For a Phoenix Feather

Chapters

1: A Very Particular Quill
2: The Scent of Burning Wood
3: In the Shade of Everfree
4: Return to Ponyville
5: Headaches
6: Wings, Horns, & Chaos
7: Books & Bruises
8: Pegasus & Princess
9: All Apart of the Plan

1: A Very Particular Quill

Twisted Ribbon was sitting comfortably in her home on a lazy Friday morning, looking forward to a quiet weekend at home. It had been a while since she had a weekend to herself, so she was rather looking forward to it.

On the trail leading to her house, however, was a motivated, if a little lost looking, tan unicorn with scarlet mane making his way to her front door. He was carrying a rugged looking set of saddlebags, and across his back was some form of long, thick sleeve. It was hard to make out exactly what is was from a distance.

It was not long before she was pulled from her nice bit of quiet by three quick raps against her door.

Twisted's ears perked up a bit, quirking a brow in confusion at the three knocks from her front door. Did she forget she was having company today? She pushed the couch blanket off her back with her wings and headed for the door, turning the knob, and peeking around the wooden frame to see her guest. He looks lost… she thought before offering him an apologetic smile and opening the door. "Hello there... How may I help you?"

He offered a smile and dipped his head in a subtle bow, replying, "Sorry to bother you, miss. I'm Vermillion Prose. I asked around in town for the best guide around the Everfree and they sent me two places. The last one was... not what I was expecting. Sweet mare, but she would not stop hiding behind her mane..." His face donned a sad frown for a moment before the smile returned and he picked up where he left off.

"Now I would not want to deprive you of your weekend, so I'll be staying in town until next week. Would you mind helping me out? I promise I'm not tracking down some crazy monster out there." His smile grew a bit cheeky with that statement.

As he spoke, she had the opportunity to give him a discreet look over. The saddlebags were worn but well cared for, and she could see a handle protruding from the front end of the sheath on his back. It did not take much to recognize a sword when she saw one.

She gave a soft smile, and though the sword did worry her, she knew it was best to be protected in these forests. "Ah yes... Flutters is a lovely guide but you have to know her ahead of time. Luckily our talents kinda cross over a bit."

She looked back to her home then back at her guest, "Uhm.. Would you like to talk about this weekend over some tea? And if you were not looking for a immediate adventure did you already have a place to stay?" She tilted her head a bit as she took a step back and ushered her guest into her home with her hoof, a unusual calmness coming over him as she smiled."

His eye twitched for the briefest moment at the second question, then he sighed and gave a sheepish grin.

"That sounds just perfect. I, uh, have not booked anywhere yet. I was just kind of making it up as I go along eh-heh... I guess not everybody goes wandering on a quest for their vacation, huh? I really must thank you for your hospitality miss...?"

She felt the pink touch her cheeks before she chuckled, "Oh goodness, now rude of me. I'm sorry, My name is Twisted Ribbon. You can call me Twisted or even T.R. If you'd like." She shut the door behind him as she lead him through the small home.

It was mostly wood with lightly colored wallpaper, which creaked under hoof as they stepped through the living room, which was adorned with the usual things, couch, tv, tables, and so on. The one thing that stuck out immediately was the amount of bookshelves in the first room alone, filled with books.

The next room was the kitchen and dining room where she had made a kettle of tea and she picked up a pair of cups with her wings as she spoke to him, "And no.. Not everypony enjoys visiting out here as a vacation but.. some do." She paused and looked over at him, "So... Is it really a vacation or are you looking for something?"

The stallion had looked at the bookcases with a spark of curiosity in his eyes, but his attention returned to her the moment she spoke.

"A bit of both really. Just felt like I needed to get away from Canterlot for a while. But I do have a quest, so to speak." He carefully took a proffered cup of tea before continuing. "Thank you. Well, I'm a rather amateur author, but a bit of inspiration struck me." He gestured to his cutie mark, a crimson quill crossed over a sword. "I wanted to find a quill just like this one. It's a phoenix feather. No matter how many scraps of parchment I toss in the bin, my creativity rises from the ashes. Or so I like to think." He gave a small smile at that. "But they are horribly expensive everywhere I looked, so I decided to go find myself one."

Her ears perked a bit as she listened to him, taking her own cup and filling it, "Well... I do know where a nest is but..." She bit her lip a bit, thinking this through. She knew it was mating season, so the birds would be very territorial, even with her talent. "Look... I know you want this so I'll take you along but... It's mating season for the birds, so keep in mind they're going to be... temperamental that we're in their territory."

She looked over at him for his response, taking a sip of her tea before continuing, "And I do not mind you staying here if it'll help you save a couple bits. We'll be able to leave tomorrow and camp along the way if need be." She shrugged it off like she did this often, closing her eyes as she enjoyed her tea.

He looked torn between a frown and smile, but settled for the smile. "I'm in no hurry. I took a month's leave so I have plenty of time. Plus I am interrupting your weekend." He tapped a hoof to his chin in thought. "Then again, it's hard for me to refuse the offer of a pretty mare, and I'd hate to take up more of your time than I have to." It was hard to tell if he was being serious or poking fun. Probably a little of both. "How long until mating season is over?"

She chuckled softly, "Something around 2 weeks. But uhm.." She tilted her head a bit, watching his face, "We can head out tomorrow. I'll need to grab some supplies from town before we can head out." She seemed pretty set on that decision as she set her cup on the counter and looked over at him, "Is that alright?"

He had facehoofed at her proclamation of two weeks and sighed, but then the corner of his muzzle turned up in an eager smirk as he nodded his agreement. He set his saddlebags down by the door.

"Thanks for your help. Let me help you with those supplies. I'd feel awful about sticking around and not doing something to return the favor." His eyes closed as he gave her his most winning smile.

She chuckled at his sudden change in mood as she nodded, heading for a closet near a sliding glass door close to the front. "Let's see.." She muttered to herself, pulling out a rough looking but organized saddlebag, some camping supplies, and a large folded map which she passed on to him, "Here.. It's easier to manage with unicorn magic."

After going through the bags she had pulled out, she made a list of things she needed from town, grabbed her shopping saddlebags and pulled them over her back. She turned to him with a small smile, "Well come on then."

He set his now empty cup next to hers as he took the map in his magic and rolled it up, floating it next to him as he stepped to the door, opened it with a flick of telekinesis, and sketched a quick bow with a wave of a foreleg. "After you, miss." That cheeky grin was back again.

"Thank you." She replied with a small smile as she headed out the door, locked it behind them, and lead the way back to town, all the while chatting about the animals they'd be seeing. Many were vicious but others were more... misunderstood. She knew this from Fluttershy, or "Flutters" as she frequently called her, her own talent having nothing to do with the animals themselves.

Once in the small town she went straight to the market, looking over a couple non-perishable items for food as well as things like apples, carrots, and celery, tossing a few bits at a couple merchants and placing the items in her saddlebags. Once everything was taken care of the sun had begun to go down and the market was closing. She frowned, looking around to find a specific pony, grinning as she basically ran to catch up with a rather elderly mare with a large cart, "Ellie!" She smiled, "So glad I caught you. I need some items to go into Phoenix territory. Got anything to help?"

The old mare smiled, "Always sticking your muzzle into trouble, aren't ya?" She put a hoof to her lips for a moment before turning, digging into her old cart for something. A few minutes of digging and out came a ruby that seemed to dance like flames beneath the crystal surface, "Try this. Rumor says a fire ruby can appease the bird if you're only meaning to pass through with no hassle. Barging in on their mating season is probably not the smartest but... having something like this may keep them from giving you trouble."

"Thank you." Twisted smiled, handing a rather large sack of bits to the old mare, giving her a bow of her head before turning to him, "Looks like we got everything. Was there anything you needed? We should head back soon so we better get going if ya do."

Vermillion shook his head. "I should be fine. I brought a few things with me from home with this trip in mind." He was about to continue when he got the feeling he was being watched. He turned to find a pink mare staring at him rather unashamedly. He blinked a couple times before she let out an astonishingly long and dramatic gasp and disappeared in a cloud of dust. "Uh... should I be worried?"

Twisted's eye twitched a moment, "W-Wait! Pinki-!" She sighed, the mare already gone before she could stop her; tonight was going to be a LONG night. She looked up at him, her expression blank and almost defeated as she heaved a heavy sigh, "There's going to be a party at my house now. Probably set up before we can RUN home. This is your warning." She shook her head and began walking the way she had lead them to go back to her house, "So our choices are go to a hotel and pray she doesn't find out or go home and deal with it."

Vermillion scratched his chin for a moment before a devious smirk crept onto his face. "Day one and already wanting to get a hotel, eh?" Before a scowl could manifest on her face he raised his hooves in defense. "Kidding! Kidding. But really, I'm on vacation. A party sounds kinda nice. What could possibly go wrong?"

He did not mention the shiver that ran down his spine as he utter that last line.

She whirled around as he could got his "just kidding" excuse out, getting very close to his muzzle as she lowered her eyelids, "Oh, don't tempt me, stranger~" She snickered as her scent of honeysuckle and lilac enveloped and stunned the stallion before her. She smirked, turning back to the entrance to the Everfree, stretching her wings out before heading inside, walking slowly so he could catch up when he recovered. Not many mares would respond like that and she definitely did not look like one who would. One thing was for sure, she mused, she was unpredictable.

Vermillion blinked several times, making absolutely sure he had not misheard. After a moment to let his mind reboot, a devious smirk found its way onto his muzzle once more.

Oh. Oh-ho. This mare was full of surprises. This trip was getting more interesting by the minute. He followed after her through the Everfree trail, but when they got to her house, it appeared dark and lifeless. "Well, so much for that party, huh? Miss Ribbon?" He now found himself very alone in her front yard.

Weird. Must have already gone inside, he thought as he trotted up to the door. Even so, instincts and practice kicked in, and he opened the front door slowly and quietly stepped inside.

Suddenly the room erupted into a loud, "SURPRISE!", Twisted standing amongst them, confused and disoriented as the noise assaulted her ears and made them ring. She shook her head, cringing as the other ponies went to greet him, "Oh god, I had forgotten how loud they are..." she muttered, moving over to the sliding glass window. She gave an apologetic smile to her companion as she headed outside onto her patio to escape the noise.

The party was everything a party should be. Loud, fun, and, since she lived out in the sticks, had no noise complaints. Though, she wondered who would even make the complaints. It looked like everypony from town was in her living room! She sighed, sitting on her porch in the dark as she watched the stars. She had chosen this specific spot because it was one of the only places close enough to town for trips in the dark that had a beautiful view of the sky.

It was about twenty minutes later that the party was in full swing and Vermillion managed to slip outside, having been introduced to everypony there. Pinkie Pie was evidently his 'newest-bestest-friendliest-friend-forever,' which had been amusing, but he had not come all this way to party. He had given his thanks and told her exactly what he was going to do: find the first friend he had made since getting here. Putting it that way had pleased the party mare greatly, so he now pawed as quietly across the creaking planks as he could. The party was a dull roar inside now. At the sound of the door she turned her head a bit, nodding to him then returning to her stargazing.

"Heh, sorry about this. I swear, I've never been in a friendlier town." He flopped onto his rear beside her, lazily floating a cup of punch over to her. "I take it you like things quiet, and I pretty much burst that bubble. By proxy, anyway." A nod in the direction of one of the windows revealed the pink pony implied balancing on her nose while others cheered her on.

"Don't worry about it. When I first came here Pinkie tried to be my best friend but... I just wouldn't have it. After my accident I just wanted ponies to leave me alone."

She sighed softly before giving him a small smile and taking the punch, "Thanks. And I do like quiet but honestly I just don't like big crowds. I'm a total wallflower; I got invited to the Grand Galloping Gala once. I got yelled at by Prince Blueblood because I wouldn't dance with him." She chuckled softly and shook her head, "So please, don't feel obligated to come hang out with me, it's your party." She nudged him gently, laying back on the floorboards and closing her eyes, listening to the insects.

He gave her an exaggerated scoff before making himself more comfortable. "Not going anywhere. I like being able to sit and talk like this. Folks in Canterlot don't ever seem to have time for it." He gave her a sideways look. "You've met the prince? Sounds like a real aristocrass."

"Yeah, he really is." She smirked a bit, waving her hoof around, "You don't want to dance with me?! Do you KNOOWW who I am?" She spoke in a sarcastic mocking tone, snickering to herself before nodding in agreement, "Canterlot is so busy, one of the reasons I came here. It's peaceful despite the random parties..."

After a brief chuckle, his eyes softened a bit. "Sorry if it seems a bit prying, but, you mentioned an accident?"

Twisted opened her eyes for a moment, staring up at the roof of her porch in silence for a couple minutes before heaving a sigh. "You seem older than me. So then you should probably remember it from the papers." She closed her eyes again, her hoof touching a large triangle-like talisman on a string around her neck, "I believe it was something like.. "Murdered: Aristocrat Family; Filly missing."

He paused and contemplated. "While I'm flattered you think I'm older... I think... I really doubt that. But I remember something along those lines. I never did find out what happened, and I always had a thing against the media. They always sensationalize or blur the details, so I just wait to hear about it from someone who knows. Although I was wondering how you managed to get into the gala without some kind of noble connections." He saw her staring at the roof and felt a bit of regret for bringing it up. "Sorry, this probably isn't a great topic for you. And this probably seems strange coming from somebody you just met, but if you ever just need somepony to talk to about..." he twirled a hoof in the air, "whatever, then I'm always good for it." He gave her a reassuring smile. "Never really thought time made a huge difference for friendship anyway." Now the smile was a bit cocky again.

"Yeah." She kept her eyes closed though a shaky sigh rocked through her, "My family was pretty high up there. My father was winning championships like no other, even refused the Wonderbolt's free ride. And my mom. She was a beautiful and successful unicorn." She slowly opened her eyes and glanced down at him, her friendly demeanor seemed to disappear in what he could have sworn was a golden flicker of light in her eyes though it was gone in a blink of an eye.

She smiled, sitting up and looking at the sky, "Well. Stranger things have happened. I mean it's not like you immediately invited me to stay at your home before a roughly three day trek through dangerous wooded area or anything." She smirked a bit, nudging him again, "Either way. I better go tell Pinkie it's getting late." She got up, yawning a bit as she slid open the doors and cringed at the sudden sound level change, "Geez..." She grumbled before slapping a smile on her face and heading in.

Vermillion watched her go with a twinge of sadness, then turned to look back up at the stars. He did so every time he got away from all the bright lights of the city and found himself up at night. He was also crazy enough to travel at night; the mysteries of the night scared him far less than they intrigued him. For a moment, a single bright streak crossed the heavens. He remembered a tale his grandfather had told him about falling stars and fortune. He was not much for superstition, but had experienced too many instances of deja vu or lucky breaks to really discount it, either. He contemplated the meaning of the star as he processed his day.

As ponies started departing from the party, he got up and bade farewell to each as they departed. He figured he owed them as much for actually coming to see him. Really, what kind of ponies even do that? After they had all left, he stepped back inside and grabbed his belongings. It was a short search for Twisted. "I still feel kind of bad about imposing. The party was bad enough. I can still find a room in town." He looked thoughtful for a moment, then muttered more to himself. "Actually I haven't camped under the stars in a while, that could be fun..."

Twisted tilted her head, leaning against her broom as she swept things into a dustpan, "You're leaving?" She frowned a little, watching his face. Had she done something? Or had she scared him off with all her "murder" talk. She sighed, shaking her head, "I won't stop you but... you would probably be safer laying out on my porch if you're going to camp.." She paused for a minute, putting a hoof to her lips, "Actually, I think I have an idea if you still wanted to stay. You're not imposing, I promise. And it's probably easier if you stay; saves me a trip into town to hunt you down." She stuck her tongue out at him with a smile. She was back to her cheery self again.

He had to resist the urge to roll his eyes and simply offered another friendly smile. "I appreciate it. Much as I can handle a night outside or in town, this does seem much more inviting," he finished, panning his gaze around the room. "I just never feel like being a burden." The briefest flicker of sadness crossed his features before habit kicked in and schooled it back to a pleasant grin. "What did you have in mind?"

Twisted tilted her head, her expression focused and soft as she scanned his face, "Well..." She shook her head and set the broom against the wall, turning out the lights and flicking on a hall light upstairs. She looked back at her guest before leading the way upstairs. "Come on, I'll show you."

The hallway was small with a window lining the right side to show off the area around them. The trees still loomed over them but he could see eyes outside, watching the house-- it was definitely all the forest lived up to be though it did not seem to phase Twisted. She walked past a first shut door and the the second and last door in the hallway before stopping and turning to him, "No funny business."

He blinked a couple times, opened his mouth to speak, then closed it. He coughed once into a hoof and opted to nod instead of trying to find his voice, then found another topic his mouth would cooperate with. Success! "I'm not a stranger to camping outside with critters watching me, but that's a tad more than I'm accustomed to seeing at night." He glanced back to the window, where he could just make out a pair of eyes watching him from one of the nearby trees. He was hoping it was an owl, but was familiar enough with the reputation of the Everfree.

She looked out the window for a minute with a small chuckle, saying, "Yeah.. I had some curtains for at night but a friend of mine, uh, set them on fire." She shook her head as she opened the door and lead the way inside. Inside the walls were lined with bookshelves. There was a large bed, a desk, and another door one would assume went to the bathroom. She blushed a bit as she let him into her room, rubbing the back of her head nervously, "I bring you here for one reason." She said softly, clicking the lights off and walking up beside him.

As his eyes adjusted he noticed the room had a bluish glow lighting it up. At first he wasn't sure if it was coming from a small light or such until he looked at Twisted. She was staring up at the ceiling with a calm smile, his eyes slowly following her gaze until he was met with a window above them, the bright night sky lit up with tiny stars.

If he had been working his jaw a couple moments before, it was on vacation now. The starscape was spread above him in all its beauty, with nothing to distract the observer. The moon hung in the corner, providing soft illumination, currently waning into a slick crescent.

"It's beautiful..." It took him some effort to drag his gaze away and look at the pegasus beside him. She had an almost wistful expression as she admired the skylight. It took him a moment to recognize the heat spreading over his muzzle, and he was thankful she was looking upwards as he carefully quashed it. Stupid, rebellious muzzle, he grumbled in his thoughts. "Best. Bedroom. Ever."

She looked over at him after a while with a small snort, "Yeah, I think so." She looked over at the bed with a yawn, "You're welcome to stay. But like I said. No funny business." She looked over her shoulder at him as she untied her bandana and set it on the bedside table, "You may have a sword but I think I can take you on." She snickered with a small wink as she sat on "her side" of the bed.

Under other circumstances, he might have begun a game of taunts at that. The phrase "challenge accepted" was one of his favorites, even if he had ended up getting patched up a few times afterwards. He considered his options. In his bags was a neatly compressed bedroll he could roll out, but he had done a lot of hoofing it and train riding that left a real bed sorely tempting.

Meh, buck it. I'm on vacation.

He deposited his bags by the door and pulled out a couple items as an idea struck. One was his travel blanket, the other his favorite scarf. As she slipped under the covers and settled in, he laid down on top, wrapping the scarf around his neck and forelegs in a twisted mess. The travel blanket settled over him with a flick of magic. "See? Funny business won’t be a problem. Sleep well, Miss Ribbon. And thanks again." She could hear the soft smile in his words.

Twisted giggled softly as she stared up at the sky for a while, "You're odd. But I like you." She sighed in content, watching the sky until she drifted to sleep, her wings folded around her shoulder and the odd triangle had managed to prop itself up against the headboard.

His travels had left him rather weary, but out of habit he took the last few moments of his night to simply let his mind wander, and he gazed about the room. His eyes hovered over the strange triangle leaning against the headboard, and his brow scrunched faintly as he scrutinized it. It was certainly an odd accessory, but as he shifted his tangled hooves he figured he was hardly one to talk. Even so, the black figure made a few hairs stand on end, although he could divine no reason for the reaction. He would just have to... He yawned. Ask her... in the morning...

Very faint, gentle snoring indicated he had finally succumbed to the fatigue of his travels.

2: The Scent of Burning Wood

The next morning he was woken from his sleep by the scent of pancakes and coffee and the faint sounds of pans and silverware clinking from downstairs. Her side of the bed was made and a towel was set out for him if he wanted a shower. In the light the room was much brighter and cozy, the bookshelves around them holding such old-looking books, and there was one photo that stuck out on her dresser. It was not the most expected picture, but what it held was shocking to most ponies. She was in the picture with the god of chaos himself, Discord.

An exasperated, dwindling sigh emitted from the tangled mess of blanket that concealed a rather groggy unicorn. As he sat up, a stray lock of mane fell across his eye. He blew it out of his face and got out of bed with as much grace as he could muster. This involved stumbling to the floor with a resounding whump and muttered words not fit for foals. After righting himself, he noticed the towel and decided a rinse would make him much more presentable.

Several minutes later, he had finished toweling off and made his way back downstairs. The scent of fresh food drew him inexorably to the kitchen, where his host was at the table dishing out breakfast.

"I'm pretty sure this is my stomach and sleepiness talking, but," he continued as his gut growled, "you are my goddess."

Twisted felt her face heat up a bit before she laughed, shaking her head, "Oh yeah? When do the offerings start?" She pulled the plates onto her wings as she moved the food to the table, setting a plate down for him, "Come on then, sit." She smiled, setting her own plate down as she went back to the kitchen for the cups. She was happy he seemed well rested, though she felt better rested than she had in a while. She wondered if it was because she had company or if the day before had just exhausted her into a dreamless sleep.

"Depends, what exactly do I have that you'd like?" he asked with a wiggle of his eyebrows. "This food looks amazing. You didn't have to go to all this trouble." Even as he said the words, his traitorous horn made light of his words as it began making quick work of slathering the pancakes with butter and syrup.

She chuckled, stealing the butter from him when he was done and adding an odd amount to her own cakes, "I think I did. For fear of you eating my table." She quirked a brow, sticking her tongue out at him as she poured syrup over her cakes. "So," she paused and looked up at him, "you sleep well?"

He nodded and swallowed a mouthful of sweet, buttery, fluffy goodness. The mare knew how to make some truly amazing pancakes. "Surprisingly, yes. I'm not used to getting to sleep so quickly somewhere new. I usually stay up thinking about all kinds of things." He vaguely remembered wanting to ask her a question, but like a fading dream, could not for the life of him remember what it was. He gave an unnoticeable shake of his head before continuing. "I guess you're just really good at making me feel at home," he offered with another sizable bite of pancake. Oh yeah, that's the stuff...

"Well good! I'm glad." She finished up and got down to take her plate to the kitchen "There's more if you want!" She called over her shoulder as she washed her dish. It was the first opportunity he had to focus on her this morning. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail with a ribbon, as well as her own tail. Her bandana was gone, probably still sitting on the table next to her bed, and hanging around her neck on a thin black string, was the item in question. From what he could tell she never took it off.

With his stomach sated, his mind began to pick back up where it left off. It did not take more than a quick glance for his various faculties to make their assessments and come to an agreement. With the way she'd tied up her mane and tale, she was cute. The whole image was kind of ruined by that strange black triangle though...

That jogged his memory. "Hey, been meaning to ask you where you got that medallion-thing. I've never seen something quite like it before." He finished the last of his third helping and levitated the remaining dishes over, beginning cleanup without conscious thought. Old habits, he supposed.

She twitched before looking down at the triangle, picking it up in her hoof, "Well uh, funnily enough I don't really know what it is. Just that I can't get it off." she looked over at him with an apologetic smile. "It's creepy, right? I remember finding it when I was little and well... After I put it on it never came back off." She shook her head and dropped it, the rope making a soft thunk noise as it was pulled taught by the ugly metal thing.

It took her a few minutes to put everything away but afterwards she went upstairs to get ready, "You're free to go through my library if you'd like. Being an author I doubt you wanna but I'll be just a minute, okay?" She waved her hoof at him before ascending the stairs, the shower turning on a few minutes after.

He gave her a friendly smile and took up her offer, perusing her books. He was surprised by the variety he found, but ultimately could not concentrate on any he pulled from the shelves to flip through. What she had said about her talisman... medallion... whatever it was, was less than reassuring. He felt like he was missing some serious pieces to completing a puzzle.

Evidently, he had been staring at the index of one of the various books he had browsed through for some time, as he did not hear Twisted Ribbon return as he muttered to himself, "Nothing has ever stopped me when a friend needs me." It took him a moment to realize he was not alone, and his cheeks briefly flashed pink at being caught so deeply engrossed in his thoughts.

She watched him curiously, her mane slightly curly as she pulled it back up into a ponytail. She knew this trip would be long and she would not have time to preen when they were out there. "You okay space cadet?" she teased, pulling her saddle bags onto her back and rearranging her wings to be more comfortable.

"Anyway," she said and paused, setting his saddle bags on the ground carefully since she had brought them downstairs along with his blanket and scarf, which were folded atop the bags, "You ready to go? I didn't wanna open your bag to put those away so... " She blushed in embarrassment. she always acted like some kind of mom to ponies she befriended and she did not really know how to turn it off.

He readily snapped-to, and with a flourish of magic folded and tucked away the blanket and wrapped his neck with the scarf. His bags glowed with the cool azure aura of his magic as he slipped them onto his back and secured them. A quick run through indicated everything was right where it needed to be. He added the map she had given him yesterday to its contents.

"Well, no time like the present. Let's get to it!" he nearly cheered as he made for the door. Gloomy thoughts were hard to keep around with his eyes on the prize, so to speak.

After locking up she lead the way further into the forest, the sounds of the birds and other animals being their only company. From time to time they'd see something, though they were pretty calm, being around Twisted, and they would just walk by and leave them be. A couple birds landed on her wings and she shook her head, pushing her wings straight out to make a perch for them, "Odd birds," she offered and chuckled, looking back at Vermilion with a smile and asking, "How you holding up back there?"

He had been walking in silence for some time behind her. Strange beasts? No problem. Creepy woods? Challenge accepted. But seeing the calm which followed his guide wherever she went, and the nonchalance displayed with her new passengers, he could only be amazed. "I'm doing fantastic. Aside from being followed by a number of lesser predators in the bushes to our left, this is pretty much just a relaxing nature walk. You said it was about a three day trip? How far off are we heading?"

She chuckled softly, one of the birds rearranging itself to the top of her head, "Yeah. Honestly I think these 'passengers' are hiding from the predators." She put a hoof to her lips for a moment before looking back at him again, "Well, honestly we're getting closer to Ghastly Gorge. They like to have their babies there. But this path is actually safer than going the other way around." She shook her body gently, sending the birds on their way before turning to face him, "You've been awful quiet so far. Something on your mind?"

"Nothing really important. I'm used to traveling alone so I just slip into my own thoughts as I travel. Bit spacey of me, I guess." He offered an apologetic shrug. "Any particular reason we're travelling past a place called Ghastly Gorge? I can't imagine a place would have a name like that without good reason."

"Like I said. Phoenixes like to have their babies there" She had waited for him to catch up before beginning her stride again next to him, "They feel it's safer and it's honestly not as bad as it sounds." She chuckled softly as she looked at the canopy above them, "So glad we're going through the forest, anyway. Direct sunlight on camping or long trips is just miserable, don't you think?"

"Agreed. Sunlight and I have a strained relationship at best. Too many late nights and evenings stargazing to get a taste for it." They continued to talk amicably as Twisted lead the way, occasionally referencing the map to ensure they were still heading the right way.

It was some time later when Vermillion paused mid stride, ears searching for a moment before his nose wrinkled. "You smell that?" A quick sniff quickly yielded a powerful stench of rotting vegetation.

She shook her head violently as if to try to get the scent out of her muzzle, "Geez, what the buck is that?" She groaned, pulling her bandana up over her nose as she looked over at him. "Should we go check?" She tilted her head a bit, looking around and pacing from one side of the trail to the other to see if she could find the source without getting off the path.

Like a thunderhead obscuring the sun, Vermillion's expression darkened, his stance shifting subtly. Gone was the friendly demeanor, replaced by a subtle aggressiveness. His horn glowed with magic.

From a ditch near the road, a low, unnatural growl emanated, a pair of lambent, feverish green eyes slowly approaching. A pair of accompanying growls indicated a total of three.

She felt her hair stand as she took a few steps back, immediately recognizing the beasts for what they were. "Oh dear..." she stood next to Vermillion, her wings fluffed up protectively as she watched the group approach them. She glanced down at her talisman, a cold sweat settling on the base of her neck as she forced the fear from her body, "Not this time." She shook her head before looking at him, "How good are you at combat, by the way...?" She chuckled nervously as the creatures walked out onto the path before them, the terrible scent in their faces now.

"I guess I never mentioned it, did I?" His voice had dropped lower, the emotions muted under a veil of practiced discipline. With an astonishing flourish and the sound of splitting air, his sword whipped out and hovered steadily before him in a low guard. "Writing doesn't pay too well. The Royal Guard Reserve does."

She took a few steps back from him, her ears pinned back as a small tremble started, "R-Royal Guard eh...?" She shook off her anxiety before turning to the wolves. No, there were more pressing matters at hand, though she had started to suspect he had not found her by accident.

Her expression changed as she glanced at her partner, "After you, my friend."

He took a long, deep breath, exhaling slowly and getting a firm grasp on his emotions. He carefully focused on not letting the adrenaline rush of danger take the lead, as much fun as that could be. On the road, just him, it was fun.

He'd never risk somepony, especially a friend, just to enjoy a fight.

As they closed, he could see the wariness in their posture. A long gash across the face of the pack leader indicated they were no strangers to blades. He chalked it up to their infamous reconstruction capabilities. Essentially, they were instinctive magical constructs without pity or remorse. That suited him just fine.

He wouldn't have to hold back and worry about guilt later.

His magic had been extended along the blade of his sword, but it receded and focused on the hilt for control. The one on the right leapt first and a twist of the sword brought it low before the upswing severed the wooden jaw cleanly from its head, bark chips spraying from the keen steel edge. The one on the left leapt for Twisted.

"JUMP!" the unicorn barked, a pane of shield magic appearing in front of its paws and sending it tumbling towards her. With its prey distracted, the pack leader pounced past the sword.

Twisted was up in seconds, her wings spread wide before she was in front of him, her hooves buried into the pack leader's head and the creature went limp. She whipped around, her very aura almost visible as she glared at the remainder who had stopped to witness their leader "die." She was doing everything in her power to keep her talisman under control, though... he could have sworn it had started to glow gold as she headed towards the others, making sure to keep out of his way.

The pack leader had crumbled to twigs, Twisted having shown a surprising amount of skill and speed. When his eyes caught the gold flash, he snorted and felt his temper flicker to the fore before he focused on the remaining two. He watched as the one he had cut before retrieved its jaw, and he heard faint scratching in the dirt as the pieces of the pack leader began twitching.

