An Alternate Ending to A Canterlot Wedding

by MeadowRosePony

Rating: everyone
Tags: Random, Discord, Alternate Universe, Twilight Sparkle, Main 6, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Princess Cadance, Comedy, Adventure, Shining Armor
Length: 60930

An alternate ending to 'A Canterlot Wedding'. What if all of the drama caused Discord to awaken?

Discord is awakened by all of the drama from the changeling attack on Shining Armor's and Princess Cadance's wedding. Twilight Sparkle can't shake the whispers in the back of her head causing her to doubt her friends and family. Will Shining Armor and Cadance ever get to say 'I Do'? And what will become of Equestria?
Probably Chaos...

Published 2015-06-17 14:50:02 UTC
Last updated 2018-01-07 07:09:42 UTC

The wedding

Twilight Sparkle covered her eyes. The strength of Princess Cadance’s and Shining Armor’s love for each other created a blinding wave of magic, blasting the invading changelings far away from Canterlot, and hopefully, all of Equestria.

The sheer force of it was overpowering. Not even the Changeling Queen’s scream of rage could be heard over the power of their spell. Her cries were carried away, along with all of her plans of domination.

Within seconds, it was over.

Twilight lowered her hooves cautiously. Her ears were still ringing from the magical overload, despite the wave of power not being directed at her. Just being in such close proximity to such powerful magic was enough to leave her horn tingling and her head fuzzy. Twilight now had a new sense of appreciation for all of her old magic instructors.

Twilight blinked the last of the spots out of her vision as the pink glow faded from the room. All around her, ponies were stumbling to their hooves as they were freed from their slimy prisons.

Twilight smiled as relief washed through her.

Princess Celestia, her mentor and one of the rulers of Equestria broke free from the cocoon she had been imprisoned in, somehow managing to appear graceful and serene even when pulling away from green goop. As the last slimy tendrils freed her legs, helped along with a few strategic beams of magic, Princess Celestia turned her attention to Shining Armor and Cadance.

Princess Cadance fairly gleamed with love. The scrapes and bruises she had endured from her time in the crystal caverns had all been magically washed away, until she looked every bit the beautiful princess she was.

With the magical residue from their spell still shimmering around her, Cadance was truly breathtaking. Everypony in the room was standing in awe of her.

Not that Cadance noticed any of that. All of her attention was focused on the stallion standing by her side.

Shining Armor, Captain of the Royal Guards and soon-to-be prince-consort had also felt the effects of the spell. All of the signs of fatigue and stress that had clouded his past few weeks had vanished as he shone of the love he shared with Cadance. As Shining Armor stared into Cadance’s eyes and held her tightly, neither of them noticed Twilight standing off to the side.

Alone.

Twilight’s smile faltered. All around her, ponies were picking each other off the ground and hugging as they were reunited with their friends and families.

And yet, nopony reached for her. It was like she was alone in a crowd of ponies.

Twilight peered over the crowd, searching for her friends.

Alone. Why?

Twilight shook her head. A sense of sadness washed over her.

‘Why?’ Twilight wondered, repeating the voice speaking in her head. ‘Everypony’s safe now. That horrible ‘Princess Mi Amore Cadenza’ was a fake. And evil! I was right! I saved the real Cadance, the changelings are gone, and my brother’s not about to marry an evil queen bent on taking over all of Equestria. Everything on the saving-the-day checklist is complete, so why do I still feel like something’s wrong?’

Twilight looked around, but she didn’t see anything to explain the sense of dread spreading over her.

‘Everypony is happy. Shouldn’t I be happy, too?’

The room full of celebrating ponies suddenly seemed claustrophobic. Everypony was celebrating happily, as if they didn’t have a care in the world.

Because they don’t. The day was saved. That’s all they care about.

Do they even remember who was suspicious of ‘Princess Mi Amore Cadenza’ in the first place? Or who saved the true Princess Cadance?

Not to mention saving Shining from making the biggest mistake of his life! Do I hear a thank-you?

It’s like they don’t even care…

Twilight shook her head. ‘No, that’s not true. They do care about me. My friends apologized… well Applejack did…. But she probably spoke for everypony! And Shining Armor and Princess Celestia just haven’t had a chance to speak with me yet. I’m sure they’ll apologize too, after things quiet down. It’s not like it’s their fault Chrysalis fooled them. She fooled everypony.’

Everypony?

Twilight winced. At some point during her internal argument, she had developed a headache. “I need some air.” Twilight said to nopony in particular. Nopony seemed to be paying any attention to her anyway.

Twilight headed towards the open doors, hoping a stroll through the gardens would help clear her mind. Twilight rubbed her head. Her thoughts were going around in so many circles, she was getting dizzy.

It was such a thick crowd that it was slow going. Twilight had only managed a few paces when she felt a hoof on her shoulder. First assuming that somepony had just bumped into her, again, she attempted to shrug it off.

When the hoof didn’t move, Twilight turned and looked into the smiling face of her old foal-sitter and soon-to-be sister-in-law Princess Cadance.

“Where are you going, Twilight?” Cadance asked. “You have a wedding to plan!"

“Oh… right!” Twilight said, pasting a happy smile on her face. Focus. Twilight took a calming breath.

“Girls!” Twilight called over the crowd her natural organizations skills shoving her doubts to the back of her mind. (In the overanalyze later folder, to be exact)

Rarity was the first to appear, evidently having been right behind Cadance. Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy followed shortly after Rainbow Dash, having taking the slightly longer, (but more socially-acceptable) approach of walking through the crowd, rather than flying over it.

“Spike! Take a note.” Twilight said as Spike appeared from behind Rarity. His tiny legs put him at a disadvantage to crowd maneuvering. “First things first. We need to clean up this mess.”

“Rainbow Dash, could you please remove everything sticking to the walls and windows? And the ceiling. And we need anything broken removed. Just make this place suitable for a wedding again.”

“On it!” Rainbow saluted and flew off, pulling down pieces of goo and pastry as she went. Or at least, trying to. Apparently she had forgotten how sticky the slime was, because it just stuck to her hooves.

Twilight was about to suggest the use of a rag and bucket of water, when a pair of ponies (castle maids, if their uniforms were anything to go by) flew up to help Rainbow.

Twilight shrugged, turning back to her checklist in the making. It looked like they had it under control. On to the next task.

“Rarity, could you help the princesses get ready? Oh, and all the dresses and suits need mending. And I’m pretty sure Cadance would like a new wedding dress.”

Cadance nodded and stepped forward.

“Why of course, darling!” Rarity said, completely overshadowing whatever it was that Cadance had meant to say. “Spike? Be a dear and fetch me my sewing basket, please.”

“Y-yes, Rarity!” Spike said, already running towards the stairs as fast as his legs would carry him.

“If Your Royal Highnesses would follow me?” Rarity started herding the princesses out of the wedding hall. “Let’s get you both looking absolutely fabulous!”

Princess Celestia and Cadance shared a quick smile as they let themselves be led from the hall.

Twilight turned to Fluttershy, “Since you know all about sewing, could you help Rarity, please?”

“Well… uh, I would love to… but… um…” Fluttershy bit her lip and glanced towards the quivering birds huddling just outside.

“After you take care of all the animals, that is.” Twilight said.

Fluttershy gave a grateful smile and nodded before slowly approaching her critter friends.

“Applejack, could you start on the buffet? It looks like most of the food was blown up, what with how much frosting is on the walls.” Twilight frowned, looking around at the confection splattered walls in disbelief.

“On it, sugarcube.” Applejack said, already trotting in the direction of the castle kitchens.

“Pinkie Pie, could you… Pinkie…?” Twilight trailed off as she spotted Pinkie Pie already redecorating the entire castle. …and using her tongue to clean up any stray frosting splatters that Rainbow Dash and her cleaning crew had missed.

“Ok, then.” Twilight said, shaking her head.

Soon everypony in the castle was hard at work getting ready for the royal wedding. Again. Only this time, they were smiling and laughing as they worked for Princess Cadance spread happiness and joy wherever she went.

Everypony that is, but Twilight. As hard as she tried to be happy for Cadance and her brother, and focus on making their wedding perfect, she couldn’t escape the nagging voice in her head.

‘Why didn’t they trust me?’ Twilight wondered as she checked on the buffet with Cadance and Applejack.

Why hasn’t she said anything? Her mind whispered as she consulted with Princess Celestia on the schedule.

“Didn’t even tell me he was getting married.” Twilight grumbled to herself on the way to check on Fluttershy’s progress with the song birds. The constant questions rattling around Twilight’s brain were beginning to irritate her. And the now throbbing headache wasn’t helping either. Twilight could feel her temper rising, until it was a struggle to keep smiling. Not that anypony noticed. They were much too busy with preparations for the royal wedding.

“Just like they were too busy to notice Cadance had been replaced by an evil imposter bent on destroying our world and consuming everyponies’ love.” Twilight muttered to herself as she stood for Rarity to stich the hemline on her gown.

“What was that, darling?” Rarity asked around a mouthful of pins, distracted by trying to find the spool of thread she had originally used for the dress.

“Nothing!” Twilight said, jolted out of her thoughts. “Did you look over there?” Twilight pointed to a random corner of the room.

“Ah! Thank you, darling!” Rarity exclaimed, finding the missing spool under a roll of fabric. Twilight gave a silent sigh as Rarity sewed up her hem with a few quick stitches.

Finally, everything on Twilight’s list had been checked off and everypony was putting on their newly repaired fancy dresses and suits with just an hour until the ceremony.

Everypony that is, besides the bestmare, Twilight Sparkle. She was stalking out of the castle, having left a simple note on her bed stating that she was not going to the wedding.

It’s not like anypony will even notice…

Twilight snorted moodily as she made her way across the castle grounds. She was almost to the castle gates when rapid hoofsteps sounded behind her.

“Twilight! Twilight!” Shining Armor called as he ran to his little sister, levitating the note behind him. His long strides quickly brought him alongside Twilight.

“Hey Twily.” Shining Armor said gently as he walked alongside Twilight. “Where are you going?”

Twilight kept her eyes focused in front of her as she walked.

“Why don’t you want to come to the wedding?” Shining Armor asked, worry evident in his tone. He placed a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder, bringing her to a stop.

“I’d really like you to be there. You’re my sister,” Shining Armor said with a reassuring smile, “and my bestmare!”

That’s not what he said before.

Twilight shook her head and duked away from his hoof. “No.” She said softly. “I’m not.”

“Twilight?” Shining Armor asked, his smile dropping as his brow furrowed in concern.

“You made it pretty clear you didn’t want me at the wedding.” Twilight said bitterly. “In fact, you made it pretty clear you didn’t want to see me at all!” Twilight swiped tears away roughly.

“Twilight, I-“ Shining Armor started, reaching out his hoof.

“No!” Twilight shouted and backed out of his reach, her volume surprising them both. “You forgot about me and didn’t listen to me! Would I even know about the wedding if Princess Celestia hadn’t asked me and my friends to help?!” Twilight shouted. “You never even cared enough to write me a note!”

“Twilight…” A soft voice interrupted her.

Twilight spun around to see Cadance, Princess Celestia and her friends all standing behind her. She was so upset, she hadn’t even heard them approach.

“Twilight,” Cadance repeated gently, “please calm down and talk to us.”

“Twilight, your anger is blinding you.” Princess Celestia said, walking slowly towards her student.

Who was blind?

Twilight’s eyes flashed as she curtly turned her back on her mentor.

“I’m sorry Cadance.” Twilight said. “I tried to plan you a great wedding and I hope you’ll be happy but I… I just can’t.”

A blinding flash of magic enveloped Twilight as she teleported away.

What Happened?

Twilight blinked and wearily shook her head in a futile attempt to rid it of its pounding.

"Where am I?" She wondered as she looked around her, getting more confused as she took in the faded walls and torn curtains covering the sides of a beautiful sunset. "Wait a minute..."

She trotted over to wall, tripping over the cracked and uneven stones making up the floor. Tumbling head over hooves she landed right under the sunset. On closer inspection, she realized that it wasn’t a real sunset. Just a realistic painting framed with curtains to look like a window.

Looking closer, she saw a rope tucked behind one of the curtains. It looked like an old drawstring, like the ones they used to use in olden times to summon servants.

"I wonder what this does?" She murmured to herself, pulling the rope... and jumping away from the painting with a gasp as it suddenly changed to show a night sky. Again she tugged on the rope and again the picture changed, this time revealing a morning sunrise.

“Extraordinary!” She exclaimed. "This must be ancient magic! It’s so realistic and yet it changes with a simple pull on the cord." She pulled once again and the picture changed to a midday sun and the whole room became filled with light.

“Whoa!” Twilight gasped. The room itself was certainly old and crumbling, -or as Rarity would say- in need of a good makeover. But what was inside it was extraordinary!

There was an overstuffed armchair that wasn’t even a little faded. In front of the chair was an old rug, beautifully embroidered with the Equestrian emblem. Large pillows surrounded the rug, giving it the look of Story Time corner in the Golden Oaks Library. A globe and ancient time glass sat on an antique desk, not entirely unlike the one Miss. Cheerilee used in the Ponyville school. Against the far wall was a low table, just the right height for school fillies. On top of it were wooden blocks carved in the shapes of numbers and letters. And in the back corner she found, ‘Wonder of wonders!’ a bookcase filled with scrolls and texts.

"That’s strange." Twilight said. "Most of these books are old foals' tales and reading primers, but some of them are advanced magic scrolls and early history reports." She picked up one of the larger scrolls and unrolled it.

*cough cough* Twilight choked on the dust that came off the ancient scroll. "Really early history reports. These are before the founding of Equestria. And they look like field reports!" She looked back at the bookcase. "What were they doing next to old school books?"

Moving over to the strange window/ picture thing to read the scroll in better light, she suddenly tripped. Looking down she saw that she had stepped on a small doll. She set the scroll back on the bookcase and picked up the doll to examine it.

Unlike the rest of the items in this room, which were old but in decent shape, this doll was obviously well loved. Its gray felt was faded and its purple mane was torn and ragged. As she turned the doll over she noticed a rough seam on the one side where a small hoof had repaired one of the little pegasus doll’s wings.

"Wait..." She moved a patch of the matted yarn that was used to make the mane away from the doll's face and frowned in confusion. There was a small horn on the doll's head. It was an alicorn doll. And not fashioned after any alicorn she recognized either.

"Not that there are a lot of alicorns." She mused to herself. Looking at the doll, it reminded her of her old Smarty Pants doll. The one that her brother had made for her so many years ago.

“Shining” Twilight groaned as suddenly everything that had happened that day hit her and she remembered why she was here. Tears pooled in her eyes as she remembered her hurt and pain at how her brother had kicked her out of the wedding, how her friends didn’t believe her and her mentor wouldn’t even talk to her. And the look on Cadance’s face when Twilight told her that she wouldn’t be in the wedding.

Sobbing openly now, she hugged the small doll to her chest and curled up on the floor, slowly falling into a troubled sleep.

Back in Canterlot, Shining Armor blinked as his sister vanished in a flash of purple light.

“Oh dear...” Fluttershy said softly as Rarity loudly exclaimed her despair, fainting on a duvet she had magicked up solely for this purpose.

“Twilight?” Pinkie Pie asked softly as her mane drooped into a slightly deflated mass of curls.

“Now hang on there, sugarcube,” Applejack said, patting her friend on the shoulder. “Ah'm sure we’ll find her! Maybe she’s just blowing off steam, though Ah reckon we do owe her another apology.’

“Well what are we waiting for?” Rainbow Dash shouted, starting to fly off. "Let’s go find her!”

“Girls.” A calm voice stopped them all, except for Rainbow Dash, who suddenly found herself halted by her tail being grabbed in yellow magic.

“Perhaps we should figure out where she went before we all rush off to find her?” Princess Celestia suggested gently, releasing Rainbow Dash’s tail as she spoke.

“Her Majesty is right.” Shining Armor said, taking command of the team. “We need to set up a perimeter and split into te-"

“Shining” Princess Cadance interrupted, “Twilight’s not a criminal, she’s your little sister. We don’t need to set a perimeter. We just need to give her some time. Not box her in and try to trap her. Otherwise she’ll just teleport again as soon as we get close to her. Besides, that wouldn’t work anyway. Twilight has magical surges when she’s upset, remember? And her special talent is magic. Who knows how far she could have gone.”

“Cadance...” Shining Armor said softly, looking at the ground.

“It’s ok.” She said, nuzzling him quickly before turning to others. “How about we start by you all telling me what happened while Queen Chrysalis was taking my place?”

“Well…” Pinkie Pie started, pulling a hat and cup of tea out her mane and settling herself in a big red armchair that was suddenly on the castle lawn. “It all started with a letter…”

“Wee!” A filly Twilight squealed in glee as she was levitated though the air with her brother’s magic.

“Got it!” She yelled in triumph as she grabbed her kite out of the tree it had gotten stuck in. Twilight grinned, waiting for her brother to bring her back down with her prize.

“I got it!” She yelled louder when she didn’t move. ”Shiny?” She turned her neck to look down at her brother. But he wasn’t there. ”Shiny?!” She cried in panic as she clung to the tree.

Suddenly the scene around her tree changed. Instead of being at the park she was in the middle of the Royal Guard Academy training grounds. Guards-in-training ran around the ring, tackling training dummies and running though obstacle courses.

ZAP!

A flash of light brought her attention to her left where a group of unicorn trainees were practicing basic blast and shield spells.

ZAP! ZAP!

The blasts of magic landed closer and closer to her spot in the tree. “Shiny!” Twilight screamed for her brother, terrified.

“Shiny!” She breathed in relief spotting him in his training armor as he trotted into view, his horn glowing as he readied a spell. “Help!” She called waving her hooves to get his attention.

“Ahh!” Twilight yelped as his spell took out a branch to her right, causing her to drop the kite. It fluttered to the ground, forgotten, as she cried, screaming in panic, “Shining, help me!"

She clung to the branch, her eyes widening in terror as the next blast came hurtling towards her.

"Stop, please!” She cried out in fear as his spell shattered the branch she was clinging to, causing her to fall as the scene changed again.

She was fully grown and falling through the green fire circle as the changeling Queen disguised as Princess Cadance laughed at her. “Nooo!! Shiny, help me!” Twilight cried as he appeared behind the evil queen.

Shining Armor shook his head and placed a hoof around the now undisguised Queen Chrysalis.

“If you can’t be happy for Cadance and me,” Shining Armor said, pulling Chrysalis closer. “Then maybe you shouldn’t be in the wedding at all!”

With a surge of his horn, Shining Armor blasted Twilight down the hole and into the blackness below.

“Nooo!!!” Twilight cried as she jolted upright, fresh tears streaking down her face.

“Shiny...” She cried softly to herself. She took a couple of deep breathes to calm herself.

“It was just a dream...” Twilight told herself. She smiled in relief, only to have it fall off her face as she remembered why she had teleported here in the first place.

She looked around at the ancient school room. “I wonder why I teleported here? Usually you need to know a place in order to teleport there. But I’ve never been here before…have I?” Twilight asked, re-examining the room where she found herself.

“No, impossible, these scrolls are over a thousand years old and some of them don’t look like they’ve been opened since they were written, the seals aren’t even cracked.” She said after picking up a scroll and carefully examining the wax holding it shut.

“Ahh…Ahchoo!” She sneezed.

"Not to mention all the dust." Twilight sniffed and magicked up a hankie to blow her nose.

“So how am I here? Think Twilight, think! There are only a few methods of teleportation. One: you teleport yourself, using an image or memory of your intended location. Two: somepony or some creature teleports you."

(She shuddered, remembering how the changeling queen had transported her to the crystal caves under Canterlot. That hadn’t been pleasant.)

"Three: a group teleportation spell, which is basically a combination of the first two.” Twilight paced the floor as she listed off the possibilities in full-blown scholar-mode. “Well I did start a teleportation spell, but I certainly didn’t intend on teleporting here. And I would have felt it if somepony had teleported me here. Right?”

Twilight stopped suddenly as an idea struck her. “What if somepony had simply redirected my spell?” Twilight paused to consider it. “But they would still need a tremendous amount of power, not to mention the skill to do it without my noticing.”

Twilight stiffened and looked around herself warily. “And they would have needed to teleport with me in order for it to work.”

Meeting Discord

“And that’s how I got my cutie mark!” Pinkie Pie finished, bowing with a flourish. Princess Cadance looked at Pinkie Pie and decided not to even attempt to make sense of that last statement.

“Oh Twilight…” Cadance said shaking her head as she realized why her old foal-sitting charge was upset. She looked around her at the group of ponies. Excepting Pinkie Pie, who was putting her hat and now empty tea cup into her mane while bouncing in place, all of them were in differing stages of despair. Rarity was fainting, again, while Fluttershy did her best to comfort her while still hiding behind the duvet. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were both looking at the ground guiltily, Rainbow being too depressed to fly on hearing Pinkie Pie's surprisingly accurate and un-sugarcoated account of the day. Shining Armor had retreated into his guard face and even Princess Celestia looked slightly ashamed.

Cadance shook her head. There would be plenty of time to feel sorry later. Right now they all needed to find their friend.

“Well she probably would have teleported somewhere where she could be alone. Someplace she could think." Cadance started, recalling how Twilight had acted as a filly when she had gotten upset.

"Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy. I think you two should go fly over the parks to see if she’s there. Rarity, could you check the library? Start with the 'Star Swirl the Bearded' wing, that’s her favorite. Pinkie Pie, ...uh, why don’t you and Applejack go back to Ponyville in case Twilight goes back there?”

“Okey dokey lokey!” Pinkie Pie sang as all the ponies split up, Spike deciding to go with Rarity since he hadn't been assigned a task.

“I will be in my tower in case Twilight returns.” Princess Celestia said before flying up to her balcony.

"I guess we'd better tell the guests that the wedding is postponed." Shining Armor said quietly.

Cadance nodded. As much as they wanted to be married, it just wouldn't be a special day without Twilight.

Wordlessly, Shining Armor pulled her into a hug.

"Don't worry, Shining." Cadance said whispered softly in to her fiancee's ear. "We'll find her."

Together they headed back towards the castle to inform the guests of the change in plans.

“I was wondering when you would figure it out.” A voice echoed in the stone room.

Twilight jumped, smothering a yelp as she lowered her horn and readied a blast spell.

“Ah the ol' knock out spell. Not very original, I’m afraid you’ll lose points for that.” A score board appeared in front of Twilight, causing her to jump back as one of the cards fell. And a mouth appeared on the front.

“But then, your brother was always one for the ole rule book wasn’t he? What was his name again? Gleaming Armor? Shining Shield?”

The voice broke off as Twilight blasted the score board into bits.

“Shining Armor!” Twilight shouted, “And he’s Captain of the Royal Guard so-Ahhh!” Twilight yelped as a new score board appeared and smacked her with a score card.

“Blah blah blah!” the voice countered, this time coming from behind her.

Twilight whirled around. A Royal Guard's uniform was floating in midair. Along with a whistle that was currently laughing at her.

“Oh yes, how could I have forgotten. Silly me. After all, he’s the one I need to thank for all this fun.” The guard's uniform transformed to be a secretary's outfit and the whistle became a quill.

“Now, do you spell ‘Shining’ with two ‘n’s or four?”, The quill asked, pulling a gaudy thank-you card out of Twilight’s mane.

“Wh…what?” Twilight asked in disbelief.

The quill lengthened into a pointer as the floating uniform pulled a chalkboard out of Twilight’s tail.

“My dear little pony, all of this drama with changelings and switcheroos, it’s absolute chaos! If it weren't for your brother, I'd probably still be trapped in stone in that dreadful garden." The pointer said while the uniform drew a comic style tale of the events in question on the chalkboard before moving back towards Twilight.

“Hey!” Twilight yelped as she jumped away from the pointer.

“Although I suppose I should be thanking you as well.”

“Me?” Twilight asked looking around dizzily as she appeared on a cartoon throne, the room having suddenly been decorated as if for a coronation.

If one could call it decorated. Balloons with cartoon faces hung upside down from the ceiling. A chandelier made of random objects like you would find at a yard sale appeared in the magic painting. And all of the school supplies turned into random animals dressed in formal wear.

“Of course!” The pointer exclaimed, a crown appearing on Twilight’s head and a noise blower between her lips.

“Why, if it weren’t for you and your suspicions, not to mention that last little scene you made, this wouldn’t be nearly as wonderfully chaotic. And I do love chaos!” The pointer exclaimed, drawing more pictures on the chalk board to illustrate.

“Who are you?!” Twilight yelled running from a group of ducks trying to pin a rather large, not to mention pointy, medal where her tail used to be. “And give me back my tail!”

“Oh tsk tsk... and here I thought you ponies liked games.” Everything vanished as a floating claw snapped its fingers.

Twilight sighed in relief as her tail was returned, albeit looking a lot like Pinkie Pie’s.

“Ahem...” Twilight said, looking pointedly at the still quacking books.

“Fine. Although they are so much more fun this way.” With another snap of the claws the books were once more on the shelf.

“As to who I am, shouldn’t that be obvious?” Another chalkboard appeared in front of Twilight as the pointer wearing a floating teacher’s hat began to make notes.

“Think about it. Strong magic, changing shapes, a love of chaos, not to mention my charming good looks…”

“I don’t even know what you look like!” Twilight interrupted in frustration and then yelped as she appeared on a stool in the corner of the room wearing a dunce cap.

“Now now, there’s no interrupting the teacher…” The pointer bopped her on the head as she struggled to remove the dunce cap.

“Now where was I?... Ah yes! My handsome and devilishly appealing appearance!” With a flash of smoke and light, not to mention the deafening fireworks going off right next to Twilight’s head, much to her growing annoyance, a strange creature appeared. It had a goat’s hoof on one leg and a green reptilian foot on the other. Its body was long, like a serpent’s, but covered in gray fur. It had a paw on the right and claws on the left. But most disturbing was his head, at least she thought it was a he. He had a goatee and a single fang poking out of his mouth. His eyes were different sizes and glowed yellow. He also had two horns sticking out of his head, one an antler and the other a longer twisted version of an unicorn’s horn.

“Discord...” Twilight said, suddenly recognizing this mismatched creature from one of the many books in her library. “I thought you were trapped in stone!” She glared at the creature in front of her.

“Ding ding ding! We have a winner!” Discord announced with glee.

Twilight yelped again as she found herself back on the throne from earlier, with a crown replacing the dunce cap as headwear.

“Discord!” Twilight shouted, struggling to escape the throne, which seemed to be made of melted rubber that sling-shotted her back on every time she tried to get off.

“Why Twilight, I thought every mare wanted to be a princess.” Discord said, smiling at her in his guard’s uniform.

“I don’t know how you got out but as soon as I get out of here you’re going back in stone!” Twilight said, attempting a teleportation spell.

“Well if that’s the way you going to be!” Discord pouted as he poofed away the throne and crown. “And here I thought we were such good friends.” Discord said, folding his arms and curling around Twilight.

“Friends?” Twilight asked.

"Yes, friends! You know? Comrades, compadres, amigos, pals, close acquaintances that hang out with each other, friends!” Discord explained hugging Twilight close.

“Air!” Twilight gasped as his grip got a little too tight.

“Oh dear, are you all right?” Discord asked, a doctor’s kit appearing in one claw as he held Twilight upside down by a hoof.

“Put me down!” Twilight yelled.

Discord shrugged and dropped her, poofing away the doctor’s bag.

“Ow!” Twilight said rubbing her head where she landed. This was not helping her headache. At all.

“Well you said to put you down!” Discord huffed in reproach. “How was I supposed to know you didn’t want to be dropped on your head?” He asked, staring down at the glaring pony.

“Why would I want you to drop me on my head!?” Twilight yelled in pain and frustration.

“No need to yell, Twily, you’ll hurt my feelings.” He pouted and squeezed an exaggerated tear from his eye.

“Don’t call me Twily! And we’re not friend!" Twilight shouted, glaring at the draconaques.

“Why ever not, Twily?” Discord asked innocently. “I thought you liked making friends.”

“Not with psychotic dictators bent on throwing the whole world into chaos!” Twilight shouted.

“You say that like it’s a bad thing.” Discord replied, pouting again.

“And don’t call me Twily!” Twilight repeated.

“But Twily, you let Shiny Pants call you Twily.” Discord said, smiling at Twilight and pulling a comical puppet shaped like her brother from her ear.

“Shining Armor,” Twilight said gritting her teeth, “and he’s my brother.”

“Some brother.” Discord said putting his paw into the Shining Armor puppet and speaking in an exaggerated guard's voice. Which somehow managed to be gruff and squeaky at the same time.

“Oh, I didn’t tell you I was getting married? My bad, I was so busy polishing my armor and doing captainy things that I completely forgot about my only sister.”

“Hey, that’s not what happened!” Twilight shouted.

“If you can’t be happy that I’m marrying the queen of changelings then I don’t love you anymore!” Discord continued in his squeaky puppet voice.

“He didn’t say that!” Twilight shouted getting more upset.

“Oh Twily! I’m soo sorry I didn’t listen to my one and only sister. I love you soo much!” Discord finished and raised an eyebrow.

“But he didn’t say that either, did he?” He asked in his normal voice.

Twilight turned away, refusing to answer.

“It’s ok, Twilight.” Discord said in a soothing voice, placing a claw on Twilight’s shoulder.

“I’m sure he just forgot.” Discord paused. “...Again.” Discord added after a moment.

“Well I’m sure the princess can have a talk with him.”

Twilight still didn’t look at him.

“Oh that’s right,” Discord started “she didn’t listen to you either. What was it she said?”

Discord snapped his claws, conjuring up a cartoon puppet of Princess Celestia.

“You have a lot to think about.” Discord said, moving the puppet's mouth in time to his mimicry of Celestia’s voice.

“Ouch.” Discord winced, tossing both puppets over his shoulder. “Well you still have your friends” He continued in a cheery voice. “They’re always happy for you, right? And they always listen to you, right?”

Twilight perked up, only to slump back down.

“Oh yeah, they didn’t listen to you either. Not even your 'number one assistant' Spike stayed. They all walked out to comfort the fake princess.”

More puppets joined the ones he had thrown earlier.

“Now, now, don’t cry.” Discord said patting Twilight on the head as tears rolled down her cheeks.

“Here.” With a snap of his claws the old doll in Twilight’s hooves became brand new. With another snap, Discord was holding a doll of his own, this one looking like a cartoon Twilight, only it was an alicorn.

“Why don’t we have a party to cheer you up?” He asked, levitating Twilight to the table with the letter blocks. With a snap of his claws the blocks turned into a tea party. Complete with letter shaped pastries.

“Mhhmm” Discord sighed, biting into a strawberry chocolate q. “Try one” He said offering Twilight a daisy sandwich t.

Twilight shook her head, “I’m not hungry.”

Discord looked at Twilight as her stomach growled.

“Come now, Twilight.” Discord said gently, levitating the sandwich in front of her mouth, “you must eat something. Just a bite?” He coaxed, poofing a piece of the sandwich onto a baby spoon and attempting to hoof-feed the depressed mare.

“It is your favorite isn’t it?” he asked with a smile, only to frown when she turned away. “Well how about a salad? Or a cup of tea? Hayburger? Chocolate cake? An apple?” He asked pleadingly as he paraded each letter shaped snack in question on a miniature cartoon train.

Twilight just sighed.

“Very well.” Discord sighed, poofing away the tea fixings and floating snack train. “I suppose you want to be alone, I can respect that. Although I must warn you from experience, alone time is highly over-rated.”

POP! Discord disappeared in a cloud of smoke, leaving behind a single daisy sandwich on a tray, with a cup of tea and a copy of one of Twilight’s favorite books: ‘The Memoirs and Travel Journals of Star Swirl the Bearded’.

“I’m here if you want to talk.” Discord's voice came from the fixed-up alicorn doll, before it too turned back to the way Twilight had found it.

What to do?

"Twilight?... Nope... Twilight?... Nope... Twilight?... Nope..." Pinkie Pie bounced from place to place, poking her head into every nook and cranny, her mane going from floof to flat with every nope and back to floof with every new spot Pinkie thought to check.

Meanwhile, Applejack was executing a more straight forward approach. She was checking each building in town in a row. They had already asked everypony in Ponyville if they had seen Twilight and were now searching on hoof.

Or rather, Pinkie Pie had asked everypony; she had bounced from pony to pony before Applejack even stepped hoof in Ponyville.

It was late morning before they admitted defeat.

"It's no use, Pinkie." Applejack said with a sigh. "If Twilight were here we'd have found her by now."

Pinkie Pie slowly slid down from the fountain-top she had been standing on. As she sank into the water beneath her, tears fell down her face. There was a sound of a deflating balloon as her mane sagged and straightened.

"Now hold on sugarcube!" Applejack said quickly; the last thing they needed was for Pinkamena to make an appearance. "Maybe Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy found her in the parks."

"Then what are we waiting for?!" Pinkie's mane poofed up with a BOING! and she was off to the train station in a flash. "Come on you silly slowpoke! Twilight could be waiting for us RIGHT NOW!"

Applejack sighed in relief and hurried after Pinkie Pie.

"Ah sure hope so." Applejack said under her breathe as she galloped to catch up to her friend.

"Rainbow Dash!"

Rainbow Dash braked to avoid crashing as Pinkie Pie popped out of a tree in front of her.

"Did you find Twilight?!" Pinkie Pie asked, somehow bouncing in place on top of a very tall and very narrow pine tree.

"Woah Pinkie!" Rainbow Dash said as she flew down to the ground. With a BOING! Pinkie Pie jumped down from the tree to land next to her.

"Woah there sugarcube!" Applejack said, putting a hoof on Pinkie Pie's shoulder to keep her from mowing Rainbow Dash down.

"Where's Fluttershy?" Applejack asked, struggling to keep ahold of Pinkie and search for Fluttershy at the same time.

"Ooh! Ooh! Maybe she's with Twilight!" Pinkie Pie said pulling away from Applejack.

"There she is!" Pinkie shouted as she rushed towards Fluttershy, who had just landed on the other side of the clearing.

"Did you find Twilight?, Huh did ya?" Pinkie Pie asked leaning closer and closer to Fluttershy.

"Oh... um... actually... I uh... I didn't find her..." Fluttershy whispered, backing away from Pinkie Pie.

"Yeah, we were hoping you guys had." Rainbow said.

"Nope. We didn't have any luck." Applejack said, and then groaned.

Pinkie Pie had stopped bouncing around the clearing, and was now sitting in the middle of it, hugging her tail to herself tightly as if afraid it would leave her too if she didn't hold onto it. But even more worrisome was that Pinkie's mane was no longer up in wild curls on top of her head, but was hanging limply around her face. It was a sure sign of depression.

"We'd better do something fast, before she goes all Pinkamena on us!" Applejack whispered frantically.

Fluttershy walked up to Pinkie and wrapped her hooves tightly around her friend.

"Shhh, it's ok." Fluttershy whispered, patting Pinkie Pie softly on the back.

Pinkie Pie slumped forward into Fluttershy's hug.

Fluttershy continued to pat Pinkie on the back as she said encouragingly, "Maybe Rarity and Spike found h- Eep!" Fluttershy squeaked in surprise as Pinkie launched out of her hooves and bounced towards the train station, her mane poofed up again.

"Let's go!" Pinkie called back to her friends.

They all sighed in relief.

"Come on, y'all!" Applejack said as they hurried after Pinkie.

The train had barely pulled into the station at Canterlot when a pink blur jumped off and started rapidly bouncing through the city, followed closely by a rainbow streak and an orange earth pony with a yellow pegasus bringing up the rear.

"Tourists!" a group of Canterlotians said with their noses in the air, disgusted by the display.

"Rarity!DidyoufindTwilight?" Pinkie Pie asked in a loud whisper.

"Shh!" A librarian appeared around the bookcase and shushed Pinkie.

Rarity blinked and stared at the rapidly approaching Pinkie as she mentally sorted through the sounds coming out of Pinkie Pie's mouth.

"I'm afraid not, darling." Rarity said quietly.

Pinkie Pie slowly deflated in a heap on the library floor.

"Oh dear." Rarity said as she hurried to Pinkie's side. As Rarity was craning her neck to try to find her other friends, a 'Shhh!' alerted her to their presence.

"I guess that means you didn't find her either." Rainbow Dash said, with a nod towards Pinkie Pie.

"No, I'm afraid I was rather hoping you girls had had better luck." Rarity replied.

"Shhhh!" The group jumped as the librarian appeared behind them, pointing towards the door.

"Alright, we're leaving!" Applejack whispered as she herded her friends out of the library before the librarian called the royal guards.

"Sheesh!" Rainbow Dash said indignantly once they were out of the library. "What a grouch!"

"Um, girls?" Fluttershy said quietly.

"Hey, Where's Spike?" Rainbow Dash asked as she noticed their group was missing one.

"Uh... Girls? I think we-" Fluttershy tried again

"Oh, he's at the other library. We split up since there's two of them and they are both quite large." Rarity answered.

"Girls, Pinkie is-" Fluttershy tried, pointing at Pinkie Pie who was starting to talk to her reflection in the fountain outside of the library.

"Well where is this other library-" Applejack asked

"GIRLS!" Fluttershy suddenly shouted.

Applejack, Rarity and Rainbow Dash all turned to look at Fluttershy in surprise.

"What is it, darling?" Rarity asked in confusion.

"Look at Pinkie Pie!" Fluttershy said sternly, pointing towards their friend.

Pinkie was sitting next to the fountain in the library square, talking to her reflection. Which wouldn't have been anything to be concerned about, if it weren't for her flat mane and the frown on her face.

Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Rarity all facehoofed, wondering how they got so distracted that they didn't even notice Pinkamena's appearance.

"Pinkie Pie..." Rarity said gently, walking slowly up to their friend.

Pinkamena ignored her and kept talking to her reflection.

