Discord

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 10
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14

Chapter 1

Celestia and Luna strode boldly forward, their manes and tails battered and burnt, but their heads still held high. They strode across the checked land leading up to a small hill on which there stood a throne. A figure could just be seen sitting on it from the back. As Celestia and Luna approached, the throne swivelled round to reveal the figure to be a draconequus.

"Ohoho!" laughed Discord, as his eyes fell on the princesses approaching, "This is so much fun! How about a game of Pin The Tail On The Pony?"

He held up a long sparkling tail striped with different colours.

Celestia gasped and looked behind her! Her tail was gone from her flank!

"Playtime is over for you, Discord!" she snapped, as she and her sister approached the Lord of Chaos.

Discord grabbed a handful of black seeds from a bag he had conjured up and tossed them aside. "Oh, I doubt that," he said, breezily, stuffing another handful of seeds into his mouth and crunching them up, "Ohhhhh..." he mumbled, as he chewed, "Hungry?"

He offered the princesses the bag, and a few seeds bounced off their foreheads. Their expressions did not shift.

"Suit yourselves," Discord said, idly, chewing up another handful of seeds.

Celestia and Luna ignited their horns and summoned three gems each out of their saddlebag. Five were the same shape, in the colours red, orange, pink, purple and baby blue, while the sixth was a deep magenta, and shaped like a star.

"Oh?" said Discord, interestedly, staring at the six gems, "What have you got there?"

"The Elements of Harmony," snapped Celestia, as the gems began to swirl round them, creating a burst of rainbow light.

"With them we shall defeat you!" declared Luna.

Staring at the princesses, Discord collapsed over his throne in laughter! Tears ran down his face!

"You should see yourselves right now!" Discord laughed, "The expressions on your faces! So intense! So sure of yourselves! Ha ha ha ha!"

A brightly coloured rainbow shot up from Celestia and Luna and arced up across the sky, aiming right for Discord, who was still laughing!

"Hilarious!" laughed the draconequus, "Ha ha ha—"

His laughter was abruptly cut off as the rainbow struck him in the chest! His skin began to turn bright grey, and his body froze in the laughing position. The greyness spread across his entire body, turning the draconequus to stone! There was a ripple of magic through the air, and the chaotic landscape that Discord had made returned to its former glory. The checked grounds became grass, the floating buildings settled back in their holes, the transfigured animals returned to normal, and the chocolate-milk-raining cotton candy clouds turned back to their usual white.

There was a creaking sound as the stone Discord toppled over and hit the ground with a loud bang.

Celestia and Luna looked down on him. "It is done," said Celestia, softly.

Chapter 10

A few months later, Twilight was still making her daily visits to the Everfree Forest. This day, however, as Discord was painfully aware, was the day before her sixteenth birthday. Ever since he had been unable to revoke the curse, he had become even more worried about Twilight. He knew there was nothing he could do about it, and he was scared about what would happen to her.

He glanced down at his purple alicorn friend. She was sitting among his coils reading Daring Do and the Ring of Destiny. Twilight had never been much of a reader, but ever since she had seen Discord's Daring Docollection, she had been hooked on the series. He had even let her borrow them.

"You know," said Twilight, in a cheeky voice, "Tomorrow's going to be my sixteenth birthday."

Discord sighed. This was exactly what he had been dreading.

"I have big plans!" declared Twilight, shutting Daring Do and the Ring of Destiny, and looking up at Discord, "First we're going to do presents. Then I'm going to come straight here and have fun with you! I hope we can do something extra special. Then I'll go home for cake with my aunts. I'll bring you a piece if you want."

"That...does sound wonderful," said Discord, with a weak smile, thinking with dread about what was going to happen at sunset tomorrow, "I'm glad you have such a fun birthday planned."

"I just can't wait until I'm older," said Twilight, happily, "Then I'm going to live here in the Everfree Forest with you. Then we can look after each other, and have fun all the time."

As Twilight said those words, an idea sparked into Discord head, and with a flash of light, his face turned into a lightbulb! Yes! Of course! If Twilight stayed here in the Everfree Forest with him, there would be no way for his curse to take place! This was perfect!

"Why, Twilight, you don't have to wait until you're older," Discord said, smiling down on the purple alicorn, "You could live here now if you wanted to."

Twilight's eyes widened. "Really?" she exclaimed, her face splitting into the widest grin she had ever grinned.

"Of course," replied Discord, smiling, "I'd love to have you here. We could be roomies."

Twilight began to twitch in excitement, and the grin on her face got even wider.

"Woo-hoo!" she yelled, happily, jumping into the air with her hooves up!

"Yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes!" she squealed, bouncing in a circle around Discord, looking happier than he had ever seen her.

Discord couldn't help but smile as he watched her bounce around him. "Are you...OK, Twilight?" he asked, with a grin.

"YES!" squealed Twilight, leaping up and giving Discord a big hug round the neck, "This is the BEST birthday present ANYPONY could EVER have given me! I have to go and tell my aunts!"

"OK," chuckled Discord. He snapped his fingers and they both appeared back beside the Tree of Harmony.

"Thank you!" exclaimed Twilight, giving Discord another hug, then dropping back down, "I'll see you tomorrow, gotta go, bye!"

Discord chuckled. "See you tomorrow."

He smiled.

...

Twilight slammed open her bedroom door, and grabbed her saddlebag with her magic. She bustled round the room, grabbing everything she wanted to take with her. She packed a dozen scrolls and her three favourite quills, along with a pot of ink, her special diary she had written about her friend in, the Daring Do books she had borrowed from her friend, the special dress she always wore on her birthday, her potion-making kit, and of course, all her spellbooks. Magic was her purpose, after all. And with someone as talented at magic as her friend to teach her, Twilight could be the next Star Swirl the Bearded.

As she packed all her things into her saddlebag, she felt all warm and tingly inside. She was about to have a new life. A new life of eating rainbow flowers, playing living chess and befriending Tatzlwurms and Timberwolves. A life of living in the Everfree Forest. As she packed up all her things, she caught sight of her own reflection in her bedroom mirror. She just couldn't wipe the grin off her face. This time tomorrow, the Everfree Forest would be her home, and she would spend the rest of her life having adventures and fun with her friend in all the magic and wonder of her new home.

"My dearest aunts," Twilight said to her reflection in the mirror the very next day, "I am so very grateful to you for looking after me all these years. But I'm sixteen years old today, and I believe it is time for me to start a life of my own. I love you all dearly, but it is time to say goodbye. You've all been very good to me...except for the time you almost fed me spiders. Yes, that's how I'll say it."

"Boy, am I happy we're leaving today," said Sweetie Belle, using her magic to arrange a vase of daffodils on the kitchen table.

"What?" said Apple Bloom, "We're not leavin' today."

"Today's Twilight's sixteenth birthday," explained Sweetie Belle.

"And Cadance and Shinin' Armor told us to bring Twilight back the day after her sixteenth birthday," said Apple Bloom.

"No they didn't!" argued Sweetie Belle, "They told us to bring her back on her birthday!"

"No," said Apple Bloom, "The day after her birthday."

"On!"
"After!"
"On!"
"After!"
"ON!"
"AFTER!"

"Hey there, aunts," said Twilight, coming down from her room with her bulging saddleback strung over her back, "There's something I need to tell you."

"Oh—yes, Twilight?" asked Scootaloo, turning round, "What is it?"

"Well, today is my sixteenth birthday," Twilight said.

"Ah, yes!" said Sweetie Belle, smiling, "Happy birthday, Twilight!"

"Happy birthday, Twilight," chorused Apple Bloom and Scootaloo.

Twilight took a deep breath.

"First I want you all to know how grateful to you I am for looking after me all these years," Twilight said, "But I'm sixteen years old now, and I think it's time for me to start a life of my own. I love you all dearly, but it's time for me to say goodbye. I'm leaving home."

This did not have quite the effect on that she had expected. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo gasped in horror, while Apple Bloom's jaw dropped. Then her eyebrows creased into a frown.

"Listen here, missy!" said Apple Bloom, fiercely, "I did not spend sixteen years in this here cottage with these two idiots just so you could go and ruin it on the last day! We're takin' you back to your parents and—"

"My parents?" repeated Twilight, "What? You three told me my parents were dead."

The three Breezies exchanged nervous glances.

"Twilight..." said Apple Bloom, nervously, "Why don't you sit down? There's...kinda somethin' we need to tell you."

Chapter 2

Thousands of years had passed since Discord's imprisonment, and Discord was as still as stone, seen as nothing more than a statue in the Canterlot palace gardens. It was terribly boring, and so uncomfortable, too, to be stuck in the same position for so long. There was an itch down on his goat leg, and it was torture not being able scratch it.

Day after day, year after year, century after century, he had stood there motionlessly, watching ponies come and go whilst not being able to move an inch. He would watch them wander around and examine all the sculptures in the sculpture garden, seeing him as nothing more, then wander into the palace labyrinth.

Discord loved labyrinths. You never knew where you were, or even where you were going, and could end up wandering for days, hopelessly lost in the twists and turns. He would occasionally let his imagination run wild and think about the cruel games he could play on ponies who went in. Maybe trap them all inside, separate them, and then use magic to turn them against each other. Then watch the hilarious results. Perhaps he could even do it to Celestia and Luna, and watch them snipe at each other like spoiled brats. Now that would be fun.

Speaking of Celestia and Luna...

Discord's stone eyes caught sight of two tall alicorns striding into the palace garden. He tried to narrow his stone eyebrows. He couldn't, of course, as a statue, but he still tried at the sight of his old nemesis. Luna looked identical to the day she had imprisoned him, graceful and elegant with her night-like appearance, and Celestia was still as sleek and shiny as ever, with her gleaming white skin and rippling coloured mane. As they got closer, Discord could make out what they were saying.

"...And the decorations, I presume?" Luna was saying.

"Don't worry," smiled Celestia, "Everything is under control. We have the decorations, the music, the performances, and I asked the Apple family from Ponyville to provide food. I can't wait to try some of Bright Macintosh's apple fritters again. They're just delicious."

"Then it certainly sounds like the christening will be a great success," smiled Luna.

Christening. That word hit Discord like a hammer to an anvil.

"I'm sure Shining Armor and Princess Cadance will be very proud of their new baby," said Celestia, smiling, "And I'm rather looking forward to it, actually. We haven't had a royal christening in thousands of years."

"I'm looking forward to it too," admitted Luna, with a smile.

"Now enough of this serious chit chatter!" laughed Celestia, waving her hoof, dismissively, "Let's try the labyrinth. It's been ages." She caught Luna's eye. "I bet I can beat you to the centre!"

"You are on," grinned Luna, and they both sprinted over to the hedge maze, neither of them aware of who had been listening the whole time.

A royal christening? Discord thought, in disbelief, watching the two alicorns sprint off into the palace labyrinth, I can't believe it! They're having a party without me! I've never been so insulted in my life!

Chapter 3

Finally, the day of Cadance and Shining Armor's newborn daughter's christening arrived, and Discord was still trapped in his stone prison. He felt annoyed to be missing such an important occasion. From what Celestia and Luna had said, it was one of the most important occasions Equestria had ever had. And for a draconequus who hadn't eaten in thousands of years, Bright Macintosh's apple fritters certainly sounded good. He was immortal, of course, so lack of food didn't really affect him, but it was still something he missed.

Then his stone eyes spotted something coming round the corner of the palace labyrinth. It was a small class of little ponies, led by a dark purplish-pink Earth pony with a lighter mane. Her cutie mark was a picture of three smiling daisies.

"Alright, my little ponies," Miss Cheerilee was saying, as she lead the little group of ponies in, "I want to start our field trip here, in the world-famous Canterlot sculpture garden. That one over there represents friendship." She pointed to a stone sculpture of three happy ponies.

"This one represents victory!" Cheerilee carried on, pointing to another sculpture, which was of a pony holding a flag.

"How cool would it be to have that for a cutie mark?" said Babs Seed to her friends Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.

"Cool," said Silver Spoon, then chuckled, "If you were actually victoryful at something!"

"That's not a word!" snapped Diamond Tiara.

"What are you, a dictionary?" snapped Babs.

"Girls!" scolded Cheerilee, and the three friends stopped arguing and looked back at her.

"Now this is a really interesting statue," she said, pointing at Discord, "What do you notice about it?"

"It's got an eagle claw!" exclaimed Silver Spoon.

"And a lion paw!" added Babs Seed.

"And a snake tail!" finished off Diamond Tiara.

Discord almost squeed, except he couldn't while he was stone. Those fillies were just unbearably cute.

"This creature is called a draconequus," said Cheerilee to her class, "He has the head of a pony, and a body made up of all sorts of things. What do you suppose that represents?"

"Confusion!" exclaimed Silver Spoon.
"Evil!" exclaimed Diamond Tiara.
"Chaos!" exclaimed Babs Seed.

"It's not chaos, you dodo!" snapped Diamond Tiara.

"Don't call me things I don't know the meaning of!" snapped Babs, "And it is too chaos!"

"Is not!" argued Diamond Tiara.

"You're both wrong!" snapped Silver Spoon.

With that, they pounced on each other and engaged in a violent wrestling fight on the grass, and then came the biting and the punching and the kicking and the scratching! The ground shook as the fillies continued to fight, and Discord's statue began to shake! Then, when Diamond Tiara's hoof lashed out and kicked the base of his statue, Discord felt something crack!

Watching the fillies wrestle, Cheerilee shook her head. "Actually, in a way, you're all right," she said.

The three fillies froze as she said that.

"This statue represents discord," Cheerilee said, "Which means "a lack of harmony between ponies." In fact, you three have demonstrated discord so well," she added, frowning, "That you're each going to write me an essay explaining it."

The three fillies' faces fell, and the rest of the class chortled.

"Now let's go," said Cheerilee, firmly, "And I don't want any more fighting!"

As Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon and Babs Seed followed the rest of the class, Discord heard them bicker under their breath.

"It's confusion!"
"Evil!"
"Chaos!"

If Discord hadn't been trapped in stone, he would have burst out laughing. Watching those fillies bicker and fight was the Discord-iest thing he had seen in centuries, and for a draconequus serving a life sentence in stone, entertainment was craved.

