Dealing in Harmony

Chapters

3. Strange Magic
4. Truth or Draconequuses
5. Twilight's Plan
6. Celestia's Reaction
7. Peculiar Sorcery
8. A Thunder in Our Hearts
9. Slipping
10. In Control
11. Desperate Souls
12. The Twilight Fantastic
13. Coda
1. What Happened and What Didn't
2. What Happened and What Didn't pt. 2

3. Strange Magic

“... and while you were away you received several letters, I gave them to Madame Agate who has been helping with the daily affairs and she gave them to the prince, as per your request. There was one in particular that she wanted to---”

“Thank you, Smitty, for the very thorough recap of events since I've been gone” Cadance interrupted her assistant as he appeared to only be a little over halfway finished speaking. She turned around in front of the large, ornate gilded crystal doors at the end of the long hallway to face him with a gracious smile.

“But you do realize that you have been talking non-stop since I walked into the palace, and now we've arrived at my bedroom door. Clear on the other side from the main entrance. Up three flights of stairs.”

Smitty wilted sheepishly for a moment, “My apologies, your highness. I did not mean to just start rambling on when you'd only just arrived.”

“It's alright,” she softly laughed and waved her hoof good-naturedly. “I am pleased that you kept such a good record of all the things I missed, and I'll address them soon after I have a good rest.”

“Yes, princess,” he stammered, inclining his head. His ears then popped up suddenly, and his voice raised in volume as he shot his gaze to hers. “Oh, but to answer your original question; Prince Shining Armor is in your private chambers.” He then pointed hesitantly to the doors behind her. “Um... right there.”

“Thank you again,” she repeated in her same pleasant tone. Eventually Smitty received the hint and bade her a good rest, bowing and exiting if only slightly awkwardly.

Her large, sunlit bedroom was a welcome sight for Cadance after so long away, but not half is welcome as the sight of her husband, who rose as she entered and greeted her with a smile that mirrored hers almost perfectly.

“Cady, oh are you a sight for sore eyes,” Shining Armor caught her halfway across the room in a hug before Cadance could make it to the bed or at the very least the window seat. “How did everything go?”

“Oh, as well as could be hoped.” Cadance answered with a sigh after they broke their embrace. “The royal couple of Mist Haven only required some marriage counseling so thankfully not much was needed there, but the young prince from Fawnlin and his future bride needed a little – well – encouragement.”

By 'encouragement' Cadance of course meant magic.

Ever since her empire reappeared, she hadn't been called upon for this specific 'good will mission' very often, but before her ascent to the throne of the Crystal Empire every now and then Cadance would be called upon to utilize certain aspects of her special talent.

She was always good at seeing the contents of a pony's heart and enjoyed helping them to either better get in touch with those feelings or help them to convey them. She could even magically enhance those feelings if they were already present to help remind ponies about the bonds of love they may have forgotten or taken for granted. Cadance believed in love and the power it contained, but she also respected it. She would never manipulate a pony's emotions unless it was a dire situation. Which was why Cadance tried her best to mediate more often for ponies who were having trouble with their loved ones, to use her words rather than her magic.

Those Mist Haven royals had been on the verge of a civil war, and Cadance had managed to help them reconcile simply by helping them to listen to each other.

There were requests like that, and then there was the second one. It was a politically-arranged marriage, which Cadance was not entirely a fan of, but it was at the request of a country Equestria wanted to stay in good standing with, and at least the couple in question already had some attachment to one another. She wouldn't have agreed to do it if she hadn't been able to see that.

“Well, Agate and Smitty have been keeping things from falling apart here while you were gone, and your dear assistant has been up my tail today reminding me to make sure you look over all of your mail.” He indicated the bureau where someone (probably Smitty) had organized her letters into piles labeled 'important' and 'less important'. “That larger pile might need some attention soon.”

She sighed at the mention of the stack of other and more official looking scrolls and envelopes. “And I would love to get to those, Shiny. But I shall say to that what I told my aunts. I have been away from home for weeks dealing with other ponies' relationships and marriages, I'd like to spend some time on my own, if that's alright with you.”

Shining Armor had already been nearing the window seat that overlooked the home that Cadance had been so near to tears over missing, and as she spoke she grasped him by the foreleg and pulled him down onto its plush, rosy cushion, wrapping the appendage around her shoulders and leaning – almost melting really – into him.

Shiny all-too-willingly allowed her to move him about so, and he obliged by turning to lie on his back on the cushy seat, allowing her to rest her head on his chest, herself wrapping him up with her hooves as well. Her head faced outward so that she could still see through the window.

“Now that sounds like something I can get behind,” Shiny said, his breath blowing her mane slightly and tickling her ear. She closed her eyes to just enjoy for a moment this closeness with the husband she hadn't been able to see for so long, to just for a moment simply to be.

She heard his magic spring to life, and when she'd opened her eyes again another letter was floating across the room to her.

Cadance looked puzzled and a little bit miffed at the disturbance of her moment-savoring, first down to the letter now in her hooves, and then up towards Shiny's face, his smile expectant and highly adorable.

“There was one letter though that I thought you'd want to open,” he answered her questioning look. “It's from Ponyville, but it was addressed only to you so I didn't open it.”

If his face didn't give away that he wanted her to open it, his tone of voice did. There were only so many ponies in Ponyville that would be writing to them, and his sister was one of them.

Inspecting the ivory paper of the envelope, with its gold-accented corners and loopy calligraphy, Cadance assumed her husband was going to be disappointed.

“This doesn't look like Twilight's writing,” she said, looking again at the extra swirl made in the first C of the word 'Cadance'.

“Well, I know,” Shiny waffled, “It's just that we haven't heard from Twily or any of her friends in a while. Almost a month, actually. So when the first word from them after so long came and it was only addressed to you – not me, not both of us – I just thought that maybe you'd want to read it in case you were wondering how every pony was doing.”

She smirked at him, he could not be more transparent if he tried. “You know, I am curious,” she obliged with a bit of playful sass. “So I think I'll read it now while you're here so that I can tell you all about it.”

She opened it with her own magic and as she pulled the letter from its sheath she spotted the name in large fancy letters at the bottom.

“It's from Rarity,” her statement pulled into a question as she wondered why - of all of Twilight's friends - it was the stylish unicorn who would be writing to her. As she continued through the contents though, Cadance sat up a little straighter, moving slightly away from her husband to prevent him from reading over her head. It became clear quite early on in reading that Shiny might not be some pony who needed to know.

Rarity had written to Cadance about Twilight. Twilight and Discord.

“Well, what does it say?” Shining Armor asked and Cadance moved it a little farther from his reach.

If what Rarity said was true, then there was nothing else to be done. She would have to go and see her dear sister-in-law as soon as she could manage it.

She groaned a little at the prospect of having to depart again so soon after finally being back home, but she had made up her mind before reaching the end of the letter. If Twilight needed help in the romance department, who better than she to come to her aid?

She sighed resolutely and folded the letter back into the envelope, turning to Shining Armor's still confused face.

“Well Honey,” she chirped. “ this has been lovely, but I think I need to be taking another trip soon. I'm going to Ponyville.”

Autumn had fallen across Equestria. The shorter days bringing forth colder winds to blow some of the dying leaves from their branches. The crispness of them beneath Twilight's hooves was always something she looked forward to every fall. The colors each deciduous tree displayed were all somehow completely unique, and blended with each other to make a kaleidoscope of warm and comforting hues.

It would soon be time for the Running of the Leaves, a tradition in Equestria that the unicorn had only begun to participate in a few years ago. It was another welcome part of the changing seasons, although that would come towards the end. The race to blow the leaves away always signaled the end of fall and the start of winter, and Twilight was in no hurry for the leaves to be gone just yet.

She noticed as she walked through the Whitetail Wood that amongst the expected colors typically found on the trees as they changed, every so often a leaf or two would stand out from the rest. Amid the canopy of browns, reds, and oranges she would spot the flicker of blue... or violet... or even sometimes pink polka dots.

The sight of these peculiar leaves would give any other pony reason to pause, and Twilight did linger on them, sometimes stopping her walk completely to gaze up at them. Other ponies though would wonder how they came to be, but Twilight was fairly certain she knew.

Each time she spied one of these odd leaves, it gave her this odd sense of surprise that was quickly covered up by this lingering sense of loss. She found herself smiling sadly as a purple-flecked magenta maple leaf broke away from its branch to float delicately down before her.

Honestly, she didn't know why it should make her feel sad. Sure she missed him, but--- it wasn't as if he wasn't coming back. He didn't really need her to check in on him every day anymore. Discord was off on some grand exploratory adventure, seeking out new areas that he had not before been able to reach. It was her own fault that she was not out there with him to enjoy it. She didn't want to blame herself entirely though, he could have at least said goodbye before leaving. With not a word from him in the near-month since she had last seen him.

Still though, she would notice something different or out of place – like these leaves – and that illogical pang would spring up again. Maybe it was that part of her that made Twilight wonder if this was just an easily-reversible side effect of Discord's influence on the area, or if possibly they might have been meant for her. Which was another ludicrous notion, because Discord wasn't allowed to play with any area he ventured through, not unless it was part of his old appointed places. The Everfree Forest would probably never look as it had before he took up residence there again.

But this wasn't one of this former homes, and the much-more sensible part of the unicorn always made a point of reminding her of that each time one of these leaves came into view.

She sighed at herself, she should be getting back now. She had another letter to send to the National Equestrian Library in Vanhoover about finding a way to distribute copies of Statera Equus, the book she found while researching in the Crystal Empire a few months ago. That would be if she ever managed to successfully make copies of the book. It was fairly ancient, and the language had to be translated and transcribed very carefully. Making one copy of it could possibly take her even more months, forget about multiple ones. She felt she needed to though. It was the only known copy as far as she knew in the whole world.

Discord didn't know she was doing it – he didn't actually even know she had it – but it was more than relevant to his situation among the ponies of this world. He had grown at least an appreciation for their lives, an understanding of their individuality and right to be. Now the task she faced would be the flip side, to get the ponies and other creatures of the world to more accurately understand Discord's purpose in their lives. After the last few months of trying to appeal to both sides, Twilight wasn't sure which would be the harder sell.

The magenta leaf scooted along the forest floor in front of her, caught by a tiny breeze. It was almost like it wanted her to take it, like a puppy wanting to get out of the cold.

She gave a thoughtful and very small laugh at the idea, re-arranging her thoughts on Discord back to where she knew they were safe, where they were understandable. Where she was helping her friend to be able to get along with her other friends. Where she continued to fight for everyone to be able to get what they wanted and be happy.

Picking up the leaf with her magic, she teleported herself back to her cozy warm library. Spike wasn't anywhere to be found, so very quietly she snuck up to her room. She tucked the leaf away gently inside the book that lay open on her nightstand, and she slid it back beneath the bed. Bluish Carrol was not what she needed right now. A cup of warm cider and another tome on transitioning text spells was what she needed. Missing him was silly, silly and unhelpful. What would help Discord would be to educate Equestria the way she'd tried to do with him. She then dove back into her work. Her well-worn, understandable work.

He was fixing each leaf as he spotted them, and changing back each bunny that had grown extra eyes or deer that had lost its teeth. They were minor things, and Discord had them sorted out before any pony could notice, but the longer he stayed in each place, the larger the oddities became and the harder it was to hide them from others.

One of the stipulations of his little road trip was that he was not allowed to manipulate or harm any pony, place, or things in the areas he encountered. So really, no messing with nouns. Discord at first found it an unnecessarily arbitrary rule. He knew his four 'homes' were the only places allowed him to manipulate to his liking – and they were finally becoming really to his liking – so as much fun as it would be to put hellbender salamanders in Rivertail's wishing well, he had (quite commendably in his opinion) restrained himself. These things he was fixing as he went were not his fault.

Mostly not his fault. Maybe about twelve percent his fault. An argument could be make for fifteen. It was a convincing lie he told himself, but it was getting more difficult to believe the longer he traveled. And the longer this kept happening.
There were probably things going on in other parts of Equus that might or might not have been his doing even now... just not expressly done by him on purpose.

Ever since those stray cacti and the incident with the falling stars he'd been trying to deny it, but
Mort's words played again with every snap of his clawed fingers to set the things back in balance. He didn't want the spirit of Death to be right, but at the same time he'd made a point to avoid Ponyville as long as possible.

Discord knew – KNEW – Morty had to have been lying, or just misunderstanding. It wasn't like he'd ever stayed on this plane as long as Discord had. None of them had in fact. The only one who had ever even wanted to besides him had been Harmony. How could he possibly know Discord would harm this place just by being there? He was keeping balance – to his unbelievable annoyance – with the two Order mares. He kept his Chaos level down to balance theirs. Then why was this still happening?

'You're gonna wilt their world...'

There hadn't been any major calamities since Cloudsdale and Tartarus as far as he knew, but if there was even the slightest chance Morty was right about this... it wouldn't be long until the Harmony Twins found out. Then there were the ponies back in Ponyville, the beings he'd slowly begun to understand and even count some of them as friends. Well, it wasn't as if they really needed to know yet, Discord had this handled. If the two princesses absolutely had to find out, fine. It would be annoying, but fine. He found it less appealing for the rest of them to learn about it, especially some pony in particular.

The more things kept popping up along his travels, the more Discord figured it was fortunate that Twilight had declined his proposal to come along. As much fun as it would have been to have her with him, it would be too much to hope that she wouldn't notice these strange occurrences. He had tried to get her to ignore her own search for answers when he'd learned she had been analyzing the magical fields. It hadn't been because of anything to do with its importance, more so that it had been a subject he had wanted Twilight to avoid.

If she was still at it, then it would only be a matter of time before she discovered some sort of link between those anomalies and the path he had been taking around Equestria. He assumed (or hoped) that the longer he stayed away from Ponyville, perhaps those anomalies would disappear along with him, or at least long enough for him to find a way to spin this. A way that didn't seem like he'd been hiding things from her.

Discord hadn't told her about it when he'd given Twilight that choice after Tartarus, about whether or not he should return to his original plane of existence. He'd known that it was a possibility that stuff like this might start happening. But for some reason, when she had decided that he should stay – that she wanted him to stay – he had kept his mouth shut. Discord hadn't wanted to mess that decision up, for it had been just what he had wanted to hear.

He finally had proof that that brilliant, singular unicorn wanted him to stay with her – not merely out of duty or any responsibility for the world – but for her own sake. It was something he hadn't dared think or hope possible that he would find in any pony even earlier this year... a true friend. Some pony who would actually miss him, who would cry at his loss. Discord wasn't certain she would make the same choice again had she known what – maybe, possibly - might happen.

But again, Discord had this handled, there was really no need to worry her as long as he stayed away. If Celestia and Luna did find out somehow though, he'd need to get to her first, before Twilight could hear about it from them. They'd surely love to fill her in on anything that might be proof that she had made the wrong choice. He wanted to prove that she hadn't.

Of course, she might become suspicious on her own if he continued to avoid her and her home. If she wasn't still mad at him for her imagined slights against her work. Perhaps he should have met her again to say goodbye before he left. That might have smoothed things over. But at the time he was still stung by her stubborn refusal to leave the books aside for a while and join him.

He took a moment from searching for more strange things to take in his surroundings. The fireflies that were starting to appear in the dimming light were all blinking in unison, which only brought Discord back to the last time he had seen Twilight, and the brief moments of joy before that evening had imploded.

He thought about how she would have loved to see this and thought about taking a picture, but then the insects started changing colors and blinking out 'SOS' in Morse code. Sighing, he again snapped his claw before swatting them away. He didn't know how long he could keep this up, but Discord was willing to try for as long as he could.

It wasn’t at all out of place for Spike to find Twilight buried behind stacks of books, furiously hunting an answer to whatever new question had struck her through each tome. He knew she enjoyed that chase, it was something for her to focus on when she wanted to think. Of course, she did this both when she was seeking refuge from her thoughts and when she just wanted a comfy fun reading night. It was hard to tell therefore which of these his friend was currently in the midst of.

It didn’t help matters that all of their other friends appeared to be busy lately. It was apple harvesting season for AJ, Fall Fashion season for Rarity, Fall hibernating schedule time for Fluttershy, and Pumpkin pastry season for Pinkie Pie. With Rainbow Dash off at the Wonderbolts Academy again, that left Twilight practically alone for the first time in some time. There was absolutely nothing to keep the unicorn from spending every waking minute in the library, and not one pony to coax her into venturing outside. As bad as things had been a few months ago with the towns, at least Twilight actually scheduled herself time to you know, go outside and walk around for a while. This behavior was reminding Spike more and more of how she had been back at Celestia’s school for gifted unicorns.

He peeked around one of the stacks hiding her from view, seeing Twilight amid a semi circle of at least seven open books, sitting hunched with her tail wrapped around her for some extra padding on her knees. Spike noticed that her eyes were for once not furiously scanning each page with clear precision. Now she was just staring slightly between two of the open books at her hooves, not really looking at anything. He knew that look, that was her ‘deep contemplation, over analyzing’ expression. He could only assume that Twilight was weighing the merits of some spell matrix over the other, or looking over the listing of facts in her mind. Maybe she was just counting how many more books she had left to look through before the night was out.

She gave a very, very deep sigh and finally closed her eyes, as if wiping her mental chalk board clean for a new problem. It was harder for Spike to gauge from his hiding spot, but she seemed somehow… sadder than she typically did when in this mental formulaic state. Not like back when she was trying to fix the cloud problem, that sadness had been over powered by her panic to find a solution and her feelings of inadequacy. No, whatever she was thinking about, Spike figured it wasn’t the answer she was seeking here in the books that was causing her to sigh so forlornly.

Maybe she just missed her friends. That would make sense. He missed them too.

“Hey, Twilight,” the young dragon cautiously piped up, breaking Twilight’s slow return to the books. Deterred by his call, she lifted her head and blinked quizzically at him, as if only now remembering he was in the library at all.

“Oh, hi Spike,” she answered with a tired softness. He didn’t know how long she’d been up, but she must have been more tired than she wanted to let on.

“I’m gonna make some tea, do you want some?” he asked. “I’ll pull out my special dragon style spiced stuff.” There wasn’t much he could do to help if she didn’t tell him, besides his normal amount of help as her assistant. Spike wanted to give her some sort of a pick me up.

He was successful in coaxing a small smile out of the unicorn. “That would be great, thank you.”

She then returned to leafing through one of the books without another word. Spike let her, and left her alone while he made for the kitchen to make the tea.

The water was still boiling when a cold breeze brushed against Spike’s scales, hitting the back of his neck and causing him to give a light shudder from the chilly air. The wind must have blown the window open. He made to close it only to suddenly feel the weight of some other creature atop his head. Sudden surprise and then mild indignation crossed him when he looked up to see Twilight’s pet owl Owlyscious preening himself on Spike’s head.

“Well, look who it is,” Spike sarcastically eyed the bird without moving his head to dislodge him.

“Who?” answered Owlyscious.

“You know, you,” he rolled his eyes and then shut the window properly with the latch. The owl's response released a sealed envelope from his mouth which dropped to the floor at Spike’s feet.

When he bent to pick it up, Owlyscious finally decided to vacate the spines of his head to seek a more comfortable and less moving stationary object to perch upon.

The bird had left a feather on his head, which Spike brushed off without thought (though he hoped that was all he had left on his head). He bent down and picked up the envelope. The wax seal closing the flap bore the emblem of the Crystal Empire, something very close to Princess Cadance’s cutie mark. He flipped the ice blue paper over to see the name ‘Twilight Sparkle’ written on it in fancy cursive hoof writing.

After the water was ready to pour into the teacups, Spike set them on a tray with the letter and carried it back into the main area of the library. Twilight still sat, but now she appeared to be back to scanning. Times like this he was very glad to not be able to read her mind, all that thinking would keep him up all night.

He set her tea down next to her, not even getting a nod of thanks for his trouble. He would have felt a bit put out if he didn’t know that this was just how Twilight was when she was in the zone. He then placed the blue envelope next to the cup.

“Owlyscious came with a letter for you from Cadance,” he stated, only half wondering if this would get the unicorn to respond. Wondering and hoping a tad as well.

“Hmm?” she asked, peeling her eyes away to look over at him, and then back down to the steaming cup of tea and the ice blue envelope that held the letter in question.

“Oh, thanks Spike.” Apparently her curiosity was enough to allow for a tiny break, because she had already picked up the envelope with her magic and began to open it.

“I wonder what Cadance has to say. I didn’t send her anything, and I haven’t heard from her in a while.”

Spike observed her as she read quickly. He could tell she was pleased to be receiving word from her sister in law, but also wanting to get back to her task as quickly as possible.

She didn’t need to see Spike waiting expectantly to hear what it said, she would most likely summarize it for him when she finished.

“She wants to come and visit,” Twilight read off, eyes still on the letter.

“Well, that’s not a bad idea. I mean, all your friends have been busy of out of town recently, and you’ve been working pretty hard…” he trailed off a bit, uncertain if he should say how he felt about her keeping herself cloistered in the library. Instead he got an idea. “You know, why don't you go and visit her? Save her the trip.”

She looked at him like that had been an insult. “Spike, I can't leave now---”

“Hear me out. It might be a good way to you know… get out there and see some ponies. Plus Cadance and your brother, you haven’t seen them since the last time you went up to the Crystal Empire,” he felt a bit braver about stating it the longer he talked without an interruption from her about how important her research was. Maybe Twilight would say he was right.

“I-I-I guess so, you might be right, Spike.” She said with another sigh, halting for a moment before continuing. “Maybe I could go… for a bit.”

He felt relieved as well as excited for her. For her and for Cadance and Shining Armor too of course.

“I’ll have to write up a schedule for myself, and make a list of items to take with me,” she rose from her seat to find a quill. “Should I leave a to do list for you, or do you think you can remember what you should do?”

“Of course I can, look who you’re talking to,” Spike assured her, pointing to himself. “Number One assistant, remember.”

“I know but just… I trust you, but it doesn’t mean I can’t worry a little.”

Spike came closer to try and help her out, stepping lightly in an attempt to maneuver around the books and not disturb them and make Twilight lose her place. His foot accidentally bumped the one that she had been looking at when he’d entered, knocking it only a few centimeters off from where it had been. That can’t have been too bad.

His left foot now taking another step around the book, it met with a soft, crisp, crunching sound. Lifting his foot again, Spike saw that he’d stepped on something crackly. A dry, brittle, magenta something that had been tucked under the book and out of sight. Twilight seemed not to have noticed, but Spike raised an eyebrow at the thing.

He bent down and lifted the book a hair to nudge the brightly colored leaf back in its hiding place.

Making it to Twilight's side, he caught the tail end of a list she’d been making for him verbally.

“And I shouldn’t think you’d have to worry about feeding Owlyscious. He usually finds his own food when he leaves. Just remember to lay down some newspaper for him if he does decide to stay inside for a while.”

“No problem,” Spike answered.

Twilight lowered her quill and paper for a moment, biting her lip and glancing back up to Spike, though not really focusing on him. It was more like she was considering another task for him, but something she wasn’t sure she should ask of him.

“Uh, anything else?” he offered, knowing that there had to be something else if she was hesitating like this.

She tilted her head away for a moment, before apparently deciding to just go ahead and ask, her smile now awkward and a bit crooked.

“Just that, well… should Discord come back while I’m gone. I mean, I’m not sure if he will, and it shouldn’t really matter whether I’m here or not cause he can come and go as he pleases now. But if he does, just tell him where I am, and that I should be back soon.”

She rolled her eyes and shook her head at her own words. “That is if he even does come back, and if he asks about me.”

“Oh, I got a feeling he will,” Spike mumbled making Twilight’s ear twitch.

“What was that?” she asked.

“I mean, yeah. Can do. I think we get along better now, Discord’s not so bad. That’s no problem either, Twilight,” he answered in a quick sentence. She seemed to buy it, still looking somewhat awkwardly as she returned to her preparations.

Awkward was definitely the word for it. He guess Twilight would want him to say something in the event that Discord came back, but he would have done that anyway. She didn’t need to be so adamant about it. He wondered what the spirit of chaos was doing at that moment, and thought back to another sufficiently awkward time he’s had in his company.

Seriously, were they this awkward around each other when he wasn’t there to see it? Was that like if a tree falls in the forest does it make a sound? He just sipped his tea, half thinking that Discord should come back, at least so they could finish that talk Spike had tried to start a while back. Also Discord was one of the only beings he knew that could get Twilight to leave the library and her comfort zone at once. With the rest of them not available, he might be just what she needed too along with this family visit.

It was harder for Spike to really get a sense of Twilight’s possible feelings for Discord than the other way around. When it came to Discord, Spike had suspected there was something extra going on - at least on his end - since he risked getting a magical taser to his entire body multiple times just to see her.

At first he had been very much in the same way of thinking as Rainbow dash. He figured that Discord had only agreed to Twilight’s plan and given up that portion of his power as a selfish thing, something more to do with his own sense of self-preservation than any connection or fondness for the purple unicorn.

Now though, after all the visits, and the whole trying to teleport in to see her thing, and then there was what he’d observed and at least tried to talk about with him while he was a pony… Spike was forming a different conclusion.

This was why he’d said what he had said to Discord. Why he felt they were sorta alike in that way. In the way that they both had these feelings towards mares that they knew they couldn’t do anything about. Maybe they were never meant to be, and maybe neither Spike nor Discord would or should ever act on them, but they were in the same predicament. The draw those mares had was undeniable. Well, Rarity’s allure sure was, he had no idea about Twilight’s. Honestly he couldn’t see it - she being like a big sister and all to him - and he frankly didn’t want to get into too much detail thinking about it. But Discord must have some inclination, something similar to what it was that caused Spike’s knees to weaken and his face to morph into that dumb expression he always seemed to get whenever she was around, or even if he thought about her too hard.

Huh, did Discord ever feel like that? Did his knees ever weaken at Twilight’s presence, and did he ever have to smack the stupid grin off his face to keep Twilight from seeing that he had been staring at her? Yeah… this was the type of weirdness Spike probably should not be thinking too hard about. Weird enough that he knew these hypothetical feelings were directed at his live-in best friend, even weirder to think that he--- that a being like him could ever develop those same feelings.

His wonderings had carried him to the top of the stairs. He could still hear Twilight down below and she clip-clopped back and forth across the floor. It was then that he realized the sick feeling in his stomach hadn't been due to his train of thought about Discord's feelings, it was the familiar indigestion of an incoming message from the princesses.

With a small belch and a burst of green flame, sure enough a scroll appeared with the royal seal upon it.

Perhaps Spike had been thinking too much about his newest friend, and remembering what Discord had asked him to do should this occur. For a second he thought about taking it directly to Twilight, as was the proper thing to do.

But then again...

Guilt rising in his stomach in a completely different way than a message, he picked up the scroll and tucked it into his bed. Determined to give it to Twilight after doing something else first.

He snuck back downstairs past Twilight to find Owlyscious back in the kitchen staking out a small mouse hole in the corner.

“Psst,” he called up to the bird. “Owlyscious, come here for a minute.”

The owl obliged by soaring down from his perch to again land directly on Spike's head, tail feathers in his face.

Spike tried to blow them away. “You couldn't have landed just next to me or something? Well, whatever.” He groused, pulling out a quill and paper. He scribbled down a few sentences before folding it up and writing a single name on the front.

“I know you haven't seen much of him, but I need you to get this to Discord. I have no idea where he is, but I don't think the regular mail ponies would know either.” He then handed the paper for the owl to take in his beak.

Amazingly, Owlyscious looked like he understood, grasping the letter firmly and leaping off Spike's head with enough force to at least leave a scratch or two on his scales. The owl then flew straight for the window which Spike had to hurry and re-open for him.

He just hoped that Owlyscious understood as much as Spike thought he did, and that he would be able to find Discord quickly. Also that no pony else would find out he'd delayed a possibly-urgent message for this reason. If he didn't hear back within a day, Spike was giving it to her. He'd give it to her either way – his Dragon Code couldn't handle much more bending than that – but he would feel worse about it if he didn't at least hear from Discord first.

4. Truth or Draconequuses

“Spike, where was that one book on Sleipnirnian Symbology I brought from Canterlot?” Twilight asked absentmindedly as she searched the lower shelves. Oddly enough some pony had not filed it under ‘S’. When the young dragon didn’t answer, she called again.

“Spike, Spike?” She finally looked up from her desired task to actually look around, and that was when she remembered that he had gone out. That was a few hours ago, she would think he’d at least come to check in every now and then, although he wasn’t one to take many breaks when helping Rarity at her shop. At least… that’s where Twilight thought he had said he was going to do today.

She found it in the same box with the other various books she had borrowed from the Canterlot library for a bit of light reading and research, pulling it out with her magic to bring over to a comfy chair. It was only when she got all the way to the other side of the room that she realized the book had not followed her.

Strange, she hadn’t felt any loss in her magical grip, she looked around the floor but couldn’t see where she might have dropped it. A retreading of her hoof steps yielded nothing either. She had halted the spell in order to search for it, so it must have dropped to the floor somewhere. Twilight considered possibly firing up the spell again even if she could no longer see the book’s whereabouts.

Her horn glowed magenta and she searched the room with her eyes for an idea of the book’s location. Still though, she couldn’t see it. Suddenly though, and from seemingly out of nowhere, it appeared in her usual magical aura, floating along horizontally towards where she had chosen to sit.

A bit confused, Twilight approached her floating book with some caution, and only relinquished her hold upon it after she had properly sat down. When she ended the spell however, the book just appeared to pop right out of existence again. The unicorn blinked, getting a touch annoyed now about this very odd and quite unnatural occurrence. It couldn’t have anything to do with her magic, it had been working perfectly fine just a few minutes ago. She had performed that basic levitation spell hundreds of times before.

Re-igniting the spell for a third time, she saw the telltale sign of a magenta glow directly above her, at which point the book proceeded to drop directly on top of her head. Her ears lowered as she pulled the tome off her face, now looking it over for any signs that the book itself had any sort of magical enchantment that might explain its behavior.

It didn’t seem particularly magical, nothing that would cause that to happen anyway.

She had hoped to try and analyze the Sleipnir rune symbols she had found in the Statera Equus. It was busy work and she knew it, something to keep her mind occupied while in the midst of waiting to hear back from the other libraries, and until she heard word from any of her traveling friends.

Of course, Twilight’s first instinct when anything this odd or out of the norm occurred was to find Discord and see if he knew anything about it. But Twilight still didn’t know where Discord was, and it wouldn’t be fair to assume that he would know anything about it either. It most likely could be connected to the fluctuations in the magical field she had been spotting, and this might be proof of her findings that she could actually show some pony.

The unicorn began an impromptu experiment. She picked up several books one at a time, began to magically call them to her, and then watched as each one would disappear before they reached her. Each time was a bit different, she recorded on a makeshift chart that it was always around but not precisely the midway point between herself and wherever the book happened to be.

As each disappearance was slightly different, the same went for each re-appearance. When one book fell down from the ceiling upon reentry, one came falling up through the floor, and another flew in sideways, and yet another was found inside of another book. The strangest one was when one simply popped up in Twilight’s mouth. She spit it out and then copied it down.

Another hour passed as Twilight busied herself with this new task, and when her experiment with the levitation spell grew even but still inconclusive, she moved on to other basic spells.

She tried an adhesive spell, gluing one item to another. Soon the floor around her hooves was littered with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (she had glued the bread together) a hairbrush glued to a tea cup, a tea cup stuck to its saucer, and various other odds and ends connected solely by her magic.

She noticed that they too had trouble with their basic functions. Though they adhered to each other, it wasn’t for long. It did not take long before each item fell from its partner as if they were repelled by magnets.

When Spike finally did come back home, Twilight almost didn’t notice until he asked about why all the junk was flying around and being paired up.

“Oh, Spike there you are,” she said with surprise, dropping the pair of socks she had been fusing together. “I… was doing a little experiment.”

“I see,” he said awkwardly, now starting to help her pick up all the stuff. “Can I ask what for, or do I even want to know?”

“It’s just… something strange happening I noticed when performing some of my regular spells today,” she said as she observed the socks shoot away from each other within her magical grasp. “I don’t know if it’s only me or what, but the spells are sort of… acting up.”

Spike blinked at her, pausing in his attempt to pick up the socks. It might have been Twilight’s imagination, but Spike looked as if he might have actually seen something like this of his own. If that was the case, what did he know then?

“You wouldn’t have happened to have seen anything strange around here, would you?” she asked in only a semi leading way. She shouldn’t assume that he might have known something, even if the assurance that followed sounded a tad rehearsed.

“Huh, no. I can’t say that I have. Weird stuff going on? No idea what you mean.”

“Uh huh,” Twilight raised an eyebrow but didn’t question him further. “I think I’ll try another simple spell, see what I come up with. It might do to attempt them in other places around Ponyville, this point could be the problem. Why that might be, I have no idea though.”

“Uh, okay, you do that Twi,” Spike said a little quickly. “I’ll just stay here and tidy up for you.”

“You sure you don’t mind?” the unicorn asked, not acknowledging that his tone now made her think Spike wanted her out of the library, but not in an unkind way. More like he wanted the conversation to end for some reason.

“No, I don’t mind. Maybe you should try the main square, lots of hoof traffic but - I dunno - it could be a good magical hub or something.”

“Yeah… I’ll do that,” she said as she was being passive aggressively nudged out the door by the dragon who had only just stepped inside. That was a bit more than suspicious, but Twilight figured she had time to ask him about it later, she was chasing a new and much more fascinating oddity. Certainly something that could be of concern to the princesses.

Twilight saw Rarity trotting elegantly past the square as she continued her experiments. She had drawn a bit of attention from passers by, but only Pinkie Pie and the Cutie Mark Crusaders seemed particularly interested in what she was doing.

Interestingly enough, the town square had been a premium spot for researching this phenomena as the exact same effects as in the library were happening here as well. The experiments were yielding a bit slower results here - the responses to each spell were somehow slower than in the library - but still the objects levitated disappeared, then reappeared in another unpredictable way.

Pinkie and the fillies were making a game of trying to guess when the objects that disappeared would re-appear, hopping excitedly when one of them guessed correctly.

“Ooh, ooh, Twilight! Do it again, what else can we use? Apple Bloom, give her your bow!” Pinkie cheered and tried to snatch the filly’s bow, Apple Bloom swatting her away and clamping one hoof down over her head to keep her bow secure and away from the pink pony.

Twilight rolled her eyes but continued.

It was only Rarity’s comment about Spike that caused her to halt.

“So Twilight, have you seen Spike today by any chance, or has he been assisting you with these… experiments all day?”

“Huh, what do you mean Rarity, hasn’t he been with you all day?” she asked as some pony’s horse shoe plopped onto her head. “At least, that’s what he told me he was doing.”

The white unicorn shook her head. “No, I believe he made plans to visit me today, but he never showed up. I assumed that he had decided to stay with you.”

That brought back Spike’s earlier behavior into a new light. Maybe her little dragon friend was actually hiding something after all.

“Here Twilight, I have a dozen cupcakes you can try and do that thingy with!” Pinkie called, running back to where Twilight was working on her spells with a box of cupcakes bouncing atop her back.

“I wouldn’t normally allow such a waste of perfectly scrumptious bakery goodness, but if it’s for the good of magic science-y stuff, then here ya go.” The mare smiled as she passed them over to her friend, evidently delighted to be helping ‘do the science’.

“And it doesn’t hurt that this is fun to watch stuff disappear seemingly out of the fabric of reality?” she smiled back with a sly edge to her question.

Pinkie was not embarrassed in the least, she nodded emphatically. “Oh yeah, there’s definitely that.”

Again, as each cupcake was floated by Twilight's magic, it didn't take long before it phased right out of existence. Soon the entire box had been disappeared away to who knows where, and Pinkie sat near Twilight, holding her mouth open in the hope that they might re-appear right above her.

It was taking the cupcakes longer than any of the other items to come back, though, something that Twilight found odder still. She was just jotting down in her notes the time when something cold and hard thunked her in the head.

It dropped to the ground and rolled away from Twilight, and she stared at it quizzically. It wasn't a cupcake, but it was recognizable. It was a small, compacted ball of ice, but Twilight wasn't sure where it had come from. Looking around though, she noticed a few more fall from the sky.

“Wait,” she said, to herself and to the ponies gathered. “Is that--- is that hail?”

As if waiting for her to ask, a few more pieces of hail came sailing down from the sky, landing with a bounce on the ground and grass surrounding them.

“That's funny,” Pinkie Pie said. “I don't see any weather ponies up there. I'd ask them about this if they were there.”

“But it's autumn, the weather ponies would know better than to schedule hail outside of the summer.”

“Iunno, maybe they got confused?”

“I guess it isn't completely unheard of, but it certainly doesn't feel like summer weather,” Rarity chimed in.

But Twilight considered that it was explainable, if a little odd. It wasn't at the level of this strangeness going on with the magical fields. If this was connected to the strangeness in any way, it at least was something minor.

That was when it started raining fire, too.

“Okay ya got me. I can't explain that,” Pinkie said as they all ran for cover. The fire floated down in tiny flakes like snow, and mixed with the hail it was fascinating to see them interact. Fascinating, but much too dangerous for any pony to be out in.

The Cakes' bakery was the closest building, and so Twilight and her friends plus the Crusaders all trotted inside. Thankfully Twilight didn't observe any of the houses or buildings catching fire, but as she watched the ice and fire falling down upon the town, she knew there was no doubt this was connected to the anomalies.

That and she also couldn't leave the town to visit Cadance.

“Well, If she's willing – and if this clears up – maybe Cady can come to me,” she mumbled to herself, wishing Spike was here so she could have him jot down a quick letter for her sister-in-law.

“Pinkie, do you have any paper for me to send a letter to Cadance?”

“Sure! I've got all sorts of paper!” Pinke said, holding out several colors of paper in various thickness, Twilight assumed this was for any crafting emergencies.

“Cadance? What about Cadance, dear?” Rarity asked, her ears perking up at the name.

“Cadance wanted to come visit me for some reason out of the blue. I sent a letter saying that I'd go to see her instead, but now that this is happening I don't think I can leave Ponyville until I've figured out what's causing all of this.”

“Oh well, that's--- lovely, darling,” Rarity said stiltedly. “Was that the entirety of her message, she didn't mention anything else?”

Twilight raised an eyebrow at her. “No, just about visiting. Why?”

“Rarity waved a hoof in her direction. “Oh, no reason. No reason at all. You know that I'll be off to Canterlot for fashion week soon, so I'll probably miss her visit.”

“Okay...”

“You know, I do hope that Spike isn't out in this, wherever he is,” Rarity added as a change of subject.

Twilight didn't know what that was about, but she nodded in agreement. “I hope not, too. I hope he's okay.”

It took only a day for Spike's letter to reach Discord. He wondered if that owl of Twilight's had some homing pigeon in him, or if maybe he could sense Discord's own magical signature.

At first he had thought the bird was another flying toaster for him to fix, but when he had flown right up to Discord and dropped a letter addressed to him in scratchy claw writing, it intrigued him about as much as as it filled him with dread. Could this be it, the notice he had been anticipating with some level of anxiety, that other shoe about to drop?

But no, this wasn't an official summons from the princesses. If it had been, Celestia would have sent it through her own magic and not through Twilight's owl. It was from the Ponyboy, asking Discord to come to the library as soon as he got the message, and that he camouflage himself again if he wanted to avoid being seen.

Discord pondered momentarily if this might be some sort of ruse by his dragon friend to ambush him into seeing Twilight again, something he had managed to avoid every time he had popped in for a second to check on things (because of course he had to).

After a few minutes of weighing his options, Discord figured he should give Spike the benefit of the doubt. He wouldn't stay long though, if this wasn't about all of the strange occurrences and his efforts to fix them without detection, he could only imagine the commotion if his influence caused something to happen in Ponyville, the one place he was trying his best not to influence.

The library was empty, although not a huge surprise once Discord noticed that Spike had flipped the open sign over to closed. He wondered how long Twilight had been gone, and when she would return. Best to make this quick at any rate.

“Oh, great, perfect timing,” he heard the dragon entering from the kitchen. “I just got Twilight to step out for a while. She's still researching the fluctuations going on with the magic fields, so that oughtta keep her busy for a little while.”

Discord floated above the sitting area to give Spike more room to manuver, for it would seem that Twilight had either been doing some serious researching, or had just decided to re-shelve nearly all the books in the library in arbitrary stacks located all around the main floor.

“I started heading towards your castle in the forest earlier today, thinking you might be there, but then I figured you might already have popped in and I might miss you,but then Twilight was here. So long story short, I thought you'd want to talk about this.”

“How could I when I was so surprised to get your letter, especially from Twilight’s owl, I thought you didn’t get on with him well,” Discord said.

“I guess we’ve sorta made up, or I just decided to accept him. He’s not actually around much so Twilight wouldn’t miss him,” Spike answered, now holding a scroll of his own in his claws.

Discord eyed the scroll with some caution, uncertain if that was indeed what he thought it was.

“You remember about a month ago, before you disappeared you came here and asked me to watch out for any letters coming in from Princess Celestia for Twilight? You asked me that if anything came through my flame mail to hide it.”

“If I recall, you told me you would never do such a thing, that it would be a betrayal of their trust in you to relay their correspondence and something-something, Dragon Code.”

“That’s right,” Spike said, still holding the scroll in his hand, which Discord noticed had a still-unbroken seal. “This came in yesterday, it's the first thing to come through me for Twilight in a month. But you already know that, don’t you?”

Discord feigned ignorance, but of course he did know. It was too much to hope that Ponyboy hadn’t noticed his periodic dropping in every now and then, just to check on things in the library and on his friends without the bother of them actually knowing about it. If they knew there would be questions, and he hadn’t avoided Ponyville this long for nothing.

Every time he’d noticed something out of place and had to adjust it he couldn’t resist the pull to come by and check, because there was a chance that some pony had seen him, and relayed that information back to Celestia, and she would waste no time sending word to Twilight. Discord had asked Spike for this favor knowing that he would probably say no, but that wouldn’t stop the spirit of chaos from taking things into his own appendages if he could.

“I haven’t given it to Twilight yet, and I haven’t read it yet either. But if you’re going through this much trouble to keep it from her, I guess it has something to do with you.”

“A fair assumption,” Discord answered, coming to more fully understand why Spike had summoned him. “Is there a reason you haven’t given that to her yet, Oh Faithful Assistant?”

“Because I figured that whatever this is about, it has to be something you should tell Twilight yourself. Something she shouldn’t have to hear about second hoof.”

It wasn’t something Discord wanted her to hear about at all, if he could avoid it. Although again, he knew that he couldn’t keep things from reaching her for long, and yes if he absolutely had to have her in the loop, he would prefer to be the one to explain things, so he could maybe spin it his own way.

He wondered how much – if anything – he should relay to Spike.

“I... may or may not have come across some things in my travels that could be helpful to that research of hers.”

“Really? That's great!” Spike said excitedly, “Twilight will be thrilled.”

“Not so much,” he shook his head. “Unless she is still angry with me about the past month of no contact. It might make things easier for me to go.”

“Go, go where?” Spike asked.

Discord indicated upwards towards the ceiling, which apparently took the dragon a moment to register.

“Wait, like, leave-leave?”

Discord nodded, easing his way into revealing what he knew to be mostly-pretty much undeniably true to even just his young dragon friend was proving to be a challenge, he couldn't handle hearing or seeing the Ponyboy's judgment.

“I have reason to believe that some of what's happening may actually be... partially my fault.”

“How big a part?”

“All of it.”

“What? That's crazy,” Spike started to say, clearly wanting to be reassuring of things for him as a friend, but then the small dragon grew thoughtful, as if he were putting a puzzle together inside his head.

“Actually, I hate to say it, but that does kinda make sense.”

“Thank you for the reassurance, Ponyboy,” he grumbled.

“Sorry, but I mean, if you really think this has something to do with you, you should tell Twilight.”

“And for the obvious advice.”

“Seriously, Discord. If that's what this letter says, then there's no question that you should talk about it with her. Because I'm going to give it to her no matter what. I've held onto it long enough already. My conscience can't take much more of this .”

Your conscience? He thought, but didn't voice his thought aloud. He was still appreciative that his friend would suspend his own little code of ethics just to buy him more time.

“You know, if you wanted Twilight not to figure things out the last thing you should have done was disappear on her,” Spike said. “I mean, she’s been trying like crazy to distract herself, and one of the things that helps her feel more in control when things are stressing her out is researching. She’s been looking even more into what happened with Cloudsdale, and it won’t be long until she puts all the pieces together and traces things back to you. I mean, I’m not even a unicorn, and even I noticed that more weird things happened around Ponyville when you were here than when you weren’t.”

“Don't you think I know that?” Discord said,not able to hide the edge in his voice now. “I don't suppose you have any ideas about breaking such a thing to her, do you?”

“I'm sorry, Discord, I don't,” Spike answered, looking legitimately sorry,which Discord also appreciated. “But you might want to figure something out,because here she comes.”

At those words Discord momentarily lost his aerial balance and slammed to the floor. Popping back up into a standing position, he stared down accusingly at the dragon.

“I thought you said there was time!”

“I thought there was,” Spike said. “But this is good, you can tell her now. Just do it quick, like ripping off a bandage.”

