone.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine, I’m… coolest pony around, measly Feather Flu won’t keep Rainbow Dash down long!” Rainbow answered with a nervous laugh. “Seeya later!”

“Okay, I guess so,” Fluttershy answered softly, and after a few seconds Rainbow heard the pegasus fly away. She felt bad blowing off Fluttershy like that, but she couldn’t have this embarrassing secret be exposed to all of Ponyville!

Once she was sure Fluttershy had left, Rainbow collapsed on her bed, her wings spread apart reaching each corner as she sighed. “I’m never gonna be able to keep hiding this, how am I supposed to find a way out of this?” Looking over at the mirror again, she frowned at Twilight’s reflection, which mimicked her expression. “Why’d I have to go and get all jealous? Is this what I get for it? Is it so wrong to get a little bummed that everypony I know is doing better then I am?” she protested, letting out a growl of anger and suddenly her horn charged up, firing a blast of magic through her roof and tearing a hole through it. Rainbow stared agape at her handiwork and shook her head.

“Great, now my house is even more destroyed. I can’t get the repair ponies down here with out seeing them first, can’t do it like thisbecauseTwi’ssupposedtobeinbuckingCANTERLOT!” she ranted, her last words becoming faster and faster and she noticed her horn glowing again. “Oh no! No! No! Stop!” She pleaded, and soon her house had another skylight. “Great, can't stay here! Now where do I go?” she muttered.

An idea came to her. The library of course! She thought. Twilight’s home was closed till her return which meant she wouldn’t have to deal with Spike or Owlowiscious and there were sure to be books to help her figure out how to control this magic better but she’d have to risk being seen by Ponyville’s residents even if she flew at top speed. There had to be some other way…

Teleportation?

She barely had control of her magic as is; the fact that things were still randomly levitating off the floor was proof of that! But then again, Twi always made it look easy, and she was now Twilight, how hard could it be?

Her mind made up, Rainbow beckoned Tank over and held him in her hooves. Closing her eyes, Rainbow tried to focus as hard as she could on the library. Books, shelves, more books…

POP!

Rainbow opened her eyes and found herself floating six feet off of her floor upside-down before gravity chose to take action and bring her back down. Trying to turn over, Rainbow felt a horrible wave of dizziness and nausea overcome her and before she could stop herself, she’d managed to cover a sizable part of the floor with partially-digested food and stomach bile while Tank spun about in the air in a dazed stupor. “Okay… not doing that again…” she muttered, glad Discord couldn’t see her make a complete fool of herself right now.

Slowly standing up, she caught Tank in her hooves and turned him to face her. “Looks like we’re gonna have to fly. Hang on tight, little buddy!”

Tucking the tortoise under one foreleg, Rainbow flew to the door, pushing it open and looking around cautiously. Nopony in sight. She thought with a smile. Awesome.

Immediately, she flew as fast as she could, pleased to see her speed and skill at flying had stuck with her. Zipping through Ponyville during its late afternoon hours, Rainbow weaved around buildings to avoid detection. The library was just up ahead and nopony had seen her. So far so good! Flying with all her speed, she came to a screeching halt right in front of the door and tried to open it.

Locked! Figures, Twi is away after all. She needed to get this door open and fast! Suddenly, she saw a pink shape in the corner of her eye.

Oh no! Pinkie Pie’s coming this way! She immediately ducked around the large tree, looking cautiously to the side and sighing with relief as the pink earth pony bounced blissfully along in a different direction, thankfully having not noticed her.

Waiting for a moment, Rainbow looked up at one of the windows. “Maybe if I…” she muttered softly. No way she’d be able to break through, Twi had gotten reinforced glass after all the times Rainbow had accidentally smashed through them and the then-unicorn had gotten sick of having to replace them. “Come on, this one time don’t screw up!” she pleaded softly, focusing and she could see a latch move inside the window and it slowly opened. Letting out a small squeal of glee, Rainbow flew straight up at the window and into the library, hurriedly closing the window behind her.

Setting Tank down, Rainbow slumped against the wall, surprised at how exhausted she felt. “What’s wrong with me? I don’t usually tire out this fast!” she wondered. Then it occurred to her… she was Twilight now, Twilight was an egghead, not an athlete, so her strength and endurance even as an alicorn probably wasn’t up to her own. Another thing this stupid wish had messed up for her.

“Alright, buddy, we’re in the library now. Let’s see if I can find some books to get this under control before I—“ Before Rainbow could finish talking a swarm of books engulfed in a magenta aura flew from their shelves and pummeled her into the wall, burying her. Tank had fortunately flew out of the way in time and made his way up towards Twilight’s bedroom, figuring it’d be much safer there.

Digging her way out, the alicorn looked over the many titles and sighed. “Well, guess I better get started, hope this isn’t too boring!”

~

Hours later, Rainbow had gone through a number of trial and error moments with attempting to use her new magic properly, and mostly the error part occurred. In the period of time she’d practiced, the alicorn had managed to nearly blow up the fireplace with a fire-starting spell, caused a shelf to fall over, and while she’d managed to make things stop floating everywhere it’d ended in the books she’d unintentionally brought to her strewn about the floor. She didn’t even want to imagine how distraught the real Twilight was going to be when she got back and saw the place, but fortunately reading the books hadn’t been too dull… maybe a little too interesting, actually. She’d never been this fascinated by this kind of stuff, and it worried her that it was more of Twilight’s mentality seeping through. If this kept up…

Rainbow shook her head frantically to get the images she’d had earlier out of her mind and toppled over, wanting to just curl up and cry despite how uncool she always thought that was.

“This wasn’t what I expected being an alicorn was gonna lead to! It’s so much work! I was never meant for any of this!” she protested, but then her eyes widened as realization came over her. Of course, it all made sense now! The lesson she was meant to learn! Sitting up with confidence again, the alicorn grinned. “I get it now! All this time I was jealous of Twilight’s being all lucky with her new status and stuff that I never realized all that baggage that came with it! It was all just dropped on her, it chose her, she didn’t ask for it either! I have a chance, I worked for what I want and it’ll pay off!” she said proudly.

“Bra-vo! Bra-vo!” Discord’s voice said as one of the books flipped several pages to an image of the chimeric entity and he rose out from it, applauding. “Such an insightful speech right there, I have to admit! Rainbow Dash, you really have learned quite a lesson, and on your first day as Twilight no less!” he said with a smile.

“Really? Awesome!” Rainbow said, jumping up with a giddy cheer.