"Time to move. Get airborne," he instructed as he began backing away with as much alacrity as he could muster. He found it hard to concentrate on casting anything complex, which was a new issue for him, but stowed the thought for later. The sword floated in front of him as he waved it back and forth in a warding defense pattern, always in steady motion. The pack leader had reformed his upper half and his hind parts were slowly trawling through the dirt.

Tough bucking creatures, he reflected ruefully.

Twisted darted up into the air, hovering above him as she looked over the scene, "I think we need to take them all down at once then get the buck out of here!" she called to him, remaining out of his way for now. She eyed the group, her muscles tensing as they all began to turn on him, her own concerns worrying her as she felt the itch come back.

Damn. This is not the time for a freakout. Twisted took a deep breath as she looked down at him, trying to focus on the thought that she had allies down there too. "V-Vermillion.. If you don't tell me what to do I m-might need you to back off..." The last part seemed to trail off quietly so she could not be sure if he had heard her.

Vermillion had indeed barely heard her, but he registered enough of what she said for a few trained reflexes to kick in. First rule of battle: remain focused. Twisted needed a target, so he would give her one. The pack leader was on the right, the others to his left. "Hit the center, now!" He angled for the leftmost timber wolf, leveling his sword to point at it tip-first. Then he poured as much telekinetic power behind it as possible and launched the blade straight into its torso, impaling it and beginning a severe split in the log. A quick whirl presented the beast with his rear hooves, which he bucked forcefully into the hilt, ramming the sword fully through and splitting the beast like tinder. The wolf collapsed as he turned to check on his companion.

Twisted had her back to him, the leader split into pieces that made one wonder if it would ever recover fully again, though that seemed like the least of his worries. Whatever was ailing her seemed to be winning. She turned, her expression cold and angry as she bolted for the last of the wooden beasts, slamming her side into it and toppling it over. She glanced at him as she forced it down, "Finish it." She growled, a twitch running through her as her expression softened, "We need to get out of here before the others reassemble."

No, no! His sword wasn't close enough. As she glanced at him the one she had knocked over righted itself and leapt at her. She would not dodge in time.

"TWISTED!"

The next moment was a bit of a blur. He was readying a simple fire spell, one he had used to start campfires or roast a bit of food on the road. He doubted it would be enough to end the wolf, but without his sword... He tried to focus the flame like a blowtorch as he aimed his horn to spear its head.

As he did he reached out blindly with his telekinesis for his friend, desperately seeking purchase. The moment he did, his magic tinted viridian and he let out a roar than crescendoed with a furious whinny as all the the frustration and fury he bottled away from day to day burst forth into fiery wrath. Any fine magical control was gone, but all the emotion had to go somewhere.

As his horn speared the jaws of the leaping wolf, his flame spell went from a bright azure flare to a blazing gold-emerald inferno. The fire consumed the wolf as he viciously bucked it off and staggered back panting, eyes pinpricks and breathing ragged.

As the last of his dwindling magic faded, he glanced at his companion to see if she was alright, and spotted what he had grabbed to pull her free.

The black triangle was encased in his magic, which faded back to blue as it finally snuffed out.

In the confusion of fire and magic the only thing the mare could do was protect herself. Which usually did not end well for all involved. She felt the flames and magic almost immediately as it hit her medallion, her eyes widening as they faded into a glowing gold. In the moments he held it in his magic, he felt it. An uncontrolled chaos that would only rival the god himself swirling within the metal triangle; the memories, the blood it had soaked in, all while it was with its bearer, the mare before him.

She glared at him as it fell limp around her neck, her wings up in a defensive position as she neared him, her hooves digging deep into the ground beneath her as if her very presence was heavier. The remainder of the wolves had gone, perhaps in self-preservation from his flames or from the force before them now. Either way, the two were alone again and it felt like the entire forest had come to a halt.

He blinked a couple of times, regaining control of his faculties long enough for several thoughts to manifest, in order:

Headache, ahhh headache, too much magic, too much magic, too much magic...
Heeheehee she's cute when she's mad.
Why is everything going dark oh yeah I'm gonna...

This was followed by his eyes rolling up and his body collapsing to the ground from magical exertion.

The sound of crackling wood and smell of smoke woke him up, his shoulder rather sore though nothing else seemed to be injured. Upon inspection he noticed a hoof-print bruise. His memory was kind of foggy as to where it came from, or how he got here; wherever here was, anyway.

But that could wait, as he was brought back from his thoughts to notice a sleeping form next to him, her wing draped haphazardly over his back while the other lay limp and bruised on the other side. Twisted had moved him here, from what he could guess, and from the glowing eyes in the trees he could safely assume that they were still in Everfree.

Instincts had him reaching for his sword with his magic, but he only got as far as locating it in its scabbard before his head surged with pain. Right, overdid it with the magic before. Ow. They were not attacking, so he accepted that it was relatively safe, and went back to the last memory he could scrounge up. The last fully coherent thought he could remember was 'Burn, motherbucker!' Huh. After that it was hazy. Something about cute? The hay did he do after fighting?

Pass out, he grumpily reminded himself. Stupid, stupid. Letting emotion get the better of him, showing his temper again. He grumbled to himself as he lay there, trying not to disturb the sleeping mare beside him. "Feathering years I haven't had to worry about this hayseed..." Having gotten what little vitriol was left in his system out with that statement, he took a moment to look her over. He was slightly concerned how her wing had been bruised, or why he had a hoofprint on him that, as he touched it, ow, still hurt. Regardless, the fact that he was still in one piece said enough. He had done enough to buy time for her to get them out of there in one piece. Physical bruises were not an issue for him, he had had enough before.

He'd deal with the mental ones from kicking himself later.

Her ears perked a bit as he shifted, opening her eyes and looking up at his face, her wing still lazily thrown over his back through it did retract a bit as she awoke. "How's your shoulder?" she asked softly, her voice rougher than usual as she looked him over. She twitched a bit as she turned and looked at her wing, sighing softly as she made it fold up and rest against her side, "Clumsy..." she muttered under her breath before turning to him again, tilting her head a bit. Her expression seemed almost blank, though that could have been chalked up to being drowsy.

"Ow," he stated quite eloquently. Up high, brain. "I'll be fine with some food," he offered and winced as his head throbbed, "and some rest. All I remember was my fire spell doing way more than I've ever managed before and that wolf going up in smoke." He could not resist a little victorious smirk at that. "Mind filling in the gaps?"

She averted her eyes and clicked her front hooves together, "Well..." She paused for a minute before giving him a weak smile, "You scared off the others.. but when you passed out I had to get us out of there so I carried you here." She was almost relieved for his memory loss, but she would never let him know that.

"That's good. Thanks for pulling me out, by the way." His expression was warm and friendly again, but there was a bit of strain on it he was trying valiantly, but failing, to hide. "I'm glad you're not too banged up." He looked as if he wanted to say more, but turned to stare into the fire for a time. It was a couple of stretched moments before he spoke again.

"I hope I didn't worry you. I usually try to keep my cool, but something pushed me over the edge." He frowned slightly, then smiled as he finally grasped a silly reason to. "That was really awesome with the fire though. I've never been able to make it do that before." Then he looked pensive. "Still, that's weird. Even when I'm steamin' mad I can't get it to do that." He looked back at her and caught sight of the triangle again. Why did it give him the strangest feeling looking at it? He felt like he was forgetting something important.

She closed her eyes and laid down on the blanket she had put beneath them before setting him down, her wing still draped over him, "No problem. We're friends, right?" She yawned softly as she drifted asleep, the string of her talisman wrapped softly around her leg, though it lay in the dirt in front of them. After she was out, the forest seemed to fall asleep as well. The only sounds around them were the soft breeze, insects and nocturnal birds around them, giving him time to gather his thoughts.

He smiled softly as she fell asleep, his eyes once again drawn to the talisman. This was probably a terrible idea, but... he reached out with his magic to touch it and cut the connection instantly, his headache exploding into a migraine. He bit his lip nearly to bleeding to keep from screaming and waking Twisted up. He found himself exploring the full depths of foul language he had accrued over the years in his head until the pain subsided back to a dull throb.

Well, that was interesting. That explained where all the extra power came from and why it left him with such a raging headache earlier. Must have grabbed it to pull her out of the way. Through the headache it was hard to really examine the magic infused with the talisman, but he was definitely now sure it was magical in nature. What had she said about it? He thought back to that morning, now seemingly an age ago.

"Well, uh, funnily enough I don't really know what it is. Just that I can't get it off." she looked over at him with an apologetic smile, "It's creepy, right? I remember finding it when I was little and, well... After I put it on it never came back off."

That did not bode well. Sounded like something out of a Daring Do novel. A cursed necklace, of all the ridiculous ideas. The talisman had glinted gold as his magic touched it. He tried to recall if he'd ever seen that effect before and drew a blank. It was like a feathering research project from university; all questions, no answers, and no idea where to get information. He tried to recall if it had reacted at all during their fight, but all he could remember was the stench of timber wolves and the feel of his sword in his magic. Twisted had sounded nervous, but that was normal in a fight. Hay, even he was never completely sure how a fight would turn out.

Either way, this trip was far from over. He decided rest was a good idea, but it would have to wait. Someone needed to stand watch until she woke up. Well, sit watch, close enough. He tried to figure out what time it was and how long he'd been out as he waited.

It took a couple hours, but she did wake up, stretching her wings out only to wince violently, biting her bottom lip. How had she forgotten about that? She slowly folded her wings, one aching from the bruise and possibly broken bones in it and the other from stiffness from having it around him. She yawned a bit and groggily looked up at him, tilting her head, "I didn't wake you did I?"

She paused for a moment to see the bags under his eyes before she frowned, "Go to sleep." She almost ordered, getting up from where she had been laying next to him to stretch the stiffness out of her limbs. She then turned back to him, remembering his complaint from earlier and heading into her saddlebag. She had to have something. "Ah ha!" she exclaimed softly, pulling out a small vial before setting it in front of him, "Take this and get some sleep. It should help with your magic headache."

He rubbed his eyes with his hooves and settled in on the blanket more comfortably first. Then, he eyed the vial carefully. Medicine, lovely. "Does it taste like medicine?" he asked bluntly, distaste written on his features. Doctors and medicine had never been on his good side. Lousy shmucks always trying to find something wrong with ponies...

Twisted stared at him before laughing, covering her mouth with her hoof before a small snort made her go silent, her face a bright pink. "U-Uhm.. Ahem," she muttered, trying to hide her blush and recover from her unwilling laughter, "N-No I made it myself. I made sure it tasted like melon or something sweet... I don't like how medicine tastes usually." She rubbed the back of her head with an embarrassed smile. He must think she was a child for how much she loved sugar.

His face broke out into a grin as he exclaimed, "Aw sweet, I love melon!" He stopped himself from lunging for the vial though. Leaning into a hoof with a short cough, he quickly got a hold of himself. "Ahem. Thanks, I appreciate it." It was really hard to keep a straight face with her looking at him like that, though. He decided to simply down it to prevent his face from betraying him. It did, just not how he was expecting. His eyes went a little wide as he smiled. "Wow, this actually tastes pretty awesome. You holding out on me, Twisted?" He almost blushed as he realized it was only the second time he had called her by name, the first in casual conversation.

She giggled softly at the light blush that rose to his cheeks before nodding, "And if I am, Vermillion?" She stuck her tongue out at him as she added a few more logs to the fire and pulled out two apples from her satchel, tossing one to him. "By the way, you can ask for food or a break ya know." She chuckled before poking more fun at him, "I heard your stomach all the way over here." She seemed back to normal, bits and pieces from the battle slowly starting to come back as his headache began to subside.

Fatigue finally superseded needs and pain, so he simply stuck his tongue out and harumphed down onto the wonderfully soft blanket beneath him to get some proper rest.

His head was silently crying its thanks to its benevolent master for deigning to consume the brew. Who said he could not be kind to his body once in a while? Funny thoughts aside, he did find it easier to piece together the details of what happened during the fight. She had grown more aggressive as the battle went on, and he remembered the death glare he had received right before passing out. Putting two and two together, he almost got fish, but then his brain caught up and made four. Stupid brain, don't go doing that.

Best guess he had right now was that the talisman was some kind of berserker charm; the more stressed she got, the more likely she was to wallop anyone nearby. Good to know, or at least kinda get. He was still working on that one. There would be time to ask more later. Right now he could really use some...

He promptly proceeded to break his record for loudest snoring.

Twisted pulled out another blanket and lay down on it as she refrained from laughing at his sudden snoring. He could rival a bear! She shook her head as she watched the trees, her ears perked, though she was pretty confident that they would be left alone for a little while. After the display the both of them had made she doubted any of the creatures were willing. She thought back and sighed heavily. Why could she not control it..?

3: In the Shade of Everfree

The sun rose a few hours later, kindly not piercing the canopy above which gave him about an hour more of precious sleep than he would have otherwise. But, unfortunately, the temperature got high enough that it was uncomfortable to remain there any longer.

Vermillion opened his eyes as an errant ray of sunlight finally managed to land right in his face. He immediately grunted his displeasure as he was temporarily blinded by the rays of Celestia's star. He had long ago decided that the princess must be a morning pony. It was the only possible reason it would get so bright out so quickly.

He raised up to a sitting position and stretched, his neck popping a couple times as he twisted left and right. He checked to see if Twisted was awake, finally able to take in the small grove they were in with the sun now out.

The area was actually quite pretty for the forest in question, a few different varieties of flowers growing in spots around them and the trees in twists that, in the dark were terrifying, but in the sunlight gave off small glints from the sap that ran down their trunks. She was awake, boiling water over the fire she had nursed all night, though she seemed to be lost in her own world when he stirred.

She jumped a bit when the cracking of his neck happened, staring at him in shock before her body relaxed, "G-Geez.." She chuckled softly, rubbing the back of her head in embarrassed blush on her face, "Morning..."

"Good morning. Hopefully a better day, too." He gave a lazy smile as he wobbled upright to move over by the fire and plopped back down on his haunches. "What's the plan for breakfast today? Those stupid wolves made me miss lunch," his stomach roared, "and dinner." His exaggerated frown was mostly show. Mostly.

She watched him stumble a bit in a sleepy stupor, a small smile crossing her lips as she tossed him an apple, "Nothing cooked I'm afraid. Too long of a trip to bring everything besides the kitchen sink." She bit into her own apple, laying across her blanket and propping herself up on her foreleg, her eyes lazily falling on the crackling fire that she was beginning to wish had burned out now but her water had not finished yet. "By the way, want some coffee?" She paused to look over at him, her full vision back with the newly brought sunshine.

She was bruised around the 'wrist' of the leg she used to hold her apple now, almost as if she jammed it against something along with some small scratches along her body. Nothing serious and it did not even look like they bled. The only major issue was her wing, which she had bandaged and strapped to her body to keep it from involuntarily moving.

Still wary of his magic, he angled his head perfectly to spear the apple with his horn. After testing it a couple times, he found his headache suitably absent and lifted the fruit, sliding it off and catching the juice in his aura before slipping it past his lips with a satisfied hum. An eyebrow quirked up, then he took a bite, and the other followed.

"Where the hay did you get apples this good? They're never this sweet in Canterlot. Especially any the Guard dole out." He plopped down, munching another apple as he levitated his tin cup out of his saddlebags to pour himself some coffee. He mentally sighed as he wistfully imagined tea, or a good helping of creamer. Black would wake him up pretty well, though. The bitterness might compliment the sweet apple, now that he considered.

She got up after she had finished her apple before digging around in her bag, grabbing an old ceramic mug and pouring her own cup of coffee. Immediately after she grabbed a small burlap sack and dumped out about a weeks worth of creamer and sugar packets. She poured two packets of creamer and about ten packets of sugar into the bitter drink. She looked over at him before blushing a bit, 'Uhm.. Sorry. How rude. You want some?"

She chuckled softly before sitting down and looking over at him, "Oh, and Sweet Apple Acres grows amazing produce. You should try them in pies and other sweets! They're worth the bits the family makes you pay." She rubbed the back of her head with a laugh, "When I first moved here I got into the biggest argument with Applejack about their price but after I tried ‘em, well, you know."

He grinned knowingly as he levitated a stack of creamers over. He liked a little coffee with his cream and sugar. "Thanks. Sweet Apple Acres, huh? Lives up to the name. Might have to pay them a visit when we get back. If this all turns out well enough, I might spend the rest of my vacation in Ponyville. It's a pretty nice departure from the city and the guard." He dumped a gratuitous amount of creamer and sugar into his tin of coffee, swirling it around until it was nearly as pale as his coat. Perfection. A short sip rewarded him with a smooth, faintly bitter blend that complimented the apple perfectly. Still got it.

"It's definitely a stop worth staying for." She replied softly, sipping her coffee quietly as she looked at his bruise. She sighed and got back up, walking over to him and pulling a couple of medicines out of her bag. She gently smeared some sweet smelling medicine that stung for a moment before turning into a cool soothing sensation to rid him of the aches it had given him. That would explain why she could still walk on a bruised ankle.

She paused in her work before looking up at him, "Sorry for being so forward," she muttered, folding the medicine box back under her wing before beginning to pack up everything. They were burning daylight and the previous attack they had been through still seemed to be bugging her.

He gave a soft little laugh. "Oh come on, I wish more mares were that forward." A quick wink punctuated the teasing. "I have been meaning to ask, though. I don't remember either of us taking a hit during the fight. Plus this, tch, bruise is lookin' pretty hoof-shaped to me." He pointed to her wing and bruised fetlock. "You're in even worse shape than me."

She had a moment to consider. Shit.

She paused quietly before sighing, rubbing the back of her head with her hoof as she kept her back to him. She had really hoped his memory had stayed away until the trip was over so that a royal guard was not onto her. She slowly turned to him with a weak smile, "Well uhm.. I guess... I did that," she said quietly, her smile fading into disappointment and hurt as she avoided his gaze. "...When in dangerous or abusive situations this thing," she lightly flicked the metal triangle that was sitting on the ground next to her, ".. kinda triggers a "protection" mode. And it doesn't care who is friend or foe at that point. It felt threatened."

She sat there a moment, half expecting him to cuff her or call off their trip to find his feather to take her away for attacking him like that. She knew that his headache was its fault, too, though she could not be sure why or how it had reacted to his magic going out of control like that. "...It doesn't like being touched by other ponies... especially unicorns." She looked up at him, her ears back as she waited for his response.

He sat and digested that information, and compiled it with what he knew. First thing of note, ow, she could seriously throw a punch if it still hurt this badly. Two, if it was purely reactionary, that explains why the wolves sent her into a tizzy by the end. Three, if it only triggered in dangerous situations, then he had two plans for how to react if it "triggered" again.

Number one was to be prepared to defend himself from any and all threats and put his combative training to use. He wanted to keep her from hurting herself or him, and he did not want to hurt her, so the sword was not an option. Good old hoof-to-hoof for that.

Number two was to not be a threat. When he signed up for the guard, he did not do it so he could put his talents to use beating up on others, pony or otherwise. His sword would always be a sword to protect. He just hoped the damn hunk of metal around her neck could figure that out. Probably not, but hey, what was life without a little excitement?

He grabbed her by the tail with his magic and gently scooted her towards him before placing a reassuring hoof on her shoulder. "It's okay. I've taken worse hits than this little thing. You do throw a mean punch, though." His smile faltered as his humor fell flat. "I told you already, remember? I'm always good for listening to a friend. You wanna talk about it?" His tone had tinged towards humor a bit, but he squeezed in as much genuine tone into it as he could muster. His sarcastic nature was really working to his disadvantage right now.

She looked down a bit as her wing folded around her shoulders a bit. Could she trust him? She let her bangs fall in her eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath before heaving herself back onto her feet. "My parents..." she said softly before walking through the camp, kicking a pail of water she had gathered over onto the firepit, the embers hissing loudly as a large amount of smoke billowed out of it. She was going to let him take that comment however he wanted but she was confident he would put two and two together quick enough.

She looked back over at him as the smoke cleared, giving a soft smile, "We should get going, shouldn't we? Eating away daylight, ya know." It took about thirty minutes to get everything put in proper order and to make sure the fire was completely out before they got back on the trail, the forest calling to them as they passed, though it took about an hour of walking before she was back to her cheery self again.

She pranced ahead of him, picking a lovely looking flower after making sure it was not poison joke and throwing it into her hair and sticking her tongue out at him, "Hurry up slow poke!"

He was quick to offer a smile and sarcastic response, but inside his mind was working furiously. He was no Starswirl, but he had plenty of pieces of information to work with now. Then he remembered a tidbit that probably should have lit off a dozen klaxons in his head.

On her nightstand, the photo: Discord. That cheeky bastard had to be involved somehow. Maybe the talisman was his idea of a prank, but the magic seemed much more malicious than anything he could recall from recent history. Where had she found it? It seemed like old magic.

The darkest thoughts, however, were of her last comment before breaking camp. He got the distinct impression that the demons ran far deeper than he had initially suspected. Duty warred with friendship for a moment before friendship browbeat it into submission with the help of a bit of logic.

If the talisman could strongly influence the wearer, then it could probably drive them to do something they would not otherwise do. Any actions under its influence, especially with it being stuck on her, would perhaps be beyond her control. But as he thought back to their encounter with the timber wolves, he remember how touching it with his magic had affected him. He had not felt anything force itself into his mind. Rather, it unchained his least flattering trait. The most volatile and unstable of his facets. Did it really control the wearer, or did it just let out what was locked away in a pony's heart?

And if that was the case, then deep down, was he really any better?

The rest of the day went off without a hitch, the dirt under their hooves slowly turning into gravel as they came closer and closer to the gorge and their goal. As they got nearer, the more she remained at his side, the fire ruby she had received in town from Ellie folded under her good wing just in case, though she was not about to flash the thing around in case diamond dogs were about. Now that was not a fight she wanted. As stupid as they were, they did not fool around when it came to gems.

She looked up at her companion who had been relatively quiet through the trip, which had begun worrying her. Maybe she had instilled trust in the wrong pony? Or maybe he was just thinking about everything that had happened since leaving Ponyville? She had already had her thoughts about this: she spilled her deepest secret to a stallion in the royal guard! Of course she was going to be nervous when he suddenly gets quiet. She shook her head and stared ahead, her hoofbeats slowing a bit as the scent of ash and the calls of birds began to be more and more apparent in their surroundings.

Vermillion was snapped out of his brooding by the birdsong. His smile returned and he offered her a nudge, easier with her proximity. Actually, he realized, she was walking closer than she had at any other point on the journey. The occasional, faint ruffle of her feathers was the only outward sign that she was anything but serene. Well that just would not do; he must have stayed all broody for too long. Easy fix for that.

A quick but light jab with his hoof was all that preceded his cheeky declaration of, "You're it!" With a wink behind him to her, he took off down the trail, determined to give her a reason to chase the gloom away. He could always rely on a bit of foalishness to bring a little levity to life.

Twisted blinked, watching him run off before smirking and taking off after him. "Oh, you're so on," she called after him, quite happy she came from a family of Earth and Pegasus ponies as she put the musculature from her father to the test. She was gaining on him. It took a couple zig zags before she tagged him back, immediately rearing up on her haunches and bolting the opposite direction they were traveling, making sure to stay out of phoenix territory while they were... horsing around.

He had mentally prepared himself to be challenging a natural athlete. A pegasus living out in the Everfree would have to stay fit, he reasoned. It was not the first time he appreciated the necessity of physical training for the guard, and probably would not be the last. That did not mean he would ever tell his superiors, however.

He immediately cut a path through the trees to cut her off, using a bit of telekinesis to silently lift leaves and twigs from his path to keep his travel as quiet as possible. He almost felt like using a bit of fieldcraft was cheating, but his opponent did have wings. All is fair in love, war, and tag.

A moment later he she skidded to a halt as he casually stepped from the bushes along the path and tapped her square on the nose. Instead of taking off, though, he simply plopped smugly onto his haunches and panted as he caught his breath. He shot her a victorious little smirk, even if he did not really think either of them won. "Feel a little better now? No more gloomy stuff, for you or me. I can tell we're close!"

She blinked again, her hooves buried in the gravel as he tapped her nose. Damn it. She grumbled a bit, rubbing it gently before sitting in front of him, shaking her head to pop her ears and saying, "Not bad. And I was more worried about you, gloomy butt!" She smirked a bit as she got back up and shook the rest of her body before stretching out her back, "But yeah. You're right. It's why I turned around; last thing we wanna do it upset the birds. Even a gem wouldn't fix that disrespect." She chuckled softly before gently shoving him, "That was cheating by the way."

He snorted in disagreement before standing again and waving his flank in her direction, claiming in faux offense, "My butt is hardly gloomy! I dare say it's one of my noteworthy features." He turned back to face her, an impish smile curling his features. "Besides, I wasn't gloomy, I was thinking. I was just really focused on it. Ponies always act like I'm all brooding and unfriendly when I get all contemplative." He gave a helpless little shrug. "Meh, buck 'em. I've got friends enough. Like you." His smile was once again warm and genuine, just like that night looking up at the stars.

She watched him for a minute before turning and clearing her throat, "Ahem. A-anyway..." she muttered, shaking her head as she felt her cheeks warm up, "We should go get clearance from our feathered friends.. If we do then we can stay there tonight and both of us can sleep at the same time. They torch just about anything hostile. The only thing we'd really have to worry about is a dragon, but not many are around this area this time of year."

She walked ahead of him, stretching her good wing and wincing when the other tried to do the same. Geez.. Had she broken it? Really? She groaned at the thought of being grounded for a month though she did not regret coming on the trip. She had made a good friend.

Noticing her wince of pain, old training bubbled into his thoughts. "Hey, hold still for a sec." She looked at him quizzically, but acquiesced. "Now I figured I'll give you the heads up before I do anything. I'm going to give your wing a look over and check it with my magic. Healing spells are definitely not my forte, but I still had to learn the basics of it along with traditional field aid." She could feel her wing tingle as he slowly extended his aura around it.

She gently removed the bandages from it to let him look at it, biting her bottom lip and wincing as he extended it to check it, "O-ow.." She muttered, her ears flicking back as she looked around the area. It was... strangely peaceful. Maybe they were closer than she expected? Most of the other animals tended to avoid this area when the birds were nesting so it felt both weird and how it should be. But why did she get a weird feeling in the pit of her stomach just standing here..?

Suddenly her ears shot up before she flipped around him and pinned him to the ground, wincing a bit as a large fireball shot past them overhead. As it passed over she panted softly, her eyes closed as she quickly flapped her wings, despite the pain in both of them now before she rolled off of him and slammed them into the ground, the pain growing as the flames dispersed.

She didn't have a lot of time before the next fireball shot out so she pulled the gem from her pack and offered it to him, "Levitate it into the sunlight!" she ordered, heaving the stallion back onto his feet with her shoulder, "Quickly!"

Confused by the sudden change in atmosphere, his mind hesitated for a moment, but his body did not, his horn catching the gem in his magic and lifting it up. A beam of sunlight pierced the canopy and ignited the crystal with brilliant light, a beacon for anything that looked their way. Not hearing the sound of impending immolation, he extended his magic further into his bags to prepare a few of the items he had brought with him for the inevitable encounter, all the while keeping the fire ruby aloft.

After a few minutes a very large flame colored bird landed in front of them, it's yellow eyes scanning over them before it spread it's wings with a loud screech. Twisted flinched a bit but bowed her head as it left, a relieved and pained sigh escaping her lungs before she looked at him, "He's allowed us to stay," she said softly as she started walking ahead of him. "Please keep it levitated until we find a place to camp. The others need to know we have clearance," she spoke softly.

He nodded his accord, soft rustling coming from his bag as he shifted items around and mentally checked off his list of preparations. They moved some distance away, the fire ruby floating from sunbeam to sunbeam to signal their intent and safe passage. Eventually, a suitable clearing for camping presented itself and they began setting up camp.

Vermillion levitated out a relatively long cord and set about tying the fire ruby it in, the tied to other end to a bough that extended over their heads, letting the crystal hang above them in the sun. Now that he could focus on other tasks, he immediately set about securing firewood. Phoenixes were comfortable around a healthy fire, so first step would be to make one to just the right size. The notes of his pre-trip research floated along next to him as he searched the nearby brush for suitable fuel.

She watched him leave as she set out her blanket and started making a shelter above it, trying to move her wings as little as possible, the feathers falling to the ground around her, charred and damaged. She sighed softly; this trip was fun even with the injuries. She had never been brave enough to come out here to this area around mating season alone.

After setting up camp and building a fire pit for his firewood she laid down on the blanket, using the other one she had as a pillow and closed her eyes. Today was exhausting and painful. Just another camping trip, she mused. She chuckled slightly as she heard his hoofbeats heading back just before she finally drifted to sleep.

He quickly set about building a fire of the perfect size. He had carefully chosen wood that would burn sweet smoke. The smell would appease their senses, and the fire would make them feel more at home. The fire ruby was the icing on the cake, although he still had one more card to play when the time came.

He finally got the first pieces arrayed and lit his horn, a jet of blue-white flame jumping from the tip of his horn into the bit and starting the fire. He laid out the extra firewood a short distance away, and carefully tended the growing fire. As he worked, he spared glanced towards Twisted where she rested.

As soon as he was satisfied that the fire would burn merrily without him, he made his way quietly over to Twisted. Without touching her, he extended his magic across her wings, a murmur escaping her lips. He paused for a moment to let her settle before resuming. There was some pretty severe bruising, and a bone or two might have cracked, but there was no significant break as far as he could tell. He quietly sat on his haunches next to her and prepared for the tricky part.

The combat medicine he had learned was mostly the kind pegasi and earth ponies used. Knitting together damaged flesh and bone was something very few unicorns had the fine control to learn, let alone master. He had, however, used his love of reading and experience with research to study alternatives. One such method relied less on conscious magical precision and more on the mental state of the caster. He tapped his years of experimenting with meditation and slowly lulled himself into a zen state of listlessness, birdsong fading to the back of his consciousness as he focused on the steady, inaudible thrum of energy in his mind and horn. It was like getting lost in reading. It would not truly heal injury, but as he let his mind find harmony it suffused his magic, and thus her wing. It brought a warm, comfortable numbness, like those moments as the mind awakens in the morning, and triggered the natural healing of the body.

He spent over a dozen minutes simply sitting there, holding the magic and letting energy flow from his core, through his horn, and into her wing. After roughly twenty minutes had ticked by, he sighed and slowly and smoothly stopped the flow of magic as he exhaled a deep breath. He felt almost bone tired now, the previous day's exertions and his abuse of magic over the past couple days leaving him weary. A quick rifle through his pack found a peppermint in his mouth, and after tending the fire for a few moments, he laid out his blanked and folded his scarf into a pillow, laying himself down facing the fire, and let his mind wander as he watched the dancing flames.

