The Adventures of Chaos and Nightmaresby ThaumasChaptersBall PitTwinkle Tells The TruthTruth or DareLeavingCat Out of the BagThe NewsBall Pit“Hey you three. Twinkle’s here,” said Discord, with a look of disgust. “Great! Thanks Uncle Discord!” said Jewel. “Hey Twinkle,” Jewel greeted her best friend. “You wanna play Capture the Flag in the ball pit?” “Absolutely,” she replied. She then narrowed her eyes at Zany. “As long as I don’t have to be on his team.” Zany grumped. “Don’t worry Twinkle Toes, it’ll be boys versus girls. I already got Screwy and Mothy to play with us,” and pointed at the couch where they were sitting and waiting. Then Screwy stood up. “The teams will be fair. Three girls, three boys. Each team gets one chaotic creature, plus the girls team gets an alicorn, and the boys team gets a changeling. Applespike has already promised not to use fire. Oh, and no teleporting spells of any kind at all. That includes teleporting yourself or other ponies or changelings. That sucks the fun right out of the game. Got it?” “Yep.” “Great. Let’s get started,” said Screwball. She poofed up two flags, one purple, and one green. She handed the green one to Mothball, and teleported them to the ball pit. “Okay, she said. “Boys, you have two minutes to hide your flag anywhere on the right side of the pit,” and she created a wall in the middle of the ball pit. She pointed to the right side of the pit. “Starting now!” The boys scrambled into the ball pit and came back up a minute and a half later. “Okay,” said Screwy. She handed a timer to Mothball. “Set it for two minutes. I have it rigged, so when the two minutes are up, we’ll be teleported back to this spot even if we aren’t finished hiding the flag.” “Got it, said Mothy. “Ready, set, go!” The girls dove into the left side of the ball pit. “Where should we hide the flag?” asked Twinkle. “It’s just a huge sea of colorful balls. It all looks the same!” “Don’t worry,” Screwy said. “I used to play this all the time. I have an idea,” she said, and made a tunnel through the pit going straight down. “We’re going to hide our flag at the very, very bottom of the pit!” “Ooh, I like it,” Twinkle said. “By the way, Jewel, do you know how to make a tunnel through the pit with your magic? If you don’t, I can show you.” “That’s okay Twinkle. Gemstone showed me how a while ago. She said she had to learn the time she came over to play Capture the Flag!” Jewel said, and laughed. “Perfect. That means we can split up, and nopony will drown in a sea of balls.” The boys only have Zany who can do that. That gives us a huge advantage, Twinkle thought. Unless, “Hey Screwy, can Mothball tunnel through the balls like this?” “Uh huh. I taught him a long time ago. Oh, and we’re here at the bottom.” She planted the flag on the ground and created an air pocket around it. “We’d better get back up before the timer runs out,” she said. Twinkle nodded, but she was thinking, Drat. The boys team has two ponies- er, creatures, who can do that. Well, we still have a small advantage. This is my chance to finally beat Zany at something! We never have enough time to actually finish any of our contests. This time I will win. I want to have a victory of some kind before I go back to Canterlot. Maybe I’ll sabotage Zany’s dreams if we don’t win, Twinkle thought with an evil grin. She was a dreamwalker like Luna. That was what her cutie mark really meant, but nopony except Celestia, Jewel, and Luna, her mentor knew. She hadn’t even told her mother, much to her disappointment. The princesses had thought it best not to tell anypony until she had better control over her power. The only reason Jewel knew is because she had entered her dream last month to help her escape from the awful ponies she had been modeling for. Twinkle sighed. That had been an adventure, especially at the end when she and Zany had had their little duel in her tower. She shivered thinking of the kisses they had shared. They had been so indescribably wonderful. Ever since that day, she had wanted more. Unfortunately their parents were mortal enemies. Oh well. Twinkle sighed again. “We’re done!” Screwy shouted when they reached the top. Twinkle liked Screwy and her husband, Mothball, despite her dad being her mom’s mortal enemy. “Great,” said Zany with a cocky grin. “So can we start now? “Yep!” said Screwball. She banished the timer and the wall. “Ready, set, go!” They all dove into the pit. “So what’s the plan guys?” asked Jewel. “I’ve got an idea,” said Twinkle. “Jewel, you guard the flag. Remember, no blocking spells, but you can use things to build barriers. Screwy and I will try to find the other flag and hold off the boys. If you need building materials to build walls, let us know now so we can conjure them.” Twinkle let a mischievous smile creep onto her face. “We are going to win.” “Great plan, Twinkle,” Jewel said. Hey Screwy, can I have some licorice and gumdrops? I have an idea.” “Here ya go,” Screwy said. “These should be enough. Before we go, let me cast this spell.” Her eyes glowed white for a second, then returned to normal. “There. Now we can communicate with each other just by thinking what we want to say. You have to think of the pony’s name first so they can hear you,” she explained. “Now let’s get started. Come on Twinkle.” The two dove out into the pit, away from the flag. “So, Twinkle, what are you planning to do?” “I’m not sure,” the little purple alicorn admitted. “I want to finally beat Zany at something. Nopony ever let us finish our contests when we were younger.” She scowled at Screwy. “Sorry,” Screwball apologized. “But you two were going to burn the house down.” “Yeah, yeah, fair enough. Come on; let’s win this thing!” They each went in a different direction. Meanwhile, on the boys team, “Okay guys. What’s the plan?” Mothy asked the two half-ponies. Zany answered, “Well I think Applespike should stay here and guard, since he can’t tunnel through the pit like we can. Us two should try to find the other team’s flag and hold them off if we find them.” Zany conjured up three earpieces and handed them to the other two. “Now we can talk to each other. Come on, let’s go!” Back at the girls’ flag, Jewel was busy building a licorice fence. She also built several licorice slingshots and set them carefully aside with her ammunation pile of gumdrops. She was ready. Screwy was maneuvering her way through the ball pit when she came across Mothy. She smirked. “Well hello there. Mind if I pass?” “No. No way am I letting you past me,” Mothball said. “Is that so? And how are you planning to stop me?” Screwy asked with a giggle. “Like this!” Mothball pulled her toward him and kissed her, catching her off guard, but after a second, she smirked and pulled him closer. When they pulled apart, she smirked again and said, “That was amazing, but I really must be going now.” She catapulted herself over him, and prepared herself to drill through the pit. “And thanks to you, I now know exactly where to go.” “Wait, what?” Mothball asked, confused. “Wait, no! You didn’t . . . Did you?” “Well of course I did,” Screwball snorted. “You really thought I wasn’t going to peek into your memory when I had the chance? Anyway, bye-bye and good luck.” She started drilling away through the balls. Mothball groaned and facehoofed. How could I have fallen for that? He sighed. Guess I’d better keep looking. Screwball thought, “Jewel, Twinkle, I just found out where the boys’ flag is!” “Great where is it?” Twinkle thought back eagerly. “It’s in the exact