“…Too bad it’s the wrong lesson!” Discord replied with a sing-song tone and a wide smile. The instant Rainbow’s expression fell, Discord burst into a fit of hysterical laughter, rolling about on the floor for several seconds.

Letting out a furious snort, Rainbow slammed her lavender hoof on the floor. “That’s NOT funny, Discord! I learned a lesson, now change me back!” she demanded.

“Not for all of Celestia’s jewelry, Twilight!” The god of chaos said, wiping tears out of his eyes from his earlier laughing fit. “Why should I end this so early when you’re still behind on learning my lesson and there's still so much fun to be had from it?”

“And what’s so ‘fun’ about this to you?” the alicorn asked.

“What hasn’t been?” Discord asked. “Your freak-outs about becoming a nerrrrrrrrd like Twilight…” he said, putting on a pair of gigantic thick-framed glasses that were taped together in the middle and made his eyes look enormous. “Your disastrous attempt at teleporting…” He vanished and reappeared above her flailing his limbs and landing atop her, laughing. “And your attempts to hide this! No doubt the lesson will come to you in good time!” he said with a smile, vanishing again and reappearing before the now extremely embarrassed alicorn. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m feeling a bit… weary…” he said with an exaggerated yawn. “…Better luck tomorrow, Princess” he added with another obnoxious laugh as he snapped his claw and disappeared in a flash of light.

Growling with fury, Rainbow trotted angrily in place for a second, then looked around at the books on the floor. “Fine, if he won’t cure me I will! Come on, transfiguration spells! Gotta be in here somewhere!” She snapped, and sure enough, a book on the subject popped open. Reading frantically, Rainbow quickly found her hopes destroyed.

“Due to the brief, temporary nature of transfiguration, there is normally no cure intended for it. There are some cases, however, which the transfiguration may be permanent, were it cast by beings of tremendous, godlike power. This, however, is considered a forbidden art and thus the Royalty will not use it for any reason, though they are best sought after should such a curse befall a pony…” Rainbow let out a sigh of disbelief and noticed, in crayon was the message HA-HA! underneath, with two eyes and a smiling mouth with a single fang drawn next to it.

“Great! Just bucking great!” she said, slamming the book shut and kicking it away. “Looks like I’ll have to play his game after all…”

A loud rumble in her stomach caused the alicorn to wince, realizing she hadn’t eaten since lunch and most of that ended up on the floor of her house earlier. Hopefully Twilight had left plenty of food she could ‘borrow’ during her stay; Rainbow hoped as she trotted into the kitchen and began looking through the cabinets.

On a normal day, Rainbow was not a bad cook and could prepare plenty of meals for herself, but with her inexperience with Twilight’s power she didn’t want to risk trashing another part of her friend’s home so she settled for anything she could just open and eat from the box. Finding a bag of oat chips, bread rolls, and apples, Rainbow’s appetite quickly got the better of her and she soon found herself with a full stomach and Twilight’s pantry much emptier. In the corner, she spied a few bottles of hard cider and smirked.

“Heh, way to go Twi…” she muttered, but decided against them for now. Who knew what kind of damage a tipsy alicorn with very little magic control could cause?

Returning to the den, Rainbow looked over the fiction section and spotted Daring Do and the Manticore Mantle, the newest of the series and one she’d not read yet. At least this was something she could enjoy without being embarrassed about that could hopefully help her cool down till she fell asleep, Rainbow focused on the book with her magic, only to get slapped in the face by the flying book, sending her on her back. Rubbing her muzzle and glaring at the offending book, she grabbed it with her hooves and flew upstairs with it, finding Tank already asleep on Twilight’s bed.

Climbing onto the bed, Rainbow looked outside, many of the windows were dark now, and all but a few ponies were still out… including Pinkie Pie, who was still bouncing around randomly chatting to some of them before bouncing away towards where Sugarcube Corner was. “Heh, typical Pinkie Pie…” she said with a smirk, groaning as she realized she wouldn’t be able to hang with her friends till this was over. Not till she was herself again.

Yawning and wrapping herself in the bedcovers, the alicorn shifted a little. It wasn’t as comfortable as her cloud bed, but it’d have to do. Opening her book and beginning to read, Rainbow was fast asleep before she’d finished the first chapter…

~

Sunlight poured through the windows and right into Rainbow’s face, causing her to stir. Her eyes opening she found herself halfway off the bed and soon her back half joined her on the floor. Looking around, then at herself, the alicorn rolled her eyes.

“Awww, it wasn’t a dream?!” she protested, getting herself up and looking at herself in Twilight’s mirror. Sure enough, Twilight’s reflection stared back, her mane and tail messy like they’d gotten when she went through that nervous breakdown over a late friendship report.

Heading downstairs in defeat, Rainbow realized she’d eaten most of Twilight’s snack foods and would need to get more… which meant going out in public. There had to be some way to avoid detection, she thought to herself. Maybe if she wore some kind of disguise and didn’t stay out long she could seem like some mysterious visitor or something. Nudging open the closet, Rainbow spotted a hooded cloak and tugged it down with her teeth, sliding it on after. “Guess this’ll have to do.” she muttered as she nudged the lock on the door with her hoof to get it open. It was still way early if Twilight’s clock was right; not many ponies would be out right now so if she just moved fast she could avoid suspicion and—

“SURPRISE!!!!!”

The instant the door came open Rainbow was greeted by a loud cheer from what had to be the entire town, Pinkie Pie standing in front with a huge grin on her face.

“Welcome back, Twilight!” Pinkie said gleefully, leaping forward and giving the alicorn a big hug before jumping back in front of the crowd. “I spotted you yesterday, hiding behind the tree, but I didn’t say anything because I figured you were coming back early to surprise us and didn’t want me to know right away, but then I thought Wait! What if I surprise Twilight back with a big welcome home party with everypony in town so you know how they’re all happy to see good ol’ Twilight Sparkle back home? So then that’s what I did, I spent the night telling everypony and having them get ready so we got here like reeeeeeally super-early figuring you’d want to go out and get some breakfast or something so here we all are and we’re glad to all have you back!”

“I…. I…” the alicorn stammered, everything spinning and fading to black as she promptly fainted in response.

Author's Note

I want to say thanks to every one of you who favorited, liked, commented, and read my story so far, and I'm glad you've all enjoyed it more then I ever expected! :twilightblush:

Not Easy As It Seems

“Hey! She’s waking up!” Pinkie’s voice said.

Darkness faded and light returned, Rainbow realized she was on her back on a soft surface, still somewhat dazed. “Where… am I?” she asked.