It didn't take long for the sun to completely set, the ruby above them glowing faintly from the firelight below. The forest was calm and mostly quiet aside from the cooing of the birds above them and the rustling of branches, peaceful for once.

Twisted stirred just after sunset, yawning a bit as she opened her eyes and looked around drowsily, "Mmn... where..?" She muttered before her memory came back and she laid her head back down on her "pillow" and looked over at him, "Hey there..."

Having fallen into a light field sleep, he woke as soon as he heard her voice, offering her a yawn in reply. "Hey, how's your wing feeling?" He shuffled over to the fire and tended the dying embers, stoking them and adding fresh sticks to keep it burning. No sign of a phoenix yet, but it was getting pretty dark, so they were likely getting to sleep.

"It feels a bit better. The burns aches a bit but nothing to be done about that till we get home." She yawned in return of his yawn, burying her head into the blanket with a small groan, "Ughhh." She grumbled, shuffling over to her bag and grabbing a couple apples, tossing him one, then two. She looked up into the trees as she took a bite from her own, smiling a bit as a streak of fire flew across from one tree to the other, "Pretty birds."

He glanced upwards and caught sight of one as it swooped from tree to tree. Well, maybe they were not asleep quite yet. His eyes reflected the embers that trailed in its wake, serene wonder written on his contented features. "So how exactly do we convince them to come down to us?" he asked as he levitated a small foil pouch from his saddlebags and placed it near the fire. "I have a feeling they're rather picky about the company they keep. Are they even going to be awake for much longer?" He took a bite from one of the apples, eliciting a satisfied hum at the refreshing taste.

She looked over at him and smiled, "Well the fire was a good start," she replied, sighing in contentment as she watched a few of the other birds do the same as the one before, "and they like to eat flame poppies." She looked over at him before glancing around their campsite. No such luck. "Well..." She paused for a minute, thinking it through, "We could probably find some around here if you can use your horn as a light."

He gave her a conspiratorial grin as he shook the foil container. "Flame poppy seeds. I did a bit of research ahead of time." He cracked it open and faint wisps of smoke curled upwards. "These came from ember poppies in Canterlot. They're a domestic breed. Earth ponies grow them and unicorns nurture the seeds and cause them to bloom. A bit of spellfire should get the seeds right where they like 'em."

Twisted smirked a bit. "Then why ask?" She stuck her tongue out at him before looking over her wings. There were minor burns but the bruises and the cracking noise were gone. The only thing left was preening. She frowned. She hated doing that.

"Hey, I did my research, but I figured you have more experience. Should we try to do something now or wait until morning? I know most birds are morning critters, but maybe they like long nights and sleeping in like me." He laid back down dramatically to emphasize his point.

Twisted smirked a bit as she watched the birds move from tree to tree before everything settled down. He was probably right. Not to mention the off chance they get angry with them for waking them even if it is to feed. "Morning would probably be best. After all, Celestia has one. I gotta assume they're daytime birds." she chuckled as she relaxed on her blanket and idly began preening her charred feathers, sighing softly at the tedious work, "Well, looks like I won't be flying anytime soon but... It's not burned off at least?"

"Well, if something comes up on the way back, we'll be ready this time." He gave her a confident smirk. "In the mean time, we should probably get our sleep while we can. We'll want our energy up for the return trip." He shifted a few pieces of wood around in the fire and placed a few more on. "I'll make sure the fire isn't a problem. I'll tend it when I get up some time for a whiz later tonight." With that he rolled over, stretched, and got comfortable. "Rest easy, Twisted."

She now had plenty of time to herself to preen and take in their adventure up to this point, her thoughts accompanied by the occasional phoenix call and flash of fire overhead.

She yawned, picking the damaged feathers from her wings before settling in for the night. She watched the flames dance in front of her, almost calmed by them as she closed her eyes. What a trip this had been. She finally told somepony about her parents and he was a royal guard no less! But she did not feel scared of going back. He could have sent a message to his superiors and she would not have even noticed, though... An uneasy feeling settled in her stomach. Had he? She would not have blamed him if he had. He was laying around a campfire with a murderer.

She flinched as the word passed her thoughts. Murderer. Why couldn't she just rationalize it was the thing around her neck's fault? The cursed object glinted in the firelight as she opened her eyes to look at it. Why had she picked it up? She could have left it alone, maybe fallen in love and lived a long and beautiful life with her parents, but no. She had to be the curious little brat she always had been.

She remembered finding it. It looked so cool to her. Even when she got bullied for wearing it every day on top of her already usual beatings for her eyes and oversized bandana. She could not help how she was born so why did it matter to anypony else? She frowned, closing her eyes tight as she felt the anxiety boil in the back of her mind. No. Not now. Not tonight. She took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, feeling the shiver slowly die down as she relaxed herself. Why were her emotions tied to the damn thing?

It was some time into the night when her thoughts were interrupted by a yawn. Vermillion groggily rose and wandered off into the brush nearby, and after the trickling noise had stopped he sauntered back over to the fire and added bits of wood, tending it and making sure it was still burning merrily. He glanced over to check on Twisted and noted that she was still awake, staring listlessly into the fire.

"Hey, I thought I told you to get some sleep." She did not immediately respond. "Well," he said, looking up, "judging by the canopy you weren't up stargazing, so you must have been up thinking, and I've seen that broody expression on my own mug enough to know that something's eating you." He made his way over to her, levitating his belongings over so they rested side by side facing the fire. "What's on your mind? Bit for your thoughts," he added with a grin.

Twisted jumped a bit when she heard him settle next to her, her eyes moving from the fire to him before she smiled a bit, replying, "Sorry... I kinda got lost." She shook her head as she stared at the fire again."Ya know..." she started, biting her lip as she paused, unsure whether or not to share.

Eh... Buck it. A little late to be sparing the details.

"...I didn't tell anypony about that," she said softly, her eyes falling to watch the ground. "I just wonder if I should have kept it to myself or not." she glanced at him to see his reaction, a soft sigh crossing through her lips. "I know you're royal guard... That has to be bugging you."

He paused for a moment. In truth, it had kind of bothered him a little, but he had anticipated something like this happening, so he had reached back to a fond memory and drew upon the strength someone special had granted him a long time ago.

"Well..." he began, "that's true I suppose. Plus I'm still a little foggy on the details. That being said." He abruptly stood, moving to stand between her and the fire. In a flash, his sword was out of its sheath and floating next to him. He saw a brief flash of gold in response, but pressed on. With a flourish, he brought the blade tip-down into the earth, firmly planting the sword vertically before him as he snapped to attention, eyes on the distant horizon.

"On my blade and my honor as a guard, I give you my oath. For your aid in my quest and your displays of valor, from this day forth you may always count me as both ally," he paused, his gaze meeting hers and his voice softening, "and friend. May you strike me down with my blade should I lie," he finished somberly, but with a smile.

Twisted stared up at him, feeling her face get hot before she coughed, clearing her throat and looking to the side, "W-Well... I... Uh..." she stammered, not really sure how to respond to such a claim. What the buck was she supposed to say? She buried her blushing red face into her blanket, whining a bit as her wings folded around her.

Yup. She cloistered.

Oh. Oh man. This is priceless. He had been as genuine as possible, but now she was all flustered. It was too cute!

He chided himself internally. This was not helping sort things out, amusing as it was. So he resumed his usual demeanor and plopped back down next to her, sword still planted before her. He could count the number of true oaths he had made in his life on his hooves, so to say he meant it would be an understatement. Now, he just had to give her time to figure it out.

"Now that that's out of the way, I'm pretty sure you know where I stand." Being cheeky never gets old.

She looked over at him through what remained of her feathers, pouting a bit. "Y-Yeah... But... If Celestia f-found out..?" She mumbled into her hooves, still avoiding his eyes. She still struggled to speak properly. He found that spot that just stopped her voice. Such a claim was new to her and she still could not work through it very well. Even coming from an aristocratic upbringing, no pony had spoken to her like that before.

"We'll cross that bridge if we come to it. Besides, I like to think I'm a decent judge of character, and you're somepony I'd like to keep around if I can. I only met her once when I finished training, but she didn't strike me as the type to just throw ponies away." He paused to let his words sink in.

"Besides, she was happy to help her sister after she tried to plunge the whole world into eternal darkness and started a war! Come on now, really. Plus she's probably very familiar with obscure magic. Actually, doesn't Princess Twilight Sparkle live in Ponyville? She's Her Highness's student and an expert on magic to boot. Guard rumor mill said she tangled with some big bad in the Crystal Empire a while back, lots of dark magic involved." He stopped to gather his thoughts again. "I guess I'm rambling now," he finished as he rubbed a hoof on the back of his head.

She smiled softly, shaking her head, "The princess... is looking into it but I couldn't tell her everything. I was scared." She paused, touching the object tentatively, "Besides, even Dissy doesn't quite know how to fix it." She sighed, pulling it to her chest as she reflected on what her friend had told her, "Something like... While this is from his era he doesn't exactly remember where it came from or what it was used for."

A few minutes of contemplation passed before she yawned softly, the sleeplessness leaving her as she closed her eyes and gently leaned on him, "Thanks," she mumbled, settling in for the night as she quickly drifted off against her trusted companion.

He stiffened a bit at the contact, feeling the heat rise across his muzzle, before he simply rolled his eyes and smiled, settling in himself to enjoy the rest of the night. He watched the flames lick up towards the canopy. He had always had a bit of a thing for fire, and the swirling patterns lulled him back to sleep, resting against Twisted as she rested against him. He looked over her one more time, briefly watching her rest peacefully for the first time since their departure, then decided he should be joining her and laid his head down, eyes sliding closed. The night continued on, the sounds of insects and the spitting of roasting timber the lullaby of the outdoors.

4: Return to Ponyville

As the sun began to peek through the canopy once more, Vermillion blearily awoke, lifting his head up and rubbing the sleep from his eyes with a free hoof. The fire was burning quite low, so he added the last few bits of gathered wood to build it back up. A touch of spellfire did the rest. Seeing Twisted still sleeping, he decided to stay put and let her rest. This is when being a unicorn really came in handy.

His magic reached out and began collecting the supplies for breakfast. A pot was soon filled with water from his canteens, and within a few minutes a pot of oatmeal was bubbling merrily over the fire. He idly cored and sliced several apples to add to it as he felt his companion begin to stir.

Twisted yawned, her eyes opening drowsily as she stretched out against him only to look up at him, her eyes widening and a hot feeling rushing to her cheeks, "O-Oh!" She jumped a bit and inched away from him, rubbing the back of her head as she gathered herself together. She looked back up at him and chuckled nervously, "M-Morning... sorry about last night. I must have been more tired than I thought."

Vermillion laughed softly and dropped the apple slices into the oatmeal, stirring the pot slowly as it finished cooking. "Hey, no worries. I was plenty comfy too, you know." He winked at her as he levitated a couple tins to the pot and filled them with hot oatmeal, then placed one in front of each of them. "Hopefully you got the sleep you needed. Today's the day we finally ask for what we came for." He looked up and spotted a couple splashes of crimson amid the green of the canopy, grinning in anticipation of what was to come. He levitated a couple spoons over and proceeded to tuck into his oatmeal, nearly burning his tongue with the still hot meal. "Ahhh! Ah hot, hot..." he hissed, offering a sheepish grin.

Twisted blinked, her expression blank as she stared at him and his burnt tongue before she burst out laughing, covering her mouth with her hoof. "Geez, ya think?" she teased, blowing on a spoonful of her own oatmeal and slowly putting it into her mouth to make sure not to burn her taste buds off. "You'd think you'd wanna taste it, right?" She chuckled, looking up at the stirring birds above them. Today would be a fun day indeed.

Vermillion stuck out his tongue at her, more red than usual thanks to its unfortunate encounter with his meal, before he returned to eating. After they had finished, he used the last of his water to clean out the tins and pot before stowing them again and pulling out several items for the day. He checked the poppy seeds he had left next to the fire, and found them perfectly ripened by the heat. Out of his saddlebags came a small rectangular box. He did not want anything untoward happening to the feather once he got it.

"We'll need to grab some more water before we make the trip back," he called over his shoulder. "But in the meantime, where do we start?"

Twisted helped pack up, removing the ruby from the ensnarement he had made for it and offering it to him, "We'll need this." She said softly before pulling the saddle bags back onto her back, a few complications due to her wings but in the end they did not hurt as much as they had.

She led him back to the trail and headed deeper into the forest "We need to find.. The center!" she exclaimed happily, stopping in the middle where there were small fires lit everywhere, damaged feathers and ashes piled everywhere as she turned to look at him, "This is usually where they molt, die, and rebirth so we should be able to find a feather you're looking for somewhere in here. If not, we use the seeds and hope they work. If any of them come near us, give them some."

Vermillion nodded and, once his saddlebags were secured across his back, he followed her over towards the molting grounds. They moved from ash pile to ash pile, but all he found were bits of feather consumed by the magical flames of their rebirth. "For an eternal bird, they sure make it hard to find an intact feather..." He continued to search for some time until he heard a call from a nearby tree and spotted a phoenix eyeing them. Could a bird like that even look suspicious? He had a feeling they were rather intelligent. He could not imagine Princess Celestia would keep anything less than something clever as her private company. It was when a more slender but slightly taller bird alighted next to the first that he recognized a mated pair. The mother was evidently getting ready to lay her eggs soon. He looked around and spotted the nest in the tree he was under, then looked back and saw the male slowly spreading his wings with less than friendly body language. "Uhhh, Twisted...?"

Twisted turned, "What is it-" she paused, following his gaze before her eyes widened, "Raise the ruby up slowly and back up. Offer some seeds as you do so," she said softly, taking a few steps away from the nest. "If he accepts them we should be okay. If not... We need to run. Fast." She spoke smoothly, an unnatural, calming feeling passing over him as she backed up against a tree, a shiver going up her spine. Shit. She looked up at the bird, bowing her head deeply, lowering her wings to touch the ground, "We mean you no harm," she started, forcing the trembling down so her body would not shake. "We're merely looking for a feather from one of you generous and gorgeous birds." She had no idea if this and their offering would help but... She had to try right? It was not exactly easy to get through the thick foliage quickly.

Vermillion slowly levitated over the fire ruby, gently spinning it in a beam of light. He had been hoping for a moment with a phoenix, but not like this. Even so, he had thoroughly prepared. As the ruby gleamed, the birds paused. As they did, he began to hum.

His horn glowed as he wove a subtle spell. It was a simple trick, a narrator's specialty. He tuned his voice to be melodic and smooth, and the notes of a lullaby his grandmother once sung to him floated out across the clearing, the magic making the soft notes reach far through the woods. Then he lit his horn with a soft blue flame, letting it trail down the front in slowly waving arcs of cerulean. He waited for the birds to make a move as he continued to hum, his focus entirely on maintaining his multiple spells and serenading the phoenixes.

Twisted looked over at him with a small smile, looking up at the birds above slowly lowering their wings and just watching them with their golden eyes. She turned to him before looking up at at the birds, "If you wouldn't mind... Would you be willing to give my musical friend a singular feather..?" she asked softly, her ears perked forwards as she watched them.

The male cocked his head to the side before smoothly spreading his wings and gliding down. Deep in concentration, Vermillion barely acknowledged the sudden addition of weight on his horn as he finished the lullaby. As he let the vocal spell fade and opened his eyes, he found his head slightly bowed. His mouth twisted into a wry grin as he floated the poppy seeds over and proffered them to the phoenix perched on his near horizontal horn. His eyes almost crossed as he looked up at the creature, which was enjoying the warmth of the fire spell as he kept the flame low and warm. To an onlooker, it was rather comical.

Twisted chuckled softly as the male landed on his horn, bowing her head as the female made her head a perch as well, squawking askance of the strange ponies intruding on their home while the male sampled the seeds with a pleased trill.She smiled and gently moved a little closer to Vermillion and her mate so she might enjoy some warmth and seeds, still grateful she had not set her mane on fire at this point.

The two ponies stood side by side with the two love birds atop their heads, enjoying the magical flames and the seeds before the two looked at her, cocking their heads again. Twisted looked up at them shyly. "We're just looking for a feather and we'll be on our way. If that's okay?"

The male squawked again, this time leaning around and preening for a moment before returning with a feather in his beak. Vermillion's eyes lit up, and he only just managed to reign in his emotions so he would not startle the birds. "Thank you very much. This means quite a lot to me." The female trilled before grabbing the foil package of seeds and flying back up to their tree, the male making a quick nip against Vermillion's horn before taking off and swooping up to join his mate. The unicorn watched them go with wonder in his eyes. After a moment he realized he had spent several minutes simply staring up at the birds as they worked on their nest, and he turned to his companion with a goofy grin. He tried to resist, but the urge overwhelmed him and he pumped his hoof victoriously.

"Mission accomplished!"

Twisted smirked and nudged him towards the "exit" so they would leave the birds to their nest, giving a soft nod and a thank you to the birds as they left. After getting back on the path she chuckled. "Well that was fun." She looked over at him and laughed again, his eyes fixated on the feather he was gifted, "I'm glad he gave that to you. Finding non-burned ones are extremely rare and would have taken days." She looked ahead as she stretched out her wings, a few down feathers coming now. Thank Celestia for her quick healing.

She reflected on their trip so far, looking up at the canopy above them before a twinge of sadness crossed her face. It was over. By tomorrow, at the latest, she'd be back home and going to work her multiple jobs again. She sighed softly and shook her head, glancing over her shoulder. And her new friend would be going back to Canterlot.

Vermillion carefully stored the newly acquired feather in a wooden case purchased for just this purpose and stored it securely in his bags. He trotted up next to his companion as they made their way from the grove and back the way he came. "Thanks so much for helping me out, Twisted. I couldn't have made this trip without you. You've got to let me pay you back somehow when we get back to Ponyville." He had an irascible smile on his face that told her he would not be swayed.

Twisted blinked, taking a step away from him in her stride before laughing, returning to her original place, "Well.." She paused, thinking it over before grinning, "How about you take me for a proper dinner? Not just apples and oatmeal, eh?" She stuck her tongue out at him, the sun still pretty high in the sky. We may even make it back to town today.

The unicorn returned the laugh and eagerly nodded his agreement. "Absolutely! Best thing after a trip like this is a proper hot dinner." He practically skipped along for a moment at the thought. "If there's one thing that always warms my heart, and gut, it's food! Have any place in mind?"

Twisted thought quite hard on her meal before sighing, "Honestly. What I want is gonna make you laugh at me." She replied, a soft blush on her cheeks as she play-pouted at him. She had the opportunity to make him take her out to a fancy-shmancy restaurant on the royal guard's dime and that was what she wanted? She was almost disappointed in herself... Almost.

"You obviously have never seen me devour the peanut butter, jelly, and waffle sandwich supreme I invented a while back when we were bored during training." He let his expression become wistful. "Ah... that was one of the best food comas ever," he finished with a sigh. "Seriously, I'm up for whatever. I've never been one for fancy food, and I've never shied away from the value menu at Hayburger," he harumphed as his tongue poked out at her.

"Then a hayburger it is!" She grinned, trotting ahead of him, "Come on! We can break the forest edge if we hurry!" she already had a distance advantage as she took off, happy they accomplished their goal and almost excited to have a companion to go to a nice, hot dinner, and then, if he wanted, relaxing at home.

The return trip to Ponyville was rather uneventful. They made much better time with the predators watching warily from the shadows. In broad daylight and in the presence of ponies who had already demonstrated they were not to be trifled with, their courage was severely lacking. The two had absolutely no problems with this situation as it stood.

As they finally caught sight of a familiar house in the middle of the Everfree, Vermillion realized that their escapade was over. He rather did not like that.I mean, food would be nice, but I still have another couple weeks left before I have to be back in Canterlot. His vacation was not over yet, so...

"Hey, quick question for you. Where's the cheapest place to stay in Ponyville? I expected my search for the feather to be a whole hay of a lot longer, so I still have a couple weeks to burn. Got any ideas how I should spend it, or who with?" Well, so much for subtlety. Oh well, that had never been his thing anyway.

Twisted looked over at him as they got to her house and she unlocked the door, "Well..." She smirked a bit at his "subtlety" as she let him in so they could unwind before dinner. "I have that extra room so if you want you could stay there. Hay, if you want, you could "pay" me for your room like you would at an inn, I guarantee I'm cheaper." She teased, lugging the saddlebag off her back and sprawling out across her couch, a few vertebrae in her spine popping loudly, "Awww..."

Vermillion winced at the sound of popping joints, before he stretched as well and found a few that were close, if not quite, as sickening to hear. "Well, I'm hoping I can find some other ways to be useful around here, but in this town? I can’t think of a place I'd rather be." He paused for a moment. "Well, after we get this trip to Hayburger in order. C'mon, c'mon! Let's go! We have all of tomorrow to rest up, and Hayburger closes in an hour!" He trotted in place impatiently, his childish behavior triggering a laughing fit in the pegasus, ending with a short snort. He evidently either did not notice, or paid it no heed, his hooves still prancing in place as he dumped his saddlebags and grabbed his bit pouch, tucking it into his scarf. Where he had gotten all this energy, she could only guess.

Twisted used her wings to push off from the couch, smirking a bit as she passed him and opened the door, "Alright, alright!" She laughed, adjusting her bandana before following him out the door and down the path towards town. It was a simple matter of ordering their food and grabbing a table.

"Sweet Celestia, I needed this." She grinned, taking a sip of her soda as they waited for their order, almost snickering to herself at his bewildered expression. Guess mares ate daintily in Canterlot. She had ordered two burgers, a large combo, and a side of pie. She assumed most mares on a "date" would get a salad instead.

She did not consider it a date, but everypony around them sure did. Giving a wink and a snicker as they noticed a rather handsome unicorn with the town freak. "A pity date probably," she heard a mare say before she sighed and watched the ground, sipping on her straw.

She knew a few ponies in town and very few were kind to her. Most of them got their laughs at trying to mess her up on the job, though she would never hold it against them. She just wanted harmony, and if that's what it took then she would put up with it.

The mare that made the comment was making her way to her seat with a snide smile on her face. The smile was quickly replaced with a variety of condiments as she tripped and upended her tray over herself, landing face-first in her hoity-toity little salad. Across the table from Ribbon, Vermillion sat with a nonchalant expression as he casually devoured one of his three hayburgers, but she caught the faintest glimmer of blue around his horn for the briefest moment. He simply offered her conspiratorial smile and wink.

As he sat though, his face became a bit bewildered again. He had the strangest feeling of deja vu. "Huh. Y'know, this feels really familiar. I mean, I'm not complaining, it's always great when somepony feels like they've always been your friend but... Eh. Whatever. I'm just being weird, I guess," he offered with a comical expression and cheesy grin. He had the faintest beginnings of a headache. The trip must have taken more out of him than he thought.

She gave him a scolding look before a small smile crawled across her lips and she took a few fries and popped them in her mouth, "Mmn.." She tilted her head at his comment before nodding. This was familiar. She just could not put her hoof on it. "I dunno.. You take the freak of the town out for dinner often?" She teased, her multicolored eyes looking up at him as she drank her drink again.

"So uhm, Vermillion..." she started. If she was gonna be friends with him she might as well get to know him better. "You grow up in Canterlot?" She bit into her own burger as she thought back to her own time in Canterlot.

He gave her an exaggerated but genuine frown at the freak comment, but opted to answer her question instead of touch upon it. "Yeah I did. Went to school there as well. My dad was from Baltimare, though." He absentmindedly munched on a bunch of hayfries between sentences. He decided to come back to her comment. "And freaks are the kinds of creatures the guard keep away from ponies. You? You're just unique. I remember this filly back in school who had eyes a lot... like yours..." His brow furrowed and he seemed to stare at her, or rather through her, for nearly half a minute before shaking his head. "Man, my head is all kinds of jumbled. I'll be knocking out hard tonight, I guess. But first!" He leapt from his seat before Twisted could comment, and stood in line at the counter for a couple minutes, then returned with a pair of milkshakes. "One strawberry and one chocolate. Your choice which you want. I like 'em both," he offered with a bright smile.

Twisted blinked before laughing, taking the chocolate happily, "Thanks so much!" she grinned, taking a sip before quickly removing the lid and using the straw to get the whipped cream out of the top of her drink. After a few minutes of fishing it out and sticking the straw in her mouth she looked up at him, blushing a bit before giving a small laugh, "S-sorry.. It's my favorite part and I can't save it."

She glanced around the room before getting out of her seat, saying, "Hey, let's head home. The sun is going down." She threw out her trash and kept the shake with her wing as she waited for him at the doorway

He snickered a little at her antics, but nodded and gestured for her to take the lead. After disposing of what was left of their trash, he followed her out and into the streets of Ponyville. he noticed a few looks shot their way by townsponies, a number of which were less than flattering towards her. He stared a few of them down, and none could hold his firm gaze for long. However, just as many were friendly, and he gave a smile and wave to each of those. Any time he saw anything pink, he felt his hair stand on end until he confirmed it was not the party pony he met on Friday. He could seriously go without another party for some time.

Eventually they were once again alone walking along the path into the Everfree. It seemed more comfortable to him now that it was familiar, and he felt at ease with his companion. It was astonishing how quickly they had bonded over their little trip, but that's always how it seemed with the best of his friends. It was like he already knew her. That thought lingered for a bit before the slurping noise from his cup indicated he had hit the end of his shake as they reached her door. "Ponyfeathers. That was a good shake." His sweet tooth heartily concurred.

Twisted yawned a bit, glancing back at him before chuckling at his comment, "Yeah, it really hit the spot, didn't it?" She smiled and looked forward before she suddenly stopped in her tracks. She almost groaned as she turned to Vermillion, blocking his view of the house as she gave a nervous smile, "H-Hey... Maybe we should stick around town tonight?" Her sudden change and nervous behavior was totally not suspicious at all. Nope.

"Now my dear, how rude." A sultry voice spoke seemingly out of nowhere, until a small creature popped out of her mane, startling the both of them before he saw it in it's entirety. The head of a pony, the arm of a lion, the claw of an eagle, the leg of a dragon, and the leg of a goat with a pegasus wing and a bat wing pointing out of either side of him, a sly expression on his little face...

Buck.

5: Headaches

Vermillion's face darkened much like it had in the woods. Memories bubbled through his head of a very, very unpleasant day in the barracks some time ago when the creature before him had been freed and decided the whole facility was "so very dull." The guards had not much liked his new designs for it or them.

However, he breathed in deeply and let out a long breath to avoid the futile attempt at punching the draconequus in his smug jaw, because with the thing's magic he was probably bound to miss and hit Twisted instead.

"To what do we owe your visit? Discord, I presume?" His horn fizzled slightly as he restrained the impulse to blast something with a burst of raw magic.

Twisted had taken a few steps from him on instinct, her wings folded defensively around her shoulders as the little Discord snapped his clawed fingers, appearing around the unicorn's shoulders and popping a cork on his horn. "Now now, that's rude and very dangerous to my friend here." He snickered at the unicorn's angry reaction before popping back up behind Twisted, pretending to cower behind her. "Gosh you have such violent friends, Twist..."

Twisted sighed, frowning at him as she turned and gave him a stern... glare? It was hard to think the mare could establish anything close to a glare outside of combat, so Discord ended up chuckling at her. "Dissy!" She had fully turned towards him, her muzzle inches from his. "You put his magic back now, please."

The draconequus smirked a bit and snapped again, the cork gone and his usual magic flow coming back. "Oh fine, since you asked nicely." Discord then looked over at him, a puzzled look on his face before a wide grin replaced it, "Since you don't seem to like me, I assume we've met. Before my ‘reformed’ times I guess?" He had physically put quotation marks in the air, batting them around with his claws. "But! As you can see I'm a new pony who only wants what my dear friend here wants."

Twisted looked back at him as he entertained himself with her mane, having gone back into it, whether it was for protection or wanting to be in there she did not know. She looked back up at Vermillion quietly, giving a small apologetic smile. "Sorry. He wasn't supposed to come by."

Vermillion rubbed the bridge of his nose firmly between his forehooves as he fought back the headache he could feel coming on. "I had heard he had been freed and ‘reformed,' but this is still going to take some getting used to. How exactly are we going to settle things?" Discord made a 'Who, me?' gesture as he toyed with Twisted's mane. "You know exactly what I'm talking about. It took me months to sort it all out and piece my story together again after you were through with it. Not to mention getting all that syrup off of my armor. And we had to replace the entire armory after you turned our swords into balloons and made us fight to exhaustion with them!" He stamped a hoof, the edge to his anger bleeding away. He tilted his head forward to his mane hid his eyes. "And you read my story to everypony... and they all..." His voice grew quiet. "Why?"

"Dissy!" Twisted frowned at him before her concerned eyes looked over at her friend, "Vermillion, I know it's hard to forgive him, especially with his past-" "Hey!" Discord grumbled, the grey mare shooting him a look before he shut up and she could continue, "But... Everypony deserves a second chance... Right?" She cautiously and gently put a hoof on his shoulder before looking over at Discord, her eyes stern but kind. "Now Dissy..." She paused, moving next to the stallion to try to keep him calm. "You owe my friend an apology, don't you think?"

The draconequus shifted stubbornly on his feet, rubbing the back of his long neck as he met Twisted's eyes, a heavy sigh escaping his lips as he offered a claw to the stallion next to her. "I'm very sorry for my actions in the past." He said, feeling like a five year old who had shoved some other pony over during playtime. Despite his childish demeanor he seemed genuine, keeping his claw out as he waited for the unicorn to react, half expecting him to bite it off.

Twisted turned to Vermillion, her wing now gently slung over his back like she had done at their camp, her eyes soft as she looked at his face. "He can't reverse what happened. But he is sorry. He knows friendship now. And as cheesy as that all is, Princess Twilight is right, friendship can help even the more... rambunctious creatures be better, flaws and all." She smiled at Discord, receiving a stubborn and even slightly embarrassed smile back.

Vermillion sniffed strongly once, swiped a foreleg across his eyes quickly, then extended it and shook the offered claw. "Everyone deserves a second chance. Please don't make me regret this." His voice was a little shaky, but he stood tall, breathed deeply, then relaxed as he let it out, looking straight at Discord. "Like my grandad used to say: best way to defeat an enemy is to make him your friend. Can we go inside now? I feel exhausted."

"Dissy I think you should stay with Flutters tonight.." She chuckled at his frown and booped his nose with her hoof. "Oh come on, I know you love her tea parties. I just already have a guest tonight and we'd like to get some sleep after our trip. Please?" She spoke with this creature with such familiarity and friendliness. It was bizarre. Discord, despite his reform, would always be Discord. How could she be friends with him so readily?