Undaunted, Rarity continued, "Why don't we see if Spike had any luck?"

Fluttershy placed her hoof gently on one of Pinkamena's shoulders and Applejack put her hoof on the other.

"Maybe he's with Twilight now and they're just waiting for us to show up!", Rarity smiled.

"Yeah!" Rainbow Dash said flapping her wings to lift off the ground. "So what are we waiting for? Let's go find Twilight and you can throw a big 'Welcome Home' party!" Rainbow Dash leaned back with a grin, for if anything can get rid of Pinkamena and bring back Pinkie Pie, it's a party.

"Okey dokey lokey!" Pinkie Pie sang, bouncing off to find Spike, the mention of Twilight and a party having instantly floofed up her mane and cheered her up.

They all sighed in relief as they followed Pinkie Pie through Canterlot.

"That was a close one." Applejack said.

"Too close." Rainbow Dash agreed.

"It was almost a catastrophe!" Rarity wailed. Quietly, so as not to let Pinkie hear.

"I hope we find Twilight soon." Fluttershy said. "I don't know how much longer we can keep this up." They all nodded in agreement and quickened their pace, hoping to get to Spike before Pinkamena reappears if Twilight's not there.

"Hiya Spike!" Pinkie Pie sang, causing Spike to nearly fall off the ladder he was balancing on as her face appeared between the shelves of books he was looking behind.

"Uh... Spike, why are you looking in a bookshelf?" Rainbow asked from above him. "We're looking for a unicorn, not a book, remember?"

"Maybe he found Twilight and is getting her a book?" Rarity suggested.

"If that were true, then Twilight would be here. And they would have found us so we weren't still worrying. Right Spike?" Applejack asked, looking pointedly at the young dragon.

Spike looked down at the books in his claws and then up at the ponies surrounding him. His shoulders shook as tears rolled down his cheeks.

Fluttershy quickly grabbed Spike off the ladder as Rarity grabbed the books in her magic.

As Rainbow Dash helped Fluttershy lower Spike to the floor, Rarity added the books she was holding to one of the stacks surrounding them.

"Oh Spikey Wikey!" Rarity exclaimed, scooping Spike into her hooves as soon as he was close enough. As soon as Spike was safely in Rarity's hooves, Rainbow Dash crossed her hooves and glared at Applejack.

"Good going Applejack, now we have two crying friends to cheer up!" Rainbow Dash said with a groan.

While Rarity was comforting Spike, Fluttershy had hurried over to comfort Pinkie.

Applejack groaned and facehoofed, and then glared at the librarian coming to shush them.

"We're goin'! We're goin'!" Applejack said as she and Rainbow pushed their friends out of the library.

Once outside, Rarity manged to coax Spike into telling them what had happened. As Rarity kept a comforting hoof on his shoulder, Spike hiccuped and told the others how he wasn't able to find Twilight anywhere. Evidently he had gone a little crazy and had been looking for her as if she was a lost book.

"Thats quite alright, Spike. I daresay it happens to the best of us." Rarity said, with a pointed glance at Applejack.

Applejack turned away and muttered something under her breathe.

Rarity opened her mouth to say something, only to be interrupted by a loud rumble.

"What in tarnation was that?" Applejack asked, looking around for the source of the noise.

Fluttershy squeaked and ducked her head, taking refuge beneath her long mane. "Was that thunder?" She asked nervously.

Rainbow Dash shook her head sheepishly. "No. Sorry. That's just my stomach. I guess I'm hungry..."

"Well I suppose we could all use a little snack." Rarity said.

"Maybe something sweet will cheer up Pinkie." Rainbow Dash said, looking at the still despondent Pinkie Pie.

"Since ya know the neighborhood better than we do, why don't ya pick where we stop for lunch, Spike?" Applejack suggested.

Wordlessly, Spike lead them across the street to a donut shop.

"Donut Joe's." Applejack said grinning, reading the sign out front. "Ya really do know the best place for grub, don't ya?"

Spike shrugged. "Twilight used to bring me here all the time when we lived here. It was her favorite spot for studying and snacking." He pushed open the door and lead the way to a table towards the back.

The mares looked to each other and shrugged. Hopefully, the sweet treats would make Spike a little better. Plus, sugar is a great way to cheer up Pinkie Pie.

It sort of worked. Pinkie's mane was only a little droopy and she was almost smiling as she ate her donuts.

"Now what?" Rainbow asked as she started on her ninth donut.

"Beats me." Applejack answered as she finished her tenth.

Fluttershy just sighed as she nibbled at her third and Rarity said nothing as she was busy chewing a mouthful of her fourth.

Spike had already eaten two dozen and was working on another when he said, " I guess we'd better head back to the castle and tell the princesses that we failed." He swallowed his donut in one bite and reached for another.

"Ah reckon he's right." Applejack sighed as she grabbed another apple glazed donut from the pile.

"Yeah." Rainbow agreed, grabbing another chocolate one.

"I'll get the bill" Rarity said, raising her hoof to summon the waitress. Fluttershy just sighed again and reached for one of the frosted ones. Pinkie Pie bit into one of the fudge ones when she suddenly brightened.

"Oh oh!" She mumbled around the donut as she waved her hoof in the air.

"Yeah, Pinkie?" Applejack asked.

Pinkie Pie swallowed her donut whole and said in one breathe of air, "You know how whenever Twilight has a problem and then fixes it she sends a letter to Princess Celestia? Well she usually uses Spike right? Only she can't use Spike right now because he's here and she's somewhere not here so she would have to deliver the letter herself."

Pinkie gasped and continued, "So what if she's at the castle RIGHT NOW and we need to get there to throw her the awesome 'Welcome Home Twilight Party' come on!" and with that Pinkie put the rest of the donuts in her mane and bounced out of the bakery.

Her friends sighed and followed her, not too hopeful that they'd find Twilight at the castle but figuring it was worth a shot. Besides, they needed to go there anyway.

Twilight smiled, her stomach had gotten the best of her and she had just finished eating the lunch (?) ('what time is it anyway?' Twilight wondered, that magic painting made it hard to tell...) Discord had left. It was surprisingly good, and the tea was still hot.

'I wonder how he did that.' Twilight mused. 'and how did he know that this is one of my favorite books?' Twilight shook her head.

'Well he is considered the God of Choas. It makes sense that he would have unusual magic. That's just about the only thing that makes sense about him.' Twilight yawned, suddenly pleasantly tired. She slowly walked over to the over-stuffed arm chair and, grabbing the book with her magic, she settled in for a few comforting hours of reading. Only to fall asleep after a few pages.

"Yes, sleep tight, dear Twilight." Discord said softly as he magically tucked a blanket around the sleeping mare.

"After all, tomorrow is a big day." Discord grinned diabolically and poofed away in a quiet puff of smoke.

Discord's plan

"Ahh!" Twilight fell to the floor with a Thud!. Twilight rubbed at her increasingly sore head and glared up at the creature responsible for her rude awakening.

"Good Morning!" Discord sang in an overly cheerful voice.

"Did you have a nice sleep?" He asked, smiling down at the disgruntled unicorn.

"I hope you don't mind, but I made you breakfast." Discord poofed up a floating plate of blueberry pancakes and a cup of orange juice in front of her.

"Uh... thanks?" Twilight said caustiously as she climbed back onto the bed, only to become more confused when she remembered it had been an armchair the night before.

"Oh yes." Discord explained as he noticed her puzzlement, "I know you wanted some alone time but you would have gotten such an awful kink in the neck if I had left you there (believe me I know, being stuck in stone for a thousand years is really not good for your back) so I decided to make you more comfy." With a snap of his claws he transformed the bed back into an armchair."After all, what are friends for?"

"Oh. Well... uh, thanks, I guess." Twilight said again as she ate her floating breakfast. After all, she was really hungry and blueberry pancakes were her favorite. Besides, Discord was a really good cook.

"No trouble at all." Discord replied as he sat next to her on a floating blue polka dotted stool. Another snap of his claws, and he was munching on a bowl of paper salad. "Want some?" Discord offered, noticing her stare, "it's absolutely full of fiber!"

"Uh... No thanks." Twilight smiled nervously and went back to her breakfast. Discord shrugged and went back to his noisy eating.

CRUNCH CRUNCH CRUNCH

It sounded like he was eating rocks. Twilight's ears twitched with every bite he took. 'How can he make eating paper so loud?' Twilight wondered, wincing as a particularly loud crunch resounded though the room. Soon she was distracted by the pancakes in front of her and tuned out the crunching. She was just finishing up when... SLURP SLURP SLUUURRP

Twilight looked up to see Discord slurping down his cup as the juice hovered in mid air.

"Oh! I'm sorry Twilight, did you want more?" Discord asked as he noticed her staring again. With a snap of his claws both her plate and glass were refilled as he stood by in a maid's uniform.

Twilight shook her head to clear it, "Actually, Discord, I've finished."

Discord grinned and cleared the breakfast things with another snap.

"So what do you want to do now?" Discord asked, practically vibrating in excitement. "Dolls? Jacks? Ballet? Book club?"

With each suggestion the room changed from inside a doll house, dodging giant jacks on a playground, dancing with life size marionettes on a stage, to finally sitting on bean bag chairs inside of a book fort. "Oh! How about-"

"Discord!" Twilight yelled, collapsed and panting on her over-sized bean bag chair.

"Yes, Twilight?" Discord asked innocently as Twilight glared at him.

"Oh fine!" Discord sighed as everything turned back to how it was. "You can be such a party pooper! I was sure you would like the last one..."

Discord folded his arms and floated in front of her, frowning. "Well then, what do you suggest we do Miss No-Fun-At-All?"

Twilight sighed. "We aren't going to do anything. I'm going find a way out of here and you're going back in stone."

"Well then!" Discord humphed and disappeared.

"I suppose that means you don't need my help!" His voice echoed through the room. "Well when you fail miserably we'll see just how long it takes you to come calling for your old friend Discord to save the day..."

After a few moments of silence Twilight sighed. 'Well I better get busy. There's only one thing to do at a time like this.'

Twilight walked over to the bookcase, grabbed a scroll and started to read.

Meanwhile back in Canterlot

Cadance was watching Shining Armor pretend to eat a sandwich.

Princess Celestia had insisted they all break for lunch, over Shining Armor's protests.

While Princess Celestia and Cadance ate their tea sandwiches, Shining Armor merely held his in front of him with his magic. Every time the sandwich would return to his plate untouched, Cadance would give a little shake of her head or a tiny sigh. Prompting Shining Armor to pick the sandwich back up. Only to lower it again a few minutes later. Cadance looked at Shining Armor across the dining room table. She took a sip of her tea and sighed.

Shining Armor dropped his sandwich on his plate and abruptly stood up from the table. With short, stiff strides he quickly crossed the room to stand at the window.

"We can't just sit here!" He said angrily to the window, "We have to do something!"

Princess Celestia raised an eyebrow at his sudden outburst but said nothing.

"Shining." Cadance said softly, replacing her cup to the saucer. "What would you have us do?"

Cadance stood up and walked over to the window to stand next to Shining Armor. "We have been searching all day and we all need a rest." She placed a hoof on her fiancee's shoulder. "Besides, Twilight's friends should be back any moment. Maybe they had better luck than we did."

"I'm sorry, Cadance." He said, leaning into her "I'm just so worried and..."

"I know." She said softly. She gave him a quick kiss and they both went back to the table.

"I know you are upset about your sister's disappearance," Princess Celestia said calmly, "but you have not eaten since yesterday and you've barely touched your food. You need to eat or you will have no energy with which to continue the search. Do I have to make it an order, Captain?"

Shining Armor grumbled but took a bite of his sandwich. And then glared at his fiance's poor attempts to cover her giggles. Within moments however, his frown fell and he was laughing with her.

"Twilight!" A group of voices shouted as five excited ponies and one ecstatic little dragon burst into the room. Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and Spike all looked around the room, only for their happy faces to change into confused frowns.

"Where's Twilight?" Spike asked.

"Isn't she here?" Rainbow Dash demanded.

"I don't see her." Fluttershy whispered.

"Yeah!" Pinkie Pie joined in. "We didn't find Twilight in Ponyville even though we looked and looked and looked and I was getting so not all super happy and then Applejack said that maybe Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy had found her and I was so super happy again but they didn't find her either even though they looked and looked and looked and I was was so not super happy again and then Fluttershy said that maybe Rarity had found her in the library and Rainbow agreed and flew off and we all followed but Rarity hadn't found her either even though she had looked and looked and looked and I was so not super happy again but then Rarity thought that maybe Spike had found her in the other library because they had split up because there were two libraries and they were both super duper big so we all went to find Spike and I was so super happy again but Spike hadn't found her either even though he looked and looked and looked so I was so not super happy again and then we all decided to come back here since I thought maybe she was here since she always writes a letter to Princess Celestia when she's upset but she didn't have Spike to deliver it so she had to deliver it herself so I was so super happy again and then we all heard you guys laughing and since you guys were all so not super happy when we left yesterday we thought you had found Twilight and we were all so super happy but she's not here so now instead of us all being so super happy we're all confused and so not so super happy!" Pinkie Pie finished and took a deep breathe.

Cadance's eyes had started to glaze over during that very long but quickly spoken sentence. Cadance shook her head to clear her vision. "I'm sorry girls," She said.

Spike cleared his throat pointedly.

"And Spike," Cadance amended, "but we didn't find Twilight either. We were hoping you had better luck than we did, but it appears not."

"Then what were y'all laughing about?" Applejack asked, annoyed that their hopes had been dashed.

Shining Armor sighed. "It was nothing, just some laughter to cheer us up."

"Oohhh!" Pinkie Pie smiled perking up. "That makes perfect sense!"

Everypony just looked at her. "Oh girls, don't you see?"

When I was a little filly and some bullies would bring me dowwnnnn

"Oh no." Rainbow Dash said groaning into her hooves.

"Tell me she's not-" Rarity said, shrinking back with her eyes wide.

the meanness and the teasing they would always make me frowwnnnn

"She is." Applejack said copying Rainbow Dash.

I'd hide behind the bushes till they would go away

"What's going on?" Shining Armor whispered.

but Granny Pie said that you couldn't deal with sadness that way

"I have no idea." Cadance whispered back.

She said Pinkie you gotta stand up tall

learn to face your fears

"It's a musical number." Spike explained as Fluttershy hid behind him.

You'll see that they can't hurt you just laugh to make them disappear

Ha! Ha! Ha!

soooo giggle at the grumpy

guffaw at the mopey

crack up at the cranky

whoop it up with the weepy

chortle at the grouchy

snortle at the crabby

and tell that big dumb downy face to take a hike and leave you alone and if he thinks he can make you sad then he's got another thing coming and the very idea of such a thing just makes you wanna... hahahaha...heh...

laaaaaaaauuuugh!

Princess Celestia looked on with a bemused expression on her face. Then she set down her tea cup as her shoulders starting shaking. First a giggle escaped her. Then a snort. And a few chuckles. Until finally, she was slumped forward with full-on laughter.

"See? She gets it!" Pinkie Pie said when she had finished.

Cadance hid behind her hooves as she giggled.

Shining Armor shook her head and chuckled. It wasn't long before everypony, (and dragon), couldn't help but join in.

Unknown to them, an invisible Discord was watching with an evil smile on his face. 'Oh my little ponies, you are making this too easy!'

Just as stealthily as he had sneaked in, he sneaked away to check on the key to his little plan. 'Twilight Sparkle, we are just going to have so much fun!'

Time for some fun

"AGH!" Twilight screamed in frustration, throwing another scroll into the growing pile in the corner.

"Why can't I figure this out?!" Twilight got to her hooves and frantically circled the little school room. "I've tried every spell I can think of! I've read every scroll in this room and examined every corner! There has to be a way out of here!" She stopped and blasted a spell at one of the walls, only for it to fizzle out and do nothing.

"Why isn't this working?!" Twilight shouted, stomping her hoof against the stone floor. She stood there with her teeth clenched, breathing in short hard bursts as she held her hoof pressed tightly against the stone floor. As if it were the only thing keeping her from losing the last of her control.

As Twilight stared at the floor under her hooves, she spotted something out of the corner of her eye. Slowly, Twilight was able to breathe again as all the fight left her body.

Stiffly, Twilight straightened up and walked over to the armchair, where she had thrown the doll in an earlier fit of frustration. Twilight scooped the doll up gently, cradling it in her hooves.

"There has to be a way out of here." Twilight said to the doll, stroking it's mane and straightening it's wings.

Twilight sighed. No matter how hard she tried, she could only think of one possibility for escaping this room. And it involved the Lord of Chaos.

"Discord..." Twilight said, resigned to working with the annoying creature in order to escape.

There was a puff of smoke and a dazzling flash of light as trumpets sounded in the stone room. "You rang?" Discord said to the dizzy, and now slightly deaf, unicorn.

Twilight shook her head to rid herself of the spots in her eyes. She decided to get right to the point. "You said you knew how to get out of here?" She asked Discord.

"Of course I know how to get out of this drab little room! Where do you think I've been going this whole time?" Discord asked, puffing out his chest and folding his arms.

Twilight sighed and waited for Discord to tell her how. And waited.

And waited.

"Well?" Twilight asked finally, when it became clear that Discord wasn't going to.

"Well, what?" Discord responded, smiling innocently.

"How do I get out of here?!" Twilight shouted in annoyance.

"Well, I could tell you..." Discord said as he floated in circles above her head."But there is that little issue of you turning me to stone as soon as you escape, not to mention the fact that you weren't very nice." Discord stopped in front of Twilight and pouted.

"Discord!" Twilight groaned. He waited with an expectant expression on his face.

"Fine!" Twilight said, "I'll ask the princess to CONSIDER not turning you back to stone if you help me get out of here."

"And?" Discord asked. "Apolo-" *cough* "-gy."

Twilight sighed.

"I'm sorry I wasn't very nice to you." Twilight said through gritted teeth.

"Excellent!" Discord sang as he scooped her up in a spine crushing hug. "I'm sooo glad we're friends again!"

"Air!" Twilight gasped, struggling against Discord's suffocating grip.

"Oh right, I'm dreadfully sorry about that, I always forget just how breakable you ponies are" Discord said as he dropped her on the floor, this time right side up.

"Being trapped in stone makes you forget about little things like breathing, you know?" He straightened up and with a snap of his claws a large military map appeared in the middle of the room, complete with little figures of himself and Twilight.

"We're here." Discord said, suddenly wearing a general's uniform and using a military pointer. "And the Canterlot castle is here." Pointing at the opposite corner of the map.

"Where is 'here', exactly?" Twilight asked, gesturing at the room around them.

"I was wondering when you were going to ask that." Discord smiled and poofed up the cartoon chalkboard and started doodling. "You see Twilight, you were right when you guessed that there would be difficulties in altering a transportation spell in the middle of being cast. Especially with out you noticing. You being the Element of Magic and all. So instead, I simply redirected your spell and tagged along for the ride."

"But why here? I don't even know this place. Wouldn't it have been easier to send me to some place I've at least been to before?" Twilight asked as she started to pace again, only to glare at Discord when he poofed her onto a stool and tied her down.

"I was getting to that." Discord said as his outfit changed from a military uniform into an old -fashioned librarian's outfit, complete with little glasses on a beaded chain on his face. "Now sit still and pay attention!"

Twilight grumbled, but said nothing.

"Now where was I?" Discord mused, rubbing his chin, to the increasing annoyance of a certain purple unicorn. "Ah yes, redirecting your spell. You see, Twilight, to redirect your spell I couldn't simply choose a new destination, no I needed a destination you had a connection to. One you were drawn to, you might say. You have been here before Twilight. This place is actually very important to you."

Twilight looked around in disbelief.

"Well not this room exactly, but this building anyway. This is where you unlocked the Elements of Harmony and became the Element of Magic."

Twilight's eyes widened with understanding as she saw where Discord was headed.

"We are in The Castle of The Two Sisters" Discord smiled and untied Twilight. "Not a very original name but ehh, what can you expect? It works I suppose."

"Wait." Twilight said holding up a hoof "Why did you even need to teleport me here anyway? What's wrong with where I was headed?"

"The Golden Oaks Library in Ponyville? The place you live? How long do you think you'd have before your friends found you? An hour? Two? A day max. I knew that you wanted some time to think, so I decided to give it to you. Just a small favor for a friend. You'd have done the same thing for me if I was upset and wanted some alone time."

Twilight looked at him in disbelief.

"Okay so maybe you wouldn't have today, but in time, when you realize just what a good friend I am, I'm sure you would have done the same thing. Because that's what friends do. They help each other."

"I still don't see why you had to teleport me behind my back or lock me in here!" Twilight said.

Discord smiled and draped a paw around Twilight's shoulders. "I didn't want you to worry. If I had revealed myself to you right away, you would have been conflicted, and probably have gone running straight back to Princess Celestia and your friends. Not to mention your brother. The very ponies you were trying to avoid. And then how would you have gotten anytime alone to think? Well, I suppose if she had banished you to the moon you would have plenty of time to think. But I didn't want it to come to that."

"What?!" Twilight yelled at the mention of banishment."Wh...Why would..."

"Oh don't worry, Twilight. I'm sure she wouldn't banish you to the moon or turn you to stone for a thousand years. After all, you're her faithful student, right?"

"Why would Princess Celestia banish me or turn me to stone for a thousand years?" Twilight asked, totally confused.

"Oh dear. Did you hit your head when you fell out of bed earlier? I knew I should have put railings on it..." Discord mumbled as he poofed up a doctors kit and shined a light on Twilight's head.

"Discord!"

"Oh right" With a snap of his claws the doctors kit disappeared and the chalkboard came back. "If you had gone back to Celestia with me in tow, don't you think she'll want to know how I got out in the first place?"

Twilight nodded, still confused.

"Sigh..." Discord face-palmed (he doesn't have hooves, at least, not front ones) "And then you'll have to tell her that it was you and your brother's drama that freed me. Or you could lie, but I don't think alicorn princesses are very easily fooled."

Discord put an arm around the now slightly panicked Twilight. "Plus, I'm sorry to say this, but you're a terrible liar. Honestly, you're worse than Applesmack and she's the Element of Honesty."

"Do you want your brother to be kicked out of the Royal Guards? The dream career he's worked his entire life for?"

"Huh?" Twilight asked, looking slightly more confused and panicked.

"Releasing a demon that Princess Celestia herself put in stone? Not just any demon, but the Lord of Chaos? That's got to be at least a felony, if not downright treason. Of course he is getting married to another alicorn princess... So maybe he'll just be demoted and not sent to Tartarus."

"Eep!" Twilight was now hyperventilating.

"All in all, he'll probably get off easy. And Celestia is rather fond of you. Or well, she was. I'm not sure about now with how she's been treating you lately. She might already know and that's why she's been distancing herself. Wouldn't be good press to be too connected with a criminal. Still, she's like a second mother to you right? After all, she's practically raised you in that school of hers. So maybe she'll just send you back to Magic Kindergarten. She is rather fond of turning full grown mares back into fillies. Wasn't Princess Luna a filly for a solid month after returning from the thousand year time-out Celestia put her in? Or was it longer? I can't remember, it's so hard to keep up with the current news when you're a garden statue."

"I used to wonder what friendship could be...
until you all shared it's magic with me..."

"Oh dear." Discord looked at the hysterical unicorn as Twilight rocked herself in a tiny ball, singing some song about friendship and magic. Gag.

'Great, now she's hysterical.' Discord thought to himself as he pondered how to fix this little set back.

"Thank you, Pinkie Pie" Princess Celestia said, after catching her breathe. "I think we can all agree that we needed a good laugh."

"Yes, thank you Pinkie." Princess Cadance said giving Pinkie Pie a hug.

"Aww, no problem!" Pinkie Pie said cheerfully as she gave Cadance one of her spine crushing hugs back (much to the alarm of Shining Armor) "Smiles are what I do best! And Parties! Smiles and Parties are what I do best! And Cupcakes! Smiles and Parties and Cupcakes are what I do best! And..."

"I think she gets it, sugarcube" Applejack interrupted as she and Rainbow Dash pried their friend off of the princess. Both Princess Cadance and Shining Armor sighed in relief.

"Speaking of cupcakes," Princess Celestia started as she walked back to her place at the table, "We were just about to have dessert. Would you care to join us?" She asked motioning to the empty chairs at the table as the palace staff set six new place settings. The chef (who had entered while everypony was laughing on the floor) served everypony red velvet cupcakes.

"And don't think I've forgotten about you, Spike." Princess Celestia added as she noticed his glum face, "I've had the palace chefs make something extra special for you."

Spike beamed as a tray was levitated in front of him. He lifted the lid and promptly started drooling. In front of him was an emerald- ruby cupcake with saphire frosting. Even though everypony had just filled up on donuts a half hour ago, they all dug into their desserts with gusto.

"After all." Rarity explained, "One simply cannot decline the Princess of Equestria's hospitality."

"Uh huh." Applejack raised an eyebrow. Nopony was fooled by Rarity's act. They all knew that Rarity rivaled Princess Celestia in her sweet tooth and red velvet cupcakes were her favorite.

Rarity blushed and they all enjoyed a good laugh. She glared at them for a moment and then joined in, not being able to help being swept into the good cheer.

Discord Explains

"Gah!" Twilight spluttered as she shot upright, drenched in ice water, snapping her out of her hysterical state. "Discord!" Twilight glared at the creature holding the pull bell that had led to her being soaked.

"What?" Discord asked, passing her a towel and then drying the floor with a snap of his claws. "Isn't one supposed to calm down hysterical mares with water?" He poofed up an etiquette book and started flipping through it.

"You're supposed to offer them water, Discord, not drench them in it!" Twilight said as she attempted to towel dry her mane, giving herself a splendid case of Pinkie Hair.

"Well, excuse me! I'm not used to calming down hyperventilating ponies, you know." Discord pouted and then smiled as a thought accorded to him. "Actually, I'm usually the one causing the hyperventilation. Ah... Fun times."

Twilight glared at him.

Discord sighed. "I do apologize, Twilight. I didn't mean to upset you, I was just trying to explain."

He smiled at her and offered her a cup of tea. And poofed up a surprisingly simple apology cake. "I'm sure that once the princesses understand the situation they will realize that it was really nopony's fault and we can all be friends again."

He cut a piece of the cake and passed it to Twilight. Who was looking slightly panicky again at the mention of the princesses. "We just need to figure out a way to explain before Princess Celestia gets the wrong idea."

Discord started to slurp the letters off the top of the cake like spaghetti as he made a show of pondering the problem. "If only there was a way to talk to her in private. Someplace we could explain without a bunch of guards running around and arresting innocent ponies like your brother."

Discord finished the letters and had moved onto slurping the rest of the frosting. "Maybe we could get your friends to help?" He paused from unraveling the cake to shake his head. "No...that wouldn't work. Even if we could convince them that this was an accident, how do we convince them not to go to Celestia right away? I mean they haven't been very trustful lately. I'm not too surprised though."

"Huh?" Twilight interrupted his musings.

"Well, think about it. They've been friends for years, ever since they were fillies. And you've only known them for what? A few months? That's hardly enough for an ironclad friendship."

Discord held up a paw to stop Twilight's protests. "Just look at how they acted about your brother's wedding. They all banded together, and when you didn't agree with them..." Discord was using puppets again. "They shut you out" The five puppets of her friends pushed her puppet aside.

"But what about Spike? He sided with them too and he's been with me his whole life!" Twilight said a little desperately.

"I know! You'd think practically raising someone would give them a little more trust in you but ehh..." Discord shrugged and threw all the puppets over his shoulder. Except for hers, which still had wings.

"Discord, I've been meaning to ask you something..." Twilight said looking at the stuffed version of her.

"Yes, Twilight?" Discord asked, smiling.

"How come my puppet has wings?"

Discord smiled. 'About time she asked. Now we can have some fun...'

Discord looked at the puppet, feigning surprise. "Why Twilight, I wanted these puppets to be realistic!" He grabbed the puppets he had thrown away earlier, "See? Appletrack has her hat, Pinkie Spy's mane is impossibly curly, look even little Spot has claws at the end of each finger." He grinned as he bowed, showcasing the puppets like they were national treasures.

"But Discord," Twilight said slowly. "I don't have wings. I'm a unicorn. This doll is an alicorn."

"You're not an alicorn yet?" Discord said in disbelief, floating Twilight in front of him and staring at her as if he expected wings to just pop out of her back.

"Why would I be an alicorn?" Twilight asked, becoming exasperated at Discord's antics. Discord just stared at her. "Are you sure you didn't bump your head? You seem to be a little slow." He asked, once again pulling out a doctors kit from nowhere. (or somewhere. It didn't really matter.)

"Discord! I didn't bump my head! And I'm not slow! You're the one who's not making any sense!" She shouted, pushing away his paw.

"Well, of course not!" Discord humphed "I'm the lord of chaos, remember?!" Twilight just glared at him. Again. "Alright, let me explain this to you slowly." He poofed a zipper over the furious mare's mouth and tied her back to the stool. "And no interrupting this time. Sheesh, how in Equestria were you able to learn anything if you constantly interrupted the teacher?"

If looks could kill, Discord would be a pile of rubble right now.

"Now pay attention. There are six Elements of Harmony: Laughter, Kindness, Generosity, Loyalty, Honesty and Magic. These Elements were locked away after Princess Luna threw her little temper tantrum and Princess Celestia banished her to a thousand year time out on the moon. After a thousand years Luna came back and threw another temper tantrum so you made some friends and collected the Elements to calm her down. When you got the first five together, the sixth one appeared. Luna got over her fit and Celestia showed up when all the fighting was done and they all lived happily ever after.

"Well these six Elements turned into pieces of golden jewelry so you and your friends could wear them. The first five , Laughter, Kindness, Loyalty, Generosity, and Honesty turned into necklaces for Pinkie High, Stutterfly, Rainbow Crash, Glarity, and Appleshack.

"The last one, Magic, turned into a crown for you, Twilight Sparkle. And who wears crowns and have powerful Magic? Princesses do. Well now you have a crown and not only is your special talent magic, you are also the Element of Magic. So the only thing that's different between those princesses and you is the fact that they have wings.

"Well, that just doesn't seem fair to me. Not with all the times you've saved Equestria while the official Princesses with titles and power just sat back and watched. I didn't even see Princess Luna at the wedding while the changelings were attacking."

Discord paused in his chalkboard doodles to think that over. "Anyway the point is that you deserve to be a princess and since they weren't giving you wings I decided the least I could do was give your puppet some." With a snap of his claws, Twilight was (once again) freed from her stool. And she promptly surprised Discord by giving him a hug.

"Thank you Discord. That's actually very sweet of you." Twilight said as she hugged him. "It made absolutely no sense at all, but it was still sweet."

Abruptly, Twilight pulled back from the frozen draconaquus and glared at him, pointing at the stool. "But you really need to stop tying me up!"

Discord mentally sighed in relief as he relaxed (Discord wasn't a huge fan of displays of affection; not really his style.) and grinned at the unicorn glaring up at him.

'Flattery. Works every time.' Discord's plan was coming along splendidly.

Meanwhile, in Canterlot:

They were just finishing up their meal when the doors flew open and a guard burst into the room. "Captain Armor! I-" The guard broke off abruptly as he noticed the princesses seated on either side of his captain. "My apologies, Princess Celestia, Princess Cadance, Captain Shining Armor and guests." He said, bowing low.

"That's quite alright, Lieutenant." Princess Celestia said, "What is your business?"

"I have urgent news for Captain Shining Armor, Your Majesty." The guard bowed again. Princess Celestia nodded for Shining Armor to take over.

"What is it, Lieutenant Cherry Fizzy?" Shining Armor asked, recognizing the guard as his old friend from the training academy.

Cherry Fizzy was technically on leave to be one of Shining Armor's groom-stallions in his wedding. But with the threat to Canterlot, he and the other groom-stallions had forgone their dress-uniforms for armor and told Shining Armor in no uncertain terms that he was to consider them part of his unit.

Shining Armor had then promptly tried to order them back on leave. Which had worked about as well as expected. So then he tried to invoke an ancient law and instate them as bride-knights to Cadance.

Who had promptly refused to have the number of guards following her around tripled. Again.

So their compromise was to have Cherry Fizzy, Silver Shield and Bronzewing become aide-de-camps. Which basically meant they wore armor, (albeit fancier than standard-issue) and split their time between guarding the couple and helping with the wedding. And now searching for Twilight.

However, that didn't explain why Cherry Fizzy had burst into dining room.

Lieutenant Cherry Fizzy looked around him. "Perhaps we should step outside."

Shining Armor frowned thoughtfully. He had known Cherry Fizzy for years, it wasn't like him to overreact. This must be serious.

Princess Celestia stepped next to Shining Armor.

"It's alright Lieutenant," Princess Celestia said, "These mares aren't bureaucrats, they are the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony. They can be trusted."

Lieutenant Cherry Fizzy bowed again, "My apologies, I was unaware of who you were."

"Aw shucks! Don't worry about it." Applejack said, blushing.

"It's quite alright, Lieutenant! And we are perfectly fine with leaving." Rarity said, fluttering her eyelashes.

"We'd hate to intrude..." Fluttershy whispered as she backed towards the doors.

"Hey, I wanna know what's going on! You girls heard the princess, we can totally be trusted!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed as she blocked her friends' path.

"Yeah, we can have a super secret report super secret party!" Pinkie Pie bounced around putting up decorations and a 'Super Secret Report Super Secret Party' banner.

Cherry Fizzy looked slightly panicked as he tried to follow Pinkie Pie's movements, only to be really panicked when Pinkie pulled a cannon out of her mane. He rushed in front of the princesses to protect them.

"Look out!" Cherry Fizzy shouted as he attempted to push them out of the way. Everypony in the room face-hoofed as the party canon went off with confetti and a puff of pink smoke.

Princess Celestia started chuckling while Cherry Fizzy looked around with a slightly dazed look. His mane was standing on end from the force of he confetti cloud blown out of the cannon. Streamers hung down his face and confetti slowly drifted to the ground as his jaw hang open while he tried to figure out what just happened.

Shining Armor put his hoof on his friend's shoulder.

"It's alright, Fizzy. We've all done it at some point." Shining Armor whispered, trying (unsuccessfully) to smother a few chuckles himself.

Cherry Fizzy glared at his old friend for a few moments before shaking his head and chuckling. It was impossible to be offended in front of so many laughing ponies, when it was clear that none of it was spitefully intended. Especially since several of those ponies had collapsed to rolling around on the floor.

Except for Pinkie Pie, who was giggling from on top of a chandelier.

Brain-storming

"So Discord..." Twilight started.

"Oh right!" Discord snapped his fingers and they were standing in the ancient throne room. Well, Discord was standing. Twilight had collapsed next to him. Twilight shook her head to rid herself of the visions of her cutie mark flying around her head.

Discord sighed. "Here." Discord offered her a glass of water he pulled from mid-air, "I guess inter-dimensional teleportation does take a little getting used to."

Twilight gratefully sipped the water as her vision cleared and the room stopped spinning. Literally. Discord had been spinning the room in the opposite direction of her flying cutie marks.

"It evens out." Discord said with a shrug as Twilight glared at him. Suddenly Twilight gasped and bounced to her hooves, nearly running in place as panic filled her.

"Ohmygosh,ohmygosh,ohmygosh, what time is it?!" She yelled, seeing the sun start to set in the sky.

"Oh, around sixish." Discord said nonchalantly as he magicked up a large assortment of various timepieces. "Why?"

"But that means...How long have I been here?!" Twilight demanded, leaning towards Discord with a manic expression on her face.

Discord poofed up a calculator and his chalkboard and did a few complicated equations. Most of which were comprised of various cartoon doodles of pony heads, much to Twilight's annoyance.

"Well?!" Twilight demanded.

"Fine..." Discord sighed and poofed away his toys. "About two days. Give or take."

"What?!" Twilight started to pace around the throne room frantically. "Everypony must be so worried about me. What must they be thinking? They'll think I ran away! But what if they noticed that Discord is gone?! What if they figure out that I was the one who let him out? I can just explain. But I ran! Running always make you look guilty! And what about Shining Armor? What if they figure out that he helped Discord escape too? He'll be kicked out of the Royal Guards! Or banished to the moon! We both will! Or worse! Sent back to Magic Kindergarten! But he's marrying Cadance. She'll pardon him! But what about me? Princess Celestia won't even talk to me! I'm doomed! I..."

"Twilight." Discord stopped her pacing by teleporting in front of her. "As much as I enjoy seeing ponies run around in a panic, this won't help our situation. You're not the only one in trouble, remember? I'm the one who will be sent back to living the rest of my life as a lawn ornament."

Twilight took a couple of deep breathes. "You're right, Discord." She sat down in the middle of the throne room, only for Discord to levitate her to one of the thrones.

"You can't sit on the floor, the stone will leave you sore for a week!" Discord explained when she looked at him in confusion. He settled himself on the throne next to her.

"But Discord, the thrones are made of stone." Twilight pointed out.

"Technicalities." Discord magicked up a popcorn bag filled with what looked like black pebbles and began eating them messily. "Want some?" He offered.

"Umm, no thanks, I prefer regular popcorn." Twilight said with a small smile.

"Ehh, suit yourself." Discord shrugged and poofed up some lightly buttered popcorn for Twilight. Speaking around his mouthful of (pebbles? Burnt popcorn kernels? Twilight decided not to try and figure that one out.) he continued, "Even if Princess Celestia pardons you for some reason, she certainly isn't going to let me go free." Discord slumped in his throne and pouted as he munched on his strange snack.

"Well, you did try to take over Equestria and plunge the whole world into chaos." Twilight pointed out as she absently ate a few pieces of popcorn.

Discord humphed, "That was nearly a thousand years ago, Twilight. Let it go! After all," He quickly amended, seeing her frown, "I've already spent a thousand years as a statue. Isn't that enough?"