Then suddenly, Discord felt something down by his stone lizard foot. A crack caused by the fillies' wrestling was slowly spreading up from Discord's feet and up to his stomach. Discord's heart began to beat faster as a web of cracks spread out all across his body, and for the first time in thousands of years...

He moved!

Struggling against the shell, Discord managed to get his lion paw free! He stretched out his fingers, and snapped them! Then with a flash of light and an explosion of broken pieces, the Lord of Chaos burst out from inside his stone shell, scattering the pieces across the sculpture garden!

"Ooh!" he moaned, massaging his aching joints and shaking out his limbs, "Oooooooh!"

He cracked his knuckles and stretched from about every angle, and finally scratched that itch on his goat leg that had been there for centuries!

"Ooooooh!" he moaned, shaking out his whole body, "Does being turned to stone make a draconequus sore!"

Then his eyes grazed the ground, which was, of course, littered with dust and bits of stone.

"I should probably fix that," he mused, "I wouldn't want to spoil those adorable little fillies' trip."

He snapped his fingers, and all the pieces of his statue vanished and the whole thing reappeared back in its place, fixed. Oh, it felt so good to do this again. Discord gave a satisfied nod, and then looked up at Celestia and Luna's castle. He took out his eyeballs and they elongated into binoculars so he could see in through the stained glass windows. There were decorations set up all over the throne room, and it was filled with thousands of ponies.

"Of course," murmured Discord, in a malevolent voice, "The princess's christening. I certainly wouldn't want to miss that, now, would I?"

...

The christening of Cadance and Shining Armor newborn daughter, Twilight Sparkle, was indeed one of the most important events Equestria had ever seen. Ponies from all over Equestria had come to see the new princess, ponies from Canterlot and Manehattan to Fillydelphia, Trottingham and Las Pegasus. And it was now that they were all going to see her.

Twilight Sparkle was the sweetest, most beautiful baby many had ever seen, with adorable purple eyes, a mane with a mix of indigo, rose and violet, and a lovely lilac coat. Many sensitive mares broke into tears when they saw her.

Cadance and Shining Armor welcomed everypony inside with the help of Celestia and Luna. And the guests included three very magical creatures called the Breezies.

The Breezies were some of the most magical creatures found beyond Equestria. They were pony-like creatures, but were not much bigger than a newborn foal. These three had been called upon by Princess Celestia to come to the christening. The first, Apple Bloom, was a beautiful yellow, with a crimson mane redder than a fresh red apple, and big shiny eyes the colour of sweet apple cider. The second, Sweetie Belle, was pure white with a slightly bouncy mane and tail, striped with greyish mulberry and pale rose. Her eyes were as green as the fresh summer grass. And the third, Scootaloo, was orange with sparkling violet eyes, and a cerise mane and tail, which was slightly frizzy in places. All three of them had beautiful translucent wings nearly twice the size of them.

The Breezies fluttered up to Princess Cadance.

"Your Highness," said Apple Bloom, her voice squeaky and high-pitched like all Breezies, "With your permission, we would each like to bestow a gift on your daughter."

Cadance bowed her head, and the Breezies all hovered over the cot.

Apple Bloom was first. She raised her hoof, and yellow magic glowed around Twilight.

"Twilight Sparkle," said Apple Bloom, "I give you the gift of beauty. May you be adored by all in Equestria among you, forever until the end."

She lowered her hoof, and moved aside to let Sweetie Belle give her gift.

"Twilight Sparkle," said Sweetie Belle, casting her magic, which for her was pearl white, "I give you the gift of song. May your voice be sweeter than sugar, and be heard and loved by all of Equestria."

Finally, it was Scootaloo's turn.

"Twilight Sparkle," Scootaloo said, "I give you the gift of bravery. May you have courage in your quest to guide yourself and make Equestria an even better place."

Celestia rose from her throne. "And so," she said, smiling, "It is my great honour to announce the beautiful daughter of Shining Armor and Princess Cadance, and Equestria's newest princess. Twilight Spar—"

Suddenly, a strong gust of wind whistled through the throne room, ruffling everypony's manes. The room fell quiet, and Celestia's eyes darted around. She could sense that something was wrong.

Then, a soft, malevolent laugh echoed through the room.

"Did you miss me, Celestia?" a ghostly voice murmured, softly, "I missed you."

Then the throne room doors opened, and out stepped a cloven hoof, then a lizard's foot. Ponies gasped as a tall figure strode down the red carpet, his shadow casting over the crowd. As he strode past the lit candlesticks, the candles flickered and went out. He gazed around at the other ponies, looking pleased at the looks of shock on their faces. Then his eyes fell on the princesses and his expression darkened.

"Well, well," said Discord, in a dangerous voice.

"Discord," breathed Celestia, "How did you escape!?"

"How I escaped is not important," replied Discord, "What matters is that I'm here. This certainly seems to be a very important day for you princesses. And I'm sure it was only the excitement of the royal christening that made you forget to send your old pal Discord an invitation."

He strode towards the cot that held Twilight Sparkle. The three Breezies leapt in front of it, but before they could do anything, Discord raised his hands as if controlling two puppets, and flung the three Breezies onto a white mattress that he had just conjured up.

"And this must be your lovely little princess," Discord purred, looking into the cot.

He levitated Twilight out of her cot with his magic and clasped his eagle claw around her, making her giggle. "Oh, she's adorable," Discord laughed, pressing Twilight's cheek to his own and stroking her under the chin with his lion paw.

"Don't you dare touch her, Discord!" shouted Celestia, "Guards!"

"Hey, hey, I'm not going to hurt anypony," said Discord, easily, placing Twilight Sparkle back in her cot and patting her on the head, "I'm just here for the christening. And I, too, shall bestow a gift upon the child."

"Whatever your gift is, Discord. we don't want it!" snapped Celestia.

Discord gave the royals a deadpan look. He raised an eyebrow. "Too bad."

He raised his hands in an elegant pose, and they glowed with sickly yellow magic. The same magic swirled around Twilight, lifting her up into the air.

"Twilight Sparkle," Discord purred, with a malicious smile, "You will indeed grow with the gifts of beauty, song and bravery, and be adored by all the ponies of Equestria."

"Thank you, Discord," said Celestia, between her teeth.

"Oh, I'm not done yet, Cay-Cay," purred Discord, giving her a devilish smile.

He turned back to Twilight, and clenched his eagle claw! The yellow magic began to swirl around her like a tornado, blowing her mane around.

"Before the sun sets, on her sixteenth birthday," Discord chanted, his voice becoming dark and threatening, "She will prick her hoof on the spindle of a spinning wheel, and she will fall into an eternal sleep-like sleep!"

"No!" cried Cadance!

She ignited her horn, and fired a glowing beam of magic at the draconequus. He raised an eyebrow and caught the beam of magic in a baseball glove.

"You're just like your Auntie Celestia, Princess Cadance," he said, dangerously, "Always so predictable."

He turned back to Twilight and clenched his fist again! Darkness flooded the room, and Discord's magic illuminated in the middle!

"I cast this curse to last until the end of time!" he chanted, his voice becoming dangerous again, "And no power in Equestria and beyond, not even mine, will be able to change it!"

As he cast his curse, there was a blast of magic that sent everypony tumbling to the floor! Celestia leapt to her hooves, only to see Discord's curse sink into Twilight.

"Ohohoho!" laughed Discord, with a malevolent grin, "This," he rubbed his hands together, gleefully, "Is going to be fun!"

And with that, he snapped his fingers, and vanished.

It was then that Cadance and Shining Armor made the decision to send Twilight Sparkle away. It was a difficult decision, perhaps the most difficult decision anypony had ever made, but it had to be done. Princess Celestia entrusted the safety of Twilight Sparkle with Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, and ordered them to take her far away from Canterlot for sixteen years and a day. She also ordered every spinning wheel in Equestria be locked away in the highest tower of Canterlot Castle, in Cadance's fear that Discord's curse would one day come true.

And as for Twilight Sparkle, well...

Chapter 4

"Just—a little—higher—" gasped Scootaloo, as the three Breezies struggled with the basket holding Twilight Sparkle.

The Breezies were so small it took all three of them to carry the basket, but finally, with one last bout of effort, they managed to get Twilight onto the picnic table outside the cottage they had come to. Apple Bloom wiped some sweat from her brow.

"Everypony ready?" asked Sweetie Belle, and the other two nodded.

The Breezies' bodies all glowed with their signature coloured magic, and they were all engulfed in colourful flames. Then something very magical happened. Their bodies began to grow, their legs elongated, and their Breezie wings dissolved into their flanks. When the light faded, the Breezies were no longer tiny winged creatures. They were now the size and shape of fully grown ponies, with no wings in sight.

"Oooh," mused Scootaloo, "The world seems so much smaller."

"That's because we're bigger, you dummy," said Sweetie Belle, rolling her eyes.

"Big enough to convince Twilight we're ponies," said Scootaloo.

"But we don't have cutie marks," said Apple Bloom, looking down at her bare flank, "And no amount of magic can give somepony a cutie mark."

"We can say we're still Blank Flanks," Sweetie Belle replied, "It's a believable story."

Nearby, from behind a tree not far from the cottage, Discord was watching their every move.

"So those brainless Breezies have taken her to a cottage in the middle of nowhere in hopes of getting her away from my curse?" mused Discord, "How positively adorable."

With a flash of light, he vanished.

"Come on, you two," said Apple Bloom, beckoning to Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo to come inside the house, "Let's make ourselves at home."

Leaving Twilight Sparkle outside, they all headed into the cottage. They opened the door and stepped into one large room. The left side of it contained a few items of furniture and a small wooden table. The right side had a line of cupboards and a sink built into the wall, and a round table to eat at was set near the window. Up against the wall opposite the door was a wooden staircase leading upstairs.

But the place was not exactly taken care of. The floorboards were caked with dust and mould, areas of the wooden walls were rotting, and the furniture was ragged and moth-eaten. The cupboards was littered with muck, with dozens of dirty dishes and cutlery all over the floor, the furniture was practically in splinters, and the sink was overflowing with mould and fungi.

"Dude, that really stinks!" gagged Scootaloo.

"This place sure needs a little makeover," said Sweetie Belle, looking at the peeling paint and dust-caked floorboards of the living room.

"You're darned tootin' it does," said Apple Bloom, "But it's nothin' we can't handle. We just need a little of this."

She raised her hoof, and magic swirled around the room as Apple Bloom cast her spell.

There was a rumble of furniture and a clink of cutlery, and when the spell finished, the whole room was—there was no other way to put it—perfect. The wooden floorboards were gleaming clean, and the brown wood walls did not hold a speck of dust. The furniture was plump and comfortable, and the windows were spotless. The cupboards were sparkling and unblemished, and the plates and cutlery were organized perfectly inside them. The wooden kitchen table was fixed and perfect, with three chairs set around it.

"Wow, Apple Bloom!" exclaimed Scootaloo, "That looks awesome!"

"Aw, shucks," said Apple Bloom, embarrassedly, "It was nothin'."

"Come on, you two, we'd better fix up the rest of this cottage and make ourselves at home," said Sweetie Belle, beckoning to Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, "After all, we've got a lot of waiting ahead of us."

While the Breezies used their magic to spruce up the cottage they would call home for the next sixteen years, another person was busy giving their home a makeover.

With a flash of light, Discord appeared on the path leading up to a maze of dark trees. It was his home, the place he had resided many millennia ago. The Everfree Forest. Sadly, when he had been turned to stone, his magic had been dispelled, and all the chaos and wonder had disappeared from it, reducing it to nothing more than a few acres of trees. Until now, that is. Cracking his knuckles, Discord rose above the trees and snapped his fingers. With a flash of light, the Everfree Forest restored to its former wonder! Nearly all the trees vanished and the damp grassy floors became brightly coloured checked grounds, with small hills dotted around. Chocolate milk rained down from the sky and an assortment of odd creatures scampered here and there. Huge rainbow-coloured rivers flowed through the ground, enormous haywire clocks and oversized cards stuck out in all kinds of places, and hundreds of crazy, colourful plants sprouted up from the ground. Enormous pyramids of cards towered up into the sky, and dozens of chaotic landmarks and giant trinkets poked out of the ground in all sorts of places.

"Ah, it really is good to be back," said Discord, gleefully, from the black and red throne he had conjured up for himself on top of one of the small hills.

He gazed round gleefully at his land. It had been such a long time. And in just twenty-four hours since escaping, he had placed a curse on Cadance and Shining Armor's daughter and regained his old land. Boy, was this day looking up.

"But wait!" frowned Discord, looking at the line of trees cutting off his land from the rest of Equestria, "Celestia knows the Everfree is where I reside. She will know where to find me. I need some kind of protection."

The answer immediately came to him, and he gave a devilish laugh. He snapped his fingers and appeared on the outskirts of his land by the line of remaining trees, wearing a gardener's outfit. He extended his hand and a paper bag of pitch-black seeds appeared in it. Plunderseeds. He took a handful and crunched them up, before flying down the line of Everfree trees, scattering them round the edges of the trees. His eagle claw became a watering can and water poured over them as he did so. Before long, a mass of huge black twisted vines emerged out of the ground, wrapping around the trees and spreading round, cutting off any possible entrance or exit to Discord's land.

As he watched them grow, Discord gave a laugh of glee! He snapped his fingers and a line of dark grey spiked clouds appeared in the sky above the Plunderseed walls.

"Those should take care of any pegasi or Earth ponies who want to home in on my territory," Discord said, with satisfaction, "And I'll also need something to prevent Celestia and her little unicorn pals from using their magic to get in."

He snapped his fingers and cast a spell. A translucent pink glow materialized over the land for a few moments, then faded away.

"There," he said, smirking, "Now no unicorn or alicorn magic alike will be able to penetrate my walls. Ooh, Discord. You're good."

With his land restored to its former glory, and the Plunderseeds and magic-preventing barrier protecting it, Discord's work here was done for the moment. He snapped his fingers, and with a flash of light, he vanished and reappeared in a stone cavern. The cavern was brightly lit by the glow of the mysterious tree in the heart of it. It had five long twisted branches, and at the end of each one was a block with a gem-shaped opening in the middle. Celestia and Luna's cutie marks were made out on the trunk, and in the very centre was a glowing white star. This was the Tree of Harmony.

Seeing how full of life the Tree was, Discord's face fell.

"Oh," he sighed, "It seems the Tree hasn't been robbed of its magic quite yet. Pity. Those seeds I planted should have sprouted up centuries ago."