For the briefest moment, Discord considered just popping out of the library entirely and hiding out somewhere remote, like the moon. But suddenly she was there talking to Spike and before he could do anything her eyes had landed on him.

“Discord?” Her voice was a mixture of questioning surprise that Discord took as a good sign. She wasn't glaring at him or screaming,in any case.

Spike then turned back to him as well,feigning surprise. “What, Discord? What are you doing here? This is totally unexpected!”

Discord certainly hoped that Spike didn't think he should get an award for that performance.

“What's going on here?” Twilight asked. “Spike, first you act weird all day and actually stand Rarity up,and now you're suddenly back?” She ended her sentence with looking at Discord.

“All good questions,” Spike answered, thankfully pulling the unicorn's attention back onto himself. “And I think some of the answers might be in here,” he held out the scroll for Twilight to take.

Great, Discord thought. He'd just finished having this conversation with Spike, and now was the moment he had been dreading, having to have it with Twilight.

Twilight took it, but halted in opening it to look back to Discord. “When were you going to let me know you were back?”

“I only just returned,” he said, still searching her expression for any signs of anger. Instead he just saw more astonishment than anything.

“And your first stop was to go and talk to Spike?” she asked.

At this, Spike piped up.”I sent him a letter, so that's why he came to find me first. It was because I got that scroll. I know I should have given it to you the second I got it but I didn't and I am so sorry.”

His apology appeared to fall on deaf ears, however. For Twilight was still zeroing in on the draconequus.

“Wait, so if Spike hadn't written to you, how much longer would you have been gone, or would you have come back at all?”

Yup,there was definitely some anger rising up in that last sentence, fortunately – or not,depending on your point of view – it was Ponyboy making another interruption that quelled it.

“I think you should just open the scroll, Twi.”

A little frustratedly, Twilight looked from Discord to Spike and eventually complied. She broke the seal and unrolled the paper. As her eyes scanned the writing Discord felt a pang of anxiety flair up, something he stamped down on hard so as not to be noticed.

“It just says that I'm being summoned to Canterlot to 'be briefed about the goings-on around Equestria and discuss options for solutions',” she lowered the paper and glanced between the males. “Wait, there are 'goings-on' happening outside of Ponyville? Since when?”

“To be fair, you have been holed-up here in the library for the past month,” Spike said “But it's okay, because Discord here is going to fill you in.” He ribbed Discord in the side (or as close to it as he could get, being his height) and gave him a nod of encouragement like he thought this lead-in was being helpful.

Discord allowed him to continue thinking that, “Thank you, Ponyboy, but now that I'm here, isn't there somewhere you need to be?” It was bad enough to have been tricked into this surprise reunion with Twilight, Discord did not wish to have an audience for this particular conversation.

Thankfully Spike received the hint, bowing out through the front door with a thumbs-up from behind Twilight so only Discord could see. Discord assumed that was the dragon wishing him luck, and this gesture he actually appreciated. He could use all the luck he could get.

“Any other time I would be giving you a lecture about why it is considered rude to leave for an entire month after an argument without at least saying goodbye, but it has been a while and we've just had a major fluctuation in our magical fields and it sounds like the princesses have finally started seeing what I've been analyzing. So if you could provide any information that would be enough to make me forget about it.”

“I missed you, too, Ms. Sparky,” Discord said, catching the hidden meaning behind that mini rant.

She smirked momentarily but quickly turned back to a no-nonsense demeanor. “I don't know if you saw it – and I'm not saying you had anything to do with it – but lately there have been some strange things happening with my magic, and with magic around Ponyville in general, it's been escalating even more since I saw the constellation fall. And just today, we had some crazy weather that seemed like it was out of some ancient curse tome or something.” She indicated the window where a few bits of hail were dropping down mixed with what looked like flakes of ember.

Wonderful, something else he would have to take care of. With a snap of his claw he could see the sky already begin to clear, Twilight not seeming to notice, thankfully. She was off searching for some book or another.

“What was that?” she asked, turning a few seconds after hearing his snap, to which he feigned ignorance.

“No idea,” he murmured, halting at what he should say next, how much exactly to reveal. “But you were saying about the strangeness happening?”

“Yes, and I was wondering that since you're here, you might be able to tell me if you saw or sensed anything out of the ordinary while you were traveling?”

“Wanting to hear all about the trip you missed out on?” he asked. “I'm afraid I don't have a slide-show to show you.”

“Discord, I know it's hard for you, but be serious, please. For just a moment,” she pleaded patiently.

Well, he supposed that was as good a place as any to begin this revelation.

“---Yes,” he conceded , pulling this confession out like it pained him just to say it. He was still attempting to find a way of saying it without saying it. “Unfortunately there have been instances similar to what you've described occurring at every stop I made.”

“So, it is spreading,” Twilight stated. “But, how come I'm only hearing about them now, hasn't any pony else been seeing these instances?”

“I was doing a bit of community service,” Discord said. “Cleaning up after them so as not to incite any panic.” That was true enough, but veering dangerously close to the entire truth for Discord's liking.

“You were?” she asked, sounding a bit more surprised than as was probably warranted. “I--- that's commendable of you, Discord. Thank you.”

Commendable, him? Right, Discord hid his guilt well, but that didn't stop it from nagging at him.

“I thought that after Tartarus was sealed again, the excess chaotic energy would die off. I assumed its weakening seals and the leaking of that energy had been the cause of what happened with Cloudsdale...” Twilight trailed off, setting her mind in motion with her best and most precocious deduction face.

That face typically never failed to bring a smile onto his own, and Discord usually got a very large kick out of watching her try and put the pieces of some problem together. This time however, his amusement was tainted by that bothersome conscience he'd somehow managed to grow.

New as he was to it, Discord couldn't get past the guilt that thing was emanating from somewhere in his core. Because of course he knew why things weren't getting better, why the chaos hadn't ebbed.

it is only going to get worse the longer you stay there, Mort's words echoed in his mind, only making the feeling intensify.

Discord supposed that was the magic of guilt, it squeezed a being from the inside with bad feelings until they had no choice but to do the right thing. No wonder his conscience so often sounded in his mind like Twilight herself (when it didn't have the voice of that ponyboy Spike).

He wouldn't tell her though, he couldn't. If she knew that he really was the reason behind all of this misfortune happening around Equestria – whether or not he was doing it on purpose – it wouldn't take Twilight long at all to come the the exact same conclusion that Discord had about the only way to solve every pony's problems.

The unicorn just continued flipping, five books all going at once in her magical aura. Her face intent as she swept quickly from one tome to the next. The same desperation Discord recalled that had colored her features when every pony – including himself – was in danger now finding its way back there. That did not do much to help his guilt situation.

Hadn't he already offered a way out, even if she had not known that was what he was doing? And why should she, he didn't want her to know. Discord had – in a way that made perfect sense to him – made it known that he was willing to go. Sure, he'd done it in such a way that Twilight had eventually concluded that he was just goading her into a response. Which was exactly what Discord wanted her to do.

He had wanted her to say it, because he didn't want to leave her... here. Didn't want to leave here. Or both, it seemed that was muddled now to Discord, one was intrinsically linked to the other. Perhaps in fishing for her validation that she did want him to stay with her, Discord was also seeking a reason to stay that would make endangering the lives of every being on Equus somehow okay.

Watching her continue to search for an answer that he knew he could just so easily give her, his Twilight Spikele of a conscience's chipping away at him finally seemed to make a crack. It compelled him to say something... but Discord still wanted to refrain from stating it outright. That wasn't his style.

“Didn't I say that my leaving would have been better for everyone?”

This caught Twilight's attention, her magic lapsing for the briefest second as the books all made a slight bob in mid air.

“Yes...but I don't see how that is relevant.”

“I gave you an out. I offered to leave and make your life and every pony else's easier in the process,” Discord said.

Twilight blinked. “What are you saying, are you... do you feel like you're responsible for all of this?”

Only because I am, his treacherous mind brought forth.

“But you wouldn't have that. You practically begged me to stay,” he smiled, wanting to have some semblance of his fun even with all of this guilt filling him up inside... or perhaps because of it.

Twilight actually scoffed. “You tricked me into telling you that I wanted you to stay.”

“Oh, so you don't really?”

“Of course I do,” she rolled her eyes, managing a very small awkward smile through that layer of worry. He did so enjoy being able to clear that layer away if only for a moment or two.

“Because you need to--- “ Twilight halted, now suddenly not willing or possibly not able to look him straight in the face, choosing instead to speak to one of the floating books. “And well... because I meant it. I do want you to, too.“

Her words were half-mumbled, but he caught them. They held less of the sincere astonishment they'd had the first time Twilight had said them. She must have gotten more used to the idea.

He so wanted to take that opportunity to approach Twilight as he normally did. She didn't seem like she'd be so objecting to Discord wrapping around her right now. She might not even roll her eyes if he did.

Something kept him from doing so, however. It was that same something that was weeding this backwards confession out of Discord.

“Life may be easier without you, but it would also be pretty boring,” she managed to say that out loud, her ears drooping a little while meeting his gaze again.

This is what he had wanted to be sure of. As much as Discord liked to play the game of hiding his true intentions, having to wonder what hers were hadn't been fun in the least. Now he knew... she really did care about him, and wanted him to stay for her. And so he had.

That also was entirely why his conscience was winning the fight.

“What if I told you... that you'd made the wrong choice?”

Her embarrassment fading, Twilight seemed to decide to lower her books for now. She chose to shorten the gap between them, setting the books still-open in a semicircle that she stepped over to meet him.

“What are you saying?” she asked. Even through those concerned eyes, Discord could tell Twilight was still attempting to piece the puzzle together. This made him feel he needed to act fast, or she'd figure it out before he could say it. Then she would most definitely hate him.

“I am saying that there is a reason why nothing of this magnitude has ever happened before I was able to live here freely, and it is also why Harmony never let herself come down here either.”

And there they went, Discord could see the recognition dawning on her. He practically heard the click of the puzzle pieces as they came together.

“So that is also why I am sure you won't want me to stay quite as badly,” the joke Discord had been about to make died away when that realization in her eyes turned to hurt. It shocked him a little to see how swiftly it turned. Then what came out was the truth.

“Because when it comes down to it Ms. Sparky, I know that you would choose the well-being of this world and all these ponies... over me.”

As casually as he tried to make it, Discord's own words felt like a kick to the stomach. Especially when he saw their effect on the brilliant pony who now stood frozen in front of him.

“And so you should,” Discord attempted to ease the tension, but he was having a very difficult time keeping his resolve while staring into her eyes now. He didn't want to see the pain this was causing her, it was making his own strangely worse.

When Twilight finally spoke again, it was almost accusatory – which Discord had expected – but in a different way than he'd anticipated.

“But, but.. there has to be some way, doesn't there?” she asked. “Otherwise that just wouldn't be-- you must be able to think of something.”

“Apart from the obvious?” he asked, starting to feel the same as he had done way back when it was looking a lot like he would be placed back in stone after trying to avoid the outcome. It was something that he knew in his gut was unavoidable, but she had given him the hope that things could be different. He was feeling resigned to his fate, because that positive outcome that was best for everyone just didn't seem so likely this time.

“Of course apart from the obvious,” Twilight half-shouted, which startled Discord into staring back at her. She must have caught the resignation in his face or voice, and it had apparently really made her mad. “You start with the obvious and you work from there. The obvious is not an option.”

“Not an option, but it is the easiest one,” Discord answered, which only seemed to infuriate Twilight more.

“You're really going to give up? After all of this? After--- after me?” He took a moment to find it adorable that she was still having trouble with saying that. “The easiest way isn't always the best way, Discord.”

“Twilight, do you really mean that you would prefer I stay when we both know the consequences?”

At this, her anger dissipated. The unicorn's eyes closed and she breathed in sharply, letting it out slowly as she lowered her head. It must have stifled the flame, but it did not ease her demeanor or stance.

“No, you're right. We should do what's right for every pony, and a part of me is very proud that you have enough care for them to be willing to do that.”

That was sincere, but amazingly Discord could feel a 'but' coming on.

“But, how unfair is it? After all that you have done and all that we've been through. The first time I actually---” emotion was rising up inside her again, but Discord still didn't dare approach her any closer.

“I won't accept it, there has to be another way, I'll find one.”

“Well you know what they say about life, it isn't fair,” he stated, trying to insert some semblance of mirth into such a grim statement.

“Discord, don't be giving up just yet. We can find something, I can find something, maybe in one of the books from the Crystal Library.”

“The ones you've looked through a hundred times?”

“I might have overlooked something, you don't know for sure,” Twilight argued, and then brightened momentarily. “Cadance is coming, maybe she can help me figure out a solution.” She paused for a moment, then when she spoke again it was softer, gentler, and almost to herself.

“Just, just don't give up, okay? There just has to be some way to make this work.”

She was so remarkable. Still trying to find a way to fix it so everything worked out alright for everyone.

“Twilight---,”Discord started, but was silenced by the unicorn gently taking his clawed hand. He leaned in closer automatically, his eyes becoming level with hers.

“I still meant what I said,” she whispered, for they were so close now, Discord could see the unshed tears shimmering in her eyes. “I want you to stay.”

His right paw twitched, for in that moment all he wanted to do was run his claws through her mane, to hold her face, but he resisted. He still saw only disappointment for them in their future, but he wanted to thank her for holding so fast to hope all the same.

Those brilliant violet eyes were only centimeters away now. The tears had faded, and a new resolve burned within them.

Her hoof then left his claw and found its way to his face, catching him by surprise. She caressed it gently, slowly gliding her hoof down his cheek to his chin. Discord leaned into her touch without thinking, for he was pondering just what she was thinking, and what she might just be about to do.

Discord was pleasantly surprised when she didn't hold herself back this time. She grasped his goatee and -with a forceful tug – swiftly pulled him in to close the gap between his lips and hers.

She had to make the decision now, or Discord just might make it for her by disappearing from her life again, this time forever.

It just wasn't fair, to either of them. But how could she in good conscience make such a decision when she knew the possibilities that might come from it?

Although, looking up into Discord's eyes, at his resignation, nearly the exact same expression he had made when he stood back and allowed her friends and herself to blast him with the Elements a year ago. Her resolve cemented even further as she locked his gaze.

Yes, it was a decision that was not good for everyone, but this was what she wanted. She could feel it in her very core, it wasn't just for him, but she wanted him to stay for herself. Because even if it was a daunting thing to ponder, the idea of them being together, moving forward with this--- she wanted the chance to at least try, and at that moment losing that chance was worse than anything she could imagine his chaotic influence could inflict.

Twilight had been so afraid of her own selfishness, so uncertain about what this could mean for every pony else,yet at this moment she found herself wanting to be selfish.

“I won't accept it,” she continued. “There has to be another way. I'll find one.”

Twilight had no excuse, she had to find something, some way of communicating her feelings when words just would no longer do. And when her mind landed on it, she reacted without thinking, before her mind could logic her out of it.

She had just grabbed him by the goatee, planting her lips firmly down onto his. And then suddenly there she was, kissing Discord. This was not like the surprise smooch from a year ago. For one thing, this had been her idea, and for another, she wanted to convey every thought, every feeling that had been building up for the past month - the past year, even - in this kiss. It was her plea for him to stay with her, to agree to at least the idea of hope.

Of course, she couldn't hold onto that thought for very long, because her eyes had fluttered closed and his paw was soon running through her mane, grasping her head to pull her even closer. Her heart hammered in her chest as her head swam with an overflow of endorphins. After several moments of sweet, breathless release, they parted for a few seconds to enable her to come up for air. Then her eyes met his again and she brought him back in for a shorter, gentler kiss that helped to anchor and pull back her mind from floating away with her.

When they parted, Twilight didn't know what would come next, but she hoped that she had been able to convey what she had wanted.

One look at Discord revealed that this was an understatement. He had obviously gotten the point, and then some.

“So...” Her face flushed, Twilight tried to continue the conversation after what she had just done, but it was difficult for her to speak in any way that wasn't breathy and overexerted.

“So...” Discord mimicked her in a near purr, clearly not as out of breath as she, but still having enjoyed himself. “If I'm not planning on leaving anytime soon, what do you suppose I do in the meantime, then?”

She was still waiting for her heart rate to slow, but she tried to speak again in answer. “Yes -um – just--- just keep moving,I suppose. Keep fixing things and I'll keep researching here, and when I go to see the princesses maybe they can help, too.”

“If this doesn't make them think I've gone back to my old ways, that is,” he said. That was far too negative for Twilight to handle in her currently giddy-on-endorphins mindset.

“Don't you make me have to do that again,” she smirked, to which he returned with one of his own.

“I think I could handle that.”

5. Twilight's Plan

“…and similarly to the incidents in Vanhoover and Rivertail, all of the abnormalities completely vanished without a trace as suddenly as they at started. Not a single baby chick remained.”

Princess Celestia had been zoning out, only catching the last part of her assistant’s report on the increase in incidents of severe improbability. Most certainly not something a good or proper thing for a monarch to do when being given important news, but it was difficult to keep her focus on the words being said when Celestia was distracted by the source of these so-called ‘abnormalities.’

For she knew why these things were happening, or at least she had very good suspicions. The only problem being, that since these random bursts of chaos magic seemed to disappear just as any pony began to notice, the princess couldn’t definitively accuse Discord of breaking his promises.

She had no idea what game he was playing, but since his probation was over and her ruling made to allow him more space and freedom, there wasn’t much she could do about his goings on. If this was indeed his doing - as she highly suspected - he was at least cleaning up his messes. What the alicorn did not understand though was why?

Regrettably Twilight Sparkle was not of any help in this matter either. Officially she was no longer the official liaison between them, and her last few letters indicated that he had not been in contact with her for some time. When Celestia had asked her about this, Twilight had answered that he had only expressed a wish to ‘explore’ this plane he was now a full resident of.

He would not respond to another royal summons either even if she could pin down his location to send him one. He must have known that she and her sister would want to know what in Equestria he was up to. Did he not think they would notice?

Celestia attempted to rub her temples with a hoof, but her large golden shoe made it difficult to perform the gesture. What was more, her unicorn experts on magical theories and physiology had begun sending her reports on what they called 'a decrease in the temporal consistency of spells.' This decrease appeared to be affecting most unicorns with a high level of magical skill, and they explained that - if left unaddressed - could begin to be felt by others.

Princess Luna and Princess Cadance had been at that meeting as well, and though it might have been a leap to make in some pony’s eyes, Celestia wondered if it had something to do with Discord’s funny little trolling sessions.

Just what in Equestria is he up to? She thought to herself, but then she remembered her assistant’s latest report that she had begun tuning out of again, and she recalled hearing a name not found within her borders.

“My apologies,” she lifted a hoof to interrupt the small silver mare. “But where was this last incident?”

The mare looked surprised and fearful for a moment, no doubt unsure if she would receive a reprimand or dismissal. Celestia watched her flip back through the pages she was reading from. “Um, it was in Cheval, Your Majesty. The giant cloud hovered over a small village, glowed in an array of colors, and rained down live baby chicks down onto the populace.”

Celestia blinked, sitting back up into a more royal position, her interest caught fully again. “Cheval, as in the country across the sea? Not Cours De Cheval?”

“No, Princess, it was indeed the country. I spoke with an official representative of their government, and they have asked for any information we could give them about the nature of these happenings.”

“And did you give them any?” Celestia asked, which made the mare look nervous again.

“No Princess, because we have not issued an official statement about them to our people yet, I… wasn’t sure what you would want ,me to tell them.”

Celestia’s gaze dropped from her assistant’s worried expression, nodding a little non-committaly. “Good, good. You did the right thing. Do not worry. I shall send them a letter personally.”

Dismissing the mare, Celestia pulled out her quill and paper to set about doing just that. The current king of Cheval was an older unicorn gentleman, one that did not completely subscribe to the histories and mythologies of her country. Even though Cheval had had a long standing peaceful relationship with Equestria and in spite of the fact that she had been on good terms with his father's father's father's father before he took his throne No matter what evidence lay before him - what with she and her sister being clearly much more than regular monarchs - he refused to see it or regard them as literal children of a spirit. So if he was asking her for some sort of assistance, she knew he must be in a bind for answers.

The princess was not certain how much about her dealings with Discord of-late she should share with the king, the usual amount of diplomatic explanation and offering to help how they could would most likely suffice for the unicorn. Anything having to do with other-worldly beings might not be met with gratefulness.

It would seem that a full investigation was in order. One that needed at least some source close to the draconequus, but not the being himself .

Twilight Sparkle was most certainly that pony. She swept a piece of parchment and the royal seal stamp before her and began to pen an official letter of summons to her student. Surely, Twilight would have some answers for her, and they could officially conclude whether or not she was right to have what small amount of faith she had in Discord.

The train station was not as busy as it usually was, only a few other ponies waited at the platform with Twilight as she anticipated the arrival of her sister-in-law.

She had only just said goodbye to Fluttershy and Rarity here as they set off on their own pursuits, and though that meant that most of her friends were away, she didn't feel quite as lonely as she would normally. Especially with the arrival of Cadance.
And though it had also been a few days since she saw Discord, with his revelation that the anomalous activities were involuntarily caused by him, Twilight had doubled her efforts at devising a solution, even going so far as to give away her secret about finding the Statera Equus and attempting to replicate it.
Though she was filled with an even greater determination, she hoped that perhaps Cadance might bring news of how much the princesses new about the goings on. For if they knew about it, perhaps they had found a solution or were working towards one as well.
She watched as the train roared into the station, slowing as it made its entry and coming to a stop with a cloud of steam.
The passengers disembarked one or two at a time, and soon Twilight's eyes spotted a pink horn and golden crown in the throng. She waved and the crowd parted to reveal Cadance, whose eyes brightened at the sight of her. Once she had caught sight of her, Cadance made a beeline for Twilight and they engaged in a friendly hug and their usual greeting of 'sunshine, sunshine'.

“I hope your trip was alright,” Twilight said as they started on their way towards town. “I know it was a last-minute change, but thank you for understanding.”

“Oh, it wasn't any trouble,” Cadance replied, matching stride alongside her. “I got to have a few days at home with Shiny before having to leave him again, plus I was very interested in seeing you, Twilight. Even before all the... strangeness started happening.”

“You did?” she asked, to which Cadance tried to hold back a suspicious looking smile.

“I must admit that I originally came here because of what Rarity said in her letter about you, but ever since my aunts have let me in on what they been hearing about, I've felt that that sort of supersedes any sort of advice I might give you.”

“Advice, for what?” Twilight was confused. “I'm sorry, what letter?”

Cadance blinked, “The letter that Rarity sent me asking me to come and speak with you. Surely she mentioned it to you.”

She hadn't. And now that her friend was conveniently absent from Ponyville Twilight could not find her and demand an explanation from her about it.

“And for what precisely did Rarity think that I needed your advice?”

Now there was no hiding the grin on Cadance's features. “Maybe we should go and get something to eat. We can talk more over a little lunch and you can talk as much as you want about whatever you feel comfortable with.”

Twilight had a sneaking suspicion that whatever Rarity had written to Cadance about was not a topic she wanted to talk about so quickly. If it had been about herself and Discord... she had only just started to become comfortable with the idea of them... that they really were... but like Cadance said, were there not more pressing concerns at the moment? If the subject came back up over their lunch, perhaps Twilight might be open to talking about it with her sister-in-law, but only after she had found out just how much Cadance and the princesses had discovered.

It didn't take long before they had found a small outdoor cafe and settled themselves down for a light lunch. The two mares had chit-chatted the whole way there about lighter things, but had soon run out of light topics as the weight of the more serious ones compressed upon their minds, stilting the polite, breezy conversation.

After they had ordered their food and it was served to them, it was finally Twilight that spoke up about the elephant at the table.

“Cadance, I told you about my experiments over the past month, to analyze the magical fields and examine the strange phenomena. The thing is, I feel – more than feel, really – that I might know now the cause of it all.”

“You do?” Cadance asked, looking pleased and a little relieved, but when Twilight's expression did not match hers, she asked, “Then why don't you look happy about it?”

“Because the conclusion we – I – have come to, it isn't exactly one I was hoping for,” she answered. “I was hoping that Princess Celestia and Princess Luna might have thought of something, if they have even heard about all of what's going on.”

“They do know,” Cadance nodded, but paused before continuing, as if unsure of how Twilight would take her information.“The princesses have been monitoring the situation as it has progressed. It appears that any major abnormalities are being dealt with before any pony can notice, any pony but Celestia and Luna that is."

Twilight halted her chewing and put her tiny sandwich down. She wondered how much her sister-in-law knew, or suspected.

"I am sure they considered letting you and the other element bearers know sooner. so that you could try to fix things, but everything appears to be being fixed as they happen. I have my ideas about that as well."

Of course, Twilight knew exactly what – or rather who – was fixing everything, she just wasn't certain how much she should divulge to Cadance.

“I wonder, how much have you heard from Discord in the past month?” Cadance asked, going straight to the suspicions that Twilight had been hoping she had not been drawn to.

She wondered what went redder the moment she mentioned Discord, her face or her aura. Cadance was taking a particularly keen interest in both after her question.

A smirk was growing on the pink mare's face, and Twilight didn't think she could hide all that much from her in any case. Honesty was the best policy.

“I hadn't until the other day, when he came back to tell me--- that he felt he was the cause of what has been going on,” she ended a tad flatly, knowing that she was confirming Cadance's suspicions.

Cadance only nodded, smirk fading to a thoughtful frown. When she observed the area around Twilight again, it took her a moment to speak once more.

“So, it is true. I'm sorry to say that the princesses have come to the same suspicions, but that they don't exactly see it as I do, as him fixing the mistakes. They think all of this has a more... well, less innocent purpose.”

It didn't take Twilight long to consider what the princesses must be thinking – how they must be seeing all of these anomalies and the hasty patching of them up.

"They think Discord is covering his tracks, trying to be sneaky in his rule breaking," Twilight said. They would of course assume the worst. She didn't blame them. She certainly would think Discord capable of that, if things were different. But he did promise. They knew that.

Cadance shifted her weight a bit on her cushion, looking slightly uncomfortable.

"I wasn't certain about Discord being the cause, though I had to admit it is more than a coincidence that it appears to keep following him. But... there's something amiss going on with the magical field. You have to have sensed if too, the magic we use feels different lately. it is less... solid, I suppose."

Twilight had noticed, finally some pony who supported her theory on the magical fields. Her extra effort needed to pick things up with her magic lately, her need to re-perform simple spells for added power, whatever it was happening in Ponyville... she wondered now if it was only her. If this sort of thing was happening to every unicorn...

"How do you think we can fix it?" She asked, assuming that Cadance must have an idea, or at least leading to something.

"You know our magic is comprised of energy exuded from all of the spirits of balance, and we manipulate that energy to do whatever spells we need to do. I think maybe that energy has gotten out of balance. I am not sure how, but maybe if we could find a way to set it even again, the magic would return to normal, and so would everything else."

"But how could we do that? Princess Celestia. and Princess Luna manage the balance with Discord. Not to mention the other two that don't live here."

"Yes but that is the point. I think – it might be risky – but I think there might be something we could bring up when next we see the princesses.”

Twilight cocked her head to one side, but leaned in closer to hear.

“What if I told you,” Cadance began with a measured breath, like this was a speech she had been rehearsing. “That they - the princesses - have actually been considering stepping down as the keepers of order?” Twilight blinked, and Cadance must have anticipated her next question.

“It’s only the last few decades that they were seriously thinking about it, only until they could find mortal ponies worthy enough for it, ponies they trusted enough to bestow upon them their mother’s gift.”

“I’d say that’s ridiculous,” Twilight said. “They couldn’t do that, could they? Wouldn’t that kill them, if it were even possible?”

“No, it wouldn’t kill them,” Cadance said with some concern for the very idea. “Harmony only faded away after creating them because of the effort of maintaining her physical form while actually creating her daughters. They were made specifically for this realm, so they can pass the power down onto any pony they see fit.”

Twilight was following the path this conversation was taking, almost reading ahead to the next page of the script. “And you think they are considering… me?”

“Like I said, they were only getting serious the last few decades,” Cadance gave a proud smile. “They approached me at first because of my well… special position as lost princess of a lost empire. Not that I knew about my whole destiny yet. I just knew that I was the only winged unicorn around my age. But when I started foal sitting for you--- I saw your potential. Didn’t you ever wonder who got you that audience with the admissions committee at the school for gifted unicorns?”

Twilight remembered that day, but she had no recollection that it had been Cadance who told the school about her.

“You did, really?” she asked with growing wonder.

Cadance nodded. “You were already so skilled, but I had no idea how much. I didn’t know Auntie Celestia would take you on as a protégé. I think… I think that was when she started to think about us as potential candidates for Keepers of Order in the balance of the world.”

“But, both of us? If she already had thought of you, why would she consider me too?”

“Because we have two order beings now,” Cadance answered. “After Harmony made them, she split the power of order between them, so presumably it would take two mortal ponies to succeed the two alicorn princesses.”

Twilight could see the logic in that, since there were currently two order beings that balanced out Discord’s chaos. Yet another thing that made them conform to this world in a way that he couldn’t.

“When you showed yourself as one of the bearers of the elements of harmony, I think that cinched it for them. If you could wield the most powerful of their mother’s weapons, then you were a perfect choice to take on this responsibility.”

“Along side you,” Twilight clarified. “As a fellow order being?”

“Well,” Cadance started to say, then trailed off uncertainly. “Only if you were willing to take this on. I’d have no choice but to oblige. I would be glad to be a team with you, Twilight. But it would need to be a team decision.”

Twilight’s mind was gearing back up at this revelation. The wheels were turning again, churning out new and different possibilities. New order beings… but would that solve the problems of the imbalances? Would that fix all of the chaos that was leaking out?

She wasn’t entirely convinced, since it wasn’t as if order was the problem here. Choosing Cady and herself was all well and good - extremely flattering and an honor to be sure - but that wasn’t the problem. It was Discord, even if he didn’t mean to be. He was the one causing it because he wasn’t made for this world… not like Celestia and Luna had been.

“Wait,” the thought clicked itself into place, and Twilight perked up and even jumped to her hooves at the idea. “They were made to be here, they are supposed to be here.”

“You mean Celestia and Luna?” Cadance asked confusedly, giving her a concerned look at Twilight’s odd behavior. “Yes, they were made to live on this plane. That’s why---”

“But Cady, you don’t understand, that’s why everything is out of balance, because they are meant to be here, and he isn’t!” She almost cried with her rise in volume, a thrill building up her confidence.

“Don’t you see? Giving us the power of order to try and balance out Discord won’t do anything, because it’s Discord that needs to pass off his power!”

Cadance cocked her head to the side. “Twilight, are you suggesting…that Discord should choose a successor instead?”

“Why not? If he gave away his power, the being he bequeathed it to would be a mortal born of this plane, made to be here the same as Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. It’s his direct influence and his power’s over-powering physical presence that’s causing all of the chaos to spread and run amok. But if some pony were to take it on - become the new chaos being - it would balance them out,” Twilight was surprising herself with her own brilliance, ecstatic that she had thought of it, and almost annoyed that she hadn’t thought of it sooner.

“Yes,” she breathed, almost laughing. “That would fix everything…” If some pony else had the power, if the chaos magic was filtered into some pony from this plane and he no longer was the sole possessor of it… maybe that meant he could stay here without harming anyone unintentionally.

No, not just some pony… her. It had to be her. Her stomach dropped and a near shudder of anxiety at that mere thought overcame her as she came to the conclusion.

“Me,” she said quietly, trying not to notice Cadance staring at her with that same strange reading gaze she’d taken to giving Twilight every so often. “It should be me. I mean, it’s the only thing that makes sense. I already have some of Discord’s power inside me and I survived. What’s more, I could control it and wield it.” She steeled her nerve to look back up ad Cadance, trying to look only determined and not scared or even excited by the prospect.

“Twilight…” Cadance began after a few more moments of her confident stare meeting with Cady’s searching one. “I can see that you feel very strongly about this, but… still is it a good idea?”

“Of course it is,” Twilight said. “It’s the best possible solution. I can do it. You know I can.”

“I don’t doubt your ability, Twily,” she said, now growing sadder to blend with the concern. “I just think this decision might be based on… something else along with your logical conclusion.”

This faltered her determined focus. “What--- what do you mean Cadance?” she asked.

Cadance gave a humorless, sad sort of laugh. It was almost pitying,like something she remembered Discord doing before. Like she didn’t know what she was saying. But Twilight did.

“Twily, I do think this is the idea we’ve been trying to find, and it’s certainly not something Celestia or Luna would have thought of. I think only you could have, just as only you could probably be strong enough to take on such chaotic power.”

The unicorn was waiting for Cady to add that ‘but’ she could tell was on its way.

“But - and you know you can be completely honest with me - you seem awfully desperate to believe that this is the solution. Is that because if you are right and Discord is the problem, that he would have to leave? Are you wanting to take this on because you don’t want him to go?”

She wanted her to be honest, how could Twilight do that when she wasn’t even totally honest with herself? Especially not about that. She was just beginning to allow herself to accept what she might have been feeling for Discord, not wanting to admit to herself what he did to her just by being so close to her, just by being his own frustratingly extraordinary self. Twilight had trouble admitting it to herself what it did to her to think about the rest of her life without his crazy interruptions, without hearing his smooth, overly confident voice.

She’d barely even admitted it to him, how much could she say to Cadance?

Apparently, she didn’t need to. Perhaps it was her special talent of being the ‘love pony’, but she seemed to be able to sense just what Twilight was feeling, what was going through her mind as the young princess had posed the question.

“I see,” was what Cadance said after a moment, her small sad smile blooming a bit more. “So you really do love him. I’d assumed as much you know. Back when we talked in the Crystal library about him. I’d wanted to ask then, but I couldn’t be sure because you left so quickly, and that aura didn’t come back. But I only saw it when you spoke about him.”

Cadance blinked again, shaking her head and shifting her weight again awkwardly. “It took me some time to try and understand, to try and wrap my mind around it and accept it, but I believe in love and all its forms. This is where your heart lies, and I’m happy you have finally discovered it. But… are you willing to do this for him? This is something very major. I’d actually thought you would be better suited for Order based on your feelings for Discord. You two would work as a team possibly better than he did with Harmony, and certainly better than he’s been doing with her daughters.”

“I’d have to consult with him,” Twilight concurred. “But yes, honestly I want to do everything I can to get him to be able to stay. I want him to be happy, and all he’s ever wanted was to be able to stay here with us… me, with me,” Twilight fumbled with that last part. As much of her own feelings she was sorting out, the idea of his possible feelings for her were another thing entirely. She had always wanted fairness for all beings living here, even the ones that didn’t seem like they belonged. The ones that the rest of Equus counted out. They had a point, but if the threat to them was neutralized permanently they would have no more need to fear him, or hate him.

And every pony knew her, they all trusted and liked her. If she were the new chaos being, they wouldn’t hate her. She could get them to understand the importance of balance even without the Statera Equus,

The only ones that could possibly stand in the way of this brilliant plan were the princesses, and Discord himself.

“If you do do this Twilight, if you really want to take this on... then I want to help you,” Cadance said, her smile becoming more genuine. Twilight came closer for a hug.

“Oh Cady,” she squeezed her sister-in-law.

Cadance released her, and then looked her square in the face, all seriousness as she adopted Twilight’s determination. “If you take on chaos, I’ll take order. We’ll be partners. I don’t want you to have to face this new experience alone.”

Twilight couldn’t help herself from bringing her sister in for another hug. “Thank you,” she whispered closely to Cadance’s ear.

“If you could maybe explain what we’re deciding to do to the princesses, I’d really appreciate it,” she said after they broke the second hug. “I’ll explain to Discord.”

“I think you’re giving me the suicide mission here,” Cady joked. “I think you should also be more open with him about the way you feel.”

Twilight scoffed, but nervously. “I’m not even sure how I feel. I don’t know how this happened. I never set out to feel this way for him. He was always such a puzzle, he scared
Me at first… I wasn’t ever supposed to even feel like I could sympathize with him, let alone---” she paused, overwhelmed again by just the idea of him and her. It was something unpredictable. But then, she couldn’t plan for much of anything in her life since he came along.

“Love isn’t always so direct,” Cadance explained with a much more knowing tone. “It’s not always that 'flash-bam' at first sight. Sometimes it sneaks up on you when you least expect it. It creeps into your heart slowly moment by moment. They grow on you until they become an intrinsic part of your life, until you just can’t live without them. Then one day you wake up and that’s when the 'bam' happens. That’s when you realize what these feelings mean. It’s something beautiful, Twilight. Love is hope. It fuels our dreams. It makes us believe the best in every pony, and that’s all forms of love. Love is the only thing stronger than any other force. it’s something even the spirits of balance are powerless against… obviously.” her fairly serious speech was lightened by a wink at the last word.

Twilight wasn’t certain about that, but she assumed that it might make things easier - or less exceptionally charged - between them if she did voice her feelings for him. A kiss was one thing, but actually saying the words...How exactly to word it, she had no clue.

The real challenge was going to be admitting it to every pony else, and most importantly, herself.

Discord had grown on her like Cadance said. He had worked his way into her heart, and she was always thrilled to see him, hear his voice. His close presence to her was no longer as annoying as it had been, it made her breath catch and her heart hammer even when she knew she wasn’t afraid of him anymore.

He was so ridiculous, or profoundly unpredictable and still pretty full of himself. But she wanted him to stay because she loved that about him. Because she … loved him. She didn’t want to say it out loud though, not just yet.

6. Celestia's Reaction

So much for dividing up the burden on telling every pony. When Twilight had returned home after her visit with Cadance, Spike had been waiting for her with another official summons from the princesses for the next day. Even if Cady were willing to explain Twilight's plan to them, she would still have to tell them face to face anyway.

She only hoped that it would go better than her attempt to tell Discord. She had the whole train ride from Ponyville to think and replay their conversation in her mind, Spike dozing lightly on her shoulder as the pastoral landscape whipped by out the window.

Twilight didn't know exactly how Discord would react, or how she even expected him to react. Would he agree with her in thinking that it was the best possible choice, would he be concerned for her and want her to stay away from it?

She had not expected him to dismiss it out of hoof so quickly.

She had caught him as he was going through his rounds of popping in on each of his homes, still not wanting to stay in one place very long. She had waited at his castle in the Everfree for hours until he finally made an appearance. There Twilight had had time to stress and fret over what he might say.

He hadn't come right out and said 'this is a terrible plan', but he wasn't the most enthusiastic about it, either. It seemed more that he didn't expect it to work on the very grounds that it wouldn't fly with the princesses.

“They'll never go for it, good luck trying to get them on board,” he had said flatly.

“Discord, this is the best plan we have, of course they'll see that,” she had told him.

“They'll see that the best option would be to kick me out of this plane for good. It's only a matter of time.”

“Why are you being such a defeatist about this?

“Because I don't think you understand the magnitude of what you're suggesting, and if those order alicorns have any sense in their combined intelligence, they'll see that as well,” for some reason that had sounded defensive to Twilight.

“And besides, giving up all of my power? Does that sound like me?”

No, it hadn't, not the old Discord anyway. But that was a flimsy argument to make.

“If it's to be able to get what you really want,” she had said. “What I thought you wanted, anyway.”

“What I want is for you to have some sense of how important you are,” he had said, which caught her off guard. “If this plan of yours goes forward and it doesn't work, where does that leave us? I'll most likely still be sent packing, and who knows what will become of you.”

“And what if it does work, have you considered that?”

“Then you'd be the new chaos being, congratulations. Your prizes are the disdain of every pony and the blame for all of Equus's problems. Either way, it's a lose-lose for you.”

There it was, Discord's true reason for his disagreement. Twilight knew it couldn't have been completely about the possible veto from the princesses, and she was touched to make the realization. It was sweet that he was so concerned for her. But most of his fears were unfounded, or at least unproven.

“Discord, it won't be the same as what things were for you.” she had said softly. “Yes, you had to prove yourself – and you still sort of do to some ponies - but if I take over for you I can show them that they were wrong about you, about chaos. I can convince them that it truly is a part of harmony and balance.”

He still hadn't looked convinced yet, so she found his clawed hand with her hoof, taking it gently. She had hoped that the physical contact might be more reassuring.

“I can handle the magic, I'm sure of it.” She was only mostly, ninety-nine percent sure she could truly handle it, but Discord didn't need an honest recounting of her confidence at the moment. He needed reassurance that this was the right thing to do, the best thing to do. That he didn't need to be afraid for her in any capacity.

“Just trust me. Like I trusted you at the gates of Tartarus, and in the desert. It's my turn to do something potentially dangerous for you.”

“It's that potential that has me skeptical,” he had said.

She then attempted to increase the reassurance in her voice tenfold.

“Hey, in either turn out, at least you'll be there to help me through the hard parts.”

“We don't know that for sure,” he said.

“But we know it won't be the case if we do nothing,” she answered.

That undeniable fact appeared to have finally sunk in for him, and after a moment he gave a small sigh, a resigned smile growing on his features.

“If this is really what you choose, then I suppose I have no choice to see it through with you. I will be here,” he then bent down to kiss the hoof that held his claw.

She beamed back at him. “Thank you, Discord.”

“And I'll be right here when they say no.”

Twilight had rolled her eyes at that. He had also refused point blank to accompany her to Canterlot, so she was making her way to the castle with only Spike as her companion, which she was used to but would have been more confident about it if she'd had him with her, too.

Spike didn't know about Twilight's plan yet either, but if he were allowed to come into the meeting with her, he would know soon enough.

She had been to Canterlot Castle so many times throughout the years, Twilight should have been used to it by now. And she was, for the most part. Only the thought of what she was about to propose set her anxiety on edge and made the usually friendly and inviting architecture seem looming and foreboding.

Twilight shouldn't be anxious, though. She believed in her plan, she had faith that it was the right decision. It was difficult to get Discord's lack of faith out of her head, however.

Entering the vast main hall, Twilight and Spike took a right and made their way towards the small meeting room Twilight was used to seeing the princesses in, but before they could reach their destination, they were halted by a voice calling the unicorn's name.

“Twilight, Twilight Sparkle!”

They both turned back around the corner they had just gone past to see a slightly familiar orange pegasus flapping his wings to slow himself down, coming in to land close by to them.

The orange stallion took a moment to catch his breath and adjust his guard armor, which Twilight noticed included a Canterlot helmet with a Crystal Empire breast plate.

It was only a few moments before Twilight recognized him fully.

“Flyer Fry? I haven't seen you in months,” she said, only remembering seeing him last during the whole Cloudsdale commotion. He was Shining Armor's lieutenant, and he and several other guard members had come to aid the citizens when they were trying to pull the cloud city back into the sky.

“I'm sorry if I startled you, but I had to try to catch up with you before you got too far,” he said, still sounding out of breath. “I saw you coming down this way, and wondered where you were going.”

“What are you doing here?”

“I'm here on official business for Princess Cadance, or well, mostly for your brother. He can't come to this meeting, you see. So he sent me along with the princess to give her extra protection.”

Twilight guessed that explained the mixing of uniforms, but after that mystery was solved, what Fry had actually said registered with her.

“Wait, what do you mean, 'where am I going?' I'm going to the meeting room as per my official summons.”

Fry then shook his head, “Oh, my apologies, but the meeting is being held in the throne room.”

That didn't seem like the regular protocol for a mere conference between herself and the princesses.

“May I ask why?” she inquired, polite but curious.

“Not enough room, I'd imagine,” he replied, folding his wings and gesturing Twilight and Spike to follow with his hoof. “You should come on though, they're expecting you.”

“Meeting in the throne room? Twilight, how big a deal is this thing?” Spike asked as they followed Flyer Fry back down the hallway.

Evidently even bigger than Twilight had anticipated.

When she stepped into the throne room, she understood. This was not going to be a normal one-on-one with Princess Celestia. Her teacher sat at her throne with Luna and Cadance on either side of her, but flanking the royal alicorns on a lower tier were several ponies Twilight didn't know, but could recognize from her studies of the Equestrian provinces, and a few of the ponies present were clearly delegates from other countries on Equus.

Perhaps her anxiety was correct to start showing itself as she heard her hooves clip on the smooth floor of the cavernous throne room. The enormous columns that surrounded the chamber all appeared to be pointing towards the end where all of these near-total strangers sat watching them as they entered.

Flyer Fry swooped through the air ahead of Twilight and came to rest beside Cadance as she and Spike passed two more royal guards.

“Where should I go?” Spike whispered from Twilight's side. Normally during these meetings he would wait outside, but Twilight wasn't sure where Spike should go in this instance.

“Twilight Sparkle, unicorn of Ponyville, formally of Canterlot,” one of the guards announced her as she attempted to step lightly on the floor, making her way closer to where the group of very important ponies sat. She had never been announced officially in a meeting with the princesses before, then again she hadn't attended an official event such as this before, either.

There was a tenseness in the silence that filled the room, Twilight could see from the worried, anticipatory faces of some of the delegates. She suddenly understood the need for such pageantry. Princess Celestia must have wanted to ease their worries a much as possible before she arrived, and there was not much more reassuring to ponies en mass than a set ritual.