Twilight looked thoughtful as she munched her snack.

"Have I hurt anypony since I've gotten out?"

"Well, no..."

"Have I done anything evil?"

"Not that I know of..."

"So suspicious!" Discord shook his head. "Have I been anything but kind to you since the moment you freed me from that awful statue?"

"Actually, you did drop..."

"Yes, but I apologized, didn't I? Are you going to begrudge a friend some harmless fun?"

"Well..."

"In all seriousness, have I done anything worse than what you and your friends do on April Foals Day?"

Twilight thought about it for a moment and then shook her head. "No..., you've actually been kinda... sweet" She smiled as she looked down at the Twilight alicorn puppet that had appeared on her lap.

"Do I really deserve to be imprisoned back in stone without even having a chance to redeem myself?" Discord looked at Twilight pleadingly as he offered her a bouquet of daisies and white tulips.

Twilight smiled as she accepted the flowers. "You're right, Discord. You at least deserve a chance!" Twilight stood up and started to pace again while Discord magicked up a vase for the flowers. "But how are we going to convince Princess Celestia of that?"

"What we need is to get her alone. Someplace we can talk to her in private." Discord mused. "Whoa, dejavu!"

"Well we could always wait in her chambers. I know a secret way in." Twilight blushed, "...I used to sneak into her room whenever I had nightmares."

"Perfect! Now if only there was a way to keep the guards from interrupting us." Discord said.

"Well... if we waited until nightfall... after Princess Celestia has dismissed her guards for the day... we'd only have to worry about the two at the door...and a simple sleeping spell should take care of them." Twilight said slowly as she thought about a plan.

"Excellent!" Discord clapped in glee. "Now we just need to take care of your friends...and Princess Luna of course." He looked at Twilight expectantly.

Twilight sighed.

"What's wrong, my dear?" Discord asked as he curled around her. "You were doing so well! Why the long face?"

"It's just that...it just doesn't feel right to go behind my friends' back like this." She sighed again and pulled her tail around her.

"Oh Twilight, I know how it feels to be betrayed by somepony you thought was a friend. I thought at least Luna, if not Celestia, was my friend, but she turned on me and helped her sister turn me to stone. I guess old friends simply can't help but band together and turn against new friends when there's a disagreement." Discord held up a paw to cut off Twilight's protests.

"Now, I know what I did was wrong, but we could have at least attempted to compromise. Maybe given me my own small section of land to spread chaos as I please. That's all I want. But Celestia wanted me to quit cold turkey! Chaos is what I do! How could she expect me to just...stop." Discord turned to Twilight, who was listening intently. "It'd be like telling a pony to turn their back on their cutie mark and give up their special talent. (Well cutie marks are already on a pony's backside, but you know what I mean)."

Twilight nodded. It would be horrible if somepony ordered her to give up her magic.

"We're not going to hurt your friends, just distract them or make it so they can't turn me into stone, or you either for that matter. At least until we can get this sorted out." Discord said comfortingly as he patted Twilight on the back.

"How would they be able to turn me to stone? The Elements need all six of us to work." Twilight asked in confusion.

"The same way Celestia was able to use them to send her sister to the moon, even though they had needed to work together to turn me to stone. Magic." Discord said yawning. Suddenly he grinned, as though a thought had occurred to him.

"Of course!" Discord exclaimed as he bolted upright. With a snap of his claws his chalkboard reappeared. "Even if they don't need all of the ponies for the Element of Harmony to work, they still need the Elements of Harmony for the ponies to use them!" He finished his doodling with a flourish and showed off his plan to Twilight. "All we need to do is hide the Elements!"

Twilight smiled, this plan didn't involve anypony getting hurt and was simple enough to actually work! If you left out the sleeping gas, the explosions, and the various high tech gizmos and disguises.

Discord pouted when she pointed out that they could just teleport in, get the Elements, and teleport out.

"You're no fun!" Discord complained.

Princess Celestia smiled and brushed some confetti from her coat as she waited for everypony to settle down.

"Pardon me, Lieutenant." Princess Celestia said, "I did not mean for my amusement to come at your expense."

"No, it's fine, Your Majesty!" Lieutenant Cherry Fizzy said, bowing low before the princess.

Princess Celestia smiled kindly as she bid him to rise.

"Now, what was it you needed to report to Captain Shining Armor?" She asked, signaling by her words and the use of his title that the fun was over.

"Captain Shining Armor, Sir!" Lieutenant Cherry Fizzy snapped to attention.

"Is there news about Twilight Sparkle?" Shining Armor asked.

"No Sir. Sorry Sir." Cherry Fizzy knew how worried Shining Armor was about his sister. And as Shining's friend, he dreaded having to bring him more bad news. But as a soldier under Captain Armor's command, he knew he had delayed in his report for too long.

"Discord has escaped."

The heist

Twilight sat as she checked the contents of her saddlebags, which Discord had helpfully conjuered up. She started to go through them as she checked them off against her list. "Rope...Check, Grappling hook...check, ski mask...check, suction cups...check, dynamite...che-Discord! I said no explosions!" She glared at the white robed Draconequus.

Discord smiled at her innocently as he poofed up a halo and a harp.

Twilight wasn't fooled in the slightest.

"Fine...!" Discord grumbled as he poofed away the dynamite with a snap of his claws. "You're no fun."

"If we're gonna do a heist we should at least do it right." Discord muttered under his breathe as he pouted above her.

Twilight ignored his complaining as she continued with her checklist. "Invisibility cloak...check, Night vision goggles...check, a rock...che-" Twilight stopped as she looked at Discord, confused. "A rock?" She asked.

"Well, of course Twilight!" Discord said, distracted from his sour mood."They have so many uses!" Discord said as he as he juggled various chunks of sediment.

Twilight just looked at the rock in disbelief.

Discord sighed. "Haven't you watched... well, any movie ever?"

Twilight shook her head, "I'm more of a book pony."

Discord facepalmed (again- no front hooves) "Just humor me, okay?"

Twilight sighed but caught the rock he tossed her and put it in her saddlebag.

"Where was I?" She mumbled to herself as she went back to her list. "Oh yes...pry bar...check, lock picks...check, I think that's everything...oh I almost forgot!" With a simple summoning spell she magicked up a couple of old spell books.

"Just in case." With a satisfied nod Twilight closed her bags and levitated them onto her back.

"Here, you'll need these." Discord said as he gave her a bag of marbles.

"What...?" Twilight started to ask.

"Just trust me." Discord cut her off.

Twilight shrugged and put the marbles into her bags, deciding it wasn't worth the effort to argue. She tightened the strap on her bags, after double checking to make sure she had left enough room in them for the Elements. "There, now we're ready!"

"Just one final touch." Discord snapped his claws. In a puff of smoke they were both wearing matching watches and black leather suits. He turned the dial on his watch to synchronize it with Twilight's.

"We have to make sure we're in synch if we want this to go as planned." Discord explained at her confused glance.

Twilight nodded in understanding and checked to make sure their watches were aligned.

'At least, for the first part of the plan...' Discord thought as he hid an evil grin.

"Before we go, we should probably see where all the guards are stationed, seeing as how you want to do this the boring way and sneak in, instead of having fun with fireworks." Discord remarked as he magicked up a scrying mirror.

"Good idea." Twilight nodded, deciding not to comment on the last part of his remark. That would just lead to another hour of him complaining and her explaining why a frontal assault was probably not going to help matters in the long run. "We should set up on a cloud and watch their patterns until we figure out their shift change and then we can..."

Discord interrupted her by shoving the mirror in her face. "Or we could just use my little friend here, and save us the trouble. As much as I like spying on Royal Guards, that sounds a little too boring for my taste. I got tired of watching them march around, practicing their poker faces, a few hundred years ago." He snapped his fingers and imitated a Royal Guard's guard face for a few seconds before poofing back to himself and yawning dramatically.

"Booorring! How do they do it? It's like they're practicing to be statues. Somepony should tell them that being made of stone is highly over-rated. Hmm..." Discord stroked his goatee thoughtfully.

"Discord, we talked about this, you're not turning the Royal Guards into mimes or opera-singing ballerinas." Twilight said tiredly as she tried to figure out how the mirror worked.

Discord humphed but turned on the mirror. "Here we go." He snapped his claws and appeared in a reporters outfit, speaking into a foal's inflatable microphone. "Today on 'Castle Life Live' we have two random Royal Guards marching through the Canterlot Castle. Their faces are blank as they step in rhythm, fulfilling their noble task of looking fierce and important. Discouraging any foal who would dare to enter the castle without the proper security pass. Physically fit and mentally determined, these courageous hall-monitors protect the halls against dangerous socialites and mentally unstable school foals on class trips. Nothing escapes their sight, their minds quick and reflexes quicker as they salute at the first sign of royalty or anypony of higher rank. They..."

"Discord!" Twilight yelled, interrupting his fake broadcast.

"Yes, Twilight?" Discord asked innocently.

Twilight glared at him. "The Royal Guards are not hall-monitors! They..." Discord tuned her out as she started on one of her rants, instead choosing to work on deciding what color tutus would go best on the Royal Guards after he took over Equestria.

"What do you think of carmine?" Discord asked when she paused for breathe. She face hoofed and glared at him.

"Were you even listening?!" Twilight asked angrily.

"Of course not, Twilight."

Wrong answer.

Twilight's eye twitched and her mane began to glow red. It's probably a good thing Twilight's not an alicorn or Discord may have been returned to stone right then and there.

'Oops! Time to backtrack!' "I mean... of course I was, and you're absolutely right!" Discord said, smiling innocently at the flaming unicorn.

"Oh, then what did I say?" Twilight asked as she raised an eyebrow.

"Uh..." Discord struggled to remember one of the phrases Twilight had used during her long winded rant. "Um, the Royal Guards are...um..."

'Oh that's it!' Discord smiled as he remembered part of her speech. With a snap of his claws, the Twilight puppet reappeared. "The Royal Guards are an important part of Equestria's defense. They are tasked with protecting Equestria's borders from attack. They also have the very important job of protecting the princesses. And yada yada yada..." With a bow he poofed away the puppet.

Twilight was still glaring, but at least she no longer looked like a she-devil from Tartarus. Twilight sighed in defeat and turned her attention back to the scrying mirror. And then groaned in frustration. The guards were still pacing the length of hallway outside the vault.

"This is getting us nowhere." With a burst of magic Twilight tossed the mirror aside and started to pace.

"How are we ever going to get past the guards at this rate?" She thought aloud as she paced in circles around Discord, who was turning his neck like an owl's in order to watch her.

"Twilight." Discord put out a paw to stop her pacing. With a flick of his tail, he untwisted his body while keeping his eyes on the frantic mare. "This can still work. We just need a new approach." He flicked his tail back and forth like a pendulum as he thought.

"I know, instead of watching random guards, why don't we go to the head of the totem pole?" Discord snapped his claws and the mirror flew back to him and the picture changed. When he handed it back to Twilight, instead of seeing guards pace, she was looking at her brother, Shining Armor, talk with one of the guards.

Twilight held it closer to try and hear what they were saying, but it was no use.

"Sorry, Twilight. This mirror was only designed for sight, not sound." Discord said apologetically as he crossed his claws behind his back. "But all we need is the schedule. Watch." With the tip of his tail he showed her how to slide the screen to see different angles of the room.

Twilight stuck out her tongue, deep in thought as she struggled to remember where she had seen the shift schedule posted when she had last visited her brother at work. "It should be on the wall somewhere...Ah there it is!" She shouted in excitement as she spotted it hanging behind her brother's desk, right next to poster about the Guard's Annual Picnic and Field Day.

"Vault...Vault..." Twilight muttered as she scanned the schedule, "Throne room...Library...Gardens...Ah here we are, the royal vault... It says here that shift change is every six hours, and there's one a hour past sundown!"

Twilight beamed and then frowned as she kept reading, "But the patrol is also larger after dark, there's two extra guards outside the doors and they've posted three inside. Hmm, that will make it hard to just teleport inside without getting caught. It's a good thing you thought about that Discord, otherwise we'd have been caught as soon as we appeared in the vault." Twilight started to pace again while Discord smugly smiled.

"Well I have had time to think about these things you know." He said as floated above Twilight, keeping pace with her as if attached with a leash. "We'll just have to go with my plan after all." He snapped his fingers and sticks of dynamite, firework bombs, and other explosive paraphernalia rained down on Twilight.

"What?" Discord asked innocently as Twilight glared at him. "It's stable." He said, picking up a few pieces to juggle to demonstrate their safeness.

Twilight sighed, "I just don't want anypony to get hurt." Twilight winced as she pushed aside the explosives.

"Nonsense, Twilight." Discord said as he tossed his explosives on the rest of the pile. "That's why we have the schedule. We'll be able to see where everypony is and plant the explosives where nopony will get hurt. After all, we only need a distraction, something big enough to draw ponies' attention, but small enough so nopony will get hurt."

Discord smiled reassuringly at Twilight as he magicked up a giant map of the castle and poofed back into his captain's outfit.

"The vault is here." Discord said as he placed cartoon models of guards and the Elements of Harmony on the map.

"And the princesses should be here." Placing more guard figurines next to two very silly looking figures of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.

"We'll just set the diversion here." Pointing to a spot away from both places, "And we'll be able to pop in, get the Elements, and pop back out before the guards return and nopony will be the wiser!"

Discord finished with a bow and waited for Twilight's response.

Twilight looked at the plan critically before nodding. "I suppose that will work." Twilight said as she compared his diagram to the schedule of the guard's postings. "And as long as we do it at night, we won't have to worry about any crowds being in the way. Plus there's less chance of us being seen."

Twilight nodded again. "Yes, this should work just fine."

Discord grinned. 'Yes, it should work just fine indeed.'

The Game Plan

"They've been in there for like, an hour now!" Rainbow Dash complained as she tried to look through the keyhole.

"Yeah, they're missing the Super Secret Report Super Secret Party!" Pinkie Pie said as she competed with Rainbow Dash to peek into Shining Armor's office.

"Ahm pretty sure a party's not too high on their schedule right now, sugarcube." Applejack said as she paced around the hallway.

"They...don't want to party?" Pinkie Pie asked sadly as she slumped to the floor, allowing Rainbow Dash full access to the keyhole. Her mane deflated as she lay in a heap on the floor.

"It's okay, Pinkie." Fluttershy comforted her as Rarity glared at Applejack, "I'm sure they loved your party, right now they just have to focus on other things."

"Absolutely darling, they just need to take care of this Discord dilemma so they can properly enjoy the party. Don't listen to Applejack." Rarity said, walking over to pat her on the back. They all jumped, even Rainbow Dash, when Pinkie Pie gasped dramatically.

"Don't say that Rarity!" Pinkie Pie said sternly as she started at Rarity. "You should always listen to your friends, even if they're being silly grumpy pants that don't appreciate good parties!"

"Hey!" Applejack tried to protest but was shushed by Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Fluttershy.

"Not listening to a friend can ruin a friendship, we didn't listen to Twilight and now she's gone and we may never see her again, and even if we do she'll probably never be our friend again. She's probably already replaced us and gone to a new town and she's made new friends and forgotten our names and what we looked like and now she'll never come to her 'We're Soo Sorry We Ignored You And We Promise To Be Better Friends Surprise Partyyy...!" Pinkie Pie wailed, bursting into tears.

Her friends exchanged panicked glances before Applejack stepped forward. "Ah'm sorry, Pinkie." Applejack said, reaching a hoof around Pinkie Pie.

"We're all sorry, darling." Rarity said, as they all gave Pinkie a group hug. Pinkie Pie sniffled as she hugged her friends back.

They were all letting out silent sighs of relief when Pinkie suddenly gasped and tightened her hold on Applejack and Rarity.

"But what about you and Applejack? You two need to make up before you guys forget each others names!" Pinkie Pie said frantically, shoving her two friends together.

Rarity and Applejack looked at each other sheepishly while Rainbow Dash stifled a snicker. (Barely. But hey, she made an effort, right?)

"I'm sorry, Applejack darling. I shouldn't have said not to listen to you. That was unkind of me." Rarity apologized.

"Ahm sorry too, sugarcube. Ah reckon Ah wasn't being very considerate of Pinkie Pie and ya were just reminding me my manners." Applejack said, grinning sheepishly.

"Friends?" Applejack asked, offering Rarity a hoof.

"Friends." Rarity said, taking Applejack's hoof and giving it a firm shake.

"Aaawww...Yay! Now we can have a 'Rarity and Applejack Are Totally Friends Again' party!" Pinkie Pie floofed back to her normal self and bounced off to find some streamers and a banner.

The girls looked at each other and sighed in relief. It was getting harder and harder to avoid Pinkamena.

Discord teleported them into a tree, just outside of the castle gardens. Twilight pulled out her ski mask and invisibility cape before turning to Discord. "Remember, place the devices exactly where we planned."

Discord nodded and smiled innocently, "Of course Twilight, I'll do my part. You just worry about getting into the vault."

Twilight pulled on her mask and was about to don her cape when Discord stopped her.

"For good luck." Discord said as he tucked a lavender in Twilight's mane.

Twilight smiled nervously at him. She was so agitated that she didn't notice the flower glow black before settling into her mane. She pulled on her cape and disappeared before his eyes.

Discord flicked his eyes to switch his vision to heat sense mode to watch Twilight's progress for a moment. Nodding to himself in satisfaction, he teleported to the far side of the castle to do his part of the plan.

'Good luck for me anyway!' Discord thought as he silently laughed to himself. 'Mwah hahaha!'

"How could this happen?!" Shining Armor shouted, slamming his hoof on the table. Several of the newer guards flinched while Shining Armor's regular squadron traded a few worried glances. It wasn't like the captain to yell and rant like this. At least, not outside of the Academy. Shining Armor has always been one of the more level-headed commanders, though he could scare new recruits with the best of them.

They guards snapped back to attention as their captain continued; now would not be a good time to be called out for not paying attention.

"Discord has been in trapped in stone for over a thousand years and he chooses now to escape?!" Shining Armor looked around the room at his soldiers and forced himself to put on his Royal Guard face. It wouldn't do for his soldiers to be worrying about their commander, not when there was a job to be done. Silently taking a calming breathe, he rose from the table and started to pace in front of his unit.

"Alright soldiers, listen up!" The guards all stood at attention, this was the captain they all strived to serve and impress.

"We have a situation on our hooves. As some of you know, a powerful being has escaped imprisonment from the castle grounds and is on the loose. His name is Discord and he is classified as extremely dangerous. Your mission will be to find a trail and report back. Do not approach. Do not attempt to apprehend. Attempt to subdue only if civilians are present and in immediate danger. Focus on tracking and evacuation. You will be paired in groups of six. Any questions?"

Shining Armor stopped and looked at the guards under his command, searching for any sign that further instructions were needed. Some commanders in the guard discouraged needing to repeat themselves. Not Shining Armor, part of what made him a good captain was his ability to tell when his troops needed further instructions and his willingness to give them.

One of the guards raised his hoof. "What about Twilight Sparkle? Are we discontinuing the search for her?"

Shining Armor clenched his jaw before forcing himself to relax. Another trait that made him a good captain was his ability to answer tough questions and keep things in perspective. Even when he hated himself for it.

"For now yes. The main priority is now Discord. The search for Ms. Sparkle will have to wait." The guards nodded, though a few of the ones closest to Shining Armor gave him sympathetic glances.

"Alright everypony, dismissed!" Shining Armor ordered. "Lieutenants Cherry Fizzy, Bronzewing and Silver Shield, report to me!"

"Sir! Yes sir!" The three soldiers stood at attention as their comrades filed out of the room. As soon as the last guard had left, five mares and a dragon entered the room.

"What's the plan?!" Rainbow Dash demanded. "Are we gonna kick some demon flank or what?"

"Whoa there, Rainbow!" Applejack said, "Let's hear the plan first. Then we can kick some demon flank."

They all started arguing over how best to defeat Discord as Fluttershy hid behind Spike, who was trying to calm them all down.

"Girls!" Shining Armor quickly took charge of the situation. "The royal guards and the princesses will take care of Discord."

"Then what are we going to do?" Rarity asked.

"We're going to find Twilight." Shining Armor responded.

"What about them?" Rainbow Dash asked, motioning towards the three Royal Guards standing at attention.

"They are going to help us. Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Spike meet Lieutenant Cherry Fizzy, Lieutenant Bronzewing and Lieutenant Silver Shield." Shining Armor pointed to each pony as he introduced them all.

"Together we will conduct a systematic search of Canterlot and the surrounding areas. Rainbow Dash, Bronzewing and Fluttershy, you three will cover the sky above the city and do an aerial search."

Rainbow Dash and Lieutenant Bronzewing saluted as Fluttershy nodded.

"Rarity, Spike and Lieutenant Silver Shield will conduct a grid search starting at the castle and expanding through the city." Shining Armor commanded.

Silver Shield and Spike saluted as Rarity nodded.

"Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Lieutenant Cherry Fizzy will search the surrounding wilderness." He continued.

Cherry Fizzy saluted as Applejack nodded.

"Okey, dokey lokey!" Pinkie Pie sang as she pulled a spy glass out of her mane.

"I will be coordinating the search party and the Discord mission from the watch towers. If any pony needs anything, there will be messengers all over the city. You can send any one of them."

They all nodded.

Shining Armor smiled once before narrowing his eyes in determination. "Alright then, move out!"

Caught

BOOM! SNAP! CRACKLE! POP!

The guards jumped as the sound of explosions reached them.

"What the..." One of the guards said, looking over at his partner. "Are those explosions?"

BOOM!

"We'd better check this out. The castle may be under attack!" The other one said as he knocked on the vault door.

Unknown to the guards, Twilight watched from across the hall. As they ran by her she clutched her invisibility cloak tighter, afraid of a single strand of mane escaping and giving her away. Silently she counted them as they passed.

'Ugh, there's still two left!' Twilight resisted the urge to groan. Silently, she moved closer to the vault. There was one standing guard outside the vault. 'So the other one must be inside.'

Twilight had a brief moment of panic before remembering the rock Discord had insisted on her bringing. Twilight grinned as she teleported outside and tossed it through one of the stain glass windows.

"Who's there!" The guard shouted as he flew through the shattered glass.

'One down, one to go.' Twilight grinned. Walking over to the vault she knocked on the door. The guard opened the door and looked around.

"Flash?" He called for his partner as he spotted the broken glass. Hearing his name, Private Flash Sentry flew back into the hall, only for them both to be hit with paralyzing spells.

"Wha-!" The guards gasped before being hit with snooze spells. Twilight covered them with her invisibility cloak and slipped inside the vault.

'Now where are those elements?' She thought as she looked around the room. "Ah ha!" She whispered triumphantly as she spotted the chest used to hold them. Using her magic, she quickly levitated them into her saddlebags.

"Twilight!"

Twilight spun around as she heard her name. Twilight cringed as she saw Rainbow Dash barreling through the now open window. Not that a pane of glass would of made much difference at the speed Rainbow Dash was traveling.

"Twilight!" Rainbow Dash called again as she landed in front of Twilight, leaving skid marks on the marble floor. "There you are!"

Twilight stared at her friend, her breathe caught in her throat as her heart pounded in time to her throbbing head.

Fluttershy landed next to Rainbow Dash, having followed her through the window, though at a much safer speed. Especially considering they were flying through a broken window.

"Twilight? What are you doing with the Elements of Harmony?" Fluttershy asked, taking a step towards Twilight.

"I...uh..." Twilight stammered, taking a step back. "Oof!" She whirled around, only to see she had backed into a Royal Guard.

"Miss Twilight Sparkle, your presence is requested by Princess Celestia." He stated.

"Nonononono!" Twilight's eyes shrunk to pinprinks as she spun around in a panic. Only to find all her escape routes blocked, cornered by Royal Guards and her friends.

A few minutes earlier

BOOM! SNAP! CRACKLE! POP!

Years of training prevented Shining Armor from jumping at the explosions. Putting on his 'Captain of the Royal Guards' face he turned towards the door to his office. Almost immediately a group of guards burst through.

"Captain Shining Armor, Sir! Explosions have breached the front gate!" One of the guards yelled.

"Discord." Shining Armor growled, narrowing his eyes. "I want squadrons two, four, six, and seven to the front gates. Squadrons three, five and nine to the Royal Chambers, Squadrons eight and ten evacuate the castle grounds of all non essential personnel. Squadron eleven to the vault. Squadron one with me!"

Shining Armor sent off messenger guards as they burst through the door with instructions for their units. "Find the bearers of the Elements of Harmony. And somepony alert the Princesses!"

"We are already aware of the situation, Captain." Princess Celestia said as Princess Cadance trotted over to give her fiance a quick kiss.

"Princess Celestia!" Captain Shining Armor said, snapping to attention.

"As you were, Captain." Princess Celestia said.

"Is this the work of Discord?" Shining Armor asked as he lowered his hoof.

Princess Celestia nodded, "I believe it is."

Shining Armor and Cadance fell in line behind her as they made their way to the front gates.

"What are your orders, Princess?" Shining Armor asked as they entered the hall of murals.

"It appears you have everything under control, captain. Continue as you were."

He nodded as Princess Celestia continued, "Although I fear the explosions were simply a decoy."

"Why is that?" Cadance asked.

"This is not Discord's style. He is more likely to just appear and start creating chaos. This is too standard, too orderly. I'm afraid he wouldn't find amusement in this."

"Right you are, Celestia."

"Discord." Celestia frowned as she looked around the room. "Show yourself!"

"Oh come now, princess, what fun would that be?"

"What do you want, Discord?" Cadance demanded.

"What do I want? Hmm..." Discord appeared above them, stroking his goatee. "I'm not sure exactly. You see, I've already gotten what I wanted, thanks to your prized student." He said, turning towards Princess Celestia.

"Twilight?" Cadance said softly as Shining Armor readied a blast spell.

"What have you done with Twilight!" Shining Armor yelled, lowering his horn.

"Release my student immediately!" Princess Celestia commanded.

"Release her? What ever do you mean Tia?" Discord asked innocently.

"Are you saying you don't have Twilight Sparkle?" She said sternly. "Think wisely before lying to me, Discord."

Discord gasped dramatically, "Why Tia, I'm offended you would suspect me of stooping as low foalnaping. The very idea of me lowering myself to the practices of common criminals! I am a tactical genius! I would never do something so basic and degrading. How insulting!" Discord harrumphed and crossed his arms.

"Then why are you here?" Princess Celestia asked suspiciously.

"Why to gloat, of course!" Discord answered as a bunch of foam number ones appeared and started cheering him on.

"The practices of common criminals, huh?" Cadance muttered to Shining Armor.

"I heard that you know." Discord said as he appeared shrunken down on her head.

"Ahh!" Cadance yelped as Shining Armor moved to smack Discord off with his hoof. Before he could though, Discord had already transported himself into the painted glass windows. Discord's voice rang out through the hall as he danced from scene to scene. "I don't know why you ponies are all so hostile. Here I am, doing nothing but having a friendly conversation, and all you ponies can think of is violence and baseless accusations. No wonder Twilight was so upset."

"Discord! No more games. What have you done with Twilight Sparkle!" Princess Celestia shouted as her blast shattered the window pane he was currently in.

Discord reappeared in another scene, only for that one to be shattered by Shining Armor. "Where is my sister!" Shining Armor demanded angrily.

"Release her at once!" Cadance shouted as she blasted the next window Discord appeared in. They all looked around the other windows to find him before his voice rang out.

"Are you all quite done?" Discord asked drolly.

"Stop hiding, coward!" Shining Armor shouted, his magic releasing itself in a wave that took out all of the remaining windows. He panted heavily as the large release of magic exhausted him. He gritted his teeth and scowled as laughter rang out through the hall.

"And they said I was destructive! Ha Ha Ha!" Discord appeared on the ceiling, rolling around as he laughed hysterically. "Oh my chaos, that was perfect! You can't defeat me with a magical love shield wave! I'm the Lord of Chaos! The Master of Madness! The Tyrant of Turmoil! The Devil of Disarray! The Crown of Crazy! The Menace of Mayhem! The...hmm... I actually don't have any more...Note to self: come up with more titles..."

They all glared at him.

"Seriously though?" Discord said after he caught his breathe, "Did you honestly expect to defeat two supervillians with the same spell? I mean, sure it worked on ole Queen Chrissy, but I actually have my own power, I didn't just hijack some ponyelse's." Discord thought to himself for minute. "By the way, why aren't you 'Queen' Celestia? I don't see any other alicorns taking the title."

Princess Celestia opened her mouth to respond "..."

"Actually, never mind." Discord interrupted, "I don't need another lecture about pony inanity. I get enough of that from your student."

Shining Armor looked like he was about to explode as he glowered at Discord. "You..." Shining Armor barely got the first word out before he was interrupted. By yawning.

"Do you have any original insults, Shiny Pants?" Discord started pulling a long strip of paper from Shining Armor's mouth. "Let's see...abomination, beast, brute, degenerate, (seriously? What are you, a school teacher?), demon, devil, evil spirit, fiend, hellion (haven't heard that one in a while...) imp, jackal, jerk, loony (hmm...I might be able to use that), menace to society (you've been spending way too much time in Canterlot...), mephistopheles (props for that one), monster,..."

Cadance blasted the paper while Princess Celestia blasted Discord. Both shots simply bounced back, making them have to fly up to avoid being hit.

Discord sighed and stretched. With a flick of his wrist the paper rolled back into Shining Armor's mouth with a snap, making his eyes roll like slots as he sat back with a thump.

"Well, this has been fun." Discord said as he stretched, "But it appears I'm needed elsewhere." With that he teleported away with a lot of smoke, sparkles and confetti with a large fanfare.

*cough cough* "I'm the princess of love and I'm beginning to hate that creature." *cough* Cadance said as she flapped her wings to clear the smoke.

Then tried to wake up Shining Armor.

"Gah!" Shining Armor shouted as he was woken up with a large bucket of ice water. He looked around him at the still hazy room as laughter rang out. And at the two scowling, soaking wet alicorns.

He groaned. 'I knew I should have stayed home today', he thought to himself, as he subtly moved his tongue around in his mouth. (It still felt papery.)

Confrontation

"Not to worry, Twilight," Discord said as he appeared above her. "I'm here!" With a snap of his claws, the guards vanished, leaving just Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy blocking Twilight's exit.

"Hey you big block of ugly! What'd you do with all the guards?!" Rainbow Dash yelled as she flew up into Discord's face.

"Now now, there's no need for name-calling." Discord said as he pinched her wings together and tied her into a stool. "I just gave them an early vacation so we could talk in peace."

"Let me go you...mpmph!" Rainbow started before Discord zippered her mouth shut. Fluttershy gasped and flew over to unzip Rainbow.

"Hey! That wasn't very nice!" Pinkie Pie shouted as she bounced into the room with Applejack, Rarity and Spike behind her.

"Twilight!" They all yelled as Pinkie Pie rushed up to hug her.

"Oof!" Pinkie said as she collided with an invisible force field, sending her bouncing back across the room. "Twilight?" Pinkie Pie asked, once she had come to a stop.

"What in tarnation?!" Applejack exclaimed as she and Rarity tried to get through the force field.

"Discord! Why did you put up a shield?" Twilight asked.

"I'm sorry, Twilight. I simply didn't want anypony else attacking us." Discord said, smiling gently down at her.

"Attacking you?" Rarity gasped. "Why, we would never stoop to such barbaric measures!"

"Let go of Twilight you brute!" Spike yelled and released a stream of dragon fire on the shield.

"Honestly, is it so hard to come up with an original insult?" Discord muttered before turning to Twilight. "See, Twilight?" Discord said, "This is why we needed a shield. Everypony is jumping to conclusions and we just got here."

"Everypony calm down!" Twilight yelled. Her friends stared at her in shock as she tried to explain. "Discord isn't evil. He just wants a chance to prove himself."

"By taking you hostage!?" Rainbow Dash yelled, having been freed by Pinkie Pie.

"He didn't-" Twilight started before being interrupted.

"By vanishing all of the guards?" Applejack asked looking around the room.

"He just-"

"By tying up Rainbow Dash?" Rarity said

"She was-"

"By putting up a force field?" Spike demanded in between bursts of flame.

"That's just-"

"By not letting you go to the 'Super Secret Report Super Secret Party'?!" Pinkie Pie demanded. "What?" she asked innocently as everypony facehoofed.

"THAT'S NOT WHATS HAPPENING!" Twilight shouted, her horn starting to give off sparks.

"Enough." Everypony (and Spike and Discord) looked towards the vault doors as Princess Celestia strode into the room followed by Princess Cadance and Shining Armor. "Release her Discord, and you will merely be returned to stone!" Princess Celestia commanded.

Discord sighed. "I'm not holding her hostage." He said sadly. "You see, Twilight, no matter what I do, ponies will always think I'm a monster." With a snap of his claws the force field disappeared. Discord held out his arms and poofed a pair of hoof cuffs onto them. "I was a fool to think I'd get a second chance."

Shining Armor's horn glowed as he started a spell.

"No!" Twilight yelled, poofing herself in front of Discord. "He's not evil! Just give him a chance!" Twilight yelled, her own horn glowing with a counter-spell.

"Twilight, he's playing mind-games with you." Cadance said as she stepped towards her old foal sitting charge.

"Stay back!" Twilight yelled, turning her horn towards Cadance.

"Twilight, my faithful student, Discord is the Lord of Chaos. He cannot change. He is simply using you to gain power." Princess Celestia said.

Twilight's spell faltered. "Discord... is this true?" She asked softly.

"It's alright, Twilight" Princess Celestia said, "Discord is a master manipulator."

Twilight's horn flickered out as she took a step towards her mentor. Her friends smiled, thinking they had gotten through to her. They were all so focused on Twilight that they didn't notice the split second grin on Discord's face before he sighed loudly.

"I was afraid of this." Discord said.

"That's enough, Discord!" Shining Armor said, lowering his horn. "By order of the Royal Guard, you're under arrest!"

"I didn't want to have to show you this, Twilight, but they've left me no choice." Discord said, ignoring Shining Armor and snapping his claws. All around Twilight, screens appeared. Each one showed a scene. Twilight looked in disbelief as she saw her friends laughing with her brother and the princesses, Shining Armor eating dessert and snuggling with Cadance, Pinkie Pie singing and dancing as Princess Celestia giggled. She saw the banner and decorations for Pinkie Pie's 'Super Secret Report Super Secret Party' but she wasn't able to read the words.

"You...threw a party?" Twilight asked in disbelief as tears pooled in her eyes. "Did you even miss me at all?"

Discord poofed out of his hoof cuffs and patted Twilight's shoulder. "There, there, Twilight, I'm still your friend." Discord said, wrapping his tail around her.

"Twilight, we..." Applejack started.

"You what?!" Twilight demanded, tears of anger streaming down her face. "You didn't eat cake with the princesses?"

"Well... Ah..." Applejack stammered as she tried to come up with something to say.

"Twilight, darling..." Rarity said as she took a step towards Twilight.

"You didn't collapse with laughter in the castle dining hall?" Twilight demanded. Rarity backed up under Twilight's furious glance.

"You didn't visit with the animals in the royal gardens?" Twilight continued, facing Fluttershy as she pointed to the picture showing Fluttershy talking to some squirrels. Fluttershy was too upset to explain that she was asking them for help in finding Twilight so she hid behind Rainbow Dash.

"Twilight..." Rainbow Dash barely got her name out before Twilight turned to her.

"Don't play innocent, Rainbow Dash! I can see you right here practicing your stunts. I bet you just showed up for the chance to meet the Wonderbolts!" Twilight accused her.

"Twilight, we missed you!" Pinkie Pie spluttered out before Twilight could cut her off.

"Is that why you threw a party?!" Twilight demanded.

"Uh...yes?" Pinkie Pie smiled sheepishly as her friends facehoofed.

"Twilight, please..." Cadance said, putting a hoof on Pinkieas she comforted Pinkie Pie.

Twilight turned to her as fresh tears streamed down her face, "I thought you at least cared about me. I thought I actually mattered to you." She wiped the tears from her face as she glared at her former foal sitter. "Did you ever actually care for me at all?' She demanded angrily, "or was I just an excuse for you to hang out with my brother!" She shouted pointing to the screen showing Cadance snuggling with
Shining Armor.

"Twily..." Shining Armor reached towards his sister, only for her to turn on him. "Don't even bother, Shining! You've done enough!" She said motioning towards the screen showing him yelling at her during the wedding rehearsal. He winced and took a step back.

"Twilight, that is enough! Listen to me." Princess Celestia said taking a step towards her student.

"No!" Twilight yelled, lowering her horn. "I'm done listening to you! You listen to me! I'm done being ignored and forgotten!" She pointed an accusing hoof at the ponies in question with each word. "I'm done being used and betrayed! I'm done being your faithful student!" Angry tears filled her eyes as Twilight teleported away with a blinding flash of light.

CLAP... CLAP... CLAP...

Princess Celestia turned to Discord, who was slowly clapping as he laughed. "Oh, that was too good!" He cackled as he poofed up a new screen and started replaying the past few minutes. "You should have seen the looks on your faces! Priceless!" He laughed poofing up a bag of popcorn.

"You may have corrupted Twilight," Princess Celestia said, "but we can still defeat you!"

Discord grinned and shook his head. "How? You need the Elements of Harmony to turn me to stone. And you can't use them with out the Element of Magic, Twilight Sparkle. Besides, even if you could find somepony else to wear the sixth Element, it still wouldn't work. Because you don't even have them anymore!" With a final peel of laughter Discord vanished, leaving the screens playing.

Afterwards

Discord floated in-between dimensions as he tried to figure out where Twilight went. With a snap of his claws, he conjured up a 3-D map of Equestria. Putting on a pair of reading glasses, he used a magnifying glass to examine the map. "Let's see here...If I were a lonely, eggheaded, and not very original unicorn where would I be?" With another snap of his claws, his Twilight doll appeared on his shoulder.