center of the right side. Center to the top and bottom, and center to the sides.” “Good to know,” Jewel thought. “Either of you two come across anypony trying to get to our side?” “I saw Mothball,” Screwy thought back. “That’s all, although knowing Zany, he probably made himself invisible.” Ooh, good idea, Twinkle thought to herself. I’ll have to try that one. Jewel and Twinkle thanked Screwy, and Twinkle cast an invisibility spell on herself and started making her way to the center of the right side, knowing Screwy was doing the same. On the way, she spotted Zany. Guess he didn’t make himself invisible, Twinkle thought, amused. But, she noticed he was heading straight toward their flag hiding place. “Jewel, Zany’s coming!” She thought desperately. Then she noticed Zany was picking up speed. She gasped. Zany whipped himself around. “What was that?” Twinkle smiled to herself. Yes, this could work. All I need to do is distract him for a while, she thought, and revealed herself. “Just me,” she said primly. Zany gasped. “Twinkle?” “Yes, is that a problem?” Zany groaned. “Why you?” “What’s wrong with me?” “Nothing! Just,” Zany paused. “Do you remember what happened that day about a month ago in your tower?” Twinkle nodded, all thoughts of distracting him forgotten. “Of course I do. I think about it all the time.” “Do you ever wish?” Zany hesitated, but Twinkle knew what he meant. “Yes,” she stated simply. Zany grinned. “Then what would you think if I did this?” He moved toward her and kissed her on the lips. Twinkle’s eyes widened, but after a moment, she closed them and kissed him back. When they pulled away, they both just stared at each other for a minute. Finally, Zany broke the silence. “Well?” In answer, Twinkle kissed him a second time. This time, when they pulled apart, Twinkle said, “We should get going. We don’t want our teams to notice we’re gone.” Zany nodded. “Okay. Bye.” “Bye.” Twinkle watched him leave, a bit sadly, but she shook herself out of it and started tunneling through the balls to find Screwball and the boys’ flag. Screwy was hiding in the balls just outside the boys’ air pocket for their flag. She could see Applespike guarding it, and she was getting frustrated. Where is Twinkle?! Seriously! What’s keeping her? Just then, Twinkle appeared behind her, breathing heavily. “Sorry I took so long,” she said between breaths. Screwball was about to yell at her, she glanced back at Applespike and created a soundproof bubble around them before asking, “What took so long?” Twinkle looked uncomfortable; her pupils were the size of pinpricks. She knew Screwy could tell when ponies were lying. “Um, I got held up by Zany.” This wasn’t a lie, and Screwy didn’t detect one. She rolled her swirly eyes. “What did he do this time?” “Um,” Twinkle’s pupils were now barely visible. She knew Screwball could tell when ponies were lying, but lying was all she had. Sometimes Screwy let it go. Although usually not when it concerns Zany. “Nothing?” Screwball narrowed her eyes. If Twinkle was lying about something Zany did to her, it must have been bad. “Come on, Twinkle. What did he do?” “Nothing! Well, nothing bad,” she mumbled. Screwy thought, Well, she wasn’t lying about it not being bad. I should probably trust her. Anyway, we have a game to win. “Fine.” Twinkle visibly relaxed. “But we’re going to talk about this later. Remember, you, Jewel, and I are having a sleepover tonight. And just like that, Twinkle tensed up again. But she shook herself off. Maybe Screwy will forget if we win the game. So with a determined look on her face, she said, “Come on. Let’s go get that flag!” Screwy smiled. “Come on. You distract Applespike while I sneak around the back and grab the flag. Once you see I’ve made it back into hiding, meet me back here. Then we can super speed tunnel back to our spot using your wings. Got it?” “Got it.” Screwy grinned. “Ready? Let’s go!” Twinkle darted out in front of Applespike. “Ha! Found it.” “Oh, no you don’t. You are not getting past me.” Twinkle could see Screwball grabbing the flag. She smirked. Just a few more seconds. “You sure about that?” she asked, flapping her wings. Applespike’s eyes widened as he realized she could just fly over him. “No! You wouldn’t!” Maybe I would, and maybe I wouldn’t.” She saw Screwy dive back into hiding. “But I’m not gonna stick around to find out,” she says and dove back into the pit herself. “Huh?” Applespike asked himself, confused. He turns around and gasps. “Where’d the flag go?” As soon as he realizes what had happened, he grabs his earpiece. “Zany! Mothball! They got the flag. Probably on their way back to their spot now. Can you try to find and stop them? I heard them super speed tunneling straight through the center, so you’d better move fast.” Mothball grabbed his own earpiece. Got it! Zany, meet me at the exact center, okay? And move fast!” “Roger that. I’m on my way.” When they got to the center, they almost immediately saw Screwy and Twinkle super speed tunneling through the balls and about to run them right over. “Ahh!” They stopped as fast as they could, but it was a close one. Oh, come on,” Twinkle complained. “We’re so close!” “Not so fast!” Zany exclaimed. You're not getting past us.” Screwy smirked. “Oh we’re not, are we? Then just watch this! Twinkle, up!” Screwy handed her the flag. Twinkle immediately understood. Using her wings, she propelled herself upward, and, creating a wide tunnel with her magic, super speed tunneled back to the girls’ flag territory. “Uhh!” Zany grumbled. I should have known she’d do that. Come on Mothy. Let’s catch her.” Soon everyone except Jewel (Applespike had finally caught up to the rest of them, not being able to tunnel through slowed you down a bit) was chasing everyone else all through the ball pit, but finally, Twinkle burst into the girls’ air pocket and cried out, “Girls win!” Zany, Applespike, and Mothball groaned. “Aw, we were so close,” Mothy said. Applespike nodded but said, “It’s okay. We’ll do better next time.” Zany agreed. “Yeah. I hope we can play again soon.” He glares at Twinkle. “And I’m not losing to her again. I have to redeem myself!” But he gave a slight smile to Twinkle when the conversation moved on to Jewel. Screwball saw this, and she had also noticed the glare her brother had given Twinkle just then was not as strong as other times. She also thought back to earlier that day when Twinkle had acted strangely after saying she got held up by Zany. Thinking back even farther, she realized that Zany and Twinkle had not been the same around each other for about a month now, ever since that incident with Jewel and those awful model ponies. She shivered. Those ponies were really awful. She wondered what had happened between her brother and Twinkle that had caused them to act weirdly. “Screwy? Screwy?!” said a voice, breaking into her thoughts. “Yeah?” “We’re going up to the kitchen to get some snacks. Are you coming?” asked Mothball. “Oh! Yeah, I’m coming,” she said, following them. Tonight, Twinkle and I are going to have a talk, she thought. Twinkle Tells The TruthLater that day, after the girls’ hilarious sleepover pillow fight, Screwy said to Twinkle, “Come on. You and I are going to have a talk.” She pointed to a random room and led Twinkle inside. Once they made it inside and locked the door, Twinkle asked, “So what is it?” She looked scared. She had a pretty good idea what it was. “I want answers. And you’re going to give them to me-- honest answers. Understood? Twinkle sighs