As they grew closer, Spike seemed to decide that the lower level beneath the others was as good a place as any, and he skittered off and out of the ponies' direct vision with a hurried, “Good luck” to Twilight.

“Twilight, thank you for coming,” Princess Celestia said, Twilight could feel some warmth coming from the greeting through the stiffness of decorum. Her smile was small yet brief, however. It was clear that Twilight was expected to play along according to the rules. Informality and familiarity were not to be shown.

“Thank you, Princess,” Twilight replied, then a few seconds later remembered to bow.

“We have been discussing the recent occurrences of unknown origin that have begun happening all around Equestria, and more recently in a few of the countries across the sea, including Cheval and Saddle Arabia.”

Twilight glanced over the assembled representatives and noted the ones from the mentioned lands. They were some of the ones looking the most concerned about the proceedings.

“For the official record, please state if the following is true. Until recently you were the liaison between the princesses of Equestria and Discord, where you observed his comings and goings and reported on his whereabouts and his progress in the probation he had been set with.”

“That is correct,” Twilight answered, the stenographer pony catching her eyes for a brief moment before quickly looking back up to Celestia. She didn't think they would make the leap to Discord so quickly, this did not bode well.

“And since the end of Discord's probation, have you had any contact with him?”

“I have,” Twilight replied, feeling almost robotic with her answers. Although she understood the reasoning for it, being so official and informal with her teacher and the other princesses (especially with Cadance right there as well) just felt awkward to her.

“Do you know where he has been throughout the past month, and do you know where he is at this moment?”

Twilight shifted her weight from one set of hooves to the other. They were getting very close to asking her the question that would reveal the truth, and confirm the suspicions Twilight could sense that they had. Why else would the princess bring up Discord?

“Not exactly where he has been, but I know he's been traveling,” she said. “And yes, I do know where he is currently.”

“Could it have been possible though - in your opinion - that during his travels that he could have visited the towns and countries of the delegates here today?”

“It is possible, Princess,” Twilight answered, taking a risk at disrupting the decorum of the proceedings, she added, “But may I please take this moment to clear things up, on his behalf?”

“You may,” the princess replied, at least not outwardly objecting to the request.

“It is true that these anomalies have indeed begun occurring since Discord's reappearance from stone, and that the more recent events have coincided with his recent travels. He has informed me that his continued existence on our plane has been having an adverse effect on our magical fields, and that has manifested in the strange occurrences cropping up all over the world.”

The unicorn then turned to the assembled representatives, trying to ease their worries with her own reassuring tone. “But please believe that Discord was not targeting your homes purposefully. He was merely attempting to stay as far away from any densely populated area in order to prevent any undo instances of chaotic imbalance. And even when they did occur without a conscious effort on his part, he did his best to fix them before they could incite a panic.”

At her words, the ponies assembled all began to talk over each other as they all scrambled to question her.

“But what about the magical fields?” asked one mare near the end of the row.

“How far off is this imbalance?” came another.

“Can he simply not just rein it in?”

“What do you propose we can do to adjust this imbalance?”

The questions were coming in from all sides, Twilight wasn't sure which to address first. She started to turn her attentions towards one pony, but then another would begin shouting their questions at her. She was beginning to feel even more overwhelmed than she had been already. That was when Princess Celestia raised her hoof to silence the crowd.

As the ponies all fell into silence again, Twilight was slightly relieved. The relief was short lived, however, by what she heard Celestia say.

"So all of this is Discord's fault?" the princess questioned, this being the only thing that she had evidently gleaned from Twilight's words.

"It isn't really as simple as that, Princess,” Twilight tried to explain. “Or rather, yes that he is the cause - but - he isn't doing any of it consciously. It's all his mere presence, his influence.”

"But he has admitted to being the source of all of the added chaotic occurrences?" Princess Celestia asked, again pointing to the bottom line without appearing to hear the rest of the explanation.

"Yes, Princess, but if you'll notice he has been cleaning up after himself whenever a new anomaly crops up. From what he's told me it appears to be something even he can't control," she tried to rephrase her statements again, hoping that the princess might this time catch that Discord wasn't completely to blame. "It's a side effect of his continued existence on our plane."

Princess Celestia continued to hear her out, paying her student at least the attention she was accustomed to, if only Twilight felt more like what she was saying was being listened to rather than merely heard. That she was not used to.

"I realize that quick action now could prevent any potentially progressive problems, and finding a solution for preventing his excess chaos energy from wreaking havoc hasn't been easy. Once it was made clear to me what the cause was I tried to think of some other solutions, but in the end... we could only come up with two."

"By 'we', I assume that you mean Discord and yourself," the princess asked. Her expression had grown far less warm, but at least there was some dialogue happening.

"Yes, Princess," Twilight answered. "We tried to discuss the best possible scenarios, we tried to come to some sort of arrangement that would make everyone happy."

"Why then is he not here alongside you to present your solution?" Princess Celestia questioned.

At this, the unicorn's ears drooped as she thought back to Discord, hiding out and sulking, he had warned her that things would go about the same as they were now in her audience with the princesses.

Now Twilight was growing to understand why he kept saying that. Even if he had wanted to come along, Twilight didn't think she'd blame him for not doing so. She certainly wouldn't want to meet with some pony who - sadly she had to say - appeared to have it out for her no matter what.

"We... sort of disagreed on which solution to present to you," Twilight said. "He isn't as hopeful about the plan I have, the one that has the full support of Princess Cadance."

She had added that last part in the hope that it would give her plan a bit more weight in her princess's eyes. She was the one who had divulged Princess Celestia's own plans for the both of them to Twilight.

Princess Celestia turned her gaze to the side of her throne where Cadance sat, and Twilight noticed Princess Luna turn questioningly to look at her as well. Cadance only smiled back at them, confident as ever about their decision. She nodded to affirm Twilight's statement, and then smiled encouragingly back to the unicorn.

"Thanks to her, I now know of the honor that you yourself had been considering the two of us for. Choosing us from all of the pupils you took under your wing - from all the ponies in Equestria - is something that I can not find words to describe my feelings for. And had things gone completely as you had planned, I know that I would accept your offer in a heartbeat to succeed you and Princess Luna as the new order beings."

Both Celestia's and Luna's eyes went wide at her words, they looked even more shocked that Twilight knew of their plans than they had about Discord or the anomalies.

"I realize that this isn't the way you wanted this offer to be announced, and that these circumstances are not what you had planned for, but please don't blame Cadance. She was only trying to help."

She then went through the basics of what she and Cadance had discussed. That Cadance could still take on the mantle of order being and help succeed both princesses, and that - since Twilight was already carrying some of it within her - that she should take on the power that Discord controlled and become the new chaos being to help balance out the world's magical energy with Cadance.

All through her speech she had observed the princesses' expressions, trying with ever more growing anxiety to read any sort of positive feedback in them. Cadance continued to be Twilight's cheerleader, nodding and looking towards Celestia and Luna at the right moments. Luna seemed reserved but receptive. She made no real reaction until the unicorn reached the part that involved Discord and his chaos magic.

It was Princess Celestia that Twilight watched for the most, however. She wanted to impress upon her teacher the importance of her plan and the need for a quick decision, but she also wanted to convey her own personal feelings towards it, that this was indeed her idea, hers completely, and that she wasn't being coerced in any way.

Once she had finished, she could sense some of the delegate ponies wanting to speak again, but halted by their own rules for the proceedings. They had already broken the rules by speaking out of turn once before, they did not want to do so again.

“This is the solution you came up with that you saw fit to present us with, Twilight?”

“Yes, Princess.”

“May I ask what other solution did you and Discord come to? You did mention that you came to two conclusions.”

Twilight blinked up at the princess, for she hadn't wanted or thought she would even need to bring up the other option. She thought that this was the best one, the one that would meet their approval.

“That would be for... for him to leave our plane, Princess.”

“And why was this not also brought to our attention for consideration?”

Twilight wasn't sure how she should respond to that. She did not want to break the formality of this event, but there seemed to be no other way to voice her feelings.

“Because it was not the fairest option,” she had settled on that, but inside she had really wanted to say simply that she had not wanted to.

“Perhaps not the fairest, but the most simple, and the one that would benefit most every pony involved.”

Twilight did a double take, a silent 'what' forming on her lips. This was eerily similar to something she remembered Discord saying himself when he explained – in his own backwards way – his own plans to leave before she vetoed them. But whereas his words were tinged with regret and resignation, her teacher's were filled with a kind of obviousness as if she had proposed that the sky was blue.

“Beneficial for every pony but Discord,” she said, losing her care to remain impersonal and maintain decorum.

“Considering the lives of every being on Equus - and considering his involvement in the imbalance – neither his opinion nor happiness about the solution are relevant.”

Twilight could not believe what she had just heard from her own teacher, her own monarch. The pony who had inspired her to find friendship and who had helped her see its importance. This pony was now telling her that some pony's feelings weren't relevant?

This had certainly been what Discord was trying to get at. No matter how much good he did to counter it - no matter how much she vouched for him - the princess would just continue to only see the worst of him.

"But I thought the whole point of allowing Discord to live among us was to help him see the good in every pony. After all that he has shown you that he has grown, that he has changed, that he has come to see that good... how can we not extend to him that hoof to help him remain here now?"

"That deal was conditional on the grounds that Discord present no harm to any pony. That was before we knew that by his mere continuance here that he would have such a profoundly harsh chaotic effect on the world," the princess tried to explain her reasoning, but it rang out hollow in Twilight's ears.

"But my method will fix all of that, and allow him to remain with no further harm to Equestria," Twilight felt herself losing her composure, the words she longed to say - to shout - burned inside of her. She resisted, but she couldn't stop her voice from cracking with the strain.

"Twilight, as much as I admire your selflessness, I do not feel that you have a clear grasp on the gravity of what you are proposing."

Even though she knew Princess Celestia hadn't meant it that way, Twilight felt indignant all the same. Did the princess really think she hadn't given this as much thought as possible?

"No Twilight, I feel that the best course of action would be to end this arrangement with Discord, and have him return to his original plane. This would allow everything to return to normal."

Twilight felt her heart sink, this wasn't an official decree, was it? No, she hadn't stated as such, so they were still in a discussion, there was still a chance.

"But Princess, I know that this is a risk, but I am prepared to take the chance," her voice growing rapid, close to pleading now. "If you're concerned about my safety you could be with us during the transference."

Princess Celestia regarded her now with some measure of pity, a pity that just served to insult Twilight more.

"Twilight... I don't believe that you could handle it."

As softly as her words were spoken, Twilight felt them as stabs upon her heart. Was she really concerned about Twilight's skill? Did this have anything really to do with the princess's confidence in her abilities, or was this just her continued campaign against her supposed enemy, Discord?

"And I believe that I could handle it far more than if Discord were being forced to leave!" the sharp words had sprung from Twilight's lips before she could think about them. They rang out through the cavernous hall, shocking all three princesses into silence. The ponies assembled whispered among themselves. All eyes were on Twilight.

Her eyes prickling with tears, she stared down her princess - her mentor - with more harshness than she had ever done. She could see Princess Celestia had noticed as well. In all of their years together as teacher and pupil, not once had Twilight ever raised her voice in such a way.

Part of her wanted to take it back, to stand down and bow in apology. For this was her princess she was addressing, but the larger part of her won out. She remained strong and confident in her righteous anger even if it was an insult to the three dignitaries before her.

"Forgive me, Princess," she consented to say, yet still barely containing the fire inside her. "But this is profoundly unfair. Discord has tried his best to keep his word because he wants to stay. He has found a home here, he's found friendship. Deep down that is all he's really wanted, all he really needed. And you want to take him away from all that, for what?"

Princess Celestia did not take her eyes from Twilight's, even as they bore into her. She seemed at a loss for words, which Twilight was glad about since she wasn't done.

"I have already presented you with a solution that would conceivably fix everything. A plan that - yes I agree - has some risks to myself, but the risks are only to myself. I'm willing to take on any potential factors that might arise, because I don't want to give up on him, like you so clearly have."

From Celestia's other side, Twilight could see Princess Luna cover her mouth in shock, then turn to see her sister's reaction. From the side with Cadance Twilight could see her sister-in-law covering her mouth as well, with both hooves. She however had her gaze trained on Twilight and the space around her. She looked like she might just explode with a completely different emotion than Twilight had.

The princess in the middle though - the one Twilight was directing her full indignation towards - had remained still. She looked back at Twilight with her wide eyes that to Twilight had always been filled with so much wisdom, but were now filled with the light of a new realization.

This was a side of Twilight none present had seen before, least of all Princess Celestia. They all waited with baited breath for how she would respond to her student's new burst of uncooperative insubordination.

Twilight herself was even curious, but she masked it well. It was crucial that the princess understand why Twilight was acting this way, and why the alicorn's actions were so deplorable.

It was a long moment before her teacher spoke. No more pity in her voice thankfully, yet now a kind of hushed awe, as if the realization she had come to was finally sinking in.

"You are willing to do this - possibly risk your own life on top of that of all the creatures in Equestria - all for him?"

"Yes, I am willing to do anything for him," she answered with clarity and confidence. "Because I love him."

Twilight had felt the words rising up from her core, filling her up just as the feelings she had for him did, but this time she did not stifle them. These were the feelings - the words - that she had been battling with for all this time to admit to herself.

She couldn't admit them when Discord had so creatively expressed his own feelings on that night a month ago, she couldn't admit them to Cadance who had clearly already seen they were present, and she couldn't even admit her feelings to him when Discord had finally reappeared and she knew he still wanted to stay with her.

So why in Equestria was now the time she chose? Now, in front of the princesses and the guards and all of these ponies from all over Equus, now she chose to admit her love for Discord to herself, to actually say the words out loud? To herself and the world now, she guessed.

The princess stared down at her student, attempting to hide what she was feeling at that moment, to not register the shock and utter (in her mind ) righteous anger welling up inside of her. The anger not directed towards Twilight, but at the creature whom Twilight spoke of. This… this insane plan of hers, and how she was referring to him… it was not what she had considered when Twilight had appeared before her.

Her mind went back to a conversation with the draconequus, what felt like years ago now when this entire mess that was his re-reappearance had begun.

‘Which is it that bothers you more Celestia, that your favorite student essentially has a part of me residing inside her now, or that someday she may actually want to tap into it?’

‘…and being the maternal figure you know she sees you as, you would never refuse her of something her heart desires, even if you don’t approve of it.”

It did not matter if Twilight was presenting this--- this absurd notion as something she had thought of. Celestia could see where it had really come from. She cursed herself inwardly, for she had really begun to believe it. Especially following his heroic sacrifice play during his pony transformation. She had truly begun to trust that Discord might have changed, that he might truly only desire a life of harmony and balance here on Equus. But she had been played the fool, as had her dear student.

She dismissed herself as politely as she could from the conversation, and left to summon Discord as swiftly as possible. She knew he wouldn’t answer, but that did not matter. It was his location she sought, for she was going to go to him. She would force him to spill every bit of this plan he’d evidently had burning in the backdrop of their encounters this entire time.

The Everfree Forest, well at least he was somewhere convenient.

She appeared the next moment with a flash of light and enough anger exploding from her to fill the entire main hall of his 'castle'. This ancient home that she had shared with her sister, now nearly entirely transformed to suit Discord's particular tastes.

Although she had expected his home to have even more of an upside down, annoyingly vibrant appearance to it. If the landscape Celestia had seen of his was any indication. Once her burst of illumination had faded, the only light remaining in the vast chamber were the smaller torches on the walls near the front, and the rest cloaked in darkness.

It was enough to see most of the far wall and surrounding area, where she found Discord sitting sideways on the throne he had no right to be filling, examining a glass of half-drunk chocolate milk and for once not looking like he had expected her, but more that he was lost in his own thoughts. The princess dreaded what sort of state the being's mind must be, she wondered how he ever managed to sift through all of the nonsense jumbled within it to even look so contemplative.

The flickering of the torches reflected off of his glass as he turned it in his clawed hand, and it danced on the other empty glasses littering the floor at his feet. And the ones surrounding his seat. And the ones covering the table separating his tiny empty glass army from her.

“So, I take it Twilight has told you of her plan,” Discord said, not at all hinting at surprise that Celestia had come. He continued to turn his glass, watching the light in the reflection. There was nothing in his posture that betrayed any pleasure in seeing a plan coming into action, no smirk of malevolent glee that he was clearly three steps ahead of every pony else, proving he was the most clever one in the room.

But surely on the inside he was. Celestia was not going to take in his little show. Not now.

“Yes, she told me, but do not think for a moment that I would believe it to be her idea,” Celestia said with authority. Her tone did not change his expression, and still his focus remained on his drink. He took another sip as she fumed.

“I was wary when this all began, when Twilight took on the task as liaison. But I said nothing, for she seemed to be willing, and it appeared to be going well. Then when Luna and I needed your help and you refused, we tried another more direct way to try and aid in your adaptation.

“There was a part of me then that had hoped – a very small part, mind you – that you truly had learned from Twilight, and then from your experiences as a pony. I hoped for the sake of our shared task, and for the sake of this world and the ponies living here. Mostly though, I attempted that hope for my student. She always assured me that you could learn, she has always been your greatest ally. You know that all of these probations, tests, and compromises given to you have been given to you because she has the ability to see a potential in you I have never been able to.

“It has been difficult for me to see that potential due to my own inability to trust you. I have tried to put aside my own personal feelings towards you because I had actually hoped that my centuries of hating you would be proven wrong. I wanted you to show me you had changed, and so you did, or so I thought.”

Amazingly through her ranting, Discord was not rolling his eyes or looking impatiently at an imaginary watch in an attempt to make her get to the point, but he did finally glance in her direction, watching her as he had his now nearly empty glass.

“How long has this been in your plans? Do not think I have forgotten the conversation we had the day I visited you along with Twilight in the desert. What you said about 'returning the favor' to her? Was this all a ruse simply to gain her trust and eventually to teach her this power of yours?” Her voice was growing sharper, angered by her worry for what he had planned for the young unicorn and furious embarrassment at herself for not following up on her suspicions at the time.

“What are you going to do to her? What were you planning on doing with her, did you think that with that power you could control her? Was this some way to separate her ties with her friends, or to take over this land with the aid of a second chaos being? I should have known that had not been merely a symbol or an invitation to trust. Did you really think I would not figure this out? This must have been the performance of a lifetime for you, Discord.”

The draconequus just kept watching her fume, but this wasn't good enough for her anymore, the alicorn was becoming more furious that he wasn't saying anything. By now he should have at least given her some form of sarcastic retort, or a jabbing insult, or backwards hint at his plans.

Discord finished his glass in one last sip, looked down into the empty glass, and then threw it down to smash into several of the others circling the throne. The glass shattered and for a moment the fragments were scattered across everywhere, but in an instant they were all completely whole again, yet still sitting close and on the floor.

“Always so quick to jump to conclusions, Celestia,” he said tiredly, and with barely any amusement at all. “You said it yourself though, this was her idea.”

“And I wonder who put that idea into her head,” Celestia fired back, now not caring about his apparent mood, it was all probably a mask or possibly just disappointment at being found out. “How long have you been planning this? Was this your first thought when she shared her sympathy for you? When she found the courage to stick up for you, was this all you were really aiming for, to use her trust to manipulate her?”

He had the audacity to look insulted at this accusation, but it only spurred the princess on. Thinking of her poor, dear student being so fooled by the likes of him... and knowing now just how deeply her feelings had become for him.

“Did you anticipate that she would grow to care for you so much, or did you not even think about that? Did you even care for her, or that you were playing with her emotions in this manner? The same qualities that you professed to admiring in her – and that you claimed to have learned to appreciate in the ponies of this world – it was all just a means to an end, wasn't it? A long play for the only thing Discord wants, which is to do whatever he wants. Never mind the ponies you hurt along the way.”

Discord was looking angrily at her now, he sat up correctly in his seat, both mismatched front limbs clutching the arms tightly.

“This is what you really think of me, is it?” he said. “Well, I always knew you had your not-so-hidden disdain for me, Celestia. It's not a big secret that you are not my favorite pony either, but after all of the things I have had to do - bending over backwards in my attempts to conform to your little rules - all so I could have just a little place where I wasn't so bored, so alone. After all that has happened over the last year, is this really what you come back to?”

“What choice have I, Discord?” she asked. “The world is falling apart – falling to chaos – and all of that only began happening after you started living here. And then my student comes to me with this 'plan' that she supposedly created to mend the bond between the two of our powers by taking on the very power you wield? Yes, even after all of this and all I have seen you do or heard Twilight say... I have to come back to this possibility because you are who you are. Don't pretend to deny that this does sound an awful lot like you.”

“I don't deny that,” he answered. “But the truth remains that none of this was my intention,” she prepared herself to scoff, but he interrupted. “Refuse to believe it all you want, because you are right that this imbalance has to do with my presence. But try – in your supposedly infinite wisdom - to entertain the notion that none of it has been on purpose.”

He was right, she didn't believe it, not at first. Celestia did know that what Twilight and Cadance had said about the imbalance had been true. It was chaos that was overpowering order.

She and her sister were children of a spirit being, specially made to be able to exude their power without harming any pony. Never before had a fully fledged spirit being come to stay here with the mortal ponies. It did make some sense that he could possibly be having an effect on the world without meaning to.

“But what about Twilight,” she asked, still with ammunition to fuel her anger. “What could you possibly be trying to prove with using her, thinking she could actually take on this power? Do you not care what it could do to her? You were lucky the first time with your 'show of good faith' that she was able to withstand it.”

At this, Discord's face mirrored her own, one of the few times when he actually showed Celestia his side of their mutual loathing the way any normal pony might. This should have given her reason to be cautious, but he didn't scare her right now.

“This has never been done before, it could have potentially fatal side effects on her, or do you simply not care about that? You would play with her heart and possibly kill her just so you could stay here?”

At her words, the glasses littering the floor and the surrounding area all exploded at once, shards of glass flying every which way. They zoomed in all directions, but most of all towards Celestia, which she shielded herself from easily. The floor now sparkled with bits of dangerously jagged sharp objects and small puddles of chocolate milk.

“Blame me for this all you want princess, but never claim that I don't care about her,” he said with actual rage in his voice, nearly enough to rival her own. “Why do you think I have been traveling around for all these months? Yes, it gets boring being confined to my little prisons, but notice that I have been far from Ponyville. I have been attempting to separate myself from them – from Twilight – so that maybe I could find a way to fix our little problem.”

The princess then remembered the incidents all over Equestria and most recently in other parts of Equus. The strange happenings were always quickly dealt with before any pony could try and fix it themselves.

“So you really were cleaning up after yourself,” she said. “And you did not return to Ponyville in an attempt to spare them from your influence?”

“Don't sound so underhanded now, do I?” he said matter-of-factly. “And perhaps I was also banking on them forgetting about me, allowing them to return to their natural state of hating me that was sure to come. Whether or not through any actions of my own. Because once word gets out that all of this is my fault – well - all the good work Twilight has done for me goes out the window.”

Discord wasn't mentioning that it was not only Twilight's attempts to give him some good publicity, it had been his own apparent attempts to adapt and learn that had won him the favor of both Ponyville and Cloudsdale, that had won him the friends and allies he now enjoyed. If this had all been a trick, then those things wouldn't matter to him, but then again neither would his being hated... and Celestia certainly didn't think he would react that strongly at her accusation about Twilight.

“So you really do care what they think?”

A flicker of his usual self crossed his features as he rolled his eyes. “Not really, not all of them. I'll admit that it wasn't terrible having some of them count me as a friend, or stop at least outwardly stating their disdain for my powers. But as you have so often reminded me, this is my home now as well, so I should do my part or whatever.”

“And the only thing you can think of is to allow Twilight to take on your power?”

“Still your assumptions keep you from hearing the truth,” he said sarcastically, though still holding his glare as sharp as the glass at her hooves.

“This wasn't my plan. My plan was to leave. After our last little adventure I was going to go back up there,” he gestured impatiently upwards towards the ceiling.

He must have noticed Celestia's eyebrows raise, because he continued with more animation.

“That's right, I was leaving. I was... informed that this whole 'accidental influence' thing might happen if I stayed here, so I was willing to leave and let your little ponies have their plane.”

“Then what stopped you?” Celestia said, but she felt she already knew the answer.

“Twilight,” he said. “Perhaps it was because I didn't really want to go but wanted to hear the reasons why I should, since – no doubt – she would tell me. Perhaps I was looking for a reason to go, because I had anticipated that she would tell me to go. I never would have thought she would give me a reason to stay.”

Celestia blinked at him. Twilight Sparkle had told him to stay? Surely she must not have known the full extent of this choice. “But you did not tell her what you already knew was going to happen?”

“It was a selfish move,” he answered. “Again, Ms. Sparky seems to always put her fellow ponies before herself, but I know that she would always strive for the fairest option. I didn't want to burden her with the knowledge of what this choice could mean. Had she known, she may have only been asking me to stay out of her want to make things fair for all of us.”

He looked away from her momentarily, his tail twitched behind him as he seemed to ponder for a moment. “Maybe I didn't tell her because I wanted to know for sure how much that care she professed to have for me was. Honestly I expected her to tell me to go, I hadn't thought she cared that much.”

“And now she is willing to take on something that could potentially harm her for you, is that not proof of her care?”

“After she found out I figured she would be angry with me, and I was right. I didn't think that she would then choose to be selfish as well.” He looked up from his contemplation towards her again, and there was something in his tone, something written on his face that caught the princess off guard.

Sincerity.

“This was not my idea, Celestia, and I don't like it any more than you. But she thinks this is the only way to keep me here with her and still retain balance.”

“Wait, you don't like this?” she asked, bewildered.

“Why would I? You know how much I enjoy this power, it is all I have ever known. I'd be giving it up for good, and that is one of the last things on my list of things I want to do. I had a taste of a life without my powers thanks to you, I wouldn't want to repeat that.”

That sounded like the old Discord. Concerned with his power and his inability to create chaos through this plan.

“Then there's Twilight. She believes she can actually withstand it and control it. I agree we have been lucky she's been able to contain and control what little bit I have given already. I know she is strong, she's strong in many ways... but I worry she isn't strong enough for this.”

The alicorn felt her anger continuing to fade with another surprised raise of her eyebrows. She blinked at his words. “'Worried', you are actually worried for her?”

“Well of course,” he said as if it were obvious. “The unicorn just keeps sticking herself in these situations to help me, she needs to have more sense. She needs some semblance of self-preservation. Even if she is able to withstand a full tradeoff of my power, I don't want to be the one who did it to her if it went wrong.”

Through the haze of her anger, Celestia had not noticed that note of concern – true concern – emanating from her former enemy. It was so strange to sense it now, to see it so plainly upon his face, to hear it now in his words about Twilight. Celestia had been so convinced that all of this was a plot, a trick, the thought hadn't crossed her mind that Twilight's feelings for Discord weren't his manipulations. That they were real and what was more, reciprocated on his part. She could not have thought him capable.

And yet, here he was. Concerned for some pony else and not only showing it, but willing to give up something he cared about most – his own power – and being conflicted about it because it might hurt Twilight. It suddenly occurred to her that Discord really had been proving himself again and again, but that this was the first time it truly resonated with her.

It was a hard realization for the princess to make.

“You did once say that you thought about teaching her to wield the power you gave her,” Celestia said after a moment, finding herself for some reason sounding a bit reassuring. She was just as surprised as he looked. “You could teach her to use it, and then perhaps... gradually add to it.”

“Once near the start of all this, yes. I had thought about it. You had been right though – and you know how much I hate saying that – she didn't want to use it. The only time had been when I needed her to seal the gates of Tartarus. Eventually though I forgot about that offer, because I didn't want it to harm her. She didn't need it, and there was a chance that it might alter her somehow. After all, I have this stuff coursing through me all the time and look at me. I didn't want to rock the boat and mess up that extraordinary mind.”

“So then, how do we proceed?” Celestia asked, her anger almost completely gone now. “If neither of us cares for this plan of Twilight's, how can we in good conscience continue with it?”

“For one, it appears to be our only real option, or the only option that she'll accept. And she is right, it could work. It's not the best of odds, but there is a chance it won't end badly.”

“And for another?” she encouraged, feeling that Discord had another reason coming, and hoping it was one that was a touch more convincing.

“As much as we don't care for each other, we both care for Twilight. We both want what's best for her, but we also want her to be happy. Even if what she wants is something we disagree with.”

Celestia nodded, her lips disappeared into a fine line as she contemplated just how many things Twilight had decided upon she disagreed with but would need to get used to.

“And we would both be there for her, beside her as she learned to control it.”

That was also true, even if Celestia would be busy with helping Cadance do the same thing. She would need to (and want to) be there for both her proteges. Discord would be her teacher for this, but she had been Twilight's teacher first. She wasn't quite ready to let go just yet.

“If you truly are willing to try this, then I shall agree to it as well, but I propose a compromise between us. I am to be informed at every stage of the process, and I am to attend at least your first attempt to ensure things run smoothly. In return I will not interfere with your part in this plan, I will... trust your judgment.”

This had not been the outcome Celestia had in mind when she first appeared before the draconequus – far from it – but if they were both doing what was best for Twilight, then it turned out to be the best one. Even if the princess had to come into a deal with some pony she never thought she would agree with.

For a moment, she almost thought about shaking hooves with him to confirm it, but she thought better of it. They weren't there just yet. Instead she nodded again, her mane shaking a tad in its eternal wave.

“This is going to be interesting,” Discord said.

no doubt, she thought.

7. Peculiar Sorcery

Though they knew that time was of the essence, neither pony, nor alicorn, nor draconequus was eager for Twilight to push herself too far too fast. Since Princess Celestia had insisted on sitting in to aid Discord in teaching her to control the chaos magic she already had before taking on any more, Twilight felt a tad more comfortable. She was the unicorn's teacher after all, and this was a particularly epic feat she would be attempting. Having her beloved teacher around made her feel almost like she was back in school again.

If was much more of a comfort to Twilight as well that she be able to plot out a schedule for these lessons, and make a set limit for herself to test how much she could handle at a time. She planned to break it down into increments. That was if she could manage it. The memory of how that power had felt when she had used it on the gates of Tartarus... how it had nearly completely overpowered her and wracked her body, mind, and even her own magic over and over, trying to find a weak point in which to force her out.

Of course, that had been an emergency situation, and Twilight had never so much as opened that mental block a crack before then. Now with Discord to guide her and Princess Celestia to support her, Twilight thought there might be a chance she could deal. She would have to have faith in her own strength, in any case.

Out of all of the deserted areas of Equestria Discord called home, it was the desert area that was deemed the safest place to practice. It was far enough away from any pony who might be hurt if something went wrong, and it was barren enough to not cause any harmful changes to the surrounding area.

They all met early in the morning, just after the princess returned from raising the sun. It was one of the coolest parts of the day for the desert, and one of the only times of the day Princess Celestia could carve out of her very busy schedule to meet with them.

Discord had mentioned that they could meet any old time if 'her majesty' hadn't insisted on being there for their lessons, but this was something of great importance, and of which the princess would evidently make time. Twilight was a little bit touched that she was being so adamant, even if she knew it was only partially due to a sense of duty to her and mostly due to her continuing distrust of Discord.

“So I was making up the schedule and contemplating a mock up for a lesson plan of sorts,” Twilight said as the three of them gathered just outside of his fun house desert abode.

“'Lesson plan'?” Discord questioned, to which she nodded.

“I'm sorry, I know that shouldn't really be my place, since I am the one learning what to do, but I did a quick run through on the magical forms and theories that I have practiced since starting at Princess Celestia's school, and I thought I might as well take this on in the same fashion as I have the others previously. I realize that this type of magic is something completely different, but... can't hurt to be prepared.”

“Oh my, is this a glimpse at what young school filly Twilight was like?” Discord asked with a joking tone at her enthusiasm. “So prepared, so eager, and somehow even more excited at the prospect of learning than the Twilight of today. Maybe it is only because I have seen the 'teacher' side of you so often recently Ms. Sparky, but this is simply adorable,” his smirk and wink did not go unnoticed by the princess, although Twilight hoped that her small smile and warmer cheeks had.

“Honestly though Twilight, I hadn't actually thought about something so structured,” he said in response to her excited ramblings.

The princess rolled her eyes, or the one eye that wasn't covered by her eternally flowing hair in any case. “Of course you hadn't, that would be far too structured and easy to manage for you to conceive,” she said, to which he frowned and turned to her.

“Remind me again Celestia, which of us has actually handled chaos magic before?” he asked her sarcastically. “Chaos doesn't have such structure by its very nature. She'll need to learn how to keep it all under control without it overtaking her consciousness like it nearly did, but for the most part there is no set rule to it.”

“So, do you plan to just have her evoke that power with no set measure of control?”

“I was thinking about it, just as a trial. See how much she can handle before it starts being too much at first.”

“Because that does not sound dangerous at all,” Princess Celestia said with such sarcasm and lack of royal tone that Twilight was confused for a moment if the words had actually come from her teacher.

“I thought we were on the same page about this.”

“We agreed to do what was best for Twilight, how does that sound like the best strategy?”

“Um, excuse me?” she interrupted the two taller beings argument to bring their attention back down to her. “Seeing as this was my decision and that I will be the one testing this out, don't you think I should get a say in how we proceed?”

The princess straightened up from her increasingly intimidating crouch, and Discord made the net full of water balloons that was hovering over Celestia's head disappear before the princess had noticed.

“Alright,” she said with a determined sigh, taking a stance to evenly distribute her weight upon each hoof. “Maybe it would be a good idea to time me, I'd like to see how long it takes me first to start, and then how long I last.”

“Of course,” Discord made a small pocket watch appear out of the air, and Twilight hoped that he would be able to get both times... and she hoped she would be able to present some good results.

“Bear in mind Twilight, this is only your first real attempt,” the princess said. “Do not be discouraged if things don't happen as you wish them to. And Discord will be at the ready to help if it appears you are in danger,” she added pointedly with a look to the draconequus.

He huffed. “I was going to say that, and she knows already,” he muttered towards Princess Celestia. Then to Twilight, “You know I'll be right here, don't you?”

The unicorn couldn't help but laugh softly and nod. This was their concern showing – both of theirs – in the ways they knew how to express them. She was lucky they were being so tolerant of one another just for her.

Turning back her head to look straight forward, Twilight closed her eyes in an attempt to focus. She tried to remember how she had done it that day in the tunnel. How she had tried to gently ease that block she had sealed the chaos magic away inside. A small twinge of fear sparked a bit of unease at the thought of all that power coursing through her again. But she renewed her resolve, and mentally envisioned the door to that vault unlatching, the many dead bolts unhooking and unlocking, and very, very, very slowly, she allowed the door to open the width of a pony's hair.

The sensation was almost instantaneous, it was only familiar in that she recognized It from that one time before, although she couldn't even be certain it was the same feeling.

The pressure on her head was less so than it had been, but her mind was quickly fogging with a strange buzzing sensation, and her heart began to beat more rhythmically, almost trying to match pace with the growing speed of that buzzing. Twilight took slow, measured breaths as she took in these feelings. So far so good, she thought.

“I feel... like I have access to it now,” she said with precision to Discord, hoping that he would stop the time for her and tell her how she did. She was also beginning to struggle against the new sensation emanating from her stomach, joining her heart and her head in filling up her focus.

“Ten minutes,” Discord said as if it were about time. Ten minutes, really? Twilight was sure it hadn't been more than three, at most. She must have lost track of the time in her efforts to focus and gain a sense of control over this sliver of what she knew was a much larger amount of chaos.

Her nostrils flared as Twilight replanted her hooves, taking another deep breath and looking back to Discord. She tried to give him a smile to show she was doing alright, but the sight of him – or maybe it was just opening her eyes in general – caused her mental grip to slip for a millisecond. The radiating force pulling at her midsection was beginning to radiate outward again in all directions, something she remembered happening before, and her breaths became a bit faster as she tried to regain the control, her heart still growing in speed along with the foggy buzzing.

“I'm going to see how long I can hold it now, I'll open it a bit wider, so hang on and start the time again, please,” she managed to say through her shortening breaths. For the mental door had eased opened a bit more, just a fraction – maybe now the size of a button – and already it was becoming a bit too much for Twilight.

She was unable to compare this experience with the one from before now – she was hardly able to keep a conscious sense of her surroundings even – for the amount of chaos magic that flowed forth and began to emanate through her was much more intense than she had been expecting.

Twilight's stance began to wobble as her legs started trembling, her entire body beginning to squirm without her telling it to, as if it knew that something foreign was trying to take over her, and she had to fight both to keep the power in check, and to keep her body from trying to rid itself of the intruder.

Keeping hold of this chaos magic was almost like trying to breathe at a high altitude while at the same time galloping at full speed and keep from exploding all at the same time. Her heart had only hammered this violently when Twilight had been in danger, and perhaps she was. Her thoughts grew foggier in a way she only barely registered a recognition, and the only thought through the haze was that it was connected to Discord, but as she took another shallow breath she knew that made sense. This was his power, after all. She was able to just barely allow herself to open her eyes for a second to see that her horn was indeed glowing the vibrant blue it had done the last time, but she shut them quickly again as another wave of the power's radiation hit her.

It was becoming increasingly difficult to keep in check. The fogginess had all but consumed her mind, and the buzzing was now deafening. Twilight's heart was frantic, nearly as much as her breaths as each fresh wave crashed over her from the inside, spilling over every fiber of her with erratic intensity. It seemed the more the unicorn tried to hold the waves back, the stronger the force slamming against her conscious self became. It would be easy to simply give in, to let the sensation completely engulf her, to drown her in this torrent of power... but she had to stay strong. It was too much, too much for her to take. If she let it have any more leeway – if she lost any more of her sense – it would be too much for her. Twilight tried to hold her ground, but the rhythmic nature of the power's waves was now swallowing her up, she gasped as she felt it begin to rush into her mind, fearful for one second that she had failed...

Then with a jolt she felt a paw grip her firmly by the shoulder.

Twilight literally convulsed at the touch, jumping and twitching, then falling to the desert sand. All the while the softness of the paw contrasted with the tightness of the grip. Slowly she was able to anchor herself to that hold, and find her mind again. Through the fog she tried to stand, but Discord held her down.

She knew it had to be him now, and through the dissipating fogginess of her mind and the slowly ebbing waves she had the presence of mind to mentally berate herself. She hadn't been able to handle even that miniscule portion on her own, Discord had to come to her rescue.

He must have known what she was thinking, because his look of concern morphed into slight amusement at her own frustration with herself.

“Well, you held out longer than I thought you would on the first go. Eight minutes. Don't beat yourself up, Ms. Sparky. Remember that is longer than you held out against that full bout of chaos power.”

That was true, she thought. Eight minutes. Had that really been eight? Twilight felt it was the opposite of how it had felt trying to warm up to the magic. It had felt far, far longer. Twilight's breathing slowed and she was relieved to feel her heart slowing as well. She still felt fairly disappointed in herself, but at least she had done better than she had initially assumed. She was also glad for Discord being there. Somehow she felt less of a failure when he was the one telling her how she'd done. He made it sound more impressive somehow.

“I did at least keep from blacking out,” she said breathlessly, still winded as she lay on the sandy ground.

“Always a thing to avoid,” he agreed. She had only begun to notice that his paw was now cupping her face, and she had been absent-mindedly leaning her head more towards it, brushing her overly warm cheek against the fur. It was softer than hers, and distractedly she wondered for a moment how that could be, until she finally moved her gaze from Discord's face to notice Princess Celestia watching them. Ah... she had all but forgotten her teacher was there, and her face grew redder still.

“Do you want to stop, Twilight? We can take a break if you need,” Princess Celestia asked, but Twilight shook her head.

“No, I don't need a break, let's go again,” she answered, still brushing sand off of herself as Discord backed away to give her space. That was when she really noticed the place on which she had lain.

The sand in the surrounding area had shifted into colorful swirls around them. Each new color emanating out from where Twilight had stood as if some strong wind had merged with a rainbow, staining the ground below with the spiraled aftermath of their union.

“This happened just by my tapping into it?”

“Chaos with nothing else behind it can manifest in different ways, but it has to come out somehow,” Discord said.

Twilight supposed that made sense. If she was going to work on easing it out, it would be better to figure out a way from keeping it from doing something she didn't intend, something dangerous. When at the gates she had had a clear goal, something through which she could channel the power and force it to do her bidding. Without an end goal, it was more difficult to manage.

“Maybe if I had something to focus it on, it might be easier to get the hang of.”

With a snap of his claw, Discord manifested a cactus directly in front of her. “Perhaps you can see what you can transform this cactus into. It can be anything you like.”

Twilight nodded, another wave of determination and resolve fueling her as she made another attempt.

The same intense sensations engulfed her, but this time she tried to focus them on this one point, on this one bit of magic among the sea of possibilities.

She missed. The colorful shifting sand expanded exponentially, and now a meadow of purple and yellow tumbleweeds surrounded the three beings as well, but the cactus Twilight had tried to focus on was still there. Still there and still frustratingly unaltered.

And so she tried again. And again. And again, until the sun was dangerously close to needing to be set, but Princess Celestia had not moved from where she stood, still analyzing her pupil as Twilight continued her experiment.

“I think that is enough attempts for today, Twilight,” she said, in a tone that suggested she could stand it no longer.

“But Princess, I haven't done it yet,” Twilight said, trying to keep the frustration out of her voice and failing. The tumbleweeds had been joined by singing flowers and odd puddles of dark tar-like substance. The cactus remained unchanged.

“This was a commendable first try, but you should know when to call it a day,” Discord said. “We can pick this up again tomorrow.”

“Or later, if you need, Twilight,” Princess Celestia added.

“Weren't you the one stressing that this was something important to be done as quickly as possible?” Discord asked the princess.

Princess Celestia frowned as her gaze strayed from Twilight to him.

“Would overexertion be a part of your 'chaos training'? You'll wear her out before she has a chance to learn anything.”

Discord looked about to retort, but his eyes caught Twilight's expression, and he evidently thought better of it.

Twilight gave him a smile, that must have been tough.

“Didn't you mention that you were attending a party tonight?” Discord asked her, and Twilight's ears perked up at the reminder.

“Oh, that's right. But it is at sunset, and since the sun hasn't actually set yet... maybe I can get in just one more try.”

“I do believe that the princess here is about to leave to set the sun, and so we should probably cease until tomorrow. Wouldn't want you to be late for the party, of course.”

Twilight sighed. She understood, that was 'Discord' for 'I agree with Celestia but I don't want to say it.' If they were actually in agreement on something, perhaps she should pay heed to it.

Reluctantly, Twilight agreed as well. She then took a few moments to help Discord clear away the results of her tries before departing.

In a flash, Twilight was back in her library. The trip had taken far less magical force than she was used to using when traveling so far, almost none at all, and with no residual feelings of magical drain.

Making a mental note to monitor her natural magical output, she noticed the main room was empty of all ponies save Pinkie Pie, Spike had evidently already closed up for the party. Pinkie was busily hanging streamers across the railing, and Spike had been putting out the snacks when she flashed in.

“Twilight!” Spike stopped pouring out chips into a bowl and rushed over to greet her. “How did it go? Are you tired, did it hurt?”

“Did you learn how to make it rain chocolate milk yet?” Pinkie added to Spike's questions as she hopped down from her spot atop the railing to slide down the banister and meet her as well.

“It's a bit more complicated than that, Pinkie,” Twilight answered the pink pony's question first before turning to Spike. “And I feel... fine, actually.” Strangely enough, it was true. Compared to how the chaos magic had felt when it was coursing through her, she felt absolutely dandy. Maybe even better than she had before attempting to unlock the power. Perhaps she was simply less anxious about it, now that she knew what it felt like.

“Are you sure?” Spike asked. “I mean, your horn looks okay. Not like it did last time. Were you able to control it?”

“Not as much as I'd like to have done,” Twilight replied, still slightly regretful about her abysmal pace. “But both Princess Celestia and Discord assured me that it was a good first try.”

“Ooh, we can celebrate your first day of learning chaos magic, too!” Pinkie chirped excitedly. “This party can be a combo 'welcome back every pony', 'the gang's all here', and 'congrats to Twilight on a great first try' party.”

She then ribbed Twilight conspiratorially, giving her a wink. “And maybe a 'congrats on the new relationship' party, too.”

Twilight flushed, her gaze pulling away from her friend and down to the floor. “I--- don't know about that.”

“Why not?” Pinkie asked. “I mean, you're gonna tell every pony eventually, right? Why not tonight?”

The unicorn tilted her head and looked away again, uncertain. Pinkie was right, apart from the ponies who had been at the meeting in Canterlot, she and Spike were the only ones who knew not only about taking on the chaos magic, but about her current relationship with Discord. She supposed there was nothing stopping her from telling the rest of her friends at the party, but there were still things to consider, or rather five opinions she had not considered.

All throughout these dealings with Discord, with every major decision that had to be made by her, Twilight had always considered the group's opinion invaluable. She had always tried to convey her own personal feelings, while still accepting her friends' input in the decision making process. This was the first time that Twilight had not done that before acting. She had made the public choice to trust him with her friends' acceptance and approval. She had made the choice to help Discord with his hooves-on lesson of empathy and rallied her friends to aid her as well. There was no way she would not at least bring the ponies she held most dear to her up to speed on her current new... power accumulation.