"I'm so upset! My friends aren't my friends anymore and my teacher is just a lazy alicorn using me to do her dirty work! Oh why didn't I listen to that clever and handsome Lord of Chaos, Discord? Woe is me! I'd better go to my room and cry until he finds me and trains me to be his student of Chaos. Wah!"

"Oh, excellent suggestion, Twilight doll!" He moved his glass over to Ponyville and peered inside the Golden Oaks Library.

"Hmm, well you lose points for that one." Discord said pointing to the floating scoreboard above him.

Twilight Doll: -1 ~ Discord: 0

He looked in a few more obvious places as the doll listed them off. "Castle of the lazy alicorn siblings... nope, Donut shop...nope, thinking spot...nada, Zecora's...zipo, well you're no help." With that he flicked the doll away.

"What we need is a new perspective..." Discord paced in circles as he thought. Suddenly a lightbulb appeared above his head.

"Ah ha!" Snapping his claws, he poofed up another Twilight doll, this one in a lab coat and dorky glasses.

"Where would you go, Twilight Doll 2.0?"

The doll pushed it's glasses higher on it's nose before stating. "As I have just discovered the backstabbing nature of friendship, rather than teleport to a venue that is easily locatable by my former associates, I have resolved to make my way to a secluded location in which I will endeavor to rectify my current situation."

"And that is..." Discord said, beginning to get annoyed at his creation.

"Do to the partisan nature of our relationship, it would be counterproductive for myself to disclose that information." The doll stated smugly as it changed the scoreboard.

Twilight Doll 2.0: 1 ~ Discord: 0

"Okay, first of all, I created you so you have to do what I say. Second, that scoreboard is incorrect as there are two Twilight dolls." Discord stated as he brought back the first doll and changed the board again.

Whiny Twilight Doll: -1 ~ Egghead Twilight Doll: -1 ~ Discord: 1

Both dolls started to protest,

"I'm not whining! I'm complaining! I'll show you whining! Waaah, you knoooocked me ooffff. You're a biggg bullllyyy..."

"That label is highly disparaging and anatomically inaccurate. Furthermore, my previous changes to the scoreboard where correct at the time as the original Twilight effigy had been eradicated by yourself. Therefor-"

"Aauugh, why can't either of you just tell me where Twilight is!" Discord interrupted the dolls by grabbing them and shaking them until they stopped talking.

They looked at each other and responded together, "You created us. How can we know something you don't?"

Discord smacked himself in face, "Oh yeah". With a snap of his fingers, everything disappeared. "I guess I'll just have to use the tracking device I stuck in her mane." He said, poofing up a metal detector and following it's beeping.

"Oh come on!" Rainbow Dash yelled in frustration, kicking the wall next to her.

"Ah can't believe that just happened!" Applejack shouted, stomping her hoof.

"This is the Worst. Possible. Thing!" Rarity declared dramatically as she punctuated each word with a blast to the floating screens. Unfortunately, each shot simply reflected off of them and went bouncing around the room.

"Eep!" Fluttershy yelped, ducking behind Pinkie Pie. Who was currently ignoring everypony as she cried in the center of the room.

Princess Celestia raised her horn and with a powerful spell, dissolved the magic blasts before they could injure anypony. She attempted to remove the floating screens, but her spell reacted in much the same manner as Rarity's, despite her being an alicorn. Princess Celestia quickly cancelled her spell before they got further than a single bounce. "I'm sorry everypony, it appears that Discord's magic has grown stronger than even my own."

"Magic may not do it, but lets see them hold up against my Sonic RainBlast!" Rainbow shouted. Before anypony could stop her, she had flown through the broken window. A few seconds passed before she came barreling back in, hollering a war cry as she aimed a karate kick at one of the screens.

BOING!

The screen flexed like a rubber-band and slingshot her straight into the wall with a crash. "Owww" Rainbow Dash groaned as everypony face-hoofed.

"Oh my gosh, Rainbow Dash, are you alright?" Fluttershy said as she flew to her friend's aid.

"Ya okay there, sugarcube?" Applejack asked, trotting towards them.

"No...problem...hehe...just...awesome..." Rainbow Dash said weakly as the room span and her eyes rolled back in her head.

"Honestly, Rainbow Dash, you need to think before you start flying into things. Not every problem can be solved with violence." Rarity said as she levitated her friend onto her fainting couch.

"What?" Rarity asked, looking around as she noticed the sudden silence.

Cadance shook her head, "Lets just get Rainbow to the infirmary." She nodded towards a couple of guards, who stiffened to attention. They saluted and picked up the duvet and carried it out of the room.

As everypony trailed out of the vault (the girls and Spike following Rainbow Dash, and the guards returning to their posts), Cadance noticed that Shining Armor hadn't moved.

Cadance turned back to see Shining Armor standing in front of one of the screens. Cadance frowned, worry knitting her brow as she walked over to her fiancé. She knew which clip he was watching, even without looking. There was only one that Shining Armor would watch with this level of intensity and guilt.

Shining Armor didn't turn to look as Cadance stepped up behind him. He just stood there, watching that one moment of the wedding replay over and over again. That one moment, when he had given in to the stress and frustration and had taken it out on the one filly he had never wanted to hurt. The one moment he wished he could take back, more than anything.

"Come on, Shining." Cadance said softly, putting a wing across his back. "Let's go."

Shining Armor nodded and allowed himself to be led from the room, his mouth in a tight line as he took one last look at the screen. 'If it's the last thing I do,' Shining Armor silently vowed, 'I promise I will make this right.'

POP!

Discord appeared in the corner of the cave and promptly ducked as a large projectile went flying in his direction. He opened his mouth to protest, only for it to hang open as he took in the mess around him. The walls and ceiling were covered in char marks and there were there was rubble every where. 'How did she manage to burn crystal?' Discord thought in disbelief.

"AUGH!" Twilight let out a guttural scream of frustration and released a powerful surge of magic. It blasted through the far side, creating another tunnel and sending large chunks of debris flying towards her.

Discord's mouth fell open as he watched. In his experience ponies tended to run screaming away from large flying projectiles, not towards them.

Letting out another primal shriek, Twilight bucked pieces away from her, using her magic to fling the chunks she couldn't reach with her legs. With a final cry she sent the largest piece flying through another wall.

Discord continued to watch silently for a few moments before grinning and poofing up some popcorn. He leaned back into his floating easy chair and settled in for the show. 'After all' He thought, grinning wickedly as Twilight destroyed more of her surroundings, 'one must never interrupt a lady.'

Twilight continued her derby of destruction for some time (Not sure exactly how long, Twilight didn't pay any attention and Discord had been too busy enjoying the show to keep track. Not that he would have anyway.) before letting out a final cry of raw emotion and sending one last blast through the ceiling before lowering her head in exhaustion. She panted heavily as slow clapping filled the air. Twilight scowled as Discord appeared, whooping in glee as he joined a thousand pairs of gloves in applause.

"Oh, Well done!" Discord congratulated her. "I must say, I love what you've done with the place! You have turned this drab and boring cavern into a canvas of possibilities. Amazing! Why it's simply astounding!" With a POP! and a puff of smoke he was dressed as an art critic, complete with the beret and clipboard. "What do you call this piece?" Discord asked as he examined a pile of burnt crystal.

Twilight just sighed, she was in no mood for his games. She trudged past him, head down and tail dragging as she walked deeper into the caves.

Discord frowned, and then brightened as he thought of something else. With a snap of his claws he vanished and reappeared above her, "Whatever made you think of using the Crystal Caves beneath Canterlot?"He snapped back into the general's uniform. "I mean, using the place you were imprisoned in as your new headquarters? It's tactical genius! Who would suspect you of hiding in the very place you escaped from?!"

Twilight just ignored him as she kept walking. Blasting the Crystal Caves may have helped relieve her of the anger built up inside her, but now that she had worked off all of that adrenaline, she just felt depressed and empty, like there was a hole in her heart. And now she had no way of filling that hole.

Discord hid a grin as he watched her, his plan was working perfectly. Twilight was so depressed, there was no way she could use her Element now.

'Ehh, maybe too depressed' Discord thought as Twilight retreated to the far corner of the cave and curled up in a ball. For a moment he was worried she was going to get hysterical on him again, but she jut lay there, staring at her broken reflection in the crystal wall.

'Just like my friends.' Twilight thought bitterly as she traced the cracks with her hoof. Suddenly she felt a paw on her shoulder. She looked up to see Discord smiling gently at her.

'Now for phase two.' Discord hid a grin as he looked down at the broken-hearted young mare.

Now What?

Shining Armor stood on the balcony over the front gates, his face a stony mask as he stared out across the palace grounds. He longed to be doing something, anything to find Twilight. But until they actually had at least some semblance of a plan, some idea of where Twilight and Discord could be, there wasn't anything he could do. No matter how many soldiers you had to throw at your enemy, it didn't do you any good until you knew where to throw them. And it was frustrating Shining Armor immensely.

But no matter how frustrated he was, he wasn't going to let it worry his soldiers. Any pony that happened to look up and see him there just saw a commander reviewing his troops and planning out the next course of order. At least, that's what the random guard or civilian saw. Any pony who really knew Shining Armor knew that his mask was just that, a mask. Cherry Fizzy was one of those ponies.

Shining Armor saw Cherry Fizzy approach out of the corner of his eye and bit back a sigh.

"What is it, Lieutenant?" Shining Armor asked stiffly, hoping this was just business, but knowing otherwise.

"It's just us, Shining." Cherry Fizzy said, reaching out a hoof to his friend.

Shining Armor stepped back and saluted, requiring Cherry Fizzy to do the same per military protocol in case any soldiers were watching. For while they may have been out of hearing range on the balcony, they weren't out of sight. Seeing their commanding officer salute his lieutenant and the lieutenant snubbing him would have created a lot of confusion and worry amongst the ranks.

Cherry Fizzy frowned slightly as he lowered his salute. (No worries there, it was a common enough expression in the guard.)

"Fine." Cherry Fizzy said, narrowing his eyes. "We'll play it your way." He stood at attention and snapped, "Sir! Captain Shining Armor, Sir! First Lieutenant Cherry Fizzy, requesting an audience! Sir!"

Shining Armor frowned back, "Don't be like that Fizzy. You know we have to keep up appearances for the troops. Especially with Discord loose."

"Sir! Repeating request for an audience, Sir!" Cherry Fizzy repeated, fully in Royal Guard mode.

Shining Armor sighed, "Fine". Putting on his Captain of the Royal Guard stare, he faced his friend square on. "Request Granted, Lieutenant!", he barked.

"Sir! Permission to speak freely, Sir!"

"Permission Granted, Lieutenant!"

"Sir! Permission to utilize section 109 B of the Royal Guard Interrelations Code! Sir!" [1]

"Permission Granted." Shining Armor fairly growled the words as he glared at Cherry Fizzy.

"Sir! I believe you are holding yourself responsible for the actions of your sister, Twilight Sparkle! Sir!" "Explain yourself, Lieutenant."

"Sir! You are not to blame for the actions of your sister! Discord is!" Cherry Fizzy said, meeting Shining Armor's scowl and returning it two-fold.

"She is my little sister! She looked up to me! She adored me! And I forgot about her! I ignored her and I let her down! How can you tell me I'm not to blame?! Discord may have been the one to manipulate her, but he wouldn't have been able to if I hadn't broken her heart in the first place!" Shining Armor's voice cracked as he yelled, his face inches away from Cherry Fizzy's.

"Sir! You need to get your head out of your plot and buck up! Yeah, you messed up. You messed up big time." Cherry Fizzy was no longer using his guard voice, but the words hurt, none-the-less.

"Seriously dude, how could you forget to tell your little sister you were getting married?" At some point during Shining Armor's and Cherry Fizzy's (admittedly loud) discussion, Silver Shield and Bronzewing had shown up.

"Lieutenants, I do not need to tell you, that as your commanding officer, I can, and will, assign both of you to KP Duty until your hooves fall off." Shining Armor had also lowered his voice, to that of the menacing tone all recruits fear.

Bronzewing wisely decided to shut up. [2]

But if Cherry Fizzy was anything, it was stubborn. "Shining Armor, if you don't stop beating yourself up over Twilight, you're never going to be able to save her!"

Shining Armor opened his mouth to object (and probably make good on his threat), but Silver Shield interrupted him before he could. "I know it hurts, Shining, but Fizzy's right. You need to let go of the past."

"Yeah." Bronzewing cut in, "So what if your little Twily is being manipulating by an evil lord of chaos bent on destroying our world. Even if she becomes some sort of Nightmare Twilight, she's still your little sister and we'll get her back. You'll see. Right guys!? Guys?" [3]

Cherry Fizzy and Silver Shield just glared at him while Shining Armor just groaned. He hadn't considered the possibility of his little sister becoming some sort of super villain.

"OW! What was that for?!" Bronzewing grumbled as he rubbed his head with his wing, glaring at Silver Shield who had just cuffed him upside the head. With armored hooves.

"For being an insensitive plothead, as usual." Silver Shield stated matter-of-factly while Cherry Fizzy nodded.

"I know how you feel, Twilight." Discord said softly, gently smiling down at her. "When Celestia and Luna betrayed me, I felt like my heart had been replaced with a heart shaped hole. I felt like disappearing, letting the earth swallow me up so I could hide away and drown my sorrow in chocolate milk and cotton candy.., " Discord slowly stroked Twilight's head, pulling her mane away from her eyes. "Then I realized that they were never my friends to begin with. They were using me. "

"How did you know?" Twilight asked bitterly, wiping tears of rage from her eyes.

"Because, Twilight, as wrong as Celestia and Luna are about so many things, there was one matter on which they were right about. Friendship. "

Twilight froze, looking up at him in confusion as he continued.

"They always said that true friends stick together no matter what. That they won't let anything get between them. And they were right. True friends don't let anything get between them. They don't forget their friends. They're miserable without them. They never give up their friendships. But they gave up on me. That's how I knew they weren't my true friends. They never were. The only friend I ever had was my chaos. It was never the same, never expected. So I never expected it to be my friend, and it never betrayed me."

Discord waved his paw around the cave as his claw kept stroking her mane. "I knew nopony would ever be my friend, but even though I wanted to give up, I just couldn't. So I tried to be happy on my own. Tried to keep to myself, but chaos magic doesn't do alone. It needs to be shared and enjoyed, just like all magic. That's really the only thing it has in common with other magic at all."

All around Twilight the caves were being transformed. The piles of charred and broken crystal sculpted and caverns shaped to Discord's will.

"Didn't your magic grow stronger when you thought you had friends? When you had a purpose?" Discord asked Twilight as he gently let go of her to float in slow circles above her.

Twilight nodded as Discord continued, "So did mine. It was too weak when I was alone. Soon I wouldn't even have been able to conjure up food. Then how could I have survived?"

Twilight stared in wonder as the caves were transformed. Instead of just changing their surroundings in an instant like he had at the Castle of the Two Sisters, this time Discord's magic moved slowly, showing every step in transforming the cave. It was enchanting to watch as Discord transformed the pitted and charred space around them into a thing of beauty.

"But when I tried to share my magic," Discord waved a claw across the air in front of him, revealing a screen like the ones he had used in the royal vaults. She stepped closer as it showed Discord being turned to stone by the Elements of Harmony.

"I was imprisoned in stone", Discord hissed, "made into a garden ornament for foals to laugh at during school field trips!"

The screen changed with a flash to show a group of young fillies and colts pointing at Discord's statue as a school teacher stood next to it. The screen flashed again and again as each new group of foals visited the castle gardens and listened as their teacher told them the story of Discord. Each new group paying less attention then the last.

CRACK

One of the sculptures cracked on its foundation. Twilight turned to look at Discord. For an instant, she could see the deep hurt and anger he felt. Then the emotion drained from his eyes until all she could see was sadness as he turned away.

Twilight could see the pain and sadness he was in. The sadness that echoed her own depression. Twilight froze as a thought accorded to her.

Her heart was broken. But maybe there was something she could do to help heal his.

Determination filled her as Twilight focused on her spell. She brought her magic to a point and aimed it at the damaged sculpture. Slowly and carefully, Twilight guided her magic in mending the crack, with only a thin line showing where the break had happened. But she wasn't done yet. Even as the break was fixed, she continued to direct her magic at the sculpture. The statue grew and rose with her magic, finishing its ascent to the ceiling and creating a pillar on the side of the new hallway in their underground castle.

Twilight smiled as she ended her spell. Twilight looked to her side and saw Discord staring at the new pillar. Gently, she placed a hoof on his shoulder.

Discord looked up at the touch to see Twilight holding her other hoof out to him in a silent question. Smiling shyly back at her, he placed his paw in her hoof. His smile grew to a grin as Twilight sent another spell to her side, growing more pillars out of the charred crystals to match the others. With a snap of his claws Discord sent strands of color wrapping around the columns, blending and bulging to create their own designs. When they had finished, each column was its own unique design. Each as different as snowflakes, only significantly more colorful.

Twilight beamed, turning around to share her excitement with Discord. But the corridor was empty.

"Discord?", Twilight asked, searching for the illusive draconaquus. Twilight turned in a circle, and saw a flash of light coming from the end of the hall. As she ran around the bend, she saw Discord grinning as he transformed more of the crystal caverns into an underground palace.

Discord stopped as he saw Twilight and waited as she examined what he'd done. The floor was still crystalline, knitted and fused together from the remnants of her temper tantrum. The walls had been carved out of the cavern and expanded. Multiple doors had been added, all of them closed, so she wasn't able to see what laid behind them. Twilight wondered if Discord hadn't gotten that far yet.

As she looked up towards Discord, who had gone back to floating around, she noticed the ceiling hadn't changed at all. Aside from the edges being sloped into the walls, that it. It still looked like the ceiling to any caverns, complete with stalactites hanging down. Albeit shorter than most, and made of crystal.

"Come to think of it..." Twilight sent a stream of magic above her. It hit one of the jagged crystals jutting out from the ceiling, encircling it in a soft magenta glow. The stalactite shrunk a bit before reforming in long strands connected to smaller crystal pieces. When it stopped glowing, a chandelier was now hanging from the ceiling where a stalactite had been before.

Catching on to her idea, Discord changed the next stalactite over. Now matching Discord's grin, Twilight switched to another chunk of crystal and transformed it. Laughing, Discord and Twilight rushed through the caverns, growing and sculpting to their whims. Together, they created an underground palace. It became a race to see who could transform more of the caverns. With points for creativity, of course.

And every now and then, one of them would add something solely for each other. Discord blushed when Twilight grew chandeliers sticking out of the walls and Twilight beamed as Discord showed her the new library. She would have to ask him how he had managed to create real books out of crystal. Then again, Lord of Chaos.

For hours, they carved and sculpted, oblivious to the passing of time. Each new spell caused a small streak to bleed from the flower in Twilight's mane, following the path traced by Discord's claws.

Finally, their underground castle was finished. Twilight spun in a slow circle, adding some finishing touches to the ceiling. The room started spinning faster, in and out of her vision. Which was funny, since she was sure her legs had stopped moving. She giggled a little maniacally as she fell to her side. A smile on her face, despite how her head pounded and the room spun.

With an audible poof, Discord appeared by her side. Twilight struggled to focus on him as her vision faded.

Discord frowned. "I can't have my princess sleeping on the floor!" he declared, swooping down to cradle Twilight in his arms.

Twilight lifted her head wearily as he teleported them to another part of their new palace. Despite her exhaustion, she could tell this was a room she hadn't been in before. It must have been one Discord had made. Twilight felt her eyes widen as she looked around her. Above her, the ceiling was checkered with what looked like white marble. The walls were covered in brilliant tapestries of all designs, no two were alike. Some of them seemed to be depicting something, but she couldn't tell what. Others just looked like abstract design. Or maybe they all were. It was hard to focus through the haze. Twilight tilted her head to look at the floor. It was made of dark violet crystal stones. Though appearing smooth on top, they were cut in many different shapes, creating a cobblestone or cracked glass appearance.

Twilight let out a gasp as Discord carried her up a dais to a pair of thrones resting on top. Though the same size, the two thrones had very different designs. The one on the left was as black as coal, with red gems laid into the back and arms of the throne. The one on the right looked like it had been made out of many pieces of broken and charred crystal, fused together in beautiful design to make a throne that resembled the glass windows of Canterlot. Only much darker, with a brighter sheen. Set in the back of the throne was Twilight's Cutie Mark, craved from a single crystal into a perfect replica of her mark.

Discord placed Twilight on the crystal throne and took his place beside her.

"A tribute to your grand idea." he said as Twilight looked at him in confusion over the burnt and crumbled crystal sculpted into a throne to rival Celestia's.

"Thank you, Discord," Twilight said with a smile as she settled onto her throne. "It's perfect."

[1] Section 109 B of the Royal Guard Interrelations Code as written by Her Royal Majesty, Riser of the Sun, Diarchy of the Day, Princess Celestia, Crown Princess of Equestria states: 'A Royal Guard of any rank is authorized, so long as the setting is private and out of hearing range of any other Royal guards or civilians not privy to the matter of which is to be discussed, and without the intent to humiliate, undermine or disregard any authority, to convey to a Royal Guard of higher rank, including, but not limited to: Team leader, Sergeant, Major, Lieutenant, Commander, General, First Captain; Including Captain of the Royal Guards and Princess of Equestria, so long as they are in a commanding position and it relates to the command decisions or behavior in question, to state or express disagreements and or concerns about command decisions, demeanor and or habits that may or may not have a derisive effect upon the section or branch of command and or the royal Guards as a whole, without fear of demotion, disciplinary actions, and or other acts of ridicule or demeaning nature to said Royal Guard'

[2] Don't look so surprised. All that training did mange to teach Bronzewing how to shut up after saying something stupid.

[3]They're still working on the not saying something stupid in the first place part. They're pretty sure its a result of brain-damage from crashing into other ponies one too many times.

Making it worse

"I'm simply saying that maybe she should think before attempting to solve all her problems with force!"

"And Ah'm just sayin' that maybe ya should stop calling the kettle black!"

Rainbow Dash struggled to block out the harsh sounds interrupting her nap.

"What does that even mean?!"

"Girls..."

"It means Rainbow's not the only pony blasting things!"

Rainbow Dash groaned softly as she tried to borrow deeper into her cloud. It sounded like Rarity and Applejack were arguing over something she broke again and that was not something she wanted to get involved in.

"Girls..."

"You're calling moi a hypocrite!?"

"Girls..."

"If the horseshoe fits."

Maybe if she stayed quiet they would argue it out and forget about it. It's worked before.

Rarity gasped, "Why I never..."

"GIRLS!"

Rarity and Applejack turned sheepishly to Fluttershy, her stern yell having made them remember where they were.

Fluttershy looked at them sternly, "You two should be ashamed of yourselves! Rainbow Dash is laying unconscious in that bed, Pinkie Pie is bawling in Cadance's hooves and Twilight's missing and all you two can do is fight!"

Rarity and Applejack looked at each other guiltily as Fluttershy continued, "I leave for one minute and come back to you two shouting. In an infirmary of all places! " Fluttershy shook her head as she turned away from them, "I am very disappointed in you both."

Applejack held her hat in her hooves as she bowed her head, "Ah'm sorry, Fluttershy. Yer right, Ah've been acting real awful like."

"I too must apologize. My behavior has been most unbecoming of a lady." Rarity said.

Fluttershy nodded, "I accept your apologies."

Applejack and Rarity sighed in relief. "Why doncha girls go get some grub. Ah'll sit with Rainbow." Applejack offered, nodding towards the door.

"Why, thank you Applejack," Rarity said, "but I couldn't possibly allow you to go hungry while Fluttershy and I eat. You go first, I'll sit with Rainbow Dash."

"Thank ya kindly, Rarity, but Ah'm fine. You go on."

"Thank you, Applejack, darling, but I'm simply not hungry at the moment. You go."

"That's mighty generous of ya, Rarity, but Ah'm not hungry neither, so Ah'll stay here. Ya'll go rest."

"That's very kind of you, Applejack, but you must be tired from your long day. Please, allow me to remain while you rest."

"Thank ya, Rarity, but Ah'm not tired. Ya'll should get some sleep while ya can."

"That's very considerate of you, Applejack. However, I'm not the slightest bit sleepy. I shall stay here."

"That's mighty kind of ya, Rarity, but Ah should stay with Rainbow Dash."

"That's most noble of you, Applejack, but I'll stay with Rainbow Dash."

"Thank ya, but Ah got it."

"Thank you, but I insist."

"ENOUGH!"

Rarity and Applejack stopped butting heads, and looked up at Fluttershy.

"Thank you both for your offers, but what Rainbow Dash needs right now is peace and quiet so I think you both should leave." Fluttershy walked over to the door and held it open. "I'll call you as soon as she's feeling better." Ignoring their protests, Fluttershy swiftly pushed them both out of the room.

Fluttershy let out a sigh as she walked back over to Rainbow's bed. "Now Rainbow Dash, tell me how you're feeling."

'Aw, ponyfeathers!' Rainbow Dash groaned silently.

"I just can't believe Fluttershy kicked us out!" Rarity said, pacing the hallway.

"Well, maybe if somepony hadn't gotten all high and mighty in there..." Applejack started before being interrupted by Rarity gasping.

"Well, maybe if somepony hadn't insisted on being the only one in the room...' Rarity said, glaring.

"If y'all hadn't..." Applejack said pressing her face to Rarity's.

"If I hadn't?! You were the one..." Rarity interrupted, pushing her own face forward.

"If you both weren't such big meanie grumpy pants, Twilight wouldn't have left in the first place!" Pinkamena yelled as she pushed by them.

Rarity and Applejack watched their friend storm down the hall, too shocked to say anything. Pinkie Pie had gone full Pinkamena mode. The last time that happened it had taken all five of her friends to change her back. And even then, it had been a close call.

"That was very foolish, Rainbow Dash. You could have been seriously injured." Fluttershy scolded Rainbow.

"Well, I didn't see anypony else coming up with any bright ideas." Rainbow grumbled as she rubbed her head.

"You still shouldn't have charged at the screens. Princess Celestia..."

"Princess Celestia couldn't do anything! She said it herself. Discord's gotten stronger. And without Twilight..." Rainbow Dash trailed off, turning over to look out the window.

"Rainbow Dash! I'm surprised at you." Fluttershy said. "That is no way to be thinking. Twilight is our friend and..."

"And what?" Rainbow Dash interrupted, jumping up and glaring at Fluttershy. "It's not like we can just talk to her and everything will be hunky dory again! Equestria to Fluttershy, we already tried that. Discord just poofed up, twisted everything around on us and Twilight vanished. Again!"

"Be that as it may, that's no excuse for you to give up."

'I wonder where Twilight is now.' Spike shuffled through the hallways dejectedly. Lost in thought, he wasn't paying any attention as he turned the corner.

SMACK

Spike and Pinkie Pie collided, sending them both to floor with a loud thud. Spike slid into a side table, sending the vase flying. It broke on the wall above Pinkie, sending water and various pieces of pottery and plants showering down on her head.

"Whoops, sorry Pinkie," Spike mumbled, picking himself up.

"You need to look where you're going!" She grumbled as she plucked a particularly large flower off her head.

"Oh uh, yeah, sorry" Spike stammered as he tried not to stare at his friend's now completely flat and lifeless mane.

'Please let her just be wet.' he silently begged. His hopes were dashed as she glared at him and stormed off, shouting a "I'm fine!" to the guards inquiring if they were both okay. Dejectedly, Spike nodded and shuffled in the other direction, leaving the mess to the exasperated maids. (To be fair, it has been a long day.)

'I hope we can cheer her up, I don't want to lose another friend.' Spike thought as he hurried through the halls to the infirmary. He sighed in relief as he saw Applejack and Rarity. 'Finally!'

Spike cringed back as the sounds of a an argument reached him. Quietly sneaking past them (that was one situation he didn't want to be caught in again) he snuck into the infirmary. 'Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash will fix this. I mean, kindness and loyalty, right?' Spike laughed nervously, only to stare unbelieving at the scene in front of him. Rainbow Dash was glaring down at Fluttershy as Fluttershy stared sternly back at her. Spike whimpered as he sank to the floor. The sounds of his friends arguing swam around his brain as he covered his ears. Desperately trying to block out his friends fighting.

"Nonononononono" Spike whispered frantically. 'pleasestoppleasestopbefriendsstopfightingstoppleasestoppleasestop' "Stop..."
He could hear Rarity and Applejack through the door
"Stop..."
Rainbow Dash was chanting as Fluttershy lectured.
"Stop..."
Pinkie Pie turned into Pinkamena.
"Stop..."
Twilight was gone.
"Stop..."
Voices
"Stop..."
Arguing
"Stop..."
Friendship
"Stop..."

"STOP!" Spike yelled, a breathe of fire surging through his teeth and scorching the ceiling as he screamed.

The sound in the room immediately ceased. Wide-eyed, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy stared at Spike in shock. Noiselessly the door swung open to Rarity's and Applejack's concerned faces. Rarity took a step forward and opened her mouth, only to be cut off as Spike yelled again, "Stop it! Just stop it! You're supposed to be friends! You're supposed to be working together! Not fighting! Please, just stop! I ... I just can't.. can't take it.." Spike trailed off into sobs as he ran past Rarity and Applejack,

right into Pinkamena, who was standing right behind them.

"Spike?" She asked gently. Spike's tiny body shuddered as tears ran down his face. He shook from the force of his sobs as Pinkie carefully lifted him onto her back. Slowly and steadily she carried him back to the infirmary, where their friends were waiting.

Wordlessly, Rainbow Dash moved off the bed as Rarity picked Spike up in her magic and floated him over. Applejack tucked a blanket around him as Fluttershy rubbed his back. Silently they all sat down to let him cry it out. Slowly, Pinkie began to sing softly as she hugged Spike to her.

My name is Pinkie Pie

Flutershy's ears perked. Gently she reached next to her and nudged Rarity

And I am here to say

Rarity looked at her in confusion,

I'm going to cheer you up

then nodded in understanding as she heard the soft slow song

And I will brighten up your day

she nudged Applejack

It doesn't matter now

who nudged Rainbow Dash

That you are sad and blue

who looked at Fluttershy when she head the singing

Cause cheering up my friends

Fluttershy shook her head and pointed to Pinkamena

Is just what Pinkie's here to do

and Rainbow's jaw dropped

Cause I love to make you

Pinkie Pie nudged Spike with a hoof, but he didn't move. She hesitated and her mane started to droop again.
'Not on my watch.' Rarity stood up tall, picking up the song where Pinkie left off.

Smile

Pinkie Pie froze at her friend's voice. Applejack quickly caught on to what Rarity was doing.

Smile

Pinkie lifted her head, a hint of her smile on her face as she looked at her friends.

Smile

Rainbow Dash joined in.

Yes I do

Pinkie Pie sang softly as her mane curled.

You fill our hearts with sunshine all the while

Fluttershy sang, giving Spike a hug.

Yes you do

Cause all I really need's a

Smile

Smile

Smile

From these happy friends of mine!

Pinkie Pie sang with a smile. She bounced up and landed next to Spike with a 'BOING!', sending him flying into the air and successfully surprising him out of his funk.

I like to see you grin

Awesome!

Rainbow cut in

I would love to see you beam

Come on

Rarity coaxed

The corners of your mouth turned up is always Pinkie's dream

That's it

Applejack sang as Spike gave a tiny smile, then they all sighed as he slumped again.

But if your kinda worried

Pinkie sang, looping a hoof around Spike.

And your face is made of frowns

she gave him a hug before tossing him onto her back

I'll work real hard and do my best to turn that sad frown upside down

Cause I love to make you

Grin

Grin

Grin

Yes I do

Bust it out from ear to ear

Let it begin

Just give me a joyful

Grin

Grin

Grin

And you fill me with good cheer

Pinkie Pie finished with a big grin, turning to Spike expectantly. He tried to smile for his friends, but he couldn't help worrying about Twilight. His attempted smile turned into a quiver as tears ran down his face.
Before Pinkie could be disappointed, Rarity walked up determined.

It's true some days are dark and lonely

And maybe you feel sad

But your friends will be there

To show you that it isn't that bad

There'sonethingthat makesushappy

And makes my whole life worthwhile

And that's when I talk to my friends and get them to

smiiiilllle

Spike smiled as he looked around at his friends.
As her friends cheered, Pinkie happily danced around the room.

I really am so happy

Your smile fills me with glee

You give a smile

You get a smile

And that's so special to me

Causewelove tosee you

Beam

Beam

Beam

Yes I do

Tell me what more can we say to make you see

Thatwedo

It makes us happy when you

Beam

Beam

Beam

Yes it always makes my day

Come on Spikey Wikey

Smile

Smile

Smile

Fill our hearts up with sunshine sunshine

All we really needs a

Smile

Smile

Smile

Smile

From this happy friend of mine

Come on sugarcube just

Smile

Smile

Smile

Fill our hearts up with sunshine sunshine

All we really needs a

Smile

Smile

Smile

From this little pal of mine

Yes the perfect gift for meeeee

Is a smile as wide as a mile

To make me happy as can beeeee

Smile

Smile

Smile

Smile

Smile

Comeonandsmile

Come on and smile

"There, there, all better?" Fluttershy asked the now quiet dragon.
"Mm hmm" Spike nodded, sitting up and rubbing his eyes.

"Now why don't you tell us why you were so upset darling?" Rarity suggested gently. "What?" She asked as Rainbow Dash and Applejack stared at her.

Spike sniffled and blew his nose. "...Okay..." He said, "I...I miss Twilight! I just want her to come home! Why did she leave? Is it my fault? Was I a bad assistant? Did Twilight leave because of me? Does she hate me?..."

"Now you listen here, Sugarcube!" Applejack interrupted, "Yer not ta blame. This ain't yer fault. Now Ah don't know why Twilight ran off like that, but I do know one thing. Twilight loves ya, and there ain't nothing that could change that! So ya git that fool notion out of yer noggin' right now!"

"But I should have been there for her! Maybe then she wouldn't have left." Spike cried, tears running down his face.

"Oh, Spike," Applejack sighed, sitting next to him. "Sometimes a pony just needs some time to think. That don't mean they hate ya. Ah know, ah've been there myself. Just, be patient okay? We'll find her."

"Then why does everypony keep arguing and fighting instead of finding her! Why can't everypony stop fighting and be friends again? Why is everypony so angry? And why can't I do anything to help? Nopony will even tell me what's going on..." Spike finished in a whisper and buried his face in his arms. His friends looked at each other guiltily.

"Oh, Spike. I'm so sorry. I had no idea you felt so helpless." Fluttershy said.

"Oh, Spikey, I had no idea you felt this way!" Rarity exclaimed.

"Ah'm mighty sorry little fella" Applejack said humbly, holding her hat.

"Yeah, we're all sorry" Rainbow Dash said.

"I'm super duper sorry" Pinkie Pie said, giving Spike a big hug. They all piled on to give Spike a big group hug.

"Thanks everypony," Spike said, smiling . "I feel so much better n...yawn...oooww..." a yawn interrupted his sentence.

"No problem, buddy" Rainbow Dash said, looping a wing round him

"Why don't you get some rest now?" Fluttershy suggested gently.

"But what about..yawn...about...." Spike tried to say as his eyelids began to close from exhaustion.

"Don't you worry about that, sugarcube. We'll be here when you wake up." Applejack promised, pointing to the hallway. Comforted, Spike drifted off to sleep with a smile on his face. As he started snoring, they slowly and quietly backed out of his room, Rarity gently closing the door behind them.

"Poor Spike! We got so caught up in finding Twilight, that we completely forgot about how he was doing." Fluttershy whispered, shaking her head.

"Twilight is a dear friend to each of us, but to Spike..." Rarity started.

"She's more like family." Applejack finished, "Ah don't know what Ah'd do if Big Mac or Applebloom left and Ah'd thought Ah was responsible."

"Yeah..." Rainbow Dash agreed, trailing off as she thought about a certain young pegasus back in Ponyville.

Late Night Musings

"Shining?"

Shining Armor grunted, his mind elsewhere as he looked through a pile of Royal Guard field guides and strategy books. Not finding what he was looking for in that stack, he moved them over and pulled another row of books off the shelves. Levitating them over to his table, he started flipping through them. As he reached the end of a book, he put it to the side.

"Shining Armor?"

As the towers of books and scrolls leaned to the side and threatened to fall over, he would prop them up with another stack until the area around him resembled that of a fortress.

*sigh* "Shining Armor..."

He had started out with the standard books assigned to every recruit as they entered the academy. Then he looked through every book in the 'History of the Royal Guard' section of the library. Once he had exhausted that selection he had moved on to steadily older and less reputable manuscripts in the hope of finding one that would have a plan for locating and neutralizing a draconaquus. He was currently skimming several old scrolls of dubious origin, looking for any mention of...

"CAPTAIN SHINING ARMOR!"

"SIR, Captain of the Royal Guards Shining Armor, Reporting SIR!" Shining Armor shot to attention and had the official response out before he realized where he was... and that he had just yelled into his fiance's ear. Not to mention called her, 'sir'.

'Yeah...I'm probably gonna pay for that one...' Shining Armor thought as he lowered his salute. He smiled sheepishly at Cadance, luckily her reaction seemed to be more of the amused category than of the annoyed one.

"Shhh!" An old librarian mare poked her head around a shelf and shushed them.

"Sorry, ma'am." Shining Armor whispered, ducking his head.

Cadance waited until they were alone again before placing a wing around Shining Armor. "It's late. You missed supper."

Shining Armor nodded, "I got caught up doing some research."

"I can see that. Now I know where Twilight gets it from." Cadance laughed, motioning towards the book fort.

Shining Armor looked surprised as he saw the fortress he had inadvertently made. "Huh. I haven't made one of those in ages. Not since I was Twily's age." He gave a small chuckle before falling silent again.