and nods, knowing there was no way out of it now. “Understood,” although she still looked scared. Hopefully Screwball won’t tell anypony or, she gulped as she thought of an even worse scenario, any draconequus. Screwy took notice of her scared expression, and softened her expression. “Hey, don’t worry. Whatever we talk about in this here won’t leave this room. I’ll even put up a sound barrier,” she said and cast the spell. “Pinkie promise?” Twinkle asked, knowing if anyone, pony or not, chaos powers or not, broke a pinkie promise, all she’d have to do would be tell Pinkie Pie, and whoever had broken it would be sorry. Screwy nodded. “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” “Okay,” Twinkle sighed. “Now what did you want to know? “Well,” Screwy started. “Why were you so scared earlier when I asked you what Zany did? And how come you two have been acting different around each other ever since that crazy incident with Jewel a while back?” Twinkle actually looked surprised at that second question. “You’ve . . . noticed?” Screwball nods. “And I want to know why.” Twinkle takes a deep breath. “Well, in answer to your first question, I didn’t answer because we both did something, not just Zany. And what we did . . . Well maybe I’d better start at the beginning. This will answer your second question too.” “Okay.” “You see, that, in the process of escaping from those awful ponies, Applespike had used a marshmallow bomb in my tower. So once we knew that Jewel was safe, I made Zany clean it up, and he did, but, um, we kind of ended up dueling right there in my tower.” Screwball sighs. “Of course you did.” Twinkle chuckles. “Yeah. That was fun. Probably our best duel ever, because nopony interrupted us. Although, nopony won either...” she trailed off. “And,” Screwy prompted. “And if you want to get right down to it, it kind of ended when Zany turned my horn into an upside-down vanilla ice cream cone.” Screwy snorted. “Of course Zany would do that. Wait did you say kind of? And I thought you said nopony won. If he took your horn, doesn’t that mean he wins? “I’m getting there. I said nopony won because because I got my horn back, but the duel didn’t continue from there. And I said it kind of ended because technically getting my horn back would count as my turn.” Screwy nodded. “I guess that does make sense. But did you say you got your horn back? How in Equestria did you do that? And how come you said you didn’t finish the duel? I can’t believe you two actually had the chance to finish one of your contests, and then just didn’t.” Twinkle took a deep breath. She knew this was it. It was time to tell the truth. “Well, I kissed Zany, and that’s how I got my horn back." “I’m sorry, what?” “I KISSED ZANY, AND THAT’S HOW I GOT MY HORN BACK!” she yelled this time. Screwy gasped. “WHAT?!” A blushing Twinkle didn’t answer, but instead kept going. “And then he kissed me, and then we kissed again, and then Mom and Uncle Discord walked in on us, and Discord got really mad, and Mom just stared at us, and then Zany teleported us home, and then--” “Okay I get the idea,” said Screwy. But if Dad and your mother saw you, how come neither of them ever brought it up, or more specifically, how come Dad didn’t come home and flip out on Zany at the dinner table?” Twinkle sighed. “Because I got Zany to cast a spell on them so they’d forget about it.” “Oh. That makes sense. Wait, does that mean that Jewel or Applespike or anypony else doesn’t know about this?” “Yeah, just you,” Twinkle answered. Screwy nodded. “Okay, but my second question? What were you doing that made you take so long earlier?” “Well, like I said, I ran into Zany and got distracted. I was originally going to try to distract him because he was heading straight for our flag, but then we started talking about that day, and I kind of forgot. And then-” she blushed. “Well, you know.” “Ahh,” Screwy nodded. It all made sense now. “I see. So,” she asked slyly, “any other big secrets you hiding?” At that, Twinkle froze. “Wh-what?” Screwball smirked. “Oh you don’t think I know you’ve been hiding what your cutie mark really means this whole time.” Twinkle groans. “Look Screwy, I’m really not allowed to tell anypony. Not even my mom knows what I can do. Only Princess Celestia and Luna and Jewel know what my talent is.” Oh, okay,” Screwy said, disappointed. “Wait, did you say Jewel knows but not your mother?” Twinkle sighs. “I guess you’re gonna find out tonight after all. Lucky you. But you can’t tell anypony. Seriously, this is even more important to keep a secret than me and Zany. So my special talent is dreamwalking. I can navigate the dream realm and visit ponies’ dreams, just like Princess Luna. That’s why she took me as her student instead of Princess Celestia. The only reason Jewel knows is because I had to enter her dream and talk to her last month to help her escape from those model ponies.” “Okay, but why can’t you tell your mother?” Twinkle sighed again. “The princesses don’t want anypony knowing until I can control my power better.” Screwy nods. “All right. You should probably listen to them. Anyway, let’s go to bed now, okay? She deactivated the sound barrier, and pointed to the Screwy’s old bedroom, where they were having their sleepover.” Twinkle yawned and agreed. “Yeah.” Truth or Dare“Rise and shine sleepy heads,” came Uncle Discord’s voice. “It’s time for breakfast. The menu is as follows- blueberry pancakes with syrup for you ponies, sapphire pancakes for Applespike, and chocolate milk for me, Screwy, and Mothball. So who’s coming?” Discord grinned as everypony sat up and got out of bed after hearing the menu. “Always works,” he muttered to himself as he left. “Be down in ten minutes!” After breakfast, Jewel asked, “What do we do now?” Screwy grinned. “Let’s play truth or dare.” Screwy loved this game, mostly because she could always tell if ponies were lying during their truths. But many ponies didn’t want to play truth or dare with her for that particular reason. Also, the dares in the Castle of Chaos could get out of control, especially when you were playing with somepony who lived there and knew exactly what was behind the door of every single one of the 137 rooms in the Castle of Chaos. Needless to say, everypony had mixed reactions to this proposition. Zany jumped at the chance. “Yeah! Let’s do it Screwy!” Applespike was a little more hesitant. “Well, if Zany’s doing it…” Twinkle shrugged and said, “Okay, if you all are gonna do it.” Jewel and Mothballs’ reactions were more along the lines of, “Uh, I don’t think so,” “Um, I don’t know, I could just watch,” and, “Maybe we could go do something else while you guys…” “Nuh uh, you two,” said Screwy. “It’s four against two. You’re playing.” All they could do was look at each other and groan. “Well, I guess we’re playing,” said Mothball. Then he whispered, “Prepare yourself.” All Jewel could do was nod. “Okay,” said Screwy. “The rules are pretty simple. Basically your standard game of truth or dare, except you can only pick truth three times in a row before you have to pick dare, and vice versa. So who’s ready?” Screwy didn’t wait for an answer. “I’ll go first, since it was my idea. After that, whoever I pick will go next. Everyone okay with that?” “Yep,” everyone replied in unison. Even if they hadn’t been okay with it, it was no use arguing with Screwy. She always won. “Okay. Jewel, truth or dare?’ Jewel looked scared. She hadn’t expected to be picked first. “Um, truth?” she said tentatively, more of a question than a statement. Screwy grinned. She loved this. “What was the biggest mistake of your life?” Jewel didn’t hesitate, instead she hung her head and said regretfully, “Going to model for Picture Perfect. I always knew there was something off about that stallion, even before I signed the contract, but I just went and did it anyway, to get away from the school. I now know that if I had stayed in the school, I would have gotten better in time, but instead, I just ran away.” Screwy nodded. “Interesting. Okay now it’s your turn, Jewel. Jewel nodded. “All right.” She was starting to warm up to this game. “Screwy, truth or dare?” Screwy didn’t hesitate. “Dare!” Jewel thought about that for a moment, then remembered something Gemstone had told her about. ‘Screwball, I dare you to go to that room with the creepy roller coaster Gemstone told me about and ride it. Screwy nodded excitedly. “Done.” “Wait!” Zany exclaimed. “Can we come with you?” Screwy thought about that. “Sure if you want to. You weren’t dared to, so you don’t have to do it, but you can.” “Awesome! Come on you guys! Let’s go!” Twinkle nodded immediately. Mothy, Applespike, and Jewel shrugged. “Why not?” “Great,” Screwy said as they reached the door. There were three rows of seats. Screwball and Mothball went in the first row, then Applespike and Jewel, and that left Twinkle and Zany for the last row. They glanced at each other and then at the rest of the group before climbing into the seats. Then came the voice, “Sit back and relax as we take you through a journey of time and space and gumdrops. We hope that you have a pleasant ride, for it may be your last!” They all shivered at that, except for Zany and Screwy. Suddenly, the car dropped. The ride had started. Once the ride was over, they got out of the car, all looking shaky except Screwball. “Woohoo!” she yells. “Let’s do it again!” “Riiiiiiight,” says Jewel. “Or let’s not. It’s your turn.” “Okay,” says Screwball. “Hmm. Twinkle, truth or dare?” Recalling their conversation from last night, Twinkle quickly chooses dare. “Dare.” Screwy grins evilly. “Hmm. I dare you to kiss Zany. Right here, right now.” Twinkle was looking at Screwy with horror, probably thinking something along the lines of, How could you do this to me? Zany’s usually snarky expression was also replaced with horror, and more horror, and still more. He turns to Twinkle, his questioning gaze asking, Did you tell her? She nodded in affirmation, with a pleading look that said, She made me do it! When Zany saw that, his expression softened on her, and he turned his accusatory glare from Twinkle to Screwy, who was enjoying every moment of this a little too much, in his opinion. Twinkle asked timidly, still not completely recovered from the shock, “Can I pass?” Screwy shrugs. “Technically you can, but you don’t want to be a chicken, do you?” She really knew how to get under her skin. Plus, Twinkle knew Screwball would take that literally and turn her into a real chicken if she didn’t do it. Contemplating kissing Zany in front of all her friends or becoming a chicken, she decided kissing Zany in front of everypony wouldn’t be so bad. It wasn’t actually kissing him that bothered her, it was doing it right in front of everyone. And she really didn’t want to be a chicken. She supposed they’d find out someday anyway. And if they played their cards right, it wouldn’t have to be today. She just has to pretend not to like kissing Zany and vice versa. She looks at Zany, sending her idea through expression. He nods. “Well, okay,” Twinkle heard herself saying. She advanced toward Zany, constantly reminding herself in her head that she had to pretend not to like this in the slightest. But once she had her lips upon his, all of that was forgotten. Everything and everypony else in the room was forgotten and there was just Zany and Twinkle, in a world all their own. Zany, apparently, felt the same way, because he leaned in and kissed her back. After a few moments, they remembered where they were and what they had been trying to do. They both have the same desperate thought. Maybe they didn’t notice? But when they turned around, they found all of their friends staring open mouthed at them, save for Screwy, who was smirking like she knew this was going to happen the whole time. I wonder if she’s psychic too, Twinkle thought. “Er, maybe we should explain,”said a very embarrassed Zany. Twinkle nodded. “Yes. Yes we should. But first.” She turns to Screwy. “YOU PINKIE PROMISED!” Screwball just smiled, unfazed at the very, very loud yell from Twinkle, who had been using the Royal Canterlot Voice. “I Pinkie Promised I wouldn’t tell anypony what we talked about. I never said anything about getting you to do it.” “But you...I mean.” Twinkle sighed as she realized she didn’t have a comeback for that. “Why do you always find a way around things?” she grumped. “Sneaky Screwy. Really sneaky.” But she had amusement hidden in her eyes, showing that she was impressed by Screwball’s method, even if she hated what Screwy had actually used the method for. Screwball nods proudly. “I know.” She was cut off from saying anything further by Applespike asking, “Okay, um, you mind explaining now?” he asked, in a rather irritated manner. Twinkle and Zany were suddenly very quiet, all laughter gone from their eyes as they glanced at each other uneasily. Silently coming to an agreement, they faced the group. “Um, so we kind of, um,” stammered Zany. He was finding it harder than he thought to tell his friends. Screwy laughed, clearly enjoying this. Twinkle sighed. “You remember that, um, incident with Picture Perfect and Goodnight awhile back? Well, that’s when this,” she motioned to Zany and then back to herself, “kinda started. Twinkle went on to tell most of the story, leaving out a few embarrassing details, things she really didn’t need to tell her friends. When she finished, she looked up at them and almost laughed. They had resumed their earlier position, staring open-mouthed at them, except for Screwy, again. “So that’s it,” finished Twinkle. She smirked. "You can all stop staring now. You make me wonder how your eyes haven’t gone dry yet. Do none of you realize you’ve been staring, unblinking, at us for almost an entire minute?” Now they blinked. “Oh,” said Jewel. Mothball just stared some more. “You mean to tell me,” he started slowly. “That you two, the two I had to break up fights between almost every day when you were younger, are dating?” He had never looked so surprised. “That’s about the most unexpected thing that’s ever happened to me,” he said, grinning. “Congratulations you two. You have officially blown my mind.” Zany smiled his usual snarky grin and bowed with huge exaggeration. “Why thank you good sir. I never would have expected such an honor from a guy who can change into whatever he wants whenever he wants.” Twinkle rolled her eyes at this. “Okay, that’s enough everypony. It’s my turn. Applespike, truth or dare?” Leaving“Applespike, Jewel, it’s time for you two to go home.” Then Discord turned, addressing Twinkle. “Your mother is waiting to take you to the train station.” “Aww!” all the children exclaimed. “Do we have to? The bouncy room is so much fun!” Discord started to look annoyed. “Yes, you do. And Twinkle, I don’t see why you want to stay anyway. You and Zany have been fighting the whole time!” It was true. They had been fighting the whole weekend- when Discord was around, anyway. The rest of the time, they were agreeing more than