She only hoped they would not be hurt or offended that she had not consulted them first this time.

Within the hour the party was in full swing, and Twilight's closest friends filled the library with the tales of their travels. It was strange to hear, though, that even though each of the four who had left had gone to different places, that each story carried a similar theme. It would be strange that is, if Twilight didn't already know the cause for the similarities.

"Twilight, darling, it was the oddest thing. You must have seen it as well, when I was in Canterlot, I could have sworn I'd seen some of the stars falling. It wasn't like any normal meteor shower either, it was as if the very stars themselves were falling.” Rarity, who had been busy with fashion week reported.

"I saw some very strange birds as I was flying over the swamp lands. They were glowing and making sounds I've never heard any birds make. They almost frightened my poor starlings off their flight path," Fluttershy told her.

"Me and Big Mac were off gettin' parts for the farm machinery, and just past Appleoosa there was a whole mess of those balloon cacti. They weren't nowhere near where Discord usually calls home, though."

Twilight simply listened to her friends' recountings, a sense of guilt beginning to eat through her silence. Guilt that she hadn't come forward to her friends at the start of the evening. The longer she waited , the more awkward it would be in her mind. But she couldn't yet, not everyone was there. Rainbow Dash hadn't arrived.

When Rainbow did show up (amazingly more fashionably late than Rarity) Twilight had been a bit too nervously preoccupied with serving herself some punch that she didn't notice. That was until the pegasus glomped her with a stealth hug.

“Hey Twilight! You won't believe the time I have had at the Wonderbolt Academy!” she practically squealed as she hopped off her friend. Twilight had been able to catch her cup with her magic to keep it from flying off to spill on her books, or onto Rarity's fancy dress she just had to wear to a casual get together. A sudden shiver ran through her but she was still able to keep her composure.

“Oh really, what?” she asked as she saw that Rainbow was barely able to control her excitement to share the news.

“Not only did they make me a lead pony, but since I am a second tier recruit now, I get to be a junior captain of my own fleet of newbies,” she smiled so broadly Twilight figured it must hurt her face to do so, but then Rainbow seemed to realize how extremely excited and - therefore not as cool - she was being and set her face back to normal, taking on a casual expression and waving her hoof to show her cool indifference. “But ya know, it is no big deal. They just have to listen to whatever I say. And I don't mean to brag or anything, but my recruits are doing the best out of their class.”

“That is amazing Rainbow. Congratulations,” Twilight said, she retained her smile even if it wasn't as 'cool' as acting like it didn't matter. She knew better than to think Rainbow Dash wasn't completely ecstatic about this, even if she had not given herself away.

“Thanks,” Rainbow said. “I'll be back there in another week to see how they did, and then I get an evaluation on how I trained them. Preeetty sure I'll be passing that with flying colors to. Oh yeah, did I mention I named my group the Flying Colors? So, what's new with you? Or have you been pretty much here all this time,” Dash made a cursory and slightly ribbing glance about the room, obviously assuming that the unicorn had indeed spent her time in the library with her books. Well... that was partially true...

Twilight honestly still wasn't certain how to approach the question. She had planned on getting every pony's attention at once to tell them all at the same time, so they could all know and react together. Now however, Twilight was finding that choosing the right way in which to tell them was not entirely coming to her.

“Hey Twi, is there a reason you're holding all that stuff with your magic?” Rainbow asked, and at that very moment Twilight noticed it, too.

All throughout their conversation, Twilight had thought she had seen things whipping past out of the corner of her eye, but she had been so preoccupied with trying to converse with Rainbow Dash as if everything were normal that she hadn't fully taken notice. Not only was she still holding her drink in her magic, but now several books, the entire punch bowl, and Pinkie's pet alligator Gummy were now in orbit around her. They soared up and dipped down, swirling around her in a strange but held pattern.

Twilight also noticed that her other friends had not failed to notice the objects' odd behavior as well. They had all stopped their own individual conversations to watch the strange parade of items fly past and over their heads, and even if the magical aura that surrounded the objects was not her usual color, it could not be more evident that she was the cause.

Once Twilight had spotted all of her friends turning to stare at her, the objects all slowed their pace and then suddenly dropped to the floor.

She saw Pinkie catch Gummy in her hooves and transfer him to her back as Twilight glanced nervously to each of her friends' increasingly confused faces.

“What in the hay was that, Twilight?” Applejack asked for the group, for it was true that each of them was starting to look more concerned than surprised.

“Is everything alright?” Fluttershy asked. “Your eyes---” she paused in her sentence, pointing to Twilight's face with her hoof.

What about her eyes? Twilight quickly looked around for a mirror but soon was met with a small hoofheld one provided by Rarity's magical aura. It wasn't long before she found what was wrong, and it appeared that her magic hadn't been the only thing to change color. Her eyes – normally violet -were now a bright shade of blue. The very same shade as the chaos magic.

Twilight blinked several times, shaking her head vigorously, and a few seconds later her eye color was back to normal, but the question remained floating almost tangibly above the group. A question that the unicorn knew she could answer - that she should answer - and it appeared that the chaos magic had decided that now was the right time.

“I... suppose I do have some news of my own...”

And it all came spilling out of her. The strange occurrences, the magical anomalies, Discord's part in all of it, and the decision that she had made to help him.

“I'm not entirely certain about what just happened, but it probably is just some excess energy from my first practice today. It most likely won't happen again if I learn to control it. There's really no need to be alarmed.”

“No need? I should say that was an alarming display, what just happened,” Rarity said. “I don't think you could blame us for being concerned.”

“So you're filling yourself up with magic that you're not even sure you can control, and you want us to be cool with that?” Rainbow asked skeptically. “If this is Discord's fault, how is he okay with this plan?”

“This wasn't Discord's fault either - and he's as skeptical as you are about how I'll manage it - but I chose to help him, and I choose to take whatever comes from that decision,” Twilight answered.

“What I think we're all wonderin' about Twi, is why if you aren't sure what this'll do to you, why you're willing to do somethin' so risky to help him out.”

“We're only worried about you, Twilight.” Fluttershy added.

Twilight knew that. She also knew the time had come for the confession that Pinkie had been hinting at, the confession that she hoped her friends would understand and be accepting towards.

“Because he deserves to be here just as much as any pony does, and it would be unfair for him to be essentially banished for something that is out of his control. And well--- because he--- that is to say, I---”

“He's become very special to you,” Rarity translated her babbling, for which Twilight was grateful even if her friend had a knowing grin across her face.

Indeed, she noticed most of her friends' faces begin to brighten with realizations. So she didn't have to expressly state it here, at least. Her friends could just tell even without Twilight having the right words.

She saw a look pass between them. Rainbow to Applejack, Rarity to Fluttershy, and with slightly varying degrees of acceptance in their smiles, AJ spoke for the group.

“I reckon we haven't always been so accommodatin' to Discord. We didn't always make it easy on him or you when you and the princesses were trying to show him things. But I don't think I'm the only one here who wants to say that I'll support you all the way. If this is what your heart is tellin' ya to do, I'll be here for ya, Twi.”

“Yeah, me too,” Rainbow echoed Applejack's sentiments.

“If there's anything I can do, I'd like to help, Twilight.” Fluttershy chimed in.

“And I as well,” said Rarity.

“You already know I'm on board!” Pinkie cheered.

Twilight audibly sighed with relief. She should have known that they wouldn't have any sort of hurt feelings or misgivings over her not telling them before she acted. She had been over-thinking things, as she tended to do.

“Thanks, everyone. I know I can count on you.”

“This feels like the right time for a group hug!” Pinkie said, and before anyone could protest, she had pulled all five of the others in for a gigantic group hug.

With her fears dispelled, Twilight could at last fully enjoy her friends' company. The questions concerning the excess chaos energy she had exuded left for the following day, Twilight found Rarity after the group hug and cornered her as she had been heading towards the door.

“That reminds me,” Twilight raised a hoof to halt her fellow unicorn before she could escape. “Could I speak with you about a certain letter you wrote to my sister-in-law about me?”

8. A Thunder in Our Hearts

It took several discussions between all three princesses, but it was eventually concluded that Canterlot would be the best place for Cadance to be to receive and learn to focus order magic. Although it would mean more time spent away from her empire and her husband, Cadance understood that it would be safer for herself if something went wrong. This way, both of her aunts would be present in the event of a complication.
Cadance wondered though – after hearing Princess Celestia's recounting of Twilight's first chaos magic session – why her training could take place in a densely-populated pony area whereas her sister-in-law's could not.

When she met with her elder aunt for her first session, she decided to ask.

The Canterlot castle gardens were as open a place as could be found in the mountain top city, the various flora all set in neat, tidy sections and the statues and fountains placed strategically throughout made for a well-organized and sufficiently orderly place for the young princess to learn about and receive order magic.

Princess Celestia greeted her as warmly as Cadance would have expected, but there was something behind her eyes, a tiredness that left them dimmer than they usually shone.

“I had hoped that observing Twilight's and Discord's first attempt might provide me with some idea of how best to approach ours,” Celestia recounted as they strolled to an open space in the garden. “However I did not glean as much as I expected to, although I shouldn't be surprised.”

“Was it that bad, their first training session?”

“If one were to call it that,” Celestia replied. “It is not how I would have decided to approach things.”

Cadance tilted her head to one side perplexedly, her mane shifting with the motion.

“If you disapprove of his methods, how would you differ them?”

“For one, I would not allow Twilight to be the one calling the shots. You both know so little about this magic we wield, you need much more gentle guidance than merely being thrown into the deep end.”

Celestia seemed to catch herself, backtracking as she glanced back to Cadance. “However, I have promised not to interfere with their lessons--- or transference--- or whatever they decide to call what they are doing.”

“But you were able to glean something, I trust?” she asked, for the moment ignoring her aunt's cooler demeanor when mentioning her lack of surprise.

“Of course,” Celestia answered with a nod. They had reached a wider space where the hedges traced an almost complete rectangle surrounding them, and all that stood near them was one small fountain slightly near the furthest side.

“Auntie, may I ask you about our training since you brought it up, because I was wondering about how much it will differ from Twilight's, and---”

Celestia raised a hoof politely, silencing her. “There will be time for questions after we have begun with our first transference.”

And with that, they began.

The order magic transference was a strange experience, as the ancient magic flowed into her from the alicorn's horn to her own Cadance could feel a strong weight pressing both onto and into her. What was strangest of all about it though, was that - although it only lasted for a few brief moments - following each small installment of the transference, Cadance could feel an overwhelming sense of peace and calm enveloping her. It radiated all the way through her body from her horn to her hooves, a serenity that the young princess had never felt before.

“How... how much are you going to give me?” she asked through the pleasant haze that enveloped her.

“Only a small portion to start, please be silent until I've finished.” she heard Celestia say, polite again but firm.

She obliged, her eyes closed as she breathed deeply. She almost felt like she was immersed in a warm, luxurious bath. It was peace, warmth, and comfort.

Her eyes blinked open as she felt the sensation ebb away slowly, Cadance began to re-orientate herself. She had braced herself for nearly anything, but she hadn't expected it to make her feel so at ease, so at peace with herself.

Funny though, that that wasn't the impression she got from the one who had just given her this power. Ever since she had mentioned wanting to ask about Twilight's training – from the moment they met today – the elder princess seemed preoccupied.

“Auntie, is there something troubling you? Did you not get enough rest last night?” she inquired, truthfully concerned but almost certain Celestia's demeanor had nothing to do with lack of sleep.

“To be honest, I haven't been able to sleep as soundly as I once have,” she closed her eyes as if to give herself a moment to compose herself and not betray her true feelings. Not realizing of course, that feelings were harder to hide around Cadance.

“Forgive me for being a tad short with you today, Cadance. I do have a lot on my mind, what with all of this chaos imbalance going on.”

“I take no offense, and I completely understand,” Cadance assured the princess. “But if it is alright, may we discuss Twilight's training and why it differs so from mine?”

“There is not much to be discussed. Luna and I are taking care of our side of things, teaching you to wield order, and I am relying on Discord to do his part with Twilight and the chaos side of the balance exchange.”

“And... you don't think Discord is doing it right?” she asked, trying to gauge what the precise cause was for the alicorn's current mood.

“I am concerned that Discord is not taking things as seriously as he should, and that Twilight might end up taking on far more than she can handle under his tutelage.”

Perhaps it was the influence of the new magic coursing through her, but Cadance felt a clarity of mind that made her already keen sense for other ponies' emotions even more heightened. This gave her the confidence to approach Celestia and question her so boldly.

"I can understand not trusting him, it would only be natural for you. You and Aunt Luna serve as his opposite to balance him. Not to mention what he did in the past to our world. But, he has been improving so much, acclimating to this plane by your own admission. With all due respect Auntie, when will this end?"

She had turned her head away from Cadance, her mane swishing in its eternal flow to obscure her eyes, and for a moment the silence grew tense.

"It is what he has done in the past that leaves such little room for complete forgiveness," the alicorn answered.

Cadance blinked, walking slowly around to find Celestia's eyes, "But you were starting to accept him, even just as an unpleasant inevitability. Whatever holds you back, it isn't doing any pony any favors."

"It would seem that allowing him to stay is not either."

"So, this isn't only about Twilight?" Cadance asked with a realizing tone.

"Of course it is,” came her clipped response. Cadance wasn't convinced, however. The orange and yellow aura that surrounded her when she spoke of Twilight was there, but muted, the unicorn was clearly not the only thing on Celestia's mind.

“I worry for her, I still do not believe that she knows what she is getting herself into.”

“But I signed on for the exact same task, do you not worry for me?”

“Yes, but it is different for you. Order is simply not as dangerous as chaos, there are far fewer things that can go wrong. That is especially true considering That I am here for you as well as Luna.”

“And because order is something that you understand completely,” Cadance continued her aunt's thought. “And you trust the beings providing me with the order magic.”

Cadance would of course never say so out loud, but her perceptions were steering more towards the idea that her aunt did not have a leg to stand on with that argument. She couldn't shake the thought that there was something else that Celestia was holding on to – something more than the usual distrust of Discord - if only she would let Cadance in.

“I don't want to pry, but if there is something else you need to talk about, I'm right here to listen.”

When her aunt did not speak up, Cadance decided to go ahead and pry just a little.

“Is it so hard to comprehend that he is doing all that he can to fix things, to help not only Twilight, but his new home?”

Cadance saw something flair in Celestia's eyes, and she could see the aura around her shift. This usually warm familial orange was now tinged with the color of loss. Cadance could almost guess what Celestia was going to say even as she struggled with the admission.

"This should not be his home, he does not deserve it. My mother loved every single creature since she first saw them. She dreamed for eons of living here among them. She wanted to take care of them, longed for a way to be here that would not harm them. He only ever dreamed of their suffering, of spreading his chaos far beyond his limits.”

Celestia's voice grew even sharper, her mane now completely out of the way for both eyes to find Cadance's.

“So tell me how it is that she should fade away and he remain. Why should he be granted the wish that she died for? Tell me how that is fair, Cadance," her outburst came down in volume, only to intensify in seethe.

Cadance stared at her aunt, her princess. She had never seen Celestia like this.

The pony that stood before her - though she still eclipsed her in size - from the tears forming in her eyes to her stiff, splayed stance of both anger and admission... this was a daughter after the loss of her mother.

"Do... do you blame him somehow for your mother's choice?"

"Of course not, but... this - what he's doing now - that is all she ever wanted. The first thing Discord did after she faded was celebrate by messing up the world. He never even mourned her, his sister in all respects."

Cadance tried to comfort the alicorn. It felt strange attempting to do so for a pony she thought would be so much further beyond holding such pain, such grudges. "But he is doing that now. He finally understands why she loved them so."

"I know, I can see that. Or I could, rather," she said. "I suppose I still find it difficult to trust him not only because of his past or his potential for destruction, but because I didn't want to entertain the thought that he could be sincere. Not the being who caused so much imbalance to this plane, who did not seem to love or respect his partner enough to love or respect those she held dear."

"You don't want Discord to be here because you're jealous for your mother's sake? Auntie, I never would have thought you so petty,” Cadance shook her head, nearly laughing at this breakthrough. “After all that he has done to prove himself as sincerely wanting to remain, do you really think that Harmony would deny him that?"

There was a long moment where her aunt appeared to battle with herself. Cadance saw Celestia's aura shift back almost to normal as she mulled over the question, clearly considering what her mother really would have done.

"Perhaps not,” she sighed, the fire in her subsided. “But that still does not change what is happening.”

“It could change how you react to it, how things will transpire moving forward.”

Another long silence passed between them, then a soft smile appeared on her aunt's features. Her brows going up with realization, or perhaps resignation.

“You are right, I know you are, it will take me some time, but I think - I feel – one day in the future I could see myself being past this. For Twilight, for my mother, for all the beings over which we rule and keep balance.”

Cadance returned the smile, happy to see that Celestia's aura was easing back to normal now.

“It may not be tomorrow, but I will try harder, Cadance.”

Nearly two more weeks had passed, and Twilight didn't feel any closer to getting a handle on this power as she had been at the start.

She was still willing and even eager to take on the full power, but at the pace she was going she wondered just how much of Equus might need to be fixed by then.

When they weren't doing their training, Discord was still globe-hopping in an attempt to not cause too much damage to a specific area. He had become very secretive about it, but he assured Twilight that every anomaly was being taken care of as it appeared.

It seemed as though every time Twilight tried to force the chaos magic to do what she wanted, the harder it rebelled. She knew she must be doing something wrong, approaching it the wrong way, but this was the fastest way she could see to get the intended result without it overwhelming her. She felt like she had to take charge of it or be at the mercy of its power.

“Perhaps if your easing-in method isn't working like you want it to, you could give diving in head first a try,” Discord suggested after the third or fourth attempt of the day.

“What, do you mean just--- open up the block all the way and let it all come out at once?”

“I wouldn't suggest it if I didn't think you could handle it. You've been struggling against it to keep it under control, I simply wonder if working with it might change anything.”

“I feel like I have to do it this way, it's like taming a wild beast,” she said through her breaths, for once again she was winded after having her insides wracked with misbehaving magic.

“No offense meant, I assume.”

Twilight laughed softly, a sigh escaping her at the same time. “But really, you might be right. I just worry about what could happen if I did that.”

“That's what I'm here for,” Discord said. He stood beside her as she caught her breath, and she smiled as his arm wound around her shoulders. She found his closeness more comforting than frustrating nowadays, even if she was certain he did it more often now just because he could.

“If only I could find some method that would make things go more smoothly and expedite the process,” she thought out loud, still semi-focused on her predicament even with Discord trying to distract her from the problem with his touch. Although, her breathing had slowed and her posture relaxed. Maybe this distraction came from a better place than she had initially given him credit for.

“I think we should first focus on your accuracy and stamina before we move on to the speed of your training. Speed should take a back seat.”

She looked back towards him, ignoring for the moment that they were nearly muzzle-to-muzzle.

“But we have to think about how the world is reacting to all the magical imbalance. I fear things will be too far gone if we don't act quickly.”

Discord didn't reply to that immediately, taking advantage of his claw's proximity to her mane to stroke it thoughtfully. That was probably more for his benefit than Twilight's, although it wasn't as if it didn't feel nice.

“I agreed to this plan of yours for you, Ms. Sparky. For the world yes, but foremost for you, so forgive me if I put your magical imbalances slightly ahead of those of the rest of Equus.”

“I appreciate your concern, but this is the world we're saving, and your place in it we're securing. Let me worry about how to handle myself and my new magic and you just make sure I don't explode or anything.”

Not being able to stand the closeness any longer, she gave him a swift kiss and then pushed him away with her hoof.

“Now I'm going to try your suggestion, so I suggest you back up.”

Discord obliged, albeit with a reluctant look back as he slunk away from her.

It certainly did sound dangerous - opening up her mind to the chaos and going with it instead of against it – but she trusted herself to be able to handle it, and she trusted Discord to be there if something went wrong.

Waiting until she thought he was at a safe enough distance away from her, Twilight yet again tapped into the chaos magic, but this time instead of sliding her mental door open just a fraction, she eased it open wide. No leash, no harness, no constriction of any kind. She allowed the magic to engulf her mind and take her for once where it wanted to go.

And she found that once she had given it more freedom...it stopped resisting. It didn't hurt her as much as when it would fight her. Now that it was given more leeway, the magic seemed to be much more willing to work with her. Twilight felt the power surging through her in a much more natural way now, this part of her she had for so long denied access finally set free felt almost like finally relaxing a tired, long-flexed muscle.

And it was at that moment that Twilight realized something, an epiphany in this sea of chaos power.

It wasn't that she was just a tiny magical swimmer being tossed around in a massive chaos ocean – it was that she was the ocean. This magic was not just a part of her, it was her and hers both. She could control the ocean because it was hers to control, not the reverse.

With this new realization, a sense of clarity came over her, and Twilight planted all four hooves firmly on the ground and began again, this time approaching it from this new perspective.

She felt the familiar sense of the power trying to take over, and this time she worked with it, forging safe channels within her mind and spirit to work the magic through her. She was surprised at how much better it felt when she tried it this way, it flowed with her this time, and it was far less painful, far less draining. It almost felt good, even. The waves that washed over her now felt so much more natural, they felt strange and exhilarating.

Now going with the flow, the blue chaos magic sprang from her, and suddenly a small sapling began to grow close to her hooves. It grew before her eyes into a massive tree with leaves the color of a midnight sky, and silver berries that sparkled in the bright desert sun.

Twilight smiled at the sight of it, something she had created from nothing, a feat not normally feasible, but now she could accomplish by merely thinking about it. It was an intoxicating feeling to know that anything- literally anything – could be possible for her at this moment.

Two more trees sprang up to join their friend, and then a flock of brightly multicolored macaws to fill them.

“Wonderful,” she heard Discord express. “I'd say this is an improvement.”

“No doubt,” she replied, it was suddenly so much easier to speak while casting with the magic. Part of her then wondered how hard it might be now to reign in. At the moment though, reigning it in felt like the last thing she wanted to do.

“Don't be afraid to use your imagination, Ms. Sparky.”

Beneath the trees, violets and jasmines sprang up and bloomed before her eyes, filling the desert air with their sweet aromas. Twilight was playing it safe, she knew, but just because she had a handle on it for the moment did not mean that it couldn't turn on her just as swiftly.

In her newly-grown garden,Twilight placed an ornate, three-tiered fountain nearly overflowing with pink lemonade, and to occupy the flowers appeared seventeen silver crickets that chirped her favorite song in a tinkling, music box sound.

“Very nice,” she heard Discord approve from the sidelines, his voice sounding further away then he actually was, almost as if through a tunnel. She dismissed it, however.

Twilight's smile grew with each new thing she brought into being. She of course knew that this chaos magic could be used to create beauty as well as craziness, for she had seen Discord use it before, but the feeling of being the one to have made these things so, the intoxicating rush continued to fill her and exhilarate her, and she wondered what else she could create.

Before she could form the thought all the way, another flock of birds flew in out of nowhere, their shining wings as sharp as knives, or made of them more like. They flew in a pattern like starlings, just as fast if not faster than their feathered brethren.

They swooped down low over Twilight's head, and she meant to duck but even before she could begin the gesture, a large blue bubble formed over her like a protective dome, keeping the sharp-winged creatures from accidentally decapitating their creator.

Her garden grew in size as she continued to wield the chaos, feeling the power in the flow and the ease in going along with it. She felt almost drunk on it now, and random items were springing up before she could even think.

She had been so ensconced in the flow of the magic - of relishing in the power and the success this new method brought - she did not notice that she had nearly fallen into a newly-created pit of ouroboros. She would have fallen right on top of the strange snakes' writhing bodies had it not been for Discord.

Using his own portion of chaos magic, he picked up Twilight and made the pit disappear before she fully had time to realize the danger.

Setting her back down with the magic, Discord waved his clawed hand in front of her to get her attention. “Ms. Sparky, Discord to Ms. Sparky, are you in there?”

Twilight shook her head, the volume turned backup on her hearing. The tunnel was gone now, but a faint buzzing still lingered for a moment with Discord's words.

Her concentration broken, the scenery she had created around her began to ripple as if in a haze, and slowly it all started to fizzle out of existence.

“It's all disappearing,” she stated with some level of disappointment.

“It might take yet more time for things to stay altered, perhaps when you've obtained more of the chaos,” Discord replied. “But you might want to do something about those birds.”

He was right, the flock of knife-winged birds were flying further out into the distance, where they could most certainly cause damage to any pony before they too fizzled out. Twilight concentrated as she had done before, but now pulling a set of imaginary brakes, halting the chaos power that gave the birds their structure. It worked, they soon poofed out of existence, and Twilight lept up in excitement.

“Discord, did you see? I was able to keep it in check and undo something I had created!”

Oddly enough, while Discord did seem pleased, there was still a wary edge to him as he surveyed her giddy demeanor.

“I saw, and I should say that this was a quite successful day,” he scrutinized her more carefully, and Twilight wondered what could be the matter. She felt fine, better than fine, even. She was full of pride and excitement and still riding on the high that wave of chaos magic had given her. Did she not look fine?

“Are you sure you feel alright, though?”

“Yes, I'm fine, Discord,” she stated truthfully. But he did not look entirely convinced.

“You were twitching a great deal near the end there, and I noticed your eyes change color.”

“Oh, that? That's just something the magic does to my eyes, it's fine,” she assured him. “It'll go away in a bit.”

“And will that?” Discord asked, creating a mirror to hold in front of her, and when Twilight got a good look at herself and she almost gasped at the sight.

Her horn was black, it almost looked like it had when she had singed it before after using the chaos magic the first time, but it somehow also looked worse. Her mouth formed a silent 'oh' and she winced in preparation for pain as she lifted a hoof to touch it, moving her bangs aside to see more clearly. The black covering her horn branched out and faded off into craggy, vein-like lines down her forehead.

She had barely touched the tip of her horn with her hoof when the ringing in her ears began again, this time louder and more intensely. It caused her to lose her balance slightly, her equilibrium off kilter for some reason. But it didn't exactly 'hurt' so as startling as it was, Twilight considered it not too bad.

“That's, uh--- that's fine, too.”

Discord reached out his front limbs to catch her, but Twilight waved him away. She was fine, really, and she shook her head again, this time focusing her own magic on her horn and the space around it.

Looking back into the mirror, she sighed inwardly that everything looked normal again. She turned back to Discord to show him.

“See? No harm done,” she gave him a smile that he had hoped he would return. It took him a few moments, but he finally did.

“I suppose not, but I do believe we should quit for the day while we are ahead.”

Twilight nodded, “I agree.”

“And I believe that this is a good time to celebrate your new surge of success with a little surprise,” Discord's smile grew more secretive, and Twilight was intrigued.

“Did you already have a surprise waiting for me, or is this something you're just coming up with now?”

“One should not look a surprise in the mouth,” he wagged a clawed finger at her, still smirking.

Discord flashed them back into his castle, and he led her down a corridor she didn't remember having gone down before, or perhaps it didn't even exist until today, she wasn't sure.

Opening the door on the left wall near the end of the hallway,Twilight saw into the room and her eyes grew wide, this time from a pleasant shock.

Her book chair had a new home, it now sat cozily in the windowed nook of a room filled with shelves of books. One large glowing orb floated at the near center of the ceiling, while a few smaller orbs hovered about, shifting the light and shadow as they passed. Her chair wasn't the only comfy spot to sit, either. There was a luxurious-looking deep red couch an a pair of yellow ottomans all set around a low, claw-foot table.

It was a library. A real and proper library.

“Honestly, I don't know why I didn't think of adding this room sooner. But then again, you might just have begun to come around simply for the books. You'll find the room across the hall to be yours as well.”

“A library and a bedroom?” she questioned, to which he shrugged.

“If you are to be the new chaos being, then you might be spending more time here with me. I'd like you to have some place where you feel comfortable. This castle may as well be half yours.”

Half Twilight's. It was really starting to sink in that she really was becoming Discord's successor. With today's fairly good progress, it might not be too much longer after all. At least she hoped it wouldn't be.

It didn't have the splendor of Canterlot's or the Crystal Empire's libraries, but the room did have a warmth and coziness to it that reminded her of her library back home. She supposed that was what Discord had been going for. He wanted her to feel at home, like this was her home. Her heart flipped and her smile grew even wider. As anxious as that normally would have made her, Twilight recognized the effort he must have put in to create this for her, or restore it from its previous condition, or whatever he had done. This was a generous and heartfelt gesture, reminding her of that night a month ago when he'd planned that special evening just for her.

This time however, she was determined to respond more appropriately.

Taking in the sight, the smell, and the peaceful tranquility that she so enjoyed when being surrounded by stories and knowledge,Twilight practically skipped over to the shelves to inspect them.

“This is just--- I'm just so--- thank you, Discord,” she stumbled over her words as she ran her hoof along one of the shelves, beaming back at him.”It's perfect.”

“Is it? I wasn't sure if you'd want something a bit flashier. The old library from back when this place belonged to Celestia and Luna had long since been ransacked and abandoned, but the space had been exponentially larger and more grand.”

“No, no, it's just right,” she assured him, and to that he grinned back at her.

Taking her time looking away from him, she found her attention drawn back to the shelves. She noticed that not all of them were in her own language. Some were in Griffon, some Sleipnirnian, and even some in the old dialect she recognized from the Stataera Equus.

“Discord, are these---”

“Texts from all over the world, yes. Some of them are extremely hard to come by, I can tell you.”

“But when did you have the time to---”

“I needed something to do while doing all of this traveling, did I not?” he said, and her astonished smile just made his smile even brighter.

Twilight was overcome, she really could not have been more pleased with a surprise she had ever received in her entire life, but even so though, a faint suspicion began to creep up from the back of her mind.

“And from where exactly did these rare books come?”

“Don't worry, most of them are merely copies of the true texts. I doubt even you would be able to tell the real ones apart from the fakes.”

“But wait, some of these are the real thing? Let me rephrase, how did you get these rare books?”

“Can you not just enjoy the gesture without question?” Discord asked as he flopped himself down onto the couch.

“I am enjoying it, and appreciating it. I just wanted to know---”

“Ep ep ep, you're enjoying the new addition, that's all that matters. Might we have a subject change?”

Twilight was still skeptical, but eventually decided to let this one slide. She was excited to peruse these books as much as she wanted. Whenever she wanted now, she supposed.

As she took in her surroundings, listening to the quiet and smelling the age of the pages around her, she noticed Discord on the couch, still with his sly smile, drinking in her reaction and looking like it tasted endlessly satisfying.

It was as she met his gaze again that something popped into her head, a question she had been itching to ask him but with all that was going on had slipped to the back of her mind. Her smile grew even more with the remembrance.

“Okay, then… how about you answer a little more about this?” she inquired, bringing out the tome she had found deep underneath the library in the Crystal Empire. It was the Stataera Equus, and as far as Twilight knew it was the foremost and apparently the most factual account of the times before Celestia and Luna, the only factual account of The Great Pony Harmony and the other spirits who helped her keep the balance. One of those spirits being Discord.

Discord shook his head tiredly at the site of the book. “Oh, that thing again? Really Ms. Sparky, you should know by now that every word in that infernal book is true. Unfortunate, but true. Do you really need me to cite every passage to back it up?”

She gave him a smirk that she hoped conveyed that yes, she very much wanted to do that. “Hey, you wanted to change the subject.”

Carrying the book over to him with her magic, she settled down on the couch with it open to the page that showed the intricately drawn artist’s rendering of Harmony and Discord.

Twilight held the book between them as he leaned his face down next to hers to see better. She pretended not to notice how his enormous right paw had draped itself over the back part of the couch and quite dangerously close to her shoulders. Her other side was blocked as well, for his large, elongated form took up much of the seat, his tail was unable to fit and he had pulled it as close as he could manage, the tufty end coming to rest around where Twilight’s hooves lay just slightly over the edge.

He could have made them a larger couch, but Twilight knew he wouldn’t. He preferred it this way. Any excuse to fluster her with his invasion of personal space. Still, Twilight didn’t mention it. To bring it up might mean she wanted him to stop.

But Twilight tried to focus on her questions, they were the logical thing to be discussing with him, they were important and fascinating. Well, fascinating whenever he actually managed to answer them in a straightforward way.

“Alright, I’ve been thinking about here,” Twilight indicated a passage on the opposite page to the picture, all too keenly aware of the proximity of his cheek to hers. “When it mentions how you both decided to take on physical forms similar to that of mortal ponies.”

“And where I ended up being the much more original and creative one in my designing of a body?” he said. “I mean, who wants just one horn or wings that match?”

“Well, I was thinking about how you created your forms, but then I considered… what were you before? You once mentioned - and the book backs it up - that the other two spirit beings don’t have permanent forms. What do they look like, then? What did you look like before this? Were you just a floating ball or… a soul?”

Discord appeared to contemplate her question, ones of his own clearly forming in his mind as well.

“It’s… hard to describe. We certainly had a consciousness and a presence, but then of course we have those now as well. I don’t know if we’d put the term 'soul' onto it. That tends to be a pony idea.”

“It certainly sounds like a soul to me,” said Twilight. “Actually that’s even more interesting. There are portions of the pony population that believe a pony’s soul comes to live inside a body. It sounds like you two did the opposite. You weren’t bodies that obtained souls, you were souls that created bodies.”

“So we already had them?”

“Or you already were them. It’s the closest thing I can conceive as far as an explanation or an answer. I still don’t really know what you would have looked like though.”

“But if you believe in souls, and you believe that every pony has one including yourself, is there a reason you haven’t seen one?”

That question was trickier for Twilight to answer. “It’s not as if ponies can access them when they’re inhabiting their bodies, Discord. I--- I don’t believe that the soul is an actual, physical part of my body. If you created your own body, then you wouldn’t have needed to create a soul since you were - in essence - one already.”

“But where is it, then? Where did it go?”

“It didn’t go anywhere, like I said, it’s not a physical---” she halted, uncertain how she should continue, then gave an understanding chuckle. “Heh, I guess it is hard to explain.”

“Mythologically or spiritually speaking, it’s the part of you that truly makes up you. The one part of you that can’t be destroyed even if your body dies. In essence, the soul is your true being, and you’re just living within a body that acts more as a home for it. This--” she glanced away from his gaze to indicate the body he had so very intentionally enclosed around her “--isn’t your true form, just like this isn’t mine.” Twilight pointed at herself, referring to her own body and bringing her eyes back to meet his. He had probably not been looking down at the book this entire time.

“And you truly believe that every pony has one?”

“Well, whether or not the soul exists is a point of contention, and some even say that no pony is born with one and one is earned in a sense… but honestly, yes I do. There has to be a reason and explanation for why each pony is the way he or she is, and why we are able to introspect and wonder about ourselves and the world. The part of us that drives us - our dreams, our hopes, our desires - and the connections we have to the physical and spiritual or magical parts of the world… that has to come from somewhere. If not a physical place inside us, why not a metaphysical one?”

“And what if I don't have one?”

“Of course you do.”

“What if you're wrong? What if I don't believe I have one.”

“That's irrelevant, because you do. There's proof.”

“What, because I can think and act for myself and - what did you say – introspect?”

Part of Twilight assumed he was just egging her on to fluster her even more, but another part of her wondered if he really, truly didn't believe he had a soul. Her heart sank at the prospect, and Twilight stared him straight in the face, all playfulness banished.

“Discord, you have a soul. There's no way you couldn't. You don't just think about yourself but you think of others, you don't just introspect but you strive to improve. Soulless creatures don't do that. They don't change because they don't understand the concept.”

She held her hoof out and placed it over his heart, holding his gaze to ensure he understood.

“I don't know exactly how I know it, and I can't provide physical evidence, but there's no way you can convince me that you don't have one, because it is the best part of you.”

He seemed a bit taken aback by her seriousness, but he recovered by taking hold of the hoof that still touched his chest, gazing down at her with his intensely colorful eyes.

“If you say it is, then it must be,” he answered, and soon the air between them grew dense with an almost magnetic pull. It charged the minute space until there was no other option left to them but to close the gap.

Kissing Discord was an experience that Twilight could not put into words, that she couldn't compare to any other sensation she had experienced other than the other instances of kissing Discord. The pull this time had been nearly visibly tangible, and the release she felt when her lips met his was so sweet that she never wanted it to end. And from the way Discord's mismatched limbs wandered from her hooves up her back to tangle back into her mane she got the impression that he didn't want it to stop, either.

It was that same wave of endorphins that suddenly reminded her of a different, much murkier ocean of sensations. Her mind snapped back to her horn, which Discord was inching his way towards with his wandering fingers.

Very reluctantly, she broke them apart, lifting her hoof to ease him away from her, but as she managed the gesture, Discord's claw grazed her horn, and the ringing began again, so loud that it hurt her ears and she was surprised that he couldn't see her head vibrating.

Mumbling a quick apology, Twilight made for the room across the hall – the one that was hers now – and there she found a mirror on the dresser. She saw the edges of her concealment spell fraying, revealing the still-blackened horn beneath, and she swiftly yet carefully recast it, making it stronger than the last time. Phew, that was a close one. She certainly didn't think that Discord had seen, or at least she hoped.

She heard a knock at the door, and Twilight was relieved to see that Discord was allowing her privacy instead of simply popping into the room.

“Everything alright in there?”

“Yes---yes, I'm fine. I just--- got tired all of a sudden,” she answered him through the door. “I'm going to sleep here tonight, if that's alright. Thank you again for the room, and the library, and well, everything.”

It didn't sound entirely convincing to Twilight's ears, but it seemed to satisfy him enough that he left her alone for the rest of the night. A night that had nearly been perfect, but that Twilight now spent the latter half of fretting over what sort of conversation they might have in the morning.

It had been a successful day, in more ways than one. It was strange for Discord to see Twilight enjoying herself by using the chaos magic – her chaos magic - after so long of fearing and holding it back. Once she had let herself go it seemed she was a natural.

Then when they had returned to his home and she had seen his surprise, the look on her face made all the effort worth it.
Yes, it had been a nearly perfect day, perfect that was, except for what happened to Twilight after their chaos lesson.

She had denied it, tried to conceal it, but it didn't change the fact that Discord had seen it. The chaos magic had left a mark on her, and even if she claimed it didn't hurt her, it was something that he had done indirectly to her. Was that the reason why she had pulled away from him so suddenly? Had it really harmed her and she was just trying to spare his feelings?

Discord stayed outside her door for far longer than he let on, long enough it seemed for Twilight find her way to the bed. He peeked in on her and saw her bundled up under the covers of her new canopy bed.

Seeing that she was safely asleep – or at least in bed – Discord popped back to his own room and decided he might go ahead and sleep as well.

Or at least try to. Discord found himself staring up at the ceiling of his room, popping from one of his beds to the next (so sometimes staring down at the floor from his ceiling bed) unable to find a comfortable spot to get some rest.

The time would soon be coming to begin giving Twilight more of his power, especially since she had begun to make progress with the magic she already possessed.

It wasn't that he did not have confidence in her that she could handle it, he only had this nagging sense of worry that she might need more time than she thought they did.

Twilight wanted to do it all at once,when Discord was still feeling reluctant to give away any more of the power at all. If she truly believed that she could handle it and if it really wasn't affecting her in as detrimental a way as he suspected, then there should be no other causes for concern about just handing it all over, right?

His worry for Twilight's well-being was one concern, but he had yet another. One that he hadn't mentioned to her and doubted very much that he would.

Once he had given her all of his power, what would become of him? Would he still be himself, still the old (but not pre-redemption) Discord that his friends had come to know, that Twilight loved? Personality-wise, he couldn't imagine a time when he wouldn't be himself, but he still wondered... his power had been all he'd ever known, and for a time it was his only companion, a constant in the makeup that was Discord, spirit of chaos. The question now had become; who was Discord without his chaos?

He assumed that he would still have some sort of magic, but Discord wondered if he would even be able to exist still in this form. Would he still have the power to retain it?

There had been something else Mort had said to him when he gave his warning about Discord's influence on this plane. Something about 'running out the clock' on this form. He didn't want to believe that ol' Morty could be right about yet another thing he himself had not thought of, but he couldn't deny since - he had been right about something - he could have been right about this as well.

Popping from his ceiling bed to his floating waterbed, Discord continued to ponder, but tried to give himself some hope. If Twilight did gain all of his power, perhaps she could give him help with keeping this form. Perhaps all of this would work out for the best. There was still a chance, and he held onto that thought as his eyes closed for the dozenth time that night. He wouldn't betray his worries to Twilight, for she had enough to focus on. He would continue to hang onto that strand of hope, and trust that it would lead him to a happy ending.

9. Slipping

Twilight sighed in her still half-asleep state, turning over to avoid the breath that was tickling her neck. Normally it would have taken her a moment to remember where she was, but this morning she didn't need the reminder of Discord's warmth surrounding her to jog her memory. She knew exactly where she had fallen asleep the night before.

It was the third time in a row this month that they had fallen asleep like this, and every time Twilight groaned inwardly at the thought of leaving this cozy, dreamy cocoon of just the two of them. But she had to, there was still so much to do each day even discounting the chaos transference and lessons, and her day had to start back home at the library lest any pony get the wrong idea.

Discord's breaths were permeated with a soft, catlike purr. He only purred in his sleep, so Twilight knew he must not be faking. As her eyes fluttered open and she tried to gently extricate herself from the coils of his sleeping form, she realized that the sun was not where it usually was at this time of day. Princess Celestia must have gotten a late start to the day for some reason.

It caused her pause, but Twilight eventually reasoned that there wasn't anything she could do about it besides ask the princess the next time she saw her. What was of more immediate importance was getting back to the library without Spike knowing.

Slipping back into the hallway of the castle so she wouldn't disturb Discord, Twilight tried as quietly as she could to teleport to just outside the Ponyville Library. She knew that as hard as she tried to muffle the sound her magic made, Spike's keen ears would pick up her telltale teleporting pop. It was much simpler to pop in and then muffle the sound of the door and her hoof steps as she made her way to her room.

Spike appeared to still be in his bed, so at least there was that, and all Twilight needed to do was crawl back into her own bed and wait for Spike to rise.

The morning came a little bit later than it was supposed to, Spike noticed. At least ten minutes late by the official record. Fluttershy was the first pony at the library when Spike opened up for the day. He had had a quiet breakfast alone, not wanting to disturb Twilight after she had only gotten back in maybe half an hour before. He knew that she kept sneaking back in from Discord's castle in the early hours of the morning, and that she didn't want him to know, so he continued to pretend he knew nothing about it.

He didn't really want to wonder what they had gotten up to, but knowing Twilight it probably wasn't as bad as he at first assumed. She had probably just fallen asleep reading or something.

He greeted the yellow pegasus and stepped aside for her to enter, with Fluttershy looking around the empty room presumably for Twilight.

“So Fluttershy, what brings you by so early?” he asked as she passed him.

“Oh, I just thought that Twilight might like to go and get some breakfast with me. I thought I saw her earlier this morning when I first woke up to tuck my bats in for the day.”

“That sounds nice, but yeah, Twilight got in pretty late – like really late – soI don't know when she'll---”

As he said this, stirring came from the floor upstairs, hooves on wood and a faint moaning sound.

“Aaand that sounds like she's up,”Spike said with no surprise at all. Obviously the unicorn had been waiting strategically to make sure Spike was already about his daily duties before arising. “Do you wanna wait here until she comes down, or do you want me to go get her?”

“If you wouldn't mind, I don't want to interrupt her morning rituals or anything, I just thought it would be nice to go out for a change.”

Spike nodded and then took the stairs two at a time to the second floor, knocking twice on Twilight's door, he slowly eased it open and called for her.

“Hey Twilight, Fluttershy's downstairs and she wants to know if you wanna go get some br---”

He stopped short when he saw Twilight. Standing at her mirror, she had turned sharply towards him, the magenta aura of her magic glowing from her horn, and as she had turned her whole body seemed to flicker as if going in and out of focus. One second she looked normal, and the next... Spike wasn't sure what it was he was seeing. Her entire horn was covered in black, with odd, creepy vein-like patterns running across her forehead from it. Some had even covered one of her eyes, which was flashing blue instead of its normal violet. There were other dark patches along her neck, down her back, and even some slightly obscuring her cutie mark.

“Spike!” she shouted in surprise, the magic flickering her image again until it landed on the normal Twilight. But Spike wasn't fooled.

“Twilight, what the heck is that, what's going on?” he said, not holding back the worry in his voice.

“It's okay, Spike. It's nothing,” Twilight tried to reassure him.

“That's not nothing, that was most definitely something, and something bad.”

“Trust me Spike, it looks a lot worse than it is.”

“Oh yeah, is that why you're trying to hide it? Does this have anything to do with that chaos magic you're getting from Discord?”

Twilight's ears drooped, not answering, which was all the answer Spike needed.

Not knowing how to react to this, Spike made back for the stairs, tripping over his tail and calling down as he went; “Fluttershy!”

“No, Spike!” she called after him. “You can't tell any pony!”

Leaping down from the stairs, Spike beat Twilight down to Fluttershy, who waited in confusion as she took in Spike's worried expression.