"I'm sorry, Shining. Is there anything I can do to help?" Cadance asked.

"I'm not sure there is. I've looked through almost every book in this library trying to find anything with even a mention of a draconaquus and how to defeat or even find one." Shining pushed the scrolls he had been reading to the side in frustration. "And there certainly isn't one on how to find your little sister, who's so powerful a teleportation range spell won't work on her, and prevent her from becoming an evil super villainess bent on taking over the world!"

"Shhh!" The librarian mare glared at them.

"Sorry, ma'am." Shining Armor apologized.

The old mare stared at them as she disappeared back amongst the shelves.

"Well maybe you need to come up with something that's not in the books." Princes Cadence suggested. "Focus on Twilight. Not what some old manuscript or dusty outdated scroll has to say. You said it yourself; Twilight's so powerful that most of these spells won't work on her, and no military book that's been written in the last couple hundred years is going to tell you how to fight a draconaquus that's been trapped in stone for the past thousand."

Shining Armor sighed, "You're right, Cadance. But I've barely seen Twilight since I joined the guard and she became Princess Celestia's student. And I saw her even less since I got promoted and she moved to Ponyville. I'm not sure I even know her well enough to predict what she'll do anymore. I obviously haven't been thinking about her as much as I should. I even forgot to invite her to our wedding, For Celestia's Sake!"

He flung his hoof out in exasperation, knocking over a stack of books. Thinking fast, Cadance used her magic to levitate them in place before they could crash to the floor.

Shining Armor groaned in frustration. He quickly helped Cadance replace the books into neat piles. "This isn't working! I can't expect to find a field guide for draconaguuseses. There's only one! And he's been in stone for centuries! Fizzy's right, I do need to get my head out of my pl..."

Princess Cadance raised an eyebrow.

"Planning?" Shining Armor finished weakly, not sure how to save this sentence.

Cadance giggled, "I'll accept that."

Shining sighed, "I'm just so worried about Twilight. I should have been there for her. I never should have let us grow so apart."

Cadance smiled sweetly at her fiancee. "Don't worry, if know my Shining Armor, I know you'll make this right."

"I love you, Cadance."

"I love you too, Shining "

"Shhhhh! Quiet!"

"Sorry." Captain Shining Armor and Princess Cadance chorused meekly. (Old librarian mares are scary.)

Princess Celestia sighed. Her head was bowed and her wings hung at her side. Even her flowing mane was lower than usual. She was exhausted, spent from long hours of spell researching and casting. Hours of flying and teleporting. All for nothing.

For try as she might, all around her were reminders of her failures. She had tried everything she could think of. She recited every incantation, cast every spell she came across. She had searched every secluded area, all of the old hiding spots, even looking in her old retreats, places long changed by time and chance.

She had to be careful, disguising herself wherever she went. But the strain of suppressing her magic so her flowing mane and tail (not to mention her size) wouldn't give her away was taking it's toll. She couldn't be out for long either. Just a few hours here and there when ponies thought she was asleep or in a meeting.

She sighed again, tired of the webs of lies she had created decades ago. Tired of the deceit she had practiced, identities she made up and closed meetings with subjects so menial and boring nopony would wish to take part. Vague excuses and confidential details so that she could have necessary time when circumstances demanded it.

For all that effort, she had come to nothing. There was no trace of her young...No, mustn't dwell on it. Mustn't show too much attachment to one filly. It was too dangerous. There were too many evil beings in the world that would take advantage of any weakness, any chance to harm her...Even through a mere child. Can't take the risk, can't allow anymore failure. There are other ponies working hard. Giving their all to save the filly.

Of course, she's not a filly. But having lived for so long, everypony seems so young. So fragile and helpless. She looked up and winced. And so easy to hurt. How does one fail so bad? How does one fix what has been so terribly wronged?

Princess Celestia let out another sigh. Mustn't get so attached. Not to mortal ponies. Ponies who will die and be gone. Nor even to immortals. For even immortals can make such large mistakes that drastic measures must be taken. Then alone. Surrounded by subjects, ponies she must always protect and care for, but always alone. It's safer that way.

She glanced again at the screens playing. Discord's magic has kept them going, for all of her efforts to stop them. To keep them from infecting her ponies with sorrow and hopelessness. And discord.

No. She will keep the harmony, keep her ponies' spirits high. She straightened her spine and lifted her head, stretching her wings wide. She must show strength. Show that nothing can phase her. For this shall pass. It always does.

With that Princess Celestia walked out of the vault where the Elements of Harmony had been stored. She nodded to the guards she had positioned outside the door to keep any curious ponies out of the vault.

The hour was late. It was nearing time to raise the sun. She found strength in that. For no matter what passes, there will always be the sun. Always be need for sunshine. For that is what makes things grow, ponies prosper. That and friendship. Harmony. She will keep the harmony. She always has. She always will. For she is a princess.

Morning Moods

Shining Armor stared at the ornate clock above the doors to the meeting room. According to it's decorated features, the emergency morning meeting was scheduled to begin in five minutes. Looking around the table he saw Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Princess Cadance and several Royal Guards were sipping coffee as they waited patiently for the missing party to arrive.

Shining Armor shuffled the papers in front of him a few times and rearranged his note taking supplies. He fiddled with his hooves for a few moments and shuffled the papers again, making sure that the edges all aligned perfectly.

There wasn't a lot of material as this meeting was mainly one to gather information. Just the large map on the table, a thought board covering one wall, and paper and pencils for everypony. And coffee. Lots and lots of coffee. And one rather large pot-thingy that smelled suspiciously like tea. [1]

He checked the clock again, before getting up and marching over to his thought board on the far wall, checking that it had all the supplies he would need. He walked back to his place at the head of the table and looked back at the clock. Just three more minutes.

In the Guard, when a meeting was scheduled, you were expected to be on-time, if not five minutes early. When it was an emergency meeting, five minutes early was on-time. It wasn't like it was a surprise meeting.

Well...It kinda was, as he had decided on it late last night after the failed intelligence gathering at the library. But the castle staff had been instructed to wake everypony (and dragon, though he had to order Bronzewing to do that) required for the meeting over an hour ago!

Finally the clock signaled the start of the meeting. Shining Armor looked expectantly at the doors. And waited. He was just about to order a messenger to retrieve the tardy ponies, when he heard their hoof-steps down the hall.

Then the doors finally swung open.

"Let's get this party started!" Pinkie Pie sang out as she bounded to her seat.

The others quickly found their places as Shining Armor, (not so patiently) waited for them to be seated. He had called this meeting to brainstorm ideas on how to:

(1) Find Twilight Sparkle
(2) Stop Discord
(3) Prevent Twilight from becoming an evil villainess bent on world domination.

'Yeah...Thank you, Bronzewing for putting that image into my head. That's just what I needed to put things into perspective of just how badly I screwed up...' Shining thought to himself as he called the meeting to order.

"If everypony is settled now..." Pinkie Pie nodded enthusiastically as Rainbow and Applejack face-hoofed, "Then I am calling this meeting to order. I have called this meeting today to come up with a plan. Obviously, the standard protocols do not and will not work in this case. So we need to come up with some new protocols. Normally, Guard meetings are closed to those who are not either guards or royalty. However...Yes Applejack?" Shining Armor asked, seeing Applejack raise her hoof.

"Beggin' Pardon, but if guards stuff is only for guards and princesses then why're we here?" Applejack asked.

It was Cadance who answered, "Discord has proven that normal methods won't work on him or Twilight. We need a new, personal approach to reach her and free her from Discord's influence. You are here because you five," (Spike grumbled) "and Spike, are Twilight's friends. If anypony will know how to find Twilight and free her from Discord's clutches, it will be you."

Cadance motioned for Shining Armor to take over.

"What we need to do, is come up with a new plan. Using the knowledge we have about Discord," Shining Armor nodded towards the princesses, "and the the knowledge we have of Twilight," Here he nodded towards the girls (and Spike), "We should be able to create a new course of action by..."

Twilight hummed happily to herself as she trotted down the hallway of her underground palace. They really had done a terrific job creating it. The walls around her shimmered and glistened in light of a thousand miniature stars that Discord had strewn against the ceiling. A slight breeze flew through the corridor, just strong enough for her to feel it fluttering against her coat and lightly lifting her mane. The crystals beneath her hooves clinked a soothing rhythm that encircled her entire being, leaving her very relaxed and peaceful. All in all, this was one of her favorite passages in her new home. She grinned as the doors before her swung open at her approach.

'Of course, being the way to the library is a big point in its favor.' Twilight thought to herself as she entered her library. She trotted past rows of books on their polished shelves. Perfectly organized works of genius placed exactly where they belong. Hundreds of thousands of pages, each of them pristine. Even the worn manuscripts and ancient scrolls were perfectly preserved, with each and every individual sheaf of paper encased with a special spell to prevent further aging and damage.

Yes, her library was in perfect order. Twilight smiled softly to herself, it had been very sweet of Discord to create this oasis for her. There wasn't a single bit of chaos or disorganization in this room. It really showed how much he cared to be able to put aside his chaotic urges to single-clawedly create Twilight's dream library.

Her old friends were wrong, Discord has changed and he can be good. This proved it.

With a decisive nod of her head, she picked up the book that was closest to her and went to go read it in her nook. It was a sheltered place, a lowered bench filled with pillows she could lie down on surrounded by some of her favorite books. She curled up on a large burgundy one, (even the colors and sizes of the pillows were chosen to perfectly compliment their surroundings) and opened her book.

"Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone" Twilight read out loud and then gave a soft laugh.

"I remember when Rainbow first read this book..." She chuckled as she remembered the shenanigans her friend had gone through to keep the fact that she found a book she liked to read a secret.

"Oh, Rainbow Dash... Why didn't you just ask for a copy? I do live in a library after all." Abruptly Twilight stopped laughing. Her smile fell from her face as she left her memories and jolted back to the present.

"Or I did. Anyway, I used to." She muttered. Twilight shook her head to clear her thoughts, but she still couldn't focus on her book. With a sigh she put it aside and picked up a different one. She flipped through a few pages but found that she wasn't all that interested in reading anymore.

Twilight stood up and started to pace in a circle. "This is ridiculous! Just because one book made me remember a two-faced ex-friend doesn't mean I can't enjoy another one."

"I'm probably just hungry. Yeah, that's it. Hard to read on an empty stomach,...." Twilight chuckled weakly. Suddenly she began to feel a bit lightheaded. Her stomach growled, as if to affirm her last statement.

"Get a grip, Sparkle!" Twilight snapped as she steadied herself. "Now is no time to be losing your head. That's Discord's job."

Discord's head rose up in a puff of smoke, "You rang?" He asked as the rest of him appeared with a flash of light.

Twilight laughed nervously, "No, no. I was just thinking out loud, that's all."

"So that's why my ears were burning!" Discord exclaimed as he pulled off the offending appendages and blew out the small flames spouting from them. "All good thoughts, I hope?" He asked as he twisted them back on his head.

Twilight chuckled at his antics, "I was just going to the kitchens to get a bite to eat."

"Why don't I poof us there right now?" Discord asked, raising a claw to snap.

"No no! That's fine, I'd rather walk." Twilight said hurriedly, not eager to experience another one of Discord's dimension-hopping brain-scrambling mind-screwing body-part dis and relocating teleport.

Discord shrugged, "Suit yourself, but call me if you change your mind."

With a tip of his hat and wave of his hankie, Discord disappeared with his trademark puff of smoke and loud pop as several laws of the universe were broken.

Twilight shook her head to clear it as she walked out of the library. Her new top-hat toppled off and landed on the floor next to a large floor length mirror. Twilight sighed and shrugged off her new suit jacket and slipped out of her shoes. As she folded the clothes with her magic into a neat pile she felt an eerie sense of De Ja Vu. It took her a moment to place it, but looking at the shiny satin tie she was placing on top of the neatly folded pile, she realized that this was an awful lot like one of Rarity's dress fittings. You didn't really have a choice, when Rarity got an 'Ideaaa!' you'd find yourself modeling one of her creations before you knew what happened. Whether you wanted to or not.

"Aargh!" Twilight groaned, "I have got to get over this! I am not going to waste my time obsessing over a selfish ex-friend!"
With a decisive nod and a determined lift to her step, Twilight marched out of the library and through the corridors towards the kitchens.

She walked quickly, her hoofsteps clattering on the crystal tiles in her haste to get to the kitchens. Occasionally she would take a detour from her set path. There were little passageways around the hallways that Discord has had fun with. That way, If Twilight didn't particularly feel like swimming through jello, or walking inside out, she could simply go around and do it the boring way, (as Discord put it).

It took longer, but she made it to the kitchen without too much hassle. The doors swung open ahead of her as she approached. As she stepped inside spotlights shined down on her and spread out to illuminate the entire room. It really was a gourmet kitchen, with a few additions of course.

For one thing, everything in the room was checkered. There was every color imaginable, green and purple, orange and blue, yellow and red. Even black and white.

It made Twilight dizzy just to stand there. Deciding against shaking her head, (it probably wouldn't work, and just make her even dizzier besides) Twilight walked over to the cabinets. Given that the kitchen is Discord's domain, she was accordingly cautious as she prepared her food.

She still managed to be buried with berries, assaulted by seasonings and coated in cocoa. But after a few frustrating moments and some questioning of her sanity, she was able to make a simple daisy sandwich.

Well..., maybe not that simple, but she was pretty sure it was edible. 'After all, such things as colors and textures are merely aesthetic details. They don't compromise the integrity of the food served. Right? Right.' Having thus convinced herself of the edibleness of her food, Twilight carried it back to the library.

[1] Its actually called a samovar and was a gift from the Kabardain Ambassadors and tea is a wonderful beverage that Shining Armor would never dream of disparaging. [2]
[2] On a completely unrelated note, there is a reason Shining Armor stays on Princess Luna's good side.

Deep Thinking

"Psst, you heard her, construction!" Rainbow Dash whispered frantically.

"Oh, right!"

All around Twilight, her friends were making strange noises. Noises that were supposed to be a barn under construction but sounded an awful lot like a petting zoo.

"ZZzzZZbaaaa unangngah zzzzzzzzzzgrrrrr!"

A psychotic petting zoo. Rainbow Dash was making a wired buzzing sound, Rarity was doing some sort of dying frog noise, and Twilight was pretty sure Fluttershy was baaing.

"Twilight! Construction noises!" Rainbow scolded, taking a break from her buzzing to hover over Twilight.

"Oh, right! Construction, right..." Twilight looked around for something she could use to imitate the sounds of a barn under construction. Not seeing anything, and becoming a bit unsettled by her friends' stares, she decided to stomp her hooves against the barn floor.

'There is no way she's buying this...'Twilight thought frantically.

"ZZzzZZBaaaaaaathump thump unanganh zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzgrrrrrrrr thump!"

"...construction, huh?"

Twilight could hear Pinkie Pie outside as she attempted to get past Applejack to see inside the barn.

"Yep! Construction. That's my story and ah'm sticking to it!" Applejack said hurriedly.

Out of the corner of her eye, Twilight could see Applejack and Pinkie going back and forth over the door as Pinkie tried to see inside and Applejack tried to keep her out. There was a rubber sound and a thump as Applejack shut the barn door on Pinkie's face when she got too close.

"Okeydokey lokey..." Pinkie Pie said slowly.

There were a few moments of silence as she made sure the coast was clear and then Applejack turned to face her friends.

"Phew! That was a close one..."

"Do you think she expects anything?"

"I hope not..."

"That would ruin everything!"

Suddenly, Applejack turned to glare at Twilight.

"You almost did ruin everything!" Applejack said. "Why weren't ya making construction noises like everypony else?" She asked Twilight accusingly.

"But I...", Twilight looked around nervously as she tried to figure out what was going on.

Rarity gasped, "Don't you care about Pinkie Pie?" She asked.

"Of course I do!", Twilight said quickly.

"Then why didn't you help?" Rainbow asked, crossing her hooves and glaring at Twilight.

"I did!", Twilight protested.

"Nope", Applejack said calmly, tilting her hat and taking a step forward.

"What!?!" Twilight couldn't believe her ears. What was wrong with everypony?

"You heard her, she said 'nope'." Fluttershy sneered.

"But..., but I did! You saw me!" Twilight insisted, imploring with her friends to see reason.

"Are you calling Applejack a liar?!" Rainbow Dash shouted, leaning close with a frightening expression on her face.

"She can't lie" Rarity said.

"You are the liar." Pinkie Pie said calmly, appearing from nowhere to glare at Twilight. (An expression that is thoroughly terrifying on Pinkie's face)

Twilight fell back in shock as Pinkie approached her. Pinkie was wearing a royal guard dress uniform and was carrying her pet alligator, Gummy, who was wearing a wedding dress.

"If you can't be happy for Gummy and me, then maybe you shouldn't be at the party at all." Pinkie Pie said, her voice emotionless as she held Gummy close.

"You have a lot to think about", her friends chorused as they backed Twilight towards glowing green hole in the barn floor.

"No!," Twilight yelled, looking around at her friends desperately. Her hooves scrambled on the hard tile as she backed up. All around her the barn was transforming into the Canterlot Castle.

"This isn't real." Twilight whispered, "This isn't how it happened."

She tripped over the first step as her friends backed her up the stairs.

"Noo! please!" She pleaded, reaching her hoof out to Rarity. Only to scramble away in fear as Rarity's eyes flashed green.

"This isn't right," Twilight cried, "This can't be happening... Please... Why isn't anypony listening to me...?"

With a blast of magic, Rarity pushed her down the hole.

"HAHAHAHAA!"

Twilight could hear their laughter as she fell, screaming.

"Nooo!"

Twilight woke with a start. Panting heavily, she jolted from her pillow, her front hoof landing in something soft and squishy. Looking down, Twilight saw that she had stepped on what was left of her sandwich.

She laughed nervously, "Just a bad dream. Nothing to worry about. Guess I shouldn't have eaten that sandwich." Quickly, Twilight cleaned up the mess and poofed the plate to the kitchen. Or somewhere.

Just then she caught sight of a tree outside her window. Discord had planted an underground garden next to the throne room to give it a view.

"Some fresh air will do me good." Twilight said as she trotted out to the balcony. After a few minutes of exploring the peaceful garden, Twilight was able to breathe freely.

"It sure is beautiful out here." Twilight sighed happily to herself as she stopped to look at an exceptionally pretty flower.

Twilight gasped, "Is that a rare Ornithochilus cacharensis? I've never even seen some of these flowers outside of books. Just think of the research I could do!"

Out of the corner of her eye she saw a flutter of wings dart behind a tree.

"And the animals! Was that a Lampornis calolaemus?! I thought those only lived in the Amarezon Rainforest! I hope I didn't scare it off. Just look at this place! Fluttershy would just love it here. I remember that gala... She was so excited to see everything, she went a little overboard trying to befriend all the critters."

Twilight sighed,"Poor Fluttershy, I guess it didn't occur to her that they would all be extra skittish with the big party going on."

She shook her head, "Not that we did any better. That had to be the first time Pinkie Pie was ever told to leave a party."

Twilight chuckled as she remembered that night. Even though the gala had turned out to be a disaster, they were still able to have a good time. If only they had listened to Spike in the first place.

Twilight shook her head and stomped her hoof angrily. "Why am I obsessing over a couple of inconsiderate, backstabbing ex-friends! I have much more important things do with my time!"

She stormed out of the garden in huff, her hooves leaving deep scuffs in the soft dirt as she stomped to the throne room.

Several small animals dated back to the safety of the undergrowth. Twilight was so distracted she had never even noticed them coming out.

Twilight trotted up the stirs to her throne. This was were she belonged. She sighed and stared into space. 'It was like Discord said -If you don't have any friends, your friends can't hurt you.'
She never noticed the forgotten flower in her mane glow once as her fur faded a shade.

"How about an ambush like we did with the hydra attack in..." Bronzewing started before he was cut off be Cherry Fizzy

"There is no way that something that worked on a hydra is going to work on a pony and a lord of chaos, especially not..."

"We need to come up with some unorthodox methods of..." Silver Badge interrupted them both.

"What about like when the squirrels invaded in..."

"Oh, I don't think we need to bring little squirrels in...", Fluttershy protested softly.

"We could have a giant fuzzy animal party! I'm sure Discord would love to come and then..." Pinkie put in, jumping onto the table.

"Now, why in Equestria would Discord come to a giant fuzzy animal party?! Ah'm pretty sure he has other things keeping him busy, like trying to corrupt Twilight and take over..." Applejack said in frustration.

"Perhaps we could convince him to come to a 'parlay', as they say?..." Rarity suggested.

"Ooh Ohh! Parlay Party!" Pinkie shouted.

"Maybe like with the Smooze in..." Bronzewing said.

Princess Cadance attempted to smooth things over before emotions got too high, "Those are all excellent suggestions, but maybe..."

"You can't trap somepony with magic in a net!" Silver Badge shouted.

"You can if it's a magic net! Just..."Cherry Fizzy insisted.

"We need to coordinate positions with the greatest probability of..." Shining Armor tried to regain control of the meeting.

"Oh what's the point!? She's just going to poof away again!" Rainbow interrupted, scowling at her friends as they turned to her in disbelief.

"Why, Rainbow Dash! I'm shocked!" Rarity exclaimed, dramatically.

Applejack narrowed her eyes, "Of all the ponies ta give up, I never thought ya'd be the one ta turn chicken."

"I'm not a chicken!" Rainbow Dash said angrily, before slumping down. "I just...I don't know how we're supposed to defeat Discord if he's brainwashed Twilight. I'm not going to fight my friend!"

Here several ponies glared at Bronzewing as Silver Badge clopped him upside the head.

"Ow! You know, you're still wearing those hoof-guards!" Bronzewing complained as everypony ignored him.

Fluttershy put a hoof on Rainbow's shoulder, "If we work together, you won't have to. "

"Fluttershy's right, we just need ta get her away from Discord so we can talk ta her without him messin' with her mind and twistin' everything we say." Applejack said encouragingly.

"Not to mention everything we do." Rarity grumbled.

"Oof!" Rarity said as Applejack nudged her in the side. "I mean..., Of course we can get through to Twilight! We just need some time to explain." She amended hastily as she rubbed her side and scooted cautiously away from Applejack's hooves.

"But what about her magic?" Rainbow asked

"Whatever do you mean, darling?" Rarity asked.

"Even if we manage to get her away from Discord, she's still brainwashed. Who's to say she won't just teleport away?"

"A shield..." Spike said quietly as an idea occurred to him. "A shield!" He yelled louder to be heard over everypony that was still arguing.

"What?" Everypony turned to face the little dragon.

"Shining Armor's shield!" Spike explained, jumping onto the table and knocking several blueprints to the floor. "Back when Twilight was just a filly, Shining Armor used to do a lot of experimenting with his shields. He used to use it do all sorts of things, like carry Twilight's books or as an umbrella when it rained. He even used it like a sort of bubble, to give Twilight and me rides in. I bet if we worked together, Shining Armor and the princesses could come up with a spell to prevent Twilight from teleporting!"

"And even hide her from Discord!" Shining Armor exclaimed, getting excited.

"But first we would have to get her away from Discord."

Everypony turned to Princess Celestia in surprise. This was the first thing she had said all meeting. In fact, several of them had forgotten she was even there. (Multiple ponies shuffled their hooves in embarrassment. The Royal Guards in particular were mortified and retreated to their guard faces.)

A Little Glass of Water?

Discord stared down at the young unicorn curled up contentedly with her book. Several other books had formed a fort around her with a random plate balanced on top.

'She's reading... Does she ever stop reading?!? I've given her everything she could ever want, she could do anything she's ever dreamed of! I've opened the door for revenge, acceptance, domination! ...and she's...reading? No chaos? No magic surges or shows of power? She's not even plotting or scheming. Or gloating! How is that even possible?! You have to gloat! Its in the manual!'
Discord poofed up a manual and quickly drew in a pictograph of a pony gloating.

'Something has to be done! But what?' As Discord pondered this predicament he caught sight of the sandwich Twilight was snacking on as she read. He slowly grinned. 'Oh, this is too easy'

He silently watched and waited.

'...'

'This... is going to take a while...'
'...'

'...'

'Well, while we wait lets turn to the Canterlot Channel. Maybe Shiny Pants and the Not-Queens have something to liven things up a bit.'
Discord cheerfully shimmered out of existence.

His grin and eyes appeared seconds later on a coffee mug. He mentally groaned as he saw the logo on it: 'Rise and Shine!' above a sun. A sun that looks suspiciously similar to a certain alicorn's cutiemark.

Discord sighed silently, 'Great, now I'm a PBS on a disgustingly cute propaganda mug. ...Huh...that's actually quite brilliant. Putting your personal symbol of power on a seemingly innocent everyday item. Accompany it with a cute slogan so nopony gets suspicious. And every morning, ponies see that symbol and associate it with the pleasant sensation of coffee. Coffee that they are nearly addicted to.'
Discord paused as he contemplated. 'Huh, I wonder if Sunbutt's invested in coffee stocks. That's pretty devious, long-winded and under-hoofed for some positive PR... I approve.'

"A shield!"

Discord's one eye fell off the mug as he heard the young dragon creature 'Spot wasn't it?' shout. Startled into remembering the purpose for his spying mission, Discord started paying more attention. ( 'More attention', equaling 'Any attention at all') He listened for a few more minutes before poofing back to his other dimension for a huddle.

"We can make this work." Discord said to Discord

"But we need to hurry it along, we don't have forever." Discord pointed out

"Actually we do." Discord replied

"That's a good point." Discord acceded

"We just need to make sure this little plan they have happens on our terms." Discord said

"Don't you mean my terms?" Discord huffed imperiously.

"I believe it's my terms, Discord."

"Exactly!" Discord and Discord attempted to outshout each other, glaring.

Discord groaned in annoyance and poofed them away, "Now I remember why I don't huddle. I'm so temperamental, sheesh!"

'Let me help out your little plan, my little ponies. After all, we are neighbors and that's what good neighbors are for...'
Discord grinned evilly before taking off for supplies.

Discord pondered the scene before him. 'On one hoof, she wasn't reading. On the other paw, she wasn't doing anything. On the other claw, though, she wasn't doing anything on her throne. And on the other, other claw, she didn't look very happy not doing anything on her throne.'
Twilight sighed dejectedly, leaning her head on her hoof as she stared blankly ahead.

'I hope it's not her friends again. I feel like we've already gone over this... Welp, one way to find out.' With a flash of light, Discord poofed into the throne-room in front of Twilight.

"Now, what's with the long face?" Discord asked, using his claws to stretch his face out like putty.

Twilight just sighed again and turned away.

Discord frowned and then hurried to snap his face back into place as his mouth slide to the floor. "Is this about your old ex-friends?" He asked, poofing up the dolls and then throwing them over his shoulder as they shrieked. "Forget about them. You know what they say, with friends like those, who needs enemies?"

*BAH DA BA!*

There were two drumbeats and a crash of symbols above Discord's head as he waved his claws.

Twilight didn't even react.

"Nothing? Not even a teeny tiny smile? You aren't going to talk to me at all?" He snuck a quick peek to make sure he hadn't zippered her mouth shut and forgotten about it. This unerring silence was just unnatural...and not in a good way.

"I'm hurt. It's like you don't trust me..." He tried his puppy dog eyes, but even that failed to get a response.

'Hmm, time to think outside the box...', Discord pulled a key from his ear and unlocked his thought box. It only took a few moments for him to come across an idea crazy enough to work. (And amuse him at the same time.)

Discord snapped his fingers and pulled a microphone from the chandelier. He cleared his throat, coughed out a few bats and a piano, and opened his mouth-

Now littleTwilight, listento me

Icanbringyouanything you could need

Twilight looked up in confusion at the circling draconaguus above her. "Discord?" she asked, before getting cut off as Discord zippered her mouth shut.

"Nah ah ahh," Discord scolded shaking a claw at her. "Please save your questions for after the performance." Ignoring Twilight's death glare he straightened his tie and rubbed in a spot on his mic. "Now where was I...? Oh!"

Alittleglassofwater, maybe?

Or howaboutsometeawithhoney?

He looked at Twilight expectantly, only to face-palm dramatically as he remembered that he had zipped her mouth shout. Unzipping her mouth, he offered her a glass of water.

"I'm not really thirsty right now, Thank You." Twilight said icily, as she glared at the draconaquus.

"Hmm..." Discord stroked his goatee before turning off the light bulb above his head.

Wellifyouneedalittle rest

Discord poofed Twilight off her throne and onto a bed floating in midair.

Justmakemethatsmallrequest

I'll makesureyourbedpasses the test

andit'llbe quietas atomb

"A tomb?!" Twilight shrieked.
Discord winced and zipped her mouth shut again, before continuing with his song.

My goodness,I'm anincompoop!

Discord dramatically slapped himself in the face again, as a stage appeared under him, allowing him to continue in full Shakesponian glory.

I'mafraid time's thrownme fora loop

Howabout somepumpkin soup?

Twilight just raised an eyebrow as Discord offered her soup. Seemingly unaware of her plight, (or simply ignoring it) he continued with his song.

Orsome blanketsmadeoutof zinnias?

Now Twilight looked at him in confusion as a few colorful petals rained down on her. Which quickly turned to panic as she was smothered with flowers.

DidIsay zinnias? Imeantsilk

The flowers turned into a long silk rope wrapped around her. Discord gave the end a tug and sent Twilight twirling around the ballroom.

Orsomethingshiny of that ilk...

Twilight crashed into a rubber mirror...and was promptly propelled back onto her throne.

Wouldyou prefersomenice warm milk?

Discord sang as he wheeled in a tea trolley with towering glasses of milk.

Twilight just glared up at him.

And pastriesfromAbyssinia?

The top of the trolley detached itself from the cart and flew around the room once, before coming to an abrupt stop mere inches from Twilight's muzzle. Bringing with it a couple of very strong smelling pastries.

Seeing the face Twilight made as she tried not to gag, Discord poofed the desserts away.

Or ifyourstomach'sfeelingcrummy

I'll give you something for yourtummy

Twilight gave Discord a slightly panicked look,...which he ignored as he kept singing.

Somethingsoothing,somethingyummy

Twilight barely had half a second to look relieved before...

Piledupwithnoodles!

Twilight did her best to flail in panic as she tried to free herself from the massive pile of noodles that had wrapped her up in the world's biggest game of Cat's Cradle.

Orhowaboutsome homemaderye?

Withdaisespiledup inside

Servedwith a story on theside

Twilight blinked and she was sitting in the cozy armchair from earlier with a warm glow emitting from the fireplace in front of her. On a side table there was a daisy-on-rye sandwich and a book.

It was very cozy if you ignored the fact that she was tied up in noodles, with her mouth zipped shut and random bits of flowers and thread stuck to her mane and tail. Not to mention the sour chocolate milk.
(And for those of you wondering: No, chocolate does not make everything better. Twilight just disproved that notion. Make a note of it.)

Andafriendtosay hi

"..."

'Oops.' Discord thought as he saw the not so friendly look Twilight was giving him right now. Thinking fast, he snapped his claws, turning out the lights and cleaning everything up in less then a second. ( .21337th of a second, to be exact)

When Twilight could see straight again, (Discord was fond of the whole world tilting and flashing lights thing) She saw that she was cleaned up and seated in a front row seat to 'Discord- The Musical'. The lights dimmed again and the curtains opened to Discord in a fancy suit holding his microphone.

You knowI'mgratefulforyourcharity

Discord sang softly as Twilight rolled her eyes.

Of beingmy friend

Twilight froze.

AndI'll beyourfaithfulcompanion

A small smile crept onto her face.

With youuntilthe veryend...

"Discord, you are one crazy friend" Twilight laughed as she jumped onstage to give him a hug.

"Right...So..." Discord said uncomfortably as he pried her off of him and teleported her back to her seat.

"Ready for the big reprise?" He asked, grinning.

'Oh no' Twilight thought, before round two began.

Ifyou'd like a glassofwater,please

A magic spell to curedisease

Afreshpressedhankie ifyousneeze

A freshbouquetofdaises

Discord presented Twilight with a pawful of flowers...

Somechocolaterainfor youtodrink

That nearly drowned her in chocolate milk. Again.

Or cottoncandy in yoursink

Orpiles ofhaybefore youblink

If you feel like being lazy

Twilight's eyes rolled around in her head as she tried to get her bearings.

Discord just grinned at her and stretched out under his cotton candy hay stack.

Twilight only just registered that she was on a giant stack of hay, shaped like a book fort, before he was off singing and teleporting her again.

Howaboutsomebooksfor youtoread

Orevenallthelibraries?

Shrunk to the sizeoflittlepeas

Youcouldreadthemwithapekingese

Or asingingharpwho'snamedLouise

"Seriously?!" Twilight squeaked as she pried herself out from under a giant dog as a 'singing' harp shrieked in her ear.

Ormore

Just as she freed herself, an avalanche of pillows fell on her head. Several of them spearing themselves on her horn.

And more

Twilight's eyes widened as it started raining letters

Andmore

and pages starting closing in from all sides of the rooms

Of these!!!

and all of the books opened up and their illustrations came to life, causing her to run in terror after a book on the creatures of the Everfree got caught up in Discord's magic.

Twilight shook her head, she was getting very dizzy from all of the room spinning and item dropping Discord was doing right now.

Andjustbecause I outta

And then dove under a table to escape from a manticore

Make sureyou'vegot everything that you could everwant

then scrambled out when the table came to life

Come dayornight

jumped over a stream of psychotic letters trying to shear off her mane

Iwish I may

slid under a polka dotted sea serpent's belly

I wish I might

straight into a timberwolf

Giveyouonetinything

which promptly turned into a giant fire puppet

OhcanIfinallybring

and roasted marshmallows fell all around her.

You that tinyglass ofwaterrrrr!

And with that ending note, Discord pulled a draw-bell cord and everything washed away down the drain.

Twilight sighed in relief as she looked around the perfectly normal (or at least no stranger then it had been when they created it) room.

"So what do you say, Twilight?" Discord asked, puppy eyes practically begging for themselves, "Would you like a glass of water?"

Twilight sighed again, this time in that long suffering sigh of annoyance and amusement that came with associating with Discord. "Sure, Discord. I would love a glass of water."

Discord smiled as he passed a glass to Twilight while his left claw crossed his talons behind his back. His smile grew as he raised his glass in a toast. "To our friendship!".

"To our friendship." Twilight repeated, taking a long drink from her glass. 'I hope it doesn't kill me...'

New Discoveries

Twilight briskly trotted through the many winding corridors of her palace.

"Discord...?!", she called out as she peered into each of the many doors lining the walls.

'Where in Equestria has he gotten to?', Twilight wondered as she turned the corner.

She started on the next row of doors, only to pause and turn back. For as Twilight had walked past that last corner, she had thought she has seen something out of the corner of her eye.

She slowly walked back to the corner, careful to keep an eye out for anything unusual. But when Twilight reached place she had been, there was nothing there.

"I guess I'm seeing things", Twilight shrugged and went to look down the next hallway. But as she passed the corner again, she caught another glimpse.

"Wait a minute..." Twilight said softly. She turned around again. Only this time instead of going straight to where she had seen the mysterious opening, she poofed up a mirror and slowly walked past, keeping her eyes on the mirror in front of her.

She was about to dismiss it as her imagination when she spotted the door in the mirror. Walking backwards so as not to make it disappear again, she reached behind her to open the door.

It stuck just long enough for Twilight to worry that it was locked. Then it swung open and she entered the secret room Discord had gone through so much trouble to hide.

"Weeee! Higher Higher!"

"Alright, Twilight" Cadance said as she pushed the swing higher.

"Weeee!" Twilight giggled as the swing slowed to a stop.

"Cadance..."

"Cadance..." the filly whimpered as Cadance put a bandage over the scrape on her knee.

"It' all right, Twily" she said softly as she held the filly close. She wiped Twilight's eyes and smiled. "Feel better?"

"Mmm hmm" Twilight nodded, giggling.

"Oh Cadance..."

"Bed time Twilight..." Cadance said as she scooped up the sleepy filly.

"Oh Cadance...,*Yawn* Do I...*Yawn* Do I have to?" Twilight complained between yawns as her foal-sitter carried her upstairs.

"Don't you want to find out what happens to Daring Do?" Cadance asked as she brought over a story book to read.

"Yayyyy... *Yawn* Okay, Cadance..."

"...And Daring Do was off, to find her next great adventure. The End." Cadance shut the book softly and tucked the blanket around the slepy filly.

"Good night, Twilight" She whispered as she carefully left the room.

"Good night, Cadance..." Twilight mumbled happily, half asleep already.

"Princess Cadance?"

Princess Cadance started as she felt a hoof on her shoulder. Turning around, she saw Princess Celestia smiling gently at her, though she could see the concern in her eyes.

"How are you faring, Cadance?" Princess Celestia asked.

Princess Cadance sighed. "I am worried for Twilight. I just wish we knew where she was."

"I am worried for her as well. Tell me, what were you thinking of?"

"I was remembering her as a filly. I loved foal-sitting her. We always had so much fun." Cadance turned her face away as her eyes welled up and tears started to fall down her cheeks.

Barely a moment had passed before she felt Celestia's wing laid comfortingly against her back. "It's okay to cry."

Startled, Cadance lifted her head. "But you always say...a princess doesn't..."

"Out there," Princess Celestia pointed out the the window at the rolling streets of Canterlot, "You must be strong. But in here," She spread her other wing and held Cadance close, "It's okay to cry."

Princess Cadance buried her face in her aunt's mane as she sobbed.

A single tear rolled down Princess Celestia's face as she held her niece.

"What is this place?" Twilight wondered as she wandered around the room she had discovered. It didn't feel like a large area, but it didn't end either. Anytime she thought she was reaching a wall, the room would seem to expand around her, and yet close in behind her at the same time. It was a little disorienting to explore and lose site of the entrance, but still feel slightly claustrophobic.