“Whaddya mean where are ya, yer in yer bed, sugarcube!” Applejack’s voice said.

“She certainly took quite a spill!” Rarity’s voice said.

“I do hope she’s okay, she did hit her head on the way down,” Fluttershy’s voice said.

“Ughhh…” Rainbow moaned. “I had this crazy dream… did something way stupid…”

“Stupid, you? Ya sure, Twi? Ah know ya can be a little antsy about stuff sometimes but ya always seemed pretty sensible to me otherwise.” Applejack said.

Twi? TWI?!

Rainbow raised her hoof, sure enough it was Twilight’s lavender color. “Ohhh no, no, NOOOO” she whined, letting her hoof fall to her side as she stared up at the library ceiling.

“Oh my, she must think she overslept through exams!” Pinkie Pie said.

“How would you know about anythin’ like that?” Applejack asked, doubting Twilight to be the type who shared things like that.

“You weren’t here for it. There was this one time where she thought she missed exams, and was freaking out like that time she was late on a friendship report, but it turned out she just forgot daylight savings!” the pink pony said with a wide grin. “It was pretty silly of her, I mean she was so caught up she missed it on her lists!” she patted Rainbow on the head. “Don’t worry, Twilight, daylight savings isn’t for another few months! Well, plus you wouldn’t have come back early from Canterlot unless you got done with exams there early, right?”

“I just realized something… where’s Spikey?” Rarity asked.

“Spike….?” Rainbow asked, realizing it would have been odd for Twilight to arrive without her faithful dragon companion. “He’s… he’s still in Canterlot,” she said. “He’ll be coming along later… important stuff, said he’d cover for me so I could come home early.” She hoped they’d buy that.

The questions that followed came in such a cacophony that Rainbow couldn’t hope to keep up with them. How did Twilight manage through all this?!

“Girls, please!” she cried out, rubbing her head with her hoof. “I just wanna… go get something to eat, okay? I’m really hungry and I feel like eating out!” she said, rolling off the bed and hurrying downstairs. “We’ll all talk later, okay?” she asked, immediately heading out the door.

Before she could get far, she found Pinkie Pie already waiting outside for her. When did she get there?! she wondered.

“Wait, Twilight!” Pinkie said. “I still gotta make a cake for you, and Rarity wanted me to remind you of the trip to the spa and trying out the line of outfits you girls agreed to once you got back! Oh yeah, and Rarity says she’ll get back to you after breakfast about a spa trip since she said you looked… what was it…” The pink pony wondered, gazing upward. “Oh right! Positively GHASTLY! No offense or anything!” With that, Pinkie cheerfully bounced away, leaving the alicorn to her thoughts… only for her to return seconds after.

“Ooh! One more thing! So sorry Dashie couldn’t make it since she’s sick and all! Maybe we should go over and cheer her up and let her know you’re back! I saw Tank’s here so we may wanna bring him back too!” Pinkie said.

“NO!” Rainbow shouted instinctively. “I-I mean, no. She’s still out with Feather Flu, she sent Tank to Fluttershy’s I guess, but I kinda found him and was gonna bring him to her later, but… ya know, wanted to not have anypony know I was here yet!”

At that moment, Tank buzzed out of the library and bumped into Rainbow. “Well, like I said, I was totally gonna give him to Fluttershy, but then I was all ‘hey, Tank, since Spike is away at Canterlot still why doncha keep me company for awhile?’ And he seemed happy to agree to that!” the alicorn explained with a nervous laugh, putting her foreleg around the tortoise. “Right, buddy?” The tortoise looked at his transformed owner and gave a slow nod.

“Aaaaaaanyway, it’s probably best we leave Rainbow alone for now! I’m sure she’ll come by when she’s all better!” Rainbow said with a wide grin. Pinkie Pie cocked her head.

“If you say so, Twilight!” Pinkie said. “Well, catchya later!” With that, the pink earth pony bounced away happily. Breathing a sigh of relief, Rainbow went off to find her favorite breakfast diner.

~

“Hi! Gimme the usual, double pancake special with a side of fried eggs and a blueberry muffin!” Rainbow said with a grin to the confused waitress as she at on her haystack.

A beat.

“What? Don’t tell me you’re deaf, you know my usual order!” Rainbow protested.

“Uh, I have to admit, we’ve not seen you here often, Princes—I-I mean, Twilight! We’re… n-not really familiar with what you prefer for breakfast. Though you must have been taking notes from Rainbow Dash given your choices.”

Oh no! How could I forget! Rainbow thought to herself, her tummy growling and suspecting being rather hungry made her forget. “Right, yeah, she recommended this. I figured I’d try the place out since I’m still a little worn from the trip, didn’t feel like breakfast at home today, so just give me what I asked for. I mean, if Rainbow Dash thinks it’s good, it must be, right?”

“Of course, right away, highness!” the waitress said with a bow, then hurried off. Sighing, Rainbow leaned forward, resting her chin on her hoof as Tank hovered across from her.

“What am I gonna do, Tank?” she asked, noticing the stares she was getting. “Normally I’d be eating this up, but it’s Twi they’re oogling at, not me! It just feels all awkward and stuff!” The moment the words left her mouth the other ponies immediately resumed eating their meals. “This must be what Twi’s dealing with in Canterlot…” the alicorn muttered to herself. “Stares, formal titles, ponies acting all edgy around her…” She slumped forward, her head now resting on the table. “The more I gotta deal with it… the less I want to.”

“Awww, still not having fun?” Discord’s voice asked. Rainbow jerked upright, and looked down at the menu, which now had a picture of Discord in that waiter outfit he wore when he was serving a meal at Fluttershy’s.

“Somehow I’m not surprised.” Rainbow muttered. “Haven’t I been stuck like this long enough, Discord?”

“Now, now, are we forgetting our arrangement? I’m not changing you back till you learn the lesson I intend you learn!” Discord said, snickering.

Rainbow growled angrily at the draconequus who just looked to the side with a guilty smirk on the menu. “Wait… wait… you must’ve seen how today’s already been for me! It’s been horrible, everypony looks at me like they’re… beneath me or something. It’s like I’m not one of them anymore, but I… I don’t want it like that. I mean yeah I want everypony to admire me and know how cool I am, but I don’t want to be treated like I’m above them! Right, that grace and humility thing!”