ever, although they still had minor disagreements over little things. “Old habits,” they said. Besides, everyone argues about some things. However, they were quick to figure things out and apologize. The others were amazed. Twinkle looked a bit frozen at Discord’s words. “Well...I mean,” she stammered. “Well, it’s just I like spending time with Jewel. I don’t know very many ponies in Canterlot, and most of the ones I do know aren’t very nice.” Discord, looking satisfied at her answer, said, “Okay, but you still have to go with your mother.” Twinkle sighs. “Okay.” She and Jewel exit the room. Meanwhile, during that whole conversation, and even that whole weekend, Zany had been watching Applespike. He sometimes saw him looking at him weirdly. “Dad, can I walk home with Applespike? I’ll come back after dinner.” “Okay- wait, what? Did you say after dinner?” Zany smirked and shrugged. “What can I say? Even cotton candy and chocolate can’t compete against Apple cooking.” Discord grumbled. “Guess I can’t argue with that. But bring me back some apple pie.” Applespike smiled. “Don’t worry Uncle Discord. We’ll have one for you. We always do.” “All right. Now get going!” Once they were out the door, Applespike turned to Zany and said, “Okay, I need some answers.” “And you deserve them. What do you want to know?” Applespike took a deep breath. “I want to know why in Equestria you’d want to date Twinkle. Not that there’s anything wrong with it, but just why? She was your oldest rival, for Celestia’s sake!” Zany just shrugged and said, “For the same reason you date Jewel. It just feels like we’re meant to be together.” Applespike nods. “I guess I hadn’t thought about it that way before. I’m sorry. I was just shocked.” Zany smiles, satisfied. “Well, now that that’s covered, race you to Sweet Apple Acres!” Both took off galloping as fast as they could towards the farm. Twinkle sighed as she was walking beside her mom towards the train station. The weekend she’d just had was the most the most fun she’d had in a month. And telling all her friends about her and Zany had a huge weight lifted off her chest. It wasn’t that she didn’t like Canterlot, she just missed her family and friends while she was there. She also wished she could tell her parents about her special talent. It almost killed her to keep it a secret. She sighed again as she remembered the other secret she was keeping from her parents. She wondered if maybe she could tell her dad about that one. Nopony was keeping her from telling that one, and if she did, she probably wouldn’t feel as guilty. The more she thought about it, the more it sounded like a good idea to tell her father. Her only worry about telling him was that he would tell her mom, but she was sure she could work something out in the form of a Pinkie Promise. She made a mental note to have a talk with her dad when she came back to Ponyville next weekend. It was the Tri-Pies birthday. Oh Celestia, I’ve got to get them a gift,” she thought, but quickly dismissed it. The Tri-Pies were easy to shop for. Cat Out of the BagAbout a week later, Twinkle was happily humming as she walked from the train station to the Party Palace. She noted the green of the grass and the beauty of the hills and trees of Ponyville. She couldn’t help noting the grass looked greener than usual. Then again, she had been thinking brighter all day long. Today was the long awaited day, the day she’d been waiting for for so long, the day she would finally tell her mother and father what her cutie mark meant. Of course, she couldn’t tell everypony. Luna had made that clear. But she was finally able to tell her parents. So what if she couldn’t tell anypony else yet. She could tell her parents! And she was sure she could tell Zany and Applespike. They were her best friends after all. And she really, really hoped Zany could be something more than just a friend. She wanted him to date her, and she absolutely didn’t want to have to keep it a secret like she was doing now. Zany was too, for lack of better term, he was too good to be kept a secret. But she’d worry about that later. For now, she’d just relish in the fact that she didn’t have to hide her talent from her parents anymore. Speaking of, she was approaching the Party Palace. When she walked through the doors, the first thing she did was drop her present for the Tri-Pies on the table, and run over to give her parents a big hug. She immediately said, “I have something important I need to tell you, but it can wait until after the party. It’s kind of private.” Her parents looked concerned, but nevertheless nodded and agreed to wait until after the party to broach the subject of whatever she needed to tell them. Seeing the looks on their faces, Twinkle quickly reassured them, “Don’t worry. It’s nothing bad. In fact, it’s amazing. But it needs to wait till afterwards, okay?” Her parents nodded, and she smiled and went off to find her friends. She was ready to par-taaaaay! Seeing Jewel over by the snack table, Twinkle went up and greeted her. “Hey Jewel. Seen Zany or Applespike anywhere?” Jewel quickly turned at the sound of Twinkle’s voice. “Oh hi Twinkle! Yeah, Applespike and Zany are over there.” She motioned over toward the stairs. “Okay, thanks. I’ll come back, don’t worry. I just have to say hi.” Jewel giggled. “Take as long as you like.” Twinkle headed over toward the stairs. “Hey guys.” The two of them turned. “Oh hi, Twinkle,” Zany said. “Hey,” Twinkle answered. The two of them stood there awkwardly for a moment before realizing that Applespike had walked away to talk to Jewel. Finally Twinkle spoke. “Did your Dad find out?” “Nope. I don’t think he did. Well, he didn’t flip out on me yet, so I’m going to assume he hasn’t.” Twinkle nodded. “That’s reasonable.” After thinking for a moment about her other secret, she said, “Come on; I have to tell you something.” She led him into a corner. “You have to Pinkie Promise not to tell anypony, okay? I have another secret I need to tell you.” Zany went through the motions of a Pinkie Promise. “Okay then. What is it?” In answer, Twinkle asked, “Have you ever thought about what my cutie mark meant?” Zany blinked. “No, not really. What does it mean?” Twinkle sighed. "That’s my secret. Nopony knows what my cutie mark really means. Nopony except Princesses Celestia and Luna, and Jewel and Screwy know. You see, I’m a dreamwalker like Princess Luna. That’s why I’m her student instead of Celestia’s.” “Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Zany exclaimed. “Back up. You’re a dreamwalker?” He looked at her suspiciously. Have you ever come into my dreams?” Twinkle looked at him guiltily. “Maybe a couple of times. And I may have sabotaged them a few times.” Zany nodded. “I knew there was something wrong with those dreams. Thank goodness Princess Luna isn’t out to get me or something!” Twinkle looked up, surprised. “So you’re not mad?” “Are you kidding? You didn’t even tell your parents! How could I be mad?” Then, after glancing around quickly to make sure they were really alone, he leaned over and kissed Twinkle. Surprised but happy, she kissed back, savoring every moment. “Ahh!” Upon hearing the voice, the two snapped their heads back as quick as lightning. Then, their jaws dropped to the floor as they recognized the pony who had caught them. “D...d…d...dad?” Twinkle squeaked out, her voice so high you could barely hear it. Flash Sentry looked around, then pulled the two over to the door and dragged them outside. “Okay, you two are