His eyes grazed the empty spaces where the Elements of Harmony used to be, and he smirked.

"But what does that matter anymore, anyway?" he said, carelessly, "My plan is foolproof. Twilight Sparkle will fall into an eternal sleep, Tree or no Tree."

As for Twilight Sparkle, she was not quite getting the attention and care a newborn filly required. The Breezies may have been powerful and talented, but they were perhaps not the best parental guardians. As they continued to spruce up their cottage and make themselves at home for the next few hours, Twilight Sparkle wailed and cried from outside. The Breezies all hurried out to see what was the matter. They all crowded round the wailing filly, trying to figure out what was wrong with her.

"I know!" exclaimed Sweetie Belle, "I bet she's hungry! We need to give her something to eat!"

Sweetie Belle used her magic to pull some daffodils from the grass, and dropped them onto Twilight Sparkle's lap.

"There you go, Princess Twilight," said Sweetie Belle, "Eat up."

Twilight Sparkle blinked and looked curiously up at the Breezies, before bursting into tears again, her wails and screams cutting through the air like a knife!

Discord, who was watching from nearby, gave a scream of anguish! He plucked his horns off his head and plugged them into his ears!

"That little filly is going to perish with those three Breezies looking after her," Discord muttered, looking over at the cottage.

That night, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo all slept snuggled up together on one bed, while Twilight Sparkle wailed and sobbed from her little cot in the other room. She was still hungry, of course, as she had not had anything all day, and the Breezies had not done a very good job of looking after her or putting her to bed.

As a fresh surge of tears streamed down the baby alicorn's face, there was a sound from outside. The window glowed with magic and opened, and a tiny Discord fluttered into the room. With a flash of light, he returned to his normal size. He looked pitifully down at the tiny purple alicorn lying there in the cot, crying her eyes out. He almost felt sorry for her. Almost.

"Looks like you're not quite getting the care you need from those useless Breezies," he said to her, with a mix of disgust, disapproval and slight amusement.

Twilight's only reply was another rush of sobs, and tears continued to stream from her big purple eyes as she wailed.

Discord's expression softened. "Come here, Twilight Sparkle," he said, reaching into the cot and picking her up.

He began to gently rock the little filly in his arms, crooning softly to her as he did so. Twilight whimpered a little, but as Discord rocked her, eventually the tears stopped cascading down her face, and a happy smile replaced the sad expression.

"That's better," Discord said, softly.

He stroked her mane with his lion paw, which seemed to cheer her up a lot. She gurgled happily and cuddled up to the draconequus. Sensing his work was done, Discord reached back over and carefully lay the baby alicorn back in her bed and tucked the covers over her. She gave a wail and reached her hoof out to him as he turned away. Discord looked back round and realized she was still hungry from earlier. Honestly, those three Breezies were hopeless. Discord snapped his fingers and with a flash of light, a bottle of milk appeared in his eagle claw. He gave it to Twilight, who made a happy noise and put it in her mouth, sucking up the milk.

Hopefully that'll shut her up for the night, Discord thought, irritably, snapping his fingers and vanishing.

Chapter 5

As Discord had predicted, Princess Celestia did indeed order her armies to invade the Everfree Forest. She did not, however, expect it to be easy. Discord was the most powerful being ever to be known to the universe, and the only thing that could stop him was the Elements of Harmony. Celestia had previously entrusted her most faithful subjects—Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy—with the Elements of Honesty, Loyalty, Generosity, Laughter and Kindness, while keeping the Element of Magic for herself. She had yet to find a unicorn who was worthy of it.

The day after he had cursed Twilight, Discord was lazing on top of one of the Plunderseed vines, using a small alligator to file his nails. He was rather enjoying it, until he heard a huge series of hoofbeats coming from his right. He looked over and jumped!

Hundreds of armoured unicorns, pegasi and Earth ponies advanced on the Plunderseed border that blocked off the Everfree Forest. Leading these vast rows of warriors was none other than Princess Celestia herself, accompanied by her five Elements, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy.

They look like they're looking for a fight, thought Discord, lazily.

"Oh, hello, Princess Celestia!" he called down, catching the princess's attention, "So kind of you to drop by, really. I can't remember the last time I got a visitor."

"Discord!" shouted Celestia, "I order you to surrender now, or we will attack!"

"Oh, I'd forgotten how grim you can be, Celestia," Discord said, lazily, "It's really quite boring."

"Hey!" shouted Rainbow Dash, "Nopony insults the princess!"

The blue pegasus shot off the ground with a blast of rainbow light and aimed a kick right at Discord, but one of the spiked clouds above blasted her with lightning, sending her crashing into the ground!

"You must be Rainbow Dash," said Discord, coolly, appearing in front of them on one of his spiked clouds, "Famed for her loyalty, the Element of Harmony you represent."

"So y'know who we are, big deal!" said Applejack, rolling her eyes.

"Oh, I know much more than that," replied Discord, "Honest Applejack."

"You seem to know our strengths, too," said Rarity, suspiciously.

"Yes, beautiful Rarity," replied Discord, "Your Element is Generosity, if I'm not mistaken. Fluttershy's is Kindness, and Pinkie Pie's is a personal favourite of mine. Laughter."

Pinkie Pie stifled a giggle.

"Adorable, how you entrust the most powerful weapons in Equestria to these five, Celestia," said Discord, flexing his fingers, "I could send you all away just by snapping my fingers." His face twisted into a sly grin. "But then again, where would be the fun in that?" he purred, rubbing his hands together.

He leaped off the cloud and rose into the air, his hands glowing with bright red magic!

"I call on those who live in the shadows!" he shouted, "Fight with me now!"

The ground beneath the ponies' feet began to shake, and in an explosion of rubble, a colossal Tatzlwurm burst out of the ground and gave a shrieking roar above the armies! The Plunderseed vines parted, and Timberwolves galloped out, baring their vicious teeth!

"Attack!" shouted Discord!

"Quick, girls!" exclaimed Celestia, "We must use the Eleme—"

The Tatzlwurm gave a great screech, spraying the pony armies with saliva, glueing their hooves to the ground! Celestia struggled to free herself from the goo off her hooves and ordered her armies to retaliate! The stallions galloped forward to battle the creatures of the Everfree Forest! As the battle began, Discord conjured up a cinema couch on top of the Plunderseed wall and watched the fight from above. He grabbed a handful of popcorn from his box and crunched it up.

"Now this is what I call entertainment," he mused, adjusting his 3D glasses.

Soon, he wasn't content just watching, and joined the fight himself. He snapped his fingers and with a flash of light, two dozen of the soldiers were trapped in stage boxes, with magical saws cutting them in half! Another dozen transformed into pink fluffy bunnies and all jumped into a giant top hat! About fifty became puppets on puppet strings, and struggled helplessly in the air! He summoned up dozens of cream pies and hurled them into the faces of stallions, splattering them with cream and messing up their vision! He raised his hands, which turned into pop-out boxing gloves and punched two stallions in the faces! He effortlessly took out soldier after soldier, until many were running for their lives!

However, this was not the same with Celestia. The princess spread her wings and shot above the fight! She ignited her horn and aimed it right at Discord! Seeing her, Discord swooped out to face her head-on. Burning flashes of chaos magic and alicorn magic shot through the air as the two attacked! Discord summoned a ball of burning energy and fired it at Celestia, singeing her rippling rainbow mane! Celestia gasped, summoned her magic and blasted a burning beam of fire at Discord!

There was a flash of light and Discord reappeared in a golfer's outfit. "Fore!" he shouted, and swung the golfer's club, whacking the beam of fire back to Celestia!

She gasped, and dodged, the blast missing her by a hair's breadth, singeing her skin! Her face contorted with fury and she blasted another burning magical beam at Discord!

"I'm sorry, Celestia," Discord said, his head splitting in two and the beam shooting right through it, "You know, you're very pretty. I always did like you."

With a firm blast of bright blue chaos magic, Celestia smashed into the ground in an almighty explosion! She winced and tried to stand up.

"What would you do if you didn't!?" she said, looking up in fright, "Quick, girls! We must use the Elements to dispel his magic!"

Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy galloped over! They all stood in a circle, and the Elements around their necks began to glow! Celestia's eyes lit up white, and the six of them rose into the air!

Seeing the Elements take effect, Discord's eyes widened in panic! He quickly vanished and appeared back on top of the Plunderseed wall, within the safety of his magical barrier.

"Oh, this should be good," he drawled.

Bright flashes of light blasted from the Elements if Harmony around the ponies' necks! As the Elements connected, a bright pink bubble of magic lit up around them, and a huge colourful rainbow erupted from inside and shot towards Discord! He shielded himself with his arms, but just as the rainbow blast reached the boundaries of the Everfree Forest, it dispersed into thin air! The six wielders of the Elements dropped to the ground and landed in a heap.

Celestia gasped! "W-what!?" she exclaimed.

"Ohohoho," Discord exclaimed, interestedly, removing his hands from his face, "It seems the spell I put on this realm to counteract all your powers truly does work."

He clenched his eagle claw, and the Elements of Harmony around Celestia's five subjects' necks began to glow! He yanked his claw back and the Elements yanked the ponies towards him!

"Will you ever learn?" he purred.

He splayed his hand, and they all crashed into the ground!

"You must go, my little ponies!" exclaimed Celestia, helping them get up to her hooves, "There is no magic strong enough to penetrate his residence!"

There was a great screech as another Tatzlwurm, bright green instead of pink, burst out of the ground near the army and crunched up a mouthful of soldiers in its mouth! Celestia's army cried out in fear and bolted from the Everfree Forest!

"Going somewhere?" purred Discord, snapping his fingers. With a flash of light, the grounds turned into soap, and the ponies all slipped on the slippery surface and fell on their fronts.

"Why leave so soon?" he asked, innocently, "The fun's only just begun!"

He snapped his fingers and a dozen giant pepper pots appeared above the army, shaking pepper down onto everypony, making them all sneeze uncontrollably!

Discord burst out laughing! "That's—priceless!" he laughed, his hands clamped over his stomach, "Priceless! Ha ha ha!"

"Quickly, my little ponies," Celestia urged the five Elements, "It is clear we cannot defeat him. I won't lose you in vain!"

"Come back soo-oon!" Discord sang, giving Celestia and her other ponies a playful wave as they fled.

Chapter 6

Confident that Celestia and her Elements were incapable of entering the Everfree Forest, the Lord of Chaos started visiting the Breezies' cottage more often, mostly to laugh at Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo's abysmal attempts to raise the little princess. Soon, however, when the Breezies got the hang of it, he got bored and decided perhaps to pull a few strings himself. After all, what was the Lord of Chaos without a few disharmony-causing pranks?

One night, the Breezies were playing a fantasy role-playing board game called Ogres & Oubliettes, when Apple Bloom felt something wet and sticky drop onto her mane. She reached up and touched it, revealing it to be chocolate milk. There was a noise, and a dozen more droplets of chocolate milk rained onto her.

"Sweetie Belle, stop it," scolded Apple Bloom.

"I didn't do anything," said Sweetie Belle, "It must've been Scootaloo."

"Scootaloo, stop it," said Apple Bloom.

"It wasn't me," said Scootaloo.

Chocolate milk started to rain down harder, and Apple Bloom gasped and spluttered, using her bow to shield herself from the rain coming from the pink cotton candy cloud above her!

Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo laughed!

"Don't you two laugh at me!" yelled Apple Bloom!

Another cloud appeared over Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, drenching their manes in chocolate milk! They both cried out in surprise and tried to shelter themselves, while it was Apple Bloom's turn to laugh!

"You are gonna pay for that!" screamed Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo!

"Hey, don't look at—" started Apple Bloom.

Suddenly, a dozen more pink clouds appeared, filling the room, and chocolate milk began to pour out if them, turning the drizzle into a downpour! Chocolate milk flooded the room, the level rising up to their flanks!

"AAAAAH!" shrieked Sweetie Belle, "Make it STOP!"

"My mane!" screamed Apple Bloom, trying to shield herself from the downpour.

"WHAT IS HAPPENING!?" screamed Scootaloo, running around, trying to grab objects to use as umbrellas.

Manipulating the cotton candy clouds from outside, Discord burst into hopeless hysterics!

"Ha ha ha ha!" he laughed, wiping tears from his eyes, "That's—just—priceless! Ha ha ha ha!"

Though he did not give much more than two hoots about Twilight, he watched over her and the Breezies for the next few years. There was one day where the Breezies were having a picnic on a field not too far from a cliff, and as usual, their attention was not on Twilight. As they chit-chattered, a 5-year-old Twilight was bouncing around in the grass, flapping her tiny wings. Her wings were not fully grown, so Twilight could not do more than just hover in the air for a few seconds before flopping back down. She was not discouraged, however, and continued to chase butterflies around the field, flitting into the air for a few moments at a time.

Discord, who was sitting on top of a tree in a forest not far from the cliff, let his eyes wander and caught sight of the tiny alicorn galloping through the grass, chasing the butterflies towards the edge of the cliff.

"Ohoho," he said, looking over, interestedly, "Would you look at that? The dear, sweet little thing is about to fall to her death."

He watched as Twilight happily bounced towards the cliff. She stumbled on the edge, and fell off, letting out a scream of fear!

She screamed in terror as she fell, before landing on a soft surface. She opened her eyes and realized she was lying on a soft, squishy pink cloud. Tenderly, she stuck out her tongue and tasted it. It tasted good. She nibbled at it, smiling as she bit through the casing and reached the chocolate centre. Discord raised his hand and the cotton candy cloud rose up to the top of the cliff and set down on the grass, a good distance away from the edge. There was a flash of light and the cloud vanished, and Twilight landed on the soft grass. She giggled and trotted back over to the Breezies' picnic.

A good while later, when Discord was just about to head back to the Everfree Forest, he heard a little voice say from behind him, "Hello."

The draconequus turned round to see Twilight Sparkle on the grass, looking up at him with big, adorable eyes. "Oh," Discord said, looking down at Twilight, "The little princess, Twilight Sparkle. You really are adorable." He gave her a pat on the head. "But I don't have time for little fillies now. So why don't you scoot along back to those three..."

As he spoke, Twilight watched him with intrigue. Slowly, she walked towards him and touched his long brown body with her hoof. She made a little noise and walked around him. She seemed to be interested by his snake tail, and started playing with the white tuft at the end.