She was soon distracted from her sense of unease by the wide array of items she was finding. There were shelves and shelves of disguises, picture frames, props, and little statues arranged in sprawling scenes. And snow-globes. Lots and lots of snow-globes.

As she was examining a miniature diorama of Canterlot (is that pony riding on a turntable?), she caught sight of a bookcase.

'I knew there would be something worth looking at in here!', She thought excitedly, hurrying over to see what it held. In her haste, she didn't notice an ornate golden cane leaning against one of the shelves. She tripped over it and went sprawling into the path. As she reached out with a hoof to catch her balance, she accidentally snagged a cloth cover off of a large mirror. It fell to the ground, getting tangled up with Twilight and the cane on the way.

"Captain Shining Armor!"

Shining Armor started as his door was thrown open. He quickly stood to attention, only to relax as he saw the cadet outside his door. (Well, he relaxed on the inside at least.)

"There had better be a good reason for this." he said sternly as he glared at the cadet.

The cadet froze, his eyes darting around nervously. "I.."

"State your mission.", Shining Armor interrupted the cadet before he could use any of the thousands of excuses he had heard before.

The cadet seemed to relax as he pulled a letter out of his saddlebags. "An urgent message for you."

Only through sheer will-power, and years of practice, was Shining Armor able to keep his exasperation off his face. He motioned for the cadet to put the letter on his desk.

The cadet seemed to hesitate for a moment before placing the letter down. Almost as if he wasn't sure he should.

Shining Armor waited a moment to give the cadet time to remember any other instructions he may have been given, (more and more of the new cadets give the appearance of having just graduated from the academy yesterday) and then nodded.

"Dismissed." Shining Armor took the letter and sent the cadet away.

The cadet nearly sighed in relief as he let out the breathe he hadn't realized had been holding. Quickly snapping off a salute he turned and left the room before the captain could change his mind.

Shinning Armor grinned wryly, 'Why do all the new cadets think I'm about to bite their heads off?'

He shook his head and sighed in disgust. 'I don't have time to be playing secretary. If this was about Twilight or Discord I wouldn't be getting a bloody letter. I shouldn't even waste my time.'

He set the letter aside to read later and went back to his planning.

Not even a full minute had passed before he snatched it back up with a groan.

'If I don't read this letter now, I just know that it will end up being important. Better to waste a minute now, then to waste an hour later justifying it.' "I wonder which bureaucrat needs something this time..." Shining Armor grumbled to himself silently as he broke the seal.

His eyes narrowed as he scanned the page. When he had finished he quickly flipped the parchment over, looking for any clue as to the sender. But there was no return address.

Letting the letter fall to the ground, he quickly ran to the door and flung it open. He looked up and down the hallway for the cadet that had delivered the letter.

But there was nopony around.

"Why do I feel like I should blame Discord for this?" Twilight grumbled as she untangled herself from this latest entrapment. She lifted the sheet from where she had flung it and went to recover up the mirror (before she ended up breaking it and getting seven years of bad luck. Or forty-seven, knowing Discord), only to drop the cover in surprise as she caught a glimpse of her reflection.

"What in Equestria...!?!"

Her mane, her beautiful purple mane with its pretty pink stripe...

"Black...my mane is black...and my fur...it's gray!"

"DISCORD!", Twilight roared in anger, convinced this was one of his tricks. In the back of her mind, she could hear a little voice telling her she was over-reacting. But she pushed that down, choosing to ignore it in favor of the far more pleasing thoughts of revenge and retribution.

But before she could dwell on any of her rapidly growing schemes of retaliation, she was distracted by her image distorting and changing. Hoping that this was all just one of Discord's tricks, she glanced down at her hooves. Nope, still grey. She pulled a piece of mane forward. Yep, still black.

She narrowed her eyes, and turned back towards the mirror.

She wasn't sure what exactly she expected to see, but it certainly wasn't a study. There wasn't even anything special about the room shown. It looked to be similar to each of the dozens of office-type rooms in the Canterlot Castle she had been in a hundred times.

'Wait... Canterlot Castle?'
Twilight leaned closer to the mirror, trying to figure out who the study belonged to. The wasn't much to give clue to the owner. The furnishings were few and simple. An oval rug in faded purple and blues hues covered a marble floor. There was a desk with a few papers scattered on top of it. A bookcase stuffed full with scrolls and books stood in the corner. If she strained she could make out a few of the titles.

Big Brother for Beginners
Beginning Basic Boot-camp
Surviving Your Sister, and Her Sitter Too
Tales of Tactical Techniques
Focusing for Frantic Fillies
A Complete Collection of Commander Campaigns
History of Hysterics and How to Help
Following in their Hoof-steps: A Collection of Journals, Letters and Memos by Equestria's Greatest Royal Guard Captains

"This is an interesting collection of books. Either whoever this study belongs to is completely unorganized," Twilight mused as she contemplated this new information, "Or this is some sort of Guard daycare office."

Twilight nodded firmly, convinced that she had solved the mystery. As her gaze fell on the worn rug covering the floor, she noticed the lines of faded golden yellow peeking out from the edges of the piece of parchment laying on the floor. If she focused, she could make out the edges of the Royal Guard insignia, lending further proof to her theory of this room being a daycare office for Royal Guards' foals.

"I wonder what that paper on the floor is? If it is from a personal file, it really shouldn't be laying about where any foal who comes to the office can get to it."

She was going crossed-eyed trying to satisfy her curiosity when she noticed a familiar pony entering the picture.

Shining Armor went back to his office and picked up the piece of parchment from where it had fallen. He stared at it in disbelief, reading it over again to make sure he hadn't missed anything. Then rolling it up in his magic, he hurried to the throne room. The princesses needed to see this.

Twilight froze as she read the note her brother had picked up from the floor. However the mirror was positioned in that room, (for she was certain that the only way for her to be seeing into this room was through a set of magically enchanted mirrors) it was in just the right place to see the paper when Shining Armor picked it up. She only caught a glimpse of it for a second before Shining Armor rolled it up and left, but it was long enough.

To Whom It May Concern,
Twilight Sparkle is being held captive in the crystal caves beneath Canterlot.
-A Friend

An Interesting Revelation

Twilight backed away from the mirror in a panic. She looked around her frantically, expecting the Royal Guard to come crashing through the door any moment now. If only she could find the door, she would know which way to run. As she twirled in a frantic circle, her tail knocked over the cane she had propped up against the bookcase mere minutes...hours?...seconds?... ago.

The cane swept a figure off the shelf as it fell over. The figure fell on Twilight's back, sending her into an even greater panic, (if that was even possible at this point).

Twilight shrieked and ran blindly around the shelves and between displays. As she passed the mirror again, she managed to snag the cover that had been on it, tripped and rolled right into the bookcase she had seen earlier that had started this whole mess.

The bookcase teetered and wobbled, and then before Twilight could summon a shield, all of the books tumbled down onto her head.

*SLAM*

"Oof!" Private Sentry groaned as he was flattened between the door and the wall.

Everypony (and dragon) fell silent as the door was flung open, and Shining Armor burst through.

Then they all responded at once.

"Sir!"

"Princess Celestia!"

"Shining Armor?"

"What is it, Captain?"

"Oww..."

Princess Celestia stepped forward and spread her wings.

Everypony fell silent as they waited for her to speak.

"Thank you." Princess Celestia said, smiling gently as she folded her wings and motioned for Shining Armor to go first.

Shining Armor bowed quickly, and held up a rolled parchment. "Princess Celestia, this was delivered to me a few minutes ago."

Princess Celestia took the letter and opened it. She read it for a moment before her whole demeanor changed.

"Leave us" She commanded. The guards bowed and quickly left, walking close together. (Almost as if one of them was trying to subtly keep his partner from landing on his face.)

"Who delivered this letter, Shining Armor?" Princess Celestia asked as she passed the letter to Princess Cadance.

"A cadet did. He was new, I didn't recognize him." Shining Armor groaned and smacked his hoof to his face, "The whole castle's practically on lock-down, and I don't think to question a cadet I don't recognize delivering mail? How could I be so stupid?!"

"It's alright, Shining Armor. There's nothing to be done for that now. At the moment, our top priority is finding out if our mysterious 'friend' is telling the truth."

"I can have a squadron ready in five minutes, or an army in thirty." Shining Armor said quickly.

"I don't think that's how we should play this, Captain." Princess Celestia said as she walked over towards the table. Using her magic to create a map of Canterlot and the crystal caves beneath them, she motioned for the others to join her.

"There." She said pointing to a spot on the map. "That is where you will be able to enter the caverns with the least chance of detection."

Shining Armor looked to where she was pointing and nodded. "I agree, but how does that change the need for troops?" Shining Armor asked.

"Because if this is a trap, I won't have anymore of my little ponies hurt. You will pick a few ponies Shining Armor. No more than five. And you will simply reconnoiter. Find out if this 'friend' of ours can be trusted."

Shining Armor nodded and went to select his ponies, but Princess Celestia stopped him. Leaning down so she could look him in the eyes, she said firmly, "This is not a rescue mission, Captain. You will not attempt to retrieve or contact your sister. Only find out if she is there. Do you understand?" She asked.

"But...!"

"Captain Armor. Discord has played us for fools twice now. I will not accept a third time. If you are unable to agree to my request, then I will send somepony else. Am I understood?"

Shining Armor stared at the ground, struggling to keep from saying or doing anything he would regret.

Princess Celestia placed a hoof under his chin and raised his gaze to her own. "Am I understood, Captain?" She asked again.

"Yes, Princess Celestia. I understand." Shining Armor said stiffly.

"Good. You are dismissed.", her voice softened as she stepped back, "Go pick your team. Have them back here in an hour to go over the plan."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Shining Armor said, bowing to Princess Celestia. His stance tightened as he turned to Cadance. "Princess."
Shining Armor said in parting as he bowed again. Before she could respond, he had marched out of the room.

"He's upset." Cadance said, looking at the doors her fiancée had just walked out of.

"Madder than a wet cat with a mouthfulla bumblebees." Applejack said.

"Yup." Rainbow Dash agreed as the others merely nodded their assent. Except for Fluttershy, who was hiding behind Rarity. (Well, she might have nodded. They weren't sure. Fluttershy is very good at hiding.)

"Regardless, I trust he will do what is right." Princess Celestia said. "Now, I am sure you are all wondering why I have called you all together..."

"Ugh...What happened?" Twilight groaned as she unburied herself from a pile of books. 'Did I make an structurally unsound bookfort?' She wondered. She pondered that possibility for a few seconds before shaking her head in denial. "No way. I haven't made a structurally unsound bookfort since I was a young foal. The possibility is just too improbable to entertain."

She looked around her and sighed. "Well, I can't just leave these here. The bindings could get cracked or pages could get creased or even *gasp!* torn! I need to pick these up immediately. It is my responsibility as an Equestrian Citizen. Not to mention a librarian!"

Nodding her head emphatically, Twilight started stacking the books in piles to organize as she replaced them on the shelves. After all, as long as they needed to be re-shelved, she might as well reorganize them while she was at it!

'Now, on to the next part of my plan.' Discord thought as he popped into his own dimension. He whistled a merry tune as he kicked off the hoof-guards and shed the breast-plate.

"Tralala lala..." Discord sang as he danced about. With a snap of his claws, he pulled up his diorama of the crystal caverns.

"What to do? What to do..." he wondered, stroking his goatee.

"Got it!" A light-bulb appeared above his head. It shone brightly for a second before flickering and sputtering out.

"Oh you...!"Discord scolded as he pulled the chain. It light up once, buzzed and went out again. Discord pulled it down and peered into it. It shone brightly, blinding him.

"Ahhh!"Discord cried, clutching his eyeball.

"I'm blind!" He pulled out his eyeball and blew off the smoke. Then he polished it with his elbow. He peered at it for a moment before plopping it back into it's socket.

"Ah, much better."

"Now you listen here" He said tapping the bulb with his claw. "you little..."

*Crack*

The light-bulb cracked and then slowly crumbled into a million pieces.

"Argghh!" Discord cried in frustration. Grumbling to himself, he went to the light-bulb pile and grabbed a new one from the bottom.

"Yeesh, how hard is it to change a light-bulb around here?" The whole pile then tipped over and the room flipped over.

"It's like a bad joke, and not even a funny one at that..." Walking over to where the pieces of the old light-bulb hung, he brushed them aside and screwed the new bulb into the air in it's place.

"How many draconequuses does it take..." Discord pulled the cord and the lightbulb shone brightly.

"There!" He said confidently, turning back to his diorama.

The bulb flickered.

"Don't even think about it." Discord said sternly. "Unless you want to join your friend over there in the stain-glass department..." He threatened.

The bulb wisely changed its mind and stayed lit.

"Now, where was I...?" Discord wondered. He thought for a moment before remembering.

"Got it!" Discord grabbed the strand on notes floating by and continued whistling.

"Ohhh... a little cave-in here..." He said as he floated rocks above one of the hallways.

"A few minions here..." He placed a few figurines around a corner.

"Some voices here..." He added a script to a wall.

"Ohhh, this is so much fun!" Discord laughed, clapping his paw with his claw.

Twilight froze.

All thoughts ceased.

The world stood still around her.

The words on the page flowed together and ceased to have any meaning. All the words but one.

Flosetsemenspoila

And the picture below them.

A small innocent looking purple flower. It was a simple thing, tiny, plain with five points. Easily mistaken for a daisy or a lily if one didn't know otherwise.

She reached a hoof to her mane.

In fact, if one wasn't careful, one could be persuaded that it was a mere decorative mane-piece. A harmless gift. A thoughtful present for good luck.

Twilight twirled the offending flower in question thoughtfully in her magic as she pondered this new revelation.

"One would be wrong."

Flosetsemenspoila
FLOS_ET_SEMEN_SPOILA
plunderseed flower
The flowering part of the plunderseed plant.
Blooms along the plunderseed vines.
A rare plant, thought to be extinct, or severely endangered. Not commonly found anywhere in Equestria, though there has been some possible cases noted in the Everfree Forest, located outside of Ponyville.
The plunderseed flower harnesses negative emotions and recycles them into the air around them. Should one have prolonged exposure to and/or come into prolonged contact with a plunderseed flower, common effects are the changing and darkening and/ or fading of coat and mane color as well as changes in mood, such as anger, hostility, depression, hallucinations, susceptibility, gullibility, insomnia and sudden urges for revenge, annihilation, conquest and world domination,..etc.etc.
Should you or anypony you know show signs of coming in contact with a plunderseed flower, please contact your certified healthcare professional/ provider, the royal guard, the local authorities, and/or the princess(es) of Equestria immediately.

Change of Plans

The air around Twilight swirled and howled as she traveled to her library.

What had seemed like a soothing night sky only served to darken her mood. The soft, tinkling chimes now resonated through the halls as a loud clatter. The pleasant breeze she had felt earlier was forgotten, instead a howling wind roared throughout the halls. Gone were the songbirds that had flew overhead, in their place thunder rang through the sky.

Her path was lit with the flashes of scorching light as the ground rumbled beneath her hooves.

But Twilight noticed none of that as she traveled. For the storm within her was far too great. Her flame was sparked and had quickly grown to an inferno. And soon all would burn in a wild fire.

"So that's how it is. They all think they can use me. Well, they'll see. They have no idea what I'm capable of."

Twilight paused, twirling the flower thoughtfully in her magic. Slowly, an idea formed. And from that idea grew a plan. A plan that would change everything. She smiled as she light her horn.

"But they'll learn" She said, watching intently as the flower was consumed by her fire. Soon there was nothing left but smoke. Smoke and ashes.

"Well Discord. It's looks like there's going to be a change of plans."

Lieutenant Cherry Fizzy was known for his levelheadedness and his ability to read the moods of ponies (particularly those in positions of authority capable of making those under them miserable) quickly and accurately. He was also known for being very proficient at BARCing*.

So when the door to the officers barracks swung open and his fellow officers saw him standing there, it was no surprise that they watched him for a moment. And then quickly stopped what they were doing and became busy with various tasks of suitable importance (such as polishing armor, studying, straightening the barracks, or just trying not to be noticed), while still keeping one eye on the entrance.

"Captain on the floor! Assemble!" Lieutenant Fizzy bellowed as he stood at attention.

Royal Guards sprang to attention as Captain Shining Armor stormed into the castle barracks. Several of them held their breathe as he passed while some of the braver (or dumber, as the case may be) of those he had already passed exchanged nervous glances. But all of them stayed at parade rest as they watched their captain march over to two lieutenants and order them to report to his quarters.

An order to report to the Captains quarters could only mean one of two things. Either somepony had screwed up big time and was about to get a major chewing out, or somepony was getting a promotion. And nopony was making any bets on the second.

The Guards stiffened as one (if it were even possible at this point to stand straighter, they did) as Captain Armor left the barracks, just as quickly as he had entered.

The two unlucky guards who had been singled out exchanged worried looks with the guard in the doorway as they grabbed their helmets and all three of them hurried after the Captain. Their fellow officers gave them sympathetic looks as they hurried out the door.

But that was all the movement there was for a few minutes as nopony wanted to be the one to move first and risk the Captain's wrath should he come back.

After an appropriate amount of time had passed, they broke formation. One of them reached under a bed and pulled out the game board that had been hidden there, while another grabbed the box from a locker.

"I'm guessing there's been a change of plans." He said as he made note of the current plays before helping to pack up the game they had all been playing. (It was awfully difficult to play without the game master.)

"There!" Discord said in satisfaction as he surveyed the scene before him in pride. After today, Discord would finally claim his place as the sole ruler of Equestria!

When Shining Armor arrives with his army to rescue his poor innocent little sister, he will find a pleasant little welcoming party waiting for him. And when Twilight sees the Royal Guard invading her castle, well, Discord could imagine how'd she react.

Of course, there is always the possibility of a small team trying the sneak attack routine, but Discord had another plan for that...
Either way, with them occupied, Discord would be free to defeat the pathetic pony princesses. And then Equestria would be his.

Discord hummed as he pulled out a mirror. "After all, one must make a good first impression." He smoothed out his ceremonial robe and tried on a couple of crowns.

"Hmm, it's still missing something..." Discord said thoughtfully as he tried to think of what that something was.

He pulled a few random accessories out of his pockets and posed, "Wand...nope, pocket-watch...nope, snow-globe...nope, hat...nope, flower...ugh, definitely not!" Discord said hurriedly as he flung it over his shoulder.

There was an explosion behind him, that he ignored as he continued his search for the perfect item to complete his ensemble.

But even though he nearly emptied his bottomless pockets (and that's not easy to do) none of his props seemed to quite mesh with his image.

Discord pouted for a second before shrugging. "Well you know what they say, if you can't find something the first time, pick something randomly!" he said and grabbed the cane leaning against a bookshelf. Discord examined it closer as he checked how it went (or didn't go, that could be just as fun) with his robe. It certainly was an interesting cane. It was also very gaudy and ornate, with the top shaped like a unicorn's head.

"Perfect!" He exclaimed as he spun it around. He buffed out a smudge on it's tip as he admired his reflection smugly. He looked very dapper, if he did say so himself (and he did). He laughed and twirled the cane as he danced about the room.

"We do make a good team, don't we?" He said, chuckling as he stopped in front of the mirror again. But as he looked at himself with his cane, he imagined the cane's head growing and turning purple. "You are one crazy friend Discord..."

His smile faltered as he imagined how Twilight would react to his betrayal. Her ears would fold back and her bottom lip would quiver. Her eyes would go wide as she cried. "Why...?"

"Why did he stop? Why isn't he moving?"

The sounds of whispering pulled Discord out of his thoughts.

"I do not possess that knowledge. Perhaps you would deign to inquire as to the reasoning regarding his current state of inaction?"

Discord looked about him for the beings that would dare to interrupt his epiphany. Then his annoyance quickly turned to a sense of confusion as he spotted the dolls he had created.

"Nuh, uh! You ask him! The last time I talked to him, he got all cranky, remember?" the first doll whined.

"Do be quiet. I believe our presence has been discovered."

"Didn't I get rid of you?" Discord asked.

The whiny Twilight doll harrumphed indignantly, "Oh, that's nice! We go through all the effort to come back just so we can help you, and all you can say is 'Didn't I get rid of you?' Really?! Do you treat all your friends like that?"

"Wait, what?" Discord asked in confusion.

Twilight doll 2.0 answered, "Actually, that is an impossibility."

Discord grinned smugly at the first Twilight Doll, "There, you see!"

"Discord does not have any friends. Therefore, it is impossible for him to conduct himself in any manner towards them at all."

"Hey!"

"Were you to imply that he consistently behaves towards of all of his acquaintances poorly, them I would agree with you."

Discord grabbed for the doll, who simply ducked out of his reach. "Stop helping!" he growled.

Twilight 2.0 merely tilted her head and looked at him in confusion. "I do not believe I was ever being helpful to your cause."

"But didn't you just say..."

"That the reasoning behind our return was with the intent of providing our services to you? Technically, no. She did. I am merely here to prevent any mistakes beyond reparation from occurring."

Discord groaned behind his paw. This was not in the script. (Not that he ever followed the script in the first place...)

"Discord." The egghead Twilight doll interrupted his thoughts, (quite rudely for a monotone doll, I might add) "What is the reason for your delay? With each passing moment, your margin for success becomes increasingly smaller. Already, the probability of your plan succeeding has lowered by..."

"Wait! Discord! Don't do it!" The other Twilight puppy-eye cried as she clung to his goatee. "What about all the fun times we've had. How could do this to me, to us?"

"Huh? How'd you...?" Discord started. Only to be interrupted. Again. (These dolls really didn't seem to have much in the way of manners.)

"Do be quiet." Twilight 2.0 admonished it's double. "Emotions have no place in logical calculations of success versus failure. As it is, the continued procrastination on the part of our creator shows an internal uncertainty that does not raise the chances of his plan succeeding. Besides, I do not believe that our past experience with Discord could be correctly described as 'fun'. Also, you are embarrassing yourself."

"But isn't embarrassment an emotion?" Discord interrupted in confusion, (apparently it was going to be one of those conversations) but the dolls paid him no mind. (Again, quite rude.)

"I was talking about the fun he had with the REAL Twilight, duh! And how would it be a success if Twilight is betrayed by who she thought she could trust? Then she won't have any friends and be sad! Which means we'll be saddddd!" The doll cried as the ground beneath her flooded with her tears.

Discord quickly grabbed his umbrella as it floated by. He opened it above him to shield from the torrential tears, only to be soaked as a sheet of water fell from the umbrella's folds.

Twilight 2.0 considered. "True, but we are technically part of Discord's imagination, so if he is defeated, then we will disappear. Regardless of feelings, our very survival is contingent to his continued freedom."

Discord spit out a stream of water, and shook off his umbrella. Then he flipped it over and climbed into his new umbrella boat.

"But what is the point of freedom if we will be angry and sad for the rest of our mi... miserable livesssss?" Whiny puppet cried as her tears grew to a fountain, sending a tidal wave crashing against Discord's umbrella boat.

"We are puppets. We don't have lifespans." Twilight 2.0 pointed out.

Abruptly, Whiny doll stopped crying as she thought about that. "Oh yeah..."

"And furthermore, I do not believe we emulate her current emotional state consistently."

Discord quickly took advantage of the lull in the storm to pull the plug, and send all the water down the drain.

"What do you mean? We won't be sad even when Twilight is completely miserable? But...but I thought we were connected! You said..."

Unfortunately for Discord, this created a whirlpool that quickly sucked in him and everything else in the room.

Except for the floating dolls. Who ignored the whole thing, figuring it didn't affect them. (Which, truth be told, it didn't. They didn't even get wet.)

"That I believed our continued existence despite the efforts of our original creator was a result of sharing a baseline level connection with the individual originally deemed Twilight Sparkle? Yes. And I stand by my statement."

Upon seeing the first (or possibly the second, depending on how you're counting) Twilight's look of confusion, she decided to elaborate.

"Perhaps I should elaborate on my theory in hopes of clarifying a few points. I would supposition that due to the manner in which we were created, we were not designed with the capabilities of continued sentience, or self-awareness, planned. We were merely created for the comedic value of having a known individual being portrayed in a less than favorable, and most probably exaggerated, manner. Therefore, our connection to the biological Twilight Sparkle would merely be one of co-existence, with the exception of sharing her aesthetic appearance, and emulating some of her less desirable traits. We are, in effect, parodies."

Discord gasped and sputtered as he flailed against the pull of the water. They continued to ignore him.

"Oh, okay then." She looked pensive for a moment before gasping in horror and bursting into another round of tears. "Oh nooooo!"

"Please express the reason for your distress."

"I... I don't wa... wanna have a bla... black mane!!!"

The force of her cry caused the whirlpool to reverse directions.

Discord shrieked (or he would have shrieked, if his lungs weren't currently home to the aquatic swimlympics. In actuality, it sounded more like a high-pitched gurgle) as his directional course was rapidly changed so fast his tail hit him in the face.

Twilight 2.0 tilted her head and frowned as she thought. "I do not comprehend the connection. Explain your reasoning."

"Well if ... if Twilight looks like us and we look like her and she acts like us and we act like her that means when her mane turns black from the flower Discord gave her, so will ours!

Luckily (or not, depending on your point of view) Discord was near the bottom of the spiral and was soon sucked into the drain.

Twilight 2.0 sighed. "Stop crying. Your logic is flawed."

Just as suddenly as Whiny Twilight's tears had started, they stopped. "It is?" she asked hopefully.

Unfortunately, (or fortunately, it really was a matter of opinion) Discord was too big to fit all the way through the drain, and so got stuck.

"Correct. Twilight's appearance started to change as soon as the flower was given to her. However, our appearance only changes when Discord wills it. Therefore, our aesthetic appearances are not contingent to each other."

But, as fortune would have it (we leave it to you to decide which type) Discord had held onto his umbrella, and was so protected against all of the various props and knickknack that landed on top of him.

"I can keep my pretty purple mane with its pretty pink stripe?!"

Of course, it also buried him. Making it quite difficult for him to emerge from the drain pipe.

"So long as Discord does not see fit to change it, yes."

"Yay!"

With a grumble and a mutter, (in between coughing out water and the occasional snow-globe) Discord changed into a centipede and crawled up the umbrella's handle and out from under the pile of stuff.

"So... do we care what happens to Twilight or not?"

"I suppose that since the theory of our continued existence being contingent on her survival has been disproved, we do not need to concern ourselves with the affairs of her existence."

"Oh. But we can still be friends, right?"

"I do not believe that will be problematic."

"Yay!"

At this Twilight 2.0 put a hoof around her double. "And I believe that although individual personalities will always have imperfections due to very nonconformity that makes us all individual, that the personality and characteristics you assume are quite pleasing and satisfactory to your existence."

"I think that you're perfect too! I love you too, sis!"

"I also find that although emotions should not be possible for me, that I find myself perhaps feeling a familial sense of affection towards you."

With a squeal of joy Whiny Twilight launched herself towards her new sister.

After a brief moment of internal strife, (which proved beyond a doubt that she had sentience) Twilight 2.0 returned the hug, albeit briefly.

"Are you two quite finished?!" Discord asked as he wrung out his tail.

The two Twilight dolls looked at each other and then shrugged.

"I dunno."

"That is entirely dependent on the outcome of your actions. Should you fail in your plans and be imprisoned in stone for another millennium, then we are most assuredly finished. Should you succeed in your plans, but decide to eradicate us, then we are also most assuredly finished. But should you decide to keep us, or free us from our ties to you, then we are most likely finished or not finished dependent on your definition of the term. Therefore, only you will know the answer to your query."

Discord slapped his paw to his face and dragged it (and his face) down as he sighed. "Please go away..."

"So, if this doesn't actually affect us...Do you wanna go get some ice cream?"

"I do not find the acquisition of frozen confectioneries objectionable."

"Yay!"

And with that they left Discord (and the mess) to himself. Alone.

Discord humped indignantly as he stalked about. "Stupid dolls, give them the smallest amount of sentience, and they decide they can just go ahead and do what ever they want...who do they think they are... of course they're not Twilight, I could have told them that! Stupid, inconsiderate, little brats, making a mess and leaving me to clean up after them... the REAL Twilight would never have left me like... this... oh..."

And just as quickly as his anger came, it left him. With a sigh, Discord turned to the long task of cleaning up. He could have used his magic, but for some reason he just wasn't in the mood.

"No! It won't end like this! Its not too late. " Discord thought about it.

"It simply needs a change of plans. After I've defeated the princesses, I'll return Twilight's power and we'll rule Equestria together! It'll be perfect! Just her and me!"

Discord snapped his fingers and held a tiara before him. "After all, every king needs a queen..."

*BARC [Beware. Advancing. Royalty. or Commanders.] :The practice of portraying a VIPA's [Very. Important. Pony. with Authority.] moods to fellow guards through his behavior as an early warning system. Passed down through the guards in a time honored tradition as holy as their oaths to their positions and promises to their mothers.

The Mission

Captain Shining Armor of the Royal Guard led his highly skilled team deeper into the tunnel that would lead them into the Crystal Caverns beneath Canterlot.

They were a small team, comprised of himself and three of the most dependable and professional ponies in the Royal guard. They were a solid team, having been through some of the hardest and toughest ordeals Equestria could throw at them. Together they had braved manticores, timber-wolves, bandits, and drill sergeants. They had forged a bond so strong and so durable that nothing could break it apart. Together, they were unstoppable, unbeatable. And no amount of time, distance, or growing up could ever change that. As soon as they slipped on that armor and departed on a mission, they immediately went professional. There was no distractions, no side trips, no...

"Sooo, are we there yet?"

Captain Shining Armor of the Royal Guard suppressed a groan as he turned to glare at the foolish young pegasus that had managed to get herself aboard this mission.

Shining Armor marched stiffly through the hallways of the Canterlot Palace. He knew that Princess Celestia's reasoning was sound. He knew that as a guard under her command, even if he was the Captain, or especially because he was the Captain, he had no place to question her. Orders were orders and he would follow them. That didn't mean he had to like it, though.

One of the palace guards saluted him as he marched past.

Shining Armor returned the salute automatically even as he moved down the hall. It was good for morale to acknowledge everypony. Even when the last thing you wanted to do was engage in small talk. It was a good thing nopony seemed to be interested in chatting today.

He could hear the hoofsteps of his team behind him. When Princess Celestia had restricted the number of ponies he could take with him, he knew which ponies he wanted immediately. He chose the ponies he had worked with many times before. A team that went back all the way to the academy. Lieutenants Cherry Fizzy, Bronzewing and Silver Shield.

Some ponies might have been surprised to hear that he only filled three of his five slots. Especially since he wanted more. Those ponies didn't know him very well. If you can only have a small team then it was better to have a smaller team you worked well with than just a few more ponies. And the ones that did know him, weren't surprised at all by the ponies he choose.

"Hey, wait up! Shining Armor!"

Shining Armor suppressed a groan as he heard his name being called. 'This better be good...' he thought to himself as he stopped and turned in the direction of the summons. His face was carefully blank, because the other option would probably scare whoever it was away. 'Which may not be a bad thing...'

"Yo, Shining!" A young pegasus stopped in front of him, a young earth pony right behind her.

Shining Armor recognized them as two of Twilight's friends from Ponyville, Rainbow Dash and Applejack.

Under the stern glare of Shining Armor and the hooves of Cherry Fizzy and Silver Shield, Rainbow Dash at least had the grace to look sheepish.

"I reckon that means we should be quiet." Applejack whispered, only to find herself muffled by Bronzewing.

Shining Armor quickly drew a hoof across his throat in the universal sign for silence. (And/or threats of imminent death.)

Both of the mares mouthed 'sorry' (or at least that was what he thought they mouthed, it was hard to tell beneath all the hooves.)
They hunched down and went through the universal motions of a promise of silence, moving their hooves in front of their muzzle in sync and then flinging imaginary keys over their shoulders.

Satisfied that they would keep their muzzles shut, Shining Armor nodded to his team. They all removed their various improvised limb gags and saluted, before falling back into formation. Shining Armor in the front, followed closely by Bronzewing, Applejack, Cherry Fizzy, Rainbow Dash and Silver Shield in the rear to provide cover.

Captain Shining Armor of the Royal Guard led his highly skilled team and his two tagalongs deeper into the tunnel. He only hoped they wouldn't fail.

Discord floated through the halls of his, that is to say, his and Twilight's underground palace. He hummed a jaunty little tune as he floated from room to room, looking for his queen-to-be. As he danced down the halls, he was unable to contain himself to merely humming.

So he did what any self-respecting citizen (Yes, he really can be a respectable citizen at times. Solely for the purpose of mixing things up, of course.) would do. He burst into song and started a musical number. (Don't give me that look. Have you seen how many musical numbers happen in Equestria?)

Morninginourpalaceshimmers!

Morninginourpalaceshines!

AndIknowforabsolutecertain!

Thateverythingwillturnoutjustfine!

He flung open the doors to the throne-room with a flourish as he entered the next stanza.

There'sthethrone-room

Wherewewillruletogether!

He pulled the tiara he had made for Twilight out of his pocket and looked at in pride. He held it in front of him as he spun around the room.

Here's thetiara

ThatIwillgivetoher!

"There, perfect!" Discord said as he gave the gem a final polish before tucking it away for the big surprise.

MyTwilightSparkle

Willbemypartnerfor real!

Couldmyplansgowrong?

I don't thinkthattheywill!

He jumped onto his throne and danced an impromptu jig. Laughing with glee, he leaped off and twirled through the air before making a perfect landing on the tip of his hoof.

Then he pranced out of the throne-room to continue his search. Still singing, because he was simply unable to keep his newfound happiness to himself.

Morninginourpalaceshimmers!

Morninginourpalaceshines!

AndIknowfor absolutecertain!

Thateverythingiscertainly...

Shining Armor held up a hoof to stop his team as he scanned the tunnels before him.

'There', he thought as he spied it again.

He quietly moved forward. (Made significantly easier without heavy metal hoof guards clanging against the crystal floors.) Since this was supposed to be a recon mission heavy on stealth, they had left the standard armor back at base. Instead, they wore lighter suits of a tough fabric material.

As he stealthily moved forward, he released the light spell on his horn. Behind him, Silver Shield quickly followed suit, and they all moved forward in darkness.

Even without their magic lights, they were able to tell as the crystal around them gradually transformed from cavern to castle. (Their first clue was the smoothness of the crystal floor, replacing the loose crystal gravel that threatened to give them away every time some foolish pony kicked it.)

How he managed to let himself be convinced to allow two ponies with no military experience whatsoever to join his operation, Shining had no idea.

'Maybe I really am losing my mind?', Shining Armor wondered.

But his self-examination of his sanity would have to wait.

In front of him, he could just make out the ghostly wisp of a figure. Silently motioning for Silver Shield to wait with Applejack and Rainbow Dash, he led Cherry Fizzy and Bronzewing closer to the figure.

Together, they followed it deeper into the caverns, not close enough to get caught, but hopefully close enough to get some information. But just as he was starting to be able to make it out, the figure vanished.

Shining Armor froze, Cherry Fizzy and Bronzewing quickly following suit behind him. Something didn't feel right about this situation.

He wavered for a moment between trying to find where the ghostly specter went, 'There was no sign of teleportation which meant it couldn't have gotten far...', or going back to where he had left the girls with Silver.

'I needed to find Twilight, but...'

No.

He couldn't risk losing two civilians in the crystal caverns. Twilight would never forgive him if he lost her friends. Nor would he forgive himself. Even with Silver Shield under orders to evacuate with them at the first sign of trouble.

He motioned to Cherry Fizzy and Bronzewing to head back. Time to regroup.

As he turned to follow them, he kept his eyes roaming.

'Just because a target seems to have vanished, doesn't mean it has.'

One of the most important pieces of advice he got: 'The hunter can easily become the hunted.'

A few pebbles rolled down the side of one of the walls. Easily dismissed in a cave... His eyes widened as he realized his mistake. 'But not in a castle...!'

He threw himself towards Cherry Fizzy and Bronzewing, knocking them both to the ground and quickly forming a shield around them. And not a second too soon. The shield was just wide enough to cover them as the ceiling caved in, burying them alive as all of his instincts screamed trap.

Silver Shield scanned the area around them, keeping watch for anything out of the ordinary. (Not that he had a whole lot of experience in crystal caves, but he figured he'd be able to tell if something wasn't right)

His hooves itched to be with Captain Armor and the team, but he had given his word to protect the two tag-a-longs.

He could understand why Shining Armor had wanted them to stay back while he, Fizzy and Bronze followed the strange ghost-like thing. These two weren't the most sneaky mares in Equestria.

'How in Equestria do they manage to be noisy standing still?!' Silver Shield thought to himself as he suppressed a groan at how loud two untrained mares could be despite trying to be silent.

It wasn't that they were doing anything wrong, per say. It was just that they simply weren't trained in the art of being silent, motionless, and alert at the same time. They kept turning their heads to look at something, or breathing too loud, or their manes would brush against the crystal walls... (There's a reason guards had short manes, and it wasn't just for regulation.)

But at least they've stopped whispering...

'How in Equestria did they manage to convince Captain to let them come?' (He was there and he still couldn't believe it!)

"You're going to go rescue Twilight, right?", Rainbow Dash demanded as she braked in midair in front of them.

Shining Armor opened his mouth to respond, only to interrupted by Applejack.

"And we figured y'all would need help doin' it!"

"You heard Princess Celestia. This isn't a rescue mission. We're just going to make sure she's there, alright?" Shining Armor said as he walked forward.

"But if for some reason, Twilight just happened to need rescuing at the exact moment we showed up, we'd totally get to rescue her, right?!" Rainbow Dash asked, cutting in front of him and blocking his path.

"You're not going to 'get to rescue her', because you're not coming, Rainbow Dash." Shining Armor said firmly. "Neither of you." He added, seeing Applejack's mouth open.