going to explain to me what in Equestria you were doing and why.” Seeing the terrified looks on their faces, he quickly softened his tone and reassured them, “Don’t worry, I’m not mad. I’m just...surprised. All I want is for you to tell me what you were doing.” The two looked at each other and silently came to an agreement. There was nothing left to do but tell the truth. Besides, it had to come out eventually, and they both felt that Flash would not judge them as badly as Twilight or Discord would. Nodding, they turned to him. “So,” Twinkle began. “It all started when…” “What?!” Flash exclaimed, staring at the two of them after hearing their story. He turned to Zany. “Hold on a minute. You put a spell on Twilight and Discord?” he asked, shocked. Zany winced, looking guilty. “Yeah,” he replied. Flash took a deep breath, then looked at Zany and Twinkle sternly. “You do realize you can’t keep this a secret forever, right?” The two shared a glance. “Yeah,” Twinkle said. I was actually going to tell you and Mom tonight when I told you my other secret, if Zany agreed that is.” She turned to face Zany. “I never did get a chance to ask you.” Zany shrugged. “Well I guess we definitely should now. We could tell my parents too if you want.” “Okay,” Twinkle promised. “We’ll tell everyone at the same time. But maybe I should tell them my other secret first, so we don’t have to deal with any flip outs before I get the chance. I’ve been waiting moons to be able to do this.” Zany nodded. “I understand. But are you sure you want to tell my family you’re secret too?” Twinkle nodded firmly. “I’m sure. Screwy already knows anyway, and Jewel found out last month. And we’ll tell Applespike too, of course.” “Excuse me,” Flash butted in. “But what secret. Are you saying you’ve been keeping two big secrets from your parents?” Flash sighed. “Twinkle, you should know better.” “Dad, listen to me, okay? Just hear me out.” Flash simply nodded. “Okay,” Twinkle said. Now I don’t have a good reason for keeping this-” she gestured at herself, then Zany, “-from you, other than Mom and Discord would freak out, but I do have a good reason for keeping my other secret from you. You see, I was told not to tell anyone about my secret until today by the Princesses themselves. Now, they say I can. So I will tell everyone later, after the party.” “Well,” said Flash. “I don’t have a good argument for that,” he admitted. “But he obviously knows,” he said, pointing at Zany. “And I heard you say that Screwball and Jewel know. So if you told them, why not your own parents?” Flash looked hurt. “I can explain that too.” Twinkle said calmly. “I only told Zany today, after the Princesses said I could tell ponies. Screwy knew the whole time, what with her lie-detecting skills, and I told Jewel last month to help her get away from those fashion ponies. I had to.” Flash nodded slowly. “I guess that makes sense. But you are going to tell us later right?” “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” She smiled at her father. “I’ll tell you later, when I can tell everyone a the same time.” Twinkle had gone around to all the ponies she needed to tell her secret to and told them to meet her in the Whitetail Woods after the party. Now that everyone was there, she took a deep breath, looked to Zany for support, who nodded his encouragement, and addressed the group. “Okay everyone. I bet you’re all wondering why I’ve called you here today.” Twilight rolled her eyes at that. Then Twinkle sighed. “I’ve called you here so I can tell you two very important secrets about me. Some of you know them already, but most of you don’t.” Everyone was paying close attention now. “Okay, for my first secret, Mom and Dad don’t be mad; the Princesses gave me strict instructions not to tell anypony until today. Anyway, I lied to you all about what my cutie mark means. What it really means is-” she took another deep breath “-I am a dreamwalker like Princess Luna.” She turned to her mother. “That’s why I’m her student and not Celestia’s,” she explained. “I know that bothered you a little.” “Wow.” Twilight was shocked. “I’m… I’m sorry Twinkle,” she apologized. “No, it’s okay,” Twinkle reassured her mother. “You didn’t know.” A couple minutes later, some of the ponies were still getting over the shock, but most of them were getting impatient, wanting to know what the second secret was. As if on cue, they heard Discord ask, “So what’s your other secret already?!” Twinkle gulped. “Well…” she glanced around at all the familiar faces, most of them waiting restlessly, Screwy smirking, all her friends and her father waiting more calmly, knowing what was to come, and Zany giving her an encouraging smile under the sarcastic mask he always wore. Twinkle smiled at that. She had learned to read his face, and found that he had a sweet side, and that the snarky smile he always wore was usually just for show. Once again, Twinkle faced the group, took a deep breath, and said, “This is my secret.” She motioned for Zany to come forward. They had planned this beforehand, so Zany did not look surprised. Once Zany was by her side, she repeated, “This is my secret,” and pulled Zany in and kissed him. When they pulled apart, they faced a flaming Discord, two open-mouthed speechless mothers, and VERY shocked expressions from everypony else who didn’t know their secret. However, their immediate concern was the flaming Discord. “WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DOING TO MY SON???” “Discord!” Fluttershy said in a warning voice. “WHAT?” Discord was in a rage. He was just as upset as when he found out Screwball was dating a changeling, maybe more. “Honey, you need to control yourself,” Fluttershy said. “CONTROL MYSELF? WHO KNOWS WHAT THAT KID HAS BEEN DOING TO MY SON? SHE COULD BE BRAINWASHING HIM FOR ALL WE KNOW!” ‘’I highly doubt Twinkle’s brainwashing Zany,” Fluttershy said. Then she looked at the rest of the group and said, “Excuse us for a moment,” and she took Discord over to the edge of the wood to talk to him, leaving Zany and Twinkle to deal with the rest of them. “I have just one question,” Applejack said. “Are the two of you happy?” They both nodded. “Good,” she answered. “That’s all I needed to know. Applespike, you ready to go?” He nodded, and the two of them left. Jewel wasn’t there because she already knew both secrets, so that left only Twilight to deal with. The two turned toward her, and were very surprised at what they saw. Twilight had a very calm look on her face, almost too calm, considering how she had acted the first time. Twinkle spoke up. “Mom?” she asked tentatively. Twilight answered, “Yes?” “Are you okay? You don’t seem mad or sad or scared or even surprised!” Twilight calmly answered, “Well, it’s like Applejack said, if you two are happy, then that’s all that matters. Besides, your dad seems fine with it.” She nodded her head towards Flash. The two looked surprised, happy, and scared all at the same time. They had just remembered they still had to deal with Discord, and that scared them more than anything. Just then, as if he knew they were thinking about him, Discord floated back over toward them, still with a cross expression, but he wasn’t on fire anymore. He stared down at them and said angrily, “I still don’t like this, but I suppose I can tolerate it.” Then he turned to look right at Twinkle. “But that’s as far as you’re going to get right now, got it?” She gulped and responded, “Y...yes, sir.” “Good.” Discord floated back to Fluttershy, and they