Dust, darkness, and her own hoofsteps. It is all Twilight makes of her immediate environment. Fireheart had used a teleportation spell to take her there, but Twilight is clueless on her location.

Was it a cave of some kind?

"I trust you're wondering where we are." Fireheart speaks directly.

A small magic ring draws around Twilight. "Well, yes actually. I was just about to light the place up so I could-"

Fireheart grabs Twilight's horn. "You don't want to do that. Trust me."

"What? Why? I can't see a-"

"There's creatures here that wouldn't like it. Please. Trust me."

Twilight inhales quickly. Pauses herself. "Okay."

"Thank you. To answer your question, we're in an underground cave below the badlands about 10 miles away from our previous location."

"What?" Twilight eyes dilate, both from the darkness and surprise. "Ten miles? How?"

"It's simple really. Mastering long distance teleportation is easy. The hard part is knowing that you aren't going to teleport inside of a rock or something. Messy. So I devised a spell that allows me to see what the area looks like moments before I travel there."

"But it is pitch dark in here. Your spell wouldn't do any good."

"Not for me it's not."

Twilight's head cocks sideways as though it's about to fall off. "Whaaaa? How?"

"Illumination spell. Only works for me."

Are you using it now?"

"Yes."

"But how? There's no aura on your horn!"

"That's another spell."

"So you're stacking multiple spells at once? That is...so...how? What?"

"Look. I've had a lot of time to master things...more time than I would wish on anypony."

"I know, but it's just so cool!"

A distant sound in the caves. It sounds like a loud bang, as though something had been dropped. Next there are footsteps.

"Quiet." Fireheart says.

"But..."

Fireheart places his hoof against Twilight's mouth and holds her against the wall. "Be still as possible," he whispers, "And they won't see you."

The footsteps grow louder, closer. Next she hears their snarls. There is the sound of something dragging in the dirt. Closer. The footsteps grow until they just stop in front of Twilight. She hears sniffing, prolonged sniffing. They pause. She feels the warm rancid mist of their breath. She swears they can see her, smell her fear. She does not know what they are, but she instinctively freezes. She tries her hardest not to make a sound. A low guttural gurgle emanates from nearby one. The gurgle slowly crescendos into a wild roar and Twilight knows it has found her. Suddenly, a louder boom from somewhere further into the cave clangs, and Twilight feels their motion quickly move away. She hears light footsteps darting in the distance.

"Hmph. So much for a safe hideout," Firehoof says. "Stand next to me a moment."

The two disappear and reappear at the entrance of another cave.

"Wha? Is this the cave entrance?" Twilight says.

"No. It's the entrance to a different cave. About 20 miles away. It's easier to spot us here, but Swifthoof can't travel this fast. He's still probably tied up, so we don't have to worry about him here. The underground cave goes very far, and we can travel to a great many places there. Once Swifthoof has had some time, he will start looking for us, so we can teleport back to the cave then and use it to travel where we need to."

"Why not just travel by teleportation?"

"I'm sure you're familiar with how exhausting a teleportation spell is. Even for me, it is exhausting traveling that distance."

Twilight looks around the cave and clinks her hooves together. "So..."

"Now that we actually have a moment's peace, why don't you start with your story. It seems you already know mine anyway."

"Not all of it."

"Oh?"

"Like why you're hanging out with petty thieves?"

Fireheart sighs. "I don't know what you want me to say. When you've existed for a long time, you start trying to find new creative ways to spice things up a bit. Eternity is a boring existence at best. At worst, it's outright hell."

Twilight's eyes widen. "That's your reason? You were bored?"

Fireheart shrugs. "Sure. I mean, it's not like I need the money."

"That's not what I meant! Hunh. You almost sound like Discord."

Twilight feels two hooves shove her hard against the cave wall. "You listen to me. I"m nothing like that fiend, you hear? How dare you even mention him and I in the same breath!"

"I...I'm sorry...I didn't."