Twilight tripped on the top of the stairs, falling horn over hooves and hitting every step on the way down, landing with a loud thunk on the floor. This had apparently been enough to jostle her hold on the magic she was using, and her visage flickered again, revealing the dark, sickly looking patches all over her body.

Fluttershy's eyes went wide as Spike went to help Twilight up, Twilight swatting him away and attempting to stand on her own.

“Oh my---” Fluttershy squeaked, already looking worried as she looked the unicorn over.

“Fluttershy, now before you say anything, trust me when I tell you that it's not as bad as it looks,” Twilight tried to sweep it under the rug yet again, but Spike was ready this time.

“It looks like it's something that the chaos magic is doing to her, and she's been trying to hide it from us. How long have you been using that spell to hide it?”

Twilight's head lowered, looking ashamed to have been caught in her lie. “Not long, just the past week or so. Ever since it started to spread and it stopped going away on its own.”

Fluttershy looked like she was about to cry as she continued to stare as Twilight, wincing every time her eyes found another dark, painful looking spot. “Is there anything we can do for you?”

“There's really nothing to be done,” Twilight argued. “It's probably just some after effects of the transference and learning how to use the power. It's not inhibiting me in any way, so there is really no cause to be alarmed.”

“Then why were you trying to hide it?” Spike asked again.

“I--- I don't know,” Twilight stammered. “I just thought that since I had been doing so well with the magic that I could figure out a way to reverse it on my own. I didn't want any pony to know because I knew they'd freak out like you two are doing. It's really, really not that bad you guys, I swear.”

She sounded sincere, but Spike wasn't all that convinced yet. Fluttershy on the other hand was apparently attempting to form a plan to help her.

“But doesn't it hurt you, or make you tired to keep up that spell to hide it all the time?”

At that Twilight sighed. “Okay, I'm not going to lie, it does ache a tiny bit, but only for a little bit at a time, and usually only when I'm thinking about it. As for my spell, that doesn't bother me as much, but I could use a better, more permanent solution.”

“Maybe Zecora has a remedy for that,” Fluttershy said, a bit of hope rising up in her voice. “I can go and see her right now an---”

“No, really, please don't involve more ponies in this,” Twilight begged. “And please don't mention it to any pony, especially not Discord.”

“Fluttershy, go and find Zecora, see if she really does have something that can help,” Spike said determinately to the pegasus. And before Twilight could protest, he held his claw out to her to silence her. “No, Twi. If this is such a big deal that you're being hurt and trying to hide it, you need help from some pony.”

Twilight wilted at Spike's harsh words, head lowered and lifting a hoof as if to inspect one of the dark splotches. With a sigh, she seemed to concede.

“Fine, I admit that I do maybe need some help. But still, not a word to Discord. I still feel like if we can get this under control then there's no need to worry him.”

“You're just gonna worry everyone else, huh?” Spike joked, trying to lighten the mood but not doing a great job. “And sure, I won't tell Discord, but I feel like you should. He's probably going to find out anyway, and it'll just be worse if you try and hide it.”

Fluttershy returned swiftly with the zebra in tow, she must have already been in town. Zecora stopped in the doorway when she saw Twilight's condition, gasping with surprise and possibly a touch of fear.

“Is there anything you can do for her?” Fluttershy asked her, and once Zecora had gotten over the shock of seeing Twilight, she entered the room and began to inspect the unicorn.

“I shall see what I can do,” and then, to Twilight, “How long has this been affecting you?”

She circled her and leaned in close to each blackened patch, poking it with a hoof and looking up to see if it affected Twilight in any way.

“Not long, at first it only appeared for a few moments and then faded away, but over the last couple of weeks it's stayed like this.”

“Hmm, I think I have something in my apothecary, but I must warn you it would only be temporary.”

“That's fine, or at least it's something,” Spike said. He saw Twilight nod with a glance over at him, maybe not entirely pleased that he was taking charge about her health. But he figured that some pony ought to intervene if she wasn't going to do anything herself.

It was an awkward twenty minutes before Zecora returned with a small jar full of greenish goop. Spike watched as Zecora opened the jar and began to rub the sweet, vaguely-banana scented stuff onto Twilight's black marks.

“This will mask the physical signs, but only for a few hours at a time. I can not help with the other affects, but I sense that whatever you're doing, your body objects.”

“Objects? Do you mean – do you think - that my body is trying to reject the chaos magic?”

Zecora nodded. “You don't need to tell me all that you do, but you should listen when your body says something to you.”

Spike didn't know how Twilight was reacting, or how she would take that advice, but he hoped that she would listen. If not for herself, then for the ponies that cared about her. Ponies and dragons, really.

Even if her secret was out to some of her friends, that didn't mean that Twilight wanted it to be broadcast to every pony. She felt adamant that she could find a way to fix it on her own, but she was grateful for Zecora's temporary remedy.

The question now was, how could she tell Discord, or should she tell him at all? She knew that if he had hidden something potentially dangerous from her (which he sort of already did) she would most definitely want to know about it.

She debated it as she made her way back to his castle, and she suddenly found herself inside her new library, pulling all of her new books down from their shelves and soon the walls were bare but the floor was littered with covers of all colors, shapes, and sizes.

Which is where Discord found her, as she was busily taking all of the books down from the shelves, laying them out along the floor, and re-shelving them into her own favorite organizational system.

Not wanting to betray any of her anxiousness about what she was attempting to conceal, Twilight lept from her spot on the floor to greet him the moment he came in.

She plastered an incredibly fake smile onto her face and hoped to Celestia that he wouldn't question her re-arranging choices.

She watched Discord take in her organized chaos and – while seeming to appreciate the chaos part of it – it did not seem to faze him in the least.

“So, are you nervous about today?”

“What?” she protested uneasily, dragging out the word into three or four syllables. “Whatever gave you that idea?”

As she said this, four more books flew past between them, heading from one shelf and separating their formation to reside on three others. Going along with his assumption, she answered.

“Ugh, I knew that this was going to come eventually, but now that it's here---”

“You've been taking on a good amount of power, it seems about time that you start wielding it more intensely.”

That was true, she had been merely practicing with the creation side of her new powers, but she had not yet begun to focus on the other part of maintaining balance, reversing any anomalies.

It felt easier to let Discord believe that this was the reason behind her nervous behavior. Easier, but far more deceptive, she thought.

“But if I couldn't handle it, if it seemed like it was too much for me,then we would stop, correct?”

“That hasn't been a problem yet,” Discord said. “Unless there's something you're not telling me.”

“No no, I'm just--- anxious, I guess. I suppose I don't have the same amount of confidence in my abilities as you seem to.”

Discord sidled up beside her, and Twilight hoped that he didn't take it the wrong way that she scooched a bit away from him in order to avoid him touching her. As reassuring as the gesture would be, she couldn't risk it as the salve was still drying on her fur.

He didn't appear to notice, perhaps taking the action for another sign of nerves about what they had planned for the day.

“If you need a cheering section Ms. Sparky, I can certainly oblige.”

At that, they appeared again in the desert outside his residence there, and not too far from them now stood a grand stand of benches with several hundred Discords all applauding and cheering her on, many holding up signs or purple-horned baseball caps.

The cheers and applause from the Discord crowd made Twilight smile, and she shook her head amusedly at the Discord beside her.

“Too much?” he asked her, waving to the stand which made the other Discords cheer even louder. “It's a good looking group though,you have to admit.”

Twilight laughed, and she put her fears and worries aside for the moment. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, letting the cheers of the crowdof Discords fade into the background.

“I think I'm ready to give it a shot,” she said as the audience whooped.

Tapping into the chaos magic was almost too simple now, the rushing feel of the energy coursing through her so familiar, Twilight had experienced sudden waves of longing for it when she wasn't using it, almost like a craving.

When the magic was inside her – now that they were working together – it felt right somehow, as if she hadn't fully been whole until she had let this magic fill her up.

That was the feeling she experienced now every time that she opened up her mind for it. With it, she felt powerful, invincible, like she could do literally anything. And it would seem that she could.

It was hard for her more logical side to rein her in when she could feel the power filling her up.

As they had an audience of a sort- and even though Twilight was trying to block them out for the most part – every one of her attempts to solve the problems Discord assembled felt all the more dramatic.

Beings of sand and rocks forming out of the ground were dispatched as quickly as Discord could conjure them up. The great narwhals that he sent her way were transformed back into common desert birds and insects. Twilight was so consumed by her focus that she had soon forgotten all about the crowd and her nerves.

With every obstacle that Discord threw at her, she was able to fix it within seconds, he must have been having trouble continuing the stream of anomalies – running out of ideas even with his unlimited imagination – for after dispatching probably the fortieth anomaly of the day, he suddenly halted, and when Twilight looked back over to him, he was hunched over, hands on his knees, looking winded.

The crowd of other Discords all gasped in unison, and then suddenly they and the stand they were sitting on vanished, as did any residual anomalies he had been conjuring up.

Shaking herself to regain her composure, Twilight sprinted over to him, taking careful, cautious steps as she drew closer. She had only seen him be so worn out once before (not counting his time as a pony), and that was just after the first time he'd given her some of his power.

“Discord, are you alright?”she asked, holding out a foreleg for him to grasp on to if he needed. He gently eased it away, shaking his head and standing on his own, although shakily.

“Perfectly fine, Ms. Sparky. Just getting used to the power shift. That being the power shifting away from me and into you.”

He tried to smile at his own joke, but Twilight could see that there was - if not pain – a sort of weariness behind his eyes now.

She gave a tentative step away from him, feeling guilty now for feeling so good during the session. “Maybe we should stop for the day.”

“When you were doing so well?” Discord shook his head again, regaining composure. “Nonsense, we can still go a few more rounds.”

Twilight looked him over uncertainly. Although he looked like and acted as if he had fully recovered, the unicorn wasn't so sure that he was giving her the whole truth. He may have just been saying what Twilight wanted to hear.

“I'm perfectly fine with taking a break if you need to, Discord,” she said, still looking him over, gauging his response.

Discord appeared to notice her scrutinizing, and did not appreciate it one bit. “You don't need to worry about me, if you want to continue, we are absolutely good to go.”

So he was going to be stubborn about it, well that just made Twilight change tactics.

“Okay, then I would like to take a break.”

He looked like he didn't believe her – she was sure he didn't believe her - but he didn't argue. He slumped down onto the sandy ground with a much more relieved look on his face than he was probably willing to admit.

“You were doing well, you know.”

“Thanks. But I wonder, how do you handle it - handle yourself - when you're wielding the power? I'm having a difficult time not letting it fill me up, it makes me feel like I could do anything,.”

“And where is the bad in that?”

“Just because I can do anything, doesn't mean I should. And I'm just not sure I completely trust myself not to make poor choices when I'm under its influence,” Twilight paused, now feeling comfortable enough to ask the question that had been eating away at her.

“How do you keep it from consuming you, from consuming your mind, I mean?”

“I think you'll agree that for the longest time, I didn't. I just did whatever I wanted, went with the chaotic flow, and I think you know by now how that feels.”

Twilight did. It probably did feel about the same for her as it did for him, but there was still the reality that she was a being far less equipped to contain such magic. She would have to develop a much stronger coping mechanism to handle it.

Her mind then slipped back to the residual effects left behind by the magic that she was attempting to conceal, and she didn't want to admit it – she hadn't even told her friends – but lately she had felt her own magic weakening, as if her own natural power were being drained out of her to make room for this new chaos power.

“Sometimes I feel like I won't be able to hold it all together once it's all been siphoned into me,” she admitted, silently wondering how much worse her state was going to get before it got better. If it got better.

Twilight settled herself beside the now pleasantly-resting Discord, his eyes closed as his breaths grew more rhythmic.

“As I said, you were doing well. Honestly better than I thought you might by this stage, if you don't take that as an insult.”

“Not insulted at all.”

“What the--- what is this?” he asked, curious but with a note of suspicion, a note that Twilight was trying to avoid hearing. In her rush to Discord's side and then relief tha he seemed okay, Twilight had let down her guard and completely forgotten her want to avoid his touch. Now that he had casually draped his arm around her,it all came flooding back to her.

“What's what?” she said, attempting to sound nonchalant. Then, feigning recollection she said. “Oh that, oh that's nothing. Just something Zecora gave me for a... rash.”

“A rash?” he repeated, that note of suspicion growing to Twilight's discomfort.

“---yes, and it's personal so I don't really want to talk about it.”

As his wandering claws ran over her fur that was patchy with dried salve, she tried to deflect his skeptical face with a chipperness that masked her anxiety.

“Really, it's nothing to worry about,” she lied. She looked straight into his eyes and lied to him. She hoped to Celestia that her own eyes did not give her away.

Fortunately, the princess in question arrived at that very moment, swooping down to meet them with her usual grace. And for a moment Twilight wondered if she had accidentally summoned her by merely thinking her name.

But that was ridiculous, of course. Although as the princess had saved her from some very awkward revelations (ones that she knew would have to come eventually and it gave her a stomach ache to continue putting it off, but she did so anyway) she decided to embrace the interruption and leaped from her seat to greet Princess Celestia.

“I hope I'm not interrupting anything important,” the princess said with an inquisitive look from Twilight to Discord. “But I thought that Twilight might like to hear some news we have just received. It concerns our efforts with giving Cadance our order magic.”

Twilight paled at her teacher's tone, whatever it was, it didn't sound good. “But I thought things were going well, she was absorbing and acclimating to it and everything, did something happen?”

“Technically nothing has happened, it is rather that something had already happened, and we are just now learning of it.”

“What is it?” Twilight asked, fearing the worst.

“Cadance is pregnant,” Celestia answered, with much less joy than is usually heard when giving this type of news.

“But I don't understand, why don't you sound happy about it?” Her question was answered by herself the moment she opened her mouth.

A baby, a foal inside Cadance as she was absorbing some very intense magic.

“You think something might be wrong with the foal, because of the order magic?” she asked, her mind now forming too many questions to get out at once. “Are you going to be continuing with the transference? How do we know that the foal has or hasn't been affected? Do you think that the foal might be absorbing the order magic as well?”

“All very good questions, and ones we are attempting to answer back in Canterlot. I thought that you might want to accompany me back there to see her. Shining Armor has already arrived.”

Twilight wasn't sure if knowing that her brother was there as well was comforting or more cause for concern. If this was serious enough that he felt that he had to come all the way from the Crystal Empire to Canterlot to be by his wife's side, what wasn't the princess telling her?

She then turned back to Discord,who shrugged at her apparent dilemma.

“Discord, I know that we were in the middle of--- our session,” she amended her sentence, not wanting Princess Celestia to know what they had been discussing – or rather - what Twilight had been trying to avoid discussing. “But if it's alright---”

“Of course you would want to go and see your dear brother and sister-in-law,” Discord said, cutting her off with a sweep of his claw. “Perfectly fine, I'll just be back at my castle being out of the way.”

Another wave of guilt washed over her as she felt disheartened on his behalf. He hadn't been able to do much outside of their lessons in an attempt to keep every pony safe, but it couldn't have been very entertaining for him. “Wait, why aren't you coming?”

“I wasn't invited, and most likely for a very good reason.”

Celestia nodded at Discord's words. “Thank you for understanding, Discord. It would simply be too potentially dangerous for Cadance and the baby if you were to accompany Twilight.”

But I'm perfectly fine to go, Twilight thought. It bothered her a bit that the princess still didn't seem to trust him to be safe around her sister... but there was a growing, nagging thought inside her that maybe she wasn't all that safe to be around, either.

She sighed to herself, then brought Discord's face close to her own.

“I think that I'll be fine,” she whispered to him so that the princess couldn't hear. “But if something goes wrong – not that I think it will - I can send you some sort of signal or something if I start to feel like something is going to happen.”

“Why would you think something might go wrong, are you not feeling up to going?”

“I'm saying that I have some... concerns,” she replied, her mind going back to what Discord had almost discovered. “And I want you to be in the know and available just in case I need you.”

Discord seemed to think about that for a moment, and then in one swift motion, popped off his left hear and handed it to her.

“Here, now if you keep that with you I'll be able to hear everything you hear, and if you feel like you need help - which I know you don't feel you need - just call for me and I'll come.”

Twilight took it, uncertain where she should put the ear, and she settled for her saddlebag as she made to put it back on.

“And when you return, we'll be having a discussion on these concerns of yours,” he whispered to her.

Twilight more than appreciated his concern,but she still worried about causing him to worry any about her, especially when they would be apart for practically the first time in weeks.

“Thank you,” she said, hoping that Discord caught the extra meaning in it.

When Discord returned to his castle in the Everfree, he had been expecting a few hours of solitary boredom awaiting him. Perhaps he could make the rounds to his other homes and be certain that they were still the same, that there hadn't been any new accidental anomalies since he last saw them. (Sometimes doing the right thing wasn't just about doing something, evidently it was also about doing 'absolutely nothing, Discord'.)

What he hadn't anticipated was that five ponies would be inside his home, flitting about and doing something he hadn't even thought to do in forever: cleaning.

“Fluttershy, could you be a dear and get all of those cobwebs up near the ceiling?” Rarity called up to the yellow pegasus.

“Oh, alright. Just let me collect the spiders that live in them so I can move them to somewhere outside,” Fluttershy replied, flapping her wings up towards the closest cobweb.

“Oh, if you must,” said Rarity, blanching apparently at the idea of collecting spiders. “But be careful that they don't bite you.”

“They won't bite me, not if I handle them gently,” and Discord saw that she had already coaxed one of the big, hairy creatures to crawl up her leg, the pegasus not even flinching as it scurried up her body.

“And when you're done in there, Fluttershy, y'all can come get the ones in this here kitchen. I don't think this room's ever been used,” called Applejack from down the hallway.

Then suddenly, zooming in from another hallway off to the other side of the main chamber came Rainbow Dash, who evidently had not been cleaning anything, or at least not yet.

“Phew, finally made it out of there! I thought I was gonna be stuck going down the same hallway forever.”

“You guys haven't found the ball pit room, have you? It's the best!” he heard Pinkie Pie shout from the mentioned room.

“And just what do you ponies think you are doing here?”

“Oh, Discord, you've returned early, we were attempting to make this a surprise for when you and Twilight finished for the day, but, well... surprise!” Rarity said, flustered by Discord's unexpected appearance.

He then heard Pinkie zoom down the hallway and slide into the main hall, forelegs open wide and a huge smile on her face.”Surprise!”

“Surprise, indeed,” he said, looking around at the damage the mares had done so far.

From what he could see of the main room, the curtains from all of the tall windows had been pulled back, letting so much light into the room, more light than Discord could have thought possible when deep in the forest as the castle was.

Fluttershy was still busily moving the spiders from the rafters above, and then clearing away the spider's webby homes with her tail as she did so.

He could see Rarity's deep blue magic as it swept over his main hall, mending each curtain and leaving them free of dust.

“We're doing some redecorating and some cleaning as well,” Rarity said as Pinkie bounced up next to her.

“I got a little distracted, but I really wanna help you redecorate that ballroom, and all of your beds need re-making, did you know that?”

“I don't think he even knows how to make a bed,”said Rainbow in a ribbing tone. “But hey, who has time for stuff like that, right, Discord?”

“An' I guess y'all don't use the kitchen much because ya don't have ta eat,” said Applejack as she entered through another side passage..

“Not unless I feel like it, and then I could just manifest anything I wished to eat,” he replied. “That room was mostly for Twilight.”

“Which is precisely the reason we decided to come do this for you today,” Rarity said, taking a break from moving around the few furniture items in the main hall to continue to explain. “Since Twilight is going to be spending even more time here - even living here, possibly - we thought we would take the time to make your castle more to her tastes.”

“More home-y!” Pinkie exclaimed. “Like maybe putting in more furniture in this hall of yours, you know you only have two chairs and a table, right?”

“Don't you think that it's that way by design?” he asked.

“But what if we all come over to see you and Twilight? You've gotta have more chairs and couches and stuff for us to sit on.”

“It does do better for entertaining if you have more décor in your main room, Discord,” Rarity added.

“We were going to buy some and put in in here for you, but since you're here, if you wanted to create some more places to sit in your preferred style, we wouldn't object.”

While Discord didn't like the idea of feeling pressured into making more seating places if he didn't want to, he did acknowledge that this was a nice thing Twilight's friends - his friends – were doing for him, and for them.

He decided to give it some thought. What other types of furniture would he find suitable? And soon as he thought of it, he gave a wave of his claw, pieces began to grow up from the floor, ceiling, and walls as if Discord had planted them.

A floating cloud-based couch emerged from a far wall, beginning to make circles around the great space above the ponies' heads.

The table lengthened into a long u-shape that stretched along the hall lengthwise, and all along the table various chairs of differing sizes and shapes were emerging. Tall bar stools and short ottomans, carved claw-footed chairs and small folding beach chairs. Not a single sitting place matched one another, and not a one went with the rest of the castle's insides.

Tall lamps grew out of the walls, and a shiny new fish tank full of yellow and black striped tangs was suspended from close to the cloud couch. The fish did not seem to care at all that the water was being held in place by magic, or that a small portal was placed for them to swim through and emerge in the other tanks, three of which were spread about the room.

Pinkie Pie seemed delighted by the new additions, jumping and oohing at each new item. Rarity though – it seemed – was a bit more skeptical.

She tilted her head as she came close to one of the chairs before the table, gingerly tapping the arm with her hoof. She gave an appraising look around the table and the room before blinking several times and smiling. “Well, it certainly is you.”

Discord took that as a compliment.

“So, why are you back here so soon, where's Twi?” Rainbow Dash asked. “And what's up with your ear?”

Discord rolled his eyes, crossing his front limbs as he recalled.

“My ear is none of your concern, and as for Twilight.... you know, off on some important meeting or another with the princesses that I am not invited to, much like that party of yours a while back. Not that I'm bitter about it,” he said, although he was still a bit. Not about that slight of a few weeks ago, but more so that he was not permitted to accompany Twilight. Then again, there were more things to consider lately. His was the power that was having such an adverse effect on the world, and Twilight had been doing quite well at keeping her portion in-check. Perhaps given the circumstances, one chaos being in the vicinity might be enough.

“Aw, I'm sorry about that Discord,” Pinkie replied, bounding over to him after all the furniture had stopped growing. “From now on, consider yourself formally invited to every party that I throw!”

He smiled down at the pink mare. “Thank you, Pinkie.” it was a small comfort, but it was difficult not to feel grateful when she had given the invitation so earnestly.

“It does seem a bit unfair that you couldn't accompany her when you clearly wanted to,” Rarity added. “But I'm sure the princesses had their reasons.”

“But what is Discord supposed to do in the meantime? I mean, it must get pretty boring around here when he's not allowed to go anywhere else,” said Rainbow. “That doesn't seem fair.”

“Well, once we've got this here castle cleaned up, why don't we start coming 'round to visit some more, how'd you like that, Discord?” Applejack asked. “That is whenever we can get the chance.”

If Discord had been touched by their little surprise, this gesture confirmed it all the more. To hear understanding of his struggles and even a kind of sympathy on his behalf from Rainbow Dash, and now this offer from Applejack – two ponies that had been the toughest of Twilight's friends to win over – it caused his heart to glow in a way he hadn't felt very often. As he looked over the five smiling faces, he felt a sense of comradery with them, and this sense of their full acceptance of him was an even better surprise than merely cleaning up his home.

“I think that would be just fine,” he replied with a smile, but did not add anything else to underline the moment. They could all feel it, and for once Discord didn't think it needed to be overly-dramatized.

The moment passed, and the five ponies set about determinedly back to their cleaning tasks.

“Come on, Discord. You can help me make all those beds,” Pinkie said as she gestured for him to follow her as she began to skip to the doorway that lead out of the hall.

Discord was about to suggest that they could simply teleport to the room in question when he felt something strange going on with his clawed hand. It was a stiffness and a slight tingling numbness traveling up and down the appendage. He looked down at it and gave it a few practice movements, clenching and unclenching his fist. As he did this he noticed the color seemed to have drained out of it, and his eyes were finding it hard to focus on the hand, as if the whole arm itself were blurring.

He shook his hand out for a moment in an attempt to get the sensation to go away or at least subside somewhat, when Pinkie turned back to him inquisitively.

“Are you coming?” she asked.

He hid his hand behind his back. “Yes, of course. Lead the way.”

When Pinkie turned back to skip ahead, Discord looked down at his hand again. It was back to normal, the color having returned and the weird feeling dissipated. He decided not to bring it up to his friends for the moment, not before he could figure out for himself what that was.

10. In Control

Not even bothering with the train, both Twilight and Princess Celestia teleported directly into Canterlot Castle. Twilight's saddlebag still fastened around her tightly, they made their way towards the residential wing to find the members of her family. Their expedience did not prove to be necessary however, since it turned out that even if the situation were important and crucial - which it was - there was not entirely much that could be done at this point in time.

They found the couple nestled in one of the smaller, cozier bedrooms of the castle, where Celestia left Twilight to be with her family. And there was Cadance, sitting comfortably upon many brightly-colored pillows, already showing.

Standing almost protectively beside her was Shining Armor, and Twilight noticed that while Cadance's face brightened when she saw her enter, her brother's grew more stern and – was she seeing things? - slightly cold.

“Twilight!” Cadance greeted her, beginning to stand but being halted by a gentle hoof from Shiny. Twilight watched as they had a silent but meaningful conversation with their eyes, one that it seemed that Shining Armor lost. He seemed to relent to Cadance's wish to get up and greet Twilight properly.

“Well, I guess since you're here you've heard the big news,” Cadance said, turning her gaze back to Twilight and smiling as she touched her belly with her hoof.

“I just heard, that's so wonderful, Cady!” she embraced her sister-in-law warmly. It was a bit awkward with her belly in the way, and it took Twilight by surprise. “I hadn't expected you to look so... pregnant though.”

“That's one of the things every pony is so concerned about,” Cadance said when they ended their hug. “It's only been about two or three months since I found out, but it looks and feels more like I'm in my tenth month.”

That was certainly a red flag. Twilight's mind immediately went to a magical hypothesis.

“Do you think it could have anything to do with the order magic transference?”

“We're not sure,” Cadance answered. “I mean, every pony wants me to undergo some magical tests to ensure that everything is fine with it, but it hadn't been affecting me in any negative way before I found out. So there may not be that big of a problem.”

Twilight thought she heard a scoff and some muttering coming from Shining Armor's direction, and Cadance must have heard it too, for her expression stiffened slightly as she glanced behind her towards her husband. Then when her eyes met Twilight's again she was back to her normal, warm, smiling self.

“There's not much we can do right now,” she added with an air that seemed to convey that she was trying not to worry about it. But the tenseness between them was more than evident to Twilight, and it most definitely was surrounding the unanswered question that was on everyone's mind:

'Will this harm the baby?'

Even if it appeared as if Cadance was preparing to pop, it was still too early to tell how the foal was being affected, if it even was. But the worry still hung over them, and Twilight felt useless for not being able to do anything nor provide any sort of comforting words on the subject. This was certainly a unique experience, and she had no experience with even a regular pregnancy.

At the moment, she felt the best thing she could do was to follow Cady's lead and put on a face of hopeful excitement.

She turned to her brother, practically jumping up to give him a hug as well.

“And congratulations to you, mister father-to-be!” she said as she wrapped her hooves around him. His own hug was stiff and far less warm than Twilight was used to receiving from him.

It did nothing to ease the tension, and Twilight was glad when Cadance broke the silence afterward.

“How about you,Twilight? How have you been?” Cadance asked, which apparently prompted Shining Armor to speak out loud for the first time since Twilight had entered.

“Yes, how have you been doing, Twily?” he asked pointedly. And for a moment Twilight wasn't sure what he was being so pointed about, but it was making her feel awkward.

The awkwardness of the interaction must have been evident to Cadance, because she immediately swooped in with a suggestion.

“Hey, you know what we should do? How about we all play that word searching game you used to love, Twilight?” suggested Cadance, most likely to ease the tension brought on by her husband's cold demeanor to his own sister.

“That sounds like fun,” she agreed, if a little uneasily. Shining Armor looked more like he wanted to talk than play board games. And Twilight thought that it was safe to assume that she wouldn't like the conversation when they got around to it. So agreeing to play with Cadance was as good a way as any to avoid that if only for a bit longer.

Rummaging through her closet, Cadance soon emerged with the box that held all the pieces in her magic. She set them down in between the three of them, and they all gathered to sit around it, Twilight uneasy but willing, Shiny still stern.

Twilight helped Cadance open the box and get out all of the pieces. A large clear casing with many small cubes on which letters were inscribed. When shaken, the cubes would jostle around, randomizing into any number of possible combinations. The object of the game was to find and write down as many words in the resulting jumble of letters as one could find within a set amount of time.

It had been one of Twilight's favorite board games as a filly, and she almost always won whenever Cadance would foal-sit her.

“Shiny, do you want to shake them up?” Cadance asked Shining Armor, who was still busy frowning and every so often looking over to Twilight with silent indignation.

Without speaking, he lifted the clear container with the cubes inside and shook it with his magic, far harder and with more aggression than was really needed or called for.

When he was done, he slammed the box down and Cadance started the timer, and soon Twilight had nearly forgotten her brother's oddly unfriendly behavior, for she was busily searching every side and space of the letters to find some useable words.

She looked up, down, diagonally, and in small squares to find as many words as she could, coming up with a good twenty on her list. Mostly they were short words, but she had found so many of them she had to be a little impressed with herself.

When the timer went off, Twilight looked to her brother and sister-in-law. It looked as if Cadance had gotten a number of words on her list, but Shiny had only appeared to have written down five.

“Okay!” Cadance said gleefully. “Time to read out what words we got.”

“Let's see, I found 'cat', 'tac', 'golf', 'flog', 'art', 'cart', 'cab', 'age', 'cabbage', and 'artistry'.”

She then turned to Shining Armor, rubbing his shoulder lovingly or perhaps to get his attention. “Shiny, how about you?”

Shining Armor read off his list in a taciturn, stilted way, still giving off the vibe that a game was not what he wanted to be doing at the moment.

“I got 'Twilight', 'is', 'a', 'dumb', and 'cabbage'.”

“Shiny, you know you can't use names in this game, that's cheating. Plus most of those words aren't even on here. Well, except 'cabbage', because I got that.”

Not being able to ignore or pretend to not notice any longer, Twilight gave a deep sigh and decided to ask her brother what was up.

“Is there something bothering you, big brother, something that you'd like to talk with me about?”

“As a matter of fact, there is,” Shining Armor said, rising up to his hooves from where he sat. “Twilight, can I see you in the hallway?”

She shrunk back from him at his tone, and his use of her proper name.

Without looking to see if she was following, Shining Armor walked out into the hall, not looking to her nor his wife.

“Uh--- I guess I'll be right back,” Twilight said as an apology of sorts to Cadance for leaving her alone with the game as she followed her brother and his stiff, soldier-like steps.

“Okay, so why am I a dumb cabbage?” she asked once they were out in the quiet corridor. Shining Armor dismissed the guard that had been posted there, so they were quite alone.

“'Cabbage' was just because I couldn't find another word in that jumble to describe you in the time frame,” he grumbled, still clearly holding back what he truly wanted to say.

“Alright, so why am I dumb, then?”

“That's just it, you're not dumb. Not even close, you're probably the smartest pony I know, so why is it that the smartest pony I know is doing such dumb things?”

Twilight was beginning to see what this was all about, the pieces were falling together, and the picture they made all pointed to the same things.

“So, I guess you heard about my big news, too,” she said, a lameness to her words as she made the realization for her brother's behavior.

“Which big news would that be?” he replied. “About the dangerous magic my sister's embarking upon, or her new 'coltfriend'.” he emphasized the last word with indignation, as if the very word were so absurdly wrong.

So this had been about what Twilight had worried it was, but that didn't explain exactly how Shining Armor learned this information.“Wait, did Cadance tell you everything?”

“She told me about the first part, the second I had to hear from my lieutenant, but neither of those things did I hear about from you.”

Oh, she should have known. There had been plenty of ponies there that day to witness her plea to the princesses, and it was true that word could have gotten around to him about her relationship with Discord. Still though, it wasn't as if her brother hadn't done something similar not long ago.

“Hey, you didn't tell me about your own wedding until I confronted you about it, and that was after I got the invitation.”

“This is different, Twily.” he deflected. “This isn't just about not telling me about your relationship, this is about your safety.”

“What about Cadance?” she fired back at him, growing indignant herself. “Your own wife is also taking on some possibly dangerous magic. Did you try and give her a talk like this, too?”

“For your information, I did,” Shining Armor's eyes glanced to the door of the room they had just left. He pulled Twilight further out into the hallway into a smaller room and evidently away from his wife's earshot.

“We had a long conversation about it - and it took some convincing on her part that she'd be okay - but that's not what we're talking about. We're talking about you.”

“That's what I want to talk about, Shiny. That's a double standard---”

“Yes, I'm worried out of my mind about Cadance and the foal,” Shiny interrupted, evidently trying to calm himself and her in the same breath. “But at least I know the ponies involved and the magic they're giving her. I don't know anything about Discord's magic and the only time I ever met him I didn't even know it was him.”

“But you know what he's done to help us, you saw some of it with your own eyes,” she pointed out, referring to when he had gotten rid of the Smooze and settled the Cloudsdale crisis.

Shiny shook his head. “I'm not saying that he hasn't helped the world, but you can't stand there and convince me that he and his magic aren't dangerous. Whether or not it's helpful or part of a balance or whatever.”

Yes, it was dangerous, possibly more so than she really had given thought to when she agreed to it, but that didn't change the fact that she had. Her brother however, appeared to have guessed what she was thinking.

“Twily, how much of this did you really think through when you agreed to it?” he asked, still trying to sound calm but not able to hide the accusation in his whisper. “I mean, I get that you'd want to help him, but did you stop to think about what all of this could mean for you?”

“What do you mean? Of course I have. I'd become the new chaos being and balance out the world with Cadance,” she had the answer prepared and ready to go, because that was the long and the short of it, excluding the whole part where Discord would get to stay with her. But evidently that was the part that Shiny really meant.

“But even if everything goes right, Twily, have you--- I want you to think about what all of this could mean for the two of you in the long run. Are you even going to continue to be with him after you become the new chaos being? Will you get married? How about kids of your own, have you even discussed that? Is that something that is even possible for you?”

Her eyes wandered away from him at this thought, she blinked and looked down to the etchings of stars and moons on the rug protecting them from the cold marble floor.

“Don't you want something like what Cady and I have some day?”

Twilight had honestly never thought about it before. Marriage? Foals? Those things had never even crossed her mind until this moment. But then, neither had falling in love with any pony until very recently. What would their life together look like a decade down the line? What kind of a life could they have together? All she knew was that she wanted peace and balance for Equus, and for her to be able to have Discord in her life for as long as she lived.

She wanted more days of being woken up by his breathy, sometimes deafening sleep-purring, more philosophical discussions about the nature of the soul, more nights spent close together with a book in her magical grip, warm and secure. That was the type of life that she wanted.

“I just don't think you're thinking about the big picture. I don't think you understand the consequences of your choice here, what you could be giving up.”

“Who's to say that I am?” she answered, still imagining a future filled with moments like what they had enjoyed over the past weeks. If that was what her choices would yield, how could they be wrong?

Then, suddenly, her mind wandered off to another possible future, still much like the one she wanted, but with an additional tiny some pony nestled between she and Discord, or possibly several some ponies. It was probably the first time she had ever seriously contemplated the notion. They were tiny beings in her mind, small but formless, for it was difficult to imagine what their progeny would even look like.

And strangely, Twilight felt a pang, because if she couldn't imagine her hypothetical foals, did that mean that they couldn't exist? It was odd to feel a sense of loss for something that she didn't even have... didn't even know she had wanted.

“Maybe--- I don't know,” she added as the forms of her imaginary offspring changed and shifted inside her head, the complications of how they might some day come to be beginning to form alongside them, and they seemed further and further away in terms of possibility. “I don't really know how it could be possible.”

Twilight ran a hoof through her mane, giving a sigh betraying the uncertainty that now began to plague her. But then she noticed flecks of something on her hoof, and she gazed down in horror at the bits of her own fur that had come off from her face.

She had evidently scratched some of the dried salve off of herself without thinking, and that was when she realized that she need to re-apply it before her brother or any pony else could see more than she wanted them to.

“I--- need to use the restroom,” she said abruptly, hoping that she had remembered to put the salve in the saddlebag she still had around her. She then hurried away from Shiny out the doorway towards one of the restrooms down the hall.

“Hey, no, we aren't done talking, Twily!” Shining Armor called after her, pulling her back into the room with his magic. Twilight had hoped that she had been fast enough to avoid Shiny seeing the bare patch of black that had been exposed after the salve had flaked off.

She had not been so lucky. Once caught in his magical grip, she noticed Shiny give her a once-over, and his eyes narrowed at the blackened patch on her fur.

Twilight could guess what was about to happen, it so often had when they were young. Whenever Twilight had tried to hide something from her brother, Shiny would pick her up with his magic and lightly shake her, usually causing whatever it was she was attempting to conceal to drop from her own grasp and be revealed.

This time though, what the shaking revealed was much worse than a nicked quill or an overdue library book. She could feel the magic gently peeling away the layer of salve, unveiling her true predicament in all its horrific glory.

Since the cat was apparently out of the bag, Twilight figured she might as well drop all pretenses - and her magical concealment spell – to show her brother the full extent of the residual chaotic influence.

Shining Armor gaped at her, and a look of revulsion came across his features as he looked her over, wincing like her friends had done over every discolored spot, pausing finally at her now mismatched eyes. She wilted at his expression, tears welling in her eyes at the fear she saw there.

“Oh, Twily... just look at you. I mean, what has he done to you? Have you seen yourself? Has that monster seen what this is doing to you?”

“Don't call him that,” she answered quietly, but with a sharpened edge. “And no... he hasn't seen it. If he had I doubt we would be continuing with this plan.”

“So you're hiding things from him, too?” he said, exasperated. “First thing you should learn about relationships little sister: don't keep huge secrets. How long did you think you could keep this up?”

She didn't want to answer that, because in all honesty she didn't know. She didn't want to admit that she didn't know what she was going to do.

“But Shiny, remember, this was my plan, my decision. I'm willing to take whatever effects occur.”

“And if this ends up killing you, would that be acceptable as well?”

That wasn't something Twilight wanted to answer, either.

“It won't,” she said adamantly, but she hated how immature she sounded as she did. “Once the whole of his power is given to me and I've acclimated to it, everything should be fine. It'll balance out.”

She didn't sound convincing at all and she knew it. She sounded like a filly who was in way over her head being reprimanded by her brother. Well, she may be in over her head, but she had to hold tight to her belief that this plan was the perfect solution. It was just much more difficult to see on this side of it.

Shining Armor appeared to be actually sick of looking at her in her current state, he moved his glance out to the room at large, and when he didn't reply again, she went back to defending Discord.

“If you must know, Discord is probably just as concerned about my safety as you are about Cadance, maybe even more.”

“Well, then he's got more sense than I give him credit for,” Shiny said. “And even if he is concerned, I doubt he's more freaked out than I am at the moment.”

Maybe it was the combination of all the secrecy she had been doing and the look on her brother's face, but for the briefest moment she contemplated about whether or not her plan really was for the best. If anything Twilight supposed that all of this was worth some reflection, given the circumstances.

She knew that everyone's concern for her wasn't without warrant. The princess, Discord, her friends, and now Shiny – even before they found out about this magical effect – they worried for her in a way that she had not been as concerned for herself.

Maybe they weren't really underestimating her capacity to absorb the magic or her abilities like she thought that they were. She knew that it all came from a place of caring, but she had to think about if she really wasn't able to withstand the whole of the chaotic power. But she had to be, it was the only way for everything to turn out alright, for there to be true balance.

Still, she had to finally admit to herself that there was something going wrong, and that needed to be addressed before they could move any further.

“I'm sorry, Shiny, for freaking you out,” she said, quiet once more, her head lowering.

“I know,” he answered, reaching out for the first time to give her a reassuring pat on the head. “I know that you'll do what you think is right, and I know I can't really stop you – but Twily – think about yourself just for a little while., or at least for the ponies who care about you.”

She couldn't hold back the tears any longer after that, and her brother it seemed couldn't hold back the proper hug he had been wanting to give her.

During their embrace she wanted to say that she was thinking about the ponies she cared about. It was true that maybe she hadn't been optimizing her health in this endeavor, but she never for a second failed to take her loved ones into account. They were what was driving her to do this in the first place. She was doing something this potentially dangerous to herself for her loved ones – all of them. She understood his meaning of course, but she didn't think he saw hers, not yet.

“It's going to work out,” she mumbled into his fur. “With me, with Cadance and the baby, with all of it. I have to believe that.”

“Why? Why do you have to?” he asked, a quaver in his voice now, too.

“Because, what other choice do we have?”

Twilight heard him sniffle to hold back his own tears, clearing his throat before speaking again.

“He could leave.”

“Be serious,” she said.

“I am,” he sounded much clearer now as he ended their embrace, looking into her eyes now in all seriousness. “Twily, it's the only thing that makes sense.”

Twilight shook her head reflexively, bemused by his almost matter-of-fact tone. “He's not doing this to me on purpose, Shiny. He doesn't even know it's happening to me yet.”

“That's not the only reason I mean and you know it. Think about it. All of the anomalies would stop, Cady could give back the order magic, and you would go back to normal.”

“You don't know that it would fix everything. Who's to say that I would go back to normal?”

“It's worth a shot.”

“No, it's not,” Twilight said, growing indignant again. “It's a last resort, if anything. And it's not an option I'm going to entertain.”

“Fine,” he answered, walking past her to the door. “I've said what I needed to. I'll let you go to the restroom and fix yourself up before Cady sees you like this.”

Frustrated with herself, with her brother, and with this whole situation, Twilight fumbled with the strap on her saddlebag, feeling like it was now constricting her. She finally was able to undo the strap, and shook it loose until it fell off of her in a moment of sweet relief.

That relief was short lived - however – when a small, grayish ear fell out from one of the pockets and rolled onto the floor.

Twilight's stomach dropped at the sight of it. She had almost completely forgotten about it, but she had a feeling that Discord had not.

It had been a day since Twilight had returned from her impromptu visit with her brother and sister-in-law. An entire day and Discord hadn't mentioned anything about it. He hadn't brought it up, and so Twilight hadn't either.

Who knew? Perhaps he hadn't been listening when she had had that conversation with her brother. Who's to say he had heard anything at all?

Still, it was definitely not the sort of conversation that Twilight wanted him overhearing, especially not when they were in the midst of her plan which he was still not completely on board with. It seemed like almost no pony was completely on board with it, but that would change once it was all said and done. When everything turned out for the best, just like Twilight had conceived.

Although, they had hit a literal baby sized hiccup. They still weren't sure how the order magic was going to affect Cadance's unborn foal. Her sister-in-law was still willing to continue, even after Shining Armor's vehement disapproval. Twilight wasn't sure whom he was more frustrated with, Cadance for continuing to take on the order magic while pregnant, or herself for taking on chaos when it was causing such unintended side effects on her.

This perfect plan of hers, this wonderful idea that would fix everything, it seemed to be unraveling before her eyes. Twilight had to try and weave it all back together, to prove that they were right to trust her and have faith in her even if they weren't sure about her methods.

She still hoped that he hadn't heard, not before she could have a chance to tell him about everything herself. She deftly held on to the hope that if she could see this plan through it wouldn't matter.

She wrapped that thought around herself like a protective armor as she met Discord in the desert again, fully intent on taking as much of the chaos magic as he was willing to give today.

With a flood of new found determination in each step, Twilight approached Discord as if everything were normal, as if he really hadn't over heard her talk with Shiny.

He didn't act as if he knew any more than he had before, but Twilight knew that Discord was adept at masking his true thoughts and emotions. If he were upset at what he might have heard, he did not betray it.

“So, we took a little break yesterday, but I think we should try not to take too many more. Time is of the essence still, and I sort of feel like I might fall behind what Cadance is obtaining.”

It was a determined statement, and one Twilight thought masked her own awkwardness quite well. But then again, reading past her surface was something else that Discord was quite good at.

“I think Ms. Sparky, that today we should focus solely on your mastery of the chaos power you already have inside you. I've given you a fair amount over the weeks, and even if time is of the essence, I should think another day without another transference won't cause much damage.”

Wait, what did that mean? Well, of course he was saying that he wasn't going to give her any more chaos magic today, but Twilight had more than a sneaking suspicion as to why that was. Again that fear that he really had overheard her talk with Shiny crept back to the forefront of her mind.

“You don't need to be afraid of overwhelming me. Haven't I proven that I can handle it after every transference?”

“You have...” Discord said, trailing off for a moment.

“So, then... why can't we go ahead with another session?”

“I think you know why,” he stated, which was all the confirmation she needed. So he really had heard them, and now he was reluctant to give Twilight anymore power, lest it continue to have the undesired effects on her.

He was probably waiting for her to admit what she had been hiding from him, and maybe even hurt that she would do such a thing. And Twilight did feel bad about that, but unfortunately, that hurt was manifesting itself in away that was not beneficial to her plan.

“I do, but I think that we should proceed anyway. Because this is important.”