left. Zany and Twinkle were left alone. They looked at each other and smiled. They had finally done it. They had told their parents, and they were okay with it! Zany suddenly let out a cry of victory, and he swept up Twinkle and kissed her full on the mouth. She kissed him back, and silently cried victory to herself. She had never been so happy, and neither had Zany. And it was right then and there that they realized they never wanted to leave each other again. “I love you,” Zany whispered. “I love you, too,” Twinkle responded, grinning like the Cheshire Cat. The NewsAuthor's Note This is an unofficial sequel to "The Chaotic Three: A Zany Story" by LunaJack. I do not own that story. The News “Applespike, you’re going to have to spend the weekend at Zany’s, okay?” “Sure Mom. I can’t wait. The Castle of Chaos is so much fun.” Applejack smiled. “Good. Jewel and Twinkle are going too.” “Awesome! Wait, does Zany know Twinkle’s coming?” I’m not sure, Sugarcube.” Oh boy, thought Applespike. A whole weekend with Zany and Twinkle together in the same house was going to be something to see. On the bright side, I get spend the whole weekend with Jewel. Plus, it’s the Castle of Chaos. It’s huge! Meanwhile… “Hey Zany. Applespike, Jewel, and Twinkle are coming over for the weekend.” “Twinkle’s coming?! For the whole weekend?!,” screeched Zany. His heart was beating wildly in his chest, but he tried hard to look mad. “Yes,” Fluttershy replied calmly. “And you will be nice to her. Right?” she asked sternly, with a glare that wasn’t quite as strong as the full power of her stare, but was enough to make Zany nod meekly. “Good,” she said, and left. Zany was left to think about that news. Twinkle’s coming! A small smile inched its way onto his face. Since they had been caught kissing in Twinkle’s tower by his dad and Twilight, he had found himself thinking about her a lot. They had both sworn not to tell anypony about that day, and they still pretended to hate each other when other ponies were around, but they weren’t quite as bad as they had been before. They also got together more when Twinkle came back to visit. Zany was sure his father hadn’t told anypony because Zany had put a spell on him to make him forget what he had seen in the tower. All he remembered was picking Zany up. Zany had done the same thing to Twilight, on Twinkle’s request. So nopony knew about it. At least, I think nopony knows about it. I hope nopony knows about it. Maybe Applespike--- “Zany!” Screwball burst into his room, cutting off his thoughts. “What?” I wonder if Screwy knows. She can tell when ponies are lying. Oh boy. I gotta be more careful around her. “Applespike and Jewel are at the door. Twinkle’s not here yet.” “Okay.” Zany teleported to the front door. “Hey guys,” said Zany. “What do you want to do?” “Ball pit,” they said in unison. “Cool. You wanna play Ball Pit Capture the Flag? If you do, I can get Screwy and Mothy to play with us too.” “Awesome,” said Applespike. “But won’t that mean the teams will be uneven?” “Well, yeah, I guess so. But if we wait until Twinkle comes, the teams will be fair.” “Okay great. What do we do until then?” asked Jewel. “We sit and have chocolate milkshakes until she gets here,” Zany supplied.
Ball Pit“Hey you three. Twinkle’s here,” said Discord, with a look of disgust. “Great! Thanks Uncle Discord!” said Jewel. “Hey Twinkle,” Jewel greeted her best friend. “You wanna play Capture the Flag in the ball pit?” “Absolutely,” she replied. She then narrowed her eyes at Zany. “As long as I don’t have to be on his team.” Zany grumped. “Don’t worry Twinkle Toes, it’ll be boys versus girls. I already got Screwy and Mothy to play with us,” and pointed at the couch where they were sitting and waiting. Then Screwy stood up. “The teams will be fair. Three girls, three boys. Each team gets one chaotic creature, plus the girls team gets an alicorn, and the boys team gets a changeling. Applespike has already promised not to use fire. Oh, and no teleporting spells of any kind at all. That includes teleporting yourself or other ponies or changelings. That sucks the fun right out of the game. Got it?” “Yep.” “Great. Let’s get started,” said Screwball. She poofed up two flags, one purple, and one green. She handed the green one to Mothball, and teleported them to the ball pit. “Okay, she said. “Boys, you have two minutes to hide your flag anywhere on the right side of the pit,” and she created a wall in the middle of the ball pit. She pointed to the right side of the pit. “Starting now!” The boys scrambled into the ball pit and came back up a minute and a half later. “Okay,” said Screwy. She handed a timer to Mothball. “Set it for two minutes. I have it rigged, so when the two minutes are up, we’ll be teleported back to this spot even if we aren’t finished hiding the flag.” “Got it, said Mothy. “Ready, set, go!” The girls dove into the left side of the ball pit. “Where should we hide the flag?” asked Twinkle. “It’s just a huge sea of colorful balls. It all looks the same!” “Don’t worry,” Screwy said. “I used to play this all the time. I have an idea,” she said, and made a tunnel through the pit going straight down. “We’re going to hide our flag at the very, very bottom of the pit!” “Ooh, I like it,” Twinkle said. “By the way, Jewel, do you know how to make a tunnel through the pit with your magic? If you don’t, I can show you.” “That’s okay Twinkle. Gemstone showed me how a while ago. She said she had to learn the time she came over to play Capture the Flag!” Jewel said, and laughed. “Perfect. That means we can split up, and nopony will drown in a sea of balls.” The boys only have Zany who can do that. That gives us a huge advantage, Twinkle thought. Unless, “Hey Screwy, can Mothball tunnel through the balls like this?” “Uh huh. I taught him a long time ago. Oh, and we’re here at the bottom.” She planted the flag on the ground and created an air pocket around it. “We’d better get back up before the timer runs out,” she said. Twinkle nodded, but she was thinking, Drat. The boys team has two ponies- er, creatures, who can do that. Well, we still have a small advantage. This is my chance to finally beat Zany at something! We never have enough time to actually finish any of our contests. This time I will win. I want to have a victory of some kind before I go back to Canterlot. Maybe I’ll sabotage Zany’s dreams if we don’t win, Twinkle thought with an evil grin. She was a dreamwalker like Luna. That was what her cutie mark really meant, but nopony except Celestia, Jewel, and Luna, her mentor knew. She hadn’t even told her mother, much to her disappointment. The princesses had thought it best not to tell anypony until she had better control over her power. The only reason Jewel knew is because she had entered her dream last month to help her escape from the awful ponies she had been modeling for. Twinkle sighed. That had been an adventure, especially at the end when she and Zany had had their little duel in her tower. She shivered thinking of the kisses they had shared. They had been so indescribably wonderful. Ever since that day, she had wanted more. Unfortunately their parents were mortal enemies. Oh well. Twinkle sighed again. “We’re done!” Screwy shouted when they reached the top. Twinkle liked Screwy and her husband, Mothball, despite her dad being her mom’s mortal enemy. “Great,” said Zany with a cocky grin. “So can we start now? “Yep!” said Screwball. She banished the timer and the wall. “Ready, set, go!” They all dove into