Discord produced a hankie from behind his back and wiped his eyes as he emerged from the menu. “Ohhhh Rainbow Dash, how your understanding moves me to tears…” he said, reaching under the table and pulling out a large black ball with the number 8 on it. “So, shall we see if our little pony learned the lesson?” The chaos god shook it frantically, then turned a windowed corner of the ball to face the alicorn. A second later, a small message appeared on it.

NOT A CHANCE!

“ARE YOU BUCKING KIDDING ME?!” Rainbow shouted furiously, causing everypony there to stare at her in shock and Discord to immediately fall over laughing hysterically, though nopony there seemed to notice him. “…Sorry. Just… realized I missed something on my list, I’ll get back to it later. Long night!” Rainbow said with a nervous laugh before turning and noticing Discord holding his fingers behind her to give ‘bunny ears’, then hid his claw behind his back and grinned.

“Sorry, my little lavender beauty, but the most reliable consultant for indecisive questions has spoken!” Discord said with a laugh, kicking the 8-ball into the air, rolling it across his body, and tossing it into the air where it suddenly deflated like a balloon before vanishing in a poof of smoke. “…Besides, I’ve often believed one creature’s torment is another creature’s delight! But don’t worry, I’ll check in with you again later, Princess, I wouldn’t want you to miss out on your… royal duties!” he said, laughing again as he snapped his claw, and vanished in a flash of light.

“Stupid chaos god…” Rainbow grumbled, and was suddenly startled by a plate landing in front of her.

“Your breakfast,” the waitress said with a smile.

“Uhh, thanks!” Rainbow said with a sigh and noticing Tank had been staring at her. “Let’s just eat, buddy…”

~

“I must say, Twilight, it’s fortunate we went to the spa when we did! I had half a mind to march right over to that diner and dragging you here before you ate, you’re positively a mess!” Rarity said as the spa ponies worked on Rainbow; one was giving her a back massage while the other brushed out her tail.

Rainbow had to admit, despite being Twilight, this felt really nice. She wondered if it was due to Rarity’s being on great terms with the place or because she herself currently resembled the newest member of the Equestria royalty. Either way, this she couldn’t complain about. When the massage ended, she felt the brush start being worked through her mane. “This feels great…” she muttered. What did she have to fear from losing coolness points? It wasn’t Rainbow Dash being treated it was Twilight Sparkle after all!

No, no! This was all wrong! She shouldn’t be enjoying this! Twilight always did, though… wait, if she was enjoying it now, did that mean she was enjoying this because Twilight did, and she was Twilight now so she was starting to like things Twilight did like she was worried she would? Rainbow’s eyes snapped open, her body twitched, startling the spa ponies.

“Is everything alright, dear?” Rarity asked, looking over at the alicorn.

“Uhh, yeah… never better!” Rainbow said as the spa ponies began brushing her mane again. Within moments, they stopped. “Well, that was fun, should probably get going?”

“Not quite yet, Twilight. We still have one last thing to do here, remember?” Rarity asked.

“Uhhh what?” Rainbow asked as she was suddenly turned over.

“Well before you left we DID agree to my insistence I’d get you the full package when you came back, correct?” Rarity asked.

“Ohh, yes, right, of course! What’ll it be then?” Rainbow asked, managing a smile but drawing a blank on what could of have been left.

“Why a full hooficure of course! Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten!” Rarity said with a smirk.

WHAT?! A horrified look came over the alicorn’s face as she saw one of the spa ponies approach with the brush and file. Oh no! I draw the line here! I don’t like my hooves being touched! She scooted into the chair, fear overwhelming her.

“Twilight, whatever is the matter, you never seemed against the idea before. If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were Rainbow Dash in disguise!” Rarity said, confused by her friend’s odd behavior.

Oh you have NO idea… aw, and I gotta act like Twilight! Why’s that egghead gotta be so girly too?! Rainbow protested in her mind. Suck it up, Dash. Your rep’s not going anywhere they only see Twilight, how bad can it be… Sinking into the chair, and closing her eyes as tightly as she could she waited for the inevitable…

~

“I’ve got to say, Twilight, I thought you were going to laugh yourself to death back there. They had to strap you down to keep you under control!” Rarity said as they left the spa, heading towards the Carousel Boutique with Tank hovering behind them. “Honestly, I’ve never seen you get that hysterical over a hooficure, Twilight.”

Rainbow cringed at the memory. Her inexperience with a hooficure had come back to bite her badly, and even the change of form did not protect her. She thought she’d never stop laughing after it’d become evident how ticklish she was. Rainbow paused for a moment, when she thought she saw Discord leaning against a cottage, sipping the glass of a martini and allowing the contents to splash on the ground.

“Are you okay, dear?” Rarity asked, Discord making a shushing gesture and vanishing right before Rarity turned to look in his direction.

“Yeah… I’m… alright, Rarity,” Rainbow said, unsure how it could get any worse.

“Oh, you’re going to LOVE the outfits I came up with, but oh, we can only choose one winner, can’t we? You are a princess, so that means you’ll have to make an appearance at the next Grand Galloping Gala, won’t you?” Rarity asked, her expression fell at the mention of that event. “…Please understand I don’t envy you in that respect… my apologies.”

I take that back. It CAN get worse…

Author's Note

And at last another chapter up! :twilightsmile:

Lessons Learned

“Alright, Discord, this ends now!” the alicorn shouted as she approached the door and smacked it open, ready to find the draconequus at once.

…Had a familiar pink earth pony not immediately tackled her the instant the door had opened.

“Twilight! Twilight! Twilight!” Pinkie Pie said frantically, her blue eyes wide with panic.

“Pinkie, what in Equestria is this all about?! Did Rarity find out you put the gray mane dye in her shampoo last week?”

“No, not that!” Pinkie said, then paused, rubbing her chin with her hoof. “Wait… how did you know about that? I thought only Rainbow Dash knew!”

Rainbow could feel herself growing hot under the collar, so to speak. Her eyes darted to the left and right as she tried to think of an answer. “Ehh, wasn’t hard to figure out. Who else would?” she asked. Luckily Pinkie seemed to buy it.

“I guess you’re right! Well anyway…” Pinkie Pie took a deep breath and cracked her neck a few times before resuming her panicked state. “That’s not why I’m here! I sent Rainbow Dash a care package and she never sent anything back! I know Dashie and she’d never take this long to respond to me when she’s still in town!”

“Pinkie! Calm down! I-I just got a l-letter from her today!” Rainbow answered, hoping this would get the pink pony off of her.

“Really? She sent you a letter? Does she mention me or anything? Can I please see! I gotta know she’s okay!” Pinkie Pie said, finally getting off the alicorn and letting her stand back up.

