The Day of the Terrible Puns
The warmth of the sun bathed her face as she first cracked her eyes open, with a soft smile touching her lips as she slowly rose from her slumber. Opening her mouth, Twilight let out a loud yawn, making sure to cover said mouth with her hoof, for the sake of etiquette if nothing else. As she made her way out of her soft bed, she made her way over to a nearby dressing table, complete with a large mirror atop it. Looking at her reflection, she giggled slightly at the mess her mane had become while she'd slept, and promptly used her magic to levitate a nearby hairbrush over to her. As she carefully brushed down the loose strands of her mane, she hummed to herself, eventually looking to her mirror image in earnest.
And here, her smile faded.
"SPIKE!!!"
Ever the dutiful assistant, the young drake burst into her chambers, his head looking around frantically until he finally found her by her mirror.
"Twilight?! What's wrong?!"
Spinning around, the Princess of Friendship looked to him, standing at an angle so as to give her friend a good look at her sides.
"Just...just...look at me!"
And Spike did indeed look to her, seeing, to his utter shock, that the mare no longer had the lavender wings that marked her as a Princess. Rather, in their place, he saw that Twilight now bore a par of new appendages. Appendages that he knew no pony should ever have, and yet, were there all the same. Appendages that he recognised instantly as the arms and hands of a human being. Looking from those new growths to his friend, and then back again, the dragon eventually let out a long sigh, turning around and starting to walk out of the door.
"I'll go get the others."
The mood was one of simply "being disturbed" as all of Twilight's friends gathered in her main chamber. All of them stared at her, and her new appearance, never knowing what to say or what to do. Twilight, for her part, continued to look deep in thought, all while frantically biting on her hoof in a clear display of nervousness. Every once in a while, she'd try to furl out her wings out of reflex, which, in her current state, merely resulted in her new arms stretching out instead. As one would expect, it was a strange sight to behold. After a long while of nopony saying anything, Applejack broke the silence by letting out a sigh and placing a hoof upon her forehead.
"So...y'all just woke up like this?"
Twilight nodded in response, prompting Rainbow to speak up next.
"And you have no idea how?"
Twilight shook her head. This time, it was Fluttershy's turn to add her voice to things.
"Goodness! How horrible for you!"
Getting off her throne, Twilight started pacing up and down, letting out a grunt of annoyance.
"Ugh! Why is it that every time I wake up to a nice morning, something like this has to happen?"
Rarity nodded to this.
"Indeed. First we all end up as alicorns, and now this?!"
Sitting firmly on the ground, Twilight rubbed her temples.
"We all know who's behind this, right?"
A round of nods led her to continue.
"Then I guess our only option is what happened last time. Just...wait it out until he gets bored."
As before, the others mares all nodded, but this time, there was a sound mixed in with all of it. With curiosity and annoyance mixed into one, Twilight looked around and found that it was, in fact, Pinkie, who was holding back what appeared to be a fit of giggles. Raising an eyebrow, Twilight addressed her.
"Is there something you'd like to say, Pinkie?"
Lowering her hooves from her mouth, Pinkie looked from one mare to the next, looking uncharacteristically hesitant, before, at last, just coming out and saying it.
"Well...it's just...I was thinking that, if stuff like this is gonna keep happening...maybe...you know...it might be good to..."
Briefly, she looked around the group once more, before completing that sentence.
"...keep Discord at arm's length?"
A silence followed, more awkward than the last, as all eyes were on Pinkie. Spike, who had been sitting quietly nearby, slapped his forehead, and many of the other mares looked to her with incredulity, none more so than Twilight herself.
"Pinkie...that is, without question...the worst joke I've..."
But, she was then interrupted, as Rainbow, with her usual cackle, spoke up.
"Wait! I've got it! How about we get ready for Discord doing something else...by going to the armory?"
As before, the mare was now the subject of everybody else's attention, and Twilight, understandably, was becoming more annoyed.
"You know, this isn't helping any-"
But, again, she was interrupted, this time, by Applejack.
"Okay, ya'll, how about...we get ahead of Discord and...beat him to the punch?"
A round of giggles followed that one, much to Twilight's irritation, but she stayed silent, as Rarity apparently then took her turn with all of this.
"I suppose, at the end of the day, we can't be too harsh on Discord. After all, on his good days, he is rather armless, isn't he?"
Twilight snorted angrily to that one, turning her head as, rather unexpectedly, Fluttershy then spoke.
"Um...we could thank Pinkie for...er...being the fist to make these jokes?"
But, this time, the joke resulted in just a whole bunch of stares, as nopony seemed the least bit entertained by that one. Naturally, Fluttershy now resorted to covering her face with her long pink hair, out of sheer embarrassment. Thankfully for her, Pinkie then picked up the slack.
"Oooh! I've got it! If Discord comes over and apologises...we agree to an armistice?"
The air of humour resumed once more, as virtually all of the mares laughed to that. At this point, however, Twilight let out a sigh, moving over to her throne and sitting herself down, resting her chin upon the edge of the table as her friends continued.
"This is going to be my whole day...isn't it?"
Looking over to her, Spike leaned over and gave her a brief pat on the head.
"Yes...yes it is."
Far away, atop the highest tower of Canterlot, Celestia looked through her beloved telescope, looking out at the scene before her. As she pulled away, she turned and looked with disapproval at her draconqeus companion, who gave her a chuckle and a shrug of his shoulders.
"Hey, the jokes may not be great...but that's what makes them funny."
To that, Celestia raised an eyebrow, prompting the smirk to vanish from Discord's face, as he then took on a look of confusion.
"Huh...that sounded way more profound in my head."