“And so are you,” Discord said. “If you wish to proceed with my giving of my chaos power, then I think I should get a say in how it is distributed. And I say that we should slow things down for a bit. Until you've acclimated to it further.”

So this was Discord's way of showing his displeasure with what was going on with her plan, to put a temporary embargo on the magic until they were sure she could handle what she had. His concern for her was more than evident, and she was grateful for it and did appreciate it. The more logical part of her agreed with this method, at least for now.

“Fine,” she said, still frustrated but willing to let this one go if only for now. “But know that I can still handle myself more than you think.”

“I know you believe that,” he answered, which wasn't entirely reassuring, but Twilight decided to let that slide as well.

Twilight placed herself slightly away from Discord, centered between two very large cacti. She tried to focus all of her mental and magical energy on tapping into and controlling her current supply of chaos magic.

For a while it appeared that everything was going well. Twilight was fixing each new strange thing that Discord threw at her, just as she had been doing. She had pulled the chickens out of the vacuum, settled the flock of crow/chicken hybrids, and disassembled the literal dust bowl he had formed before she really began to feel like something was off.

Maybe it was her fight with her brother, or this so-very-close to an argument exchange that she had been having with Discord, but for some reason when she felt the now familiar rush of the chaotic power fill into her, it swept in so hard and fast that she was almost unable to keep up with its magical current.

The determination she had felt only a short while ago was buried under all the fears and uncertainties that were mixing with the chaos magic in an unforeseen way, both seeming to invade her mind with their barrage of thoughts and feelings. Of its own accord, her horn began to glow and a cacophony of unpleasant screeching began to emanate seemingly from all around her. Her vision went blurry as beams of blue shot from her horn, and she could feel her hooves leaving the ground without her so much as thinking about it.

Gravity seemed to reverse itself, sending many rocks and small creatures flying off into space, Twilight tried to pull them back down to correct it, but was finding it difficult while still maintaining her flow of chaos magic.

The clouds were joined by sparkling fireworks that fizzed, popped, and flew all over and around where Twilight stood. She hadn't meant for them to appear, but it seemed that every time something she meant to correct righted itself, a new problem would crop up out of nowhere.

Through the haze of green clouds and multi-colored smoke trails, she looked to see if Discord was doing this on purpose, but his befuddled expression betrayed that this was not his doing.

That was the last thing that Twilight remembered before everything went black.

As she rose into the air, the wind picked up speed, swirling the sand below into a frenzied dust devil. The sand whipped around her so furiously that Discord could hardly see the outline of her save for the fierce, other worldly blue glow of her eyes.

Instead of fixing what was wrong, Twilight appeared to just be making things worse. The plants in the surrounding area – the usually sturdy cacti and brush – all withered and died upon contact with her cyclone of chaotic power.

The ground beneath her was beginning to rumble and crack, forming fissures that continued on outward in all directions, nearly a kilometer on all sides.

Frogs and fire rained down as her cyclone only gained speed, Discord didn't know if Twilight had a handle on things – or thought she did - but it definitely didn't look like it from the outside.

Thinking quickly, Discord tried first to pop into the cyclone to her aid, but the wind was going so fast and the funnel was so large by this point that he wasn't certain he could even find her in all the sand and fire and rain and frogs.

He tried then to snap the chaotic elements out of existence, he tried again and again as the chaos tornado that was Twilight rampaged farther and farther from their established space and closer and closer to the much more pony populated area of Appleoosa.

When that didn't work either, he flew along beside it, still snapping and trying desperately to gain some sort of control over his own element. But then, of course, it wasn't his element anymore. It had finally happened, he had given Twilight so much of his power that the balance had shifted, she now wielded the most chaos magic while he was left severely under-powered.

Speeding himself in front of the funnel's path, Discord held out his miss matched front limbs and willed every ounce of magic he had left to work, to help him wake Twilight up, to help her reign in the power that had taken control of her, he willed and he hoped and he prayed to anything and everything.

Finally, blessedly, whether or not it was due to his power or Twilight regaining control, the cyclone finally slowed and died, leaving Twilight floating in the center, and once her eyes' glow faded, she dropped like a rock towards the ground below.

Discord popped a pillow into being to catch her, but she still landed with a mighty whump and lay disturbingly still.

It was an excruciatingly long sixty seconds before Twilight let out a soft groan and began to stir.

A shimmer of magenta, and her visage changed as well. He could finally see what had caused her brother to respond with such ire towards him, with such disgust in his voice. Twilight was now over halfway covered in sickly dark splotches, her horn looked rough and craggy, and as her eyes fluttered open and landed on his, he could see their mismatched hues. For the first time ever, it pained him to look at her.

His first instinct was to get her away from the area, lest any residual anomalies crop up. It wouldn't exactly be difficult to assume that if any pony had seen what had happened from afar that it would be traced back to them. Most likely more so to him, but Discord could take that. He wasn't entirely sure that Twilight could take them learning the truth, however.

Popping them back to the relative safety of his castle, Discord set Twilight down on one of the newly-installed velvet cushions as he made to pull up a seat of his own. Undoubtedly a conversation was warranted after something like that had just occurred. He would attempt to remain calm, although he made himself no promises.

Of the infinite possibilities of what Twilight could have said next, Discord wasn't prepared for what he got.

"I can explain---"

"You lost control. What is there to explain?” he answered quickly, not even bringing up what she had been trying to hide. His eyes had adjusted to her appearance now, although a combination of her actions and his disgust within himself at the thought that this had been yet another unintended effect of his making was causing him to not be able to sit still for long.

"But Discord, I had it under control."

"Funny way you have of controlling things. If this was you in control I'd hate to see what was out of control,” he stood from his own seat and began to walk the length of his long table, Twilight's eyes following him all the while.

"No, I had it, it was just--- It took some adjusting. "

"Well, while you were 'adjusting', you could have thrown half of Equestria into chaos."

"Don't you think I know that? Don't you think it scared me, too?"

"Why would you be scared when you had it 'under control'?"

He paused for a moment, clutching the closest chair to him. Twilight appeared to deflate at his question, eyes lowering to the table top.

"Okay, fine. I'll admit it. I did lose control for just the tiniest moment."

"And that moment could cost you dearly. In that moment you could have undone all that you were setting out on this fool's errand to do."

He had begun his pacing around the table again, and when he looked to her again, Twilight's face had hardened.

"Well, if it is such a fool's errand, then why did you agree to help me do it?"

"Because I wanted to make you happy, not because I really thought it would work," he admitted.

"Oh, I get it now,” she said, voice growing in anger to match his. “So you really don't believe in me. You don't really want to stay."

"I never said that."

"But you're implying it. You never thought this would actually work, so what am I supposed to think? It was the only option I saw of you being able to stay, of us being able to be together."

"Yes, but I won't have it at your expense. If the choice is to live alone with you safe and unharmed, or be together with this magic harming you so, forgive me for wanting to take the former."

He was coming back around the table to her now, but Discord felt the need to keep some space between them, so he turned and began pacing back the other way.

"But I told you, I had it under control,” she said.Then quickly, she corrected. “Alright--- maybe not under control, but I eventually got reigned back in.”

“After you let it have its way, when I told you to go with the flow, I didn't think you'd be letting it run wild all around inside of you.”

“It was just a mistake!” she shouted, leaping onto the table and landing directly in front of him to halt his pacing. She stared defiantly into his eyes, as if she knew how hard that was for him to do at the moment.

“Oh, and how many 'mistakes' could you have created all over Equus in the aftermath of this one? What would that have shown any pony about how you could be trusted as the new chaos being?”

Twilight paused, the fire dying down in her eyes somewhat.

“I--- I hadn't thought of that. I hadn't been thinking about much lately besides being able to carry this magic so you wouldn't have to leave...” a realization seemed to dawn on her, a revelation that stunned her speechless for a moment.

“How selfish am I?”

Her eyes began to shimmer with tears, and she covered her face as if too ashamed to look him in the eyes.

“You're right, I wasn't thinking about that. And I can't expect you to be able to clean up the messes for me anymore.”

He gave along intake of breath, and then let it out slowly. His own anger had dissipated at the sight of Twilight's tears. Of the two of them, it was not she who should be beating herself up.

His paw hovered close to her face for a moment, uncertain if this would be the moment for such a comforting gesture when they had just been in a fight. But he ultimately couldn't stand it any longer. Lifting her chin so she would look up at him again, he gently cupped her face and felt a wet streak along her blackened cheek.

“It's getting to where I physically can't anymore,” he said, much more softly that he had been speaking just moments before. He saw that his words had made her well up again, and so he added for some encouragement. “But--- if you have it under control now, I will go and see if there are any new anomalies cropping up.”

Twilight sniffed, some semblance of calm returning to her. “I'll go back to my library and---” then she paused, looking worried again, face falling, “But, do you think it's safe to do that, do you think I'm safe?”

Discord looked at her, at Twilight Sparkle. At this amazing unicorn who had done so much for him, and who was continuing to do so much for him at her own expense, and now she was fearing that what he had done to her had made her unfit to be around other ponies.

But that still wouldn't deter her, she would just want to continue with this crazy plan of hers, even if it cost her everything, including her health... maybe even her life.

And it wasn't out of some sense of duty or even out of her sympathy. She genuinely cared for him. It was easy to wrap his mind around why he was in love with her, it was so much harder for him to see what made her love him. But there it was, there she was. Caring for him so much that this happened. He feared now that that love would soon turn her into the monster that Equestria had always feared him to be.

A plan of his own was now forming in his mind as he took in her desperately worried face, and it would involve her not being around for at least a few hours.

“If you truly do have a handle on it, then I shouldn't think any pony would be in any danger. But if you sense the slightest bit of chaotic influence, come straight to the castle.”

Twilight nodded, more enthused now that Discord appeared to have assuaged her fears.

“Of course, I won't be long.”

“If you're taking solace in your books, I should expect to see you tomorrow morning.”

He got a small, sad smile out of her as she made for the door. The moment she was gone, he quickly snapped a piece of parchment into being.

Discord wasn't worried about disturbing the princess, but he wasn't certain that she would even come when summoned by him. He wasn't a favorite among the princesses, that much was certain. But he had a hunch that if he worded his appeal well, she would come to at least hear him out.

11. Desperate Souls

The castle was a tiny bit darker than she expected, with some pony like Discord, Cadance would think he’d have a much more… colorfully decorated home. Perhaps it was dark only to cover up the disarray and general unkempt manner of the room in which she’d entered. It was becoming steadily clear the further she stepped hooves into the place that it had some sort of explosion must have taken place, that being the only explanation she could think of as to why everything was in such disarray. Of course, Discord’s magic being what it was it must not have taken any extra effort at all to tidy up some. He also didn’t strike Cadance as the type to cover up his messes, so that just made the lighting situation - or lack thereof - all the more peculiar.

Actually, come to think of it she thought she had heard Auntie Celestia mentioning that he hadn’t had his torches lit when she’d gone storming off to see him here just a few weeks ago. That was the evening Twilight had gotten up the courage to propose taking on the chaos magic to her… and when her true feelings for the draconequus were brought further into light.

Not having actually had the pleasure of meeting Discord, she only had hearsay from others to go on about what he might be like, or how he might act. She had to assume he sat in wait for most of his visitors because when she did spot him he seemed completely at ease. The first thing Cadance noticed though about him wasn’t his disjointedly mismatched appearance, nor the affluent ease with which he used his magic - almost as an afterthought, like the glass of chocolate milk that was floating around him of its own accord - it was his amourial aura that struck her.

The young princess could tell that it had taken on a fresh, new luster to it, it glowed brighter than she could have imagined in a being so ancient. Her aunts’ auras were forged from centuries of connections, from all the different loves they had held over the years. His aura had such a new feel to it, it looked closer to the pure and untarnished ones she saw surrounding foals. It was more complicated, a bit more intricate than that, but the shades were still brighter and much less worn than on an adult pony.

There was his natural magical aura throughout - that blazing electric blue she had begun to notice in Twilight’s aura - and that was clearly the oldest color among them… clearly depicting that for the longest time the only pony he truly loved was himself.

This was one of the moments when Cadance’s gift for seeing these auras was a very handy trait, all that he could tell her of his connections to the other ponies - and the things he might hide from her - were practically spelled out before her, floating around him without Discord’s knowledge.

The violet hues of philia - friendship - danced around him through the blue, and the princess could even see some of the oranges of familial love and - she was quite surprised to spot - a trace of the purely white agape, the eternal love. The one most prominent as she approached was the one that brought a sweet, thoughtful smile to her lips, for it told her exactly why Discord had summoned her. A deep yet clearly red aura - eros - glowed all around him. This was about Twilight, how could it not be?

Her smile growing a bit mischievous and maybe a little bit too knowing, she inclined her head to greet him, not expecting him to return the courtesy. He had his head leaning on his clawed eagle hand, the feigned indifference of his when she’d entered gone now, replaced by something close to impatience.

He finally spoke, raising an eyebrow at her. “What, what are you smiling about?”

Cadance attempted to stifle her grin, but just thinking back to the love aura surrounding Twilight, comparing his with hers… it was frankly sort of adorable that his was so much… deeper.

“Nothing, just well… pleased to finally make your acquaintance, Discord.” His expression gave away that he knew she was lying but was just fine with that. “I sort of met you once before, when I was younger… well, not exactly ‘met’. I visited the gardens at the castle where you were being held in stone.”

“Ah, memories,” he rolled his eyes with a sarcastic sigh. “Can’t say I recall that. Don’t be offended though Princess, when you’re stuck in one place for so long, the days tend to run together with not much happening around you is retained. Evidently, I was a fixture for many little pony field trips to those gardens.”

“And yet the little ponies know so little about you,” Cadance commented, remembering the book Twilight had found in the empire’s library, and the fervor with which she spoke of how unfair she felt it was that Discord wasn’t noted for his contributions to the balance of Equus. “I can understand that my empire had been lost for longer than my lifetime before even my foster grandparents were born. When the Crystal Empire came back, few ponies even knew of its previous existence, or why it was such an important part of Equestria.”

“You ponies always seem to approach me with some form of common ground, don’t you?” he asked. “Well, those of you who have spoken with and trust Twilight to give you a good way of dealing with me.”

“I wasn’t trying to get you to agree with anything, I was merely being friendly. I’d like you to know that I do understand your predicament,” she paused for a moment, noticing with a new burst of light in her chest that his red Eros aura had spiked exponentially upon mentioning Twilight’s name.

“I reallyunderstand,” she added with emphasis, looking once more at that soft yet brightly warm aura running along the length of the spirit of chaos.

Discord did not appear to notice her directness nor her eyes looking just off to the sides of him, darting around his head and face without actually looking at him in the face. It could have been that he was used to that, ponies avoiding his gaze out of fear, or intimidation, or annoyance.

“Do you?” he questioned halfheartedly, Cadance imagined that he didn't get very many ponies saying that to him either, or at least few that actually meant it.

“I think I do, Discord. Or maybe you might prefer I call you 'Uncle'? I call Princess Celestia and Princess Luna 'Auntie' since Auntie Celestia took me in when I was younger. So, that does technically make you something like my... great uncle?” She hadn't given it all that much thought until that moment, but it was true that – being a princess and adopted charge to a princess – they were technically related in a cursory sense.

“Whatever makes you comfortable and can speed this along,” he answered with a bit of swiftness to his sentence, like this was a meeting that he was keen to get over with, but not out of impatience. It was he who had sent her the message asking for a visit in the first place.

“How about Dissy?” she teased, fairly bravely in her opinion, but if he couldn't take some ribbing than he was not the spirit being she had heard of.

“How about no?” he deadpanned.

She shrugged like it was worth a shot and then continued. “Anyway, I do think I have an assumption. It isn't that big of a leap to think that this has something to do with Twilight, am I correct?”

Her teasing had eased her sense of hesitation and uncertainty about being near the draconequus. Cadance knew that she really did have nothing to fear from him, especially with this more subdued nature he seemed to have adopted... but this was still a being of complete unpredictability, so being on one's hooves wasn't something completely out of the question. Shiny had told her to stay on guard (after she'd refused his continued offers to come along with her) at all times when around him. Shining Armor didn't know that Cadance was there alone with him because she knew he would most likely flip out. It did take her some effort, but she figured that if Twilight could trust him enough to be alone in a room with Discord, she could do the same.

“And what would make you think that?” he asked.

“Your note expressly said to come alone, and especially not to bring Twilight,” she recalled, pulling out the note she had found with her magic and reading off the 'especially don't bring Twilight' part word for word.

Cadance enjoyed the show Discord's aura made when she mentioned the unicorn again, but this time she spotted how contrasting the red glow was to his demeanor. As much as he was masking it – and he was fairly good at it from what Cadance had seen so far – the young princess knew the workings of love well enough to see its pleasant and sometimes not as pleasant side effects. Something sorrowful lay behind those red and yellow eyes.

“Is something wrong, did something happen between you two?” she asked concernedly, so much in her romance-counseling tone of voice that it surprised even herself, and caused Discord's ears to perk with a questioning look.

“There are certain things I hadn't seen all that direly important to tell her about lately,” he said, now fiddling with the white end of his tail. “When the inevitable happened and she did figure them out along with my efforts to – shall we say – shade the truth, she reacted with the anger that I had expected, and with something else I could not have guessed at. The plan that you two hatched up while she was up with you.”

“Well, maybe I helped inspire it, but it was pretty much all her, Discord,” she said. She tilted her head in another questioning look that he was not quite staying on for long. “You know why she thought it up, why she's doing this, don't you?”

The aura flickered. “I now know that. I also know that she was always one for finding a fair and balanced solution to problems,” the way Discord said it was with a fair mixture of both annoyance and regret, almost like this was a lie he was disappointed to know in his heart wasn't true.

When he didn't continue, Cadance continued the thought for him. “But those weren't the only reasons, were they? Discord, did you fail to think that she might have come up with something like this – something so crazy and dangerous – out of a desire not to lose you? Twilight wants you to be happy – and she wants to have you in her life even if it means a very huge change in her own – it is not that difficult for me to see her motives... and I think you can see them as well.”

For a moment Cadance wondered if she was wrong if Discord really didn't realize Twilight's feelings for him. He had dropped his tail now, and leaned back in his throne, trying to look as perfectly at ease as he could muster. He had donned the mask once again, and he spoke with more of a business sense than he had done since she had entered.

“Tell me, little princess, what do you know about matters of the heart? That is your special talent, right?” he asked.

Cadance nodded, for once not sure where this was going. “...yes,” she answered slowly. “I can sense emotional bonds between ponies, and aid in bringing them to a stronger light when needed. A pony's heart is a turbulent place, lots of mixing emotions – mixing forms of love – swirling in them.”

“And in your experience, has any pony just sort of, avoided it? Or succeeded in possibly... getting over it?”

Cadance had to think about that. “Well, you can't exactly avoid love, Discord. it is one of the greatest forces, the greatest constants. Every living thing with a soul can feel it, and no pony can avoid finding it in some sense. Not even ancient beings like you are immune,” she wanted to add 'clearly,” with another inward smile to his love aura, but she stopped herself.

“As for 'getting over it'... perhaps after a fashion, superficial love can ease away, but the kinds that were never that important or strong, to begin with,” she said. “The truly important bonds, those can never truly be forgotten, or 'gotten over'. One pony may think that he or she can move on, but if that love has touched their heart, it is there forever, no matter what.”

“And if it is not something superficial, it wouldn't harm any pony who had to get over it? What if say... one could make that pony get over some love that they needed to?”

Cadance blinked at him, he was very clearly leading up to a question, but she very much hoped it wasn't the one she was coming to think it was.

“Getting over love and forgetting about it entirely are two very different things, Discord. You would have to remember the love to be able to get over it, if you forgot it completely then there would be nothing to get over.”

“Precisely,” Discord interjected, which only made Cadance's suspicions grow stronger.

“But then the lessons, the memories, everything important from that love's time in the pony's heart would be gone as well. The pony in question would be altered, he or she wouldn't have one of the only good things about losing love, which is the lessons learned to take with you.”

“But, there are times when forgetting would be best for every pony involved, are there not?” he asked.

No, Cadance did not like where this was headed at all. Reluctantly, she eased out a nod. “...Yes, there are. There are very dire cases where a pony's love for another has been... undesirable or even a danger to themselves or the object of the affection.”

“And when those cases happen, you have been tasked with dealing with them, correct?”

“Well... yes,” she flusterdly tumbled out the answer. She wasn't proud of it, but it was something else that her power over other ponies' love was capable of. She could create, enhance, and – if forced – destroy love.

“But Discord, it isn't something I like doing under any circumstances. I try to avoid using any manipulations on any pony. Their hearts are already fragile enough as it is, I don't want to add to any drama.”

“Oh you wouldn't know the fun of manipulation if it jumped up and bit you,” he said with a small smirk, probably thinking back to his days of using his brand of mind alterations. “But hypothetically if you were being employed to help some pony forget a love connection, how would it happen?”

Cadance's eyes softened and her heart sank at his 'hypothetical' question. She watched with added sadness as his love aura began to dull and her head lowered some in spite of herself.

“Discord,” she began softly. “I don't think this is the right kind of hypothetical question to be asking me right now.”

“Well, why not? This is a perfect time. We both know she would be better off without me, there's just the matter of our... connection,” he said with a pause, the aura flickered and dimmed a tiny bit more. “If that weren't a factor, she could go about everything like this never happened.”

“But, but... what about all that she has shown you through your connection? What about all that you have learned since accepting those forms of love into your heart? I know how you feel about her – I can see it – you care for her too much to just let it go like this. Making me help you forget won't fix everything, it will only put you back where you once were. Alone.”

She thought for a second she might have gotten through to him, because he looked up and straight at her face, something which both of them had been avoiding through no intention on her part.

Although the look he graced her with now was something more like pity as if she were the one who didn't have a clue what was going on.

“Oh my dear, I wouldn't want to forget. No... not in a million years. It is Twilight that needs to forget me. I want you to remove those feelings she's inexplicably grown towards me, so she can give me back my power and go back to her life.”

The princess found herself welling up just at the thought... at the mere prospect of this being before her – the one that so many ponies feared and still feared to this day – having such a strong love for some pony else that he was willing to erase that bond they had formed from the heart of the one pony to have ever captured his. Was he really asking her to do that? How could he think that Twilight would be better off without knowing she loved him if she was doing all she could to show him she did?

She honestly felt like she might just start crying right in front of him, because never in any scenario she could picture would she have imagined that this was what Discord had wanted of her. Cadance always loathed erasing love from a pony, it felt so unnatural, and the ponies never seemed quite the same, quite as happy or fulfilled afterward. Why would she want to force Twilight to have to go through that? Just for him, this being of chaos? Even if Twilight did love him – and even if his intentions might be noble – it was a pretty big decision to make about some pony else's feelings without consulting them.

“So, you want me to wipe Twilight's mind and heart clean of the love she has for you, without even telling her?” she asked with exasperation. “There is a little some pony whose feelings you aren't considering here, Discord. That would be Twilight's.”

“Don't you think I have already considered every other option?” he said, and Cadance heard it again, that regretful cadence in his tone. Perhaps he really had thought of everything else possible.

“Even if this plan of hers works – which I still do not see happening – she is still going to have to bear the same burden I was saddled with for all these eons. Being the creature that the whole of Equus has decided is the one to fear, to avoid. Being a pony and having friendships of her own, it is only going to tear up her delicate pony sensibilities when they decide to turn on her, to shun her. She would have to live the rest of her existence with only you for company, as I had Harmony.”

“You're forgetting that she would have you, which is the whole point of this,” Cadance fired back, starting to become angry at his suggestion. “And you have met her friends, have you not? They would never abandon or shun her just for the choice she willingly made. They would take some adjusting, but they would always love their friend.

“And isn't one of her reasons for becoming the new chaos being to inform the rest of the ponies about why chaos and order need each other?”

“But you know as well as I that this was not the way it was supposed to be. She was never meant to become the next chaos being, she was never meant to become my friend, and she was never supposed to have any love toward me. I was never supposed to be capable of it, and here I am, feeling love, can you believe it?” he seemed to remember who he was talking to. “Well, of course you would believe it. But the point stands. None of this should be happening, and it wouldn't if we had never--- if I hadn't---” he floundered, actually unable to finish it seemed.

The sentence hung there for a little while between them, and Cadance let it before giving him a kinder expression than she was still feeling at the moment.

“Perhaps this was not the way things should be, but that is a matter of opinion. Plus... it is the way things are now, so there is no turning back. I know you might be scared, but that is natural. Love is a leap of faith, and all leaps are scary to some extent. You just have to have faith and hope.”

“Now you really sound like a pony,” he quipped, but at least he appeared to be listening. When it was finally evident to him that Cadance was not going to be entirely supportive of this idea at this moment, he sighed with frustration and resignation.

“I suppose it was a long shot. But if you had seen Twilight lately - really seen her- I feel you might see things differently.”

Cadance was curious more than a little worried to find out what that meant, for she hadn't thought there was anything off about her when she saw her last. But there was that sudden argument she and Shining Armor had had that had come seemingly from out of nowhere. She had only caught snippets of what was said, but if Shiny thought there was a problem – and if Discord was willing to go this far to correct it – it must have been direr than her sister-in-law let on.

“If you feel like she needs help, why is this what you think to do?” Cadance asked, but his previous words gave the answer. He honestly saw this as his only alternative. But why, was it really that bad?

“Because my dear princess, I feel like she might have needed help from the moment she found me hiding in the forest.”

At that, Cadance didn't know what to say. What do you say to a being who thinks so strongly that he is the reason behind every pony he cares about's unhappiness? And when he sadly might not be entirely wrong?

Eventually, she figured that it was alright to take her leave, their business being done with her refusal to carry out this plan of his.

She had this sinking feeling though, that she shouldn't depart just yet. She felt she had to know that Discord wasn't already thinking up some other way to indirectly hurt the unicorn they both adored.

“I suppose I should go. I'm sure my husband is worried about me,” she said as she took one last look towards the draconequus. His aura so sadly muted now she thought she might tear up again.

“Just, Discord, I know things don't seem great right now, but please consider what you and Twilight have. Don't do anything rash.”

Cadance didn't wait for a reply, for she wasn't even sure that she would get one. She merely nodded to him and disappeared in a flash of her magic.

Discord had not made the young princess any promises. She had refused to help, well that was probably something he should have counted on. She didn't know fully what the stakes were, if she had been there with them when he discovered how the magic - his magic – was harming her, Discord doubted that she would have said no. This love Twilight held for him, that was what was poisoning her even more so than the chaos. As much as it filled his own heart with joy to know that it was there, that they shared such a mutually strong bond, Discord felt selfish for even allowing it to go on this long.

Her brother was right, what sort of life could he give her, even if Discord didn't manage to kill her by continuing to give her more chaos power? Even if things went perfectly, what was to become of Twilight's life? Was he expecting a happy life, marriage and foals and all of that normal stuff? Could they even expect anything resembling a normal life, if that was what Twilight wanted? Well, she wanted him, so perhaps she understood what she might be giving up. But he didn't want her to have to give anything up, especially for him. Her possibilities were endless without him, as far as Discord could tell.

He continued to doubt her belief that the world would just accept her as the new chaos being because they already knew her. If Shining Armor had been any indication, her family and friends were probably just waiting for it to go wrong, or for her to come to her senses. No, Discord knew what he had to do. Deep down he had probably always known, and it ached inside that it had come to this.

It wouldn't do this time to disappear without a full explanation, without a real explanation, as he'd done before. This wasn't the time for his shading of certain truths.

Discord needed to find the courage to yield the whole truth, and he knew it hurt them both, like the magic that they had both come to know. She deserved an explanation, he owed her that at the very least.

Finding her in her room back at her library, she had looked to be on the verge of sleep when he appeared, but her eyes found him, immediately filled with concern.

"Twilight---" he began, a solemnness in his tone that was so uncharacteristic he was certain she must know what was coming.

"What's wrong, did something else happen?" Twilight asked in a hurried whisper. "I knew it, I knew it couldn't be that easy."

She began to stand but his paw found her shoulder and eased her back down.

"No, no. Nothing else happened. Nothing yet, anyway," he tried assurance, but then he remembered that whole honesty thing he was supposed to be doing. There was nothing to be gained by hiding anything from her anymore.

"But you were right. Something else will happen, and it will keep happening for as long as I'm here. So you know what I have to do."

Discord had an enormous sense of Deja vu at her expression. Again he saw the sudden drop in her brightness, then the wheels in her mind start up again, trying to find another outcome.

"But Discord, you can't--- I can think if something else. We can work this out." Her voice was growing so familiarly frantic. It pained him to have to be the cause of her anxiety without any intention to fix it.

He could only attempt to calm her and get her to see reason. Now that was a switch.

"We tried," he explained in a controlled way he hoped was more soothing than condescending. "We tried it your way, and it was a valiant effort. But we both know it wasn't going to be a permanent solution. Not after it started affecting you in that way."

"I know it went wrong, but--- we could try again, or--- we could try something else---" her volume had grown as well as her distress. She fought against his paw, standing up from her bed as if she were about to dash downstairs and search her books again for an answer.

With every stuttering attempt, she made it was all Discord could do to keep his paw on her shoulder as she struggled, all he could do to not be swayed by the tears he could already see forming in those brilliant violet eyes.

“You can't, you just can't. After all, we've done – all you've done – you can't simply give up on your freedom, on everything.”

But Discord didn't consider it 'giving up', not anymore. She needed to understand that his perceptions had grown, and just how drastically different his 'everything' had become.

“There was a time when I valued my freedom and my own interests beyond anything else. That was my everything. It's hard to fathom for a creature such as me who had never known any other way to be that it was an empty life.

'Knowing though that my departure from your world will solve all of the problems here so that you, Pony Boy, and all the rest can live safely in your happy little pony existences... I think I consider that a fair and righteous trade.”

It was as eloquent as a farewell as he could muster, and Discord thought maybe his words had stunned Twilight into silence. A small part of him still hoped she was impressed through all the grief he was putting her through at the moment.

He lifted his paw from her back and slid it upwards to cup her face. He saw her close her eyes and smile involuntarily through her tears.

“Thank you, Twilight Sparkle, for giving me everything.”

Twilight reached a hoof up to where his paw held her, she stroked the fur for a moment before giving one last whimper.

“This doesn't have to be goodbye,” she quavered. The shimmer from her eyes leaving as the tears streaked her fur.

“I know, it doesn't,” Discord answered, reserved yet warm. He pulled her face closer to his, taking in that remarkable unicorn's features just once more.

“But it should be.”

He then brought her in for a kiss. It was a much softer, gentler kiss than he usually gave her. A regretful ache coursed through him as powerfully as the magic he sent into her through their embrace.

Manipulating a pony's mind was one of the things he had promised to never do again, and Discord would never have even thought he'd find himself doing such a thing to the pony he cared for most in all the Equestrian plane.

As his lips joined with hers, he could feel her breath slow, her muscles ease, and he held her steady with his clawed hand as she slowly lost her balance. He eased her into a calm, dreamless sleep. One that she would remain in until someone came to wake her in the morning. Now she couldn't argue, and she couldn't stop him.

He took in her sleeping form one last time, attempting to memorize every contour of her face, every stray hair that fell from her mane onto that face, everything about this mare that had done so much for him.

With any luck, she would never see him again. But her world would be safe.

Author's Note

See y'all in a few weeks ;P

12. The Twilight Fantastic

She had exploded back into his castle and torn half of the library apart, huge chunks of empty space like missing teeth lined the walls. The books that once sat there so orderly were now strewn about along the floor, chairs, and tables in a mass surrounding the source of this indoor hurricane. Hurricane Twilight.

There has to be something, she continued to repeat it to herself over and over again, the mantra escaping her lips every now and then in a hushed and hurried whisper. For there had to be something, some spell that could give her a way to contact him, or even to follow him to where he had returned.

Even through her frenzied haze however, Twilight heard a small voice inside her that told her it was fruitless. There was no way she could think of and no way she could find to follow him if Discord did not want to be followed. But she persevered anyway, fighting back tears the entire time.

How could he do this? Did he really think that this would make things better? He had left her all alone with this chaos magic inside her. All alone when she had finally accepted her feelings for him, when they had finally come together. Discord had just left, he had just tossed her and their whole relationship away, and for what? Because he thought this would keep them safe, keep her safe? Twilight had been willing to risk her safety for him, but evidently he was not.

Or had it been what Discord had overheard Shining Armor say back in Canterlot that had set him off? Was it just the confirmation he had needed to believe that he truly was 'ruining her life' or whatever craziness he thought?

The hurricane died down momentarily as Twilight pondered this. Maybe it really was crazy, crazy to think that this was ever going to work out. It was harming her, he was harming the world, how could she think that this would all have a happy ending?

Perhaps fate hadn't planned for any of this, perhaps they were never meant to be together, but that didn't change the fact that they had been... that they were. She hadn't been meant to befriend him, but she had chosen to, She had chosen him.

And maybe this was his way of choosing her.

That brought her mind back to Discord, and the thought of him up there – wherever he was – beating himself up over all of this. Thinking that he had ruined her life. She was furious with him of course, but not because of that. For he hadn't, and she had to find him to tell him that.

A thought then came to her as the winds of her frantic mind dissipated. A risky, half-formed thought that refused to be ignored the moment it came to her. If there truly was nothing in this library that could help her follow or even talk to Discord, maybe there was something Twilight already had that could do the trick. Something that they both shared...

With a new resolve, Twilight began to ease her senses into the pool of chaos magic that still lay inside her mind. It was a dangerous thing to conceive, but if it worked, Twilight figured it would be worth it.

Using the chaos magic, she attempted to find him in this unfamiliar landscape that began to unfold before her mental eye.

This world was a swirl of colors and shapes, cloudy and mostly formless. Twilight thought it would be easy to find him, but even with their connection she found it to be an uphill struggle.

There were seconds – glimpses – where she thought she could sense him, but she couldn't get far enough to actually reach out and get his attention. It was as if Discord were on the other side of a hazy but solid force-field.

Twilight could almost see him now. She wasn't entirely sure it was him, but as far as she knew there were only three residents of this plane, so the odds were in her favor. She desperately began to mentally barrage the barrier. Again and again she slammed into it with her magic, trying to make a crack that would be noticeable by him. Discord had to hear her, he had to listen, he had to come back.

In her desperation, her mental grip on the chaos magic began to slip ever-so-slightly, and reluctantly she started to pull herself back to Equus to rein it in.

Her magic wobbled as she gave an involuntary flinch, and she shook herself to control her body's urge to do it again. It was a familiar feeling coming over her, a feeling that had been proceeded by a total and complete mental blackout. She concentrated even harder this time, for even if she did not remember what had occurred exactly, Twilight had seen the after effects of her chaos magic taking hold of her. She would hold it at bay, she had to. Discord wasn't here at the moment to help her rein it in. And that was the problem. She needed to focus on the task at hoof.

As the darkness overwhelmed her, she thought for one hopeful second that some pony had heard her, or had seen what she had been trying to do. That gave her a modicum of comfort as she fought against the chaos enveloping her. A fight she found herself too weary to win.

From up upon his original plane, Discord sat resolutely not looking downward. He stared out into the endless expanse of boring nothingness surrounding him, for he had no interest in making it look any different at the moment.

It was for the best, he thought. He continued to think this constantly ever since he had arrived even though there was a small voice inside him that kept telling him he didn't believe it.

Time always worked differently here, so it wasn't immediately that Discord began to sense Mort, but even when he did he ignored him. He wasn't in the mood for whatever Mort was going to say.

For one, Discord doubted that Mort would come to him in a solid form to even see on his own plane, and for another, he was still resolutely not looking at his surroundings, so even if Mort had deemed this little conversation worthy of a physical form, turning to look at him was a definite no-no.

Mort seemed determined to speak to him, but Discord continued to mentally block him out. He didn't want to hear that he'd done the right thing, that soon when everything returned to normal he would see that. Discord wanted to block everything else out and wallow for a while. Possibly for a few hours, possibly for a hundred years, he couldn't decide at the moment.

Eventually, Discord finally sensed Mort giving up and finally leaving him alone. But soon after he sensed his fellow spirit being take his leave, Discord could sense a new presence appearing close to him, and whoever that some pony was they did not feel as easy to ignore as Mort.

It was his surprise that made it difficult to ignore her, surprise and a bit impressed that she had been able to manage it. This being such a hard plane to get to and return from if you weren't from here originally. He still didn't want to see her, but as Celestia made her way over to him, sitting herself down silently next to him, Discord couldn't deny that he should at least hear what the princess had come such a long way to say.

“Did you not sense when Mort was trying to make contact with you?” she asked, and Discord could see the tip of her mane waving out of the corner of his eye, but still he did not turn to face her.

“I was blocking him, I don't want to hear about the greater good or whatever nonsense he wanted to tell me. Plus I think I've caused enough damage interacting with any pony. I see now that I was better off alone.”

“You were never truly alone, Discord. You had my mother and then my sister and I.”

“And such good company you were,” Discord grumbled sarcastically. “You know what I mean. I was better off here, away from every pony whose life I have now made so much more difficult.”

“That might be true, but I do not believe they would take back any of their time with you... even now,” Celestia paused before adding that last part, as if holding something back from him.

That pause almost caused Discord to steal a glance her way, but still he held back. When he made no reply, Celestia continued.

“As much as I have touted to value our connection and tried to convey the importance of the balance between our powers, I don't believe I have ever truly appreciated your side of it nor the way in which you kept it up. Whenever I have mentioned balance, I had always secretly considered order to be the better, more important side. I understood it, I could control it, so for me it was the safer option, and 'safer' meant 'better' in my eyes.”

She took in a deep breath, letting it out with a sigh, and Discord could sense her eyes on him, although he still did not want to meet them with his own.

“I never acknowledged our true balance as what was really important. Never out loud, and never to the world which we keep in that balance. I never made an effort to dispel the world's assumptions about you and your powers, and for that... I am deeply sorry. My own personal grudge blinded me from seeing what I was inadvertently making you out to be. Had I done so from the start, perhaps all of this could have been avoided.”

“Oh, don't take all the credit, Celestia. I didn't exactly make things easy for you, or for myself,” Discord replied, thinking out over all of his time as the spirit of chaos, and the things he had done to the ponies of Equus without any thought to how he was affecting them. “I took things too far, I see that now. I was blinded as well by my own quest for power, but I see now it was really just a quest to find a place to belong. Ruling them, having total power over them would never have given me that sense, that wholeness. Having known that feeling now – even for a small time – I see the monster I used to be.”

“Yet we never tried to help every pony see past that,” Celestia said. “And for that, I apologize. Twilight had it right to believe in you, and to see that things could be made more fair in our balance. Moving forward, I vow to spread the word of true harmony, as she had wanted to do.”

At the mention of Twilight, Discord couldn't resist, he turned his gaze towards the princess. Her eyes were sorrowful and pleading, filled with an urgency she had not betrayed in her voice. Perhaps she was trying to get her apology done first before explaining why she had truly come.

He could see it in her eyes before she said it, something else had gone wrong. But he didn't interrupt.

“Mort was trying to reach you, and when you didn't acknowledge him, he came to me,” she said, her voice still measured but her eyes giving her away. “He wanted you to help and for some reason he thought I could get you to listen. He said that if you didn't, he would be 'very busy'.”

“Don't tell me that the anomalies haven't stopped since I left.”

“They did for a while, but now--- I think you should see for yourself.”

It was only his own imagination coming up with scenarios that compelled him to do as she had said. The way that she had said it, Discord assumed he should be prepared for the very worst. But it couldn't possibly be as bad as he was imaging, could it? After all he had left and taken his remaining power and influence over Equus with him.

But he hadn't taken back what he had given to Twilight.

He hadn't thought it would matter, but how wrong he was.

Black spots were spreading over the land of Equestria, darkening the skies like so many fresh bruises upon the healthy countryside. Discord could see one stretching out over the desert, another over the swamp, and yet another over the badlands. The pattern was not difficult for him to spot, these growing pockets of chaos drew his eyes back to the largest one of all, the source from which the others had sprung.

His castle that had only just begun to feel so homey was now destroyed beyond recognition, even less than the ruin that it had been when he had first found it. The whole of the Everfree forest was being consumed, enveloped by an ever-encroaching abyss of chaotic power that was coming far too close to spreading out towards Ponyville. Focusing on the center of this storm of chaos, Discord felt his insides wrench as he beheld just who this was stemming from. He hadn't needed to guess, for who else would be in his castle, no doubt looking for him?

Oh Twilight, what had he done to her now?

“What can be done?” he asked Celestia, fearing the answer she would give. But, if all hope was lost, surely she wouldn't have come to see him.

“I have a plan, but we will need your help.”

The shame of it all overwhelmed him, looking down at what had become of his brilliant unicorn, Discord couldn't stop himself from beating himself up even more. So leaving hadn't fixed everything, it had just made things worse.

“I did this to her,” he whispered, feeling more the monster every pony thought he was more so than he had ever done before.

“You did not mean to,” Celestia reassured him. “And we have a chance to make things right. Please return with me to Equus, and together we can do our best to save her from herself.”

Discord wanted to ask if this chance that they had involved him being able to not only go back to help save her, but if he could somehow remain with her once it was all over. But that was selfish. His being there had done this to Twilight, and so even if there was a chance he could stay, he didn't want to risk any sort of hope. He would help to save the mare he cared for most in any plane of existence, but that was as far as he dared to think.

From down on the ground, the storm of chaos magic encroaching upon Ponyville was even stranger than how it had appeared from above.

The literal colors and shapes of things were beginning to dissipate, almost as though they were being devoured by some unseen force. The blackness that the power left in its wake was far more than simple darkness. It was an abyss, a gaping hole of nothingness that was literally a fissure in the very fabric of reality.

Discord and Celestia found most of Twilight's friends doing what they did best in a time of crisis; attempting to get every pony away from the danger and towards some semblance of safety.

Rarity and Applejack were the first to spot them when they appeared, the multicolored trail Rainbow Dash usually left still fading from view as the other two raced up to meet them.

“Oh thank Celes--- I mean, you!” Rarity greeted them in a frenzied tone. “We've done exactly as you've asked, Princess. We've informed the townsponies of the state of emergency and have attempted to evacuate them in a timely fashion.”

“It was a might easier ta get them ta listen after Princess Luna arrived to back us up,” Applejack continued. “And when it started getting' closer.”

“Fluttershy has gone off to help all of her animals escape,” Rarity added with an air of slight disapproval. “Not that I am not also concerned for our smaller, fuzzier friends, but I should think getting every pony to safety first should be our top priority.”

“Now Rarity, y'all know how much those critters mean ta her. I'm sure she'll be back lickety-split to help us with the next part of the princess's plan.”

This conversation evidently took enough time for Rainbow Dash to return, with Fluttershy and Pinkie not far behind, the latter two still looking more worried than determined as the blue mare when she caught sight of Celestia and Discord.

“Great, the princess is back, and she's brought backup!” Rainbow said, landing much more confidently than her fellow pegasus as they both came to rest at Celestia's hooves. “So what's the plan, are you gonna double-team this crazy thing with some chaos-order magic blast?”

The princess shook her head, leaving Rainbow to gape with bewilderment. “I'm sorry, Rainbow Dash, but at this stage my sister and I have given over so much of our order magic that neither of us could even hope to balance or rein this anomaly in.”

“What about Cadance, isn't she supposed to be like, Twilight's other half for this thing?”

“Luna is attending to her at this moment, she is currently in labor.”

Rainbow blinked at her bewilderingly, and Discord couldn't disagree. They were running out of options.

“So, then Discord's here to – what - suck back up all the chaos magic?”

“I'm afraid that is also something even beyond his capabilities at this point,” Celestia addressed the group at large, Discord not chiming in only because he knew the plan as well as they did, which was not at all. Their faces all fell at once at this revelation. All except for Rainbow's

“But, the whole balance of the world is broken – reality is broken – how are we supposed to fix it if he can't just suck it all back in or something?”

“You did not let me finish,” Celestia said, which perked every pony's ears, their eyes alighting with hope. “What I meant was that Discord will not be able to re-absorb the chaotic power alone.”

At this, the chest that had once held the Elements of Harmony appeared floating above the ponies assembled, hovering in the princess's magical aura and coming to rest on the ground in front of them.

“Even this I believe to be a long shot,” she admitted as she opened the chest to reveal the six pieces of magically-linked jewelry. “However, as time is of the essence I believe it to be our only real option. As these were forged by our mother, they should have enough magical force – while used in conjunction with your own bonds of friendship – to put everything right again.”

Almost instinctively, three of the five friends reached for their own necklaces. Rarity, Pinkie, and Fluttershy all donned their elements without question, possibly used to trusting Celestia implicitly. Discord could see Rainbow and Applejack hesitating, and perhaps for the first time Discord found himself in agreement with them.

It was all well and good for the Elements to be present, but for them to ignite and do any sort of good, they needed the Element of Magic. It was a fact that Discord himself was about to point out when Applejack beat him to it.

“But what about Twilight? How exactly are we gonna use the Elements on her when we need her to get 'em started?”

“That is where Discord will come in.”

Discord did a double take, blinking with surprise and trepidation at the alicorn. “Pardon me?”

“Yes, I believe that Discord could – in this one instance – fill in as the Element of Magic.”