Then one could consider Twisted as a whole... She had taken a complete stranger deep into the woods, controlled a nearly uncontrollable magic when it wanted to kill him, and hurt and burned her wings to protect him, a stallion she had met barely three days ago. She followed her special talent well it seemed and it didn't matter who it was or what they did, she accepted them.

"Oh fine..." Discord scowled a bit at the stallion before looking back at Twisted, "Before I go though." He snapped as a large puff of feathers landed on her and he snickered at the pegasus; the feathers were everywhere. "Dissy!" She grumbled as she shook her head, the feathers falling every which way before she noticed what he had really done: her wings had been restored to full plumage. She grinned and hugged him, sticking a few feathers to him. "Thanks Dis. I'll see you tomorrow. Please let me sleep in?" She nudged him as he headed out, and he gave a small wave to Vermillion.

Vermillion returned the wave with a sigh. "Well... if the princesses think he's reformed and he's been loose all this time without me hearing much about it, I suppose it's worth giving the cretin a chance. He's still got a long way to go with me," he stated with finality. "Now, back to the important things. Like getting some feathering sleep. What's the plan, oh gracious host?" he asked with a theatrical bow, smug grin, and wiggle of his eyebrows.

Twisted smirked as she flapped her newly feathered wings and showered him with the extras, "You're welcome to the same accommodations we had before we left. Or you can have your own room to sleep in next to mine. Guest's choice." She chuckled as she opened the door and let him inside, locking the door behind him and began heading upstairs, "And I'm sorry about Dissy. I told him I'd be gone for a week and apparently he forgot or ignored it."

Vermillion snorted at the comment about Discord as he followed her inside. "Dissy, huh? When exactly did you have the opportunity to get all buddy-buddy with the living manifestation of chaos? And I, uh, I think I might take you up on those previous accommodations," he finished, clearing his throat slightly. "I'm not one to turn down such a generous offer." He smiled only slightly, but even one so small was sly.

Twisted stopped, a hoof on the doorknob of her room before she gave a small smile, "Well... He kinda found me." She chuckled softly as she let him in and walked to the bathroom, "You get first dibs on the shower. Towels are in the cabinet next to the bath." She paused, watching his expression. "I'll explain after we're all clean and ready for bed, okay?"

He paused for a moment to consider, then gave a shrug and nod. They could talk their way to sleep, it would be kinda nice, he thought. He proceeded upstairs, a towel trailing along in his magic as he passed it and stepped into the shower, twisting the tap on with a flick of energy and floating the soap over to him as the water came down with almost scalding heat. Oh yeah, that's the stuff, he mused as the water cascaded over him and soaked his mane. It dangled down the side of his head as he simply rinsed under the spray and let himself soak, the sweat and grime gradually rinsing away.

After a couple of minutes simply enjoying the luxury of civilization, he put the soap to work and scrubbed away the last of the dirt he had collected on the road. He slicked back his mane and stretched, muscles shifting as he flexed. He would definitely be sore tomorrow, but, as he imagined the phoenix feather safe in its box, he decided it was totally worth it. He toweled off his body before stepping out of the shower, draining the majority of the water from his mane. It still hung wet as he exited the bathroom and noticed Twisted on her way to replace him. He flashed her a grin as she passed, blowing a few errant strands of his wet mane out of his eyes.

She tilted her head with a sly smirk on her lips as she passed, flicking her tail at him and his cheesy grin as she shut the door behind herself. He had been a total flirt this entire trip; she had to get in on the fun too. She turned the water on but stood in front of her bathroom mirror for a bit, testing out her new feathers before she looked down at the relic she could not get rid of, a soft sigh escaping her lungs. Why did this have to be her? Scared of making new friends for the fear of hurting them? Dissy could handle himself against this thing. He was the god of chaos after all but... She was not so sure if it came down to it that the unicorn in the other room would be able to handle changing from friend to foe if she...

After about half an hour the water stopped and she wrapped the towel around herself, drying her coat gently before moving to her mane, leaving it down and wet around her face as she grumbled about having to sit down and dry her tail to keep it from tangling. She had thought about cutting it time and time again, but she loved it like this. Extra work and all. When she came out her mane and tail were damp, her wings up, flapping slowly to help dry them off.

"Welcome to the paradise of the freshly showered." A quick glace located the stallion lounging lazily on her bed, looking up through the skylight. She could just make out the lazy smirk on his face. He turned his head to face her. "Hm... I think I pull off the wet mane better."

"Oh shush." she replied sarcastically, climbing up on her side and turning out the lights. She slowly laid out and closed her eyes, the trip had taken more out of her than she had realized. "To continue," she started, her eyes still closed, "Dissy found me after this thing," she tapped her hoof on the triangle, "freaked out when some colt hit me. I ran." There had been little said about the accident though. He did remember a couple colts from his class being in the hospital during his school days.

"Hrm. Bastard probably got what was coming to him. I remember standing up to a couple bullies back in school." Now that he thought about it... "That's actually how I earned my cutie mark. Some jackass elite type was bullying a filly at her locker, so I stepped in and told him to step off. He didn't much like that, tried to hit me." His eyes lost focus as he reminisced. "I just sidestepped his swings. He was a terrible fighter. I started telling a story my grandad told me, adding a bit of my own spin to it. How a noble should act, and that if he wouldn't treat the mares right, then a knight would step in to do what honor demands." He chuckled a little. "The more storytelling, the angrier he got, until he finally landed a hit and gave me the right of defense. I had my practice sword in my locker across the hall. I wasn't supposed to have it at school, but hey, I wanted to do some routines after class got out. I whipped it out with my magic and laid him out and left a bit of a dent in one of the lockers."

He glanced over at her for a moment. "It was the only time I ever got detention and it was worth every boring hour there. I spent the time figuring out what my mark meant." He smiled at the memory. "Took me a few years to really get it, but that's just because it's as overdone as I am. A quill for my writing and love of storytelling, that of a phoenix because of my love of fantasy. The sword was both for my talent with a blade, which was way more apparent when I joined the guard, and my desire to protect my friends."

He donned a deep frown. "Why... why can't I remember that filly's name? We were still pretty young, but she was a good friend of mine, I think..." his head had begun to throb slightly. "Man, that headache's coming back. Maybe I'll remember after a good night's sleep.

"Still," he continued, "I was rather looking forward to a bit more of your story, since I shared mine." He gave her a hopeful but patient look.

By the time he looked over at her she was sitting up and looking at him, almost studying him. "That's... not possible," she muttered quietly before she shook her head and put a hoof to her forehead in an attempt to quiet her own headache.

"U-Uhm, yeah sure..." She paused as she slowly laid back down, "After my parents... I went back to school reluctantly. At first ponies pitied me, but rumors spread and they started getting more violent." She paused before looking over at him. "...I got bullied a lot so when I finally struck back... I was scared I had killed them. So I ran. I got lost in forests around Canterlot and Dissy found me. He didn't raise me but he definitely kept me company through the years. So I'm thankful to him for that.

"I always wondered what happened to the ponies I was kind of friends with... One of them lives here but we don't really talk. He's a grump and honestly, I kinda confessed my crush on him so I avoid him like he's contagious." She laughed a bit, shaking her head as she pulled the blanket over herself.

His face took on a somber cast as she told her story, though a niggling portion of his mind was desperately telling him he was missing something important. It was hard to decipher everything that went on in his head when he was tired. When she got to her crush, however, he could not resist a wry grin.

"Oh, you're into the grumpy type, eh? Just wait until morning when you try and get me out of bed. I am notorious among my battle buddies for being unpleasant before the sun is high into the sky. Well, unless I'm well fed or caffeinated, that is." He enjoyed the moment of levity before returning to her story. "Wait... how did Discord raise you? Wasn't he still trapped in stone?"

Twisted looked over at him with a quirked brow, "He couldn't have been. I could have sworn..." She paused for a minute, her head aching viciously, causing her to groan, " No... I... don't know." She whined a little as she covered her eyes with her hooves, the headache settling behind her eyes, "I'm sorry... I think I'm getting everything mixed up. I'm so tired. W-We have all week, right?"

Vermillion felt just as confused as Twisted looked. "I uh, yeah, about a week and a half..." Damn headache. "Yeah, I guess we're at our limit. Those wolves did a number on us, so some sleep should do us some good." He rubbed the bridge of his nose with a hoof. "Man, killer headache. Night, Twisted. Rest easy..." He settled in and fell into a somewhat fitful sleep, vague memories and ghosting images occupying his dreams until a dark, regal mare stilled his roiling mind.

The mare stood before him on his dream plane, her teal eyes bearing into his as she watched him, "Why do you fret so? What stirs your thoughts?" She asked softly, watching his nightmares slowly flow out of sight. She could just as easily check his memories but, she was a just princess of the night. She knew her subjects all had secrets they would prefer to not share with anyone, even if she could help.

Vermillion tilted his head to the side for a moment. "I'm going to go out on a limb and guess I'm dreaming." Receiving a nod in the affirmative, he decided to see where this led him. "No offense, princess, but why are you popping into my head? I'm pretty sure there are other ponies who need you more. I rarely remember my dreams in the morning anyway. I can live with one night of restlessness." He shuffled in place as he realized he should have bowed, saluted, something... "I'd be all formal, princess, but you're kind of hanging out in my head and I'm on vacation, so, yeah... sorry about that. Pretty sure you're past my conscious filters."

The blue mare circled him for a moment. "Worry not. Though you must also realize every one of our subjects matters and you are no different." She turned a bit, her ears twitching before she looked back at him. "So, what troubles you? If nothing else we are a very good sounding board."

Vermillion resisted the urge to fall over guffawing at the absurdity of his dreaming state, but opted for a snicker instead, explaining himself as she raised an eyebrow at him. "Sorry, highness, just figured I'd meet you at some stuffy event for the guard, not in my head. Haven't exactly had the chance to talk to you or any of the princesses, really. The one time I saw your sister was at the end of training." He shook his head slightly. "Oh well. It seems I can't shut my muzzle in here... we're most honest in our dreams it seems. In that case...”

He turned to face her, plopping down on his plot and summoning a bag of chips. "Huh. Neat. Anyway, I met a mare a few days ago that I click with really well, but the more time I spend around her, the stronger this feeling of deja vu gets. I keep feeling like I'm forgetting something really important, like my marefriend's anniversary or my mother's birthday." He scratched a hoof along his jawline idly as he spoke, idly popping chips in his mouth with his magic between sentences. "And to top it all off I've had this on and off pounding headache that started on our way back from our trip out to the phoenix nesting site. It makes it a pain to think, literally, and the harder I try to think through it the worse it gets. I figured a good night of sleep would help, but I guess that can wait until tomorrow night." He shook his head ruefully. "And I probably wouldn't bother anypony with it, but you caught me in the one place I can't say no, huh?" His cheeky grin made it clear he was not upset about the fact. He had always wanted to tease a princess. He just hoped he could get away with it here.

The mare listened to him before chuckling softly. "My, aren't we charming?" she teased back as she manifested a small set of screens that went through his mind as he spoke. "That is the mare, we assume?" she asked, looking over at him as Twisted began cycling through his mind before a smaller version suddenly stopped in the slideshow. "Perhaps this is what you seek?"

Vermillion stared for several moments, his mouth opening and closing soundlessly. "But, wait, how's that... I know those lockers." As he finished, the dreamscape shifted around him, his mind falling into the memory.

He stood in the hallways at his locker, smiling at the wooden practice sword carefully placed in the back where it would be difficult to spot. He was really looking forward to trying out a new technique this afternoon now that he had finally found a new sparring partner. Finding somepony else who loved the sword like he did was actually rather difficult, so he relished the opportunity.

He was drawn from his moment of anticipation by a commotion further down the hall. He turned and recognized one of the popular kids from the upper districts of Canterlot and his cronies surrounding a pegasus filly at her locker. Not this horseapples again.

He trotted over, not even bothering to close his locker as he stepped over to the confrontation. The social elite, a yellow unicorn with a stubby horn, had that one superior sneer (it would be a crime to call it a smile or smirk) that said he thought himself the best and could get whatever he wanted. As he got closer, it turned out what he wanted was his way with the pegasus. That lit a fire in Vermillion's heart. He smiled, though, when she politely turned him down.

The snob didn't like that. The sneer curled into distaste and he could hear the insults beginning as he closed in. "...would want to date you with those hideous eyes anyway? And who styles their mane that way, those colors are horrid." He pushed her into her locker, and the mare yelped and sniffled. She was beginning to mutter nervously. "And what is this piece of garbage around you..." He struck her across the jaw.

"Hey jackoff, pick on someone your own size." The unicorn and his cronies turned to face Vermillion as he made his entrance. "Well, I suppose that's not fair, what with that dinky little stub you call a horn," Vermillion finished with a sharp grin. The unicorn was furious.

"Stay out of this, commoner. This is none of your business."

"Like hay it's not. You alright, TR?" He could barely make out her nodding. "I'll handle these guys." He returned his attention to the stallions, who had formed a wall between him and the mare. "Let me tell you a little story, you self-entitled creeps.

"Before unification, there was a fair pegasus mare said to be the envy of the land, a beauty beyond compare. When the cold winter of the windigos set in, and the tribes fought one another, she managed to catch the eye of a unicorn prince." The stallions began approaching him, attempting to look intimidating. "But she could see the greed in his heart, that he lusted for her beauty and not for her heart. He came with his bodyguard knights and tried to take her hoof by force." He dodged one of the stallions as he lunged, letting the oaf stumble and fall behind him. The second tried as well, but found himself flat on his face with a little help of Vermillion's magic, which caught him by the hoof and tripped him. The yellow stallion was livid at this point. "Just as he thought he had his way, one of his bodyguards stepped in and said," he stated, enunciating clearly and glancing at the filly, "a knight's duty is to defend the people, so I shall defend her from you." A crowd had begun to form, watching the exchange, and their eyes looked askance of the bully, who was now apoplectic.

The stallion swung, and Vermillion swayed aside as he continued, "The prince flew into a rage..." Another swing and miss. "And had his other knights attack." He ducked and stepped forward under the two thugs as they both lunged at him, their muzzles colliding and leaving them both dazed on their flanks. "And when his knights failed, he tried himself," the elitist stallion leapt at him this time, a shrill cry on his lips as he used his magic to ensnare Vermillion, landing a punch across his jaw.

Vermillion's blue eyes flashed coldly as his temper kicked in, and his magic flared to life. The training sword in his locker careened out, trailing the cerulean aura of his magic, and with a flourish he struck across his adversary's barrel and used the return swing to crack him behind his ears, leaving the stallion a heap on the floor. "But the prince forgot the most important thing," he said leaning down to whisper into yellow's ear. "Those who protect others find true strength."

He looked up to check on the pegasus filly. "You alright, TR?" She had tears in her blue and green eyes as she looked at him with a bit of fear, before turning and bolting away through the gathered ponies. Vermillion raised a hoof in the direction she fled, but it fell flat as the other students bottled him in and school staff descended upon the scene.

And just as suddenly he found himself back on the dream plane, Luna having never left. "I... but how... why don't I remember more? I should remember more! Its how I got my mark, for crying out loud!" He looked pleadingly up at the mare as the dreamscape began to fade to white.

The blue mare smiled at him, "Perhaps another time... I think your friend needs you more than I." She said softly as she more or less threw him from the dreamscape, the sudden warmth of another against his side and a soft shaking welcoming him back into the dark room he had fallen asleep in, the light of the sun behind the mountains turning the navy blue skyscape into a light cerulean.

As his eyes adjusted he looked down to find the grey mare curled up against him, the triangle resting above her head and glowing a dark gold as she shuddered, burying her head against his shoulder. From what he could tell she was still asleep, her mane thrown wildly around her face as the nightmares continued, tears beginning to form.

Vermillion glared at the faintly glowing totem, his mind adding up the previous events with the bits of revelation that were beginning to make themselves known. He was also guessing that both of them having a rough night was no coincidence either. He gently shook her, gradually increasing the amount of force, trying to break her out of her nightmare as gently as possible.

"Twisted, hey Twisted wake up." he grew slightly concerned and agitated all at once. "Come on, TR!" He felt strange as he said it, and was surprised when she awoke with a start.

Twisted gasped, a gold ring around her eyes for a few seconds before they faded, the startled mare slowly looking up at him with wide eyes. "W-What...?" She closed her eyes tight before she looked around the slightly lit room before her mind put her back together and she heaved a soft sigh. "I-I'm sorry," she said before her ears perked up, turning slowly to look at him, her eyebrow quirked as she caught something. "Wait. You... What did you call me...?"

Vermillion blinked the last of his bleariness away as his mind caught up with him. "I... called you TR. Are you okay, Twisted?" His feelings of concern were too familiar to be coincidence. For once he still remembered his dream. He probably had the lunar princess to thank for that. He smiled softly. "Looks like Luna left helping you to me..."

Suddenly the warmth increased as she threw her forelegs around his neck, hugging him tightly and almost toppling him over against the bed. Her sudden flowery scent caught him off guard, the smell of honeysuckle enveloping him as the mare clung to him. "T-That... That's why." She muttered, burying her face into his shoulder. "That's why you're so familiar. That was you, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, it was. We are talking about school bullies right?" He felt his muzzle warming up with how close she was pressing herself against him. "I mean, I can get behind some teasing or whatever, but bullies piss me off, especially when they do it to such a cute..." his eyes went wide and he clamped his muzzle shut before letting out a weak chuckle. "Muzzle needs to stop moving without thinking." He was now acutely aware of the warmth that suffused her bed, and he could not ignore that scent. But, he lived up to his own expectations and soldiered on. "What had you tossing and turning like that?"

Twisted blushed, realizing she had just jumped all over her friend in her bed and slowly removing herself from around his neck, rubbing the back of her neck. "W-Well... Uh..." She paused, her eyes darkening a little as she looked down at her hooves. "M-My parents. I don't remember how exactly but, uh..." She felt her bangs fall in front of her eyes as she clicked her hooves together, "The kids weren't... wrong. I felt like I deserved to be bullied like they did."

She remembered the rumors that floated through school at the beginning after the accident. At first the bullying stopped all together and pity replaced it. She did not really know if that was worse. But a few weeks passed, the murder went cold, and so did the pity. The rumor mill started churning out everything under the sun. That she had killed them for their money or that her caretaker at the time murdered them and kept Twisted because he wanted a kid of his own and the money her parents had. But the most popular was that she had killed them just because she could. That she was a monster who would kill anyone who struck her fancy. And that made many of the kids turn to a more violent way of punishing her.

"I don't remember. But I came to, covered in blood, in a dark room with my father..." Her wings curled up around her shoulders and over her muzzle as the shakes came back as well as the tears. "...I relive that so much... And the P-Princess never shows up to stop it... Maybe s-she thinks I deserve i-it..."

She immediately found herself faceplanting against him again, pulled in by his forelegs and held there until her sobbing quieted down some. "The princess isn't like that. She always has a reason." His eyes fell upon the talisman, and he would swear up and down that it was leering at him. "I have a feeling that she's wanted to help but found it rather difficult. It's probably also got something to do with our lapse in memory." Just looking at the thing got his anger boiling, he just wanted to...

Realizing he was beginning to tighten his hold on Twisted, he forced his gaze away and took a long breath to relax. Hopefully she just thought he had given her a reassuring squeeze.

She looked up at him for a moment before closing her eyes and burying her head into his chest, her ears flicked back against her messy mane, "But why? What happened that caused me to forget you and… Celestia knows what else." She heaved a heavy and sleepy sigh. It definitely would not last since the sun was rising, but between the sting in her eyes from her tears and tossing and turning all night she just wanted to sleep without another nightmare.

"I can't say, but I won’t forget again so easily. I have something to remind me from now on." He levitated a wooden box from out of his bags and over to the bed, opening it and showing her the crimson quill that lay inside. "Even if I somehow manage to lose it, which would probably depress me for a while, I'd still remember because..." he shifted and pointed to his flank, "this isn't the first time you helped me find a feather to move forward with." The vermillion feather crossed over a sword now had even more meaning to him. It never gets any simpler, does it?

Twisted giggled softly as she slowly pulled away from him, sniffing softly as she wiped her eyes. "Vermillion?" She smiled softly. "Thank you." She leaned up and kissed his cheek, a small blush on her cheeks as she slowly laid back down and looked up at the skylight, her headache coming back as she tried to remember, the triangle around her neck giving off a very faint yellow glow in the company of the two friends.

Vermillion blushed as well at the unexpected gesture, but felt it fade slowly as he simply enjoyed the closeness. He rolled so he was facing the skylight too and immediately regretted it. "Ugh, sweet Celestia, why is your sun so feathering bright?" It had really done nothing for the last vestiges of his headache. He returned his gaze to the pegasus lying beside him. "So now that we've got a little more to go on, what do we do next? I'm here for another week or two, so unless something comes up, I'm up for whatever you want to do or need me for." He spared another caustic glance at the talisman. "And it's glowing again. Nothing ever good happens when that thing glows, does it?"

She looked down at it with a small sigh, "I don't know why it's so active..." She turned on her side so she wasn't facing the oncoming sunrise and closed her eyes, burying the relic under her blankets as she pulled it over herself. This was unreal... She wanted nothing more than sleep but her mind was so active. What the hell was going on?

Twisted settled in next to her friend, "By the way..." she started, not wanting to step on his hooves. "...What did you mean when you were talking to Dissy? About your story?"

The soft smile that had found it's way to the stallion's face evaporated, and there was a flash of some strong emotion before he schooled his expression. "Oh, that. He..." he looked away, and back up at the skylight. "I was working on a story that was pretty important to me, and during his whole stint of chaos when he was first released, he managed to take the work I had done on it and scatter the pages all over. What I had left was so out of order it took me weeks to finally get it all sorted out. But he didn't bother scattering it until he..." he trailed off. He stayed silent for several moments before forcefully clearing his throat. "He did something else first, but it doesn't matter. It's in the past and I've got better things to do than dwell on... that." He placed a hoof against the box containing the phoenix feather now resting beside him. "I got what I needed to move forward." He wiped a fetlock against his eyes for a moment, barely mumbling "I hope..."

The grey mare next to him studied his face for a moment before nodding, pulling her bandana off her bedstand and placing it gently over his eyes, "Let's try to get a little more sleep before Celestia demands our attention, okay?" Though he could not see now, he knew she was worried, a hot feeling crossing his muzzle as he felt her take a place at his side and sling a wing around him. Probably to just comfort him, right?

She buried her head into her pillow and closed her eyes, keeping that relic of hers buried beneath her blankets to try to prevent any more disturbances. But how long would that last?

He unconsciously nestled closely to the wing, taking an amount of comfort that was no longer unexpected with the new context he had. He sighed and did his best to fall back to sleep, letting the rhythm of his breathing slow until he finally slipped back into rest. He fell asleep to the harmony of two tired ponies' slow, steady breathing.

6: Wings, Horns, & Chaos

His sleep saw no dreams, but he would later find that the few hours he slept leading past noon were far more soothing and comfortable than the entire night before. What he did not remember was how he had nestled up against her and pulled her into a hug as he slept.

Twisted yawned softly, opening her eyes to the chest of the unicorn against her nose, a dark blush coating her cheeks as she tensed up. She looked up at him slowly before slipping from his grip and getting out of bed, stretching her wings out before a snicker caught her attention. Oh great.

She groaned quietly before looking over at the picture she knew he would be sitting in, grumbling at the distasteful mustache Discord had drawn on her in their photo together. "Dissy..."

"What? You said I could come over today and you two love birds looked so comfy I just couldn't bear to wake you!"

"L-lovebirds? What! W-We're not.."

"Sure you're not, darling. Sure you're not."

Vermillion groggily opened his eyes and shifted towards the upright, pausing as he spotted the draconequus wiggling his fingers at him in greeting. He immediately sprung to his hooves on the bed in a ready stance...

Or would have. Having forgotten where he was, namely, not camping outside on the ground, he had planted his back hooves right over the edge of the bed. The spell he had begun charging misfired as he fell with a yelp, a blue beam ricocheting from the skylight and bouncing right back into his face as hit flanks hit the floor, bowling him over backwards and leaving him sprawled on his back, dazed, his eyes spinning as he tried to process his rude awakening.

Discord was cackling with glee, slowly clapping his claw and paw together as he leaned over to whisper loudly to Twisted, such that the sprawled unicorn could hear, "Oh my, dear, where did you find such a catch? I hardly need to do anything at all! He causes so much chaos all on his own ♡" How Discord made a heart for punctuation audible was anyone’s guess.

Twisted almost growled at him, her face a bright pink as she headed over to help the poor stallion up. "Oh goodness, are you okay?" She helped him back on his feet and steadied him against her before looking at Discord with a pout. "Anyway! I don't know if today is a good day for practice, Dissy. Unless..." She looked at Vermillion with a concerned look before it went stern, "You want to get back at Dissy for what he did to you, right?" She asked suddenly; even Discord's expression looked puzzled as he watched the two.

She nodded and looked at the draconequus, "I'll go with you today if you two will get all your issues out in the open. I don't care if you remember or not, you hurt this stallion in your past so you need to take responsibility."

Vermillion snapped back to his senses at that and blurted out, "No!" As they both turned to him in surprise, he raised one hoof in a placating gesture, the other rubbing his now numb face as he sat on the floor. "No, just... I appreciate the offer, but I'd rather just leave it be. I'd rather leave it behind me. At least for now." He saw Twisted's concerned and curious expression and offered her a small smile. "If he remembers or feels like apologizing or whatever, that's fine, but I would much prefer to just let it be." He looked to the master of chaos in the corner, tapping the tips of two fingers together. He looked... guilty? That was a new one. "If he really wants to make it up to me, he'll show me how genuine his change is, starting with a normal day." He surreptitiously glanced at Twisted's talisman. "We'll see what else we can cover later."

Twisted watched him for a minute before looking over at Discord, "Well then... Do you want to tour around ponyville while I help Dissy?" She looked back over at him, stretching her wings out, "This is kinda a regular thing between us and well... It helps him. You're more than welcome to come but... I don't know how you will react." She gave a small apologetic smile as she got her bandana back on and adjusted it before heading into the bathroom to get her brush.

Discord looked over at him, "Look. Between you and me, the longer I look at you, the more I remember what happened and yes, I'm sorry for doing that. Like I told her, I got here hours ago, but I didn't want to wake you guys. Her nightmare fits are definitely something to behold." He paused, eyeing the bathroom doorway before looking back at him, "But if you don't like my magic I'd stay here."

Vermillion's eye twitched for a moment before he exhaled, a rough mix between a huff and a sigh. "Wont know until I find out..." he grumbled. He stood up and locked gazes with Discord, who shifted uncomfortably but held his gaze. The unicorn searched his red irises for any sign of ill intent or deceit, but all he could discern was a familiar glimmer of mischief. He sighed again, softly this time. "Everyone deserves a second chance. So here's yours with me. Please don't make me regret it, D." Discord looked surprised and quizzical at the new nickname but shrugged and snapped his fingers, Vermillion's trademark scarf now adorning its owner. Vermillion nodded his thanks and began making his way downstairs, gathering his saddlebags for the day ahead. Never know what I might need, he thought.

After a few minutes Twisted came downstairs, both her tail and her mane down, and her bandana gone again, "Sorry for the wait.. I can't have too many things on when we do this. Risk losing or destroying it." She chuckled softly and looked up at Discord and asked, "You ready?" He grinned mischievously and patted her head, her bangs already turning a bright pink color "I've been waiting!" he sing-songed. Twisted blinked a few times, looking over at Vermillion with a green and pink eye now to match before smiling, "Already off to a great start!"

He did not know what he was getting into.

After heading out the door and back into the woods, Twisted and Discord led him off the path and into a large clearing that was more or less sealed off from any prying eyes, the creature clapping his hands together as he got prepared to do... well, whatever he wanted. "I know this is going to look... bad. But please trust me, okay?" Twisted smiled at Vermillion, though she knew how Discord could get... In the blink of an eye he was as tall as the trees, picking the grey mare up by her wings and setting her in his paw, tugging, and pulling them off.

Vermillion simply watched the happenings with a stoic expression. He sighed once more as he trailed behind the walking absurdity that was Twisted's chaotic friend. Take some getting used to, indeed. Thankfully, the trickster seemed content to focus his attention on her for the time being, so he took stock of his surroundings.

The edge of the woods were damp, and became more damp the closer they got to Ponyville. He figured the pegasi had brought a solid rain along and dumped any excess out by the Everfree. He would have to remember to wipe his hooves pretty much everywhere before stepping into any shop. He sifted through his bags with his magic, checking his current stock of supplies and determining what, if anything, he would need or want to pick up while he was out. As he finished, he turned back to his friend and had to resist facehoofing at what he saw.

At this point he realized what she was in this situation: a guinea pig for his magical outbursts. She was his outlet to keep his chaotic magic in check and she seemed more than happy to help him. Discord suddenly poofed in front of Vermillion, snapping as a large pink cloud caught Twisted mid fall since he had removed her wings. "Am I boring you?" He smirked, snapping again and disappearing, leaving a confused Twisted standing in front of him in a full gown, back to her normal colors, and... a horn?

Twisted whined, looking down at her attire then up at the new growth. "Dissy! Last time you did this I set a tree on fire!" She looked up at the stallion in front of her, her cheeks pink though he could not be sure if it was from the makeup or the blood rushing to her face. “I-I'm not good at magic!" Her ears perked suddenly as she looked down and took a few steps back, "Dissy. Change me back please." She almost looked panicked though. A quick rummage through their memories would say why.

It was already being over reactive. And it did not seem to react kindly to being touched by unicorns.

Vermillion actually smirked at this. She made a fairly cute unicorn, but what really occupied his mind was his hope that he could help with her magic. "Calm down, TR, you'll only send your magic into a tizzy if you get all worked up. Every unicorn learns to control their magic as they go, but I can help you out a bit with some tricks I picked up." He walked to her confidently and lit his own horn to demonstrate. "Summoning up your magic is fairly easy, since it's just a matter of channeling your natural energy through your horn. If you focus on finding your center and calming your energy, you can reign your magic back in and cut it off completely. It's a lot like meditating." His grin got a little cheeky. "Find your happy place. A quiet happy place." His smiled became soft. "Imagine that soothing calm of gazing up at the stars on a cool, clear night, wrapped in a blanket in a quiet grove."

She looked up at him nervously before nodding and closing her eyes, "Happy place..." She muttered as a blue and green magic wrapped around her horn, the grey mare slowly opening one of her eyes to be face to face with her triangle, her magic wrapped around it. She jumped a little as she stared at it before a smile crept across her lips. "I-I did it! I lifted it!"