"Up! Up!" she said, reaching up her hooves to him.

Discord shook his head, then rolled his eyes and groaned. "Oh, alright."

Twilight started laughing as Discord took her into his arms and rested her head on his shoulder. She giggled and wrapped her front hooves around his neck as he patted the back of her head. Then she started poking and examining his horn and antler.

"Ouch!" winced Discord, as she poked at his horn and antler, "That hurts! Bad Twilight! Ow! Ow! Get off!"

He prised Twilight off his horns and held her at length, rubbing his sore head with his lion paw. Twilight giggled and reached out with her hooves.

"Oh, you little ponies are too cute for your own good," said Discord, irritably, rubbing his sore horns and placing Twilight back on the grass, "Now go on. Off you go. Bye bye."

Twilight giggled happily and trotted back down the path she had come. Discord watched her go and rolled his eyes. Fillies.

Chapter 7

As the years passed by and the seasons changed, so did Princess Twilight. She loved to explore all the parts of her home, among all the flowers, trees and animals. Her three aunts had told her she could explore as much of the land as she wanted, just as long as she never went past the stretch of trees that separated her homeland from the rest of Equestria. But one day, a little while after she turned fifteen, Twilight Sparkle became curious. Curious about what was out there. Curious about the places beyond her home, and what adventures she might have exploring them. And it was on that day that Twilight decided to find out.

She told her three aunts that she was going out, and began her journey up to the edge of her homeland, hoping that she would find something on the other side. She passed the cherry trees, with their beautiful blossoms, the pink petals swirling round in the breeze. She passed the babbling brook, with its crystal-clear waters and cattails growing along the banks. She passed the grassy meadows with the squirrels and bunnies scampering happily around, until she reached the edge of her homeland.

As she looked up at the trees, she felt a flicker of doubt. Her aunts had obviously warned her not to come here for a reason.

But I'm not helpless! thought Twilight, fiercely, I'm fifteen, and I know tons of advanced magic! I can take care of myself!

With her doubts vanishing, she strode into the trees. They were so thick it was almost like nighttime. Then Twilight had an idea. Activating a simple torch spell she had learned from her aunts, she projected a glowing beam of light from her horn through the trees, lighting up the area around her. Now she could see everything. Twilight gave a satisfied nod. Much better.

Soon she reached the end of the trees and looked out at the grassy landscape. It didn't look much different to the land she had just crossed over from. But then Twilight Sparkle noticed something really interesting. About a quarter of a mile from where she was standing, there was a tall, wide, craggy cliff. And on top of the cliff, a little to the left, Twilight could see the top of what looked like an old, ruined castle.

Twilight's eyes widened. Her first step out of her home territory and she had come across this. A smile spread across the purple alicorn's face, and she galloped towards the cliff. An old spooky castle certainly sounded like something worth exploring. She reached the cliff and looked up. Huh. It sure looked taller close up.

Now how to get up there? thought Twilight, Should I fly?

Being an alicorn, Twilight Sparkle had wings, of course, but she wasn't very good with them. Her aunts had taught her everything she knew about magic, but they had never taught her how to fly. The most she could do was flap them and rise up into the air, before wobbling and teetering, eventually losing balance and flopping back down. Flying was very hard. She just couldn't seem to keep herself upright.

But there was a castle to be explored, and to do that, she had to get to the top if the cliff. Taking a deep breath, she opened her wings and began to flap them. At first it seemed to work; she rose up into the air, but as she began to fly faster, one one of her wings went wonky, and she smacked into the face of the cliff!

"Ow!" she moaned!

She suddenly fell backwards and hurtled towards the ground!

"AAAAAAAAAH!" she screamed, flapping her wings like crazy!

She divebombed down, then swerved back up in a loop!

"YAAAAAAAAAH!" she screamed, as she flew around and around, before smashing into the ground with a spray of dirt and stones.

"Ow!" she moaned, massaging her sore skin.

She shakily stood up and brushed off the dirt from her wings. Shaking herself off, she peered up at the cliff. Obviously flying wasn't going to get her anywhere.

"How am I going to get up there now?" wondered Twilight.

Then she had an idea.

"Oh, I know!" she exclaimed, "Teleportation!"

Screwing her eyes shut, she tried to do a teleportation spell. It was risky, as she hadn't quite mastered teleportation spells yet. Only yesterday had she tried to teleport downstairs for breakfast, and ended up sitting in a bird's nest, surrounded by cheeping chicks.

Twilight shook that minor disaster out of her head and cast the spell. She disappeared in a flash of purple light, and reappeared at the top of the cliff. She looked around and her face lit up!

"I did it!" she exclaimed, trotting away from the edge of the cliff and towards the castle.

Suddenly, her hoof slipped and fell into empty space, and she stumbled on the edge of a deep chasm. She quickly stepped back.

"Wow," she said, shakily, "That was close."

She took a look down at the chasm. It was deep, and extremely wide. There seemed to be a cave built down in one of the walls, and on the opposite side to where Twilight was standing, there was a stone staircase leading down to the bottom.

"What is this place?" breathed Twilight, gazing down into the chasm.

She trotted round the edge of the chasm, intending to reach the staircase and explore. But as she trotted round, she noticed something incredible. She slowed to a walk, and headed over. A few dozen metres away from the chasm was a long line of trees. And coiled round them, preventing anypony or anything from getting through, were hundreds of enormous spiky black vines. They covered every inch of the trees, and Twilight couldn't see any opening.

Curious, Twilight activated her magic and tried to teleport to the other side, but it didn't seem to work. It was like there was something blocking her magic, preventing her from entering what was hidden behind those vines.

Meanwhile, unknown to Twilight, somepony else was watching her. Discord leaned against the side of the cave, smirking as he watched the purple alicorn examine his Plunderseed vines.

"Curious little pony," he purred, as Twilight turned away from the vines and headed back over to the Castle of the Two Sisters.

Discord smirked, then spotted a little brown bunny rabbit scampering across the ground near him. He gave it a firm tap in the head with his eagle claw, and with a flash of light, it mutated into a huge sabre-tooth bunny rabbit, twice the size of the original.

"Bring her to me!" purred Discord, stroking the mutant bunny rabbit under the chin.

Twilight walked up to the castle and stared up at it. It looked much more mysterious close up. It was a deep purple, and most of the top looked like it had been burned away long ago. It looked like a place that held a lot of secrets. She was about to head inside and see what the castle held, when she heard a screech from behind her. She turned round to see a bunny rabbit with huge sabre teeth sitting on the grass.

Twilight's eyes widened. "What are you?" she wondered, looking down at the rabbit.

The rabbit gave a screech and Twilight took a step back. It bounced over and yanked at her tail with its teeth. She gasped and tried to shake it off.

"Get off me!" she cried!

She flung the rabbit away from her, and it landed on the grass. It shook itself off and bounced back up to Twilight. It moved its paws towards itself, as if beckoning to her.

"What is it?" Twilight asked it, "Do you want me to follow you?"

The rabbit nodded eagerly, then hopped behind Twilight and started nudging her forward.

"OK! OK!" laughed Twilight, as the rabbit nudged her along, "I'm coming!"

The rabbit clapped its paws and scampered away from her. She trotted after it, feeling rather excited. The rabbit scampered around the side of the chasm with Twilight in hot pursuit. It reached the stone staircase and hopped down the steps leading down into the chasm.

"Wait!" called Twilight, swerving round and galloping down the steps after the rabbit, "Stop! I can't keep up with you!"

She reached the bottom of the steps and galloped forward, just in time to see the rabbit disappear into the cave she had seen in the wall. She galloped after it and ran into the cave.

But she slowed to a walk as she saw the sight before her. Her jaw dropped as low as it could go as her eyes fell upon the glowing magical tree, draped with shimmering vines and glowing silver gemstones. She gazed at it in awe. The rabbit at her hooves gave a little screech, and she patted it on the head without really noticing.

Then, in the shadows behind the mysterious tree, something definitely moved. Twilight's ears pricked up, and her eyes fixed on the tree. The light from the tree was casting a shadow of someone else behind it.

"Hello?" she called, her voice echoing round the cavern, "I know you're in there. Don't be afraid."

She listened for a moment, then heard a low, soft voice speak from behind the tree. "I'm not afraid."

"Then come out," said Twilight, curiously.

"Then you'll be afraid," the voice purred.

Twilight's eyes widened. "No," she called, "Please come out. I won't be scared of you. I promise."

She waited for another moment and then heard the voice speak, "As you wish."

Twilight peered curiously at the tree, and saw a tall, thin figure emerge from the shadows behind it. He had a long brown body, and his body parts seemed to be from all sorts of animals. He had two different horns on the top of his grey pony head, and bright yellow eyes with red pupils.

"Whoah...Who are you?" asked Twilight, curiously, "I've never seen anything like you before."

"I look like a lot of different creatures," replied Discord.

"So what's your name?"

"I have a name," answered Discord, "But it is not one you would want to speak. I am but a spirit, residing here."

"So where is "here"?" asked Twilight, curiously, "And what's with that tree? And the castle? And those black vines surrounding that forest?"

"Curious, aren't you?" said Discord, playfully, touching the alicorn's cheek, "See here," he led her to the edge of the cave so she could see his Plunderseed vines, "It's my home. They call it the Everfree Forest."

"The Everfree Forest?" repeated Twilight, "My aunts told me stories about that place. They said it was an awful place and that I should never go there."

"Awful?" repeated Discord, innocently, "Oh no. The Everfree Forest is my residence, controlled by my magic. And I would never let a sweet little pony like you come to any harm."

"You have magic too?" said Twilight, trotting up, "So do I! My aunts taught me everything about it."

The one thing in the universe they can do right, thought Discord, rolling his eyes.

"I even got my cutie mark for magic," Twilight said, pointing to the mark on her flank, "I've studied it for years, then one day I got my cutie mark when I—"

"—Wanted to push your alicorn magic to its limits and ended up turning all the trees into liquorice and your aunts into rabbits?" asked Discord, with a sneaky smile.

Twilight's eyes widened. "How'd you know about that?" she asked, in amazement.

Discord placed his hands on her shoulders and sidled up close to her. "I've been watching over you for a long time, Twilight Sparkle," he said, squeezing her shoulders, "I know all about you."

There was something comforting about having his hands on her shoulders.

"So what's your cutie mark?" Twilight asked, peering over at his flank, "Is it magic too?"

She took a look at his flank and touched his snake tail, reminding Discord faintly of the time when she was five.

"You don't have one," said Twilight, "Are you a blank flank, like my aunts? With no cutie mark?"

"Cutie mark?" repeated Discord, "Ohohoho, no," he chuckled, waving his hand, amusedly, "I don't have a cutie mark, my dear Twilight. For I am a draconequus. You are a pony."

"So do you not have a special talent?" asked Twilight, "Or do you have a special talent but just no cutie mark?" She came up closer to him, rather intrigued. "What can your magic do? Can it teleport? I can teleport, well, only sort of. Can you turn invisible, or make objects move, or duplicate things, or travel through time, or—"

"Whoah, whoah, whoah, far too many questions, my dear," said Discord, pinching Twilight's lips shut, silencing her, "My ears can only hold so much."

His ears detached from his head and fell onto the floor as he said this.

Twilight laughed and brushed his paw off her. "Sorry," she said, smiling, "I've never had anypony to talk to, and maybe I can talk to you.

She smiled up at him, and Discord felt very awkward as she did.

"Perhaps. Isn't it about time you went home, though?" he said, "Your aunts will probably be worried if you don't return soon."

"Well...I guess," said Twilight, regretfully, looking down at the floor.

"Goodbye, Twilight Sparkle," said Discord, "It was very nice meeting you."

"Wait! Will I see you again?" asked Twilight, as he strode away, "Will you be here often?"

Discord turned round and looked down on the young alicorn with a look of affection.

"I'll be here if you need me to be," he said, softly.

And with that, he melted into the shadows, leaving the young alicorn all alone.

What are you getting yourself into, Discord!? he scolded himself.

Chapter 8

"Hello?" Twilight called, as she stepped into the cave the very next day, "Spirit or dracone-whatchamacallit? Are you in here? It's me, Twilight."

Her gaze fell upon the Tree of Harmony.

"Hello?" she called, "Are you there?"

There was a flash of light in front of the tree, and Discord appeared, leaning against it, turning the pages of a book.

"Oh, hello again, my dear Twilight," he said, standing up and tossing aside the book, which instantly grew wings and fluttered out of the cave, "What brings you back here so soon?"

"I...wanted to see you again," said Twilight, shyly, "You said you'd be here. I love my life, but I've always been so lonely. I was hoping we could be friends."

As Twilight said those words, Discord felt a blow to his heart.

"Friends?" he repeated, in a soft voice.

"Of course," said Twilight, smiling at him, "I'd love to have somepony to talk to. We can have fun and do things and explore together."

Her hopeful face made Discord feel rather touched. "Oh..." he said, in a small voice, "Well, I've...never really had a friend before..."

"Well now you do," smiled Twilight, touching his lion paw with her hoof.

She smiled up at him, and Discord felt a bunch of warm fuzzy feelings brew up in his stomach. A smile crawled onto his face, too. He just couldn't help it.

He gave Twilight's mane a quick tussle. "So," he said, "What were you hoping to do today, my dear Twilight?"

"Well...I was hoping you might show me the Everfree Forest," said Twilight, hopefully, "I came out here to explore and maybe have adventures, and the Everfree sounds like such a magical place."

"Are you sure you can handle it?" Discord said, playfully, raising an eyebrow at her, "You are just a little pony, after all."

"Oh yeah?" grinned Twilight, arching her back, "Try me!"

Discord smirked. "Well, in that case," he said, grinning, "I can't imagine what we're still doing here!"

He scooped Twilight up into his arms, and they both vanished in a flash of white light. They reappeared on the other side of the thick black vines, and Twilight opened her eyes.

"Wow!" she exclaimed, "That was cool! I've tried teleportation spells before, but I've only just started to get the hang of iiiiiiiiii..."