“Uhhh you gotta… see it?” Rainbow asked nervously. Pinkie Pie just gave a hopeful, eager smile and confirming there was no other way out of this. “Well... then... let me go get it!” she said with a smile and nod, trotting upstairs and going through Twilight’s papers and finding a blank scroll. Trying to focus her magic, Rainbow floated a quill and dunked it into the small ink canister, soaking it more then she intended and trying to write out a message.

Hey, Twi!

Thanks for helping me out by taking care of Tank while I’m sick. Also, tell Pinkie I said thanks for the care package, you’re both the coolest friends I can ask for! Not as cool as me, obviously, but still.

Rainbow Dash

Something else crossed her mind.

PS Tell Fluttershy and the others not to be worried either, I’ll be fine by tomorrow!

Perfect! She looked down at her letter and shuddered, dropping the quill. Her writing was awful! She could barely read it and half the words were mushed together or written over eachother! She had to make another one, fast!

“Ooh! You found it!” Pinkie suddenly said from behind her, climbing over her shoulder to look. “Wow! Rainbow really does overestimate herself sometimes! Her being sick’s REALLY messed up her writing! No way she’s gonna be better by tomorrow!”

“Right, I was gonna visit her later and see if any of the healing spells I know can straighten her out a little,” the alicorn said, relieved she’d dodged the bullet. “Buuuut anyways, I was on my way out because I have to go take care of some things, and might have to go back to Canterlot for something. Hopefully I’ll be back soon but in case not, I’ll see ya later!” With that, she galloped down the stairs and out the door.

“Huh. I probably should have told her about this doozy I’ve been sensing the last two days too…” Pinkie mused to herself.

~

She didn’t think she could have ever moved so fast on her own hooves, though as soon as she’d gotten outside, she’d taken to the air and began flying. She had no idea where Discord could be, but she had a good idea of who might.

“Hey, Fluttershy!” Rainbow said, landing outside the small cottage where the pegasus was feeding some of her animals. Oddly, though, her friend seemed rather downcast instead of her usual upbeat demeanor she had when she was feeding her many critter friends.

“Oh, hi Twilight,” Fluttershy said, her tone giving away her depression.

“What’s wrong, is everything alright?” the alicorn asked.

“Oh, I’m just worried about Rainbow Dash is all. When I tried to see her, she was so insistent she didn’t need me there, and I haven’t heard from her since… I hope I didn’t offend her,” Fluttershy said, looking down.

“No way, she’s just been out of it. I was gonna see her later to check up on her anyway,” Rainbow said with a hoofwave. “So… uh, anyway I was wondering if you’ve seen Discord around at all?”

“Discord? Why ever would you want to know where he is? …He didn’t cause any trouble again, did he?” Fluttershy asked. Normally her other friends would avoid his company when they could, reformed or not, and if Twilight was seeking him out especially after coming straight from Canterlot… well who knew what he’d been up to?

Like you wouldn't believe... Rainbow thought to herself, gritting her teeth involuntarily.

“Are you okay, Twilight?” Fluttershy asked, flying up to her level and looking at her with concern in those large, innocent eyes that made it hard to want to keep anything from the yellow pegasus.

Rainbow sighed, she may as well come clean, Fluttershy wasn’t one to freak out like the others probably would. “Uh, Fluttershy, something’s gone on, I’m really Twilight Sparkle.”

What the hay?! Did I just call myself Twilight Sparkle?! Rainbow thought to herself.

“Uhhh right, I think we all know that,” Fluttershy said, confused by the statement.

“No, you see, I’m Twilight S—“ Rainbow caught herself with growled in frustration, scaring her friend a little. When she tried to say her name she said Twilight’s! It didn’t happen with the letter, but here… did Discord do something to keep her from telling anypony or was she slipping even more?! “Tw... Twi... N-never mind! Just, can you tell me where he is? I need to find him. now.”

“Ummm… I think he went to the lake, said something about sunbathing—“ Before she could finish, her friend had already sped off. “Wow, she’s almost as fast as Rainbow Dash… she’s really gotten good with those wings,” the pegasus said, returning to tending to her animals.

~

Flying to the lake, the alicorn spotted Discord, who had a bathtub nearby and was scrubbing down a fake sun with soap and a cloth.

“DISCORD!” Rainbow shouted angrily, getting the draconequus’ attention. The god of chaos looked up at her and waved.

“Well, hello Princess Twilight! Lovely day for sunbathing, wouldn’t you say?” Discord asked with a hearty chuckle as the alicorn flew down and got right in his face.

“Save it, Discord! You’re gonna change me back right now or else!” Rainbow said, completely livid with the chimeric creature, who just responded with a smug grin.

“Now, now, Princess I believe we made an agreement. You learn the lesson I’m trying to teach, THEN I change you back to your old self,” Discord replied.

“Buck those terms! I’m sick of being like this and it’s causing me nothing but problems!” Rainbow protested.

“Sounds like a personal problem to me,” Discord said, giving a shooing gesture. “Now if you’ll excuse me…”

Growling with rage, Rainbow swung her hoof at the draconequus, but he easily turned his head and caused her to fly past him and land face-first in the sand.

“Temper, temper,” Discord said, toweling off the fake sun and grinning at his reflection in it before snapping his claws, making both it and the tub vanish. “What are you gonna do if I won’t? Beat me up? Tattle to Celestia? Oh that’s right, you can’t do the latter because you’ll just say you’re Twilight Sparkle!” Discord said, laughing. “Then again, I’d love to see you try and do the former because that worked so well the other times.”

Spitting out sand, the alicorn attempted to charge up magic in her horn and fired it at Discord, who simply transformed into a giant floating frosted donut and the magic blast flew harmlessly through the hole in the center. Reverting to his usual form, Discord leaned against an invisible wall and folded his arms, his smirk still present. Rainbow then flew straight at him, her hoof reared back but Discord simply snapped his claw and she vanished, reappearing behind him and crashing into a tree. Emerging with branches and leaves in her mane, Rainbow brushed them out and made one more attempt on the draconequus, tackling him to the ground but he remained as smug as ever.

“Feel like giving it up now?” Rainbow asked smugly.

“Ooh, on a first date?” Discord asked, his tongue snaking out impossibly long and wrapping around her face to provide a big slobbery lick before receding back into his mouth, causing the alicorn to cry out in disgust and jump off of him.