Vermillion smiled as he made some mental notes. When she grabbed it, it did not react. He supposed it would not flip out if the wearer interacted with it. Perhaps it somehow connects or resonates with the user?

Magical theories aside, she had adapted to using magic quite quickly. "That's pretty awesome! You take to it even faster than I did." He suspected Discord’s shenanigans might have something to do with it, but the mental aspect was all her. "You'll be a spellslinger in no time the way you're going." As she continued to toy with her new appendage, they finally reached the outskirts of Ponyville.

Discord pouted a little as he snapped, the grey mare returning to her normal pegasus ways in her normal attire, "Can't have everypony knowing about our little secret." He smirked a bit before he snapped again, his body disappearing and reappearing back in her mane. It seemed he was going to be tagging along.

Twisted stretched her wings happily, "Being a unicorn is too much mental work for me. " She smiled as she looked up at Vermillion, "So? What do you wanna do first?"

The unicorn shrugged and made a vague gesture. "This is my first time around town, so I have no idea what I'm doing. You did say you'd give me the tour, so consider me in your capable hooves." He tapped his chin thoughtfully as he often did. "I did want to write up as much of our little escapade as possible for later, and I decided it would be safer to leave my journal back in Canterlot while I was traveling. I'm running kind of low on parchment at this point." He rummaged through his saddlebags, his voice muffled as his spoke with his muzzle directed into the pouches. "Plus I'm short on a few traveling supplies, namely dried rations, and I could probably use a whetstone since I seem to have lost the one I had."

Twisted put a hoof to her lips for a moment before looking down at little Discord, "Well..." She let her gaze travel around the small space of town she could see from the entrance to Everfree then smiled. "Alright. I know the first stop!" She grinned and lead the way into town.

For a while they passed little stores and other multi-colored ponies, but aside from a small wave and a "Good afternoon," she didn't seem like she was going to stop any time soon. It took a bit to get across town but before he could ask where they were going they came up over the hill to see a huge apple farm. His stomach got the message loud and clear.

"Breakfast anyone? I told you I'd bring you by here at least once before you left." She nudged Vermillion playfully before Discord appeared on his head, using his head and horn as a ship and mast before shouting, "Land ho!" Twisted snorted, shaking her head at the sudden disgruntled expression on the stallion's face. "Sorry..."

Vermillion switched to a smirk, blowing the draping locks of his mane up into Discord's face, who sputtered on the crimson hair. "No worries. He wants to have a bit of mischief for fun? We'll see how that works out for him."

He trotted along the path, taking in the broad fields of the orchards and the unbelievable number of delicious, ripe fruit hanging from the branches. If each and every one of those apples was as good as the ones he had enjoyed during the trip, that was a whole lot of deliciousness he was looking at. As a mauve barn came into sight with a nearby farmhouse, he eyed a few other trees bereft of fruit with gnarly, almost jagged branches. "What are those trees there? They don't exactly look like normal apple trees."

"Uhm.." The grey mare looked at the trees herself, frowning a bit. "I wanna say they're either zap zpple trees or they may have vampire fruit bats again." She shook her head a bit before looking ahead, Discord tugging on his mane as a reply. She chuckled softly as the got near the barn where a few ponies were talking, a red stallion and a small orange mare turned to greet them as they approached.

"Howdy."

Vermillion turned to face the arriving mare. "Hey, there. I'm Vermillion." He offered his hoof to her and she shook it. "Had a few of your apples thanks to Twisted here," he said, gesturing to the pegasus, "so I decided a visit was a great idea while I was in town, since they were so amazing."

"Well, alright, welcome to Sweet Apple Acres! I'm Applejack, and ya'll are welcome to look around." She turned to look at Twisted and then, "Discord. Weren't expectin' to see you around here. Don't tell me you're givin' these two a hard time..."

"Me? Oh Applejack I'm hurt!" Discord gasped, appearing next to Twisted before falling, exasperated, over her back, making Twisted tense up, "Oi!" She smirked softly before gently nudging him off her back with her wings and returning to Applejack, "No. no, he's fine. He's hanging out with us today." As the words left her mouth she bit her bottom lip, the confused expression on the mare's face making her regret saying so. "Uhm. A-anyway, I wanted to bring Vermillion here to get some apples for his stay here before he goes back to Canterlot."

"Canterlot, huh? Ain't that where you're from?"

"Uh. Yeah... We're kinda childhood friends reunited." Twisted shifted on her hooves a bit, rubbing the back of her head and while the orange mare shook it off, one would notice a certain god of chaos eyeing her with... concern?

Vermillion could sense the tension forming and decided to cut right through it. "This is a whole lot more than I was expecting to see at a smaller town like Ponyville. Would you be up for giving us a bit of a tour, Applejack?"

The farm pony chuckled. "Ain't no problem with that, and you can call me AJ if ya like."

Vermillion offered her a smile, then shot a grin to Twisted. "Well come on! Don't want to miss the grand tour, now, do we? Yo D, think you can whip me up a pair of shades? Daytime and I still have a rocky relationship."

Discord stared at him for a minute, still getting used to the nickname before he smirked and snapped, giving him a rather goofy looking pair of shades. Twisted snorted a bit, covering her muzzle with her hoof before she joined the leaving party.

Vermillion let the sunglasses slide down his muzzle and he glared down at them before closing his eyes, shrugging, and sliding them back up with a hoof. "I can work with this." He turned and followed Applejack as she led them through the orchard, reciting the names of trees she considered memorable. The unicorn would nod and smile, knowing that the trees all looked very similar and unmemorable. She did not need to know that, however.

The tour was wonderful, getting to taste the different kinds of apples, and enjoying the day was relaxing. It was more than Twisted had expected her weekend to be and while she had planned on staying home and reading she did not regret a second.

When they got to the strange trees he had asked about, they were presented with the history of the zap apple. Evidently Twisted had been right about that. After the tour, the earth pony mare offered fresh apple pie to the trio. Discord seemed ever so eager for some food, and though Vermillion politely declined he quickly found himself overridden by the force of southern hospitality. "Well, it's not like I'm about to complain about free food," he offered to Twisted with a wink.

Twisted smiled thoughtfully as she followed along, not talking much. Discord had already found himself neck-deep in pie, his little head sticking out of the crust as he ate happily. She chuckled softly as she watched him, though her appetite failed her as she watched everyone else. Honestly the grey mare seemed in a different world, her eyes closed as she rested her elbow on the table and her cheek in her hoof, her wings folded around her.

The orange mare eyed her a bit before looking at Vermillion, "So uh... How long you in Ponyville?"

Vermillion swallowed the last bite of his slice of pie before answering. "I'd say another week and a half, then I need to be getting back to Canterlot. I figure I'll spend it checking out whatever this town has to offer." He looked over to Twisted, noticing her distant expression. "Hopefully my gracious host over there won’t mind helping me out with that. You still with us, TR?"

Her ears perked a bit at her nickname as she looked over at him, offering an apologetic smile, "Y-Yeah. I'm sure that won't be an issue." She laughed nervously as Discord popped back up behind her, gripping her at her shoulders with a grin. "We got a space cadet here, Cap'n." He teased.

Twisted smiled a little as it got harder to concentrate on the conversation at hand, "Uhm.. Y-You said you needed to get parchment... Right?" She struggled with her words a little as she looked at Vermillion, tilting her head to the side.

The unicorn studied her for a moment before nodding. "And probably a bit of ink. Are you sure you're still up for it? We just got back last night, so I wouldn't have a problem with just taking a day to recover..." He noticed her distant expression and eyed Discord warily. He had that tingling up his spine he seemed to get whenever something was not sitting right with him. His intuition rarely steered him wrong, but it could also be incredibly vague. He checked her talisman to see if anything strange was happening.

"I'm fine." She replied, getting back onto her hooves and giving a small smile to Applejack, "Thanks for the pie and the tour, AJ. Really appreciate it." She looked up at Discord a almost undetectable gold ring around her pupils that made his eyes widen before she blinked it away and smiled at him, "You coming with?" She asked before looking over at Vermillion, her relic seeming almost dormant as a crooked smirk replaced her smile, "And beside, you'll need something to do while I laze about if we do end up going home early, right?"

Vermillion put his concerns to the side, knowing he would have plenty of time to mull them over soon enough. "I have ways of entertaining myself, and I don't mind hitting up the town myself while I'm here, but getting the supplies now is probably a good idea." He turned to his host as he stood. "Thank you very much for your hospitality, Applejack. If you're up for it, I'll buy you a round or two some time," he added with a smirk. Applejack responded with a grin of her own.

"I may just have to take you up on that, partner. You're always welcome at Sweet Apple Acres." The unicorn nodded, then turned to Twisted and gestured for them to start back on the trail towards town. He carefully observed the mare trotting next to him, but decided not to say anything with the draconequus present. He had a nagging feeling that getting the chaotic creature involved in any personal discussion would be messy, to put it lightly.

Discord seemed unsettled, though he did join them as they headed into town. The grey mare next to them trotting along with a peaceful expression and her eyes closed. As they reached the area around town she opened her eyes and looked over at him. "Something on your mind?" she asked suddenly, her head cocked to the side as she slowly pointed them in the right direction to the store that sold quills and ink.

Vermillion offered a generic smile. "A couple things, but I'd rather not ruin the day with them. Plenty of time for it later." Procrastination, his age old ally, once more served him... well enough. "Was there anywhere you needed to go? I don't want to have dragged you out here just for me." He carefully gauged the way she responded, checking it against what he understood was the norm.

She smirked a little, "Sweetie you couldn't have made me come out here anyway." She yawned a bit, watching the ponies around them with an almost distasteful look before shrugging, "I don't really have anything I need from here. The only thing I can think of would be something for lunch or dinner since we kinda skipped the first one." She turned to him, flashing a small grin, "What would you like?"

Okay, he thought to himself, mixed signals. Get it together, guy. She had flirted with him when they met, but this felt different, less playful. Pushing aside the response any stallion with a pulse inevitably feels, he just grinned and nodded. "Pie was good, but I could definitely go for a proper dinner. Let me pick up my writing supplies and next stop will be dinner."

She nodded and winked at him, "Sounds like a date." She smirked before looking up at Discord, "It may be best if-" "If I go visit Fluttershy? Yes! I think that sounds lovely! Tata!" She frowned, grabbing him by the ear. "I was going to say it may be best if you take Vermillion to get his things so I can go grab a few things myself." Her voice was cold even with the smile on her face.

Aaand now the alarm bells were ringing. Something was definitely off. He would have preferred discussing it with her in private, but now he would be afforded the opportunity with Discord first. He could work with that.

"That sounds like a plan. Shall we get to it, D? I actually had a couple things I wanted to ask you about, anyway." He offered a grin that was genuine, but held an edge as well. "We still have some making up to do for old grudges."

Discord smiled a little. "Yeah.. " He didn't seem too enthused, but it was better than hanging with his "friend" at the moment. As they parted ways and Twisted walked off to do... well Celestia knew what, Discord abandoned his persona and sighed, "Geez that was uncalled for."

"My thoughts exactly." Vermillion squared off facing the draconequus when Twisted was out of sight. "And you're going to help me figure out a few important things while we shop. Start walking, start talking. You owe me for the unplanned reading," his gaze hardened for a moment, then shifted to aggressive curiosity. "Tell me everything you know about that thing around her neck."

"My, my, presumptuous, aren’t we?" Discord sighed, shaking his head, "Honestly back in the day I dabbled in all sorts of magic, especially with the princesses coming after me. Now that was a hoot." He commented, reminiscing about his time as the "ruler" of Equestria before he noticed the stallion’s look.

"Ahem... anyway... From what I can tell it's some form of chaos magic that I haven't really seen much. Which is saying a lot at this point, considering. I kinda feel like it came from dark magic. And why it's so active... I haven’t the foggiest. It's changing her and I don't know how long its effects last." He put a claw to his chin, tugging on his beard as he thought back, "I don't think she's a danger to the land but... Those close to her might be. That's what happened to you two and her little crush, isn't it?"

Ah, new information. "I'm not familiar with said crush, but I think I've seen enough to have an idea. Plus I have some inkling as to how it affects the user. Or at least how it affected me." That tidbit caught Discord’s attention.

Vermillion clarified. "It triggered my temper, maybe a few other unsavory things, and a simple fire spell went to overkill. My guess is that it taps into the bearer's magic and psyche as a defense mechanism. It just has a terrible sense of friend and foe, if any. I can't think of anypony with much experience with that kind of magic outside of you or the princesses, though, and I'd rather avoid involving them. You're already in the know."

He glanced at Discord with resolve and perhaps a faint touch of desperation. "I need your help, Discord. If you really are her friend, you'll help me figure this out." They arrived at the store, and the unicorn left Discord to process that as he purchased his supplies.

Discord leaned against the wall of the store, snapping up some cotton candy to help his thought process, though nopony would understand how. On one hand, she was chaos. Something he loved but at the same time... It was dark chaos. Something that, while still chaos was, frankly, no fun. It would not come off even if he tried, which, to be fair, he had when she was younger. It tried to kill him. But! That was another story.

As the stallion came out he looked at him, an odd sense of seriousness coming from him now, "Deal. But you need to explain yourself before I can even attempt to help. I need all cards on the table, kiddo."

Vermillion raised an eyebrow at Discord as he settled his supplies in his bags. "And what, exactly, do I need to explain? Friends help each other out of bad situations, and I recently found out we've been friends for longer than I thought. Besides, you seem to know more than you let on, so this goes both ways, buddy."

"She tried to kill me. What do you want, V?" He frowned deeply and looked down at his not-so-welcome companion. "I've tried removing it. It only makes her more miserable the more ponies try. Why do you think the real reason she moved from Canterlot is? Why she moved out into the most dangerous forest she could think of?" Discord was actually angry. He was frustrated that no matter what he tried it never worked. Even for one of the only ponies who did not treat him like a nuisance.

"Because she did kill her parents. She's got more blood on her hooves than any other pony I can think of and yet she's the sweetest thing in Ponyville! She doesn't hold the bad looks, the sneers, or the names she's given against any of these ungrateful ponies. I mean come on! She embodies acceptance and harmony! Why would she be friends with the god of chaos otherwise?" He closed his eyes tightly, pinching the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath. He was unloading and knew it was stupid to do that now.

"Look. Vermillion. You forgot about her somehow. That's a thing. If you were friends before now then either it or you did something to get rid of that. So spill. What do you remember?"

Well, shit.

That was confirmation of a suspicion he was not happy to have, but knew was necessary. He could only imagine the kind of damage that had done. Next, seeing the master of chaos in a tizzy about her said all he needed to hear about intentions. You do not get that worked up over somepony you do not care about, so Discord was on the up and up in that respect.

He thought back to his school days, remembering the faces of the friends he made, but hers always seemed hazy. He was terrible with names, but somehow remembered hers with perfect clarity after the dream. He tried to recall time spent together, and all he had was the vivid recall Luna had helped him achieve.

"Not nearly enough," he spat bitterly. He did not even try to contain his frustration this time, his eyes flashing like lightning before a brutal storm. His horn fizzled out as he took calming breaths. He had not even been aware he was channeling. Yikes. "I hate this. I don't usually say that and mean it, but I really hate this." There was an imprint of his hoof in the path where he had unconsciously ground it against the dirt. "I want to blame that damn piece of junk, but how would I even know? I can be a real plothole, so maybe I'm just a terrible friend."

"Getting it now, are you?" Discord grumbled, "Now then. Shut up. We have company." He turned around quickly and smiled, "Hey Twist. Find what you were looking for?" The mare looked tired and different than she had earlier as she gave a small smile, "Sorry about that. I found everything for dinner, yeah. Will you be joining us, Dissy?" She seemed back to normal... for now. Discord glanced down at Vermillion, quirking a brow, "Well, if this guy doesn't mind me barging in on his date."

Vermillion considered Discord’s words before. He asked himself the same thing in his head. Was he really understanding?

"Sure, why not. I think a little one on one time helped ol' Discord and I be a bit more understanding of one another. I try not to turn down the company of a new friend." That's right folks, the unicorn mused in his head, VP has gone off the deep end and made friends with the incarnation of chaos. Harmony help my soul... "So where are we headed?"

"Well that depends. Would you prefer me to cook for you two or did you have something else in mind?" She chuckled and she nudged Vermillion, "Glad you guys hit it off, I had hoped you would."

"Well, I figure Discord will have a good time once I start getting him in on some of the shenanigans and pranks I get into with some of the guys from the guard." Finally, a reason to smile again. Good times. "But I think eating out is fine. Tonight, we treat ourselves!" He threw a foreleg dramatically around Discord while sweeping the other over the horizon.

Discord smirked a bit and poofed those ridiculous sunglasses back on the bridge of his nose before snickering, "How about that cafe you work at, hm? That way you can show us your favorite dishes there."

Twisted chuckled, and nodded, "Sounds good. You're gonna love the sandwiches there." She smiled and lead the way, the draconequus next to him glancing down at him with an odd expression

Vermillion quipped, "What's with the look, D? Everyone's gotta have friends..." With that, he turned and followed Twisted, flicking the shades up to rest on his horn as he followed. As they walked, he took to observing Ponyville once again. It was a quiet, quaint locale he was growing rather fond of. He had never been much a fan of the big city, so the rural setting was a fantastic change of pace. He might have to look into getting his station changed to somewhere out this way if he had the opportunity. He was brought out of his thoughts as the trio arrived at the decided upon restaurant, and he opened the door and stepped aside. "After you, m'lady," he offered with a smirk.

Twisted chuckled softly and went inside. "Hey Ellie!" She smiled at the old mare who had helped them out on their journey. Apparently she was also Twisted's boss. The old mare smiled and waved. "You find everythin’ you were looking for, Twist?" she asked, the grey mare nodding before finding them all a table, Discord transforming into a pony to fit in with the group after the old mare gave him a sharp glare.

He was a greyish brown with red eyes and yellow whites, a grey mane and a short grey tail. All in all he made a good looking professor-ish stallion. He noted the look he got with a small sneer and he rolled his eyes. "That old bag freaks me out; bite me."

Vermillion snorted. "I'd rather not. Might lose my appetite if I tried." He took his seat and lifted up the menu, already spotting a few dishes that might suit his fancy. "So what do you recommend? You've been here before, so I'm going to count on your experience to make the most of it." He started with ordering an iced tea to drink, an old favorite and staple of his childhood.

She ordered a coffee that was a bit too complicated in it's wording for his liking before she looked the menu over, "Well...the cucumber and hay salad is pretty good... OH! And I add pickles and ranch to mine. " She grinned, the two stallions staring at her for a minute before Discord cleared his throat. "And here I thought I had a colorful appetite,” he commented before the waitress came up. "Yes. Your finest cucumber burger please."

"Wow, light eaters. Alrighty then, ready miss?" Vermillion asked the waitress, who nodded. "Hit me with the club sandwich, hayfries, the cucumber and hay salad..." he tapped a hoof to his chin, then shrugged, continuing, "with pickles and ranch. Why not? And can I get a look at the dessert menu? I like to plan ahead." He spared his gawping companions a glance before polishing a hoof idly against the fur on his chest. "Hey, I'm hungry. Being a guard stallion works up an appetite."

"I'll have what he's having." She smiled and nudged him, offering, "It's not a problem. " The waitress smiled before heading back into the kitchen, the brown stallion frowning a bit as he watched them. "Sweet Celestia you guys are pigs..."

"Aw lighten up, D! We're here to enjoy ourselves..." he trailed off as he spotted the double chocolate cake in the desert menu that had arrived. He whinnied quietly. "Ohhh momma, that's what I'm talkin' about. Desert choice, check." He smiled as Twisted giggled at his antics, and their ordered food arrived shortly after. Conversation waned as food was consumed, the pleased hum of the diners and the slurp of Discord’s... winding... bendy straw... were the only sounds for some time. As they began winding down with the meal and ordered desert, Vermillion considered options for conversation and decided on a tried and true topic.

"So Discord mentioned you worked here, and I was curious what else you do around Ponyville, Twist. I feel kinda lame for not having asked you about yourself sooner." He said it all with a smile until he looked down into his glass, then frowned and muttered under his breath with a childish pout. It was probably just an act. Maybe.

She laughed a bit, putting a bite of cheesecake in her mouth with a smile, "I kinda work everywhere. I fill positions ponies need filled when other ponies call in or don't have enough staff." She looked over at Ellie, waving and giving her a smile, "Thanks Ellie! If you don't mind I won't be on call for the next week. I have a friend over from out of town."

The old mare tilted her head, "Well... We'll miss ya but I guess it can't be helped."

Twisted turned back to Vermillion, "That means I'm all yours this week." She nudged him before a yawn moved through her. "Geez... I guess that trip took more out of me than I thought."

Vermillion's ear twitched and he faintly blushed as he took another bite of cake, the color fading away as the dreamy expression only confections could summon spread over his face. He quickly refocused. "Well that should be fun. I'm sure something fun will pop up." He blinked for a moment as a part of him was convinced that he had just tempted the powers that be. The next week would either be horribly dull, or, as his experience told him was his luck, it might very well turn into some maddening chaos beyond his control. A glance at the draconequus currently drinking his slice of pie merely cemented the feeling. Shaking off the tingle of impending doom, he picked up where he left off.

"How do you manage without steady work? I'm guessing it isn't too expensive to live in the Everfree, but food doesn't deliver itself, and you'd still need other things to keep your home as nice as it is," he said as he finished off the last of his cake.

Twisted paid the bill and looked over at him, "Well I've got uh.. I guess you could call them contracts with most of the stores in town. A lot of them are on call but this is the only job I have full employment at." She yawned again as Discord got out of his chair, "I assume we're all gonna head to your place?" Twisted blinked and nodded, "Sounds good. You guys seem to hit it off, but I was interrupting, so even if I pass out on you guys at least there's that?"

Discord smirked as glanced back at her with red eyes. "Yeah well, Don't worry about accommodations for me. I'll either make myself at home or go over to Fluttershy's. She should be back from Twilight's by now."

"Actually..." Vermillion interjected, "I have a stop I'd like to make before I head back. Go on without me, I know how to get back just fine and I'd like to think the Everfree is more scared of me than I am of it," he stated plainly. "After our little display before, I think the nasties will be less inclined to interrupt my stroll." Plus I can really cut loose solo, he added mentally. He frowned as the waitress took the bill and payment. He would have to get square with her during the coming week.

Twisted watched him for a moment before nodding, "I know you can handle yourself. So I'll meet you back at the house then!" She smiled as she and Discord left the restaurant.

Vermillion smiled to them as he waved, watching them make their way back towards the woods. He turned the opposite direction, and as the sun set he walked as directly as possible to the large crystal tree castle that dominated the town.

7: Books & Bruises

The sun was just dipping below the horizon as he knocked on the main door of the castle. He stood waiting for a few moments, then knocked again a bit more firmly. He could hear a muffled voice calling out from the other side, "I'm coming! I'm coming, sheesh." The door opened, and he blinked several times to verify he was not seeing things. "What, you never seen a dragon before?" the short purple drake asked.

Vermillon smiled and shook his head. "No, you're the first. I'd heard Princess Twilight kept a dragon around, but the stories always seemed to make you seem more... intimidating, I suppose."

The little dragon rolled his eyes before remembering his manners, and invited him inside. "Court's already over for the day, but if you're here to see the library, it stays open a while later. She's probably in there late again..." he finished, muttering the last bit.

Vermillion just smiled. "Well, if I happen to see her I'll be sure to show her the proper respect, and she might be able to help me with a bit of research."

The dragon giggled a bit at that. "Be careful what you wish for. You get her involved in research and you might never leave!" Vermillion nodded as his guide pointed him in the direction of the library and went about his business elsewhere. It was a short trot until he turned into the library and stopped in his tracks.

When he had heard the stories about Princess Twilight Sparkle being a scholar, it made sense. He had filed the title “bookworm” under rumors and the usual satire that ponies liked to employ. Looking at the rows of titles he could hardly number and the sea of books levitating around the far end of the chamber, he could safely say it was an accurate assessment of the princess. The bookshelves were at least two stories tall, each filled to capacity with tomes of every description. This collection rivaled the royal archives in Canterlot!

Even as his hooves clipped against the crystal flooring, he remained unnoticed. He could not precisely spot the princess in whatever alcove she had occupied, and noticing that there was a ledger and the other necessities of a public library, he felt safe in perusing the books on his own for the time being. He used the guide chart posted by the main desk to locate the sections related to enchantment and binding. A short canter found him turning down an aisle of crystal shelves until he was surrounded by books. He carefully slid the ladders on each side to the end of the cases. Evidently the library had been constructed or modified with all manner of visitors in mind. Useful, but he was fairly confident his magic would do the trick.

He spent several minutes sifting through titles before he heard a book leave a shelf overhead. He watched it float down the aisle and around the corner, encased in lavender magic he assumed belonged to the princess. She evidently knew where every book was and could summon them at will. Sweet sisters, that's impressive, he thought. He turned his attention back to his task, but grew frustrated as none of the books he checked were remotely close to what he needed. This is why I never bother with public libraries, he fumed internally. He only paused as a book detailing old guard enchantments caught his eye, and he pulled it from the shelf and cracked in open. Just as he was getting into it, he heard the familiar hum of a telekinesis spell from the bookshelf directly behind him, and he had enough time to turn and face the magenta-glowing tome as it slapped him in the face, eliciting a yelp and knocking him flat on his flanks.

The sudden flow of books and parchment around the room dropped to the floor and the rapid clip of hooves on crystal signalled the approach of the library’s other occupant. He was still rubbing his nose as she stepped into the end of the aisle and he caught his first close look at Equestria’s youngest princess. Her lavender fur was slightly matted from hours sitting in the library, and while her mane could use a good brushing the deep purple strands were flowing and silky.Her violet eyes watched him with concern, and held a rare spark of curiosity and intelligence that made focusing on her panicked words of apology difficult. He shook his head and, having realized she was becoming worked up that she had knocked a stranger upside the head, he quickly interjected, “It’s alright! I’m fine, princess, please relax.”

“I’m so sorry! I was just busy finishing my research on the quantifiable properties of latent magic shifts caused by the local emotional distortions of ponies…”

“Princess.”

“...and wanted to get it done by tomorrow so I could send my findings to Celestia so she could review it before I sent it to the academies and…”

“Princess Sparkle.”

“...it has to be perfect so I was re-correlating my findings with the historical data but found inconsistencies in their collection methods…”

“Twilight!”

That finally caught her attention and her gaze, which had lost focus, snapped back to the unicorn that was sitting on the ground. “Relax, princess. I’m fine, you’re fine, no harm done.” He smiled softly. “No worries, okay? You weren't expecting anypony in the library this late. It’s my fault for not letting you know I was here.” The alicorn took a deep breath, then released it while extending a hoof. She finally returned his smile.

“Well, still, I’m sorry. You’re right about not many ponies coming here that late. You’d think they would appreciate the value of books more.” She helped him back onto his hooves. “And don’t worry about the whole princess thing. I’m just Twilight to my friends.” Her smile was warm and accepting, with just a bit of bookish innocence. Vermillion was definitely not on the verge of blushing. Nope, definitely not.

“Well then, er, Twilight,” he tried, which seemed to please the royalty before him, “I’m Vermillion Prose, Canterlot Royal Guard Reserve.” He nearly saluted, but his lazy half reminded him, “But right now I’m on vacation, of a sorts, so… yeah.” He grinned sheepishly. She peered at the book he had been reading, and her eyes seemed to sparkle a bit.

“Enchantments? Did you come here to learn new magic? Oh! I know I have that project but I need some reference materials from Canterlot before I can continue, so I’d love to help you with new magic! Were you trying to learn new shield spells? Or maybe a tricky one like the warding blade?” He could already tell she was becoming engrossed by the thought of magic lessons. Best to grab her focus again. He chuckled, filing away the tidbit that the best way to entertain the princess was the discussion of magic.

“That would be amazing, but that was actually a bit of a distraction…” She looked at him quizzically. “I came to this section looking for information on other enchantment types. Actually, er… dark magic and artifacts particularly.” He could see the suspicion clouding her features already. “Before you ask me if I’m trying to learn it myself, no, I’m not. I want to be able to counter it.” He quickly devised a cover of sorts for his inquiry. “I’m a guard, so there’s no telling what I’ll encounter, and this isn't something we’re specifically trained to handle. I want to be able to overcome that sort of magic if one of my friends is in danger.” That seemed to get her support. She nodded slowly, her suspicion lessened but still present.

“Well, of course you won’t find books on that here.You think it would be a good idea for just anypony to get their hooves on dark magic?” He resisted the urge to facehoof. He had simply hoped there would be some generic material on dispelling or countering enchantments he could use. “Now I can’t just teach you that sort of thing, so I need to know for a fact that you won’t use anything I teach you to hurt somepony.” She looked Vermillion square in the eye. He nodded, and readied his magic, reaching for his sword…

Only to remember he had left it back at Twisted’s house since they were going into town. He groaned inwardly. “Well, I was going to make an oath on my sword, but I left that back at the house of the friend I’m staying with while I’m in town…” he said with a slight slump. “What can I do that will show how genuine I am?”

“Pinkie Promise,” she stated. The stallion quirked an eyebrow.

“Pinkie promise? Like, Pinkie Pie, the party mare?” He was thoroughly confused.

“Yes. Nopony can break a Pinkie Promise without her knowing. You break it, she’ll know, and then I’ll know. It might even set off her Pinkie Sense.” The cerebral mare image was fast fading with the nonsense she was providing him, but everypony has their quirks, he supposed.

“So what would a ‘Pinkie Promise’ entail?” He asked. He was then demonstrated the proper technique and phrasing. It was a foal’s promise if he’d ever seen one, but given that it was developed by a companion of the princess of friendship, he supposed it held more weight than he realized. Plus, even with his limited exposure to the pink absurdity, he was not about to deny the possibility that Pinkie Pie possessed some inexplicable powers.

With the accompanying gestures, he proceeded to recite his promise to the princess. “I promise I will use the knowledge you share with me and the things you teach me to help and defend other ponies. Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” The princess then nodded and smiled, satisfied. She looked out of the library windows, however, drawing Vermillion’s attention as well. He scratched his chin for a moment. “Well, it might be best if we pick this up tomorrow. Would that be alright with you, Twilight?”

“Absolutely! Come by whenever you’re free and I’ll teach you whatever you’d like to know.” She said with a look of anticipatory glee. “Oh, this is going to be so much fun! It’s been too long since somepony wanted to learn new magic from me! Where are you staying in Ponyville? I can make your trip home a bit faster.” Vermillion smiled happily and nodded his appreciation.