When Discord and the others continued to look perplexedly at her, she elaborated.

“Twilight is the friend that the five of you all rallied around, the one that brought your group together as friends in the first place. She also as it happens is the one to have exchanged powers with Discord.”

“Um, exchanged?” Fluttershy piped up, to which the princess nodded.

“It is my belief – or possibly my hope – that when Discord was imparting his chaos magic to Twilight, some part of her own magic was also being given back to him. That coupled with the friendships you have each formed with him throughout his time here should be strong enough for this plan to work.”

Discord thought that sure was a lot of 'hoping' and 'maybe-ing' from one of the most powerful beings on this plane. It did not instill much confidence in this plan of hers in his mind. But nevertheless, he figured it was the best plan they had at the moment, and Celestia was right about one thing--- time was of the essence. The longer they waited and tried to think of another plan, the more corrupted Twilight would become, and the more of Equestria would be consumed by the chaos storm.

Then there was also the matter of his friendships with the five ponies before him. As his gaze fell upon each mare in turn, each with a newly regained hopeful glimmer in their eyes, he wondered just how strong their individual bonds with him had become. Would they be strong enough?

To his surprise, they all seemed resolutely resolved, and even confident in this idea.

“Why of course they will be,” Rarity nodded firmly. “we've all come to regard Discord in a much better fashion than we once did.”

“Yeah, he's fun,” Pinkie chimed in. “Even if he doesn't make it rain chocolate anymore.”

“I certainly have come to forgive and accept him,” Fluttershy stated.

“It took me a bit longer than the others, but I got there, especially after what y'all did for Ponyville and Cloudsdale the last time things got screwy,” AJ continued the affirmations.

“Eh, I guess he's not so bad,” Rainbow admitted, donning her necklace and flying up to give Discord a jovial slap on the shoulder (the same shoulder that she had once fixed for him when he had injured it).

“Plus it's the best plan we have, so let's do it.”

Gathering in a semi-circle, the ponies all began to ignite their elements while Discord stood near the center of them, still holding Twilight's tiara. He wasn't certain if he actually had to put it on its head to get it to work or if it would suffice just to hold it, but he didn't want to keep the rest of them waiting, especially since time was of the essence.

He focused intently on feeling the others with his mind, sending out his emotions in the way in which he hoped was the right way to go about this. He had seen them do this at least twice - three if he counted when Celestia and Luna had done it – but he had never actually focused or had any way of knowing how exactly their friendship magic was accomplished.

He supposed he should focus on the 'friendship' aspect of it, and suddenly, he felt himself tap into their emotions almost at the very thought.

This elaborate, stream-of-consciousness method of magic was foreign to him, but Discord began to pick it up quickly. Evidently all of the ponies – his friends, he should say – each focused their thoughts and emotions on the bonds they had with each other, and with him. They came to him in little flashes of memory, tiny moments from each of them that signified those bonds.

From Rarity, it was the time when she had made him that stylish vest and pant set while he was a pony, from Rainbow Dash it was their conversation just after the Smooze began attacking, from Pinkie and Fluttershy came the memory of fixing up his now demolished castle, and from Applejack – the last he felt to accept him - a memory they had not even shared of seeing him with her brother and hearing from the stallion what they had spoken of.

These memories mixed in with the feelings of closeness an understanding gelled into a tangible something of which he could latch onto, something that he could focus his power alongside the others to form a way to meet their goal, which was to quell Twilight's unintentional maelstrom.

A light began to ignite from each of them, and the beams all shot out at once to swirl and combine into a rainbow of color and power. A united power hitting the unicorn chaos being in full force.

Cutting through the swarm of chaotic energy to reach their beloved friend, Discord and the other five focused on pulling Twilight from the eye of the storm. They each reached out with their minds and emotions to grab hold of her, mentally and physically. They pulled her flinching, seizing body closer to them, and as Discord found himself in the center of the group, he reached out his clawed hand towards her, grasping her foreleg and pulling her limp but still shaking form into an embrace. His hug was tight and purposeful, and soon the others had joined him as well, grouping around Twilight and hugging her tightly. Each was still willing their mental and emotional powers together to bring their friend back, and each hoping they were not too late.

The vast emptiness of the chaotic power that was engulfing everything still swarmed around them, but they held their vigil. It felt like eons before any change could be felt, but soon they could sense a faint pinprick of light in the darkness. Twilight's friends focused on that, and soon the light began to grow, and their group began to sink slowly back down to the ground below them.

They could sense Twilight's energy through the chaos, and soon they could feel her reaching back for them They could feel her fear as well as her despair that she had not been able to keep it under control, and Discord could have laughed at how sorrowful her emotions had become when none of their friends were in any way sending off emotions of blame towards her.

Finally, when they could feel Twilight letting go of her feelings of blame did the chaos storm begin to actually subside. Discord then reached out and attempted to begin the transference. The chaos magic resisted, as if unwilling to leave Twilight's body and mind. He tugged on it like a stubborn dog as he also tried to send off her own magic that he had received back to her. She gratefully accepted her magic, the magenta glow of energy absorbing back inside her, but still the blue chaotic energy dug in its heels, refusing to budge. Discord could feel Twilight's assumptions that she just might burst from all of the magic crowding inside of her. Once they were all safely back on the ground, the others broke the connection, it was all up to Discord now.

The chaos storm was still subsiding, and Twilight's eyes no longer glowed blue, but even with all of these good signs, Discord could still feel the power's unwillingness to come back to him. He tried to pull back as much as he could, but it was only a fraction of the amount that he had given her in their sessions.

It wasn't for lack of Twilight trying to give up the magic. Discord could feel her trying to send it back his way, but it would continue to almost magnetically come right back to her. She pushed, he pulled, but only less than half of the magic actually made its way back to Discord.

Their friends could only watch the attempt, their part having already been completed. Frustratingly, Discord broke his connection with Twilight and the pair of them panted, gasping for breath as they both tried to acclimate to their current levels of magic.

When both Discord and Twilight could compose themselves, he could see Twilight looking out to each of their friends with a grateful yet weary smile.

“Everyone... thank you,” she said, still with a hint of lament that she had not been able to fix things herself, but grateful all the same for her friends coming to her rescue.

“Don't mention it,” Applejack said, reflecting the caring, forgiving smile that found its way across the faces of all five of the ponies assembled.

Discord could see tears welling in Twilight's eyes as her friends grouped around her, pulling her into another group hug that mirrored the embrace of just a few moments before. Discord joined them on the outskirts of the hug, but soon their warmth dissipated as the others left and only he remained, still clinging to Twilight and Twilight clinging right back.

He waited until Twilight was finished, for it was more than evident that she needed this hug. And Discord was definitely not opposed to it, either.

Once she had finally let him go with a sigh and another watery smile, the weight of the situation they were still in settled back over them all.

“So--- did it work, the whole transference thing?” Rainbow asked, to which Discord could see Twilight's face fall, ears drooping. His own gaze dropped to the ground regretfully for a moment.

“No,” she answered with a sad shake of her head. “Discord tried – and he got most of it – but for some reason it was like it just didn't want to go back to him.”

The mood of the group dropped considerably. The elation that they had all felt at being able to pull Twilight from the storm of her own making was dampened by this news. They all knew that without a full transference of the magic, that meant that the anomalies would continue, and that something like this might very well happen again.

This also put a dent in Discord's plan to leave again, for how could he do so now knowing full well that Twilight could explode like this at any moment? If the chaos wouldn't leave her, then he shouldn't either. But that still meant that the anomalies would continue due to the influence from him and Twilight's inability to contain her half. That still meant that he was a danger to her life, her world.

The ponies all looked to Celestia for some sort of insight, but even she appeared at a loss for what to say or do.

“There does not appear to be a clear answer to the problem,” Celestia said finally, looking concerned an slightly grave. “When we last encountered a problem of this magnitude, our solution was to seal Discord away in stone to help control his flow of chaos to better balance it, but I do not believe that would be an option that any pony here would want for either Discord or Twilight,even if I were still able to perform such an act.”

Her words seemed to dash any faint glow of hope that might have arisen in the ponies assembled, and the group would have continued to fruitlessly grasp for some sort of solution, were it not for Luna's arrival at that very moment.

Discord saw Luna land softly beside her sister, and Celestia regard her with a questioning look. Luna smiled despite the overall mood of the group at large.

“I see that you were able to calm the chaos raging within Twilight, that is a relief, yet why do I not sense any joy among you?” Luna asked every pony, and Celestia explained their situation in just the same way as she had done to the group.

Luna's smile turned to a frown and she nodded with understanding, then looked hesitant to speak again.

“Then perhaps now would not be a good time to share the good news I have brought.”

Celestia gave a small smile, and she appeared slightly brightened by her sister's remark. “On the contrary my sister, I feel we could all use some good news at this moment.”

Luna returned the small smile with one of her own. “Cadance has successfully given birth to a filly.” Every pony's ears perked up at this announcement. “The foal is healthy, they have named her Melody. And what is more she appears to have absorbed the order magic that we had been giving to her mother.”

“Wait,” Twilight asked, glancing from one princess to the other. “You mean that Cady's foal actually absorbed the magic you were transferring into her?” She blinked, and Discord could tell that she was trying to figure something out. “That must be why things were so easy for Cadance when she was taking on the power of order. It was because she wasn't taking it on at all, her filly was.”

“So, does that mean that this filly is the new order being?” asked Rarity, looking to the princesses.

“It would appear so,” answered Luna.

That appeared to complicate things even more. Back when it had been just he and the princesses, Discord hadn't been able to keep their powers in balance due to the fact that they had been so much younger and less-powerful than he. He just couldn't slow down his chaos to match up with the order coming from two young fillies, even if he'd wanted to. And now even if she wanted to, there wasn't much hope that Twilight would be able to control the chaos magic enough to keep balance with a foal. It would be an even worse balance were he to take his power back as well. So the problem that stood before them now was not only who should take on the mantle of 'spirit of chaos' but who could also do so while being able to balance their powers with that of a newborn?

Discord glanced from Twilight to the two alicorns before them, puzzling at the problem and looking through them more than at them. And then – suddenly – an idea struck him. A half-formed thought that was gradually growing within his brain that came to him so fast he blurted it out without fully giving it any thought at all.

“I've got it! Twilight, let's make a baby.”

Every pony's gazes suddenly whipped over to him, each of them looking confused and some looking outright shocked.

The two princesses however, looked more than a bit awkward, and after a moment - as Discord's words hung in the air – Luna turned to her fellow alicorn.

“My sister, let us go and--- see over the area for any leftover anomalies,” Luna said quickly and pointedly to Celestia.

“Good idea,” Celestia replied.

With that, the princesses flew off to check the landscape to see if the immediate danger had passed, leaving Discord with Twilight and their friends, his offer still hanging in the air.

When the phrasing of his suggestion came back to him coupled with the faces of every pony present finally registered with him, Discord elaborated. “What I meant to say was, I think that we should try and create a new chaos being. Out of the powers we both have inside of us.”

“Um--- what?” was all Twilight asked.

“We could do it in the same way that Harmony once did when creating Celestia and Luna. It would be a being made for the balance but also a being made to live here."

He could tell that Twilight was still getting over the shock of this proposal, but at this moment he didn't care as much as he normally would have. He had brightened at the idea. He now understood how she must have felt when she had come up with her plan to take on the chaos power in the first place, that he had found the absolute, most perfect solution.

“Discord, I--- I don't know. There's just too much to consider.”

“What's there to consider? It would be the best option to rid yourself of the chaos power and remove my influence.”

“Yes but, it wouldn't just be a new chaos being, Discord. It would be---”

“Our child, yes,” Discord nodded. “I thought that after your conversation with your brother that would be something that you wanted.”

“I--- but---,” Twilight stammered. “Yes, maybe someday. But I didn't think I'd have to be considering it now.”

“It is the only solution that I can see,” Discord said as Twilight continued to gape and blink.

“You wanted me to trust you when you came up with the last crazy-sounding plan, I would appreciate it if you would do me that same courtesy.”

“But you only reluctantly agreed to my plan,” Twilight reminded him.

“Well, you could always do that,” he replied. “I trusted you, Twilight. I simply ask you to trust me now. If it fails, we'll handle it, but this is something I need you to do with me.”

“But the last time you tried it, you made the Smooze.”

“Last time I didn't have you,” Discord said, reaching out his hand again, offering it to her as if that would signify her acceptance of his plan.

That was true, but Twilight wondered just how much of a difference that would really make. She knew that the chaos power would not go willingly back to Discord, and she could not exactly keep it inside of her for obvious reasons, but to use their combined powers to create a new being just for this world? Would that really fix everything? Could it indeed be plausible?

It was so absurd to even consider, and yet they had no other options that she could see. Twilight considered Discord's words, and she decided that he was indeed right, at least about how she should trust him in this instance. Perhaps something absurd was just the thing they needed at this moment.

Twilight paused for one more moment,and then nodded. “Okay,” she said. “Let's do it. I'm still uncertain about it, but I trust you.”

“That's all I ask,” he replied as she placed her hoof in his claw.

“Wait,” Pinkie interrupted, actually holding up her hoof to get their attention as if she were in school. “Are you telling me that you're going to make a baby right here, right in front of us?”

Twilight laughed a little nervously, her friend made it sound a lot more unsavory than it really was. “Uh---yeah, technically.”

“Yes, I'll finally get to find out where babies come from!” Pinkie cheered. Then when every pony looked over at her with questioning – bordering on bemused – expressions, she giggled and waved her hoof at them. “I'm just kidding,I already know that.”

Giving a softer laugh and shaking her head at her friend, Twilight turned back to Discord with more than a slight amount of concern.

“So, how do we actually go about it?” she asked. To which Discord replied with a wink.

“Just follow my lead.”

Discord then closed his eyes, hoping that Twilight would do the same. It must have been the connection they both shared with the chaos magic and their more recent shared experience with friendship magic that had left the two being able to sense each other's emotions with all the more clarity. But Discord also felt it might be necessary to explain as he went along, just in case.

He began with a thought, picturing clearly in his mind what the perfect chaos being would look like, what they would be like. Remembering his mistakes from the past and bearing in mind what it had taken Harmony to create her daughters, Discord focused his power on the care an love he had grown to feel not only for Twilight, but for his friends and the world at large.

A numbness began to come over his limbs, and he could feel his limbs disappearing as they had begun to do before. It was the trade-off that Harmony had made for the creation of Celestia and Luna, her 'death' for their 'birth'.

“Oh no you don't,” he heard Twilight say, and he soon felt her hoof wrap around his claw, pulling it back into being. Adding her magic and her love alongside his, Discord could feel his body starting to become solid once more. Bringing her thoughts into his own, Twilight poured her power into Discord's mental picture of what their progeny would look like. She had some very precise ideas as to what he – for she stood firm in her thoughts that it should be a he – should be like.

Most of his outward appearance she left up to Discord, but he could feel Twilight's insistence on his other characteristics. A love of learning, naturally. A curiosity for this world that he would soon be keeping in balance. A compassion for all the creatures that lived on Equus.

And from Discord, a good amount of mischievousness, just so he wouldn't be boring.

When they opened their eyes at last, it was to see a tiny form taking shape. Multiple colors of matter coalesced into a small, pony-shaped lump that floated for a moment and then glided down to the earth and landed softly before them.

Twilight let out a sigh, and Discord could sense as to why, he had felt it as well. The last ounce of chaos magic had left him, as hers had left her too. Discord felt only a little empty without it, and only for a second. For when his gaze left Twilight's to find the now-squirming bundle of fur and feathers before them, he felt that emptiness fill to almost overflowing.

The bundle rolled over, unfurling his massive wings as he lifted his head to look up at them. He looked up at them with Twilight's eyes, and smiled a tiny-fanged version of Discord's smile.

13. Coda

Once the chaos had died down – or, been transfigured, more like – Twilight had felt compelled to get back to her mission of translating the Statera Equus into the more common languages for distribution to all of the libraries over Equestria. Even if every pony assumed that such a thing wasn't necessary anymore to give credence to chaos's importance and role in the balance of the world, since Discord had proven himself several times over at this point.

But what her friends didn't understand was that it wasn't really about Discord anymore. There was a new chaos being to consider now. A new chaos being that would still need help to be understood, even if Twilight and Discord and all of their friends would strive to ensure that he be as fully understood as his partner in balance. A new chaos being that would help to change the stigma of what his powers could do or entailed.

A new chaos being that was still cranky even after his nap.

Twilight looked up from the crumbling pages of the ancient tome, lowering her translation notes with a sigh. A sigh of weariness but also a kind of serenity. She could hear him now as he made his groggy, unsteady cry. She wondered what sort of dream he had been having that caused him to be so upset at being woken from it.

Leaving the library and following his cries down the halls of Discord's castle (their castle now, Twilight supposed), she found him in his room on the floor, his blanket covering his head as his wings stuck out awkwardly from opposite directions. So, that was the problem. He'd fallen asleep on the ceiling and lost his concentration of gravity in his sleep.

Twilight laughed softly and again with a serene air, scooping him up in her magic – blanket and all – and disentangled him with a gentle shift of her magenta glow. She then transitioned him smoothly from magic to her foreleg.

The tiny creature felt so warm and soft in Twilight's embrace, he purred and wheezed quietly in the cutest way, yawning and stretching his massive miss-matched wings. They must have covered the length of his entire little body, a brightly green feathered wing with a deep purple dragon wing. She nearly dropped him when they extended, but as they slowly settled back down to envelop his whole frame, Twilight got the hang of it again.

Only his four limbs poked out of the protection of his wings, cloven and clawed back feet dangling over the crook of Twilight's foreleg while the red hoof and fuzzy black and white kitten paw of his front limbs twitched slightly in his still half-asleep state.

She carried him with great care back to where she had last seen Discord, redecorating with their friends to give this little guy a proper playroom.

As she turned a corner she was startled - though not entirely surprised – by Discord's popping into being before them.

He regarded them with a mischievous smile, holding up his clawed hand in front of him.

“Now, now, Ms. Sparky. We don't want to ruin the surprise, he can't see the room just yet.”

“Discord, he's barely a week old. He doesn't even have object permanence yet. I don't think the surprise will be ruined.”

“Can you blame me for wanting things to be as perfect as possible for him? I never even had a playroom in my youth. Of course, one might say that the world was my playroom, and there is also the fact that I didn't exactly have a 'youth' per se...” he seemed to trail off for a moment before his gaze landed on the occasionally-squirming bundle that Twilight still held.

“But anyway, he's going to be one of a kind, I just want his surroundings to reflect that.”

“One of a kind, but not alone,” Twilight added. “He'll have us, and Melody, and well---every pony.”

“Which is exactly what I want for him as well,” Discord stated, tickling the foal under his chin. “Isn't that right, Discord Jr.?”

Twilight rolled her eyes at him, but her smile remained. “You know that's not his name, you're going to confuse him.”

“Well, if he doesn't have object permanence yet, I doubt he's had the chance to memorize that silly name you gave him.”

Shaking her head slightly and sighing through her nose, she ruffled his purple-streaked mane, feeling the nubs of two equally miss-matched horns to go with the rest of him. And as his eyes fluttered open and he noticed her, Twilight noticed that his eyes were the exact same shade of violet as her own.

“And you gave him my eyes,” she mused, it was less of a question and more a realization.

“I thought that they would be fitting for him, give our son a pair of eyes no pony could resist.”

Twilight chuckled, and the weight of those words fell upon her not for the first time this week. 'Our son'. This adorably strange foal was her son... their son. No matter how unconventional his creation, it still stood that he was theirs. They had created him together, this new chaos being, out of true harmony between them.

Before she could make some sort of retort to Discord, the chiming of bells filled the hallway, signaling that more guests had arrived.

“That will be Cadance and the princess. I'll go and meet them and then we'll be back to see what sort of mess you all are making in there,” she said with a smile.

When she made it to the main hall, it was to be greeted by the sight of Princess Celestia, Cadance, and her brother. All received her welcome warmly,and she was relieved to see that Shining Armor appeared to hold no residual ill feelings from their last encounter.

“Honestly, I am still slightly worried about you and Cady, but I know we all have some more important things to worry about these days,” Shiny said as Cadance glided their own foal's basket over all of their heads to come to a rest near Twilight's eye line so she could peer inside.

Her tiny, pale pink niece was gently snoozing in her mother's magical grip. Melody flapped her own tiny wings, sending a slight breeze through her purple and yellow mane. This was the first time Twilight had really gotten a good look at her, between all that had been going on. She could definitely concede that Melody was cute, but she still felt that her foal was cuter. Although she might have a bias.

“That's for sure,” she replied to her brother, gesturing them all to come further inside. “Come on, Discord and the girls have been working all day on some big secret in the playroom.”

The room in question had larger and more ornate doors than her library, and after Twilight opened them she could see why every pony had been adamant on keeping her and their son out while they worked.

The floor was an exact replica of Equestria, with geographically-accurate mountain ranges poking up from the carpeting, and various region-specific stuffed animals all in their appropriate places. A small wading pool complete with adjacent sand box was in the exact spot where the shore met the sea on the eastern coast.

The ceiling above them shone half with a bright blue sky and sun and half with a beautiful starry night sky, along with fluffy cloud-like cushions floating in a circular pattern above their heads.

Discord must have used every ounce of residual magic he had left,and the others had added their own touches as well. She could see Rainbow Dash had made sure to include a miniature Cloudsdale and Applejack a tiny farm play set.

Her friends all stopped what they were doing to turn to her with excitement all over their faces.

“Surprise!” Shouted Pinkie. And Twilight was surprised, and impressed.

“Oh, every pony, this is so wonderful. I'm sure he's going to love it.”

“But is it what you were thinkin'?” Applejack asked. Twilight gazed around the room again, but this time focusing on the ponies assembled. Her friends, who had become Discord's friends as well, and her family, whom she supposed Discord counted as as well. They had all come together to not only help them rebuild Discord's castle, but to help the new family build a life.

“It's exactly what I was thinking,” she replied. Her cheeks hurt from all the smiling she was doing, but she couldn't help it.

“So now that we're all here, some of us still haven't gotten to hear the name you decided on for our new little chaos being," Rarity said pointedly.

“That's because Twilight wanted to keep it a secret until every pony was together. She picked it out after all,” Spike said. “Discord won't let us forget that.”

“Well, it's not exactly a secret that he wasn't created under normal circumstances, and plus he's going to be one of a kind no matter what. I wanted to give him a name that was just as unique as he is,” Twilight said as she saw Cadance put Melody down in the bassinet that sat near the corner and where the Crystal Empire would be on the carpet map.

“I've recently been studying the ancient Baastinion's mythologies, they were always some of my favorites besides Sleipnirnian. They had legends about something similar to that of your balance between chaos and order. They called them 'isfet' and 'ma'at'. I thought – since he was created to help maintain balance between the two – we could combine those two into 'Ismaat'.”

“I still vote for Discord Jr., but there is something to be said for something more interesting,” Discord said.

“Ismaat sounds fittingly unique,” Princess Celestia said.

“Yeah, since there's no other pony like him, he might as well have a name to match,” added Pinkie. She leaned in close to the baby and placed a tiny party hat on his head.

“Welcome to the world, little Issy!”

Ismaat grabbed at the hat with his front limbs, unable to knock it off with neither hoof nor paw. When his attempts at removing it failed, he began to whimper and hiccup until bubbles came from his nose and mouth, which popped to reveal several birds inside that flew away and out of sight.

Twilight removed it for him, calming him instantly. Thinking that he might like some interaction with his cousin – though reluctant to let him go from her embrace – she placed him down in the large bassinet with Melody.

The two infants kicked each other in a playful sort of way, both cooing almost in unison, almost in harmony. Maybe on some level they already understood the nature of their relationship, that they were to work together. Or maybe Twilight was reading too much into little baby babbles.

Arriving slightly later than the others, Princess Luna reported that all of the anomalies had completely ceased all over Equestria, and it could be expected in the other affected countries as well. The night was peaceful, quiet, and uneventful across the land, as it should be.

Looking down at the two squirming futures of the balance between the two powers,Twilight couldn't help but feel the sense of peace as well, as if true harmony had really been achieved. At least for now, time would tell how the little ones grew into their powers, but for now all seemed well.

Discord wrapped his arm around her, and Twilight sank into his touch. It hadn't been actual labor, but the transference of their chaotic power into making their son had worn her out, and even now a week later she could still feel the after-effects. As happy as she was to be among her friends and family at this moment, welcoming the foals into the world, part of her only desired a cozy place to curl up and sleep for a few hours... or days.

Cadance looked just about the same level of worn out as she. Which only made sense, as she had had Melody not long before Ismaat was created. She could relate, even if she hadn't given birth to Ismaat the old fashioned way. Being his mother for only this week had left her exhausted, yet at the same time filled with more joy than she had thought possible. That was what she saw reflected in her sister-in-law's face.

She smiled again as she thought the word 'mother'. She knew that as powerful as Ismaat would become, he would still depend on both she and Discord. She made a mental note to find as many books on foal and young pony care she could find so that she would be able to be the best, most educated mother she could be.

Discord's arm still around her, the two slipped away from the talk and laughter of the group to have a quiet moment to themselves.

Though they had had no shortage of these moments over the past year - and though it delighted Twilight to see so many friends filling this castle where Discord had been alone for so long with such warmth and cheer - it was also true that since their creation of Ismaat most of Twilight's and Discord's time had been focused on him and his needs. They had scarcely had time to just be alone together. Twilight supposed they should get used to that, if Applejack and Rarity were any indication when they each shared their stories of helping to raise their siblings.

"Do you think it's time to tell your parents about us?" Discord asked jokingly, and Twilight rolled her well-practiced eyes with a sigh. A sigh of contentment.

"I guess so," a soft laugh escaped her. For even if he was joking, there was time now for her to think about such a commonplace worry as that. Meeting parents, being parents, and whatever else the future may hold.

There was time now, and Twilight smiled at the thought as she took Discord's paw in her hoof. It was comforting to look back on their journey through their friendship and revel in how far they both had come.

They were together, and Twilight felt a sense of true harmony.

Author's Note

Please read my ending blog post ^^

1. What Happened and What Didn't

Although it had been a little over a month since she had brought them home from the Crystal Empire, Twilight had not even thought to return the books she had found in their library.

She hadn't thought about returning them mostly because – although the danger had passed – she did not feel that their job nor hers was completely done. They had managed to find a way of reversing the sinking of Cloudsdale, and had Discord not intervened it might have actually worked, but that still did not give them an explanation as to why it had happened in the first place.

Of course to some it appeared that Twilight was merely obsessing over something that was no longer an issue. Her friends had moved on, the townsponies had moved on, so why couldn't she?

That question continued to reverberate inside Twilight’s mind, even as she continued to pour over each of the books from the Crystal Library for what felt like the thousandth time. She had extracted every single piece of usable knowledge from the tomes, and yet they still could not give her what she wanted.

The 'why' of it was of much more importance than any pony else would admit. That was the difference between something like what happened with Cloudsdale never happening again, and something even more destructive coming later.

The only thing close to an explanation for the phenomena was what had happened with the seals of Tartarus. One of the seals had been slipping, leaking some of the chaotic energy that kept the prison holding the most fierce creatures in Equestrian history from breaking loose. That would be a good explanation for Twilight, had things still not seemed completely back to normal.

It was true that, after the incident a month ago, nothing like it had happened since, but that didn't mean that any residual magical energy might not still be around, floating invisibly through their plane of existence and just waiting for the opportunity to do something else.

Twilight attempted to pull the wheat bagel that Spike had left for her closer to the vicinity of her mouth with her magic while keeping her eyes on the pages she scanned so fruitlessly. She felt the bagel slip from her mental grip when it had almost made it to the end of its journey, falling to the slightly-yellowed pages and sending a few crumbs sliding into the crack between them.

The unicorn tried to ignore the fact that she had been dropping things a bit more than usual lately... a lot more than usual. Come to think of it, it was most likely her nerves and her mind being in so many places at once. There were her continued efforts to analyze the magical fields for any signs of a resurgence of whatever had caused the Cloudsdale incident, her continued efforts to look for a cause, and there was, of course her attempt to sort what had happened between herself and Discord after all of that had happened.

“Hey, Twilight,” she heard a call from Spike downstairs that broke her concentration. “Shouldn't you get going? Rarity said you were all meeting at the spa around ten.”

Her eyes and mind lifted from her tasks by his voice, Twilight wondered how long she had been sitting with her books on her bed. She moved her gaze to the clock and gave an 'eep' of realization..

Quickly sliding off the bed and heading down the stairs, she noticed Spike on her route out the door.

“Thanks for reminding me Spike, I'll see you later!”

Twilight then set off at a canter towards the spa to meet her friends, failing to acknowledge any sort of irony being in a hurry to get to a place of relaxation might have.

The desert that expanded out alongside the outskirts of Appleoosa was undergoing yet another slew of changes. From the ponies’ far off vantage point it must have looked like a series of colorful flashes, bangs, and various other odd sounds echoing from where Discord currently wracked his brain for ideas.

The draconequus had changed the scenery around him at least a dozen times within the last half hour or so, simultaneously snapping various pieces of décor into being as the old ones were poofed out of existence.

The ball pit had been replaced by the pool of candy corn, which had been replaced by a lake made up of pure liquid moonbeams (Luna wouldn’t miss them, not that she would know about it).

He froze the lake to dull its brightness slightly, for it turned out concentrated moonlight was nearly as bright as actual sunlight and if he had to shield his eyes and squint to be able to hover over it, he had to assume it would be several times worse for any pony else. Burned retinas were not really good for the setting he was trying to fabricate.

His eagle-clawed hand was getting tired from all the snapping he’d been doing. Switching to his large furry paw of a right hand, Discord surveyed his surroundings yet again.

It still wasn’t right, none of it. Well, almost none of it. The tiny school of airborne fish gliding in between his mismatched horns felt like a step in the right direction, and he still quite liked his balloon cacti even if they were considered “dangerous” and “a hazard”.

That was the thing though, he kept coming up with things that he would want, things that he found amusing… and this wasn’t about what he found amusing for once.

Discord didn’t have much practice doing something like this for any pony else. Small things like the book chair he’d made her back at his castle, that wasn’t anything, it had barely required any effort at all. This… this was different somehow. He had to think about things that Twilight might like. He wanted something impressive, but did he really want it to look like he’d made that much effort?

Perhaps ‘impressed’ wasn’t the feeling Discord wanted to instill in her, but he did want it to have some sort of affect on her. Something positive.

In his struggle to find just the right décor, Discord hadn’t noticed the sheer number of things he’d been popping up around him. He was practically knee deep in yellow toy ducks and he'd somehow conjured up a few jackalopes without thinking about it, as well as a floppy-maned pony scarecrow quite like the one he'd had in his desert hideout that day... that day exactly a year ago.

An entire year had passed since this whole thing – this whole arrangement with Twilight, the princesses, and the other Element Bearers – had started. He'd gone into that confrontation with more than a mild curiosity and with no intention at all that the ponies would let him walk (or teleport) away free. He would never have considered that day that such an understanding between himself and these ponies would come to pass, that by proving to them that he was willing to cohabitate, that he would ensure his relative freedom in Equestria.

Of course it was mostly still being worked on as he continued to have to prove himself, but it was getting easier, somewhat. And if not for Twilight, he wouldn't have the opportunity to be pondering this now at all. He would not have had this year to learn about the bonds that the ponies have, and how he could actually grow to care about them... well, some of them.

If there was any pony to whom he wanted to show gratitude for his year of semi-freedom, it was Ms. Sparky. But, for all his love of randomness, none of what he came up with could truly convey that to her.

He grumbled to himself as he swiped most of them away with a wave of his paw, leaving the fish as well as the cacti in the immediate vicinity.

Discord was so involved in his various conjurings that he didn't immediately notice the loud, sporadic pops coming from a good bit farther away from himself, and it was only when they grew louder and much less sporadic that he flashed over to inspect.

Apparently his cacti creation had been more expansive than he’d realized. There was a rainbow cluster of his balloon cacti just a few kilometers away from Appleoosa, or at least much closer to the town than to him. Discord didn’t teleport over to them only because they were quite outside the border that kept him from getting too close to any populated pony area.

Since so far only the Ponyville border had been dissolved, crossing over the invisible line – even when teleporting – would cause Discord to be subjected to a quite un-invisible shock to his entire form.

He wasn’t certain why they’d cropped up so far from where he’d been; he hadn’t been aiming for anywhere near the borders. Discord wouldn’t even think about messing with those outside areas these days, but still there they were in all their colorful and needle-filled glory.

Standing at the very edge of the shock line, Discord looked quizzically towards the near-dots. He gave his tired claws a snap, thinking that should do the trick, but he didn’t see the familiar flash into oblivion that he was expecting.

Slightly annoyed now, Discord shook his clawed hand and tried again with a snap. Again, he saw no disappearing cacti.

He tried switching hands, nothing. He tried snapping his toes, nothing, his tail, nothing, shouting at them to go away, still nothing.

Discord groaned and gave a wince at the prospect of what he most likely had to do now. He couldn’t just leave them, not when he was this close to being rid of this infernal restriction completely. The princesses would have a fit. Well, at least Celestia would have a fit. He was sure she would take any excuse to accuse him of breaking his promises – even something this small. If they wouldn’t disappear from afar… he’d have to go to them and try.

In and out, just a quick pop over there, he thought. He braced himself for what he knew was going to happen, and then with the mental force of ripping off a bandage, Discord popped over to the half-exploded grouping.

Amazingly he was able to stay airborne, hovering over the cacti and trying to focus on blinking them away as his entire form seemed to sizzle and burn with an electric surge. He shook and twitched in the air, making muffled pained yelps from his zippered-shut mouth (a precaution in case some pony heard him). He attempted to focus on them several times, but after a few minutes of having all of his nerves licked by white-hot lightning bolts he had to flash back to his side of the line.

He took a few minutes to catch his breath before trying to stand again. Breathing wasn’t something he really had to do but – much like sleeping and eating – they were habits that were hard to break and he’d been doing them for too long to stop now.

It was fairly annoying that he could become winded like this, but at least it wasn’t as bad as his temporary pony form. That thing had needed to breathe nearly all the time. Going over a border though, not just touching it, that was one of the times when his chosen body felt so very close to that mortal pony form.

He mentally cursed when he glanced back over to where he’d been, only to see that his pain had been for naught. Then when he remembered he was alone he decided to curse out loud as well. They were somehow still there.

Discord didn’t understand it, why they were there in the first place when he hadn’t consciously put them there, and then why they would not obey him and disappear when he commanded.

It was getting late though, and Twilight would be at the castle in the Everfree soon. He couldn’t spend his whole rest of the day trying to figure this out. It wasn’t even that close to the town, really, he rationalized. They would probably all pop themselves out without any pony either seeing or getting hit by their needles. In any case it wasn’t really something to concern Twilight about. Not immediately, and hiding them wouldn’t be that difficult, maybe if he brought the moonbeams back.

Ignoring it and setting his mind back on the original task should have been easy for him, but then again, his original problem was nearly as vexing. Whether he needed it or not, Discord didn't like having to admit he needed help, let alone asking for it. He felt like he should know her well enough by now to come up with something on his own that felt appropriate.

Well, at least he knew her well enough to imagine what she would do in a situation such as this; consult a book or ask one of her friends.

And Discord did know a place he could go where he could do both of those things, provided his little dragon friend could keep quiet about it.

It was a fairly easy day so far for Spike, not much excitement to be had while overseeing everything in a library. He was used to being left in charge of the library when Twilight was off, so even that responsibility had become normal. A little boring, even, especially since he knew Twilight had gone to the spa at Rarity's invitation for some 'mare time'. Spike supposed he understood, but fulfilling his responsibility just wasn't as fun when he knew his two favorite unicorns were having fun elsewhere.

Only a few ponies were even in the library at the moment, unless something cool or interesting was happening there rarely were more than four or five at a time, and today was no different.

At least it seemed like it before he felt a sharp tap on the top of his head. He crouched down slightly to evade them, turning to look for whoever had done so. He saw no pony above, beside, or anywhere near him. A couple ponies were in the reference section, and Apple Bloom was taking something off of a low shelf in the young mare section, but none were close enough to Spike to have reached him and none of them were even looking at him.

He scanned the room, not entirely sure what he was looking for, but still with a kind of unease that there was indeed something amiss. It took him a few moments, but he discovered the culprit. A seemingly-normal light blue pillow propped up on the cushy sofa, with a familiar pair of yellow/red eyes observing him.

“Discord?” he directed his question toward the pillow, and at his acknowledgment, the eyes blinked and looked away, possibly trying to look nonchalant, as if they were perfectly ordinary pillow-eyes and they were not just spying on the dragon.

“Do you really think I can’t see you?” Spike asked. “You might as well give up the act. Twilight isn’t here though.”

The eyes rolled, and, giving up the charade, the draconequus emerged from the pillow in front of Spike with less of a flourish than he was used to.

“Really Pony Boy, I’m a little disappointed in you. Do you think I don’t value our friendship enough to want to just stop by and see my little dragon pal without it being Twilight-related?”

“So this isn’t Twilight-related?” Spike questioned.

“I didn’t say that,” he answered, “I’m only saying that you really shouldn’t just assume things like that. You could always stand to visit me more often as well.”

Spike wanted to answer that he’d been busy, but he guessed Discord had a point. At least he didn't appear disappointed that Twilight wasn't there, and that was a first. When he'd popped in like this before and she hadn't been there, it had so clearly been she he had intended to see. Spike was actually pleased to see him, but he did have to wonder why he felt like going all camouflage for this visit.

The reactions of the ponies present after he made himself known however might have been a good reason, now Spike thought about it.

It wasn't as bad as the first few times Discord had popped by, when all of the ponies in the library flipped out and ran for the door, dropping all their books and materials to the floor for Spike to have to pick up and re-organize. Spike figured that it would take some time for the Ponyville residents to get used to Discord just flashing in every now and then. The regulars, like their friends, were used to him by now, but judging by how the four or five ponies' heads had snapped immediately up from what they were doing to gape wide-eyed at his arrival, they were not frequenters of the Golden Oaks.

Spike surveyed the eight or ten wide eyes of the gaping ponies, and beside him Discord gave an inconsequential wave of acknowledgement.

“Hello,” Discord greeted the staring ponies with a forced sense of enthusiasm, as if he had already seen too many of them for the day.

He heard one mare near the back give a nervously sharp whisper to her companion. “It’s Discord.”

“Ooh, where?” Discord feigned excitement, looking over his shoulder and then down under his tail. This got a chuckle out of Spike.

Sure enough, it wasn’t long after that that most of them suddenly remembered very urgent appointments and practically scrambled outside. Discord didn't look offended by their behavior, even after he’d dropped the excitement act and rolled his eyes, turning back to Spike.

The dragon couldn't help feeling a little bad on his behalf, though. Even if he did understand why, that didn't mean that they shouldn't at least try and act normal. Things changed, he figured, even in Ponyville.

There were a few ponies left – Apple Bloom among them Spike was pleased to see – who were also slowly going back to their reading and searching and at least pretending to mind their own businesses.

“So, what’s up?” Spike asked when he was sure no pony else was actively still listening. He didn’t think they would be the type to eavesdrop, but he spoke a bit quieter anyway.

Discord leaned down and matched his volume, his tone shifting to something Spike didn’t hear much of coming from the draconequus; uncertainty.

“Might you happen to know what today is?”

“Uh, the nineteenth?” Spike tried.

“Aside from that,” he answered with a shake of his head. “Today is the day when I shall be freed from my lovely little confinement spell in its entirety.”

“Oh,” Spike nodded, but still a tad confused. “But I thought Princess Celestia said you could have it taken off already, since you’re able to come here now.”

“Here, yes.” Discord pointed down to the floor. “Apparently they only took it down for Ponyville as a way of ‘wading me in’ to your pony society or somesuch reasoning. Perhaps they thought it a fitting bookend to wait and remove the spell on the anniversary of its casting. Which is today.”

Spike blinked. “That’s today? But Twilight didn’t mention–”

“She’s had so much on her mind recently, I don’t doubt a little thing like my impending total freedom has only crossed it more than once or twice.”

“Aw come on, Discord. She’s not likely to forget that.”

“Even so, she may fail to make the connection between the two days, this year has just flown by, after all.”

“So, is that why you’re here? You wanna remind her what today is?” Spike asked, hoping that a question might get the draconequus back onto what he’d actually wanted of him.

“In a sense…” Discord answered a bit thoughtfully.

“I– well, you know I’m not good with these things, Pony Boy,” he said. “This whole asking for help business is bad enough. It’s– I wanted to do something for Twilight, and I’m having some… difficulty.”

"Oh, okay," Spike said, wondering whether he even wanted to know, considering how hard it seemed for Discord to ask. “What kinda ‘something’?

"I don't know," he exhaled with a frustration that told Spike he really did know, but was being hesitant about it. “Just something to mark the occasion, the ending of one chapter and the start of a new. But I haven’t been able to find much suitable...”

“This isn’t sounding much different from your normal visits to me,” Spike said when Discord trailed off, but after a moment it began to dawn on him that this might be at least part of his problem.

“Wait, is there any reason why this has to be special? I mean, apart from the obvious?” he asked, even though again this was a question he wasn’t sure he wanted answered. Friends they might be now, but even if he only knew the gist of what went on when Twilight paid Discord a visit, Spike had the sneaking suspicion that Discord was trying to orchestrate something more intimate than the dragon could handle hearing about.

“That you needn’t concern yourself with,” Discord said, waving the question away, at least sounding more like himself now. “But I thought since both of us knew her so well – and since we’ve become such good pals – that you might be willing to help me think of some things to incorporate into the surroundings for this special evening that might be appealing to her.”

“Uh, I guess I can help with that,” Spike said, sounding uncertain now as well. That definitely sounded like something he might not want to know about. He may not always be sure about Twilight’s side of things, but he knew how Discord felt about her, and this had ‘attempted romance’ written all over it. He and Discord weren’t yet close enough to keep Spike from feeling slightly uncomfortable about it, since well… Twilight was like a sister to him.

Spike’s honor-bound Dragon Code got the better of him in the end though. If the roles were reversed, he figured (or at least hoped) that Discord might do the same for him.

“Wonderful,” Discord said, brightening. “I have been wracking my brain for ideas, but nothing seems right.”

“Well, that’s vague,” Spike jabbed. “What do you want to do for it?”

“That’s the thing,” he answered. ”There are so many things I would want to include, but with my unfettered imagination come things like bean bag chairs that make ponies grow tentacles upon sitting on them. In short, my ideas for creating an appealing scene are not always in sync with Twilight’s.”

Spike saw a bit of that uncertainty return to his face, and the annoyance that he couldn’t figure things out on his own, or find the right words. Spike pondered for a moment what he would do if things really were reversed. What would he want to do for Rarity if he were planning such an evening for her?

“So you want it to be for her? Like, stuff she'd like?”

“Yes,” he said, pointing emphatically to Spike. “If there are things I can do to show I know her, and that I’ve been paying attention. Not just to the books she and I read, or the lessons that she gives me, but to her.”

Spike chuckled again, but in a different way, a knowing way. “If you’re trying to get into her mindset, I think you’ve made it. You’re overthinking this. Reading, learning, teaching others… those things are Twilight. Those are exactly the things she wants you paying attention to.”

“But those are things every pony knows about her,” he said with a frown, and Spike got it. He understood that mindset. The want to be thought of as some pony more than the rest, to stand out to them. But it wasn’t like standing out was hard for the draconequus.

“You’ve got a different perspective though,” Spike said. “I’m sure you could, um… put your own spin on things.”

He watched as Discord considered this. “Hmm, I suppose…”

“Hey uh, Spike,” came a small, twangy voice from behind the dragon. He turned to see Apple Bloom, who had apparently not only been listening in on their conversation, but had actually approached them while balancing a book on her head. Her bow was squished under the book’s hard cover, but she inclined her head and let it fall to the floor. Her bow poofed back into formation as she tapped a hoof on the book.

“Here’s a book Twilight found for me for class, if that helps y’all,” she continued with the barest amount of nervousness, probably more likely due to her qualms about eavesdropping than Discord himself. “It’s about mythological artifacts and stories about ‘um from all over the world. She said it was one she’s had forever.”

As helpful as she appeared to want to want to be, Apple Bloom still jumped a little and backed a few steps away as the book disappeared from underneath her hoof and appeared at Discord’s eye level.

The book opened by itself and the pages turned for Discord to peruse, he didn’t seem to need to stay on the words very long, for barely a minute had passed before the book had slammed itself shut in front of him. Spike watched as Discord stared for a moment at the back cover, considering its contents for merit.

Something about it must have clicked with him, for the book swiftly winked out of view and Discord nodded with more assurance than he had shown when he first popped in.

“Now this gives me an idea,” Discord remarked. “Don’t know why I didn’t think of it before. Well, of course I do. But this might be what I need to convince her.”

Spike was pretty sure Discord was just talking out loud now, for it took him a second to look back down in his and Apple Bloom’s direction.

“You’re welcome,” Apple Bloom grinned up at him, although Discord had not said thank you.

“Glad we could... help?” Spike said, although his friend probably hadn’t heard that either.