“ARGH! I shouldn’t have EVER accepted that offer to grant my wish! Since it’s YOU it was nothing but an excuse to prank me all along!” Rainbow shouted furiously, hovering in the air and wiping all the slobber off her face.

The moment she said that, confetti exploded all around her and Discord let out a cheer. “Well done, Rainbow Dash!” With a snap of his claws, the alicorn was suddenly engulfed in a flash of light. When it faded, Rainbow rubbed her eyes with her hoof, and discovered it was no longer lavender but a familiar cyan blue. Rushing over to the pond, Rainbow saw her own reflection looked back at her now.

“Wait, THAT was your big important life-lesson?!” Rainbow asked, glaring at the draconequus.

“Of course it was! And quite a valuable one too, wouldn’t you say?” Discord asked with a chuckle. “I have to admit that was the most fun I’ve had since reforming! You know something, Rainbow Dash, I think I’ve learned something from all this as well!”

“And what would that be…?” the pegasus asked flatly.

“That this is the perfect way to use my powers for the good of ponykind, of course!” Discord said. “Well, in that case, I’d better get going! There are a lot of confused ponies still out there who need my help after all! Arrivederci!” With a hearty laugh, the draconequus gave a salute and vanished in a flash of light.

~That Evening~

Twilight Sparkle had noticed some rather odd stares she got as she trotted to the library she’d come to call home but had chosen not to ask of them. Maybe the other ponies just still weren’t completely used to her new form and status she’d rather unexpectedly acquired. Hopefully it’d all tone down soon. As she approached, she noticed the door was unlocked and nudged it open with her hoof, greeted by a rather unexpected sight.

Rainbow Dash was there, cleaning the place up. It wasn’t like her to clean up for anypony… it wasn’t like her to do chores period if she could avoid them. “Uhhh, Rainbow? What’re you doing here?”

“Oh, hey, Twi!” Rainbow said nervously. “Eh, let’s just say while you’ve been gone, I sorta got a new appreciation for you and all you’ve done for us! I figured I’d do my part and help out!”

The alicorn raised an eyebrow. The place had been nearly spotless when she’d left. “Did something happen?”

“Oh, nothing for you to worry about!” Rainbow said, rubbing the back of her head with her hoof, and was suddenly engulfed by a magenta magic aura and pulled closer to her friend. True this would save Spike some work when he came back from visiting Rarity but still there was no way Rainbow Dash didn't have one load of a story to tell if she was doing this

“Rainbow…”

The pegasus sighed. No way was she gonna be able to hide it all now. “Okay, it’s a really long story, and trust me you’re not gonna believe it... just Pinkie Promise you’ll help me make something up to tell everypony else after.”

~

Princess Cadance smiled as she finished the delicious cake slice she’d helped herself to that evening, it having helped her forget the argument she’d had earlier.

She’d nearly dropped her plate when a loud female scream came from upstairs. Perhaps a servant had been injured? She’d find out. Galloping up the stairs as fast as she could, she followed the sound to the master bedroom and bucked the door open, treated to a very unexpected sight.

There in the room, staring at the large bedroom mirror was… herself! Recalling the last time she’d dealt with a double of herself, Cadance’s eyes narrowed and she stood ready, her horn’s magic charging. “Chrysalis! You dare show yourself in my kingdom?” she said, firing a blast at her double, who narrowly avoided it.

“No! Stop! I’m not a changeling!” the other her pleaded as the alicorn princess lunged forward and pinned her doppelganger down.

“Likely story!” she said, raising her hoof back. She’d never forget what that vile creature did to her… what she tried to do to Shining Armor…

“No! I’m not Chrysalis! I’m not a changeling, I swear! We gotta find Twily! She’s gotta have a way to fix this!” Other-her insisted, cowering underneath the alicorn.

Cadance narrowed her eyes. “I’m not about to fall for—“ she paused. Did the other her say ‘Twily’? Did she mean Twilight? Nopony ever called her that… except….

Cadance’s eyes widened, her mouth hanging open as realization came over her of who this duplicate of her was. “…….Shining?!”

“…H-hey Cadance…” the other her said with a small, nervous smile on her face. Cadance’s eyes rolled upward and she fell on her back, unconscious. The other Cadance looked down at her wife, then at the mirror and glared in annoyance. “Not what I had in mind when I wished I could understand her better…” she muttered.

Outside, Discord laughed hysterically at his handiwork. “Well, this is sure to be entertaining!” he said with another laugh before vanishing in a bright flash of light.

Author's Note

And thus ends this strange tale of wishes and chaos gods. Hope you all enjoyed it!

Dresses, Drinks, and a Draconequus

When’s this gonna end? Rainbow wondered to herself as she shifted uncomfortably in the ridiculously feminine pink dress Rarity had placed her in. It was similar to the one Twilight had at the coronation, with so many skirts and so much flare to it, yet more lightweight for freer range in movement. Still… she couldn’t have looked more prissy if she tried.

“Hm, you think I may have gone a little overboard, darling?” Rarity asked, adjusting her glasses.

“A little,” the alicorn replied.

“But where exactly?” Rarity wondered, looking over every detail carefully. “AH! I found it!” the seamstress said with a triumphant smirk. Her horn promptly started glowing, Rainbow grinned hoping Rarity had come to her senses and realized how this went beyond fancy, way more then anything she’d ever want to wear, or Twi for that matter she hoped.

A single diamond in the center flew off and landed in the bowl next to Rarity. “There we go! Perfect! You are a vision, Twilight, if I do say so myself, and thanks to that spa trip, you’re all the better for it! Now go take a look in the mirror and tell me what you think!” she said, putting on her most excited smile as she gestured for the alicorn to step off the podium and look.

For a moment, Rainbow hesitated. She never minded Twi or other ponies all dolled up to the heavens, but with it being her under that lavender coat, conditioned and styled mane, and this insane gown, it was another story.

“Well, go on! Don’t be nervous!” Rarity insisted, and Rainbow felt a slight tug from a blue aura.

“Yeah, okay!” Rainbow said, trotting over towards the mirror, wincing a little from the shoes Rarity added for good measure… from the looks of things she modeled them after the ones she’d had at the gala. She swore that mare just longed to live in fairy tales.

Cautiously approaching, Rainbow moved toward the mirror and looked, and sure enough Twilight Sparkle stared back. She looked down nervously and shifted, brushing back the skirts of her gown a little.

“Well, do you like it? I attempted to add to the gold trim so it’d go better with your crown whenever you wore it,” Rarity explained. “I also tried my best to make it as free-moving as I could without taking away the elegance, I don’t really recall you being the type for these sort of things but with your new status, it’s probably not as much of an option as it was.”