“That’d be awesome, Twilight. I’m staying with Twisted Ribbon out by the Everfree. She’s a great host and… an old friend.” She seemed to notice the slight pause in his speech, but chose not to question it. Everypony has something private, so she would not pry.

“She’s a sweet pegasus, but I don’t see her too often when I’m out and about in Ponyville. I think I remember where her house is, but I might be a little bit off.” She began muttering just audibly, as her horn lit up. “...adjust for drift… include margin for error and adjust the correction matrix… and…. there! Alright, see you tomorrow, Vermillion!”

“Wait what are you…” There was an audible pop, a dizzying sensation of displacement, and nearly blinding flash, and he found himself absent from Twilight’s castle.

“...doing?” he finished as he rematerialized next to the shower, occupied by a bathing Twisted.

Oh buck me, he thought.

Several minutes earlier.

The night was closing in on the two as she and Discord moved through the forest, the small bits of sunlight peeking in. While wary of his companion he poked fun at her, "So your boyfriend seems nice." he cooed.

The grey mare rolled her eyes with a smile, "Yes... Well... He's an old friend and while he's here I'd like him to enjo-" she yawned heavily, covering her mouth with her hoof, "e-enjoy... himself." she shook her head to try and shake the drowsiness from her head. But to no avail.

As they came up to the doorstep Discord gave a bow and a goodnight before disappearing and leaving her alone. She smiled a little, heading upstairs to her room to get ready for bed before a ache in her back made it prominent that a shower was needed. She then enjoyed several minutes in the shower before she was interrupted.

The loud pop heard startled her, her wings fluffing up and scattering water as she looked over at the door, "Dissy?" She asked softly, her wings slowly standing down against her sides as she opened the door. A dark blush ran to her cheeks as she stared at the face of her long lost friend, her mane hanging over her blue eye and around her shoulders heavily as the water poured over her.

"V-V-Ver-- What are you doing in here?!" She stammered, her wings folding around her even though there was really... nothing to see. I mean she walked around practically "naked" everyday, but still... There was something almost violating about being seen in the shower.

Vermillion blinked a couple times, mind racing to come up with a suitable response. However, his mouth beat his brain to the punch with the first thing it came up with.

"Uh... I'm home?" His grin was one part sheepish, one part apologetic, and three parts mischief that he desperately hoped she would not notice. "So yeah. Teleportation is... fun? Twilight really needs to work on her aim, though."

At the mention of Twilight her eyes darkened, the mare stepping out of the shower as her eyes narrowed, "You went to see the Princess...? Why?" She voice was almost hurt, the metallic clang against the marble sounding as her talisman hit the ledge of the shower, then the floor, though it did not seem active yet.

Why would he visit Twilight? She trusted him! Did he rat her out? So many thoughts ran through her panicked mind but first and foremost was to try to keep her emotions under control; if it caught wind there was not much of a possibility he would survive.

"Whoah! Relax, TR, I just went to the library and bumped into her. Er, well, she bumped into me, more like. With a book. Hit me right upside the head with it." He rubbed his face again. Tonight was going swell. "She was doing some research project and clocked me a good one with a book from the aisle I was in. I didn't talk to her about you. All I said was that I was staying with you while I'm in Ponyville. She offered to get me home faster and didn't seem to remember exactly where you lived, so that explains the... interesting location I popped up at when she cast the teleport spell." He took a moment to make sure he was not about to be hit for the second time by a mare tonight. "I'll just be learning a few new spells while I'm staying here. Seemed a shame to pass up the opportunity. Not like you literally get bumped into by royalty every day."

What the hay was going on with her? She did not usually just jump friends like this, so why now? "Vermillion, I..." She paused, glancing over at her reflection in the fogged up mirror. Something was... off. She knew he was here on vacation and would leave soon so she needed to just get through this week without an incident. Explaining the disappearance of a Royal Guard would not be easy and the guilt would probably kill her.. So she needed to keep this in check.

She looked down a bit before sighing and looking up at him. "Sorry... I've just been a little moody from the nightmares..." She rubbed her eyes softly and turned back to the running water. "I'm gonna finish my shower then I'll be in for bed. Sorry for jumping you again." She gave a weak smile before she shut the door of the shower behind her.

He stood there for several moments, contemplating the situation before heading to the bedroom. He was just about to lie down to think some things over when he heard another pop of teleportation. He carefully returned to the bathroom and checked the floor, where the book of old guard enchantments lay on the floor with a note.

It read: "You forgot your book! -TS"

He smiled as he picked it up and brought it with him back to the bed. As he lay down, he cracked it open and began to idly flip through the pages until he noticed a bookmarked page. He flipped to it and his eyes widened a bit. "You sly mare..." He studied the next few pages intently as he waited for Twisted to finish and join him.

After a few minutes she came out, a towel draped over her head and her wings spread out as she tried to air dry them. She walked around the room, flicking a lamp on before turning the overhead light off and settling down at her desk to dry herself. She remained silent as she shook the liquid from her wings and rubbed the towel over her head before she heaved a soft sigh, "So uhm... what's the plan?"

Vermillion tore his gaze away from his new project, as he like to think of it, to look at Twisted. He was definitely not starting at the wet mane, nope. He somehow managed to maintain a straight face, saying, "What plan? I have a book, I have a bed, I'll read until I'm asleep. Unless you have a better idea...?" He raised an eyebrow and the corner of his mouth quirked upwards.

She felt heat touch her cheeks though her towel did a pretty good job at hiding it, "I meant for tomorrow, ya perv." She smirked softly, brushing her tail out and braiding it to keep it from matting again. It had a superb way of matting if she did not care for it carefully. Part of her wanted to just cut it off.

She yawned softly as she hung the towel over the back of her chair and went to brush out her mane, her eyes glancing over at him idly before returning back to the floor, "When do you leave for Canterlot again?"

"A week and a half," he replied. "And I have no idea what I'm doing tomorrow. I really don't know much about what goes on in Ponyville. Kinda the new guy in town, remember?" he added cheekily. "But I'm not really big into tours and random wandering. I like to go somewhere for a reason and find things to really do. But if all else fails, we can go on a picnic or something. It'd be nice to see the area around here that isn't the Everfree."

She nodded before pulling her mane back with a ponytail and turning off the light, the sound of her hooves thumping softly against the wood before he felt the warmth of his companion next to him. It did not take much for her to pass out next to him, though her presence seemed duller than usual.

A thought that came to mind as he heard her breathing next to him was whether the princess was just blocked off because of Twisted or because of the talisman, or both? Would the night bring nightmares?

He quietly ruminated on that possibility, then a thought occurred to him. He spent the next hour awake, his eyes slowly growing bleary as he practically crammed the details of casting the particular spell that had been marked. After he felt he got the mechanics down, he wandered over to his sword and cast an simple blunting enchantment on it. He tested the new spell on it, getting used to the nuances of it, and after several attempts was satisfied that he could cast it, and if necessary ramp up the amount of magic he could put into it. He returned to bed, placing the book on the stand next to him and getting comfortable, quickly joining his friend in slumber.

Though the night seemed to go off without a hitch, the next morning was heralded by a loud banging on the door that startled the mare next to him into a dazed and drowsy stupor. "Wha, hmm...? C-Comin’..." she mumbled as she got out of bed and headed downstairs, using the wall as a balance as her legs slowly woke up. From what she could tell the sun was barely peeking over the mountains as she opened the door and looked up at a large and muscular brown stallion with a black, messy mane.

She looked up at him for a moment before her eyes widened. "C-C-Cain.. What brings you all the way out here?!" She stammered, a dark blush coating her cheeks as she patted down her messy mane. Apparently she had been tossing and turning all night from the look of it.

"Uh, I came to apologize."

The mare stared at him silently, awestruck that those words left the stallions mouth. Him? Apologize? "Uh, I think you lost me."

He let out a irritated grunt as he rubbed the back of his neck, "I shouldn't have run off like that even though you yelled at me. Horror said I should apologize so... Yeah."

Figures Horror set him up.

Vermillion groggily rose from the bed after Twsited left, the sun hitting his eyes again and making him growl in frustration. One of these days, princess, he thought, I'll get you to dim that overgrown torch you call a sun. He rinsed up a bit and headed downstairs after her, calling out as he rounded the corner, "Hey TR, what did you want for break...fast?" He noticed the other stallion in the doorway, and, in his numb morning state, simply opted for a default reaction. "Oh. Hey."

The stallion frowned a bit and his eyes narrowed at the other stallion in the room before he returned back to Twisted, "I'm interrupting something I see." He rolled his eyes, "This was stupid in the first place." He heaved a small grunt before turning and heading down the sidewalk to the path back into town.

"Cain it's not-" She sighed, shaking her head and shutting the door. Well that figures.. "Geez he's got impeccable timing..." she grumbled, sitting on the doormat with her back against the door. It just bucking figured he would show up. She shook her head again before looking up at her company with a weak smile, "Sorry about that. So what about breakfast?"

He gave her a concerned look. "Is he a problem, or was he here for something I messed up? If this is important, breakfast can wait. Or we can invite him to breakfast. Whatever works," he offered.

She shook her head and walked over to him, "Nah.. He's just.. a ‘friend’ of mine." She sighed and headed into the kitchen to make up some coffee. "He's not the social type. But honestly we did go to school with him back in the day believe it or not. Do you remember Cain and Abel? They were unicorn brothers who went to school with us. Cain had a crooked horn?"

Come to think of it Cain protected her to when she was a filly... But why did he remain in her memory but Vermillion did not. It just did not make sense.

"I'm a little fuzzy on the recall. I generally kept to myself or the better friends I made. Seriously, worst part of school in Canterlot is the number of jocks and snobs who liked giving everypony else a hard time," he said, shaking his head slightly. "If they weren't into magical studies, or scifi and fantasy I probably didn't see much of them." He rolled his neck, feeling it pop a couple of times as he stretched. "In any case, I'm feathering hungry. I think some cereal is in order. Quick, filling, and I get to be lazy!" he stated as he began trotting towards the kitchen.

She chuckled softly and settled down on the couch. "Feel free to raid my pantry!" she called over the back of it as she pulled the couch blanket off the back of the couch and wrapped it around herself. Whether the awakening was rude or not was up for grabs but it did not change the fact that it was unwelcome. By the time Vermillion came back around the corner the mare was fast asleep again, her mane in her face and the triangle laying loosely on the ground.

Though it seemed harmless enough, one thing had been consistently changing with it: the length of its rope. It had been so subtle before, hardly anyone would have noticed it, but when she had come downstairs it dragged on the floorboards, even now.. It simply seemed to rest on the floor without the smallest hint of it bothering or choking Twisted. Any other time it was close to her chest or even her knees but never this low. Did it... sleep?

Surprised his recently awakened mind was capable of processing such details, he happily stored that nugget of information away. He also guessed it might relate to her own level of activity. It seemed most active when she was stressed or emotionally distraught, and least active when resting or calm. That begged the question: which came first at night, her nightmares or its magic? Too many questions, not enough answers.

Assuming it was essentially dormant or such, it was a decent opportunity. He had made it a personal rule long ago: if you're going to do something stupid, make sure nopony was around or awake to catch you. He sat down on the floor next to the couch and performed his simple meditation routine to clear his mind. Then he focused purely on his magical senses, sights, sounds, and smells fading to the back of his awareness as he reached out. His horn glowed softly with his blue magic, and he brushed his energy lightly across the talisman, wary of any reaction.

Though nothing seemed to happen at first, the room felt darker, a soft pulse echoing off of the thing and surrounding him in a darkness he could not place. It remained still as did Twisted through this, but the chill remained.

Well this is... different, he thought. He channeled more magic into his sensing and ‘felt’ the magic trapped within the artifact. It was similar to the aura Discord left with his magic, but Discord's felt neutral. Not good or evil, just a fact, jumbled and chaotic as the mind of its caster. This felt jagged, aggressive, almost predatory. It was chaos, yes, but chaos with dark intent. Now for the stupid part.

He recalled the fight with the wolves and the rush, the feeling of threat, that guilty thrill he experienced every time he fought, and let it touch the talisman, focusing his magic like a siphon so it would affect him more than Twisted. At least, that was his hope.

There was almost a chuckle as a violent rush ran through his horn and ‘zapped’ his heart and mind. Twisted flinched softly, pulling the blanket around her muzzle softly as her wings shifted uneasily. Her unease was just. The feelings rushing through him, through his magic, almost made his stomach flip with anticipation, but more importantly... It made him crave the blood of any and all enemies, pony or creature alike. In this state if someone disagreed with him he would probably pound their face in.

While his own heart was pure he felt an almost... crushing sensation surround it and grip it tightly, as if it was trying to rip that purity from him and destroy it. It was unlike anything he had felt before his trip and though he did not intend it, a sick, twisted smirk crossed his lips. He wanted nothing more than to take whatever he wanted. No matter who he hurt, he was a loyal and just knight, so why should he not get what he wanted?

That simple, kindhearted part of Vermillion cried out vainly as his darker urges returned with a vengeance. His psyche clashed with the influence as it awakened his fury. How dare it violate his mind? How dare it try and hijack his power? His magic intensified, the sensing spell turning to telekinesis and gripping the triangle with crushing force. If he was going to hurt anyone, he would be the one to do it, not some trinket. He would win, and the rewards of victory would be his and his alone.

He almost cared enough to try and stop it. Almost. But then, the years of his youth in exclusion, the cruel words of ignorant peers, and his old desire to be the best resurfaced. The arrogance he had molded into pride returned. His controlled temper boiled into self-righteous fury. He had buried his desire to excel, to be superior, because it had made him selfish and uncaring. He had wanted to become a better pony for others, but that had not worked so well, now had it? Had he been in his right mind, he might have noticed the faint sound of straining metal.

There was a violent scream as he hit the ground, hard. The grey mare looked down at him, her hooves dug into his shoulders as the agonizing ache in his left definitely felt like she had either broken it or at the very least dislocated it. Her body was shaking, a dark gold ring encircling her pupil as she raised her hoof, smashing it down on his chest as her wings spread wide. Defense mechanism or not, the mare was a lot stronger than she looked.

There it was again. The dark chuckle that rang in his ears as it taunted him and his failure.

Unfortunately, he had felt the presence recede its control over him. Instead, it just left all the upturned darkness in his own heart at the helm. This bitch was going to start a fight when he wanted to help? Fine, buck this, buck her! His magic shockwaved outwards, flipping the nearby table and sending Twisted over the couch, the furniture following her. Another surge of magic and a ragged, furious cry reset his shoulder, his raging emotions amplifying the simple battlefield healing spell to give him full function back. He could still taste the lingering chaos with his mind and the taste left him livid. Twisted had righted herself and was lunging back over the couch, slamming face first into a shield far less cushioning and elastic than his usual fare. It made a brick wall feel kind. His irises were glowing iridescent cerulean as his magic flowed far more freely than he ever allowed.

She used the shield as a bounce board, her wings opening as she dodged his magic shots, landing another couple strikes to his face, her smirk only pissing him off even more. "What's wrong, still a failure?!" she snapped, and though it was not clear who had said it, her or the talisman, in his current state of mind it would only prove their undoing.

She shot at him, her speed being her upper-hand in this since he could only remain on the ground for the time being.

This would be the moment where he would smirk triumphantly had he been in his right mind. However, not being in his most coherent state, and having taken a few blows to his face from the mare's uncannily accurate swings, he opted to simply snarl as she impacted into him. His superior mass and planted stance kept him from moving more than a few inches, and he proceeded to hook his neck around hers and sweep out her forelegs. She used her wings to compensate, gaining lift and slamming her head upwards into his jaw, which only retained its integrity and teeth because he had braced in readiness for that move. As he put his weight down on her in an effort to pin her to the floor, she put her lithe nimbleness to use to try and worm free. Sick of the fight already, Vermillion put his guard training to use and put his magic to work, hard. Her wing was encased in magic and painfully wrenched into a hold, twisted to the edge of its flexibility, causing the pegasus to scream in fury and pain. She writhed and beat him with any limb he could not secure, but his eyes were drawn to a glint in the corner of the room.

His sword lay in its sheath where he had set it down, and his eyes settled upon it with vicious intent for a moment, until the oath of moment inscribed under the grip returned to his memory.

Two parts of him went to war in that moment. It lasted but seconds, but in his mind it was a drawn own struggle, until his noble intents found harmony with his vicious instincts and agreed upon a solution they had both planned upon.

In moments he assembled the mental constructs necessary for the spell. His logical, noble mindset crafted the spell matrix he had worked so hard to memorize quickly, while his primal half rammed all the raw power into the hex as possible. His sword flew from its sheath, a beacon of brilliant azure light, and hovered, point down, over Twisted as she rolled to face him. Her pupils shrunk to pinpricks and her struggles tripled, the talisman coming to a rest on the floor next to her neck.

With a definitive cry, Vermillion slammed the sword down...

...and the blade passed through the framework of the talisman, the blade's edges scraping the black metal, sending brilliant blue sparks into the air as the spell was unleashed. There was a dull implosion as the spell did its work, every ounce of magic flowing from both sword and talisman extinguished by the hexbreaker.

Vermillion's eyes returned to normal as his magical reserves finally gave out, and he drew in ragged breaths as he recovered from once more abusing his magic. He felt nauseous, his head was killing him, and the light from the windows was far too bright. Still, he looked down into the eyes of the mare he had been fighting, his concern finally overpowering the fury.

She felt the tears first.. Being thrown back into her own consciousness and staring up at the stallion what was causing her pain. But.. it was not him. The young colt glared down at her, his wooden sword pointed directly at her before he, and some other ponies who, in this vision, had no face, pulled him off of her. He had a couple of bad bruises and cuts from where assumedly she had hit him over and over before he took the defensive. But... why was this just coming back now?

She froze, her thrashing slowing as the talisman screeched in.. pain? She could only assume as she was brought back to the present in her mind's eye by a unbearable pain in her stomach. She winced, shoving him off of her as the rebound hit her insides with a violent sweep and she got sick all over her living room floor, staining the rug in red. She shook violently as she felt the dark magic surge through her and the talisman that was struggling to repair itself even with the blade still implanted firmly ‘inside’ it.

She felt the iron taste fill her mouth and a cold sweat cross her body before she looked helplessly up at the stallion "Take it... out," She gasped, the golden ring flickering vividly in her eyes though he could not be sure who was asking, her or the talisman.

Sweet sisters, what kind of magic was he dealing with here? That spell was supposed to cancel out all magic it came in contact with. For powerful enchantments, it would only cut them off temporarily, but whatever infused the black metal was merely stunted. He saw the tears, then the blood, and immediately realized that despite his best hopes, hurting the damn talisman hurt her, too. With a frustrated snarl he ripped the sword free and stumbled backwards, the sword flipping over the sofa to land somewhere amid the clutter of the fight. Damn it all, that was supposed to give her some time with it dormant, at least.

Still a failure?

Internally he was raging against himself, but instincts took over. He immediately began casting a healing spell on Twisted, his head surging as he did. He focused as hard as he could on stopping any bleeding, and voided his breakfast for the effort. He barely finished casting as he collapsed to the floor, breathing in deep, desperate breaths as his consciousness constricted. He coughed violently from all the abuse, but managed to turn his head to face Twisted. He could taste blood.

She moved over to him her eyes going back to normal for now as the sound of creaking metal started grating against their ears. Her eyes widened a bit as a choked noise came from her. The talisman was not simply on a rope around her neck anymore.

The grey mare settled next to him and nuzzled his cheek softly. This just was not her week... She gently rested her head around his neck and onto his back in a soft form of comfort and closed her eyes. She was exhausted and knew he needed some rest. Through the movement he felt it. Cold and hard beneath her bandana. From the blurred glance he got before fading into black was a shackle with a glowing gold triangle, fixed and almost smirking at him from beneath the maroon cloth.

Comforted by her presence and the knowledge that she was back to normal, he let slip his last thought as he passed out, staring unblinkingly at what he could see of the cursed black triangle.

"One day... I'll destroy you... piece of shit..." he mumbled as he lay limply on the floor.

A quick examination showed the beginnings of bruises, and his shoulder was rapidly swelling, but he was otherwise intact. He let out a ragged snore as he transitioned into proper sleep.

As he fell asleep she looked down at the damage she had done, her own consciousness slipping as she rested her chin on his shoulder. It was not long before she was out, a few tears streaking darkly down her fur and gently landing on his.

As it occurred, this unconsciousness was not a normal one for him. Vermillion found himself face to face with the navy blue mare once more, her concern and almost frustration plastered all over her muzzle as she looked down at him, "Ah. The knight."

Vermillion glared. "With all due respect," he began, his voice indicating otherwise, "I'm not in the mood for this, princess. If you've got something useful for me, spit it out. I have a feeling you know more about what's goin on than I do and, being this close to the action, it is really vexing to be operating blind." He conjured a dream lounger, his sword, and a whetstone. He sat and fumed at the blade as he sharpened the already keen blade and let the princess make the next move.

The princess took a deep breath and sighed, her own temper flaring a bit, though she knew it would accomplish nothing. "We need to know what it is. The thing that prevents us from entering this "Twisted Ribbon's" dreams. We first noticed the block after Twilight Sparkle helped us get back on our destined path as Princess of the Night. Try as we may, it never released. Even now." She moved around behind him, watching his sword with a unusual softness, "I see you have fought with her. So then, what was it you were fighting with? Perhaps we can be of assistance..?"

"It's the same thing blocking your dream walking. I've learned this much. It's some form of chaos magic, and before you go hunting down Discord, he's not the problem. He's as frustrated by it as I was." He used 'was' because frustrated no longer covered the spectrum of emotions involved for him at this point. "I already spent some time with him, and as far as I can tell, D is on the level. Never thought I'd say that," he muttered. "It's also hostile to outside influence, and increases its influence the more it or the bearer are interfered with. A hexbreaker didn't cut it off, even temporarily, but did seem to... hurt it, I guess." He paused in the soothing, rythmic motion of sharpening that helped him reach a calm point and think. "It also hijacks the host's will whenever it feels threatened, regardless of the host's wishes, and harming the damn thing harms the host. It's old magic, highness, even by Discord’s estimates." He turned to the princess of the night. "I want to help." She could see fury in his eyes, but also the beginning of tears. "But I'm just making it bucking worse."

As unusual and unexpected as it was, the princess put her wing over his shoulders and settled next to him, "We'll converse with the other princesses and see if any of them have any knowledge on a way to help." She looked down at him, her bright blue irises soft but focused, "We thank you for confiding in us. If it is as you say, she is in need of help and has been in danger of hurting others as well as herself and we cannot let this go unchecked.. You do know what we may have to ask you to do... yes?"

She could see a battle waged behind his eyes, a war between his duty to his oaths of service and his duty to support his friend. She was surprised however, when the tears dried and his muzzle quirked into a smirk.

"My dad told me a couple times I should have been a lawyer... by the oaths I swore I am to protect the subjects of Equestria against threats both from without and within. I'll protect her, I'll protect others from her, and I'll do my damndest to protect her from herself. You have other guards who can do the dirty work." He offered an apologetic grin. "I'm sorry if that's not exactly what you were looking for."

The princess stared at him before chuckling softly to herself, "Not exactly but... It also wasn't what we were getting at... If things don't improve, you may need to bring her to Canterlot for us to see her ourselves." She smiled softly as she got back to her feet, "We're confident our sister will agree that your new post shall be in Ponyville for now. We know you're on vacation there but until we decide what to do you may need to stay there. If it exceeds your present time there we'll give you an official note of movement."

Vermillion blinked a couple of times, his jaw working silently as he processed that information, earning an amused quirk of an eyebrow from the lunar princess. Eventually Vermillion formulated a response, smiling eagerly and offering a hoof as he proclaimed, "Well, alright, best boss ever! Up high!" The lunar princess looked shocked for a moment before smiling and completing the hoof bump. "So how exactly will I know this wasn't a dream when I wake up? I mean, as far as I know the only documentation says I'm on leave, not assignment." His expression darkened. "I really don't want to get stuck with an AWOL. Extra duty is..." he shuddered at the thought, the sound of cruel, military grade chuckling echoing through his thoughts comically, actually managing to manifest vaguely into the dreamscape.

"Okay, that's creepy."

Luna chuckled softly as she waved the noise away, "No, while you may or may not remember our chat, we will remember. We remember all of the subjects we help." She looked up as the room started going bright. "Looks like your body is waking. We'll be in touch."

8: Pegasus & Princess

Vermillion groaned as he he woke back up, a dozen aches and pains reminding him he had just been in a pretty serious tussle. His eyes flew wide as he frantically looked around, the need to verify Twisted's well-being overriding concerns for himself. He had been in worse shape before anyway. He spared but a thought for the encounter in his dreams, filing it away as something he could verify later.

The grey mare lay next to him, her head over his shoulder as a small trickle of blood left the corner of her mouth. The sound of a disgruntled snort came from the front door as Discord frowned at the two of them and the mess they had made, "Geez... Leave you alone for one night and the cotton candy hits the fan!" he grumbled, keeping his voice at a quiet shout to keep from waking the recovering Twisted.

He snapped his claw, some of the pain and swelling in Vermillion’s injuries going down as Discord healed as much as his magic would allow without turning the unicorn into something else, "So then, you learn a lesson in this or no?"

"More or less. More importantly, I may have secured some help. And my stay in Ponyville might not be as brief as I thought." He could see Discord eyeing him suspiciously. "Oh come on, don't give me that. And you were supposed to heal her first, ya dingus." He used a fetlock to gently wipe away the blood, ignoring the wet sensation as his fur matted and stained. He could use a damn shower after this morning, anyway.

"You think I haven't tried? It's got it's own healing ability." He commented as he snapped again, going back into his own pony form and walking over to them, "Best thing to do it let her sleep." He grumbled a bit, using his magic to move her off of him and onto his back with a grunt, "Besides, you need a shower and I need to at least spruce this place up a bit before she wakes up."

Vermillion shakily stood, nodding as he did so. "Any suggestions for when she comes to? I have a feeling she'll be pretty torn up about the fight, even if it was my fault."

Discord sighed softly as he began to head towards the stairs, "Personally I don't think you can say anything that would fix it." He shrugged a bit. "That thing lives to make her miserable. Maybe that's its power source of somesort." He yawned a bit as he slowed for the stallion to catch up, "So the princesses coming anytime soon?"

Vermillion shrugged. "No idea. I was planning on stopping by Princess Twilight's at some point today, so I'll find out what I can then. She's not going to be thrilled about that, but if they try anything funny I'm not going to put up with it," he stated firmly. "I don't think the princesses are like that though, so... here's hoping." He trudged up after them, turning for the bathroom while Discord saw to Twisted.

The brown stallion nodded to him and set his friend in her bed as Vermillion disappeared around the corner. Though his concern was forefront there was almost a smile in his tone as he brushed her bandana away and watched the now collared talisman glint in the light. "No... I don't think they are. But we must keep a watchful eye. This seems like the very beginning.."

This was far from over.

The next few days went... roughly.

Twisted, after her incident with Vermillion, did not seem like she was sleeping anymore. She was always moving around the house, fixing what had been broken, jumpy and almost paranoid when he would head off into the small town on his own to, outside her knowledge, visit the princess.

Discord would pop in from time to time, breaking up any fights that happened between the two to keep Vermillion from being severely hurt in his defense against her sudden magical outbursts. It was a weird feeling being 'saved' by Discord instead of fighting against him and his chaotic magic. But, same as always, she had no memory that he could tell of the altercations. Despite his frequent interchanges with Twilight and the Princess of the Night in his dreams...Things seemed to get worse with his friend.

"She's worse?" Twilight asked softly, looking over her shoulder at her new-found friend who was sighing heavily and flipping through pages. Luna and Celestia had sent her a letter and, despite her wanting to go investigate herself, forbade her from doing so. Right now their eyes were the guard stallion who was sitting in her library, and any time he came he expected a interrogation.

"I mean... Shouldn't you bring her in for me to meet? I don't understand why the Princesses are so adamant about me staying away from her! She's a friend if any other pony is and it seems to be damaging your relationship with her as well. You just rekindled your friendship and she's freaking out every five minutes!" The flustered alicorn stopped her hooves on the table she sat at, rubbing her temple a bit as her thoughts swirled.

She blushed a bit when the stallion chuckled at her. Princess or not, she definitely did not grow up in the "royal way". It was a unique thing about her that made the stallion admire her.

Vermillion looked the princess in the eyes and thought for a moment. "You were Celestia's personal student. I imagine that brought with it a certain reverence for her, right?" Seeing Twilight nod, he continued. "Now imagine if your friends took you to Celestia because you were struggling with something you wanted to handle yourself, something embarrassing or damaging. Do you really think it will help things between us if I suddenly go, 'Oh hey, let's go see the really powerful ponies who could totally ruin your life on the chance that they can help you!'" He gave her a deadpan look as she opened her mouth to retort. "No, it doesn't make logical sense. I know you wouldn't do that, and I doubt the others would either, but it's about perception."

He rubbed his temples with his forehooves. "I Just don't get how we're supposed to deal with this thing. Tampering with it makes it worse, leaving it alone let's things get worse, and the longer she has it on her the more damage it’s going to do to her." He rubbed a recent sore spot and muttered with an ironic smile, "I have been getting really good with my hoof-to-hoof skills though..." Always a silver lining, he thought bitterly. He looked back to the princess. "Please tell me you've made some progress on finding some kind of information on it. This is your thing, princess! This is way out of my skill range."

The princess bit her lip nervously, "Well... There was one thing but I don't know if it's what you're looking for." A few old and tattered books flew by as she brought them over to him to share, "These books speak of ‘cursed’ items. Kind of like the Alicorn Amulet if you've heard of it. It was an old relic a ‘rival,’" she paused, making quotations in the air with her hooves before continuing, "tried using and it seemed to kind of... possess her. Not in the same way you describe but... it changed the wearer and once removed, the wearer went back to normal."

She flipped through a few pages as she spoke, a few mentioning chaotic energy being used to power certain relics though what they did was never clear. "Like you and Discord have tried... The wearer usually won't let you remove it because the relic is usually using the wearer for something. There was a spell in a old book that Spike told me about. It was only used once; mostly because he ate it." She shot a small glare at Spike who kinda scurried away. "It gave the unicorn is was used on the ability to basically possess their own cutiemark! So interesting, I would have liked to study it further," she rambled before noticing his look.

"A-ahem. Sorry," she apologized. She was getting off topic again. He had gotten used to her going off into odd tangents, but she seemed to actually have begun to scratch the surface of the truth.

"And that helps our situation... how exactly? How did you put an end to the spell? You can't tell me just eating the book ended the curse..." He wore an incredibly skeptical expression. "And even if it did, destroying the thing isn't an option. The one time I took direct action against it it caused her physical trauma without even laying a hoof on her. How do you put an end to a spell that does that kind of thing?"