Her voice trailed off as she saw the sight before her. Her mouth hanging wide open, she slowly walked across the checked ground, gazing out in astonishment. It was like a land of wonder, filled with anything you could possible imagine! The grounds were checked with dozens of different colours, with a random assortment of giant landmarks and trinkets sticking out from everywhere. Huge playing cards grew out of the ground, and a shimmering rainbow coloured river flowed through the landscape. Mushrooms the size of trees stood along the bright pink grass, and a vast array of bizarre creatures scampered around through the undergrowth.

"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh!" breathed Twilight, trotting past a line of giant ticking clocks growing out of the grass, with twisted hands moving anticlockwise.

"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh!"

She trotted along the banks of the flowing rainbow river. She dipped her hooves in the shimmering rainbow water and hurled into the air, scattering the sparkling rainbow droplets all over!

"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my GOSH!"

She gazed in awe at every single aspect of wonder and chaos around her, from the colourful checked grounds to the array of huge vivid plants striped and spotted with every colour imaginable. From the flowing rainbow river to the ticking clocks and haywire trinkets, from the gargantuan card pyramids to the flying pigs and the tap-dancing fish in top hats.

"Oh my GOSH!" Twilight gaped around her.

Appearing next to her, Discord patted Twilight on the head, sensing she was a little overwhelmed. "It may seem a little chaotic for you," he said, "But—"

"I love it!" The words burst out of Twilight's mouth as she stared around in amazement!

That stopped Discord right in his tracks. "You do?" he repeated.

"It's amazing!" exclaimed Twilight, in awe, "It's like a...wonderland! Do you really live here?"

"I do," replied Discord, "And I find it very homely. I say a little chaos here and there is just what every place needs."

He fluttered back from the river and settled down on the plush pink grass. He produced a large pair of sunglasses from thin air and put them on his face.

Twilight giggled! "I'll say it is!"

She trotted over and sat down next to Discord in the pink grass. It was very soft, much softer than the grass back in her home. Just as she was relaxing and looking round at the land, she felt something wet and sticky drop down on her face. She looked up, just in time to see a bunch of bright pink clouds pass over her head past, drenching her and Discord in a torrent of sticky brown milk! They coughed and spluttered and tried to shelter themselves from the downpour!

"What was that!" exclaimed Twilight, shaking herself off.

"Oh, just some of my cotton candy clouds," said Discord, snapping his fingers and getting rid of the chocolate milk covering him and Twilight.

Twilight's head tilted in confusion. "Um...what's "cotton candy"?" she asked.

Discord gasped! "You've never tasted cotton candy before!?" he exclaimed.

Twilight shrugged.

"Well, we've got to do something about that right away, haven't we?" Discord said, firmly.

A cotton candy cone appeared in his lion paw, which elongated and reached up to the bunch of clouds, scooping up one of them in the cone.

He brought it back down and took a bite. "Mmmm," he said, satisfied, "Delicious. Here, have a taste."

He passed the cone to Twilight, who took a bite. An overwhelmed expression spread over her face! She didn't think she'd ever tasted anything like it! Suddenly, all the delicious daisy-and-daffodil sandwiches she had eaten in her life seemed like tasteless dust!

"Wowwwww..." breathed Twilight, licking her lips.

"Tasty, aren't they?" said Discord, breezily.

An empty glass appeared in his hand and he held it under a nearby cloud, filling it with chocolate milk. He brought it to his lips, but instead of drinking the milk, he drank the glass, and tossed the chocolate milk over his shoulder, which exploded.

Twilight laughed! "How did you do that!?" she exclaimed.

"First thing you need to know about me, my dear," Discord said, pinching her cheek between his finger and thumb, "I can do anything."

Twilight laughed and pushed him off her cheek. "Then will you show me more of your land?" she asked, hopefully.

"It would be my pleasure, my dear," Discord said, reappearing in a posh black butler outfit, and leading her down the path.

Twilight laughed! "I'll never get bored with you around!"

They headed down the path decorated with the ticking clocks, and Twilight spotted a house sitting on top of a floating chunk of land.

"Hey, is that your house?" asked Twilight, galloping over.

"It certainly is," replied Discord, following her over.

Twilight stared up at the house on the floating chunk of land. Flowing from it was a thin rainbow waterfall, down into a rainbow water pool about the size of Twilight's bedroom.

Oh, and the rainbow water was flowing up, from the pool to the house.

"The water's flowing...up?" she said, in disbelief, "But...that's impossible!"

"When it comes to chaos magic," said Discord, patting Twilight on the head, "There's no such thing as impossible."

Since Twilight insisted he show her his house, Discord gave her a personal tour, from the zero-gravity kitchen, to the furniture on the living room ceiling, to the curtains that opened and closed all by themselves.

"So you relax on the ceiling and eat your meals in mid-air!? My mind is officially blown!" she squealed, jumping around excitedly.

She suddenly spotted a bookcase by the chaise lounge and walked over. She picked up one of the books with her magic and read the title: Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone.

"Don't tell me," she said, grinning, looking over at Discord, "You have a bunch of books that turn pages all by themselves?"

Discord stood silently for a few seconds. "Actually, those are just books," he said, in a thoughtful voice, "But that's not a bad idea!"

He snapped his fingers, and all the Daring Do books on the shelf hovered up in the air, opened, and the pages flipped by all by themselves, making Twilight laugh!

"This place is AMAZING!" she squealed!

They vanished and appeared back outside his front door, and Twilight spotted a huge tree growing on another floating chunk of land not far from the house. It was very tall, with leaves a deep shade of cerulean and a mauve trunk.

"What's that?" Twilight asked, pointing at it.

"That's my Thinking Tree," replied Discord, "It's where I do most of my really deep thinking."

They vanished and reappeared back on the ground.

"So what else is there to see?" asked Twilight, eagerly.

Suddenly, she felt a tremor beneath her hooves. "Whoah!" she exclaimed, stumbling on her hooves as the ground shook, "What's happening!?"

There was a huge explosion, and a worm the size of a castle tower burst out of the ground, scattering dirt and stones everywhere! It had greyish violet scales and a bright red mane-like structure. Its eyes were black and beady, and the scales on its head were pale fuchsia. The colossal worm looked down on Twilight, and gave a tremendous screech, its mouth bursting open into a vicious tripartite jaw with spikes jabbing out of the flesh and three black tentacles writhing from three centre!

Twilight screamed in terror and leapt away, shielding herself with her hooves as the Tatzlwurm screeched, spraying the ground with saliva!

"Excuse me!" snapped Discord, angrily to the Tatzlwurm, "Where are your manners!? Is that any way to treat a new friend!?"

The Tatzlwurm stopped, then closed its maw and sank down a little, looking remorseful. Twilight opened her eyes a crack and removed her hooves from her face. Cautiously, she walked up to the Tatzlwurm and reached out a hoof. She patted it on the head a few times, and it gurgled happily in the back of its throat. Twilight laughed! The Tatzlwurm gave her a lick with one of its tendrils, then sank back into the ground.

Twilight laughed again! "What was that?" she asked, smiling.

"A Tatzlwurm," replied Discord, "One of the many creatures who lives here."

"Well I love it," said Twilight, happily, trotting along, gazing at all the wonder and chaos, "I love everything about your place."

Discord watched her trot around, looking at everything there was to see, and smiled. He had assumed he would hate the daughter of Celestia's niece, but he didn't. She was something special, definitely. Previously, he had assured himself that the only reason he had watched over her these years was because he wanted to see the Breezies make fools of themselves, having been kept from entertainment for thousands of years, but now he realized that wasn't the only reason. Discord wasn't the cruel, scheming, coldhearted master of chaos he had once been, and he knew it.

Twilight petted a Jackalope on its head. It nibbled on her hoof, before scampering off to join the rest of them. Twilight laughed! This place was so magical. Then her eyes fell upon the black vines that surrounded the land. They weren't like any other plant she had ever seen. But this was the Everfree Forest, after all. Everything here was new.

Twilight slowly reached out to touch the huge black vines, but as she did so, one of them whipped out and seized her hoof in its coils! She gasped and tried to break free, but Discord quickly tapped the vine with his eagle claw, and it disappeared in a flash of light.

"Thank you," said Twilight, in relief, keeping well away from the Plunderseed vines, "What are those things?"

"Plunderseed vines," answered Discord, "To keep out those who try to break through."

"Why would anypony try to break through?" asked Twilight, "You could stop them just by snapping your fingers or flapping your wings if you wanted to."

Discord snapped his fingers, and five different coloured bubbles appeared above his hands. Inside each bubble was an apparition of a pony. The first was orange with a pale yellow mane, and a cutie mark of three red apples on her flank. The second was bright pink with a bouncy mane and a cutie mark of three balloons. The third was a pure white unicorn with a curled purple mane and a cutie mark of three diamonds. The other two were pegasi, one blue with a rainbow mane and a cutie mark of a cloud with a rainbow lightning bolt, and one yellow with a pink mane and a cutie mark of three pink butterflies. Each of them had their Element of Harmony around their neck.

"I have wings," answered Discord, "They are strong...but not as strong as Rainbow Dash's." He indicated the blue pegasus with the rainbow mane inside the blue bubble. "And my magic is greater than many. But there are still those who are capable of overpowering me." He indicated to the five ponies and their Elements.

He snapped his fingers and the bubbles shattered and disappeared into thin air. He looked down at Twilight and felt something like horrible guilt.

"Listen to me, Twilight Sparkle," Discord told her, placing a paw on Twilight's shoulder and crouching down to her level. "There is evil in this world." He summoned a handful of flames, which reflected in Twilight's eyes. "Hatred," His eyes bored into hers. "And revenge." With a blast, the flames expanded and burst out into a ring of fire, which slowly died away.

Twilight felt the heat on her neck, and her eyes widened. She moved closer to Discord and nestled her head against his chest.

"I know there's danger in the world," said Twilight, putting her arms around him, "But I'm not helpless. I'm fifteen now. I can take care of mysel—"

She was cut off as Discord pinched her lips shut.

"I know you aren't helpless, Twilight Sparkle," he said, "But..."

"...You just care about me," Twilight smiled, her eyes welling up, slightly.

Discord rolled his eyes. "Ughhhhhhhhh...Yes," he admitted, stroking her cheek and looking at her from the corner of his eye, "I do. Please don't make me get sappy."

Twilight laughed!

That night, when Twilight had come home from her adventure, she went straight upstairs. She lay on her bed thinking all about what had happened today. It was like she had found a whole new part of her life. She felt very excited about it. Then she had an idea. Getting off her bed, she walked over to her desk. Going through the drawers, she found one of the empty books of lined paper her aunts had brought her. She picked up a quill with her magic and wrote the words My New Friend on the cover. She opened it to the first page and began to write.

Dear Diary, she wrote, Having friends is something I've never experienced before. My whole life I've spent on my own, around trees and plants, and my three aunts always ignoring me. I've always wanted somepony else to talk to. But something happened to me yesterday that changed everything! I made a friend!

I met him in a cave I was exploring. He says he is a spirit and a draconequus, and is just the most interesting creature I have ever seen. He has the arms and legs of all sorts of creatures, and even has two different wings. He's so nice. He's just the kind of friend I always wanted. He's compassionate, and encouraging, he tells the most amazing stories and he can make ANYTHING funny.

Also, I thought my alicorn magic could do amazing things, but it is nothing compared to his. He can do absolutely anything just with a snap of his fingers. He showed me this amazing land, where everything is topsy-turvy. It was the most incredible thing I have ever seen. It has all kinds of crazy trinkets and wildlife, with a rainbow river and giant card pyramids. It even grows these delicious flowers with rainbow petals and pink cotton candy clouds that rain chocolate. I also met a Tatzlwurm. It seemed scary at first, but it was really sweet. The place even had these endless staircases that go on forever and crazy doors to other dimensions. It was the most fun I've ever had in my life.

My new friend is very odd, but in all kinds of the best ways. He says he will always be there if I need him. I'll never be lonely again with him around. I just know we're going to be the best of friends.

Twilight Sparkle xxx

Chapter 9

Soon after she went home that first night, Twilight started to visit the Everfree Forest every few days. Discord had altered his magic-proof barrier so it would allow Twilight to get in, and as the weeks passed by, the pair began to really grow on each other. Somehow, some way, Twilight Sparkle had found her way into Discord's cold stone heart, although it was not as stone as it had been fifteen years ago. At first he had been very reluctant to let the princess he had cursed into his life, but now he felt different. Every time he thought of Twilight, he smiled. She felt like a very special person to him. Somepony he cared about a lot.

"Other creatures fly," said Twilight Sparkle, when she and Discord were sitting under the rainbow waterfall that led to his house, "But I can't. I never knew how. Every time I try I end up crashing to the ground. I can just never seem to get these wings to do what I want them to do when I want them to do it."

She opened her purple wings for Discord to see. She began to flap them, and hovered in the air for a few moments, before her wings went wonky and she wobbled and crumpled back down.

"See?" she sighed, sadly, standing up and brushing the dirt off her wings, "I'll never be a real alicorn. You know...I always hoped I might be something special. But I guess—"

She was abruptly cut off as Discord pinched her lips shut.

"You are special, Twilight," said Discord, cupping her face in his hands, "Don't you ever forget that."

Twilight smiled and put her arms around him; Discord thought it was weird at first, but soon found warmth in her hug.

"You know," said Discord, pulling Twilight off him, "I have wings too. I could teach you how to fly if you want."

"Really?" Twilight said, "You'd do that for me?"

"Of course," said Discord, smiling, "What are friends for?" He pinched her cheek between his finger and thumb.

Twilight laughed and pushed him off. "So what do I do first?" she asked, eagerly.

"First we need some open space," said Discord, snapping his fingers. They both vanished and reappeared on the pink grass. "Now open your wings, Twilight," he told her, opening his own.

Twilight spread out her beautiful lilac alicorn wings, looking very majestic. "Now what?" she asked.

"Just flap," said Discord, "Not too hard, but just hard enough to get into the air."

"OK," said Twilight.

She began to flap her wings slowly.

"A little faster," said Discord, "A little bit faster."

Twilight did so, and soon she rose off the ground again.

"You're doing great," said Discord, encouragingly.

Twilight beamed at the praise, but her wings suddenly went wonky, and she crumpled back down onto the ground.

"I don't think I can do this," she said, sadly.

"You just need some practice," said Discord, encouragingly, "Try again."