His hooves drop. Silence passes. "I'm sorry princess. It is I who owe you an apology," He steps away and closes his eyes. "Maybe that was his point all along, to show me why he does what he does. I refuse to believe that I've grown to be like him, but perhaps you're...right." He sighs. "Even after all this time I can still feel something, even if that something is anger. I suppose I should be thankful."

"You're welcome...I guess?"

Fireheart gathers some wood with his horn and starts a fire. He stares into it for a time. "Why do you need my help Twilight?"

Her eyes join the fire.

"It's my friends. Discord has changed all of their personalities and transported them to different places."

"I see. What else has he done?"

"That's it."

The words shock Fireheart out of his daze.

"That's it? What do you mean that's it?"

"Well, he hasn't done anything else."

"You came all the way out here to get me because your friends are having an identity crisis? Seriously? No, this is Discord we're talking about here. He's after something else, some bigger game. Just have to figure out what it is..."

Twilight scratches her ear with her hoof. "Uh yeah...listen. About that...Discord's not exactly the same creature that you knew him as."

"Oh no? So he's not a mismatched creature made of different parts who uses trickery to ruin lives while bragging and joking about it for his own personal amusement?"

Twilight rolls her eyes. "Oh no. That's still the same. It's just now he's less cruel about it."

Fireheart's head tilts back like in an almost disgusted expression. "What do you mean less cruel?"

"Well, you see, after we defeated him with the Elements of Harmony, Celestia asked us to revive him and try to reform him."

"You're kidding me. That is literally the most idiotic thing I have ever heard."

A small laugh escapes Twilight. "Well, honestly, I kind of thought the same thing at first, but the thing is, we actually did it, thanks to my friend Fluttershy."

"What did she do?"

"She befriended him."

"..."

"What?"

"Okay, now that is the most idiotic thing I've ever heard."

Twilight steps forward. "Hey now. You weren't there. I was skeptical too at first, but Discord, while still being mischievous, has toned down himself considerably. He's more annoying now than threatening."

Am I really defending Discord? Twilight thinks.

"Twilight, I'm not buying his act for a minute. I've known him for thousands of years. He is a god of chaos. He changes in every possible way imaginable save for one: the ability to not heartlessly wreck ponies lives. Anything he's done up to now is just because he's after a bigger fish, perhaps a better trick, perhaps a way to outsmart us and show off his ability to turn things on their head. I can promise you it's not benevolent."

"Well, if you feel that way, then why not help me find my friends? Surely their mix up has something to do with this supposed bigger plan, right?"

"Because that's what he wants us to do. We go off on his little quest, and in the meantime he wrecks havoc."

Twilight rubs her chin. "Hold it. That doesn't add up."

Fireheart huffs. "Why not?"

"For one thing, Discord doesn't need me out of the way to destroy stuff. He's already gotten rid of my friends. Without them, we cannot power the Elements of Harmony, which means that he can get away with whatever he wants already. Additionally, he didn't do anything to harm them to the best of my knowledge."

"That simply means he needs you away, and specifically you for a long time, but why?"

"I really don't think that's what's going on."

He rolls his eyes. "Look, as I said before, I'm not buying it. He wants you away. It's the only explanation."

"If it's the only explanation, then Discord would have made some move by now. I'm already away."

"That's a good point. We'll need to move quickly if we're going to make things right. Where is home for you?"

"Well, Ponyville but-"

"Ponyville. Never heard of it."

"It's a smaller town. Look, I don't think Ponyville is where we need to--"

"And I think it is. We need to find your friends, and I will agree to help you, but only after we go back to your Ponyville and make sure everything is normal."

"Ugh! Okay, fine! But we're wasting time."

"We shall see." Fireheart uses his magic to poke at the fire with a stick. "Goodnight Twilight."

"Yeah. You too." She rolls over and lays her head down. "Aren't you going to sleep?"

"I'm not tired right now. I'll sleep when I'm ready. You don't worry about me."

"Okay...I guess? Well, goodnight."

"Goodnight."

Author's Note

Hey everybody! This little story is chugging along slowly but surely! It takes me forever to write, but drop by drop the rain fills the bucket, eh?