Twilight frowned a little at the new information. Was it too late? She shook her head. "Apparently the end of that spell was to speak the truth to the spellbearer and the spell would break. Like I said, I'm sorry I got off topic. It's obviously not even close to what we're dealing with." She rubbed the back of her head. She needed to face facts, and she felt now was a good time to ask. Even if he would be upset.

"Vermillion... I know this isn't something you want to consider but... A-And I'm not giving up! Let me assure you! But... if it's already able to physically harm her, is it possible it's already too integrated into her life to remove it?" Her expression was kind and careful though it remained firm, "I mean, if it can do all you say, who knows what personality traits it's tinkered with? What bodily harm it could be holding at bay to keep it's host safe? Are you ready to accept that kind of responsibility?"

Vermillion blinked. The implication that his friend was already (possibly) dead had not occurred to him. Best friend a zompony? Awesome, but kind of inconvenient when the thing that kept her going was a killer contraption. This was why he really, really hated some of the ponies of old times. Only idiots would concoct that kind of construct.

"If it's sustaining her, it may drawn on her magic but she'd have to be alive for it to be able to have something to heal, otherwise healing is pointless. By that logic, she's still alive, but harming her or the talisman might kill her anyway if it overdraws on her magic. The key, then, is finding a way to sever the connection between the chaos magic and her own pool of energy. Which I imagine will be rather complicated with how deeply entrenched it is at this point. This is really way outside what I can do, princess, but it gets really old to see her dealing with that thing..." His magic instinctively grabbed the hilt of his sword, which he now carried with frequency after being stationed in Ponyville on what was essentially a form of active duty. He would really be digging the new pay bonus it entailed if it was not for the source of that necessity.

"I'm not worried about if it's keeping her alive or not," she replied bluntly, wandering around the room in a pacing manner. "I'm more worried about how much it's interfered in her life. Because you're right. It needs a live host. I'm guessing it runs off of negative energy; that's why it attacks you. Specifically you." She turned and pointed a wing at him, "You came back. It gets super active. Why?" She shook her head as she studied him a bit, "Maybe you're taking away its ‘food’ source?" She pondered, pacing around the library. If that was the case then perhaps the being the Princess of Friendship thing would actually come in handy here.

"I need to speak with Celestia about this. Maybe I can help, but I need her permission to see Twisted if I can." She looked at him. "Not go to her house with the intention of seeing her just... ‘accidentally’ bump into you two when in town on a day she's more... stable?" She gave a weak chuckle, "I'll see what I can prepare, alright? I'd like to help you as soon as possible. Before you get any more bruises."

The stallion gave a dismissive snort. "Bruises heal, and it's been a great way to brush up on my healing spells. I've never been this great at first aid." There was humor in his voice, a genuine appreciation for a challenge, but at the same time he sounded so very, very tired. "I"ll head back for now. I promised I'd help her out with some chores today. Should be a nice, quiet afternoon, then I can meet up with some of the guys tonight to unwind. By your leave, princess?" She rolled her eyes and nodded, and he made his exit. He ruminated on the conversation as he walked the path to Twisted's house. It had only been a few days, so he was still staying with her, although Twilight had offered to house him at the castle in the guard quarters. It was actually pretty tempting, especially with the possibility that his presence was causing more harm than good. Who knew being a caring friend and peacemaker would stir up more fighting than it ended? Ah, life, you cold, cold bi-...

His thoughts were broken by a call from the mare in question, who had just stepped outside. He smiled warmly, but it did not quite fill out his eyes like it usually did when he was pleased. He knew she had picked up on it, but given the amount she remembered of their fights she may very well not know what was causing him such stress.

The tired mare gave a small smile, "I was about to go get ya. I thought you ran out on me," she teased softly as she let him inside. She stood at the doorway for a minute, watching him before a sudden question caught him off guard, "I'm... hurting you, aren't I?" Her eyes were gentle and calm though he could not be sure if it was from lack of sleep or if it was a mix of concern and sleepless nights. "I see the bruises. And through the veil, I see tiny pieces." She looked down a little, kicking her hooves against the floorboards gently as she took a deep breath, "If you wanna go get a room until you can go home, I understand."

She gave a weak smile, her ears flicking back a bit, "You gotta promise to visit me every now and then if you do though." The comments and the tone of her voice almost broke his heart. She didn't want him to leave; that much he knew. But all this new information made him feel like he was the reason she was in such bad shape now. But... The other side of him wondered: what would happen if he did leave? Just to stay in town? Would things improve?

He sighed, before slowly trotting closer and placing a hoof on her shoulder. "It's whatever. I could give you all kinds of lines about friendship and being a very stallion-y stallion, but none of that really matters. You can't get rid of me that easily." A bit of spark came back into his eyes. "I don't have this red mane for nothing, y'know." His expression fell again. "I think it might be a good idea for me to get out of the house, though. On the bright side," he said as his magic fished out a scroll from his bags, "I did just get this."

Well, not just, he had had it for a couple days, but now seemed like a good time. It had been worded carefully, likely by Luna herself, to be somewhat ambiguous. He explained it while Twisted read it. "I've been assigned to Ponyville to work on a special project with Princess Twilight. Turns out talking to her about magic and some of the things I'd like to learn got her all excited." This was true in many respects. "I may even contribute to a new specialist school in the guard for more advanced spells to handle some of the crazy stuff that not every guard is trained for." Also true. Twilight had indicated doing so would be a great idea when he had brought the idea up. Might as well make some good out of all the bad, he reasoned.

She could not deny that it hurt, but she knew it was the best choice. She was hurting him without even knowing it and that scared her.

“T-That sounds great!" She gave a soft chuckle and a smile as she nudged him, "Looks like you and Twi will be spending a lot of quality time together, Mr. Casanova~" She teased before she looked down, an uneasy feeling settling into her stomach, though she could not really place why. "I'm happy. You won't be leaving so soon. But yeah. You're welcome over anytime. I'm keeping my leave time from the shop though... I haven’t felt well for a couple days," she mumbled softly.

Yeah. From the beatings she had been delivering and likely receiving it was no wonder.

She handed the scroll over to him before she moved away from him and settled back in her usual spot on her couch. The past couple days when he woke up he had found her there, so it did not seem out of the ordinary, though the light coming through the windows highlighted the dark circles around her eyes now.

Yup. Best choice. If it helps.

"Don't worry, I'll still be popping by to give you a hard time often enough," he offered with a grin as he plopped down on the couch next to her. "In the mean time, we should plan something suitably awesome, like a party." He felt a few hairs stand on end. Huh, weird. "I'm sure somepony in town will be more than happy to contribute to that. Actually, I've never partied with Discord before... that could be entertaining." His eyes grew spacey as he imagined the shenanigans to be had with the master of chaos helping him out. Oh, the sweet possibilities...

Twisted grumbled a little, burying her head under a couch pillow at the word, "Party". "Dont say that wooord," she hissed, nudging him with her hind leg. "She'll heeear you..." She knew he knew who she spoke of. And the reminder made him feel like he was being watched.

At the mention of Discord helping she had cringed, peeking out from under the pillow with a unsure and uneasy expression, "Vermillion... I don't know. If I'm really this unstable... Is a party with a bunch of ponies such a good idea? I don't..." she paused softly, her gaze off to the side now as she tapped her front hooves together. “I don't want to hurt any more ponies." She looked up at him quietly, her bangs now in her eyes and the pillow on top of her head.

Vermilion gave her a long glance. "Well, ultimately that's your call... but you don't seem to have problems going into town around everypony else. Not everypony is as aggravating as I can be," he offered with a face that was both impish and apologetic. "I think the longer you let fear control you, the more you'll feel threatened and the less you'll be able to get out and actually live." His words were somewhat impassioned. "A life holed up here really isn't much of a life. Don't get me wrong, I like time to myself with a good book or just some old fashioned peace and quiet, but I like it being a choice. I want you to remember that you always have a choice."

She looked down before she sat up again, the pillow falling to the floor. "I do live my life. I just try to keep ponies at arm's length. When they get too close, I hurt them and they're not as forgiving as you are." She looked up at him with a small smirk, "A party sounds lovely." she shivered, that chill again... "But if things get... out of control I want you to kinda get me out of there if you can. Deal?"

Vermillion nodded firmly. "Count on it. I'd be a terrible friend if I didn't." The moment didn't last long as they both felt a few hairs stand on end for a moment before the door burst inwards in a shower of confetti, Pinkie Pie blurring into the room from the smoking muzzle of her party cannon, planted just outside the door.

"I totally just had a crazy twitcha twitch that meant somepony was planning a party and I knew I was needed so I got here as fast as I could so hey Vermillion hiya Twisted why is Vermillion all bruisy?"

It took them a moment to process everything the pink mare had said, but Vermillion got it and replied. "I've just been doing some guard stuff and wrestling that's been a bit rough on the ol' bod’. I'll be right as rain with a bit of rest. And yes, I actually could use your help with a party." He sidled up to Pinkie conspiratorially, whispering loudly, "Ms. Grumpy over here could use some cheering up, so we should totally liven things up at Sugarcube corner this weekend. I'll stop by tonight for perfect party planning, Pinkie Pie." The alliteration made her giggle as she shot out, "Okie dokie loki!" then proceeded to speed out the door, the party cannon disappearing to Celestia knows where.

"Well that's one issue resolved. Now how about our tasks for today?"

"W-Well, we're running low on groceries," the mare stammered, watching Pinkie leave in a fluff of confetti, frowning a bit as she looked around her house. "But I think we also need to clean up her tornado." She grumbled, shaking her head as she pulled her saddle bags onto her back, pulled her bandana up around her new "trinket" to hide it before looking over at him, "So shall we?"

Vermillion nodded as the confetti scattered about the room began to shimmer blue, quickly swirling into a floating cloud and flowing into the nearby trash bin. Vermillion gave her one of his cocky grins and his eyebrows bobbed up and down a few times. "Learning magic from the bearer of the Element has its perks. Now, since I'm already all kitted up," he indicated with a wave of his hoof to his bags, "I'm ready to get to it when you are. What's on the list?"

Twisted sighed with a small smile, "I guess it does have it's benefits, eh?" She nudged him softly as she trotted past him, sticking her tongue out as she headed out the door. She seemed... Almost back to her normal self. Well, herself with sleep deprivation. But they could work on that another time.

She waited for him outside before walking beside him, watching the greenery around them, "Let's see," she said softly as she made a mental list. "Well, apples definitely. I know you love them. Some sugar, flour..." She kinda drifted off as she mentioned a couple other fruits and vegetables as they broke through the exit to the forest. It certainly seemed to get shorter and shorter the more familiar he got with the path.

"So then, where should we go first? I know we need to get you a room somewhere... a-and you need to see Pinkie later. So... What do you wanna do?"

"Well, given the slightly more permanent nature of my stay, I figure I can square away an apartment or something, but that can happen later. Let's grab the supplies for now and we'll see how much of the day that eats up." His stomach grumbled at the word 'eats' and he twisted around to glare at his own barrel. "Hush you. I'll deal with you soon enough." He looked back up to Twisted sheepishly.

Twisted chuckled softly, and nudged him, "Come on... Let's go find you something or at least look. The sooner you're safe the better." She felt her voice crack a bit, though she kept pushing him gently towards a few apartments on the other side of Ponyville; funnily enough closer to the castle. The grey mare finally allowed him to walk on his own once he had finally agreed, though her stubbornness was barely more than his own. Still, this could work out for the better if Twilight was going to be out and about. Maybe they'd run into each other and it would make his explanations easier to see.

Vermillion was feeling torn. He could see how the new distance was hurting her, at least her feelings, but the memory of blood trailing from her mouth and his sword lodged in her floor was enough for him to shoulder past his reticence. "Come on, cheer up! It would have probably gotten awkward after a while if I had just moved in with you now that I'm in Ponyville for..." He stopped for a moment and stared at the ground before shaking his head. "Well feathers, the orders basically stationed me in Ponyville until I'm needed somewhere else." He snorted at that. "As if I'm needed anywhere else." His voice reflected a number of meanings to that. "Anyway, there's Applejack's stall. A quick snack and stocking up in one go has never been so sweet!" He trotted forward with enthusiasm, and only a sliver of it was forced.

She watched him for a minute before following after him, looking up at the element of honesty as she welcomed them back and commented on the condition the two seemed to be in. Twisted chuckled softly. "I just haven't slept well is all; having too much fun." She nudged Vermillion gently as she walked around the trees as AJ kicked some apples from them.

Vermillion valiantly ignored the slight red that touched his cheeks at her comment. Maybe she missed the implication, but it was damn hard to hide the snicker that was threatening to result from it. "Ehem, right. Anyway, freshest you've got, miss Applejack. Gotta stock up now that I'm going to be in Ponyville for longer than I was expecting."

"Really now? Well that'll be mighty nice," the farm mare replied as she bagged a few choice pieces of fruit. "What's got you sticking around, partner? Your lady friend?" she asked nonchalantly.

Twisted nearly choked on the apple in her mouth before she turned and looked at her, "E-Excuse me?" Of course. She got that implication, which could have been completely harmless but she missed her own. Wow.

AJ snickered a bit before shaking her head. "Not like that Sugar. Just askin if he's stickin’ around to keep you company. You're not lookin so good."

Twist tried to shake the blush from her cheeks before laughing nervously. "Wh-who me? Nah.. I just need some sleep is all."

Applejack gave her the flat stare of the non-believer as she accepted the bits for the produce. "Alright, sugarcube, if you say so. Ya'll have a nice day now!" The moment Twisted turned away, the orange farmer shot a look to Vermillion, who simply nodded. He needed no more of an indication to look out for her, and he had a feeling Applejack knew that was what he was going to do anyway.

"Alright, that takes care of the important part," he said as he bit into an apple, letting out a satisfied hum as he enjoyed the fruit. He swallowed before he continued, asking, "So where do we go next? I actually haven't been to the general store yet, but I'm guessing that's where they'll have the sugar and flower. Or a grocery store. I should actually figure out where all the shops are... Do they have a map for that?" He could tell he was beginning to ramble.

Twisted chuckled softly and nodded, "Well... I can show you around fully this time so you know your way around before we find you a place." She nudged him a bit though at this point she seemed to be using her nudges as a way of support as she walked ahead of him and lead the way.

The tour itself was simple enough. Most streets lead to and from most of the places he needed to go and all the while they met new ponies, said ‘hi’ and waved, all the usual greetings. It was a nice day all in all until she lead the way past the castle and towards the apartments on the far side. Now knowing the area he realized just how far away from other ponies she had settled herself.

Whenever she nudged him, he made sure to lean into it a little, attempting to reassure her. If she were a package, it would most assuredly read ‘fragile, handle with care.’ If only he were better at that.

"I'm surprised the town has as much as it does around here. I'd ask where Sugarcube Corner is, but if that," he said, pointing to the confection-styled building, "is any indication, I already think I know where to look." He smirked at her as they passed the colorful building.

"Oooh yeah. If you can't figure out which one is Pinkie's house then I'm afraid you're gonna have to stay with me." She stuck her tongue out at him and looked up at the castle coming into view, the purple princess trotting out with a pair of white and yellow coated mares at her sides. "Huh.. I guess the princess has a mission."

Vermillion had been around the princess enough to recognize her friends, and he had sort of spoken to Fluttershy briefly the day he had arrived in Ponyville. Still, he looked askance of Twisted before he went over to greet them. "Hey, you want to meet royalty? I've got an in with the princess~" he sing-songed with a waggle of his eyebrows. He knew she was far from totally comfortable with the idea, but somepony had the break the ice.

Twisted's ears flicked back a bit before returning to normal position as she followed him, adjusting her bandana with a small smile, "N-Nice to meet you princess," she spoke softly, though she somewhat kept her eyes averted. The two mares looked at them before smiling, waving, and bidding their farewells to Twilight. "We'll see you later at Sugarcube Corner, right? Pinkie won't let you miss out," the white mare chimed as she trotted off.

Vermillion shifted as he heard that. But Pinkie said... he shook his head of those thoughts. That mare would always be an enigma, so he never bothered trying to puzzle it out.

Twilight smiled softly. "Twisted Ribbon, right? Nice to meet you! I've heard about you from Vermillion when he stops by to study with me. He has a lot of nice things to say about you." Vermillion became a little red in the muzzle as he coughed, and the princess giggled. "I was just about to grab lunch. Would you like to join me?" Vermillion tilted his head in deference to Twisted, giving her a reassuring smile.

Twisted gave the princess a smile, "Well he's got the biggest crush on me so I don't doubt it." she snickered as she teased him, nodding a bit to the princess. As for the invitation, she was unsure how to respond. She had yet to really hung out with them before so it was a little intimidating. She sighed gently and nodded with a smile. "Y-Yeah. It's about that time anyway."

Twilight looked askance of Vermillion, who just gave a little nod. With that, she donned her smile again and then asked sheepishly. "I hope you two don't mind Hayburger? Eheheh... it's kind of my favorite place this time of the week."

Vermillion's eyes lit up and he nearly pranced his way down the road next to the princess before stopping to cough into a hoof and adopt a more serious stride.

Twisted walked a bit behind the two, chuckling softly, "What a goober." She commented softly as she watched the other ponies around them in a bit of a dazed expression.

"I heard that!" he called over his shoulder as they finally reached the restaurant. A short while later, they had ordered their food and seated themselves. It did not take long for them to get to it, and shortly after they began, Vermillion leaned over to Twisted with a look of awe crossed with faint disgust on his face. "I, uh... didn't know the princess had quite such an appetite. If this is how all royalty eat I don't feel the need to ever worry about table manners again."

She nudged him. "Not nice." She looked over at Twilight with a small smile, "So how are you, princess? I haven’t seen you out of the castle in a while."

She huffed a bit as she wiped away some stray ketchup. "Well, royal duties like to pile up, especially when certain masters of chaos come through the library making a mess. He said he was just looking for a book, but he could have used the directory! I even have the organization simplified so anypony can use it! I mean, that's how normal ponies find their books right?"

Vermillion opted for the smile and nod response, rather than snickering at his liege.

"Well, on top of that, I've been really digging into the archives to try and sort out the, uh, project I've been working on with Vermillion." She tapped her chin thoughtfully as she looked at Twisted like some diagram in a museum.

Vermillion quickly interjected. "It's been a doozy, let me tell you. Discord popping in was... well, it helped, in a crazy sort of way. On the bright side, my skills with the hexbreaker spell are way better after dealing with those animated books!" Twilight's eye twitched sligtly and a strand of her mane sprung out of place at the mention of animated books.

The grey mare did not particularly like the way the princess was staring, but she said nothing against it. "Dissy- uh... Discord can definitely be a handful sometimes. But he's really not too bad. He just likes picking on you." Only after the words had left her mouth did she realize how they sounded, "S-sorry... I know he's a menace on your library and that's no excuse." She mumbled a bit, chewing on her fries quietly. It took little time for the hair to stand on the back of her neck as a loud pop echoed in her ear.

She winced as the little draconequis poofed out of her mane, "You rang~?"

Twilight rolled her eyes as Vermillion facehoofed. He was torn between flipping the table or smashing his head into it, thinking all the while how things were not going to plan. "Hey Discord, funny seeing you here, huh?"

Twilight looked around the group at the table. "Wait, both of you know Discord too?" Vermillion gave her a flat look. "Right, at the library." She sighed and looked back to Twisted. "But what about you?"

Great.

"We-"

"Oh we've known each other for quite sometime, now haven't we my dear?" Discord interrupted, coiling around her neck like a necklace though he seemed to wrap her bandana around himself like a blanket, the metal chunk around her neck glimmering as it hit the florescent lighting.

Twisted groaned, struggling to get comfortable with her new neck adornment in the booth they were sitting in. Though it took a minute for either of their company to realize he was helping them get a better view of the item in question, teasing and distracting its tired host.

Vermillion smirked a little bit. Discord, you sly, sneaky, magnificent bastard. He tapped Twilight's hoof with his under the table and made a vague gesture towards his neck with his burger. She looked at him quizzically before he pointedly stared at Twisted. Then she donned an expression of realization. Behind her chair, a quill and parchment appeared, the quill furiously scratching notes and sketching diagrams as Discord continued to tease her. "Having fun over there, D? Twisted's starting to look a little wound up," he added as he snickered a bit.

Twisted grumbled a bit, clenching her teeth together as she slammed a hoof on the table, a faint glow donning the metal for a split second then disappearing. "That's enough!" Twisted snapped, Discord's eyes widening a bit before he snapped and reappeared between her and Vermillion, his ears down a bit.

"Alright, alright, Ms. Grumpy," he pouted, the grey mare sighing and resting her chin on the table, trying to ignore the stares from the loud noise she had made. She was grumpy. And exhausted. So of course her fuse was short! He had to have known that but she still felt bad for snapping at him..

"Sorry, Dissy," she said softly, closing her eyes as she felt him pat her head.

"Don't worry about it, Twist. You need a nap, I get it." This was a side of Discord Twilight hadn't seen before. Caring? Calm? Even with Fluttershy he was hardly this behaved.

Two parts of Vermillion were clashing at the moment. One was doing a little victory dance for the display, a short but perfect cross section of exactly what was going on and how it was affecting Twisted. No doubt the princess had already made ample notes on the event.

The other was kicking itself for letting her get to this point. He really hated seeing her worn down like this, and no matter what he did, it only seemed to be dragging on and getting tougher for her. This was why it needed to be solved somehow.

Twilight, however, was the one who broke the silence. "Well, I think we're just about finished with lunch here." She looked to Twisted. "Have you had the chance to come by the castle before? I feel like I would have seen you, but it's hard to tell with all the royal duties piling up," she admitted with a sheepish grin. "I'd love to show you around and get to know you better."

Vermillion clapped his hooves together. "Perfect! When you finish with that, we can meet up at Sugarcube Corner. I remember your friends mentioning something about it, and I need to head over there to talk to Pinkie anyway. Wanna come with, D?" Discord seemed surprised at the invitation.

Twisted opened her eyes and looked up at Twilight, offering a small smile before she spoke, "Sure. Sounds lovely. I never visited because, honestly, my house is its own library in itself sometimes, so I never really run out of books." She yawned before looking up at the surprised creature beside her.

"Me?" Discord asked, quirking a brow at Vermillion before shrugging. "Sure, why not. I enjoy Pinkie Pie's company more than most these days. She knows how to have fun." At the last word he pointed at the frowning princess across from him before he looked down at Twist, "After your tour though, I think this one needs a nap." He teased before looking up at Twilight then Vermillion. "So we'll leave the party planning to you then?"

Wow, a party was never a secret in this town was it?

Vermillion sighed in defeat and nodded. "Come on, let's leave the ladies to it." Discord chuckled as he popped onto the unicorn's head with a snap, taking the form of a draconequus-turban.

"I know a faster way there!"

"Wait, Dis-" and with a snap and flash, the two were gone.

Twilight loosed a sigh of her own before smiling over to Twisted. "Ready to go? I'm sure Vermillion can handle himself... I hope." She shook her head as she cleared the table and tidied up. A quick spell had her coat as clean as it was before she began.

As they made their way outside, the princess tried to break the ice. "I don't think we've had a chance to really just chat. It's nice to finally spend some time with you." Her smile was soft and genuine.

Twisted looked over at her before nodding, "Yeah... I'm not really social. A lot of ponies don't like me here so I kinda just keep to myself." She rolled her eyes at a couple of scowls then returned to look at her. "I know you're busy a lot of the time with the other princesses so I kinda just stay out of your way. Vermillion seems to have taken a shining to ya so I guess you're not as intimidating as I thought."

Twilight seemed surprised. "Intimidating?! Me? I'm a total bookworm! I mean, there was the whole Nightmare Moon thing... and the changelings... aaand Tirek..." She frowned slightly before snapping her gaze back to Twisted with a worried expression. "Do ponies really find me intimidating? Do you think I am? I don't want to be! What should I do?" If she had not been on a course for the castle, she might have started pacing in the middle of the road. It was as an amusing site, if slightly embarrassing for royalty.

Twisted chuckled softly, throwing out a wing to stop her quickened trot, "Easy, Twilight. I'm kinda intimidated by other ponies. It's not you. I mean the whole princess and castle thing isn't what does it, at least for me. Other ponies get intimidated by the title though." She looked up as the castle got closer and closer. "They think they need to impress you or treat you special. For example: there have been about... 4 ponies pass us whispering about why the hay you're hanging out with me." She smirked a bit, sticking her tongue out at her. "It's all image."

Twilight frowned at that, looking around at the ponies passing them. She could see them turning away or acting normal as her gaze reached them, or providing a smile and wave to her, but as soon as they thought she had looked away, she could see their eyes lock back on Twisted with contempt. A quick sense of their surroundings made her aware of the talisman's presence even if she had not seen it before in the restaurant. It was a puzzle she was starting to finally see the pieces of.

"Well, I don't understand why they act that way towards you. And even if they do, you have your friends by your side. Vermillion has been worried about you. Is everything alright?" They paused at the entrance to the crystal castle Twilight called home as she turned to the pegasus with a look of concern on her face. She knew Twisted would have to talk to her of her own will.

"Ponies will be ponies, I suppose." She stopped as the alicorn stopped in front of her, rubbing the back of her head softly at the sudden question. "I'm fine for the most part... Nightmares have been keeping me up. And Vermillion is looking for his own place while he's here. So that's... different I guess," she mumbled a bit, avoiding Twilight's eyes as she readjusted her bandana again. "He does tend to worry but I just need a good night's sleep is all."

She knew he was worried, so much so she wondered if the princess had a little more knowledge than she was letting on. Still though, she could not bring herself to say anything. Whether it was the talisman locking up her voice or fear she was unsure, but she could not.

Twilight placed a reassuring hoof on her shoulder. "If you need somepony to talk to, you can talk to me any time. It's what friends are for, right? Plus it could always be crazier. We are friends with Discord after all..." she added with an eyeroll and a huff. It did not last long though.

"Well, let's not just stand around here. Do you want to see the library?" There was an eagerness in her voice and eyes that had made many a pony wary of the princess before.

The grey mare smiled softly, "Sure, lead the way"

Twisted had a moment to observe the glee her assent inspires for the alicorn before she was swept along by eager hooves to the library. Inside, shelves lines the walls from floor to ceiling, a massive set of windows not unlike those in the royal library in Canterlot adorning the far wall. Rows of standing shelves were sectioned systematically and meticulously, likely by the princess herself, and the information desk was neatly sorted, a large ledger for borrowed books open with a quill and inkpot sitting at the ready next to it. The whole room was, for a library, light and airy, with light bouncing from the crystal walls and ceiling and illuminating each row with the perfect amount of sunlight. It was a book lover's paradise.

Twilight looked at Twisted with the eager anticipation of a filly that just gave a special gift to somepony. "Well? Amazing isn't it? The elements have done all kinds of crazy things, but this was one of them that was really special." She was positively beaming in the presence of so much literature.

Twisted watched the princess beam with the love of her books and it made her smile. "It's lovely, Twilight." She walked around a bit, looking at all the titles she had collected, some from Celestia’s library she would assume.

"I have books from every category listed in the royal archives and extra copies of most of the general knowledge. I even have a lot of the restricted books, but obviously I don't just leave those around for anypony to read because that would be dangerous, so I keep those in my private study." Twilight was quite energetic when it came to her library, that was for sure. "Oh! What's your favorite kind of book? I bet we can find something you'll like that you've never read before." Twilight would have continued, but she had noticed that her own joy at the proposition of a good read had yet to reach the pegasus. "Or we can just look around some more, eheh..." she added sheepishly.

Twisted chuckled softly and shook her head, "We can walk around if you want. I'm sorry I'm not super chipper. Discord was right, I do need a nap." She looked up at the crystal panels for the windows, watching the rainbow colors dance in the sunlight as it began to set on the day. Shoot, where had the time gone?

"Well, if you're really feeling tired, maybe we should head over to Sugarcube Corner a little early to meet up withthe boys. Hopefully they haven't gotten themselves into too much trouble..." Twilight offered with a grin and vague gesture with a hoof.

Twisted felt a sudden shudder go up her spine as she shook her head. "Oh dear. I get the feeling Discord is either in danger or has annoyed V to death. " She chuckled softly and nodded to Twilight. "Yeah. I think that would be best. Gotta make sure they don't end up killing each other."

The princess giggled. "Well come on then. Thankfully it's a short trip." With that they made their way back out into the afternoon.

9: All Apart of the Plan

As the two mares approached Sugarcube Corner, they observed weary ponies walking away. Children were bright eyed and excited, while parents and other older ponies looked either entirely confused or exhausted. The two mares gave each other a look before picking up the pace a bit and stepping inside. What they found was one part warzone, three parts kitchen disaster.

Vermillion and Discord sat with a rather distraught Rarity and cowering Fluttershy. Rarity's mane was a mess of streamers and sprinkles, while Fluttershy had frosting on her wings, which were currently shielding her face. Vermillion had a blank, shell shocked face and wore... balloon armor? A party tiki torch lay unlit at his side, and his mane was liberally coated in confetti and bits of dough. Discord, surprisingly, wore the same expression, but he was coated with flour and splotches of juice.

"How did she...?"

"I don't know, D."

"But what about the..."

"I don't know, dude."

Across the room, Applejack and Rainbow Dash wore exhausted but triumphant expressions, no less coated by confectionary calamity and party paraphernalia. The only unscathed pony was Pinkie, who stood grinning from ear to ear atop a wall of flour sacks and balloons cemented together with jam and frosting. "Hey girls! You missed the tastiest battle ever, but everypony is staying for dessert right?" A chorus of groans greeted the question.

Twisted stared at the giant mess before shaking her head. "She got the best of you, didn't she Dissy?" She snickered, hearing more of the same come from the other ponies in the room. She kept forgetting they had yet to learn her nickname for him which made it all the sweeter.

Discord glared at her, flicking the cake and confetti concoction at her as she looked at her stallion companion. "Nice armor, dear. Celestia would be most pleased." She stuck her tongue out at them before her attention turned to Pinkie Pie. "Got any coffee, Pinkie?"

"Yeppers! Lots of cream and sugar?" she asked. For a moment as she waited for a reply, she wiggled her rear hooves, felt an ear flop, and she tasted seafoam. Her frown was brief enough to avoid notice with all the other craziness in the room. "I've got plenty of sugar for sure!" She added without skipping a beat. Where she would find said sugar after the mess they made, nopony was sure, but none doubted she could and would.

"Yes, please. An energy shot like that is just what I need." She replied as she took a seat next to the boys, giggling softly to herself as she dusted some confetti out of Vermillion's mane. She seemed better than they had seen her earlier. Yet, something about Pinkie definitely weirded her out.