His search apparently over, Discord simply flashed back out of the library without any parting words at all, let alone acknowledgement of the friend he had actually come to ask for help.

Maybe that was still asking a bit much of him, Spike thought. He guessed there wasn’t much time to waste, after all.

Even though Twilight's body had left the library, she hadn't left her train of thought behind.

It was odd that, for once, Discord actually had not wanted Twilight to come by for a visit as soon as possible. It was actually the exact opposite. He had been adamant that she stay away until this evening, and that had her curious about what he might be up to. But then Twilight felt that familiar uncertainty and anxiousness flair up inside her, because those were just some of the things Twilight had experienced in her interactions with Discord recently.

‘Awkward’ wasn't quite the word for it, but it wasn’t far off. For the most part things felt fairly normal most of the time. It was only sometimes when Twilight could feel the awkwardness settling in.

And it wasn't lost on her friends either.

Rarity and Fluttershy had carried on a light, breezy conversation while they each got their massages, and then when they chose their perfumes and salts for their individual baths. Twilight chimed in occasionally, but any pony could see that her heart was not truly in it. Perhaps less her heart and more her conscious mind was the one wandering away with her.

It was only when the three ponies had come together in the mud room that Rarity chose to acknowledge the unicorn's behavior.

“Twilight, darling, I'm sorry I've barely allowed you any time to talk today. You've spoken even less than Fluttershy.”

Twilight had only just settled into the gooey warmth of the mud when she heard Rarity addressing her. “Oh, it's okay. I'm fine.”

“Are you sure? You seem worlds away,” Rarity said, and though Twilight could not see her friend for the cucumber slices covering her eyes, she could tell there was a pointed tone to her words.

“You do seem sort of distracted,” Fluttershy said after only a moment of silence. “Are you still worried about Tartarus and Cloudsdale?”

“You really must get your mind off of those books and worries, Twilight,” Rarity added. “Why, this is the entire reason for my inviting you here in the first place. You can't allow the luxury of the spa treatments to do their job if you don't allow yourself to let those anxieties go.”

“It’s difficult to just let them go when I seem to be the only pony still concerned about the implications of what happened,” Twilight said, trying not to sound defensive about her efforts and their perceived lack of merit.

“If you truly believe that there might be something still to look into, then we support you. But cloistering yourself away in your library with those books and neglecting to care for your own well-being is not the way to go about it.”

Twilight smiled at the almost maternal concern in Rarity’s tone. She knew that this obsession to analyze the magical fields and search for a real, concrete answer was most likely not healthy.

“I just can’t help it,” she said, shrugging after a long moment. It was the truth, and after the emotional roller coaster that was that fateful day, Twilight thought she had the right to pick apart every last important piece.

“Didn’t Discord end up putting Cloudsdale back?” Fluttershy asked. “Have you tried asking him for help about why it happened?”

“He never actually admitted to it, but that’s at least one explanation I don’t need to hunt for,” Twilight answered with an amused assurance. She had spoken with Discord soon after it had happened, and afterwards… afterwards he had evaded any questions Twilight had posed.

She of course had asked him for input on possible sources for what had happened, but if Discord did not wish to discuss something, he was fairly adept at avoiding it. And Twilight had allowed it, since the days of official check-ins were behind them. They could merely enjoy each other’s company, and she had just been grateful for any time spent with him – no matter how unhelpful he wanted to be – after that day. That day when she realized the extent of her desire for him to remain on this plane with her– them.

Perhaps that was why things had grown so awkward between them, at least the way Twilight perceived it.

“He hasn’t… we haven’t really… things have been different since then,” Twilight attempted to continue, not really sure how to articulate exactly how they had changed.

Twilight heard a sloppy sort of slapping sound, like a hoof meeting with a muddy pony shoulder, and then Fluttershy spoke up, “Different how?”

“Oh, good question Fluttershy,” Rarity added more pointedly than she had sounded before. “You never did give us a full account of what went on when you absconded with Discord back to his hideaway.”

“I don’t really think I ‘absconded with him’, exactly,” the unicorn tried to correct her in a way that did not convey her growing embarrassment at the idea.

“Well, in any case, you were quite adamant on giving him a talking-to in private,” Rarity said.

“Do you really want to know?” Twilight inquired, wondering just what the sudden fascination was for her friends.

“Darling, it is the only part of the last month that we haven’t heard about in detail from you, and really anything to get your mind off of your current troubles,” Rarity said, and Twilight could hear the smile in her voice.

It might be a good thing to get it off her chest, and she could at least trust her friends not to judge too harshly. If only it wasn’t just trading one cause of Twilight’s worry for another.

Skimming her hoof along the very top of the mud bath, Twilight spoke out in the general direction she knew Fluttershy and Rarity to be.

“–So… that’s what happened,” Twilight concluded with a bit less finality than she would normally end a story. She hadn’t actually thought to remove the thin slices of cucumber from her eyes while recounting what happened between Discord and her when she had forced him into a confrontation upon his return to his normal form.

Once she had removed them however, she saw that this proved to be a smart decision. Because as awkward as going through everything they had discussed and everything she had been thinking during that particular moment, it would have been at the very least quintupled by the matching jaw-dropped gazes on both Rarity’s and Fluttershy’s faces.

Fluttershy quickly recovered when she noticed Twilight had seen, poorly hiding any outward surprise by sinking lower into the mud.

The white unicorn to her left only blinked several times, closing her mouth only to stammer out an awkward question. “That’s it?” she asked, as if Twilight had left off in the middle of her story.

Rarity’s tone and increasingly incredulous expression confused Twilight almost as much as she had apparently confused her friend. She thought she’d been perfectly concise and brought her recount to the accurate conclusion.

“Yes.” Twilight nodded with an uncertain tilt of her head. “I suggested that we should head back to town, and he brought us back. Then I saw all of you.” There was a beat of silence in which Rarity’s expression turned a bit more towards disappointment.

Twilight glanced toward Fluttershy on her other side, who returned it, only to become very interested in re-arranging the towel keeping her mane up and out of the bath.

“Well, it– it didn’t quite end the way we were expecting,” Rarity answered, smiling a bit too widely.

“Why? What were you expecting?”

At that, the pegasus took a deep breath and held it, actively avoiding Twilight’s eyes with her hooves still frozen on her head.

Rarity did the opposite, exhaling swiftly with shallow, nervous laughs and growing her smile to a near-disturbingly wide size.

As Twilight’s question hung there like the steam floating over the pools of the spa, her two friends looked back and forth at each other. Their expressions betraying a silent argument between them, one that Rarity evidently lost. She rolled her eyes when Fluttershy continued to mutely refuse to be the one to ask.

“Oh for Celestia’s sake, fine–” Rarity sighed, losing her painful-looking smile to frown at the yellow pony. “I suppose we shan’t tiptoe around it because you won’t be telling us until we ask… and I suppose if it must be one of us it should be me.”

The other unicorn shifted her weight in the mud, turning herself completely towards Twilight, holding one hoof out for the answer to her question.

“Why didn’t you kiss?”

Now it was Twilight’s turn to stare, over-blink, and stumble over her words in an attempt to say something to diffuse the awkwardness that was now thicker than the mud they were sitting in.

“I mean, it isn’t as if you hadn’t done so before,” Rarity said, still sounding confused and disappointed. “If you even want to count that, really.” It was the disappointment that bothered Twilight more. Were her friends expecting her to ‘spill’ or ‘dish the dirt’ or whatever it was that gossip contained?

Then something about the question clicked. ‘Hadn’t done so before?’

“Wait,” Twilight said. “You know about– but I never told anypony except–” Her head whipped to Fluttershy, aghast and slightly hurt at the thought that her shyest friend had divulged something told to her in confidence.

“You told?”

At this Fluttershy leaped up and shook her head with just as much surprise.

“No, no, of course not. I would never. I promised,” she said with a firm reassurance.

“Then, how do you–” Twilight started as she looked again to Rarity.

“During the empathic link, when you were trying to convince us to trust him, we all saw it,” Rarity interrupted. “You tried to omit that part, but it was quite strongly connected to your argument and feelings at the time. It isn’t as if we wanted to see it, but we did.”

“So every pony knows?” Twilight whined, embarrassment seeping into her every recollection of every encounter she’d had with her friends in the last year. They had all known for that long and they hadn’t said anything?

Rarity and Fluttershy nodded with some reluctance, and the white pony continued speaking for the both of them.

“I can’t really speak for the others, but I feel that none of us wanted to ask you about it… unless you brought it up. Even if he had been tricking you at the time, it isn’t exactly something one just asks their friend about. Especially as we saw it without your permission.”

“Rarity and I didn’t want to say anything because it seemed like you really didn’t want us to know,” Fluttershy was able to chime in. “We haven’t heard anything from Pinkie about it, and we think Applejack and Rainbow probably just want to avoid thinking about it.”

Twilight had opened her mouth to speak several times throughout their explanation, but her mind seemed to keep re-arranging her words on her, uncertain of how to express how she was absorbing– or failing to absorb – this brand new information.

“If it makes you feel better, I don’t think it’s gone past the six of us,” Fluttershy said. Then after a moment adding, “Oh, and I think Spike knows too.”

“Well, that’s just great,” Twilight grumbled.

“Sorry, darling, I assumed you already knew that we knew– but in any case, the question is why you did not think to try it again when you had him alone on the day you were telling us about?”

Twilight realized in the back of her mind that Rarity was probably trying to get her mind off the fact that apparently every pony knew that Discord had given Twilight her first kiss, and that it had been a trick to block her magic. It wasn’t exactly an easy thing to get past… but Twilight supposed she could come back to freaking out about it later.

“– I don’t know,” she answered lamely, deflating still from just how much her friends knew. “It… didn’t seem like the right time.”

“It was the PERFECT time!” Rarity shouted, almost whining outright. After a brief, awkward pause, the unicorn ahem'd politely and composed herself a bit, then continued: “I mean– it is incredibly strange on one hoof to feel so adamantly about it, but Twilight… you clearly wanted to do it.”

“Even from how much you were trying not to mention,” Fluttershy added.

“Especially because of that,” Rarity said. “You could have done it, yet you stopped yourself. Why?”

They were right about Twilight attempting to hold back on certain parts; to downplay her description of how she had been feeling during their discussion. Apparently she was more transparent than she wanted to be. The thing was, though– Twilight didn’t have a good answer. She still felt awkward expressing that a considerable part of her had wanted to, but she had held herself back.

“I guess I just… wanted to take things on my own terms.”

“But it isn’t as if you haven’t had opportunities since then,” Rarity inquired. “You mentioned that he was intending to travel, but I haven’t heard anything come of that.”

That hadn’t been Discord’s choice. It had been decided that he should hold off on that particular adventure until he had shown himself to be sufficiently acclimated to Ponyville. Twilight had found this unfair, but she could not overrule the princesses. It was only a month or so more before the spell had been in effect for a year. Twilight supposed she could see the symmetry of it, even if silently she felt Discord had proven himself enough times already.

“I think that might be coming soon,” she answered Rarity without acknowledging what her friend had actually suggested. Because honestly, there may have been just as ample opportunities during the intervening weeks that Twilight either missed or ignored. Perhaps not actually do anything, but at least to talk with him about the Cerberus-sized elephant in the room.

“Well then, I really do think that you should have this sorted out before he leaves,” Rarity nodded matter of factly.

“But, Rarity, it is a big decision, I can understand why Twilight might be waiting,” Fluttershy said, turning to Twilight. “And he’s been so patient waiting for you to decide what exactly you’re ready for.”

“Yes, but in my experience stallions can only wait for so long before they decide to move on,” Rarity added. “She’s already convinced him to not leave with only her words once. I’m not sure words by themselves would be enough if he wants to leave a second time.”

“Well, he isn’t exactly a normal stallion, and this isn’t a normal situation.” Fluttershy turned back to Rarity. “There’s more to worry about with them – it’s something that could have an affect on all of us. All of Equestria even, maybe.”

Twilight listened to her friends trade their opinions back and forth, wondering if they still felt like they were helping, since hearing the same uncertainties and insecurities come from their mouths just made them all the more real to her. And what Rarity had said… Twilight hadn’t even thought that she might be holding him back in that regard.

There was a certain absurdity to the conversation, to the very idea that she and Discord… that they... and especially that two of her friends not only accepted him, but that they were actually encouraging her to pursue this. Whatever this was.

As inexperienced in such things as she was, Twilight wasn't completely ignorant. She could sense a shift in their interactions, in the dynamic of their conversations. She knew what the rise of endorphin levels that coursed through her body were capable of.

The shiver down her spine when he brushed up against her, the dryness in her mouth when he whispered so very close to her ear, the near-electric tension that built up between them whenever their gazes locked for too long – Twilight knew there was a chemical, physical explanation.

The rest of it though – the other aspects of romantic love – were something she had always believed in... yet never fully believed was something that would actually happen to her.

She believed in romance as much as she believed in other concepts or ideas; friendship after all was merely a platonic version of that type of emotion.

Platonic however, was no longer what was between them, Twilight was coming to realize. No, they had left the shores of the platonic a while back, if they had ever really visited in the first place.

But just because Twilight knew what these feelings meant, it didn't mean she had to act on them, did it?

Whenever things began to feel overwhelming and she felt that her emotions might just carry her away, Twilight always managed to pull back. She always managed to rationalize it to herself afterwards, but her reasonings were most of the time flawed. In truth, they were mostly connected to her uncertainty. Not about Discord's trustworthiness as had once held her back, but of what giving in to these feelings might mean in the long run.

Discord - at least as far as Twilight could tell - held no such misgivings. His endorphins did not appear to cause him any hangups at all. It might have been because making her uncomfortable with his provocatively persistent closeness and snark-tinged velvety voice had been his style from the start, and he would hide any such nerves or anxiousness from her.

Twilight was not as adept at this.

Author's Note

Once it's up, here will be the author's notes.

2. What Happened and What Didn't pt. 2

To Twilight's relief, the rest of her spa visit with Rarity and Fluttershy passed by with no more talk about Discord or what Twilight should or shouldn't do about him. Her advice administered, Rarity had moved on to talk about the plans she had for her upcoming trip to Canterlot for fashion week, and Fluttershy updated them on the progress her nest of orphaned starling chicks she was raising had made. If either of them did want to press her further, they didn't show it.

The unicorn had parted from her friends cheerfully enough, and she did at least feel cleaner and more refreshed on the outside after the trip, but it wasn't exactly her outsides that were feeling so muddled in the first place.

In a way, she should feel relieved, now that she knew that at least two of her friends knew what she was feeling – or at least as much as she herself acknowledged – it should be a load off of her mind that they were so willing to be supportive. It shouldn't be making her feel even more uncertain.

Was she making things too complicated, as she tended to do? Twilight didn't think so this time, even Fluttershy had agreed with her on that point. But what about what Rarity had said, was her hesitation to actually decide what to do with these feelings being unfair to Discord?

She watched the sun set from her balcony, continuing the train of thought that had carried her home. Spike had seemed a little jumpy when she'd returned, but he told her it was nothing. She wanted to ask him about it, but he'd quickly disappeared to make himself some nachos.

Now the sky grew darker around her, and Twilight figured she should start making her way to Discord's castle. He'd said to come by around dusk, but not before then. It was an odd request, but that wasn't exactly out of character for him. She was curious about what he might be up to, but after the day she'd had – or conversations, really – Twilight wasn't as keen to be in his presence.

Discord was being patient, it was true. She was the one being unreasonable, Twilight knew. Well, maybe not unreasonable exactly, but she couldn't allow him to just stay nearby. Never to travel, as he'd mentioned wanting to do once the border spell was lifted. He was trusted now – for the most part – he shouldn't be held back from seeing everything this world had to offer. Twilight could see how she might be doing just that, whether or not she meant to. Telling him she wanted him to stay should have been easy, but it was one of the hardest 'easy' things she could think of. Almost like casting a spell. As easy as it looked, there were countless fluctuations and manipulations of the magical field at work even without the user's knowledge.

Now however, Twilight had to finally acknowledge in what capacity she wanted him to stay. Tonight, if she could. When she saw him. Just another not-at-all-difficult simple thing for her to do.

She watched the constellations begin to emerge as the sun disappeared. Now was the time, in several senses. Twilight took a deep breath of the ever-encroaching night air, letting it out slowly as her eyes turned again to the stars.

She caught sight of one as it fell, and as impractical as it might be, she thought about maybe making a wish on it, but that fleeting thought was forgotten as Twilight's eyes found another streak of light as another star fell. Then another. Pulled from her reverie, Twilight propped herself up on the railing for a better look as she scanned the sky. She watched with growing perplexity as yet another star began to fall. Swiftly she grabbed her telescope from beside her and peered through the eyepiece at the star's trajectory through the ever-darkening dusk.

All four of the stars appeared to have followed the same path, and from what Twilight could see they seemed to have come from the same place as well. Their journeys had ended beyond the horizon line, but following the line backwards lead her to a group of stars just to the right of the northernmost star. It was one of the larger constellations, the eight-legged horse Sleipnir. Now however, Twilight only counted seven.

For a brief moment, Twilight had figured Princess Luna had decided on some sort of surprise meteor shower, since those were usually announced before so that ponies could plan on seeing them, but there was no way that she would alter the look of the night sky in such a way to do that.

Twilight had been analyzing the magical fields relentlessly since the Cloudsdale incident, but this was the first real, tangible strange occurrence that Twilight had witnessed. A new resolve sprang forth within her, this had to be connected to the fluctuations she had been seeing. If she could just find a commonality between this and Cloudsdale, then Twilight might be closer than ever to finding the actual source.

Still knowing that she couldn't put off the inevitability of what she needed to do when she saw Discord, Twilight decided to take this new anomaly – and her books from the Crystal Empire – and set off for the Everfree to meet him. There was a chance that nearly all the answers that eluded her in the past weeks - and all the feelings that consumed her thoughts – could be sorted out tonight when she met with him. He would help her figure this out. One way or another.

Farther away at Discord’s base of decorations, he had noticed the falling stars as well, although they had not filled him with the same sense of curiosity and determination that they had for Twilight. His thoughts upon seeing them were more along the lines of; ‘oh crap’.

The cactus balloons he could ignore or pass off as an accident, but it was much more than he could hope for that Twilight (or some pony else) wouldn’t notice a whole constellation falling apart. He had a fairly close seat to where one of the huge balls of light might have landed, and had he not been able to catch it in time with his magic, Appleoosa would most likely be ‘smoking crater’-loosa.

Thankfully he was still powerful enough to catch it – along with the other four (although that had been a challenge) and pull them back up to where they were supposed to be. Of course something like this had to happen now when it was nearly time for Twilight to arrive. Something always had to gum up the works, didn’t it?

Because of course he’d had to fix it, he’d had to save the town and who knows how many ponies from wherever those other stars had been heading for. If he hadn’t, he knew exactly whom the princesses would blame for it. Him. Also a lot of ponies might have died, and that would have been unfortunate.

Grumbling at this new development and the delay it caused in his arrival to greet Twilight, he finished adjusting those four errant stars back into their proper places. There, good as new. Discord just had to hope that no pony had seen it, or if they had that they wouldn’t think anything of it.

It gave him an uneasy feeling to turn his back to those stars – he was almost expecting them to start falling again when he wasn’t looking.

Brushing away the inclination to look back up at that eight-legged problem one more time, he focused his thoughts on the night ahead of him, and on giving Ms. Sparky everything she deserved.

Her special book chair had lost a good chunk out of it almost immediately upon her entrance into Discord's castle. Twilight regretted this a little, since it was special to her - and just how sad it looked leaning at such an angle like that - but it was there for her to use and deconstructing it to get the books she wanted was a sacrifice she had to make.

She had placed them in front of her in a little semi circle, but hadn't really gotten to her mission of searching through them when she heard Discord arrive.

Her head snapped up immediately from the pages when she heard that familiar pop. She stood and turned toward him in one quick, fluid movement.

“Oh good, you're here,” she greeted him, still brightened with determination. He looked a bit surprised at her greeting, which was odd to her considering that Discord had invited her.

“Did you see the--- well, of course you did. You must have.” she stumbled a little over her words but not with her hooves as she approached him. ”Earlier, when I was at home, I saw another anomaly in the sky.”

His eyes widened slightly, but his voice didn't really sound at the level of surprise nor excitement as hers. “Oh, really?”

“Yes, and even though I don't yet have a definite connection yet, there has to be one. Discord, I really feel like I'm getting close to figuring out what all of this means.”

He pulled his arms behind his back and his eyes darted away from her eager smile. Twilight supposed she shouldn't have assumed that he would find this as exciting as she did.

“I must have missed it,” he answered. “I've been busy today with things of my own to really notice any anomalies, magical or not.”

Right, Twilight thought. The secret reason of his for wanting her to arrive at this specific time, and no sooner. She was still curious about that, yet at the same time she wanted to show Discord what she was talking about, hoping that maybe sharing this new information with him might elicit a reaction from him more closely resembling hers.

“I can assume whatever you were busy with was the reason I'm here now?” she asked.

Now Discord looked a little more enthused. “As a matter of fact, it was.”

“Is it alright if you let me show you what I'm talking about, and then you can show me what you've been up to?” she asked. She didn't want to be deterred, even if this wasn't exactly what she had initially come for.

Her request must have thrown him off of his plan for how things were supposed to be going tonight, for he paused a moment before answering her in a measured way, stroking his chin while still focusing his eyes somewhere other than on her. “I can't for the life of me imagine why that wouldn't be alright.”

“Okay...” she began with some hesitation. She tried to chalk up Discord's behavior as mere impatience at the delay in his plan. “It was something with the stars, they started falling out of a constellation in a way I've never seen before. If you could take us above the treeline I could show you.”

Almost before Twilight had even finished her request, Discord had snapped his claws and they were both immediately floating above the trees of the Everfree Forest, what must have been about ten meters up above the ground.

The sudden realization of her hooves seemingly standing on nothing so high up in the air should have probably concerned her more than it did, but while this was momentarily jarring, Twilight was used to Discord doing things like this by now.

She found Discord beside her, lounging on his back and looking mildly interested out at the starscape above them.

It took only a few moments for the unicorn to find the constellation she sought, and as she pointed it out to him she called over the wind that had begun to pick up. “There, the Sleipnir formation, do you see the gap there?”

But as she made sure Discord turned to see where she was pointing, she spotted the formation for herself for the first time since leaving Ponyville. She halted, squinting at the enormous constellation in the sky above her for no other reason than disbelief at what was there. Or rather, what used to not be there.

“The stars are back,” she said quietly to herself, the disbelief growing inside her. “But, but when I left, there was a gap there.”

Discord stared over at the now perfectly intact Sleipnir, and Twilight hoped he would think she was being crazy or make some sort of snide comment to that effect. Thankfully if he had thought something like that, he didn't say it out loud. He did seem to be biting his tongue.

She looked quickly from him to the stars, trying to reason out how this could have changed in the time between her departure from home and now.

“Maybe... maybe Princess Luna noticed the anomaly too, and she went ahead and fixed it before any pony else could notice,” she said. It was the most logical conclusion. If the princess was able to do it, that is.

“Yes... That' sounds plausible,” Discord agreed, but over the wind it sounded a bit more like he was humoring her. “Let's all be thankful for Princess Luna.”

He then clapped his mismatched front limbs together, rubbing the paw and claw together expectantly. “Well, it looks like everything got solved without your having to worry. At least those stars didn't fall anywhere unfortunate, and old Sleipnir still has all his legs.”

The sound of his clapping had gotten her attention, pulling her from the fresh batch of speculation that had sprung up at this new development. It didn't sit right with her that it had evidently fixed itself, or if Princess Luna had, that she hadn't noticed her doing so.

But a large soft paw had extended towards her , and Twilight's eyes followed it to where Discord smiled with his own expectation. This detour now past, he of course was more than ready to get to the rest of the evening.

“So, if you would so kindly come with me, Ms. Sparky.”

His persistence probably should not have been as endearing as Twilight found it at that moment, and maybe on another night when they actually had something for him to accomplish, it wouldn't be. But the question in her mind pertaining to the stars dulled at his offered paw. With his playful smile returned, it seemed much more in the line of anticipation than impatience.

Whatever it was he wanted her to see, he really wanted her to see it, even more than she had wanted to show him this. Her smile grew in return, as Twilight's thoughts slipped back to wondering what exactly Discord had in mind.

She placed her hoof in his paw and as he took it, they were transported yet again. For a moment Twilight had no idea to where Discord had brought her, mostly because she barely recognized it.

Dusk had long since settled over the sandy dunes that surrounded Discord's second favorite home. The landscape turning almost blue in the fading light, while the sky gave up its last remaining colors from what was probably a spectacular sunset. This was the surrounding area of course, for in the immediate vicinity of where Discord had transported them, Twilight could see none of this.

Tiny flecks of light shimmered from the ground, hundreds of star-like beams shone upwards from beneath her hooves. A school of iridescent fish swam through the air in a fixed pattern around them, and Twilight watched their progress past a familiar-looking pony scarecrow wearing a very familiar hat. It looked exactly like the hat of StarSwirl the Bearded, bells and all.

There were a few other quite recognizable items, not the least of which a large, ornate fountain spraying twin streams of water down over its four tiered pools.

“The Fountain of Fair Fortune?” she commented in a half-question, wondering at how it looked exactly as her old story book had depicted it. But that was merely an illustration, it wasn't an actual, real thing...

Discord noticed the question in her tone, and his smile became a touch more mischievous. “I took the liberty of borrowing from some your books. Things like Starswirl's hat are easy to depict since they're the same in every illustration in every book, but for fictional stories like that pony tale about this fountain... I may have borrowed from your personal copy.”

That explained how it appeared almost as if Discord had plucked her idea of the fountain from her own mind, it had been an illustration in a book from her fillyhood, one of the few foal's tales collections she still owned, and one of the books that had followed her from her old home in Canterlot to Celestia's school to Ponyville.

The clusters of stars lighting the ground were more concentrated near the fountain, so even in the growing darkness Twilight could see it. She took notice of all of these alterations Discord had made to the desert, but at seeing this, such a personal nod clearly meant for her, she suddenly realized that this entire setting was meant for her as well... and she didn't know what to say.

So she settled for stating the obvious.

“This is new,” she cringed at herself, but recovered when she turned from the fountain to face him again. “Is there... any particular reason you made these?”

“Do I really have a reason for everything I do?” he said, but answered her almost immediately. “In this case though, I do have one. This is just a little something to show my gratitude to you, and to celebrate a bit for the entire year I've been able to enjoy thanks to you.”

“Well, mostly enjoy, it hasn't all been a glass of chocolate milk,” he added. “But it could have been even worse without your help.”

Twilight blinked, mentally tabulating the days. Had it really been a year since she had discovered him hiding out in the Everfree, since their first actual, real conversation and his steps toward understanding? Since that little trick of his that according to Fluttershy and Rarity every single one of her closest friends knew about now?

It would be difficult – especially after her talk with her two friends at the spa – to see this picturesque scene that Discord had manipulated into being for her and fail to sense the atmosphere of it all. Of course she wondered how much of its ambiance might be lost on her if Rarity's words weren't still singing through her mind, perhaps tinting things in a slightly different way.

It very well could be that he just wanted to give her something special to thank her for all she'd done for him, to acknowledge how far they had come to become real friends... or it could be that plus something else, the implications of which Twilight felt her well-trained mind attempting to skip over.

“Oh, it wasn't all because of me, and you know it,” she managed to say without sounding awkward. She tried to enjoy the scenery for what it was, and not for what Discord may or may not want it to be.

Discord at least didn't act like he noticed her preoccupation, although Twilight assumed he was just attempting politeness.

“That is true, I suppose. It was my idea to give up a piece of my power so your friends might believe you that I wasn't there to do anything to them, or your world.”

“How hard a decision was that to make, I never asked,” Twilight said, grabbing onto the topic for something else to ponder.

“At the time, I don't think I knew the magnitude of it, but it was something that could possibly save my skin and prove you right. It seemed like a win-win. There are times when I miss it---” he caught sight of her questioning look. “But I don't regret it, and I wouldn't take it back today if you offered. Not that you'd know how to.”

As he lead her closer to the fountain, Twilight spotted a small table adorned with two place settings and a single candle. If Twilight wanted to continue under the presumption that this was a merely a thankful gesture, this was not helpful to keeping it up.

Her chair slid out for her on its own, and back in towards the table after she sat. Discord was already in his chair, his glass full of chocolate milk as usual. Twilight noticed her own glass had filled as well, and after a sniff she found it to be some sort of darkly colored punch.

From her seat now she could see another figure, a statue of a griffon wearing a crown. She had seen that once in a book as well, but that was a real and tangible thing, a relic from Griffonstone across the sea. She had a the briefest jolt of panic that that might be the *actual statue and not a replica, but Twilight calmed herself before she blurted out her question. It had to be a copy, she'd give him the benefit of the doubt.

She thought she could also spot another odd addition; tiny billywigs fluttering in and out of sight in the light provided by the stars underhoof. Their small, iridescent wings and the faint kazoo sound they made gave them away. But they could only be seen in the southernmost parts of Equestria, not here in this desert.

But that set her mind back to the Sleipnir constellation, and the subject of the anomalies that she still wanted to discuss.

“Discord, I know you didn't get a chance to see what I was talking about, but I do feel like it's more than enough proof that something funny is still happening. It hasn't been too long since then, but I figured that with Tartarus sealed, things would be completely back to normal. Although there are some anomalies in the magical fields I've been analyzing around Ponyville, do you think that's—-”

“Probably nothing to worry about,” Discord hand waved her concern with possibly a bit more assurance than was expected. “It could take some time for the magical fields and whatnot to normalize after something like that, I wouldn't concern myself with it.”

“Well, I think I should concern myself with it,” Twilight said, a little bit thankful to find something to disagree with him about. That was something she was used to permeating the spectacle and maybe-possibly romantic atmosphere. “I don't want what happened with Cloudsdale to happen anywhere else. No offense, but a bit fewer crazy things going on would be a welcome change.”

“No offense taken,” Discord answered, looking a bit preoccupied... more than a bit really, but perhaps that was his concern that she wasn't enjoying herself she was sensing.

“This is lovely though,” she affirmed, watching how the floor-stars' reflections rippled in the bottom pool of the fictional fountain. “This kind of change is fine by me.” Twilight wondered if maybe that was too far, that she was enjoying the ambiance a little too much, but Discord's genuine smile at her complimenting his work sent another sort of ripple through her that made her glad to get a little swept away.

She wanted to be cautious, but she had to admit this was nice, just the two of them, and what felt like a long stretch of silence followed where the only sounds were the trickling of the fountain.

Another billywig flitted in and out of sight near Discord's ear, and the sound of it made her able to look back up from her plate and the untouched daisy sandwich that now sat there.

Twilight smirked at how his ear twitched a bit when it flew past, for the rest of him seemed to take no notice. His focus was almost completely on her, drinking in her every reaction to their surroundings and – it appeared to Twilight – just bursting to say something but having some difficulty.

She wasn't sure what to do about that, it was a rare thing for Discord to have trouble with his words.

“Is everything alright over there?” Twilight asked after another stretch of silence, she leaned in a bit closer in an encouraging manner, and the trickle of the fountain broke through the silence in an almost deafening way.

Finally, after Twilight had finished her punch and Discord had downed five chocolate milks in that same time, he began with a clearing of his throat.

“Well Ms. Sparky, you know that I had every intention on heading out on a tour of this little plane of yours, once I was free of these restrictions.”

“I did,” Twilight answered, not mentioning that this was something she could have guessed that he might want to bring up now. She probably should have known this conversation was coming, but that didn't stop her mind from jumping to all of the possible conclusions that this conversation might be heading.

Fireflies had started to emerge and congregate near the top of the fountain,some hovered close to the table just over their heads, some were floating in and out between Discord's missmatched antlers, and all were flashing in almost perfect synchronization. Twilight couldn't help but let herself get distracted by their dance. That was yet another thing that one could only see in another part of Equestria. Another wonder of the world that Discord could so easily visit now.

All of this beauty that surrounded them, it had a theme. Not only to thank and possibly impress her, but Twilight could see another pattern. These were things that could only be seen in a few and quite far apart geographical locations.

With how he had this all lain out before her, this conversation -this special meeting – could only be leading to one of two outcomes. Either Discord was telling her he was leaving for this trip to see things things in their natural environments on his own... or he was going to offer to let her to go with him.

The realization of this dawned on her before Discord could even finish speaking, and as she thought of it she had opened her mouth to stop him from doing so. Because in all honesty she wasn't certain which outcome she would prefer. She locked eyes with him again, and a smile grew on her face in spite of her uncertainty.

He just looked so pleased with himself, but not in his usual 'oh my Ms. Sparky do I know more than you' way. He seemed almost proud, proud of what he had made here for her,and eager for something new to happen after all of this time stuck in his assigned places. It warmed her heart to see him so hopeful. She didn't want to spoil that.

So instead of halting him or answering the question she now was coming to the conclusion he was about to ask before he had even done so she asked instead; “How---how far were you planning to go?”

“As far as I am allowed to, really,” he said. “It may be that other countries might not be so accommodating as Equestria were I to venture through them, though. Despite my having the okay of the only nation run by two demigods.”

“And I suppose you aren't intending to travel alone?” she asked, allowing him a lead-in to just go ahead and ask, even though Twilight herself still did not know what her answer might be.

“If I could avoid it, I think I'd rather not, you are correct,” he answered. “I was hoping that I could persuade you to join me.”

And there it was. The question that all of this had been leading up to. Twilight didn't know what to say, how to answer, because her first impule was to hesitate, and hesitation was not going to force an answer that he wanted to hear.

She eventually concluded with asking her own question.

"Would... would you still go without me, if I chose not to?"

Nope, not what he had been wanting to hear at all. She could see him falter, and then rush to recover.

“I admit, I might have to reconsider. Traveling alone wouldn't be half as fun.”

She wasn't really doing this again, was she? She wasn't telling him to stay again with her.

No, she really wasn't. Twilight didn't want to hold him back, to stop him from leaving because she knew that was what he wanted, and whether or not she wanted to go – or felt she could go – that shouldn't matter. That shouldn't stop Discord from leaving. Why was she so evidently crucial to his decision making process? He was a being far older than her, far more powerful than her, and who had seen far more things than Twilight ever had. Or ever would... and yet Discord continued to consider her opinion so important, he held her word in such high regard. She had so much sway over him – this ancient, powerful, frustratingly fascinating creature that he was – and yet she could affect him so profoundly, why?

Silly question, Twilight remarked to herself. She knew why, or rather she thought she did. This bond that they had, her connection to him, it came with so much responsibility, an exorbitant amount. It was almost too much responsibility... Twilight wasn't sure she could handle such power. She didn't want to hurt him with it. Like she feared she might have to now.

“I... I don't think you should limit yourself now just because you might have to go by yourself, not when you're at the threshold of getting everything you have ever wanted since making this whole agreement,” she added with even more hesitation. How Twilight wished that she could better articulate her feelings about this. In a way that didn't sound as if she didn't want him around. Because she did, she had come to count on it, honestly.

“I think the list of everything I have ever wanted since the start of all this has been altered quite significantly, Ms. Sparky.”

“But Discord, this is a wonderful chance for you to expand your horizons even further, but possibly reach a level of understanding with the ponies of this world like never before.”

“And wouldn't that be just so fascinating to see unfold with your own eyes?” he asked, trying again to persuade her. “Admit it, it could be the trip of a lifetime, for both of us. If you don't go with me, who will reprimand me for being culturally insensitive for insulting some pony's weirdly shaped headwear or eating the food they left their dead ancestors?”

“You wouldn't actually do that, would you?”

“Well it's not like their ancestors would actually be able to eat it, would they? They wouldn't need it.”

“Neither would you,” Twilight said.

“See? This is exactly the kind of fun back and forth we might have if you came along with me,” The grin he had been sporting so playfully finally began to falter. “But of course, if you truly do not wish to, I suppose I understand.”

Twilight could tell he was playing at being hurt to cover up that he actually was. To what extent he really wanted her to go, Twilight couldn't tell, but she figured it was much more than he was letting on.

“Discord, it isn't a matter of wanting to go---” she began, not entirely sure how to end that sentence. The unicorn thought she saw a flicker of that hope in his eyes again for a moment, and it caused her an ache that she might have to snuff it out again. Because it wasn't a matter of that, a very large part of her wanted to go. There was a prominent and very loud voice in her head screaming in agreement of his words that this would indeed be a very unique opportunity. To travel the world – or at least all of Equestria – escorting and helping a being who had never been there before around new territories, areas that would be alien to the both of them. Something new that they could experience together, just the two of them.

But the other, more practical side of Twilight was louder still, and it was caught in a shouting match with her other part. She couldn't go, she couldn't leave Ponyville for so long, not when she felt she was so close to a breakthrough in those anomalies... that was of the utmost importance. And her friends... she couldn't leave her friends for such a long, undetermined amount of time. For traveling the country if not the world would surely take months... and then there were her feelings for him. Feelings that needed to be sorted out, figured out before she could make a decision like this. For she had to be certain she wanted the power of being so important to some pony... to be a part of that 'everything' that he might want. If indeed she was, which it was being made more and more clear to her that she was.

And that was what might have scared her the most. Did Twilight really want to be some pony's everything? Was she ready to be what Discord wanted of her, and what she was hesitant to admit she might want of him?

He was the spirit of chaos, a being far more powerful than she, from another plane of existence entirely. And she had been his first friend, that in and of itself was a daunting thing to be, but to also be his first love? For her to hold that much sway over him was just more than Twilight could consider. Like the wild, chaotic magic he had given her, that prospect was something she had no idea what to do with or if she could handle it and she wasn't sure she wanted the responsibility.

No, it wasn't fair to him. If she still wasn't certain,then she had no right to hold him back. For some reason though,she couldn't bring herself to tell him that. All that she could form into actual, audible words were excuses. Ones she thought -or hoped -might be less painful than the truth of her own turbulent emotions.

“I---I can't, Discord. I'm just so close to figuring out what has been going on with these anomalies and the magical field. I should really stay in Ponyville to keep up the analysis.”

“But you needn't, I told you that they were noting to worry about, or don't you believe me?”

“It's not about believing you,Discord. I just feel like it is my duty to keep track of this activity and tell the princesses if I think they could become a problem.”

“But is isn't as if they asked you to do so,” Discord commented

“They didn't have to. This is important to me, Discord. I feel like I need to do it.”

“Well, forgive me for thinking that I might have grown to become important to you as well.”

Twilight could feel the blow from those words deep inside her. “That's not fair, Discord. This could be for the benefit of all of pony kind. I thought you understood that.”

“Everything is always for the good of pony kind, isn't it?” he fired back. “Is it really for the good of all ponies that you won't go? What is it you want, Ms. Sparky, forget all of pony kind for a moment and think about what you want.”

“I have, Discord,” she answered, even more hurt now at the idea that he thought she didn't want to go, that she didn't really care for him, when it was just the opposite. “And this isn't about me, or you.”

“But what if it was?” he blurted out, then looked momentarily surprised with himself for some reason.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“What if--- you know what, never mind. You have already made up your mind about this. You enjoyed the evening, I hope? But you won't go with me, fine. I suppose I shouldn't stick around to impede your work.” he rose from his seat determinedly. “I suppose I will just have to go it alone for my trip. Which is fine, it isn't as if I haven't had practice at being alone.”

“Discord, don't be like that,” Twilight tried to reconcile now, hoping to calm him before one of them said more things they might regret later. She especially didn't want the evening he spent so much effort on to be tainted by this.

“No, no, It's fine, Twilight. Again, I do sincerely hope you have enjoyed this evening, for if I leave tomorrow this might be the last you will see of me for quite some time,Twilight..”

“Tomorrow?” she said, taken aback.

“No time like the present,” he said,although a little wooden. “I have enjoyed your company, Twilight. But I do think it is getting late and I feel like I should get an early start tomorrow.”

And with that, they were back in his darkened castle hall.

“I shall bid you goodnight and farewell,” he said, giving a slight and stilted bow.

“Discord...” Twilight began her apology, but wasn't certain what she could say that might fix the situation, that might get him to see that -while she did care about him possibly more than she let on – that this was something she simply had to do, not t mention her uncertainties about what being so important to him in return could mean.

He didn't respond, he kept his pose as if waiting for her to leave to move again. Her hurt and confusion turned to indignation. Fine, if he was going to be that way.

She turned away from him and marched back out of the door without another word to him. She tried to dispel her blurry vision as tears began to form. She would remain strong. This would all blow over. He wouldn't really leave tomorrow without at least saying goodbye, right? He wouldn't want t leave things like this, would he? He wouldn't want these to be their last moments together.

Trying to comfort herself with these assurances, Twilight made for home with a swift teleportation spell.

It wasn't terribly long after Twilight had arrived back at the library looking very upset but refusing to let Spike in on whatever had happened with Discord that Spike was again visited by the draconequus.

Spike had only followed her upstairs to make sure that she was alright, but even though she assured him that was the case, her mutterings about needing space to think and her continued refusal to divulge any information told him otherwise.

She had rushed off to bed with barely a goodnight, and the dragon tried not to take it personally as he prepared himself for sleep as well. That was until Discord popped in again, this time with no tricks, but also no fanfare.

“Discord, what the hay happened tonight?” Spike asked, whispering but still accusatory. “I don't know what has Twilight so upset but whatever it is it must have been something to do with your surprise. Did she not like it, did you guys have a fight?”

Discord raised a hand to silence him, glancing around the room and then upwards toward the second floor. He matched Spike's tone as he spoke.

“That's not really why I'm here, and I don't exactly have the biggest want to get into it right now, Spike. But where is Twilight at the moment?”

“She's upstairs in bed, but I dunno if she's asleep yet.”

In a moment, a shimmering force field bubble sprung up around the two of them, filling nearly the entire bottom floor.

“There now, she won't be able to hear anything,” Discord spoke in his normal volume.”

“What exactly do you not want her to hear, and why am I not surprised that you want her to not hear something after you two had a fight.”

”We didn't have a fight,” Discord corrected him, though a bit too forcefully. “Just a--- a disagreement brought on by something that is evidently out of my control.”

“And I guess you don't want to talk about it with me, either?” Spike crossed his arms, thinking about Twilight's brush-off. “You know I'm here if you need to talk. Maybe a little guy talk could help, and I am your only guy friend. Just... promise not to go into too much detail. Twilight is like my sister after all.”

Discord sighed and gave a short but grateful smile. “Were things different, I’d very much enjoy a little friendly fraternal bonding with you, and perhaps if things--- but never mind. I’ll cut to the chase; although I do admit knowing that Twilight made it home safely is comforting, there is an ulterior motive for my being here.”

Spike figured that ulterior were some of the more natural types of motives for Discord to have, but he guessed that he’d give his friend the benefit of the doubt. The guy was new at this and all.

“Yours is the main form of correspondence between the princesses and Twilight, is it not?” Discord asked, and right off the bat Spike did not like where this was going.

“Uh, yeah…”

Discord continued despite Spike’s hesitant response. “Might I rightly assume that there have not been any letters for Twilight from Celestia today?”

“Not that I know of,” Spike answered. “Why?”

“Oh, no reason,” he said with a nonchalance that did not convince Spike in the slightest. “Just wondering. That’s an important part of your job, isn’t it? And it’s normal for friends to take an interest in their friends’ work.”

“I guess so,” Spike said, but more in a way that he wanted to convey to Discord to just get to his point.

“And you know I do consider you a friend, Pony Boy---”

“Yeah, and it’s a big honor,” Spike stopped Discord so he could get them to the point of his visit just a bit faster. “You know I count you as a friend too, but I also know that you’re obviously here to ask for something - which by the way isn’t the main point of friendship but I’ll let it slide - so if it’s okay with you go ahead and just ask me.”

Discord looked a little miffed that he wasn’t able to make it to his question at his own circular pace, but he appeared to take his acknowledgement of their friendship into account and accommodate him.

“Alright, you’re right. There is something I wanted to ask of you,” he said, now only stalling it seemed to find the right words.

“There might come a time in the near future when you receive a letter from Celestia for Twilight, maybe even more than one,” Discord had brought his tail up to one side and was just barely stroking the end with his claw. “Is there any way that those letters might… get lost on their way?”

Spike arched an eyebrow. “You mean could I make sure they get lost, like on purpose?” he actually felt insulted at the idea. “Nuh uh, sorry Discord. No way. That would go against my Dragon Code, and plus that would be a betrayal to both the princess and to Twilight.”

Discord had looked questioningly at him when he’d mentioned his dragon code, but other than that Discord acted like this hadn’t been anything of real importance to him, which he really should have known wouldn’t work. Why would he be here if this wasn’t important to him?

“Well, I suppose that was expected,” he said. “Your loyalty to them would trump any camaraderie we’ve formed. I just thought I’d ask.” He glanced back over to Spike from where he still stood, his eyes not really looking at him until now.

“I’ll see you around then, Spike,” he gave a nod to the dragon with a masking smile. “It should go without saying, but I would ask you not to mention this to Twilight, if you would.”

And without being able to ask him anything else, Discord vanished.

Author's Note

Unedited or proofread by another person at the time of posting.