"What?!", Rainbow demanded.

"Why not...?", Applejack asked, narrowing her eyes.

"Neither of you are trained for a rescue mission. The risk of detection, not to mention capture, would just be too high." He held up a hoof to stop the mares' protests. "Besides, you heard Princess Celestia. She said a small team."

Applejack stepped forward until she was nose to nose to Shining Armor, "She said, 'No more than five ponies.' And I may not be 'trained', but by my math, you only have three."

Shining Armor leaned forward until their eyes were merely inches apart. "And by my math, adding two extra ponies who don't know a thing about..."

"Hey!", Rainbow Dash interrupted, flying between them. "We may not know a lot about how you Royal Guards work, but we know Twilight! And Twilight would never leave her friends stuck in some lousy crystal prison! She didn't leave Cadance! And we certainly aren't going to leave her!"

Silver Shield exchanged glances with Bronzewing and Cherry Fizzy before looking at Captain Armor.

"So either take us with you, or we're just going to follow you anyway and get probably get into even more trouble!"

Shining Armor looked to Applejack.

"Eeyupe."

Shining Armor stared at the two mares for a long time, before nodding. "Alright, fine. You can be on the team but stay close to Silver Shield and..."

'Wait, what?!' Silver Shield thought as Cherry Fizzy and Bronzewing gave him sympathetic glances.

And just like that, he's on babysitting duty for two mares who had no business being on a covert mission, while Captain Armor followed something with Cherry Fizzy and Bronzewing.

"What was that?"

Silver Shield was pulled out of his thoughts by his two charges whispering. (Again!) He turned to glare at them, (He wasn't as good at it as Shining Armor, but he could hold his own) but he stopped as he heard a low rumbling in the caves.

His ears perked as he waved a hoof at whichever mare had broken the silence.

The rumbling grew louder.

It sounded almost like a...

"Cave in!" Silver Shield quickly threw up a shield above the two mares.

"Move!" He barked as he pushed them towards the entrance. He was under strict orders to evacuate if there was any trouble, and even if he hadn't been, there was no way he was going to explain to the captain how he let his baby sister's best friends get squished like bugs in a cave in.

But even as they ran, he couldn't help but feel like there was something off about this whole situation... (and not just the part about two untrained mares on a covert operation they had no business being part of.)

Shining Armor grunted under the strain of holding up who knows how many pounds of crystal against his shield. He could hear Bronzewing and Cherry Fizzy's stifled groans as they dragged themselves out from underneath him. Shining Armor lowered his head and arched his back to give them enough room to wriggle out. (Well, as much room as was possible under the restricted space of his magical, and rapidly getting heavier, cover.)

"Everypony okay?" He asked, opening an eye to check on his team.

"Fine..."

"All here..."

"Then hold tight." Shining Armor said as his horn flared and his shield started extending, pushing the rubble off of them. After a few moments, he had pushed off enough of the chunks of crystal that he could release his shield without more than a few stones falling on them.

As soon as the edges of his shield had faded from his grip, he straightened up and looked around the corridor.

Cherry Fizzy and Bronzewing quickly took up positions beside him. They too had sensed something off about that cave-in.

'And right after we had split up. That's just too convenient to be a coincidence...'

This was unlike any cave-in Silver had ever experienced (not that he had experienced a lot of crystal cave-ins, but he'd been in plenty of circumstances where he had to dodge falling objects, and he knew for certain that unless they were thrown, things usually fell down!)

Shards of crystal shot out from the walls, making him scramble to tilt his shield to protect the two mares. Unfortunately, that left him wide open, but he was pretty good at dodging. And he had his padded stealth armor on. (It wasn't as sturdy as his standard armor, being made out of a lighter material, with padding instead of metal plates, but it did help)

Besides, his charges' safety was more important.

The floor shook and ferocious wind blew through the tunnel. The noise was deafening. (All in all, it easily qualified for a spot on Silver Shield's Worst Missions Ever list)

"There." Shining Armor said softly, spotting the same figure that had lured them away from the others. He lit his horn in preparation for battle, only to freeze as it came closer.

"Oh no..."

"Aww, buck..."

In front of them was a spectral vision of Twilight Sparkle. It looked almost like those telegraphic holograms that haunted houses used to create spooky effects. But that wasn't the horrifying part. This vision didn't look like the Twilight Sparkle they all remembered. It had a sinister aura to it.

It smiled at them as it lifted a hoof. Around it crystal statues seemed to come right out of the cavern walls. And they didn't look friendly.

Beside him, Shining Armor could hear Bronzewing swearing again, but his attention was focused on his si..., 'No!', Shining sternly corrected himself, on the thing impersonating his sister.

"Welcome to my castle..."

Aftershocks

Finally the shaking stopped, and only a few of the more persistent projectiles remained. (Silver Shield was certain these crystals were sentient. And mean.)

Applejack and Rainbow Dash slowed to a stop and turned around.

Silver Shield picked up both mares in his magic and thrust them forward.

"Keep moving!" he ordered, ignoring their protests as he threw a shield back above them and shoved them towards the exit.

"No way!" Rainbow Dash shouted, pulling free of his grasp. She turned to fly deeper into the caves. "Shining Armor and the others are in there! We have to help them!"

Applejack merely tilted her hat and followed.

Silver Shield bit back a couple of choice words as he grabbed the foalish ponies in his magic before they could get too far.

"Are you out of your minds!?" He scolded them as he pulled them towards the cavern entrance. "We have to get out of here before the..."

Silver Shield broke off as he felt the ground's trembling with the first of the aftershocks beneath his hooves. Gritting his teeth, he put his head down and galloped.

Shining Armor ducked and fired back at the statues advancing on them. Beside him, Cherry Fizzy bucked one into a wall. Shining blasted another one, quickly diving to the ground as Bronzewing flew over him and tackled it while it was dazed, knocking out three others in the process.

The spectral Twilight had vanished as soon as the fighting had started, but Shining Armor knew that her, 'NO!' Shining Armor firmly corrected himself, it's evil laugh would haunt his nightmares forever.

"Strike!" Bronzewing cheered, and then ducked as a massive arm came crashing to the side of him.

Shining turned and blasted the walking chunk of crystal that threatened to reduce Bronzewing to the state of the crystal cavern around them. Smashed.

But even as they took out the ones in front of them, others quickly appeared to take their place.

"There's too many of 'em!" Cherry Fizzy shouted as he bucked the statue Bronzewing had dropped from above onto it's comrades.

All around him the sounds of battle raged. The ground shook from the force of the blows.

'Wait a minute...' Shining Armor quickly signaled to his team, "On my signal!" With the next quake of the ground beneath them, they leaped to one wall. Bronzewing and Cherry Fizzy attacked the nearest of the statues, knocking in into the others, causing them to stumble. As the creatures struggled to keep their balance, Shining Armor sent a wave of power into his horn, causing a magical surge to blast into the ceiling above them.

Almost before his horn's glow had subsided from that spell, he was forming a slanted wall above them. Crystals cascaded down the side of his magical field. Effectively creating a barrier between them and the strange possessed statues. (Unfortunately, it also left them trapped.) But it would give them a few minutes, at least. And it was preferable to being smashed to pieces, that was for sure.

Crystals smashed around them as the floor shook with a vengeance. It was like the cavern was annoyed they had made it through the first time.

Silver Shield weaved and bobbed, abruptly changing directions as he maneuvered both himself and the two ponies in his magical field through the minefield of crystals.

He flung Rainbow and Applejack to the ground and flattened them beneath him, just barely getting a shield up in time.

The crystal shards crashed against his shield, breaking into a thousand pieces. Each one feeling like a blow to the head. As soon as the falling stopped, he released the shield and grabbed both mares in his magic, before continuing his dash to the exit. There was no way he was risking either one of those foal-brained mares deciding to play hero.

"Aahhh!" Rainbow screamed as she was just barely yanked out of the path of a falling crystalline projectile. "Let go! We'll get out of here a lot faster if I fly!", she yelled, struggling against his magical field.

"Not a chance!" Silver Shield barked, his attention focused on getting all three of them out of the cave alive.

"Ya can't keep this up!", Applejack shouted.

"I'll get you out of he- oof!" Silver grunted as a chunk of crystal grazed his left side.

"Let us go! We'll run straight to the exit!"

"Not taking that chance!"

"Listen to me! I'm telling ya the truth. Ah promise ya we'll all get out! Now let go fer ya get yerself killed!"

Silver Shield was used to ponies pleading with him to let them go. Usually after he had arrested them for breaking the law. And occasionally he had to restrain foolish ponies like these two. So he was used to ignoring those pleas. But something about this mare... she felt like somepony to be trusted...

Out of the corner of his eyes he saw a large crystal boulder rolling straight towards them. It was too big to dodge, too deep to try to break up with his magic, especially while holding two ponies at the same time. He'd never be able to outrun it. And he knew he couldn't teleport all three of them. He was running out of energy. He tried to push himself to run faster, but he knew it wasn't enough.

He'd simply exhausted himself, physically and magically.

There was only one way to save them.

He'd have to throw them. He'd have to trust them.

He caught their gaze with his own, and in that second, just knew that they understood.

With a powerful surge of magic, he flung Applejack forward and leaped straight into Rainbow's hooves.

She grabbed him expertly and flew forward, catching Applejack on her back.

"Yee Haaw!"

Silver Shield heard somepony cry out before he was deafened by a loud

BOOM!

Cherry Fizzy and Bronzewing looked about in amazement at the piles of rubble surrounding them. They had dropped into defensive positions to cover Shining Armor while he cast whatever spell would save all their flanks, when they had been simultaneously blinded and deafened as a wave of power surged though the caves.

Bronzewing blinked. Then he shook his head like a dog as he walked over a chunk of what had been a crystal statue trying to kill them. The sheer force of power had blasted apart the wall they had hastily created. (Not that they had expected it to last more than a few minutes, but they didn't expect it to be completely leveled either. Or, at least Bronzewing hadn't.) "Woah, Captain...like, I knew you were tough but..."

"That wasn't me..."

Shining Armor looked at the faces now staring at him in horror.

"Then what was..." Cherry Fizzy started, only to be interrupted by Shining Armor.

"I don't know." He said as he narrowed his eyes and lit his horn again.

Bronzewing dropped into a battle stance, his wings held ready at his sides. "Well, whatever did that, it's gonna wish it hadn't..."

Cherry Fizzy fell in beside them as he too prepared for battle. "Eeyupe."

Silver Shield struggled to hold onto consciousness (not to mention Rainbow Dash) as the world rushed by and he was nearly blinded by a flash of light.

In a matter of moments he could feel the grass beneath his hooves. Not to mention his face. As he laid there, his mind tried to make sense of what had just happened. 'We were in the caves, there was a cave-in, aftershocks, flying crystals, big boulder crystal, flying ponies, big boom, pretty lights... And then grass.'
He must have been knocked out. (That was usually why he saw lights)

He would have to report to the medic immediately upon returning to base. Hopefully his mental facilities were not too affected by the blow and he would still be capable of rational decision making.

He longed to just lay there in the soft, welcoming grass forever, but he still had his mission to complete.

With a groan, he pushed himself off the ground and looked around for his charges. He wasn't sure how long he was out for, and he needed to make certain they hadn't done anything foolish. (Like trying to go towards a cave-in)

Sure, if it had just been him, he would have been running towards the cave-in to help. But he had his shield spells and the training to prevent becoming another casualty in need of rescuing.

They most certainly did not. And there was no way he was letting two civilians get themselves killed. Not on his watch.

It only took a few moments to find them. (It was a lot easier with his face out of the dirt.)

He trotted towards them quickly, all the while scanning the area around them for danger. It was unlikely that they were in any immediate danger now that they had gotten out of the caverns, but his instincts told him to be wary. (And Silver Shield had long ago learned that it payed to listen to his instincts.)

"Applejack, Rainbow Dash, are you hurt?" Silver Shield asked upon reaching the two mares, using a trained eye to search for any signs of injury.

"We're fine. Now let's go!" Rainbow Dash said quickly, her wings flared and ready to carry her straight back into the caverns they had just narrowly escaped with their lives.

"Now hold up there, partner." Applejack said at the same time as Silver Shield said, "The only place we're going is straight back to the palace!"

Rainbow Dash looked at the two of them in disbelief, "Wait, what?!" She quickly pressed on before either one of them could answer.

"We can't just leave them in there! Come on, we have to help them! I mean, no pony left behind right?" She looked at their faces and tried a different tactic. "Come on, Applejack! Our friends are in there! You can't honestly expect me to abandon them in there! I mean, I could expect it from Mr. Retreat over there, but you? You'd never leave anypony behind!"

Silver Shield felt rather than heard the growl rising from low in his throat. He'd never expect two civvies to understand, but it still hurt to practically be accused of desertion.

"Now wait just a cotton pickin' minute, Rainbow Dash! Ah never said we was abandonin' anypony! But we can't go rushin' in there like foxes after chickens! We'd be hogtied fer we got farther than apple cider on a hot day!"

"Well, we're not gonna get anywhere at all if we listen to him! He's too afraid to..."

Silver Shield silently counted to ten as he listened to the ponies he was trying to keep safe argue instead of following him to where it was safe. He wondered if knocking out and dragging the two mares to safety would be worth the impending court-martial...

"Ladies. We need to get moving." He said through gritted teeth, (while subtly readying his levitation spell.) "It's not safe here."

Unfortunately, it wasn't subtle enough. (In his defense, a glowing horn is awfully hard to hide.)

Rainbow Dash turned on him, "Or what?! Lieutenant Levitate is just gonna drag us out of here by force?!"

Lieutenant Silver Shield met her gaze without flinching. "If that is what it takes."

He reached out with his spell slowly, so as to trap her before she could zoom off. (He didn't think he could catch her if she did what she did in the caves again.) But as his spell closed in on Rainbow Dash, he kept Applejack in his sights, ready to extend his spell to her too, if she made any sudden movements. (He hoped she wouldn't, his magic was pretty exhausted at this point)

It hurt to see the look on her face as Rainbow Dash realized she was caught. But Applejack's expression was worse. She looked so disappointed, as if she had personally trusted him to make a different choice.

"Am I going to need to carry you, too?" He asked her simply as he started walking with Rainbow Dash in tow.

She stared at him for a moment before falling in step beside him.

"Eenope." was all she said.

Silver Shield could feel the strain of his magic. Rainbow Dash had stopped struggling, (Thank Celestia for that, every time she had kicked it had felt like a buck to the horn) so he knew the steady throbbing was from his exhaustion. He had to let her go soon, or risk his horn burning out. (And that was not an experience he wanted to go through again.)

The pounding in his head was loud enough by this point that he almost didn't hear Rainbow's muttering. Almost. But at her next statement he stopped short. Applejack walked a few more feet before realizing and turning back in confusion. But Silver Shield barely noticed. His attention was focused on the insolent, foal of a pony in his grasp.

"Care to repeat that." He said softly. It wasn't a request.

Any pony with a lick of sense at that point would have backed off, but Rainbow Dash was too worked up to notice. Or maybe she just didn't care. In either case, she looked Silver Shield straight in the eye and repeated herself. Loudly and clearly, as if talking to a simpleton.

"How can you call yourself a guard when you'll abandon anypony at the first sign of trouble? You're a coward! Practically a traitor!"

"Is that so." Silver Shield narrowed his eyes and lowered her gently to the ground, before releasing the spell. But the pounding in his head was quickly replaced by a new headache.

"Allow me to explain something to you, Miss Rainbow Dash. I am not a traitor. I am not a coward. I am a Lieutenant in Her Majesty Princess Celestia's Royal Guard. But that's not the issue here. To be perfectly honest, I don't care what you think of me. All I care about, is getting you both home safe. You may think that you know exactly what you're getting into, but you don't! You have no idea!"

"So let me ask you something. What exactly do you intend to do if I allow you to go back into those caves? Did you think you would be able to just waltz right in and everything will just magically fall into place?! Did you think it was a coincidence that mere minutes after we split up, a cave-in just happened to cut us off from each other?"

Rainbow Dash opened her mouth to respond, only to be cut off.

"No! That is what we call a trap! And Cerberus take me before I lead the best friends of my Captain's little sister right into it! So I don't care what you think of me! There is no way in Tartarus we are going back into those caves!"

Applejack stepped forward, "But they..."

"Are my best friends!" Silver Shield interrupted, "And I want nothing more than to be in those caves with them, trap or no trap, protecting their backs! But Captain Shining Armor ordered me to protect you two! Because he knows that I'd be dead before I let one of you be injured! So yes, we're running away. I'm abandoning my friends. But I'm doing it to protect you!"

Silver Shield stopped and took a breathe. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were staring at him with wide eyes. As his headache abated, he realized what he had just done. He was definitely going to face a court-martial after this. Losing your cool on the job? Not acceptable. Nothing to be done for it now. Best to keep moving. He took a step, only to be stopped by a tug on his tail.

He whirled around, an order to run in his throat as he spun to face his attacker. Only to see that it was Applejack who had stopped him.

Applejack spat out his tail and marched forward until she was muzzle to muzzle with him. "Ah'm not callin' ya a traitor. And ah believe ya when ya say you'll protect us. But that don't mean ya can't protect them too."

Rainbow Dash stepped next to Applejack. "You don't have to choose who to be loyal to."

"We do know how to fight. We're not helpless. "

"Yeah, we totally kicked changeling flank just a few days ago!"

Silver Shield stiffened at the memory of the failed invasion.

Out of the corner of his eye, Silver Shield saw Applejack smack Rainbow over the head.

The scene was so similar to one that Silver witnessed nearly every day that a startled laugh nearly escaped his muzzle. And for a moment, just a quick moment, he saw not two Ponyville mares, but two stallions in gold armor. From that first day at boot camp to just this morning in the dining hall, Silver Shield could remember every time he had witnessed this exact scene. But even as he stifled a laugh at their antics, he couldn't help being reminded of where his friends currently were. And the consequent flash of worriment was enough to quickly drown out any inclination he had for laughter.

"Look, Silver Shield, ya gave yer word. Ah can respect that. And when ya say ya'll protect us, ah know ya mean it. And ah know ya don't think we know what we're getting into."

Silver Shield resisted the urge to groan out-loud. He really didn't have the time to argue with...

"And you're right." Applejack said.

"Wait. What?", Silver's internal groan of despair cut off as his brain tried to make sense of what his ears were hearing.

"We aren't Royal Guards. We don't know what we're gettin' into"

'Thank Celestia! They were starting to get...,' Silver Shield nearly sighed in relief before the cynical part of his brain cut in. 'Wait a minute...where's the but...'
"But..."

'There it is', part of Silver's brain sang as the other part scowled, 'shut up.'
"We don't have to." Applejack put a hoof on Silver's shoulder.

"Wait. What?" His brain was at least united in confusion.

"We don't have to know what we're gettin' into."

"...What?" Silver's vocabulary was seriously diminished at the moment. (That was pretty much all his over-worked brain could get out. Silver Shield was used to mares arguing themselves into and out of nearly any situation. And he had quite a bit of experience with their word-twisting and manipulating logic until you ended up not only siding with them, but also thinking it was your own idea. But this was a new one. He would have to take notes. Once his brain recovered, that is.)

"Think about it. Do you really think Shining Armor would have let us come along in the first place if he didn't think we could help?'

"You threatened to just follow us anyway." Silver pointed out.

"And he could have just as easily had the other guards put us on house arrest. Or castle arrest or whatever until you all were back." Rainbow's glare turned into a smirk as she flapped her wings. "Not that they would have been able to stop us, but hey, they could have tried."

Applejack shot a look over her shoulder before continuing. "The point is, he didn't. So Ah reckon he knew we could help. He trusted us."

"So the real question here is... Do you trust him?" Rainbow Dash asked, a pointed look replacing the smirk on her face as she got serious.

Silver Shield stared at the two impossible mares standing (Ok, one of them was standing, the other was hovering) in front of him. And even as he opened his mouth to protest, he knew it would be futile. So he bit back a couple of the more colorful curses he had learned over the years and settled for glaring at the two ponies in front of him. They smiled back at him, knowing they had won.

Silver Shield took a breathe and let it out. He knew when he was beat, and fighting it would get them nowhere. "Alright, so what's your plan?"

Applejack grinned as they all turned and headed back to the crystal caves, "Well, Sugarcube, it's like this..."

'Now I know I have a concussion. Because that was actually starting to make sense.' Silver Shield bit back another groan as he followed the two mares (that he was expressly ordered to evacuate at the first sign of trouble and guard with his life) back into the cavern (that had almost killed them all twice already and would certainly do its best to finish the job) 'Yep. Definitely a concussion. At least grade four.'
'I wonder if brain-damage is an acceptable defense in a court-martial...?'

Missing

Princess Celestia walked through the corridors of her palace. Despite the early hour, (she had only just risen the sun) she had the strongest urge to check on her niece. 'Perhaps it is merely a case of feeling overprotective. I will simply peek in to see if she is perhaps awake. If she is not, I will most certainly see her later in the day.'
"Princess Celestia!" The guards outside her niece's door bowed and then stood at attention as she approached.

"Good morning." Princess Celestia greeted them softly, so as not to wake anypony still sleeping. (if anypony would still be asleep after that loud announcement)

"Good Morning, Princess." The senior of the two responded as his partner still stood at attention. "What may we do for you?"

Princess Celestia shook her head gently, "I was merely checking to see if Princess Cadance was perhaps awake. Would you happen to know?"

The guards looked at each other, as if to confirm before answering. "We have not heard anything and she has not yet left her chambers, Your Majesty."

"Very well. I shall just have to knock and find out." Princess Celestia said with a smile as she stepped towards the door to do just that. But before her hoof could so much as graze the wood, the door swung open and a frantic looking ladies maid appeared. Princess Celestia had to think for a moment before she could place her.

"Oh! Oh...oh...Pri...Princess Ce...Celestia!" The young mare stammered, looking about her frantically, as if afraid something would attack her.

"Good morning, Silver Thread." Princess Celestia said soothingly. No matter how often she saw them, some of her little ponies always seemed to panic when she appeared. It was like they thought they would be banished for any mistake. "Be at ease, my little pony. I merely wish to inquire if Princess Cadance is perhaps awake?"

"Bu..but.. that's just it Pri...Princess! Pri...Princess Ca...Cadance is... is... missing!" At this news, Silver Thread swooned, as if imparting this terrible news had sapped her of the last dregs of her strength and left her utterly bereft. (Which, judging from past experiences with lady maids, it probably had.)

But Princess Celestia wasn't thinking of the weak nature of ladies-in-waiting. She hardly noticed as one of the guards caught the young mare in their hooves. She paid no mind to the other guard sounding the alarm.

The world around her lost focus as her magic flowed through her horn. She ignored the cry of alarm as her magic spread. She knew that if anypony was looking at her, they would see her aura shimmer and her eyes glow in the tell tale magic of one who was not on the present plane of existence. She extended her magic, searching for an alicorn aura. The fastest, if not the most comfortable way to find a pony was to pinpoint their magical aura. Rather than be inundated with every pegasi, earthpony and unicorn aura in the city, Celestia narrowed her spell to search for alicorn auras.

She found Luna in quick regard, pinpointing her location to the far tower where she slept during the days. She must have been very tired this morning, doubtless she had also been expending much energy in the search for Twilight through the dream realms. She had barely the energy to shake her head in answer to Celestia's silent question when they met on the balcony to change night to day. She sent a silent wish for a peaceful rest to her sister and moved on, looking for another alicorn aura to tell her where Cadance was.

When her scan of the castle grounds came up empty, she backed away from the spell enough to make her way to the balcony and fly into the morning sky. She flew above the castle and then entered her magic's realm again and expanded her spell to include all of Canterlot.

Nothing. 'Why wasn't this working? Ok think. Since Cadance wasn't in Canterlot, she must have left Canterlot. She hadn't the time to leave by hoof, so she must have teleported.' Celestia narrowed her spell to the confines of the castle again and this time searched for any trace of an alicorn's spell being cast recently.

'What?' Celestia scanned again, pushing her magic to search harder examine closer, but the results were the same. There was no trace of any alicorn's aura other than Luna's and Celestia's own. This was impossible!

Celestia flew back to Cadance's balcony and scanned her bedroom. There should be something. Some trace of her magic in here. She should find some trace of levitation spell at the least. She knew Cadance used that one daily for her hairbrush!

Nothing. Celestia firmly pushed down the faint sensation of panic she felt rising in her and focused her mind on solutions. Panic wouldn't help anypony. She ended the spell and turned to the guard awaiting her command.

"Inform Princess Luna that I wish to see her in the gardens." The guard bowed and ran off. She felt a pang of sympathy for her poor sister, but she knew Luna would understand why Celestia had woken her up when she explained the situation. Celestia spread her wings once more and flew to the gardens to await her sister.

"Good morning sister. Why have you need for us?" Luna asked, worry bleeding through the weariness in her voice.

"Cadance is missing. I tried to locate her aura, but I could only find yours." Celestia explained her spell to her sister.

"So she is not in Canterlot." Luna said, looking much more alert.

"I don't know. I couldn't find any trace of her magic at all."

Luna's eyes widened, "How is that possible?"

"I don't know sister. I fear something is blocking her magic."

"You believe she was taken."

"I am afraid for her. If you join your magic with mine, we should be able to expand the spell throughout Equestria."

"Such a spell would be taxing, even for us. And neither of us are at our full strength."

"I know Luna. But what else can we do? There has to be some trace of her. Some lead to help us find her. I can't fail her again!"

Luna put a comforting hoof on Celestia's shoulder. "You are not to blame for what the changeling did. Do not blame yourself for the evils of others. Fear not. We will find them both and bring them back.

Celestia bent down to touch the tip of her horn to Luna's. As they both focused on the spell, they felt their senses split throughout Equestria. It was nauseating, but they would endure far worse to find her niece and bring her home. Their magic stretched across Equestria until they found something. There was Cadance, but also something else. Something powerful, but dark. They focused their magic on it, and then retreated.

"Did you feel that, Luna?" Celestia asked.

"Yes sister. I am well aware of that magic. It is darkness."

"This is troubling. I couldn't pinpoint Cadance's position. Could you?"

"No. somepony is blocking us."

"Hiya!" Pinkie Pie popped up between them. Only centuries of experience dealing with party ponies kept Celestia from jumping. Much.

"Are we playing hide and seek? Oh! But who's it? Are you both it? Can I be it too?!" Pinkie asked, bouncing with excitement.

"Pinkie. Why are thou awake?" Luna asked, sounding more confused than surprised.

"I like to be awake! It's hard to play with all my friends when I'm asleep. Although I play with them when I'm asleep too! Gasp! Are my dream friends upset when I play with my awake friends? Oh I hope not! I try to play with them both a lot, but I can't always remember what I dream so I'm not sure." Suddenly Pinkie Pie levitated to Luna's level. Luna fell back in a start.

"But you can see dreams right? Can you tell me if I play with my dream friends as much as I play with my awake friends?"

"Uh..."

"Thanks Luna!"

"Thou are... welcome?"

Pinkie bounced back to Celestia. "And I'm really not sure why I'm awake. I just am! Why is anypony awake? Or asleep for that matter? Oh! I can ask Gummy! I bet he'll know! He's really smart like that. So who are we looking for?"

Celestia and Luna shared a glance. 'Should we trust her? If not her, then who?'
Celestia turned to Pinkie. "Pinkie Pie. May I have your word not to discuss this with anypony else until we tell you?"

Pinkie gasped. "Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye! I never break a Pinkie Promise. Never."

"I'm afraid Princess Cadance is missing. I'm afraid she has been taken."

"Oh no!"

Princess Celestia suppressed a groan as she turned to see the new members of this 'tell everypony the princess had been kidnapped again' party.

Rarity was sanding dramatically at the edge of the garden, her hoof pressed again the side of her face in dismay. "Princess Cadance has been kidnapped, again! This is the worst possible thing!"

"Yes Rarity. Before we tell this story again, I would like to make sure everypony is here. Time is of essence after all. I imagine Fluttershy is around here somewhere?"

"I'm here..." Fluttershy mumbled, looking at the ground as she crept out from behind some bushes. "Sorry..."

"And is young Spike awake, as well?"

"Nope! Spikey's still asleep." Pinkie said, bouncing.

"Spikey Wikey is a baby dragon, after all. He needs his rest." Rarity pointed out.

"And Applejack and Rainbow Dash tagged along with Shining Armor on their super secret mission that I wasn't supposed to know about!" Pinkie said.

"Don't question it." Celestia whispered to her sister. Speaking louder so everypony could hear, she explained again about Cadance's disappearance and her and Luna's spell to try and find her.

"Is it Discord?" Rarity asked.

"It felt similar to his magic, but different. And Discord is not an alicorn." Luna said.

"Luna, you, I and Cadance are the only alicorns. Who else would have that kind of power?" Celestia asked.

That question resounded through her mind as Princess Celestia moved through the halls of her palace. As much as she longed to spread her wings and soar to the skies in the search of those who would dare to attack her family, she couldn't leave her little ponies. She needed to protect them. So she kept her strides even, and her face blank as she traveled to her throne room. Besides, it wouldn't do to alert the party behind this attack before she knew who she would have to destroy. The element of surprise was a powerful ally. One she intended to utilize to its full potential. Just as soon as she had proof. Only then would she unleash the wrath of the sun upon those responsible. Discord would wish he was still a statue...

Princess Celestia frowned as she felt the quaking of the earth beneath her hooves. It was a subtle sensation, leading her to believe that whatever had caused it was occurring far underground. That did not reassure her in the slightest. For what was beneath her hooves, far below the marble floor she stood on, was the crystal caverns.

Her frown deepened.

The same crystal caverns where, if a certain anonymous 'friend' was to be believed, her Twilight was being held captive. The same crystal caverns where her Captain of the Guard and several promising bright young ponies were currently engaged in a stealth mission to find the young mare.

Memories

"Cadance! Cadance!"

"Twilight!"

Sunshine!
Sunshine!
Ladybugs awake!
Clap your hooves and do a little shake!

Filly and foal-sitter fell to the ground laughing. After a few moments Cadance heard a small voice.

"Cadance?"

"Yes, Twilight?"

"Why do the clouds have shapes?"

"Like what, Twilight?"

"Like a butterfly, or an ice-cream cone."

"Well, Twilight, let me tell you a story."

At this Twilight jumped up, "Yay! Story time, story time!" Twilight sang as she hopped around her foal-sitter in a circle.

Cadance laughed,"Yes, story time. Okay Twilight, settle down."

Twilight froze mid bounce and was seated in front of Cadance with barely contained excitement. The filly was practically vibrating in place.

Cadance laughed again and began her tale.

"Once upon a time, long before Equestria was formed and the tribes were united, a young pegasus was born in a small cloud village. She was a very pretty pegasus. Her wings were as white as cloud, and her mane was the soft blue of a clear sky. Her parents were very happy when she was born, for they had wanted a foal for a very long time. The whole village rejoiced on that happy day. But as she grew older, the villagers noticed something different about this foal. When the other foals started to flap their wings and take their first glides across the clouds, she would merely sit and play with the clouds at her hooves. The village elders were concerned and suggested the couple take their foal to the village shaman.

"What's a shaman?" Twilight interrupted, her head cocked as she looked at her foal-sitter, confused.

"A shaman is like a doctor, Twilight. They help ponies when they are sick."

"Oh. Was the little pegasus sick?" She asked

"No Twilight, she just wasn't learning how to fly as soon as the other pegasi foals."

"So what happened next?" Twilight asked, impatient to hear the rest of the story.

Cadance laughed and continued her tale. "The village elders wanted them to take their foal to the shaman..."

"A pegasus should fly." They told her parents. "Her place is in the sky, not on the clouds." But the couple refused. "There is no need." They told the elders gently. "She is just fine how she is." Well, over the years, as the other little pegasi grew older and bigger, so did she. And while she grew even more beautiful with each sunrise, she never was able to fly quite like the other pegasi. She still had no interest in flying with the others, preferring instead to play with her clouds. Eventually the shaman did come to see if there was anything she could do for the filly.

"What did the shaman say?" Twilight asked, leaning forward until she was about to fall over.

Cadance giggled and steadied her.

"Well, Twilight..."

The shaman looked at the filly's wings. When she was done, the elders asked if she could make the filly fly. And she just smiled and said what the filly's parents had known all along."There is no need. She is just fine." So the young filly grew older and while she did learn to lift herself off the clouds, she never was a very good flyer. And when all of the other pegasi children would fly around and play in the sky after their lessons, she would simply sit and play with the clouds around her, shaping them into all sorts of beautiful sculptures. One day, one of the younger pegasi was playing near the edge of the village. He had wandered away from his group without them noticing. Now as he went this way and that, he would take little hopping flights across the clouds. Because he was such a young pegasus, he didn't really look where he was going. So he didn't notice as he traveled further and further away from the village. And when he turned to hop to the next cloud, there were none. The winds were pushing him away so he couldn't get back without falling. He was all alone. All alone, but for one filly making cloud sculptures on the edge of the village. She heard his cries and ran to the edge, but she was still too weak a flyer to go after him.

"What did she do?"Twilight asked.

"Well, her first thought was to go get help..."

But the wind was blowing the cloud away too fast. She knew she had to act fast, so she pushed all of her sculptures into the air, making a path across the sky. She called to the young foal, but he was too scared to move. She leaped into the air and with a mighty flap of her wings, hopped to each one of her clouds. When she reached the last cloud, she gave a mighty flap of her wings and soared to the young colt. Scooping him up, she used her wings to propel the small cloud they were on back to the main cloud. As they reached the village, the young colt's parents hurried to her side. They had seen them from above and had flown down as fast as they could. A cheer went up from the villagers! Everypony rejoiced at the young pegasus hero. "But what of your sculptures?" A few of her friends asked, for they knew how hard she had worked on them. "How can we save them?" But she just smiled and shook her head. "There's no need. They're just fine." At that moment, the young hero got her cutie mark, a single cloud just waiting to be made into something new. And the ponies stopped and stared at the beautiful clouds floating by. Each one shaped like something new. And from that day forth, all of the clouds floating across the sky have shapes. You just have to be able to see them.

Cadance got up and reached towards the little filly, who was starting to nod off. "Come on Twilight, it's getting late. Time for little fillies to head home."

"But Cadance!" Twilight protested as she was lifted onto her foal-sitter's back."You never finished the story!"

"I didn't?"

"No!"Twilight said.

"What did I forget?" Cadance asked, tapping her hoof to her chin as she pretended to think about it.

"Her name." Twilight yawned as she struggled to stay awake."What was the pegasus's name? And what happened next?"

"Oh, of course! Silly me. Well Twilight..."

"Her name was Facio Nimbus. And she lived a very long and happy life, making all of the clouds into lovely shapes for everypony to enjoy. The End."

"Now let's get you home."

"Good morning, Cadance."

Princess Cadance blinked. Groggily, she lifted her head and shook it gently to try to clear her vision.

"Sleep well?"

"Twilight!" Cadance surged to her hooves and looked around. The room was mostly dark, with the only light being daylight's beginning beams just starting to shine through a pair of tall windows. The dim lighting created long shadows hiding the edges and corners of the room, creating an absolutely spooky atmosphere. But provided she hadn't been kidnapped by yet another egotistical stallion stealing changeling queen, Cadance didn't think she had anything to worry about. Seeing a silhouette in the shadows of the room, Cadance tried to run to her. Only to fall to the ground as something stopped her.

Twilight shook her head as she slowly moved out of the shadows, "You might not want to do that..."

"Wha...?" Cadance looked down at her hooves in shock. Around each one was a gleaming silver shackle, chaining her to the stone floor. She tried to use her magic to escape, but for some reason she couldn't.

Cadance looked up at Twilight in disbelief, "Twilight?"

"I'm sorry, Cadance. Its nothing personal." Twilight said as she stepped out of the shadows completely. "I simply can't have you interfering with my plans."

Cadance stared up at Twilight in shock. "Twilight...why?"

Illuminated by the beams of light coming from the tall windows, was not the Twilight that Cadance knew. Twilight's coat had darkened to a deep smoky grey. Her mane had grown longer and was almost completely black, with a deep purple stripe through the middle. When Twilight looked down at her, Cadance couldn't help a small gasp. Twilight's eyes had slanted and were almost completely purple, with black slits where her irises should be.

But that wasn't the horrifying part. As Twilight looked down at her, Cadance didn't see the young filly she knew. There was no trace of the spark within her. Her gaze was cold, calculating.

"What has that monster done to you?"

Twilight laughed. It was a harsh thing, devoid of any real humor.

Cadance couldn't hide her wince upon hearing it.

"Who? Discord? He's no monster... He's merely a draconaquus. And it's not what he did to me. It's what he taught me. I've learned a valuable lesson from him. From all of you."

Twilight turned away from Cadance and walked towards a tall black throne across the room.

"A lesson I intend to teach to all of Equestria."

"Please, Twilight. Listen to me. Just let me talk to you. We can work through this. It doesn't have to be this way!"

Twilight turned to her and shook her head sadly, "And what other way could it be? Tell me. How to you intend to change my mind?"

"By reminding you of all of the good that's inside you. You are such a beautiful mare, Twilight. You've come so far since I first met you as a young filly. You found true friends and a good home in Ponyville. Your life is filled with ponies who love you and believe in you! Please, please don't let Discord win. You can beat this! I know-"

Harsh laughter cut out her words. "Oh really? Those ponies were willing to drop me like a bad book as soon as I didn't fit with their precious story!" Twilight's voice was virtually dripping with sarcasm as she mocked her old foal-sitter.

Cadance's stomach sank as she realized she had made a critical mistake as Twilight glared at her. "Those so-called 'true friends' of mine are going to be the first ponies who will feel my glorious revenge."