"Hey. So, uh. Yeah. Not exactly how I expected this to go." Vermillion cleared most of his mane by combing it with telekinesis. "Have you ever planned a party while fighting a battle? It's a new one for me." He began doffing the balloon armor, which was surprisingly robust. When he saw her looking at it strangely, he explained unhelpfully, "The armor was a truce gift after the Battle of Meringue. Came in handy when the truce broke and the Clash of Confetti started."

The grey mare blinked at him, staring at the mess then back at him as he ‘explained’ before she shook her head, holding her front hooves up. "Nope. Not even gonna try." She commented before turning back to the pink mare who brought her coffee over to her. She smiled and took it happily, taking a sip and grinning wider. "Perfect!"

After her cup was nearly empty she turned and looked at Vermillion, "So... The planning went... well?"

"About as well as it could with her using that feathering party cannon in the middle of a duel. Nearly lost the Torch of Leadership to a well-placed instant party." His eyes looked a strange mix of nostalgic, haunted, and giddy. He shook his head vigorously. "Sorry, coming down off a bit of a sugar rush. Long story short, yeah, we can have the party here in a couple days. Pinkie said she'd take care of everything, and I stressed how it should try and avoid the craziness. I think she was trying to get it out of her system today," he noted as he idly licked a stray dollop of whipped cream from one of his hooves.

"That... was complete gibberish. I think you may have PTSD, hun." Twisted smirked a bit as she looked at Discord who was struggling with Rainbow Dash’s and Applejack's abuse of the new nickname.

"Do you see what you've done? This is why we can't have nice things, Twist,” the draconequus grumbled, launching a cotton candy cloud at the two and sticking them together, though that only seemed to throw Pinkie back into attack mode as she leapt back behind her barricade.

"No, THIS is why we can’t have nice things, Dissy!"

Vermillion's expression changed, and like a flip was switched his horn lit up and the tiki torch was back in his grasp. "By the Torch, rally to me, ladies of the dainty pastries! To battle!” Several pies, the last reserve of ammunition from their side, floated up in two magical auras of blue as Rarity opted for a vengeful first strike against Applejack for ruining her mane.

Twisted could only duck behind an overturned table as the war kicked off all over again.

Discord had ducked down, coiled around the pegasus in an attempt to shield and protect his already caked mane from being even more damaged. Two birds with one stone I guess? Though Twisted seemed to get that kick from the coffee at the perfect time.

She pushed Discord off of her and into the direct line of fire from the confetti cannon, using the distraction to pull a large sack of flour, the bag ripped from the previous battle, over her shoulder as she took to the air. She snickered a bit at the scowl she got in return. "You on my team or not?" She teased as he snapped, wrapping over shoulders and settled onto her back, "ONWARD!"

The grey mare would definitely fail to sneak up on the Queen of Sugar herself, however... She had a bit of payback to get to as she swooped over Vermillions head. Discord pushed the entire bag on top of the stallion's head. "Bombs away!" Discord shouted as he conjured up a large pail of water to more or less ‘cake bomb’ his new unicorn rival.

Vermillion gave a sudden cry at the unexpected betrayal. "Ms. Rarity! Prepare for counter batter-y fire!" As Vermillion lit a spellflame at the end of the torch, the white unicorn fed globs of cake batter to him, which he gave a quick coating of frosting he cleaned out of Fluttershy's wings and passed over the flames, loosing a literally half-baked barrage of cupcakes up at his airborne adversaries. He angled his shots so that the stray rounds would land in the territory of his other rivals, one managing to smack Rainbow across the muzzle. The athlete merely licked the frosting away and narrowed her eyes as she retaliated with a chilling volley of ice pop recently acquired from the freezer. Rarity yelped as the heavily food-colored sweets melted into her coat, turning her a riot of running colors and interrupting the stream of cupcakes. Vermillion adapted by extinguishing the torch and summoning up all the confetti he could, blasting it into the air in little capsules that broke into colorful papery airbursts intended to ground his flying foes.

Discord snickered at Rarity's dismay before conjuring up a large cannon strapped to the back of the grey pegasus he rode. Despite the lack of use her wings got she was rather nimble against the cupcake flurry, the little Discordian on her back launching wads of cotton candy grenades that threw thick chocolate milk everywhere when they hit ground, or another pony. Pinkie willingly took a cloud to the face, devouring it mid-air. She did always love those even before his reformation.

Once the confetti started Twisted had a bit of a harder time, coming to a sudden halt and flapping backwards, throwing the bits of paper back with the gust from her wings. "Oh ho, you sneaky bastard," she muttered to herself before swooping down at him, lifting him under his front legs into the air, "Yooohooooo~ Target Practice?~"

"Gladly." A singular voice finally interjected. All eyes turned to a frazzled-looking Twilight Sparkle, wings spread, horn aglow, and four dozen levitating globs of cooling fudge levitating in her magical grasp. Nopony had been tracking her presence since she froze in the entrance. Nopony dared to move.

"I believe it is my royal duty to decisively end this conflict."

And with that, the fudge was loosed in a shotgun blast that coated every pony in the room with the exception of Fluttershy, whom Twilight correctly assumed had been dragged into the conflict unwillingly and was currently taking shelter under one of the booth tables by the window.

"Now, I believe we all owe Pinkie Pie some help cleaning up the mess we've made." All the ponies, and draconequus, in the room let out childish groans, Rainbow muttering, "Do we have to?" She hardly even needed an answer as Twilight summoned a small stockpile of cleaning supplies for the ponies to get to work with.

After over an hour of careful cleaning, the store was finally back in working order. Vermillion panted as he haggardly trotted over to Twisted. "Never have I been more grateful to be born a unicorn," he managed, finally extinguishing his magic as he got the last of some particularly stubborn stains cleaned up.

Twisted yawned, her sugar rush gone as she leaned against the wall, her hooves barely holding her up at this point and bits of paper littered her already multicolored mane. Yup. Definitely bedtime now.

Discord yawned a bit and looked down at the small mare next to him, shaking his head and pulling her onto his back, "I'll take her home while you mingle. Get the last bits for the party settled, eh?" He smirked a bit before he snapped again, Twisted giving him a small wave before the two of them disappeared from sight.

Though she could not be sure if he was coming home or not, she lacked enough fight in her to dispute the decision.

Vermillion only had time to nod a bit before they disappeared, turning back to Twilight. "Find out anything useful?" The princess ruffled her wings and her muzzle scrunched up. Vermillion hid a smile at the amusing response.

"I made a few notes about it," the dozen or so filled scrolls in her bags belied, "but I can't quite figure out the important details without interacting with it with my magic, and if your experience is any indicator, that wouldn't end well. Plus with her in her exhausted state, I can only imagine the kind of strain in would put on her. That and I don't want anypony giving her any more trouble than she already gets. I think it has to do with the talisman. I felt a little awkward around her, but I didn't feel any 'bad vibes' or anything from her." She tapped a hoof to her chin. "But you've been rather good at magic, particularly shield spells," she continued as she began pacing in the lobby. "And I obviously have plenty of magical power on hoof, so maybe its influence doesn't get through to us, our own magic insulating us? Or maybe it doesn't want magically talented ponies tracking it...." She was devolving into muttering and postulating until Vermillion stopped her with a firm hoof.

"Princess, we'll sort it out. As long as she stays clear of everypony else, I can handle any... outbursts the hunk of junk encourages. You may want to help me with my first-aid spells, though. I have a feeling they'll be more useful the longer we take." The princess gave him a sad little nod. And they bid their farewells to each other and the other ponies in the store before making their way out. It was a lot later than he had planned to head out, so he did not expect to find any residence managers still at work. With that conclusion, he set a course for Twisted's house, both to check on her and, more likely than not, crash at her place for the night. If her response to his departure was any indicator, she certainly welcomed him staying there. As such he quietly made his way inside and up to her room to check on her after he arrived.

As he entered the dark room a pair of dark red eyes looked over at him, the light from the moon above the skylight highlighting the long body of Discord who was almost coiled around a small bump in the blankets that could assumedly be his companion. His eyes shifted for a moment as the mare shifted in her sleep, adjusting himself to keep her comfortable before looking back over at the stallion.

"A shower might do you well." Discord said softly. This was probably the calmest and most serious he had ever been in his life. Despite the teasing and tormenting of his friend, he did seem to really care, so much so he would sit still for this long to keep his friend comfortable.

It was definitely a sight to behold. He smirked a bit at the look he received from Vermillion, "I know. It's odd for me to hold another so high and so close, isn't it? I mean... You knew me before Fluttershy's reformation. Well... you knew my magic." He shook his head a bit, "Anyway, get cleaned up so you both can get some sleep, would you? I can still see the confetti in your mane."

Vermillion smiled that crooked, genuine smile before turning to the bathroom and carefully turning the water on and stepping in. The flow washed away the last evidence of the ‘conflict’ at the bakery, and the sound of flowing water and steamy heat of the shower lulled him into a contemplative state, the events of the day and each conversation coalescing into a single train of thought. Of all the strangest tidbits of the day, Twisted seemed perfectly fine during the ridiculousness over at Sugarcube Corner. No rampage, no bruises, not even a mean word. Given how active and engaging the situation had been, he actually wondered why the trinket had not activated. Was the area chaotic enough? Something to do with the presence of the element bearers, perhaps...

Maybe she just needed to get it out of her system once in a while. But she hardly had a temper. Did it? It had almost spoken to him through her when he rammed his sword through it. Was it sentient? If so, was he crazy enough to try and befriend an ancient chaos artifact?

I think up some weird stuff in the shower, he mused.

After soaking for more than long enough, he lathered up thoroughly and rinsed off, stepping out and vigorously drying off. He stepped back into the bedroom with the bathroom light off, faintly lighting his horn to find his way. He checked the bed to see if Discord was staying.

The coiled mass looked up at him as he came back. "I leave her to you then," he said softly before he snapped, his form disappearing and leaving the two alone. His absence seemed to only disturb the mare for a minute as she whined and struggled to get comfortable again in her own blankets, her wings curling around her shoulders as she struggled to keep the heat from Discord from escaping around her.

He sighed softly before getting up onto the bed and taking advantage of his size to wrap halfway around her, and a quick flick of his magic brought over his scarf to wrap around her as well. He placed his head down flat on the bed, his chin almost jutting out in a pout as he let his own fatigue drag him into sleep as well.

He cracked his eyes as morning broke, and eyed the skylight suspiciously, as if it might betray him and let the sun through early. Seeing that he had, for once, awoken before Twisted, he carefully got up and quietly made his way downstairs and into the kitchen.

Through the night Twisted had curled up with him, her wing gently laid across his back like when they had been camping, though when he got up she hardly seemed to notice more than the sudden lack of warmth. She shifted with a soft and sleepy sigh as she buried her muzzle into his scarf.

As he touched down on the bottom floor, Discord yawned, his back cracking loudly as he pulled himself upright from the couch. Had he slept here all night? Discord looked up at the hoof beats, quirking a brow at his messy mane and lack of scarf as a smirk crossed his lips, "Sleep well?~"

Vermillion rolled his eyes. "Well enough. Now help me find the waffle iron or summon one up for me if you want some breakfast." He dismissed waiting for a response before trotting heavily up to the coffee maker. Today was one of those days his gut said would need it.

After getting a pot roasting and checking for any useful additions, he determined the house was in need of a proper mocha mix in the future, and he would have to settle for cream and sugar in the interim. Next step was to mix up some waffle batter, which went much more quickly and smoothly than he anticipated. "Hey D, you find that waffle iron?" he asked as he prepped the stove.

Discord snapped as a rather large, bright purple waffle iron clanked down on the stove, the draconequus settling down in one of the chairs to watch. "Someone seems grumpy." He snickered a bit before one of his ears flicked back towards the door. "Seems the princess has an idea~!" He snapped his fingers as the door sprouted legs and moved out of the way, leaving a confused and flustered Twilight in half-knocking mode.

"Well do come in~!"

Vermillion turned to look at the princess, blinked, then returned his attention to the iron. He decided waiting for it to preheat was not in his agenda and lit a flame spell almost to the point of a blowtorch and heated the pan much more quickly, then placed it on the stove and poured some batter in. "How do you like your pancakes, princess? Browned, or still a bit of gooey batter?" He was far from a morning pony, and he certainly had not been expecting to see her this morning, especially not this early. He was not sure if he was still on leave at this point, but if not he was counting this under part of his special assignment as a guardian or whatever they wanted to call it.

Breakfast first, or even her highness can shove it, he thought within the safe confines of his own head.

The purple mare walked in, eyeing the door that now took its place back in the entryway. "Uh... browned please." she responded sheepishly, noticing his demeanor. Discord snickered a bit to himself as he pushed a chair out for her, leaning heavily on the table as his tail twitched behind him. He was definitely enjoying the stallion’s irritated mood, "So then. Shall we find you an apartment today?"

"That’d probably be a good idea. Kinda missed it yesterday with all the hubbub at Sugarcube Corner. I figure a single bedroom apartment will get the job done fine." He served up several well browned waffles for the princess with a glass of juice and apples that he sliced with the flurry of a knife as they passed to the table. Discord got a teetering plate of nearly gooey ones, while Vermillion piled his first batches of over or undercooked ones for himself. A stack of perfectly golden waffles remained on the stove to stay warm for Twisted. He shoved a piece of one waffle into his mouth and contemplated its slight crunchiness.

The smells of breakfast and the voices from below took little time to stir the mare upstairs. After a few groans and a near-death experience falling out of the bed, Twisted sleepily walked down the stairs, Vermillion's scarf twirled around her neck as she greeted her companions.

"Morning," she mumbled, her eyes falling upon the odd sight of the princess of friendship, a royal guard on holiday, and the spirit of chaos eating oddly sized waffles at her kitchen table. "... I think I'm still sleeping or Discord brought his own waffle iron again," she mumbled, taking a seat next to Vermillion and leaning on the table with another yawn. "Oh... By the way..." She looked up at him with a small smirk. "Sorry for stealing your scarf... It's really comfortable."

"No worries, I happen to think it looks great on you." His comment was delivered flatly, emotional expression limited to neutral at best in the morning. "And yes, Discord provided the waffle iron. Evidently not the first time. And don't ask me about Twilight, I don't know what's up with that either." He punctuated that sentence but stuffing his face and giving a pointed look at the alicorn sitting across the table, his flat expression ruined by his bulging cheeks.

Twisted chuckled softly and nodded. "That's why I'm keeping it," she teased, sticking her tongue out at him before looking at Discord. "And I heard something about apartment hunting today?

He chewed thoughtfully on an apple slice and nodded slowly. "Yeah, that kinda fell through yesterday, so I should take care of it today. If I get that all squared away I wont have any pressing issues before the party. Pinkie will have most of it set up, and one of the treaties we signed covered the restrictions on guests." He popped another bite and waited to swallow before continuing. "It should be a nice little affair, although how she figured out a couple of my guard buddies ended up around here is anypony's guess."

Twisted tilted her head at him. "Your guard buddies are here? Why didn't you tell me?" She grinned and nudged him. "Dont wanna introduce me or what?" She giggled a bit and stuck her tongue out at him before taking a bite out of her own waffles.

Things seemed almost normal now. Discord was teasing the princess since she had decided to scold him for using his magic on Twisted's door and it ended up with him enchanting a couple other things on the table which seemed to be frazzling the purple mare.

"Dissy!" Twisted frowned playfully, "Be nice to our guest!" She shoved another forkful of food into her mouth before looking back at Vermillion, "So!" she started with a swallow of waffle, "uhm, did you happen to see any of the apartment complexes since you've been here that look nice? I bet with the guard pay you could afford a house if you plan on settling here when you're not working."

He gave that a solid bit of consideration. "That's... not a bad idea in the long run." His eyes seemed to become distant for a moment before he shook his head. "Something to think about for down the road. In the mean time, an apartment will do. I spotted a couple nice locations, but I'm probably going to just end up being that guy and renting the cheapest place I can find." He gave a little shrug and a smirk. "And I didn't know anypony I knew from the guard was here. Pinkie brought it up. The things royal intelligence could do with her abilities..." His overly wistful tone belied the seriousness of his statement. "So, if I may, Twilight, why exactly are you here this morning? I wasn't expecting to see you until I reported in this afternoon."

"Reported in?" The mare chuckled softly and shook her head, "I honestly just came by to see how everyone was. After that, ahem, battle," she paused as a frown was replaced by a slightly forced smile, "and the whole clean up I wanted to make sure everypony got home safely..."

"Of course they did, You don't doubt me, do you princess?" Discord pouted, giving her puppy eyes that she almost failed to overcome. Almost.

"Discord, I don't doubt you but you like playing pranks on all ponies and frankly I think Pinkie wore you out last night," Twilight shot back and snickered a bit before getting to her hooves. "Anywho, I could escort you to the apartments. I know a bunch that are close to the castle that are relatively cheap."

Vermillion smiled and nodded. "That sounds like a good plan to me. Let me just clean up breakfast and we can get to it. Anything you need while I'm in town, TR? I can pick it up after I get the housing arrangements all squared away," he offered as he levitated the dishes over to the sink. He scrubbed off the waffle iron and set it aside to dry. "You uh... you want this iron back, Discord? Not sure where it goes since you, y'know, poofed it here."

"Oh no, I'll take care of it later~" He smirked a bit before ruffling a sleepy Twisted's mane, "And I'm sure we can take care of anything she needs."

Twisted shook her head, her mane fluffing a bit in her face before she looked up at the two leaving ponies, "Well uh... I guess if you see any sweets you think I'd like then grab those but, uhm, I think I'm okay," she said sheepishly, waving a hoof at them as they walked out the door.

He offered a warm smile and a wave as he left with Twilight, stepping out into the morning sun with his customary grimace. He tried his best but after a moment he sneezed. He scowled at the sun as the princess giggled, and then they were on their way down the path away from Twisted's house.

"So my dear," Discord began as he moved over to the few dishes that remained, animating them to clean themselves. "I have tea with Fluttershy this afternoon, but my morning is otherwise free." A snap of a claw and the waffle iron disappeared, and in his paw appeared a day planner. "I can't even begin to imagine what I might do with free time on my hands. Care to help a fellow out?~"

Twisted chuckled softly, looking up at him, "Well... I guess I did need to go into the forest to grab some stuff for this tea I've been looking into... Did you want to come?" She looked up at Discord with a small smile, contemplating the ingredients she would need. "It's supposed to help calm the user..."

Discord nodded firmly, serious for a moment. But, as usual, it quickly disappeared as the dishes finished themselves and he whisked her along and out the door. "So where exactly in these delightful woods are we heading? Hopefully nowhere too dull, or I might just have to mix things up a little." He snapped and disappeared in a flash to reappear coiled on her head like a turban. Another click and a pair of obnoxiously colored saddle bags materialized on her back. "You might be needing these to store that... tea, was it?"

She looked up at him with a small smirk, "Yeah... It's got a couple odd ingredients so I gotta be careful." She looked back at the bags warily, "Please tell me there isn't already stuff inside these from your last escapade?" She groaned, remembering the LAST time she had been saddled with bags he provided. She was a nice shade of pink for almost a week.

Discord scoffed for a moment, looking at her expression before sagging a bit. "Oh fine, you're no fun." He reached down with an arm that stretched impossibly far for his size and lifted a flap, the explosion of confetti and fake snakes causing him to snicker a bit as he closed the bags once again. "That should be the only surprise in store, but I'm never too sure with my magic." He settled back in, striking a coy pose atop her head as she took them further into the Everfree. "So what exactly is it that we're looking for? I'd like to be helpful, and some of the more... entertaining varieties of flora are some of my best handiwork."

Twisted jumped a bit at the sudden loud noise before blowing her bangs up in his face with a small smirk, "Well then.. I remember needing some poison joke, some heart’s desire, and some more phoenix poppies." She turned off a small pathway she knew lead towards Zecora's area where she knew some poison joke grew though she did not quite know how she was going to package it without doing something ridiculous to herself first.

"Ohoho, poison joke was quite the treat to make back in the day. It's one of the ones that just never gets old. Although I'm curious to see what fun effects it has on you..." he contemplated, stroking his beard until it popped off. A quick look at the talisman hanging from her neck made him frown. "Well, nevermind, the other ones should be simple enough to find. I didn't make the phoenix poppies but I wish I had! They're wonderfully chaotic on their own if you let them ignite." The beard between his fingers went up in a tiny flame before another stroke of his chin marked its return to his face.

Twisted frowned a bit before shaking her head, "Yes, well, I'm sure I don't want to know what's got you in such a responsible mood." She stuck her tongue out at him before flapping her wings to get her up in the air to fly over the bright blue flower patch they had arrived at. "Any way of picking them without turning me some weird color again?"

"I supposed levitation would do the trick, but somepony is rather lacking in the horn department. I could try and use my magic, but while I'd rather enjoy the results I somehow think you won't. Well, time to have a bit of fun then! It's why I'm here after all. I'm going to need to borrow these, first, though." With that, he plucked her wings from her back, and with a quick flick to her forehead, she sprouted a horn. "Yes, yes, unicorn magic doesn't mix blah, blah... get on with it then!"

She whined a bit as she landed with a thunk on the ground, wincing a bit as she landed inches from the first of the flower patch. She grumbled, her magic swirling a bit as she frowned at him, "That was close you jerk!" She barked, shaking her head as she looked over the flower patch, finding a flower that looked healthy before focusing as Vermillion had briefly taught her. It took a few tries but she managed to pick it and put it in a glass jar she had the draconequus conjure, the poor thing's legs wiggling about as she put it into the saddle bag she knew had been emptied at the beginning of their errand.

"See! Nothing to it. I daresay you've learned a thing or two thanks to a certain stallion." He proceeded to provide her with a very literal wink-wink, nudge-nudge as he casually traipsed through the poison joke. "Although he has been getting rather buddy-buddy with the princess. I do wonder what they're studying sometimes..." He tapped his chin thoughtfully before exiting the patch and returning to her. "Ah, well, it's not like anything would bother you, right?"

She frowned a bit at his comments, though it had crossed her mind once or twice. "He's free to ‘study’ whatever he wants. I don't own him, ya know," she mumbled a bit, though she failed to hide the slight pink color added to her cheeks. "And no. It doesn't bother me." She grumbled as she headed ahead, "You coming or what?"

"Oh yes, just give me a moment." He reached behind one of the trees impossibly deep and pulls her wings out from them. He floated over and took her new horn off with an audible suction-cup pop before quite literally slapping her wings back on. "There we are, right as rain. Now, on to the... what was it again? Heart's desire, yes. I rather thought that walked off with the royalty, but I supposed the plant will do for now, right?" He twirled his tail with a claw as he sauntered further along the path.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" she grumbled, watching the smirk on his lips spread into a grin. "Discord it isn't nice to tease me you know," She continued to mumble, stretching her wings out as she felt him slap her on the back. "Geez, you're rough today. Something on your mind?"

He stretched and continued his nonchalant walk. "Oh, I'm just curious is all. Plus things have been a little tense lately, and it's just such a killjoy. I'm just trying to have my fun how I can! I'd rather not give Fluttershy a reason to take away tea time, so I can't use my usual, most maddeningly entertaining magic." He sigh and slumped for a moment before summoning an umbrella than rained from the inside. "Though I dare say my creativity has gone up a notch with the lack of more... counterproductive tricks." He twirled around a tree as they finally came across a patch of heart's desire, scooping up several ideal specimens and offering them an the semblance of a bouquet to the pegasus.

"Well I told you all you gotta do is ask." She blinked a bit as she was greeted with the bouquet before she chuckled gently and took them from him. "Thanks Dissy.." She smirked a bit and kissed his cheek. "Besides, I like your magic for what it's worth. What do I need a unicorn around for when I have the best and most fun magic around?" She stuck her tongue out at him as she added the bouquet to her pack gently and started heading for the poppy field.

Discord smirked, his cheeks coloring for but a moment, then straightened himself up and dismissed the downpouring umbrella. "Quite. Now what was that last thing you needed? Poppy seeds was it?" he asked as he summoned a book titled "Horticulture Experimentation Log 3B" with the letters TS adorning the spine. "Oh my, quite a few breeds of that particular one. Fluttershy might like those..." he said as he floated along upside down.

Twisted snickered a bit and shook her head, "You know Purple Smart isn't going to like that you took books from her library. If you recall, last time you got to her books you ate them." She trotted ahead a bit, spotting a few flowers ahead that almost seemed like fire on the horizon. "There we are."

The draconequus snapped and the book disappeared. To where, one might only guessed, but hopefully back to its rightful place in the library. "Yes, yes, I do recall. Is there anything else I can help with before I go about my day? It's nearly noon now." A quick look through the canopy confirmed as much, time having passed quickly during their search.

"No, no, go ahead. Don't want to be late." She smiled softly and hugged him. "Thanks for your help, Dissy."

He returned the hug warmly before stepping back and clearing his throat. "I'd best be off, then. Ta ta!” A snap and flash later, and he was gone, leaving Twisted to walk the path home alone. She made it back with little incident and stored the ingredients, being particularly careful with the poison joke, but otherwise had an afternoon to herself. A quick knock at the door brought her attention to it, only to find a pink envelope stuck to it. Opening it triggered a little poof and a small cloud of confetti, but the contents indicated the time the next day for the party, and included a guest list for her. The list was pleasantly short, including the element bearers, Vermillion, and several other ponies she was familiar with.

She flinched a bit at the sudden poof of the paper flakes but after looking over the list she smiled and walked back inside to spend the day with her newly brewed tea.

The sun had already dipped below the horizon as she heard her front door open and close, the sound of hoofsteps drawing her attention to the foyer. Vermillion was setting down his bags as he made his way over to her. "Heya! I got the apartment all squared away, but it's nowhere worth staying in yet. I'll head out with a, uh... buddy of mine to fix that here soon." Was he blushing? "Anyway, mind if I crash here tonight until I can get set up at the apartment?"

She felt a twitch run through her before she looked back down at her book. "A buddy, eh?" She gave a small smile as she ran her eyes over the page. "And yeah, of course you can stay." The scent in the house was... different. Flowery and warm unknownst to him from her tea earlier. "Oh. I got Pinkie's invite by the way."

"She sent out invites? That's weird, I didn't..." he said as he turned and glanced at his saddlebags, seeing the crimson and pink corner of an envelope. "I'm guessing it's rigged with confetti, knowing that mare, so I'm just going to leave it there until I feel like safely extracting it later. Something smells nice. You cook something for lunch today?"

"Tea. Dissy helped me find the ingredients earlier." She yawned softly and stretched out her wings. "So your girlfriend in town?" She smirked, glancing up over her book.

He went a couple shades darker at that. "I, uh... something like that." She had never seen him this flustered before, his bravado completely absent. "What kind of tea was it? I haven't smelled something like this one before." It hardly took a mage to divine he was deflecting her.

She shook her head and closed her book, "It was meant to help calm me down." She got off the couch and stood before him. "Something like that?" She tilted her head, "Want to explain, Mr. red-as-a-barn?"

He flopped down at the table and seemed to search for something. "You didn't save any tea for me? How cruel." His tail was flicking back and forth across his seat, muttering, "I could use a bit of soothing the way this conversation is going..."

She sighed softly, heading to the stove where a tea kettle was still sitting and poured him a new cup, "Look.. I don't care if you want to tell me or not, just say so." She set the cup in front of him, a few heart-shaped petals lingering on the top of the light pink liquid.

He took a few sips of tea, finding it indeed rather soothing. He gave her a serious look. "If this gets to the guards, I'm blaming you, and I will be coming for payback." He took a deep, calming breath. "Sooo... I went to a carnival just outside of town and... met... a stallion." He seemed to deflate and his head smacked into the table. "Before you ask, yes, I thought I was straight too."

She blinked for a moment before giggling to herself, "Awwwww!" She smiled softly, "Vermillion, there's nothing to be ashamed of. Why were you so worried about that?"

His voice was muffled by the hardwood of the table as he answered. "Because guards already give me enough crap over other little things." He lifted his head up from the table. "Plus it kinda caught me off guard, since most other stallions don't... aren't... adorkable." The blush returned heavily. "Come on, I date mares up until this point, totally dig it, and then WHAM!" he said, punctuating with a slammed hoof. "So I know I'm not gay exactly. Just... flexible? You tell me you'd be totally cool just randomly finding out you're bi." He paused for a moment. "Then again it really didn't take much to roll with it..." He shrugged. "I guess I just don't feel like dealing with the plothole ponies out there." He rubbed his temples with his hooves. "So how was your day?"

"Well..." She muttered softly, rubbing the back of her neck, "A-Anyway... My day was quiet really. Not nearly exciting as yours." She chuckled softly and nuzzled him, "Come on. I think we should get to bed. You've had a bit of a shocking day."

He finished the tea and levitated his cup and the other remnants over to the sink, rinsing them out and putting them away. "And bed sounds rather nice. I could use some sleep for tomorrow. Twilight wanted to test a theory tomorrow morning before the party. I didn't get all the details, but she was pretty excited about it and wanted me to help out."

"If you two end up hitting it off, I'd love to meet him~" She stuck her tongue out at him playfully as she slipped into her side of the bed.

She could hear his exasperated sigh from across the room as he made his way to the bathroom, calling out, "I'm going to shower so I don't stink up your bed. Back in a flash." The bathroom door shut and the sound of running water could be heard as he got to it.

Though she smiled softly to herself she felt a small twinge of pain in her chest. Was she... jealous? She frowned at her mental realization and buried her head into her pillow in discontent. Me? Jealous? Why? We're friends. I have stallions I'm already interested in. So why is this feeling so painful?

She sighed heavily with a equally exasperated groan, muffled into the fabric of her pillowcase as she stretched out her wings and more or less flopped against the mattress. If she ever met him it would not be the most ideal of meetings. That was for sure... And Dissy being all pushy about it did not help either.

She listened softly to the sound of the water hitting tile, an oddly soothing sound as it slowly lulled the grey mare to sleep, gently curling herself around her pillow.

Vermillion made his shower rather brief compared to his usual, and returned to the bedroom and dried off. His gaze lingered on the shape of Twisted under the covers for a few moments before he returned the towel to its place to dry and got himself settled and comfortable for the night. He spent some time staring up into the stars before finally drifting off to sleep.

He awoke some time later, and a glance up into the skylight indicated it was not yet dawn. If the passage of the moon was any indicator, it was not terribly far, though. He decided to sit and contemplate what the day might bring and mentally checking his readiness for any number of scenarios that the party might throw their way. He sighed quietly and simply tried to enjoy the soft embrace of the mattress and pillow beneath him as dawn approached.