“Yeah! O-of course I like it! I love it!” Rainbow said. Twilight probably would, and she knew even an instant of hesitation could probably make the seamstress risk nervous breakdown. “I’m sure I’ll be turning everypony’s head when I wear it at the next gala.”

“Twilight, dear, I’ll be blunt with you,” Rarity said, walking over. “In all honesty, I was a little envious when you ascended. It’s always been a fillyhood fantasy of mine to be royalty, but I can see it’s something you’re having a hard time adjusting to. But if there’s anypony that can get through this and rise above it all, it’s you!”

Don't I wish… Rainbow thought to herself, Twilight’s downcast expression in the mirror mimicking her own, oh feathers! Can’t make Rarity start prying! “Thanks, Rarity!”

“You’re welcome, darling. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll go make us some herbal hot tea, I must say it does wonders for relaxing my nerves after a lot of work!” Rarity said, trotting off gleefully, Opalescence following though briefly turning and giving a glare at Rainbow that reeked of suspicion. The alicorn shifted, the cat had been watching her non-stop since she’d got here, it’d been a relief she left with Rarity and Rainbow could finally relax a little.

However, upon the cat’s departure a far less desirable occupant appeared in a flash of light before Rainbow’s eyes right out of the mirror.

“Well hellooooo there, Twilight Sparkle! Oh, wait, you’re not Twilight, oh silly me you are her aren’t you now?” Discord asked. “After all, I can’t even remember who you were before you got all lavender and such.”

“Really, Discord… you had to show up now?!” Rainbow asked, gritting her teeth.

“And miss this golden opportunity to immortalize what has got to be the funniest thing I’ve ever seen?” Discord laughed, slinking around her dress, lifting up the back and craning his long neck under. The instant he did, Rainbow’s eyes widened and her back hoof flew straight at the draconequus’ head, kicking him out and sending him rolling across the floor like a wheel.

“Temper, temper, Princess! I was simply admiring this tale’s remarkable plot!” Discord said with a chuckle as he suddenly reappeared right in front of the alicorn sporting a pink floral-print button-down shirt, swim trunks, a pair of huge sunglasses, a straw hat, and an enormous camera around his neck which he promptly raised up and snapped photos with like some kind of annoying stereotypical tourist.

“Alright, THAT’S IT YOU STUPID MISMATCHED FREAK!” Rainbow yelled furiously, leaping at Discord but the draconequus vanished before she could even reach him, sending her crashing face-first into the mirror followed by a rough landing on the floor, the chaos god’s obnoxious laughter echoing all around her.

“Twilight, my word what in Equestria is going on in here?!” Rarity asked, hurrying in as she floated in a teapot and cups then stared down at the alicorn on the floor.

Rainbow sighed. “A really annoying pest came in and wouldn’t leave me alone…” she said, using the first lame excuse she could think of. “Really big horsefly.” She added, causing Rarity to raise an eyebrow.

“I see… have you managed to do away with it?” Rarity asked. “I’m beginning to wonder if the pressures of your new position are really getting to you, darling. I strongly advise this tea, it’s straight from Neighsia!”

“…Sure,” The alicorn replied. It’d be so easy to just tell the truth, but then I’ll never live it down! They can’t know what really happened to me!

~

The tea had offered only minimal calming effect on Rainbow, and Rarity had come to the decision the dress could use a few changes and allowed her to leave. A quick trip to the market dealing with formal titles and the alicorn was now on her way back to Twilight’s house, with the thought of those hard cider bottles in the pantry that she’d maybe help herself to when she got back. Smirking as she saw the massive tree ahead, Rainbow flew as fast as she could to the entrance without dropping her things and went inside.

“What a day… not used to doing this much without a nap,” she muttered. “How does Twi do it?” She dropped the groceries and focused, trying to float them into their shelves with Twilight’s magic.

“Okay… sugar cookies go here… soups over here, tea mix, hay fries here, chips here, bread goes here… just like the pony food pyramid…” she said to herself as she sent them all to their proper place before suddenly pausing.

“Did I seriously just ORGANIZE my—I mean Twi’s food?! You gotta be kidding me! That’s such an egghead thing to do!” she protested, letting out a frustrated yell and rearing back for a moment. “Come on, Dash! Think, think! You can’t get all nerdy like Twi! That’s her thing not yours!” she pleaded, taking a few breaths to try and calm down.

“Stay cool, Rainbow Dash. You’re still awesome by definition where it counts, like you don’t know… uh… the square root of five-hundred and forty six!” As if she couldn’t help it, her mind broke down the equation. “Twenty-three point six-six-six-four-two-eight-nine-one-zero-ni—AAAAARGH!” The alicorn promptly fell to her back, gripping her head between her hooves in exasperation and rolling back and forth. “Horsefeathers I need a drink! Badly!”

Pushing aside some of the food she’d placed in the pantry she immediately floated the hard cider bottles out. Never mind why Twi would have them… though she theorized she may have gotten them that time she was going through a nervous breakdown. Giving them an extra look-over, the alicorn shook her head, and flew back to the library’s main room and out the door, heading straight for the pub.

~

Acting natural there had been impossible. Twilight Sparkle wasn’t one to frequent it like Rainbow Dash was. Heading straight to the bar, she ordered her favorite mixed cider choice, ignoring the odd look she got from the bartender. She no longer cared, this was too much for her.

“Hey, Twi, something up?” a female voice said next to her. Rainbow turned and saw a familiar white unicorn with a wild blue mane and an even more familiar set of tinted purple shades.

“Hey, Vinyl,” she said. Ever since Pinkie Pie had introduced her to her they’d become bar buddies, though chances were the eccentric deejay was just as confused as everypony else to see what looked like Twilight sitting here in the pub.

“You’re not gonna call me ‘Princess’ and ‘Highness’ are ya?” Rainbow asked.

“Only if you want me to. Word around is you don’t exactly like being called that anyway,” Vinyl said with a confused tilt of her head. “Not to mention… can’t say you’re somepony I see here… well… ever!”

“Right… well, just a lot of pressure I guess,” Rainbow said, hoping the deejay would buy her claim, and promptly took down her drink as fast as she could and ordering another.

Only two drinks later, the world became brighter, the music became louder, and Vinyl became a lot more interesting. Rainbow’s last truly coherent thought was the realization Twilight’s utter inexperience with hard drinks and not to mention having not eaten before she left for the pub had left her a complete featherweight.