At first it seemed to be a lost cause, as Twilight had never been able to keep balance, and for the first few minutes, she was only able to hover and then flop back down. But as Discord taught her how to keep her wings even as she flapped them, she began to lose some of the klutziness and managed to stay in the air for much longer. Before long, she was able to fly much higher. They practiced for another hour, and by then, Twilight was making smooth dives and curves, able to turn in the air and get her wings to do what she wanted.

Twilight dove smoothly through the air, then with a slightly wobbly landing, her hooves touched the ground again.

"You're a natural, Twilight Sparkle," said Discord, smiling as he landed beside her, "I'm proud of you." He ruffled her mane, affectionately. "Just a bit more practice and you'll be flying like a regular alicorn in no time."

Weeks turned into months, and Twilight was never disappointed by the excitement and magic of Discord's home. Nor was she by him. He always had another surprise up his sleeve. Whether they felt like having an upside-down picnic on a cloud, playing a game of chess with giant living chess pieces, or diving into one of the water pools inside a magic air bubble to see all that was inside there. Anything was possible in his home. Discord also continued to teach Twilight how to use her wings, and in a month or two, she could fly just as brilliantly as any other pegasus.

"Hey there," Twilight said to Discord, one day, landing smoothly on the checked grounds on the other side of the Plunderseed vines and folding her wings.

"Lovely to see you again, my dear," said Discord, scooping her up in an embracing hug.

"Great to see you too," said Twilight, smiling, "I brought something we can do today."

She levitated a large box out of her bag. "It's my favourite board game," she said, "Ogres and Oubliettes."

"I do like games," admitted Discord. Normally he wasn't a big fan of not-so-action-packed activities such as board games, but if it made Twilight happy, then he was happy to play it. "How do we play?"

"Well," said Twilight, happily, sitting down on the ground and opening the box, "This is my character, Princess Twilight Sparkle," she said, levitating up a hand-drawn board piece of a purple alicorn in a crown and a blue dress, "I'm the king and queen's daughter, and next in line for the throne."

As she said this, Discord began to feel very uncomfortable. After all, what Twilight didn't know was that she was, in fact, a princess. And that she had been born to royalty. Thinking about this only reminded him more vividly of what he had done fifteen years ago.

"A...princess, you say?" he said, uneasily.

"I know, right?" said Twilight, rolling her eyes. She placed her piece on the board. "I've been kidnapped by an evil supervillain called the Squid Wizard, or the "Squizard" for short," she chuckled, holding up a card piece with a picture of a squid holding two wands, "The Squizard possesses very powerful evil magic, and has an army of evil skeleton ponies. He kidnapped me to make me his bride and take over the land. That's where you come in. Your character is basically the knight in shining armour."

Discord's eyes snapped open! "Shining...Armor?" he said, uneasily.

Twilight gave him a weird look. "Um, yeah," she said, slowly, before going back to the game, "So first you have to make your character. What do you want to be? A magician, a swordsman, an archer? Which one?"

"I don't mind," Discord answered, "You choose."

"Then how about an archer?" said Twilight, happily, getting out her felt tip pens and starting to draw a picture of Discord in a green archer's costume.

Discord conjured up a fan and rapidly fanned himself, feeling very guilty. Princess Twilight. Shining Armor. Evil magic. Wicked supervillains intent on taking over the land. Who knew board games could be so painfully reminiscent?

"There," said Twilight, putting Discord's piece on the board, "Now let's play!"

Suddenly, Discord was sparked with an idea. "Yes, let's," he said, with a sly smile, "And I think I know how we could make this game even more fun."

"Ooh!" exclaimed Twilight, eagerly, "What?"

With a snap of Discord's claws, there was a flash of blinding light, and they were both standing on a life-size board, surrounded by dozens of huge ten-sided dice. Discord was dressed in his character's green archer's outfit, and Twilight was dressed in the same ballgown as her piece.

"Whoah...I'm Princess Twilight?" exclaimed Twilight, looking down at herself, "And you're..." she looked up at Discord, who strung an arrow from his quiver into his bow, "Awesome! You made the game real!"

There was a stomping sound from behind them! The two friends whipped round to see an army of skeleton ponies marching towards them! They were being led by a squid the size of Discord, wearing a bright red wizard's cloak and holding two glowing magical wands!

"The Squizard!" exclaimed Twilight!

"There she is!" shouted the Squizard, "Guards! Get me Princess Twilight Sparkle!"

Twilight gasped!

"I suggest you stay back and let me handle this, Twilight!" Discord said, firing an arrow at the Squizard's minions, "You are just a little princess, after all!"

"Little princess!?" exclaimed Twilight, "No way!"

With a flash from her horn, she teleported out of her princess dress and appeared in the air next to Discord, before zapping a dozen skeleton ponies with magic from her horn, burning them to a crisp!

"I want some action!" she declared!

Discord grinned. "I knew you'd say that!"

The weeks passed, and the two's friendship just grew and grew. One time, Twilight was examining the creatures that lived in the up-flowing rainbow pool beneath Discord's house, when the Tatzlwurm popped out of the ground beside her. No longer afraid of the creatures who lived here, Twilight patted it on its head, and it gurgled happily. She waved as it sank back into the ground, then suddenly felt a torrent of sticky chocolate milk rain down on her! She coughed and spluttered, then whipped round to see Discord grinning at her over from a tree, controlling the cloud with his magic.

He gave her a playful little wave. "Oops!" he said, grinning.

He was suddenly met with a glob of chocolate-coated cotton candy in the face!

Twilight laughed! "Ha! Gotcha!" she declared, pointing her hoof at him.

Discord wiped the cotton candy off his face and gave Twilight a devious grin.

"Oh, it is on now!" he grinned, snapping his fingers and conjuring up another dozen pink clouds.

He seized a handful from one and hurled it at Twilight, hitting her right in the mouth! She licked her lips, then spread her wings, flew up to a cloud, and gave it a firm buck with her hooves, sending it flying through the air and splattering over Discord! He quickly retaliated, and they both engaged in a messy cotton candy fight, pelting each other with sticky globs of chocolatey cotton candy! Soon they were both sitting in an enormous pile of cotton candy and chocolate milk, laughing so hard they cried!

"Ohoho, my stomach!" laughed Discord, clamping his hands around a cramp he had from laughing so much, "I haven't laughed this hard in eons!"

"I've never laughed this hard!" laughed Twilight, tears of laughter streaming down her chocolate-coated face!

Discord wiped the tears from his own cheeks, and his eyes wavered over the mess of chocolate and pink fluff that was covering a dozen square metres.

"Oh dear!" he chuckled, peeling a sticky clump of cotton candy off his arm, "It seems this has become quite the...sticky situation!"

Twilight burst out laughing again! Her laughter was infectious, and soon they were both in hopeless hysterics!

"I think that's enough disaster for now!" chuckled Discord, "Let me take care of that!"

He snapped his fingers, and the mess of chocolate milk and sticky cotton candy vanished in a flash of light. Twilight giggled and got up.

"I can never have too much fun here!" she laughed!

She flew up to Discord and gave him a big hug, which he returned.

"Oh!" exclaimed Twilight, remembering something, "I almost forgot!"

She flew back to the rainbow pool and picked up her saddlebag, which was lying on the bank.

"I have something for you," she said, flying back over to Discord and opening up her saddlebag.

She ignited her horn and levitated two shiny white objects out of it. Discord recognised them as two of the white gems from the Tree of Harmony. They were both attached to long strings.

"They're BFF necklaces," said Twilight, flying up so their faces were level, "I made them last night."

She levitated one of the necklaces around her own neck, and one around Discord's. Discord held his own necklace in his eagle claw and looked down at it. He felt very touched. A tear managed to escape his eye and trailed down his face.

"Do you like it?" asked Twilight, anxiously.

Discord wiped the tear from his eye. "I love it," he said, taking Twilight in his arms and pressing her head against his chest, "Friends forever, Twilight?"

"Friends forever," replied Twilight, hugging him tightly.

That night, Discord visited Twilight's cottage and headed to her bedside. She was resting peacefully with a smile on her face, probably having a nice dream. Discord smiled. He had never thought he would care about anypony else, but he had been wrong. And it was time to remove his curse for good. Before anything happened to his first, and very special friend.

Discord towered over Twilight and raised his hands.

"I revoke the curse I placed on you many years ago, Twilight Sparkle. Let it be no more."

The same sickly yellow magic from the day he had cursed her shimmered around her body and began to drain out of her. But instead of leaving her body, it blasted Discord away and re-entered Twilight. As the curse faded back into her, Discord heard the whispers saying the very words from the day he had cursed her.

...I cast this curse to last until the end of time. And no power in Equestria and beyond, not even mine, will be able to change it...

Tears filled Discord's eyes as he stared down at the purple alicorn he cared so much about. In that moment, he felt nothing but guilt, and wished there was some way to change what he had done.

"I'm so sorry, Twilight..." he whispered, staring at the BFF necklace she had given him, "I'm so, so, sorry."

Chapter 11

"Hmmmm hmmmm hmmmmm," Discord hummed, as he sat against the Tree of Harmony, waiting for Twilight to come.

He was very much looking forward to today. In just one night, all his feelings of dread had become feelings of joy. Twilight would be staying with him in the Everfree Forest forever, and his curse would never come true.

As he smiled and thought about all the things he and Twilight could do together in the future, he suddenly heard the sound of lightning-fast hoofbeats from outside the cave. Twilight Sparkle appeared at the entrance, swerved to a halt and galloped into the cave!

"Twilight!" beamed Discord, standing up, "I'm so happy you're—"

He broke off as he saw the sweat running down her brow and the panicked expression on her face!

"Is something wrong, my dear?" he asked, worriedly.

"I..." Twilight gasped, breathless from flying here so fast, "It's...I...my...I'm..."

"Slow down, Twilight," said Discord, stroking her mane as she gasped for breath, "Just take your time."

Twilight's back hooves gave way and she collapsed onto the floor, her bulging saddlebag falling off her back. After a few moments, she managed to regain her breath. She took a great gulp, and wiped the sweat from her brow.

"When were you going to tell me I'm cursed?" she asked.

The comforting expression on Discord's face was replaced by panic and worry. He had dreaded this. Twilight had said that letting her stay in the Everfree Forest with him was the best gift he could have given her. But he was always afraid she would find out about his first gift. The gift he had given her at her christening.

"Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo aren't my aunts," Twilight said, "And my parents aren't dead like they told me. I'm a princess. They say I was cursed when I was younger and that my parents sent me away to live with them to protect me from it."

With each word out of Twilight's mouth, a horrible rush of guilt flooded through Discord's body. He sighed and looked back at her.

"They told me I was cursed by an evil spirit," said Twilight, "His name was...oh...I can't remember his name...they said it was...it was..."

"Discord," said Discord, softly.

"Yes!" said Twilight, "Discord. Discord the spirit of chaos and disharmon—"

Then she stopped. She looked up at her friend and the smile on her face disappeared.

"N-no," she stuttered, "No."

Discord sighed. He closed his eyes and bowed his head.

Twilight's eyes widened, and her mouth opened in shock as she stared at her friend.

"Is it true?" she asked, tears welling up in her eyes, "Are you...Discord?"

There was a moment of silence, and Discord reached out a paw to comfort her. "Twilight—"

"No!" exclaimed Twilight, ducking his paw, "Don't touch me!"

She backed away from him.

"You're the evil that's in this world!" she sobbed, her eyes welling up with tears.

Her horn lit up with pink magic, which ripped the BFF necklace off her neck and tossed it to the ground.

"And just when I thought I had a friend!" she sobbed!

She galloped away from the cave, spread her wings and shot off into the sky, leaving a purple and pink trail behind her!

"Twilight!" exclaimed Discord, throwing out a paw, but it was too late.

Twilight zoomed through the sky, tears streaming from her eyes as she watched the cave behind her get smaller and smaller. She knew she couldn't go back to the cottage where she was raised, or to the land she loved so very much. The only thing she could do was return to the castle where she had been born. As she shot through the air, her trail glimmering in the sky like a rainbow, she saw the faintest dot that was Canterlot appear on the horizon. Flapping her wings as hard as she could, she headed right for the palace.

As soon as she arrived, she was met by the palace guards. Although doubtful of her identity, they brought her straight to the throne room, where three female alicorns and a white male unicorn sat at their thrones.

"Your highnesses," said one of the guards, bowing, "We found this young alicorn outside the gates. She claims to be the princess."

Looks of shock crossed all four of the ponies' faces! The smallest of the princesses, a pink alicorn with a colourful mane stepped down from her throne. She slowly approached Twilight, and their eyes met.

"Twilight?" Cadance said, softly.

Twilight stared at her. Her eyes were a sparkling lilac, and mane was pale gold, with the same streaks of rose and violet as Twilight's. From just one look, Twilight could tell she was looking at her mother.

"Is it true?" asked Twilight, "Are you my mom?"

Tears formed at the edge of Cadance's eyes, and she looked back at Celestia and Luna, both of whom looked shocked.

"Those Breezies brought you back a day too soon," said Cadance, in a distressed voice, "Guards!" she ordered, "Take her to her room and lock her up! And don't release her until the day is over!"

Meanwhile, the three Breezies were flying across the land to Canterlot. "Oh, it feels so good to be small again!" squealed Sweetie Belle, pirouetting through the air on her transparent wings, "I love my tiny hooves!"

"Pay attention, Sweetie Belle!" ordered Apple Bloom, "We've gotta find Princess Twilight before the curse comes true! I sure don't want the princesses gettin' mad at us!"

Back at the castle, Twilight pounded against the door of her room. It was locked tight, and even her magic couldn't unlock it. She sighed and collapsed on the bed. She looked back at the room. It was very fancy, with the four-poster bed, chandelier, and exquisite carpets. The walls were a light cerulean with crystal pillars by the entrance. Twilight sighed. Only yesterday, she had thought she would be free, living in the Everfree Forest with her special friend. Who knew that in less than twenty-four hours, she would find out she was a princess cursed by her supposed friend, and straight after that, end up locked in a room?

Life, huh?

Twilight sighed and lay back against the pillow on her bed. She couldn't stop thinking about Discord. All this time, it had been him. The one she had cared so much about and loved to spend time with. The one she had thought was the most interesting and entertaining person she could ever have imagined. The one she had made BFF necklaces for. After all that, it had been him.