"Twilight, please! Don't do this." Cadance begged. "I understand that you're hurt. I know you feel angry, and like you just want to take away that hurt by hurting others. But please, don't do this. You're a good pony! We can calm down and go talk to everypony together, okay?"

"We can talk to her together, okay?" Cadance comforted the young filly.

Little Twilight was trying not to cry as she stared hopefully into her foal-sitter's face, the broken plate on the floor between them.

"Okay..." Twilight whispered, holding up her hooves for Cadance to pick her up.

"Oh, I don't think so, Cadance. Not this time." Twilight shook her head regretfully. But when she looked at Cadance, here wasn't any regret at all in her face. There wasn't any emotion. Twilight looked cold, unfeeling... and insane.

Twilight tossed her mane back imperialistically as she turned to walk towards the big throne in the center off the room. "Besides, I don't see what you're so worried about. Honestly, all I'm going to do to them, is what they did to me."

A cold fear spread throughout Cadence. "What do you mean by that, Twilight?"

"I'll simply ignore them." Twilight turned back to Cadance, a dark smile spreading across her face. "As they beg for mercy."

"Oh Twilight..."

Sitting regally upon her throne, Twilight waved a hoof in dismissal. She directed a feral smile at Cadance. "Well enough about me. I suppose you must be wondering how you fit into my plans."

Cadance felt sick with fear. Not for herself, but for Twilight. How was she supposed to save Twilight from whatever evil Discord has infected her with? Even with all of the Elements of Harmony, Celestia had to banish Luna to the moon for a thousand years! She couldn't do that to her Twilight. She just couldn't!

Cadance bite back tears. Some princess of love she was! She couldn't even show Twilight how truly loved she was.

But she'd keep trying. No matter what happens, she'd always love Twilight. "What exactly are your plans, Twilight?"

"Well, Princess," Twilight mocked, "I happen to know that Shining Armor will be entering a certain set of crystal caverns on an ill-fated rescue mission. Perhaps you've heard of them? I suppose I should add Chrysalis to the list of creatures I owe thanks to. After all, even as poorly conceived as her plan was, she did give me the perfect location to set a trap."

Cadance gasped, fear for Shining Armor competing with her fear for Twilight. How was she supposed to save them both?

Twilight laughed and flipped her hair back. Leaning back against her throne, she said almost casually, "Oh and don't worry. I have no intention of letting Discord win anything. When I'm through with him, he will learn just how badly he can lose when he's playing by somepony else's rules."

Betrayal

Shining Armor peered around the corner. They had found what looked like a throne room. Emphasis on the evil décor. And he really wasn't liking the double thrones. He was going to have to have a serious conversation with Discord once he found him.

After sealing him in stone. And throwing him in the dungeon. And burning down the dungeon. And burying the burnt out dungeon. With 40,000 pounds of gems. And then getting a fully grown dragon to sleep on the pile. Maybe they should relocate the dungeons first...

This cavern should work. What type of paperwork would need to be filled out for permission to blow up a crystal field beneath the capital city?

Shining Armor's next few hoofsteps sounded suspiciously like stomps as he swore (almost) silently. He couldn't risk shockwaves setting off earthquakes in heavily populated civilian areas. But he really hated these caverns...

Maybe he should just start ranting now. Shining Armor was pretty sure Discord was just waiting for an opportune moment to poof in and start mocking them.

"Hey Silver Shield?"

"Yes, Rainbow Dash?"

"Have you done this sort of thing often?"

"You mean search and rescue? Or fueling my impending court-martial for disregarding orders and endangering civilians? Or are you perhaps referring to traveling under the city in search of my CO's little sister who's been brainwashed by an egomaniac supervillain?"

"Um... yeah, that one."

"More often than I'd like."

They were able to travel a while longer in peace before Rainbow's need to run her mouth killed the silence. Again. "Hey Silver Shield?"

"Yes, Rainbow Dash?" (Silver Shield was beginning to understand how Shining Armor felt dealing with Bronzewing. Of course, for this to be a truly equal comparison, that meant Applejack would have to take on Cherry Fizzy's role and shut Rainbow up. He was looking forward to it.)

"Exactly how often is more often than you'd like?"

"That's classified." Silver Shield said firmly. 'Mostly because the answer depresses me...'

Discord watched the two groups coming closer to x-marks-the-spot. On their current trajectory, they should reach the center within the hour. It was interesting that Silver Shield had allowed himself to be drawn back into the battle, especially with his orders to retreat, but it wasn't all too surprising. Those kinds were just built for playing the hero.

Oh well. Full points to him for making the game more fun. Maybe he'd even be able to get a bonus round out of this. It could be fun to break up Shining Armor's little posse.

It would be the final stone to crumble his walls.

But maybe he should wait until Twilight can join in the destruction of her brother. After all, destruction is so much sweeter when the revenge is personal.

Discord paused in his musings and looked around. Speaking of Twilight, where is she? She was missing all the fun. Discord set a few things in motion to keep his new friends busy and went to track down his young protégé.

"Ohhh... Twilight?" Discord called*, floating through the halls. "Twi~light...?"

He searched up in the sky and down on the ground
He searched inside and out and all around
He vaguely noticed the time
This had become a nursery rhyme
But Twilight was nowhere to be found

He creeped across ceilings and crawled on the floors
He peered out the windows and peeked through the doors
He dug through potted plants and looked under beds
He turned on lamps off the walls and bulbs in his head
He shifted through closets and shuffled dresser drawers

He peered inside the cupboards
And under squeaky floor boards
He tiptoed across the checkered tiles
Pole-vaulted over spice piles
He challenged the statues and dueled ceremonial swords

He removed every lid from every pan
He unfolded every folding fan
He was feeling quite confused
Don't detectives get three clues?
How come he'd drawn an empty hand?

Well technically they're called claws
Except for his front paw
And his one back hoof
He even opened his mouth
And checked in his maw

He still couldn't find her
When he combed through his fur
And he wrung out his tail
He didn't remember shrinking her down
But he wanted to be sure

He skated through the icebox
He set off all the alarm clocks
He popped into all the paintings
Caused a couple faintings
And just for fun he picked all the locks

This was getting rather ridiculous
Even for a draconaguus
Its beyond past the time
To have ended this rhyme
Sorry... just couldn't resist

Discord froze as the notes of sweet music reached his ears. It sounded like... A victory song.

This day is going to be perfect
Today is the day I claim my crown
All those ponies will soon learn
The wrath of a Twilight scorned
Their precious Equestria is going down!

An evil victory song. Discord had the urge to clap, shout and do loop-de-loops in glee. This was wonderful! He barely held back fireworks as Twilight strode down the corridor. He didn't want to miss this.

Her deep black mane fell in sleek waves around her shoulders that swayed with every step she took. Her bangs were curled and swept to one side, a dark violet stripe holding court in striking contrast to her darkened eyes. Even her smokey grey coat, instead of making her look depressed and washed out, she looked dangerous and intimidating.

It was her body language, Discord decided. Her sly smile. The calculating gleam in her turquoise eyes. Any creature can dress up and any fool can be intimidated. Just look at Nightmare Night.

But only a truly powerful being can make others bow down before them without a word spoken. Confidence, strength, regality... Twilight had it all.

Discord grinned. This was shaping up to be a perfect day indeed. Twilight was finally embracing her role as queen. He snapped his fingers and conjured up the coronation outfit he had designed for her.

...with a little help from Rarity's dairy.

Thisdayisgoingtobeperfect
Everythingisgoingasplanned
Andaftertheroyalsareshown
Afewcenturiesinstone
I'msuretheywillcometounderstand

Twilight looked at the dress and raised a perfectly manicured eyebrow. "I think you misunderstand me." She said.
A shimmer of black engulfed the dress and ripped it from his grasp. The dress hurtled across the room before dissolving into a pile of dust that sprinkled down to the marble floor. Discord stared in disbelief at the pile of ashes, an uneasy feeing settling in his liver.

I could care less about the dress
I must confess that your distress
Is all the commendation that I seek
We could have been a team
But I won't be your puppet queen
Its time for you to bow down to me!

Twilight spun away from her display of destruction with her horn still glowing and smirked, clear derision dripping off her tongue with every step towards him.

And I'm afraid I don't need you
In my heart there is no room
All of the magic will be mine!

Before Discord could do more than gape in disbelief, Twilight had teleported them both out of the crystal caverns. When his head had stopped spinning, aided by his tail, he tried to lift it to see around him. But before Discord could raise his head more than a few inches off the ground, he found himself stopped by a chain around his neck, trapping him to the cold stone floor. More chains were attached to shackles on each of his limbs, and his tail was trapped into some sort of complicated square lock thing.

"Twilight?" Discord frowned. This was certainly an unexpected twist in his plans, but nothing he couldn't work around. He snapped his claws and moved to get up but was yanked to the floor again.

"Wah...?" The chains hadn't vanished when he snapped his claws. He snapped his claws again, focusing on the feeling of freedom, but they still didn't budge. He tried to pull on them and when that didn't work, he tried to slither through them.

"Feeling trapped yet?"

Discord craned his eyes to see Twilight looking down at him, an exaggerated expression of pity on her face. "Poor thing. It really is quite pathetic. You think you're the only one capable of siphoning magic from another creature? All it takes is a little research and anypony could do it. Anypony powerful and as smart as I am, that is." Twilight laughed.

The sound hurt his ears. It wasn't the sweet sound of a villain's successful caper, or even the happy laugh of a delighted friend discovering her new library. This laugh was harsh, cold... and completely insane.

"It's too bad, really. You could have been useful. Oh well." Without so much as a goodbye, Twilight turned on her tail and walked away, leaving him trapped and alone in a cold, dark dungeon of his own making.

Discord fought against his chains until a new voice broke through his struggles.

"It's no use. Twilight has them enchanted, even against powerful magic."

Almost alone. Discord tried to turn to the speaker, but it was difficult with his head chained to the floor. But that voice sounded familiar. "Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, is it?"

"Just Cadance. I do believe the time for formalities has passed, seeing as we're currently in the same boat. Or dungeon, I suppose." Cadance said calmly.

"Yes, I think you're right. Temporary truce then?" Discord offered, some of his original charm showing through past the distress in his voice.

"I really don't think we have much of a choice. Truce."

They fell silent as they both pondered their situations.

It was Cadance who finally broke the silence with a dry laugh."You know, I really didn't think this was how I was going to spend my wedding day."

"At this rate, I don't think you're ever going to get married. Have you considered eloping?" Discord suggested.

"At least this time, I don't have to worry about my captor stealing my stallion."

"No. That would be weird, wouldn't it? I believe Twilight's plans include revenge and world domination, but not a wedding. That was solely a Chryssi thing. So don't worry. Your stallion may be completely and utterly destroyed and possibly wiped from the face of Equestria, but at least you won't have to worry about another mare, right?"

It really shouldn't have surprised Discord when his speech was met only with a sigh.

"Was that really your attempt at a pep talk, or are you forgetting our truce already?"

"No, I'm just naturally aggravating. Its one of my personal charms."
Discord heard jangles, which he assumed were from Cadance shaking her head. "I suppose I should only expect that."

It was much later, Discord thought, when their conversation ceased and Cadance fell asleep. They had tried everything they could think of to escape, and eventually had been driven by sheer boredom into sharing their life stories with each other. Or at least parts of them. There was only so much talking they could do in a few hours or so, and Discord had been alive for millennia.

But Cadance's tales teenage exploits were highly amusing. And possibly blackmail worthy. He might have to examine that angle if they ever got out of this dungeon.

Unless that was covered under the truce. Discord had a sneaking suspicion it was, but truthfully he wasn't too disappointed. It had been nice to have a conversation with somepony without them being trapped into it. At least, not by him. So why did he ache so much?

Power, strength, regality... Twilight had it. But it wasn't enough. Was it funny that he found that he'd rather have Cadance ruling on the thrown and Twilight talking with him? Minus the dungeon of course. Maybe... But it wasn't funny ha-ha. This was the funny that made his growing liver-ache pain him all the worse.

Twilight was broken. And she didn't even know it.

Mustescapebeforeitstoolate
Findawaytosavetheday
HopethatI'llbelyingwhenIsay
Idon'tfearthatImayloseher
Tothepowerthatconsumesher
Imustreachthelovethat'sburiedbyhate

Of all thethings I wishI couldundo
I wishIhadn'tdone this toyou
OhTwilight Sparkle, I promise I'llfixthissoon

Up on the turret of the castle, Twilight Sparkle looked out across the Everfree Forest. A storm appeared to be brewing, helped of course, by her new chaotic powers. Courtesy of her newest guest. Twilight almost wished it hadn't been necessary to leave Discord trapped in the dungeon. After all, it was thanks to him that she had realized her full potential as Equestria's true ruler. But she couldn't have him interfering with her plans.

Finally the moment has arrived
To unleash the power inside
I hate to leave you on your own
But a true queen rules alone
Equestria will be mine
All mine

After tonight, all of Equestria would bow down before her. And the rest of the world would soon follow.

(*You might be wondering how nopony else seemed to be hearing him. The answer is simple: Magic. Yes, I did go there.)

Where'd Everypony Go?

Bronzewing was following behind Shining Armor and Cherry Fizzy when he felt somepony tap him from behind.

"What?" Bronzewing whispered. He thought Shining Armor had signaled for silence, but he just knew that if he looked behind him to see what Silver Shield wanted, he'd miss where Cherry Fizzy was go-

...wait a minute. Silver Shield was off playing protector to the two tag-a-long civs.

Bronzewing couldn't say he blamed them. Who wouldn't want to see such awesomeness in action? But it was kinda annoying to be down a team-mate to watch them... so?

There was a reason Bronzewing left those types of decisions to the brass. Anyway, Silver Shield wasn't behind him, so who...?

Tap Tap

Bronzewing spun around and swung a hoof at... his reflection? There was nopony in the corridor behind him, just his reflection staring stupidly back at him in the polished crystalline walls.

Wait another minute.

He didn't recall ever looking that stupid. Not even in some of those academy photos. And he thought he'd remember putting on a tutu. He wasn't nearly drunk enough to forget something like that. He didn't even get to drink anything! The wedding kept getting postponed. Which made it very hard to get to the bubbly. Not to mention the small factor of him being on-duty.

Technically. Sort of. It really depended on who you asked and what their definition of on-duty was. At this rate they'd need to throw Shining Armor another secret bachelor party. It had to be a secret, otherwise the young dragon would get his feelings hurt.

Shining Armor had explained about how he had promised his sorta honorary kinda baby dragon brother that he would get to throw the bachelor party. Of course, then he'd mentioned that this brother was also technically only a baby, at which point they'd unanimously decided to throw the captain a proper bachelor party. Secretly of course. Baby or not, you didn't mess with dragons.

Bronzewing's 'reflection' was now smirking at him. Bronzewing narrowed his eyes and held his wings at ready.

"Captain! Six o'clock!" Bronzewing heard the scuff of Shining Armor's hoof against the floor an instant before something hit Bronzewing in the side hard enough to knock the wind out of him.

"What the?!" Bronzewing wheezed, hitting the floor.

Then Cherry Fizzy was in front of him and Shining Armor was at his back, shooting blasts of magic at something Bronzewing couldn't see and had no intention of looking for. He trusted the captain to take care of it, and besides, enemies only ever got one free shot at him.

"Taking point!" Cherry Fizzy said and charged forward.

Bronzewing rose off the floor to cover him just in time to see Cherry Fizzy buck the legs of what looked suspiciously like a minotaur made from crystal. Seriously? And to make matters worse, the crystalline minotaur had the gall to not even be fazed. It just shook it's giant ugly head a little and then swung a huge hand down to swat Fizzy away.

Cherry Fizzy ducked and rolled. But before Bronzewing could help, he was blindsided from a sudden onslaught of hail. Literally. If hail fell sideways and was made from chunks of crystal the size of his head and apparently attracted to it as well.

"What am I, a magnet?!" Bronzewing swore as he was clipped by one of the buggers and sent spiraling into Shining Armor. Luckily for both of them, (well mostly Shining Armor) one of them was a unicorn with a lot of practice in dodging slash deflecting flying pegasi... and Bronzewing had wings and was really good at rebounding after near crashes. Not to mention a thick skull. Those skills are what kept him from crashing into Cherry Fizzy right as Fizzy dodged another blow from the crystalline monster.

"Ya mind keeping your new skill to yourself? I can't dodge both its attacks and yours and I'd like my face unsmashed!"

"When I said I wanted to be a magnet, this wasn't what I meant! I meant mares, not crystals!" Bronzewing shot back.

"Have you considered changing your approach? Maybe try dancing more and talking less?" Shining Armor cut in between blasts of magic. "You might avoid getting slapped as much."

"Have ya seen his dancin'? His four left hooves could get him charged with assault." Cherry Fizzy grunted as he dodged another punch and countered with powerful buck.

"You're one to talk! At least I know the difference between a waltz and a hoedown!" Bronzewing said, flipping over Shining Armor to knock a crystal away from Fizzy.

"Less talking, more waltzing!" Shining Armor said, shooting a blast where Bronzewing had been a second prior.

"Hey, at least you aren't getting pounded by a freakin' crystal minotaur! Those fellas are hard enough to beat when they're not made of rock!" Cherry Fizzy said.

"You know what they say, right? The bigger they are..." Bronzewing banked a sharp left straight towards Cherry Fizzy's battle with the minotaur.

"The harder they fall!" At the last second Cherry Fizzy ducked and rolled out of the way and Bronzewing pitched up, leaving the crystals following him like a homing beacon to smash into the minotaur's crystalline face. Bronzewing flipped and bucked the minotaur in the back of the head right as Cherry Fizzy attacked the front legs. The monster went crashing down...

Right towards Shining Armor, who's near-clairvoyant ability to sense a battlefield decided to fail him at the exact moment when he was about to get squished by a huge, hulking chunk of crystal! Shining Armor was still blasting at something they couldn't see as Bronzewing swooped down and knocked him out of the crystal's path. Shining Armor's blast went wide and smashed into the side of the cavern, bringing a host of crumbling crystal down on them to join the party of other flying projectiles. Because this cave just loved to throw rocks in the house.

Bronzewing's father would have a fit if he ever did that. Granted, Bronzewing's father would have a fit if he knew what Bronzewing did on a near monthly basis with the guards. He thought guarding was basically patrol work with some search-and-rescue thrown in to make things interesting. A relatively safe occupation for his only son. And if Bronzewing was stationed in the palace maybe that would be true.

But Bronzewing had too much of his mother in him to accept that. Which was how he usually got into these messes. That and his mouth. "And seriously! Again with the crystal hail?! You'd think you could mix things up a bit? You're the god of chaos! The least you could do is change the weather!"

"Bronzewing! Shut up! Didn't anypony ever tell ya not to taunt the ones throwin' rocks at ya?!" Cherry Fizzy shouted, being too far away to hit him. No sooner had the last word left his mouth, than the rocks had ceased falling, only for the floor to start swirling in onto itself.

Bronzewing was pulled screaming into the whirlpool, followed closely by Shining Armor and Cherry Fizzy.

Do to the Laws of Murphy, (which Bronzewing has become very well acquainted with), Bronzewing landed on the bottom of the heap and promptly had the wind knocked out of him by Cherry Fizzy and Shining Armor landing on top of him.

Sadistic laughter rang around them as the hole they had landed in grew darker.

Were those ...shadows? Something seemed to be sliding down through the edges of the hole they had fallen through, blocking out even more of the dim light.

It was like long shadows were being cast down around them, but Bronzewing couldn't see what was causing them.

"Bronzewing." Shining Armor said as he and Cherry Fizzy rolled off the pony-pile and into a triangle formation.

"Yeah, Captain?" Bronzewing said, rising to a crouch.

"When we get out of this, remind me to put you on KP duty for eternity."

"Hey, I'm already serving a life sentence of potato-peeling. Unless you want me to take over the whole kitchen, there's not much more I can do."

"Hey!" Cherry Fizzy cut in. "Don't go makin' him in charge of cookin'! If ya wanted us all to die of food poisonin', why'd ya take us on this suicide run in the first place?"

Shining Armor ignored Cherry Fizzy as he started firing off more blasts of magic. "I'm marrying an alicorn, Bronzewing. One who's related to Princess Luna. How would you like to be peeling potatos in your dreams?"

"I'm pretty sure that's an abuse of power." Bronzewing said.

"You haven't married her yet. At this rate, he'll be safe for a while." Cherry Fizzy said.

"At this rate, I'd be eloping with her if I wasn't terrified of what her aunts would do if we deprived them of a wedding." Shining Armor accompanied his words with a blast of magic bright enough to completely light up the pit they'd fallen into. Of course, there was only one path to follow.

"Like rats in a maze." Shining Armor said.

"At least it stopped hailing." Bronzewing said.

And just like that, the rocks were back.

Cherry Fizzy scowled at him. "Why don't ya just go ahead and mention the rain too, while you're at it!"

"Didn't anypony ever teach you not to throw rocks in the house!" Bronzewing shouted as he tucked his wings in to protect them and dodged the falling rocks until Shining Armor could put up a shield.

Only apparently nopony had told Shining Armor that part of the plan because he was still shooting at something Bronzewing couldn't see!

Bronzewing turned to see Cherry Fizzy running beside him. "What are we supposed to be attacking? Cause I stopped chasing shadows when I fell off a cloud as a colt!"

"No clue! Duck!"

Bronzewing hit the floor as Fizzy leaped over him, knocking away an approaching crystal with a well-placed buck.

As soon as they were up and running again, Bronzewing went back to complaining. It was his automatic response to confusion and panic. Hard to freeze in fear if you kept your brain moving and your mouth going with a string of insults. "I feel like we've spent way too much time running away in these caves without going anywhere! How long are these tunnels anyway? Did somepony forget to explain physics to them?"

"Or gravity!?" He growled as another rock hit him in the side.

"It's Discord's cave. Remember? The laws of physics don't apply to him!" Cherry Fizzy said.

"Well, the laws of Equestria are going to!" Shining Armor growled in between blasts of magic. "Circle around and take them from behind!" He ordered and stopped abruptly.

Cherry Fizzy swore like a farmer. "Take who?! We don't see anythin'!"

Bronzewing grinned. "We don't have to! It's like storm busting! Just hit what the rocks aren't!"

"What kind of fool plan is that?!" Fizzy demanded, but he ran along the opposite wall.

"Or you could just follow my rule."

"I'm going to regret askin', but what's that?"

"Let them throw the first punch, and then seriously mess up their day!"

"Great! Unless that first punch's a doozy, then I'm flat!"

"You could always try some of that famous cowpony charm on them, if you prefer."

"Nah! I prefer busting open a barrel of kick-flank on 'em!"

Shining Armor cut through their banter, "Lighting up!"

Bronzewing and Cherry Fizzy shielded their eyes as Shining Armor let loose a wave of power. As it reached the crystals, it reflected off them, making it that much brighter... but also illuminating the black shadows converging in on Shining Armor. They looked like floating blotches of ink with bad tempers as they attacked, correctly presuming Shining Armor would be unable to shoot any more blasts right away after that big one. But he didn't have to. Cherry Fizzy and Bronzewing had his back.

Bronzewing wasn't sure if those inky blotch things were intelligent or even alive, but he didn't care. Now that he knew where they were, he could kick their black inky flanks Cloudsdale style. They may not look like much more than shadows, but his standing philosophy was if something could hit, it could be hit back, and he held firmly to that belief as he charged the freaky things. His hoof collided with a satisfying thud against solid enemy flesh.

Bronzewing grinned and proceeded to attack, until the ink blotches vanished, leaving him frustrated and without something to punch it out on. Even the falling chunks of crystal vanished. (That one was okay with him.)

"What happened?" Cherry Fizzy asked.

"Yeah you better run!" Bronzewing shouted. The cowards! How dare they run away before Bronzewing even had a chance to pound them into oblivion!

Shining Armor ignored Bronzewing's ranting as he scanned the room around them. He frowned, Bronzewing had a point; for all of their running, they didn't seem to have gone anywhere.

"Shh!" Shining Armor motioned for silence. Ignoring the muffled sounds behind him as Cherry Fizzy cut Bronzewing off midsentence with a well-placed hoof to the muzzle, Shining Armor moved along the wall and scanned the ceiling...

There!

Shining Armor pointed up. Now that creepy shadows and flying crystals were no longer obscuring their vision, they could make out the hole they'd fallen through.

Bronzewing and Cherry Fizzy followed Shining's hoof with their eyes.

Cherry Fizzy mouthed a question.

Shining Armor nodded. It was just like Discord to have them running around in some sort of dimensional loop like out of a foal's cartoon.

Cherry Fizzy squinted and shook his head. Then he shrugged, evidently deciding not to try to figure out a chaos lord's magical workings.

Bronzewing mentally commended him. It was healthier in the long run not to overthink things.

Shining Armor motioned for Bronzewing to fly up and do some recon. They were currently working under the presumption that Discord had some way of monitoring their location but not their immediate actions. Shining Armor was also pretty sure Discord didn't actually want them dead. Discord was like a foal. He might end up breaking his toys but preferred playing with them. So in the event that this was an ambush, while it was likely to be painful and humiliating, they probably wouldn't die.

Bronzewing hoped Shining was right. He flew up and came back shortly. The immediate area was clear.

Bronzewing lifted Shining Armor up first. While Bronzewing could have carried them both if he had to, it would have been slow and awkward. This way was better. Shining Armor could leap back to the ground if Cherry Fizzy was suddenly swamped.

Wait a moment...

Bronzewing paused, hovering near the top. He thought he heard something...

Was that...?

...Music?

Bronzewing ducked down, hovering just close enough to the top that he could peer over the edge, hopefully without being seen. Or dropping his captain, who was getting heavier by the second.

Not that Bronzewing would ever say that out loud. He was pretty sure Shining Armor wouldn't actually ask Princess Luna to curse him to forever potato-peeling nightmares, but he wasn't taking any chances. Seriously though, Shining Armor could stand to lose some weight. This was proof that desk jobs were no good for anypony.

Bronzewing quit worrying about that when he caught sight of Discord and Twilight. Or what he assumed was Twilight. She looked different. More than the 'I got a new mane-cut' different that he was used to fending off. This was more of an 'I got a new mane-cut, a dye job, new contacts and a major villainy-vibe make-over.'

This wasn't good. If this was Twilight, then either goth had come in fashion really quickly and his captain's bookworm recluse of a sister had decided she had to jump on the bandwagon... or she'd gone over to the dark side.

He briefly wondered if there'd be any cookies before taking his mind back to identification of the unidentified allegedly evil being. Stupid political correctness. That totally doesn't have the same ring to it.

And Bronzewing was in a query. The best way to identify a pony was through their cutie-mark. But there'd been a very fear-inducing lecture on why nopony was supposed to be looking at the captain's sister's flanks...

Bronzewing suppressed a shudder before he dropped Shining Armor.

Of course! It totally wouldn't be against the bro-code for Shining Armor to look at his own sister's flanks....in a totally non-creepy, solely-for-identification-purposes way.

Yeah, Bronzewing was overthinking things again. Less thought, more action. Bronzewing rolled over so Shining Armor was on the top and could see over the edge.

And then the singing started. They listened as Twilight went all evil-queeny and then somehow managed to overpower the Lord of Chaos.

Not good.

The area brightened with the unmistakable glow of a teleport, but it wasn't the pink usually associated with Twilight's magic.

More not good.

Just then Shining Armor stiffened, making it significantly harder for Bronzewing to keep holding him while hovering upside down in the air. So not his favorite maneuver.

A second glow formed around Shining Armor. Bronzewing braced his hooves against the edge to give Shining Armor a more stable position. Bronzewing didn't know what Shining Armor was doing, but whatever his plan, keeping still could only help. Less likely for the spell to rebound and wind up frying them both. Bronzewing lost more feathers that way...

No sooner had Bronzewing leveled them both out, then he was thrown back off-balance by the force of Shining Armor using him as a launch-pad to leap over the ledge. Ow.

Bronzewing flipped around and hurried after Shining Armor. He cleared the ledge just as Shining's spell crashed against the crystalline wall, lighting a particularly ugly tapestry on fire.

Shining Armor slammed his hoof against the floor hard enough to create a spider web of cracks spiraling jaggedly outward.

Discord and Twilight were nowhere to be seen.

Bronzewing looked from the tapestry burning on the wall to Shining Armor staring at the flames, apparently not noticing the destruction of the floor. Good thing this floor was already made of jumbled together crystal pieces. The new chips weren't too noticeable. The flaming tapestry was kind of conspicuous though.

"So... does this mean we're abandoning the stealth approach?"

Operation BBBFF

Discord picked himself off the floor as the world around him shook. He looked around in confusion. "I don't recall scheduling any earthquakes..."

But just as he moved to snap his claws to conjure up an easy chair with some popcorn, (because hey, why pass up a chance at a show?) a beam of lights and colors blasted him through the hallways, sending him crashing through every door in his path, (and some of them that weren't) until he finally landed back where he started. The throne room. (Not that he noticed, he was too busy chasing the stars and ducklings dancing around his head.)

Shining Armor motioned for his team to follow closely behind him. There really was no reason for stealth anymore. He was pretty sure that between the cave-in, the battle with giant crystal things and the subsequent explosion, their cover was blown. But that didn't mean they would go shouting out their position for any pony, or draconaquus, to hear.

'Well, its not the worst mission I've ever been on...' Shining Armor thought back to one of his very first missions; Operation: Foal-sitter. It was back when Twilight was still a filly, before Cadance became her regular foal-sitter.

"Shiny! Shiny!"
"Whoa! Slow down Twily!" Shining Armor grabbed Twilight in his magic before she could topple over the bookcase on herself. She had been bouncing about the house since their parents had left this morning.
This was the first time Shining Armor had been trusted to babysit Twilight by himself for more than an hour or two. It's only been a few hours, and he was already worn out. They'd played make believe, read nearly every book on her bookcase and now she was turning a game of Hide and Seek into a game of Tag. 'A destructive game of Tag', Shining Armor thought wearily, looking at the books she'd knocked to the floor in her wiggling.
"We have to be careful with books." He said picking them up in his magic. He froze at her whimper. He knew that whimper. That was the whimper that always meant hysterics were just one wrong word away.
"Its ok. See?" Shining Armor scooped Twilight onto his lap and levitated a book over. He flipped through the pages to show her it was ok. "It's ok. Why don't you help me pick them up?"
Putting the books back took longer than expected, mostly because Twilight insisted on him inspecting each book before putting it away.
When all the books were back in their spots, he suggested playing with Smarty Pants. That should keep her occupied for a while. and was less likely to make a mess.
An hour later, Shining Armor was regretting that decision. He shifted uncomfortably on the too small cushion he had been sitting on for an hour. His hind legs were asleep, his front hoof was sore and he was about to fall asleep from boredom.
"Hey, don't we break for lunch?" he suggested, dropping the quill he'd been using to trace circle for the last hour on the table.
"You're supposed to raise your hoof first." Twilight pouted at him from her seat in front of her play chalkboard.
Shining Armor rolled his eyes, but he was grinning as he raised his hoof. "Can we-"
"You have to wait for teacher to call on you!" Twilight interrupted.
He closed his mouth and waited for teacher to call on him. Teacher was Twilight's doll, Smarty Pants. He waved his hoof a little; Smarty Pants was taking forever to call on him.
He swallowed a laugh as Twilight moved from her seat to stand behind Smarty Pants. Twilight had proclaimed herself teacher's assistant so she was the one who helped Smarty Pants talk. "Yes Shining Armor?" She said, moving Smarty Pant's head with her hoof in time to her words. Sort of.
"I'm hungry. How about we stop for lunch?"
Twilight thought about it. Then she arranged Smarty Pants into a thoughtful pose. "What's for lunch?" they said.
Shining Armor thought about it. There was some leftover casserole in the fridge, but he wouldn't feed that to his worst enemy, and he actually liked his little sister. Even if she did think he couldn't make a circle. "I can make daisy sandwiches." He offered. It was actually one of the few things he could make.
"But what about your circles?"
Shining Armor was pretty sure he would be able to get through life just fine without making a perfect circle. But he needed some sort of compromise. "How about after lunch we make cookies? Those are circles. We can call it a research assignment." He said.
She was weakening. He could tell by the widening of her eyes as they looked towards the kitchen. She just needed a little push. "We can make them chocolate chip..." He sang.
"Yes!" She shouted, jumping up and running towards the kitchen.
Shining Armor laughed and got up to follow her, jumping out of her way as she ran back in to pick up Smarty Pants and announce, "Class dismissed!"
He made them both daisy sandwiches, and cut Twilight's into triangles. Then cut his own in triangles because Twilight insisted. He got out a glass and some juice for Twilight.
"I can do it!" Twilight said, reaching for the juice.
"Ok." Shining Armor said. It wasn't very full. There was a limit to the amount of mess she could make with that. He passed her the juice and then turned to get his own glass out of the cupboard.
"Oops..."
Shining Armor turned around to see Twilight had knocked over her glass and spilled the juice across the table. And on her sandwich.
"It's ok." He said, passing her his untouched sandwich and getting a towel to wipe down the table. "There's no use crying over split milk. Or juice. You can have mine. I'll make another one."
He helped her pour more juice for them both and then fixed himself a new sandwich while she ate. When they finished eating they made cookies. Half an hour later, the cookie dough was in the oven, and everywhere else. "Why don't you go hop into the tub while I clean the kitchen?" Shining Armor suggested.
"Ok." Twilight said and ran out of the kitchen.
That was too easy. Shining Armor shook his head. He was being paranoid. How much trouble can she get into in the tub? He went about cleaning the kitchen, until he realized he hadn't heard any splashing in a while. Dropping the dishcloth in the sink, he ran up the stairs to the bathroom door.
"Twily? You ok in there?"
"Umm, yes? I'm fine! Nothing to see here! You can go back to the kitchen now!" Her voice sounded frantic as there was a loud splash behind the door. "Eep!"
"Twilight! I'm coming in ok?" He opened the door slowly, and then was soaked as a wave of water rushed by him and into the hall.
He stepped into the bathroom and had to fight to keep his balance. The room was soaked and the floor was slippery with a rainbow of bubbles piled everywhere. Judging by the amount of bubbles, Twilight had opened every bottle in the bathroom. But he didn't see her.
"Achoo!' A pile of bubbles sneezed out more bubbles.
"Twilight!" He waded through the mess on the floor and scooped her out of her bubbly prison. "Are you okay?' He asked.
"Uh huh." She whispered, "Sorry... Eep!" she squeaked as she was hugged tightly.
"It's ok. As long as you're ok." Shining Armor said, ignoring the slippery soap in her coat as he held her close. He laughed at her expression. She was so cute with bubbles everywhere. "Lets get you cleaned up." It took him a while to clean her up with all of the soap everywhere. "Did you use every shampoo we own?"
"I just wanted to try mommy's pretty smelling one." Twilight mumbled as he carried her into her bedroom and wrapped her in a blanket, since all the towels were soaked. She wrinkled her now, "Do you smell something?"
"Only you, Twily." Shining Armor laughed. With all the shampoos and soaps she'd used, she smelled like a perfume shop.
She shook her head. "I think something's burning."
Just then the smoke detector went off. "The cookies!" Shining Armor shouted, rushing down the stairs with Twilight close behind him.
"Shining Armor! Twilight!"
'Oh no.' Shining Armor froze at the bottom of the stairs. Twilight crashed into him, sending him crashing into his mother who crashed into his father, who sent the burnt charcoal bits floating in his magic field flying. It took him and his parents the rest of the day to clean up the bathroom and the hall. And the kitchen. And to clear the smoke... and Twilight needed another bath.

'Operation foalsitter' was deemed a failure, and that was the last time Shining Armor watched Twilight alone for a while. For which he was appropriately thankful. And he learned a valuable lesson. Never let Twilight out of your sight, even for a second.
'At least one good thing should come out of this,' Shining Armor thought in grim satisfaction. 'Since Plan A is pretty much toast, that means that Plan B is go.'
It was pretty obvious to Shining Armor that these crystal caverns weren't safe. He would be neglecting his duty as a royal guard if he left a civilian in them. He would have to rescue Twilight, and escort her out of these caves and back to safety in Canterlot. 'And then I am never letting her out of my sight again.'

"So... how exactly are we planning on finding them?" The group paused as the tunnel they were following split into three.

Silver Shield looked pointedly at Rainbow Dash, then at the path of destruction that was the tunnel on the right, then back at Rainbow. He didn't have to say a word as he started walking.

Applejack just gave Rainbow that look she was so good at and followed him.

Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly and followed them, "He heh.. I suppose we could just follow the rubble..."

Shining Armor kept his eyes moving as he led his team through the crystal hallways. There was no doubt in his mind that they had found the place where Discord was hiding. The only problem was, he was equally sure that Discord knew they were there. He was watching them somehow. Just waiting for something.

Shining Armor bit back a groan before it could get farther than the bottom of his throat. 'Why did it have to be Discord? Why not a dragon lord or a group of griffon mercenaries or some rich crime boss with an army of minions?!' Heck, he'd even take another changeling queen! At least then he'd know what to expect! Not to mention how to defeat them... But no, he had to get Discord, the supervillian who's entire existence was unpredictable...

Shining Armor frowned, bringing his thoughts back to the mission at hoof. He needed to focus. Getting distracted on this mission could put not just his team, but all of Equestria at risk. He shuddered to think what his genius of a sister would be able to do if she joined Discord in a quest to dominate Equestria. Between her genius and power and Discord's lust for revenge and a thousand years of planning, he didn't know what could stop them. But he did know one thing; If Twilight ever truly turned evil, she wouldn't settle for just one country. No, she'd want the world.

Discord grinned as he saw the group of misfit guards wander by, "Well they're a little early, but no matter, I'll just have to move up the schedule a bit." He pulled a chart down from the tapestry he was currently occupying and scribbled out some figures. "There! Now to begin the fun..."