“Twi, I think it’s time to cut you off… even if it was only two drinks!” Vinyl said. “This could be kinda bad for your new title, you know.”

“Don’ gemme started on titleleles, titler!” Rainbow said, her speech now slurred and her head and hooves suddenly feeling fifty pounds heavier. “Iz SO annoying, can’ go anywhere wiffout everypony starin’ amme! Actin’ like they’re so scared’a me. I wanna be seen as AWESOME ya know? Bunnot worshipped n’ stuff, I learned that lesson a looooong time ago!” she protested. “An’ that’s not even da worst of it! Now I gotta be the good little filly for everypony, can’t have fun can’t step outta line ‘cuz oh no, Twily’s been a bad bad princess! She’s not allowed to do cool stuff! It’s all tests and prissy etimaqutte an’ stuff! Like some kinda little filly dream come true thingy!”

Vinyl inched away, clearly surprised by the alicorn’s uncharacteristic behavior. “Okay, Twi… your bad speech is kinda funny to hear but I’m getting worried about ya, so—“

“No! Wait! Thassit! I figured it out!” Rainbow insisted, trying to focus on Vinyl but she couldn’t tell which of the two white unicorns in the purple sunglasses was the real one. “Discord’s gotta let me go back now!”

“Discord, what’s he gotta—“ Vinyl didn’t finish when the alicorn suddenly wrapped her forehooves around her and gave her a big, ridiculously sloppy kiss, causing her to nearly fall from her stool.

“Thanks, Vinyl! If it weren’t for ya, I wouldn’t have ranted the stuff that taught me a lesson!” Rainbow declared proudly, raising her hoof up dramatically and almost stumbling over as a result. “I gotta get back home now, kay I love ya buh-bye!” she said, floating more bits then she owed from her saddlebag and with a wave her horn glowed brightly, and the alicorn vanished instantly.

The stupefied deejay touched her lips with her hoof, confusion on her face. “Yeah, definitely smashed,” she muttered before paying for her own drink and returning to the soundstage.

~

Reappearing upside-down six feet off the floor in the library, Rainbow Dash landed hard on her back and spent the next five minutes trying to get back up in her drunken state.

“Discord! Get your feathered butt over here NOW!” Rainbow shouted, looking around angrily.

In a flash of light, the god of chaos appeared. “Well, well! Looks like somepony’s been hitting the sauce a little too hard, doesn’t it? Now you know why I prefer a glass of chocolate milk!” he said with a laugh.

“I learned-ed stuff, Discord…” Rainbow said, managing to stay balanced now. “It’s…” She tried to focus as best she could and resist the effects of alcohol in her system. “It’s…” she gagged, but managed to keep it all down. “I was… reckless… need to realize… getting big in the world… sacrifices freedoms… I’m not ready to… give up… and should enjoy it… while I can… right?” she asked, a hopeful look in her eyes.

“Hmmm…” Discord said, stroking his beard, and seconds later he burst out laughing. “Nope! Still way off!”

“You’re doing… nuffin but makin’ me mad, Discord! What am I spoze ta… learn from that?!” Rainbow demanded, her tone still slurred.

“Well what do you know, maybe you’re capable of figuring it out after all!” Discord said with a chuckle. “But it won’t be tonight. You look ready to lose the fight with the cider any second now, Twilight!” He then snapped his fingers as if in realization of something. “Oh, reminds me, I paid a little visit to Canterlot and guess what! Twilight’s coming back home sooner then expected! Better hurry it up, my little pony!” the chaos god said, and he vanished in a flash of light that Rainbow could have sworn formed into a smiley face before it faded.

Gritting her teeth, Rainbow let out a frustrated yell and galloped clumsily to the kitchen, floating out a cider bottle that then proceeded to rocket into the window, knocking the shutters open before zipping outside. Growling angrily, she grabbed the next one with her hoof and pulled out the cork with her teeth before chugging the whole thing down.

Marching over to a mirror in the living room, Rainbow saw Twilight’s disheveled and tipsy appearance looking back. “Buckit all, Twi… I don’t wanna be you!” she said, pointing at the reflection lazily. “So… stop looking at me when I look at mirrors and stuff!” She said. “You’re a cool friend’n all, but… I don’t wanna be you!” A crisp knock at the door suddenly caught her attention. “COMING!” she yelled, louder then she’d meant.

After three failed attempts at opening the door, Rainbow finally succeeded, leaning against the doorframe and saw Trixie of all ponies outside. “Wha…?” she asked. The showmare’s image began to spin and warp in front of her as she said something she could not understand, though she heard something about hearing Twilight was home early, and about needing to borrow some magic books, and something about no more amulets, and other things she could no longer make out with the drumming in her head.

“Well, Twilight Sparkle, what is your answer to this?” Trixie asked.

The alicorn’s response was not one of words, but of cider, stomach acid, and partially-digested food two inches from Trixie’s hooves. The showmare stared down at it for a moment, then looked back up at her.

“Perhaps… another time. Trixie wishes to be gone from here before those moronic colts know she is here!” she said, though clearly less then pleased with what she had gotten from this visit. “The Great and Powerful Trixie gives you this pass for saving her from the amulet, but expect no mercy should you shame her with disrespect a second time, regardless of title!” the showmare stated, creating a puff of smoke and fleeing immediately.

Watching her leave, Rainbow managed enough coherence to try and make a mental note to tell Twi next she sees her to get back to Trixie and know she might be ‘a tad annoyed but not to ask’. In the meantime, bed was looking very tempting right now, she could go and rest right about…

The alicorn passed out before she could get three paces.

~

As the sun shone in her eyes from the windows, the first thing Rainbow noticed was the killer headache she now had, and the blur of last night’s events. Looking at her hooves she could tell she was still in her friend’s form. After a few attempts at standing while nursing her head, the alicorn shuffled and stumbled over towards the kitchen to find the necessary needs for a hangover remedy. Downing the unappealing mixture, Rainbow recalled how Discord once again rebuffed her attempts to get the right answer, and mentioned Twi would be home sooner.

Wonderful She couldn’t learn of this, though by now her friends were likely to ask of her behavior. When she found Discord she’d have to hope he’d erase all memory of this… maybe herself included as she really didn’t want to have this haunting her the rest of her life.

With that notion, it was decided. She didn't have much time left so if she couldn’t impress Discord with any lesson she’d learned and presented to him, she’d force him to undo this… one way or another.

Author's Note

Finally, a new chapter up! Hope you all enjoyed it!