Twilight shook him out of her head and got off her bed. She walked over to the window and stared out at the miraculous view of Canterlot. Who would have known this was where she had been born? Then her gaze ascended, and her eyes fell upon the land beyond. She squinted into the distance and was just able to catch sight of the ruined castle she had spotted when she had first crossed the border from her home.

That was the day I first met Discord, she thought, sadly, The day I made my first friend. NO! she shook her head, fiercely, Discord is evil! He is an evil spirit who put a curse on me! I don't even know if we were ever friends at all. He was probably just playing me for a fool all along! Why would an evil spirit care about me?

She tore her eyes away from the window and used her magic to close the curtains. She stomped away and instead her gaze fell on the walls. On one hung a magnificent tapestry of the two princesses protecting the land. Their wings were spread and their heads were held high.

Twilight smiled. She opened her wings and held up her head, imitating the pose the princesses were making. She flapped her wings and turned a somersault in the air, before landing back on her hooves and laughing.

Then her eyes fell upon her wings. Discord was the one who taught me how to fly, she remembered.

"NO!" she yelled, shaking him out of her head and stomping away from the tapestry, "Stop being so stupid! Discord isn't your friend!"

Just then, she heard whispers in the room. She froze, and her ears pricked up.

"Twilight..."

Butterflies fluttering in her stomach, Twilight slowly walked round the room until she finally found where the sound was loudest. She used her magic to pull back the tapestry and her eyes widened to see a door there. She knocked softly on the door, and it opened. A unicorn with a very light aquamarine coat and a shiny cyan mane opened it. Not stopping to think, Twilight bolted past her, ignoring the unicorn's shouts.

Chapter 12

Discord opened the latch of Twilight's backpack and tipped out the contents. Quills, scrolls, books, potion ingredients...everything she needed to bring to her new home.

She was going to do it, thought Discord, a tear welling up in his eye, She was going to stay in the Everfree Forest. She wanted to live with me, and be happy, and have fun. And be friends. She wanted to stay. She truly did.

He took his own BFF necklace off his neck and stared at it. He picked up Twilight's from the floor and stared at them both. Then he noticed something else poking out of Twilight's saddleback. It was a diary, with a leather hardback cover. He reached down and picked it up. On the front was something that made him want to cry.

Twilight's diary was titled My New Friend, and taped to the front was a picture Twilight had taken of her and Discord in their BFF necklaces. Upon seeing this, Discord felt a blow to his heart. He opened the cover of the diary and read what was written on the front page.

Dear Diary, it said, Having friends is something I've never experienced before. My whole life I've spent on my own, around trees and plants, and my three aunts always ignoring me. I've always wanted somepony else to talk to. But something happened to me yesterday that changed everything! I made a friend!

Also, I thought my alicorn magic could do amazing things, but it is nothing compared to his. He can do absolutely anything just with a snap of his fingers. Today he showed me this amazing land, where everything is topsy-turvy. It was the most incredible thing I have ever seen. It has all kinds of crazy trinkets and wildlife, with a rainbow river and giant card pyramids, and even has pink clouds that rain chocolate. I also met a Tatzlwurm. It seemed scary at first, but it was really sweet. The place even had these endless staircases that go on forever and crazy doors to other dimensions. It was the most fun I've ever had in my life.

Twilight Sparkle xxx

Discord felt his eyes well up with tears as he read this. He turned to the next page.

Dear Diary,

Today I had an amazing time with my new friend. He conjured up a magic bubble for the two of us to be in, and we went diving into a magic pool in his land. It held the most wonderful creatures with shiny scales and amazing plants. It was like a rainbow how all of the different creatures shone a different colour. It was just magic.

Then I had fun in his house, when we sat on his upside-down furniture on the ceiling, and he showed me all kinds of things his house can do. I've also become pretty hooked on one of his books, Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Statue. It's like I'm really there. I just can't wait for what me and my friend will do next.

Twilight Sparkle xxx

Dear Diary,

Today my friend conjured up a labyrinth and put in all sorts of obstacles and games for us to get through, and see who could get to the middle first. He also put a spell on the labyrinth so we couldn't use teleportation or flight inside it, so we couldn't cheat. It was so cool. My friend won, but I had so much fun doing it that I didn't even mind.

Afterwards, we played with some of his magic chess pieces, which do anything you tell them, and I mean anything. The best part was, you could do anything you wanted, and didn't have to follow the rules of boring old ordinary chess. It was great fun.

Twilight Sparkle xxx

As Discord read, he felt so touched. He really had loved being friends with Twilight, and it seemed she had loved being friends with him even more. So much that she had even written a diary. He began to skim-read with his magic, going through dozens of pages.

Dear Diary,

Today my friend and I had a tea party under the chocolate rain, and he used his magic to make all the cupcakes fly. And he made all the tea ware come to life and pour our cups of tea for us! He even made the tea pour UP instead of down! It was so crazy, and SO much fun!

Then later I told him how I couldn't use my wings, and he offered to teach me. All my life, I've tried to fly, but my aunts couldn't teach me because they don't have wings, and I've always thought I could never be a real alicorn if I couldn't fly. But my friend is a really good teacher! I used to be able to only hover for a few moments and then flop back down, but now I can really fly! My friend says I'm a natural, and he promised to teach me to fly every time I visit him. I'm so lucky to have such a good friend.

Twilight Sparkle xxx

Dear Diary,

Today I brought my favourite board game Ogres & Oubliettes for my friend and me to play. What I wasn't expecting was for him to make the game real! It was so cool, how I really became Princess Twilight, and he became an archer, and we faced the real Squizard with his skeleton warriors! Ponies may say that princesses are too girly for action, but I wouldn't let him steal all the fun! And so Princess Twilight and her friend saved the day from the evil Squizard!

Princess Twilight Sparkle xxx

Dear Diary,

Today I had great fun playing with my friend and his Tatzlwurm, but then I got splattered with chocolate milk, and me and my friend had a chocolate-cotton-candy-cloud fight! It was the stickiest, messiest thing I'd ever experienced, but SO much fun! I'd never laughed so hard in my life!

Then I gave my friend a surprise. Earlier today I had taken two of the jewels off that mysterious tree where we first met, and I made them into BFF necklaces for us to wear. He seemed so happy when I gave it to him. He promised he won't ever take it off, and so did I. We'll be BFFs forever.

Twilight Sparkle xxx

Discord read through page after page after page of Twilight's diary, and with each page he read, he remembered that very time he had spent with Twilight. By the time he gotten to the day before Twilight's sixteenth birthday, where the entries ended, tears were running down Discord's cheeks. He closed the book and wiped his eyes. Then he looked outside, at the castle in the distance. Then he noticed something else. The sun was low on the horizon, and the sky around it had only just started to turn a lovely golden colour, and the clouds bright pink, like his cotton candy clouds.

Discord's eyes widened! The sunset on her sixteenth birthday! His curse! The curse he had put on Twilight sixteen years ago! It was coming true!

Twilight reached the bottom of the stairs, and suddenly felt her hoof tingle. She looked at it and noticed that it had started to glow a sickly yellow. Twilight heard her name being whispered again, and turned round to where it was coming from. She headed down a staircase that led to a dark and gloomy part of the castle.

This must be the dungeon, she thought, as she stepped through the darkness.

She came upon a door. The voices whispered her name again, and the yellow magic opened the door. Her jaw dropped as she saw the sight before her.

Hundreds, maybe even thousands of spinning wheels stacked up in piles, every one of them in ruins. Twilight's eyes widened as she walked through the room. She realized Cadance and Shining Armor must have loved her more than anything to go to such extreme measures to protect their daughter. She walked among the broken spinning wheels, and spotted the strange yellow light sparkling around one. The pieces started to move. They levitated and connected, the pieces all joining together to create one whole spinning wheel. The yellow light shimmered around it, and Twilight became entranced.

The yellow glow on her hoof got brighter as she raised it near the glowing spindle. Words, the ones first spoken at her christening, echoed through the air.

"...Before the sun sets on her sixteenth birthday, she will prick her hoof on the spindle of a spinning wheel, and she will fall into an eternal sleep-like sleep...cast this curse to last until the end of time...no power in Equestria and beyond...will be able to change it..."

A sudden magical vibration flooded through Discord's body, and he shivered as he picked up on the magical imbalance. He stared at the horizon as the sun disappeared from view.

He buried his face in his hands.

"Oh, Twilight..." he whimpered, "What have I done?"

The unicorn Twilight had rushed past, Lyra Heartstrings, found the purple alicorn lying lifelessly on the floor. She sank to her knees and wept. Discord's curse had finally been fulfilled.

Chapter 13

Twilight Sparkle lay on her bed, her body as still as a statue. Cadance and Shining Armor gazed down at her with tears in their eyes. Suddenly, the double doors opened, and Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo fluttered into the room. Their faces fell at the sight before them.

"You!" said Shining Armor, furiously, striding forward, "Just look at what you've done!"

He jabbed his hoof at Twilight. Cadance was sitting by the side of the bed, sobbing into her hooves.

"She's just sleeping," said Scootaloo, with a weak smile.

"Just sleeping!?" breathed Shining Armor, "JUST SLEEPING!? You three have ruined everything! You were supposed to keep her safe! And now my daughter will never wake up, thanks to you!"

With that, Cadance burst into tears, and galloped out of the room!

"Cadance, honey!" exclaimed Shining Armor, "It's OK, I'm coming!"

He galloped after her, following her streams of sobbing, then stopped and looked back at the Breezies.

"And then I'm going to give you three a piece of my mind!" he said, fiercely, before slamming the doors shut and running after his sobbing wife.

"Aw, shoot," said Apple Bloom, guiltily, "We really went and did it, girls."

...

The palace doors slammed open, and Discord strode boldly down the corridors, with a deadly expression on his face! The palace guards gasped and charged at him with their weapons raised, but with one snap of his fingers, they were flung into the walls and chained there! Discord rushed through the palace, ridding his path of anypony who tried to get in his way, before he finally reached the room that held Twilight. With a loud SLAM! he flung the doors open and stepped into the room!

Startled by the sound, the Breezies looked up to see Discord standing in the doorway! They screamed in horror, then leapt in front of Twilight and all channelled their magic, ready to blast the Lord of Chaos with everything they had!

A look of fury on his face, Discord raised his eagle claw and sliced open a portal in the air! He clenched his fist and yanked the Breezies over, hurling them into the portal! They screamed as they were hurled info the vortex, before Discord snapped his fingers and it vanished!

The look of fury faded from his eyes and he walked up to Twilight. She was lying on the bed, her eyes closed for good. Discord drew back the covers slightly and placed his hand on her chest. Her skin felt as cold as ice. If it weren't for her heart gently beating beneath his hand, he would have thought her dead.

Discord's eyes welled up with tears as he gazed down at the alicorn he had cared so much about. She clearly wasn't going to be waking up anytime soon. Her skin was colder than death, and her body was as still as stone (and thanks to Celestia and Luna, he knew exactly what that felt like).

Wiping away the tears, he remembered all the things he and Twilight had done together. The time they had raced each other to the middle of the magical labyrinth. The time they had had that picnic on the cotton candy clouds with upside-down gravity. The time they had played Ogres & Oubliettes. So many wonderful memories. And thanks to him, there would never be any more. This was his fault. He had never felt so guilty in all his life.

"Twilight," Discord said, in a slightly choked voice, "I'm so...so...sorry. I did this to you. I was filled with evil and hatred, wanting nothing more than to take Equestria for my own. And when I escaped from my prison the first thing I wanted was revenge. But now..." tears were streaming from his eyes now, "I've lost you forever. I always promised myself I would never care about anypony else. But I do. I care about you more than anything."

He caressed Twilight's cheek with his lion paw and cradled her lifeless head in his arms. "Goodbye, Twilight," he whispered, "I promise I'll never forget how much you meant to me."

As he gently lay her back down on the pillow, a tear from his eye dripped into Twilight's mouth. He turned away and hid his face in his hands. Suddenly, Twilight stirred. Then she licked her lips and swallowed. Her eyelids fluttered, and her eyes slowly opened.

"Discord?" Twilight said, wearily.

Discord froze, unable to believe it. Slowly, he turned back round and saw the purple alicorn smiling up at him from the bed. He swallowed and wiped the tears from his eyes.

"Hello Twilight," smiled Discord.

No more time for sappy moments. With tears of joy, Discord grabbed Twilight in his arms and buried her head in his chest, squeezing her as tightly as he could! Twilight laughed and hugged him back!

"Oh, Discord!" laughed Twilight, tears of joy streaming down her face, "You came back for me!"

"Well, of course I did," said Discord, stroking Twilight's cheek, "If it weren't for me, you never would have been cursed in the first place. Some friend I am."

"You are," said Twilight, hugging him round the neck, "You're my first, best, closest friend."

Tears formed at Discord's eyes. "Then it's lucky I brought these," he said, snapping his fingers. The two BFF necklaces Twilight had made appeared in mid air. He picked up Twilight's and hung it round her neck.

"Friends forever, Discord?" said Twilight.

Discord smiled. "Friends forever, Twilight."

She smiled. "So are we going back to the Everfree Forest?" she asked, hopefully.

"If that's what you want," replied Discord.

"Oh, it is!" exclaimed Twilight, "It is!"

Discord smiled. "It's what I want too."

That old goofy grin crawled back onto Twilight's face, and she began to twitch in excitement, her hooves tiptoeing up and down on the duvet.

"Three...two...one..." counted Discord.

"Yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes!" squealed Twilight, bouncing around Discord, before leaping into his arms and hugging him tightly, "YES!"

Meanwhile, in the throne room, Princess Cadance was sitting at her throne, tears streaming down her face, and her eyes slightly swollen from crying so much. Shining Armor had his arm around her, and he, Celestia and Luna were doing their best to comfort her.

Cadance wiped the tears from her eyes. "I'm sorry," she sniffled, "I know I need to be brave."

"You don't have to be brave," said Luna, compassionately, placing her hoof on the pink alicorn's shoulder, "Not at a time like this."

"I suppose I knew it was going to happen," said Cadance, a fresh surge of tears streaming down her cheeks, "I was foolish to think we could prevent a curse from coming true."

There was a thunder of hoofsteps from outside the throne room, and the doors were flung open!

"Your Highnesses!" exclaimed one of the castle guards, "Discord is in the castle! We believe he has come for the princess!"

In that moment, the melancholy atmosphere around the princesses ceased, and Celestia leapt to her hooves!

"Get me the wielders of the Elements!" she ordered, "We may not have been able to save Twilight Sparkle, but we will save Equestria!"

"I can't wait to go back to the forest!" squealed Twilight, as she bounced down the stairs with Discord close behind, "Then we can have fun and play games and fly and use magic together forever!"

Discord smiled. "That sounds wonderful," he said, "I'm happy if you are."

"Then stop dragging your cloven hooves and come on!" exclaimed Twilight, trotting down the stairs.

They reached the bottom of the staircase and headed towards the door that lead to the entrance hall. Twilight opened it with her magic and they both strode in. Unlike its normal bright and colourful appearance in the daytime, the entrance hall was dark and gloomy, giving it a spooky feeling.

Suddenly a shiver pulsed through Discord's body and he could sense something was wrong.

"Twilight, get back!" he exclaimed, throwing out a hand and shoving his friend back out into the corridor.

Four huge blasts of unicorn magic hit Discord square in the middle, and he crumpled down onto the floor! Princess Celestia and her five wielders of the Elements leapt down from the balcony, followed by Cadance and Shining Armor!

Discord struggled to get to his feet as they approached him with a look of fury on their faces!

"You took our daughter away from us!" shouted Shining Armor, patting Cadance, who was in tears, "Now it's time for you to pay!"

Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy spread out, making a circle around Discord, and their Elements began to glow!

"You may have taken Cadance and Shining Armor's daughter away from them, Discord!" said Celestia, fiercely, "But I will ensure that Equestria does not fall under your rule once again! Applejack! Rainbow Dash! Rarity! Pinkie Pie! Fluttershy!"

"Time to rid Equestria of you forever!" declared Rainbow Dash!

"You're darned tootin'!" declared Applejack!

Discord's eyes widened in horror as the ponies' necklaces lit up with their signature colours! Celestia's eyes glowed bright white, and the rainbow connected all the Elements!

"I'm going to stand here and watch you be defeated, Discord!" cried Cadance, tears streaming from her eyes, "You deserve nothing less! You placed a curse upon our daughter and now she will never be ours again!"

There was a bright blast of light as the rainbow from the Elements struck Discord in the chest! He gave a yell of anguish as the power enveloped him! There was a loud cracking sound as stone began to coat his body, starting at his lizard foot and goat leg, spreading up to the rest of his body! Just as the stone casing was about to coat Discord's face and complete the spell, the nine ponies heard a voice shout "NO!"

With a flash of light, Twilight Sparkle teleported in front of Discord and with an colossal explosion of pink magic, Celestia, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Luna, Cadance and Shining Armor smashed into the wall! They looked back in amazement to see Twilight Sparkle standing boldly in front of Discord with a look of fury on her face!

"No! Pony! Touches him!" she shouted, her horn fired up with bright pink alicorn magic, "NO! PONY!"

"Twilight?" exclaimed Cadance and Shining Armor, in shock!

Everypony in the room's jaws dropped!

"Twilight!" exclaimed Cadance, "You're awake!?"

"What are you doing!?" exclaimed Shining Armor, "Get away from him!"

"No!" snapped Twilight, lighting her horn and standing protectively in front of Discord, who was no longer almost coated in stone, "If you're going to kill Discord, you'll have to kill me too!"

"No," said Discord, quietly.

Twilight looked back at him. "What?"

"No," repeated Discord, gently pushing Twilight aside and stepping forwards, "I'm not going to let you put yourself in danger because of me. Not again."

"But you woke me up!" protested Twilight, "You saved me from the curse!"

"I was the one who put that curse on you in the first place," said Discord, "And I don't want you to get caught in this."

He glanced over at the royals, feeling very guilty.

"I know there's no excuse for what I've done in the past," said Discord, shamefully, looking up at the princesses, "I just want you all to know that I'm sorry. And, if you want to turn me back to stone, then..." he sighed, "Well, that's fine by me. Just take care of Twilight." He waved his hand over his stomach, creating a bright red target. "Fire when ready." He placed his eagle claw across his chest in defeat.

Celestia, Luna, Cadance and Shining Armor's jaws dropped.

There was a moment of silence, then Rainbow Dash jumped up. "Yeah!" snapped Rainbow Dash, "Come on, let's blast him back to stone!"

"Works for me!" snapped Applejack.

"Here, here!" snapped Rarity!

"Oh, I don't know," said Fluttershy, worriedly, "I wouldn't want to do the wrong thing."

"Who wants a cupcake!?" exclaimed Pinkie Pie, holding up two trays of cupcakes.

Everypony looked at Pinkie Pie, weirdly.

"What?" Pinkie Pie protested, taking a bite, "Cupcakes are delicious!"

"No," said Twilight, her eyes brimming with tears as she turned to the princesses, "You can't turn him to stone. He's my friend. Isn't that what holds Equestria together? Friendship?"

Celestia, Luna and Cadance exchanged glances and whispered for a moment, then all nodded.

"Discord," said Celestia, facing the Lord of Chaos, "You once tried to take Equestria for your own, and placed a curse upon my niece's daughter."

Discord hung his head, shamefully.

"But," added Celestia, "I definitely see now that you really have changed. And since Twilight Sparkle is safe and awake, we are prepared to forgive you and grant you your freedom."

"Aw, come on!" protested Rainbow Dash, but she was silenced.

"On the condition that you will only use your magic for good, instead of evil," said Celestia.

Discord let his breath out in a huge sigh of relief.

"Thank you, Celestia," he said, gladly, "You're not so bad after all. And I honestly don't think taking over Equestria is in me anymore. So I promise I won't ever use my magic for evil."

"Then it appears things did not turn out so badly after all," said Celestia, smiling.

She stepped back, and Cadance and Shining Armor stepped forward, their eyes brimming with tears. They opened their arms. With a look of overwhelming happiness on her face, Twilight galloped forward and threw her arms around them, squeezing them tightly! Tears streamed from her eyes as they hugged her back.

"We're so glad you're back, Twilight," whispered Shining Armor.

"We missed you so much," said Cadance, tearfully.

"Now that our newest princess is back," said Celestia, smiling, "I think a little celebration is in order."

Chapter 14

A fanfare of trumpets played as Twilight Sparkle strode along the red carpet, wearing a beautiful magenta princess gown with a white trail and a golden sash and collar. Sparkling gold slippers held her hooves, and around her neck was her shimmering white BFF necklace. True to her word, Twilight would never take it off.

As she strode elegantly past Discord, Discord's eyes welled up with tears. He conjured up a handkerchief and dabbed at his eyes.

"Turns out your heart isn't as stone as before, Discord," teased Twilight, as she walked past him.

"I'm not crying," sniffled Discord, wiping the tears from his eyes, "It's—liquid pride. Completely different thing."

Twilight reached the podium at the end of the red carpet and bowed to Princess Celestia.

"Fillies and gentlecolts," Celestia addressed the audience, "We are gathered here today to celebrate the coronation of Princess Cadance and Shining Armor's daughter, Princess Twilight Sparkle."

The crowd cheered!

"On the day of her christening, she was cursed," said Celestia, "And we had no choice but to send her away for sixteen years. But thanks to her friendship and bravery, one of Equestria's greatest foes has become a powerful ally."

Twilight blushed.

"Princess Twilight," said Celestia, looking generous, "You have proven yourself to be a kind, honest, generous, loyal, and truly magical pony. And so, it is my great pleasure to bestow upon you, the final Element of Harmony. The Element of Magic. Spike?"

Twilighgt's eyes widened as Celestia's attendant, a tiny purple dragon with green spines, held up a plush purple cushion, on which sat Celestia's golden crown holding the Element of Magic. Celestia levitated up the crown with her magic and placed it on top of Twilight's head.

"Wow," breathed Twilight, touching the star-shaped gem in her crown, "It looks just like my cutie mark."

"We are all so proud of you," announced Celestia, as Twilight turned round to face the audience, with her crown perched on her head.

Tears ran down Twilight's cheeks as the crowd all cheered for Equestria's newest princess. "Thank you," she wept, "Thank you everypony."

...

"Mom, dad, Celestia, Luna. This was just one of the most wonderful days of my life," said Twilight to Celestia, Luna, Cadance and Shining Armor after the coronation, her eyes brimming up with tears, "It couldn't have been more perfect."

"It couldn't have been more perfect for us, either, Twily," said Shining Armor, wiping his eyes.

"We just can't tell you how happy we are that you're home after all these years," said Cadance, looking rather tearful as well, "I missed you so. We all did."

Tears streamed down Twilight's cheeks. "Awwww," she squealed, giving her mother a big hug.

Not everypony was rejoicing, though. One sad face watched through the throne room doors as Twilight and her family embraced.

I guess she won't be needing me anymore, thought Discord, sadly, looking at Twilight's happy face, She's a princess now. And she'll be happier here with her family. I might as well head back to the Everfree Forest.

"Now that you're a princess, Twilight Sparkle," said Luna, back inside the throne room, "You get to live here in Canterlot castle with us. Just like a real princess."

"Live in this amazing castle?" breathed Twilight.

Then her expression changed from overwhelming excitement to sadness.

"Once, I would have said yes in the blink of an eye," admitted Twilight, "But the truth is...what I really, really want is to go back and live in the Everfree Forest with Discord. It was what I wanted for a long time."

Just before he snapped his fingers and vanished, Discord heard Twilight's words and froze! "What?" he exclaimed, vanishing from the corridor and appearing beside Twilight.

"You heard me," said Twilight, looking round at him, "I told you before that the best birthday present anypony could have given me was getting to live with you in the Everfree Forest. Well, the truth is. I never actually got it."

"No," said Discord, shaking his head, "I can't do this. You belong here. I can't separate you from your family."

"But you're my friend," smiled Twilight, holding up her BFF necklace, "And friends are family."

She gave him a big hug, then turned back to the royals.

"I very much appreciate everything you all have done for me, but I wish to return to the Everfree Forest with Discord," she said, "It's the place I want to call my home."

A look of uncertainty flashed between Shining Armor and the princesses.

"Are you sure?" asked Cadance.

Twilight smiled and nodded.

"Well...if that's what you want, Twily," said Shining Armor, "Then we're fine with it."

"Just promise us one thing," said Cadance, touching Twilight's cheek with her hoof, "That you'll come back and visit soon."

"Of course I'll come back and visit you," smiled Twilight, "You're my family. And you can come and visit me anytime, too."

"Try and stop us," Cadance replied.

"I'll see you all soon," said Twilight, waving, "Goodbye."

With a flash of light, Discord snapped his fingers, and he and Twilight vanished, leaving the royalties alone in the throne room.

Cadance sighed sadly.

"It's OK, sweetie," said Shining Armor, "She's where she wants to be. We can visit each other anytime we like."

"I know," said Cadance, "And I'm happy for her. I just wish I could have been a better mother."

"You will be an excellent mother, Cadance," smiled Celestia, "Twilight may have taken a different path to what we expected, but I am certain that she will always need you."

"Thanks," said Cadance, gratefully.

There was a sudden flash of light in the middle of the red carpet, and Discord reappeared. "Just one more little thing, Celestia," said Discord, casually, striding up to the Princess of the Sun's throne, "I wanted you to have these."

He extended his hand, and a bouquet of flowers with rainbow-coloured petals appeared in it. Celestia was a little surprised at first, but then smiled and accepted his gift.

He winked!

Discord brought down his wall of Plunderseed vines and lifted the magical barrier that sealed off his land from the rest of Equestria. He vowed to only use his magic for good from then on, and that the two kingdoms, Equestria and the Everfree, would remain in harmony. As for Twilight, she got her perfect birthday present, and stayed in the Everfree with Discord, among all the wonder and chaos. And now that the barrier was down, Twilight was frequently visited by her parents, as well as Celestia and Luna, who, despite Discord's previous reign of terror, grew to enjoy the scenery of Discord's land. After all, there, chaos was a wonderful, wonderful thing.

"You have to really flap them hard, then turn ever so slightly to come back round," Discord instructed Twilight, when they were both in the air, flapping their wings.

"Got it!" replied Twilight.

She flapped her wings and soared gracefully into the sky, then swerved round and arced round one of the card pyramids, turned several loop-the-loops, and zigzagged around the floating trees, leaving a blue and pink trail behind her.

"Whoo-hoo!" cheered Twilight, swooping through the air.

Suddenly, she flew right into one of Discord's cotton candy clouds, the mixture of chocolate and cotton candy splattering all over her!

"I can't see!" yelled Twilight, diving round in circles, trying to wipe the sticky cotton candy from her eyes, "Aaaaaah!"

She plummeted towards the ground and landed on her right hoof with a painful crash!

"Owwww!" she moaned, rubbing her sore hoof.

"Let me fix that," said Discord, walking up. He snapped his fingers and the bruise on Twilight's hoof disappeared, as well as the sticky mess of cotton candy and chocolate milk all over her.

Twilight smiled and got up. "Let's try again," she said.

"Maybe later," said Discord, pointing to two mares and a stallion crossing the checked grounds, "I think Cadance and Shining Armor are here to see you."

And Celestia, he thought, gazing dreamily at the Princess of the Sun.

Twilight noticed Discord mooning at Celestia and laughed. "I thing somepony has a crush," she said, in a sing-song voice.

"Oh, you don't know anything about me," said Discord, idly, not looking at her.

"Focus, Casanova," said Twilight, waving her wing over Discord's eyes, snapping him out of his trance, "We've got guests."

"Then why don't you go and practice flying with them, instead?" Discord said, "Cadance is a much better flyer than me, and I think she'd like to spend some quality time with you."

Twilight smiled. "Good idea. Love ya, Discord."

"Love you too, Twilight," said Discord returning the hug, before Twilight trotted over to see her family.

"Sunshine, sunshine,
Ladybugs awake!
Clap your hooves
And do a little shake!"

Discord smiled as Cadance and Twilight recited the rhyme Cadance had taught her after reuniting, and then hug. He was glad Twilight had such a wonderful family. And now, it seemed her family had grown. He watched as Cadance and Twilight flapped their wings, rose up into the air, and soared happily up into the clouds, laughing together, mother and daughter.

So you see, the story is not quite as you were told. In the end, the kingdom was united not by a hero or a villain, as legend had predicted, but by one who was both hero and villain. And his name was Discord.

THE END