the pit. “So what’s the plan guys?” asked Jewel. “I’ve got an idea,” said Twinkle. “Jewel, you guard the flag. Remember, no blocking spells, but you can use things to build barriers. Screwy and I will try to find the other flag and hold off the boys. If you need building materials to build walls, let us know now so we can conjure them.” Twinkle let a mischievous smile creep onto her face. “We are going to win.” “Great plan, Twinkle,” Jewel said. Hey Screwy, can I have some licorice and gumdrops? I have an idea.” “Here ya go,” Screwy said. “These should be enough. Before we go, let me cast this spell.” Her eyes glowed white for a second, then returned to normal. “There. Now we can communicate with each other just by thinking what we want to say. You have to think of the pony’s name first so they can hear you,” she explained. “Now let’s get started. Come on Twinkle.” The two dove out into the pit, away from the flag. “So, Twinkle, what are you planning to do?” “I’m not sure,” the little purple alicorn admitted. “I want to finally beat Zany at something. Nopony ever let us finish our contests when we were younger.” She scowled at Screwy. “Sorry,” Screwball apologized. “But you two were going to burn the house down.” “Yeah, yeah, fair enough. Come on; let’s win this thing!” They each went in a different direction. Meanwhile, on the boys team, “Okay guys. What’s the plan?” Mothy asked the two half-ponies. Zany answered, “Well I think Applespike should stay here and guard, since he can’t tunnel through the pit like we can. Us two should try to find the other team’s flag and hold them off if we find them.” Zany conjured up three earpieces and handed them to the other two. “Now we can talk to each other. Come on, let’s go!” Back at the girls’ flag, Jewel was busy building a licorice fence. She also built several licorice slingshots and set them carefully aside with her ammunation pile of gumdrops. She was ready. Screwy was maneuvering her way through the ball pit when she came across Mothy. She smirked. “Well hello there. Mind if I pass?” “No. No way am I letting you past me,” Mothball said. “Is that so? And how are you planning to stop me?” Screwy asked with a giggle. “Like this!” Mothball pulled her toward him and kissed her, catching her off guard, but after a second, she smirked and pulled him closer. When they pulled apart, she smirked again and said, “That was amazing, but I really must be going now.” She catapulted herself over him, and prepared herself to drill through the pit. “And thanks to you, I now know exactly where to go.” “Wait, what?” Mothball asked, confused. “Wait, no! You didn’t . . . Did you?” “Well of course I did,” Screwball snorted. “You really thought I wasn’t going to peek into your memory when I had the chance? Anyway, bye-bye and good luck.” She started drilling away through the balls. Mothball groaned and facehoofed. How could I have fallen for that? He sighed. Guess I’d better keep looking. Screwball thought, “Jewel, Twinkle, I just found out where the boys’ flag is!” “Great where is it?” Twinkle thought back eagerly. “It’s in the exact center of the right side. Center to the top and bottom, and center to the sides.” “Good to know,” Jewel thought. “Either of you two come across anypony trying to get to our side?” “I saw Mothball,” Screwy thought back. “That’s all, although knowing Zany, he probably made himself invisible.” Ooh, good idea, Twinkle thought to herself. I’ll have to try that one. Jewel and Twinkle thanked Screwy, and Twinkle cast an invisibility spell on herself and started making her way to the center of the right side, knowing Screwy was doing the same. On the way, she spotted Zany. Guess he didn’t make himself invisible, Twinkle thought, amused. But, she noticed he was heading straight toward their flag hiding place. “Jewel, Zany’s coming!” She thought desperately. Then she noticed Zany was picking up speed. She gasped. Zany whipped himself around. “What was that?” Twinkle smiled to herself. Yes, this could work. All I need to do is distract him for a while, she thought, and revealed herself. “Just me,” she said primly. Zany gasped. “Twinkle?” “Yes, is that a problem?” Zany groaned. “Why you?” “What’s wrong with me?” “Nothing! Just,” Zany paused. “Do you remember what happened that day about a month ago in your tower?” Twinkle nodded, all thoughts of distracting him forgotten. “Of course I do. I think about it all the time.” “Do you ever wish?” Zany hesitated, but Twinkle knew what he meant. “Yes,” she stated simply. Zany grinned. “Then what would you think if I did this?” He moved toward her and kissed her on the lips. Twinkle’s eyes widened, but after a moment, she closed them and kissed him back. When they pulled away, they both just stared at each other for a minute. Finally, Zany broke the silence. “Well?” In answer, Twinkle kissed him a second time. This time, when they pulled apart, Twinkle said, “We should get going. We don’t want our teams to notice we’re gone.” Zany nodded. “Okay. Bye.” “Bye.” Twinkle watched him leave, a bit sadly, but she shook herself out of it and started tunneling through the balls to find Screwball and the boys’ flag. Screwy was hiding in the balls just outside the boys’ air pocket for their flag. She could see Applespike guarding it, and she was getting frustrated. Where is Twinkle?! Seriously! What’s keeping her? Just then, Twinkle appeared behind her, breathing heavily. “Sorry I took so long,” she said between breaths. Screwball was about to yell at her, she glanced back at Applespike and created a soundproof bubble around them before asking, “What took so long?” Twinkle looked uncomfortable; her pupils were the size of pinpricks. She knew Screwy could tell when ponies were lying. “Um, I got held up by Zany.” This wasn’t a lie, and Screwy didn’t detect one. She rolled her swirly eyes. “What did he do this time?” “Um,” Twinkle’s pupils were now barely visible. She knew Screwball could tell when ponies were lying, but lying was all she had. Sometimes Screwy let it go. Although usually not when it concerns Zany. “Nothing?” Screwball narrowed her eyes. If Twinkle was lying about something Zany did to her, it must have been bad. “Come on, Twinkle. What did he do?” “Nothing! Well, nothing bad,” she mumbled. Screwy thought, Well, she wasn’t lying about it not being bad. I should probably trust her. Anyway, we have a game to win. “Fine.” Twinkle visibly relaxed. “But we’re going to talk about this later. Remember, you, Jewel, and I are having a sleepover tonight. And just like that, Twinkle tensed up again. But she shook herself off. Maybe Screwy will forget if we win the game. So with a determined look on her face, she said, “Come on. Let’s go get that flag!” Screwy smiled. “Come on. You distract Applespike while I sneak around the back and grab the flag. Once you see I’ve made it back into hiding, meet me back here. Then we can super speed tunnel back to our spot using your wings. Got it?” “Got it.” Screwy grinned. “Ready? Let’s go!” Twinkle darted out in front of Applespike. “Ha! Found it.” “Oh, no you don’t. You are not getting past me.” Twinkle could see Screwball grabbing the flag. She smirked. Just a few more seconds. “You sure about that?” she asked, flapping her wings. Applespike’s eyes widened as he realized she could just fly over him. “No! You wouldn’t!” Maybe I would, and maybe I wouldn’t.” She saw Screwy dive back into hiding. “But I’m not gonna stick around to find out,” she says and dove back into the pit herself. “Huh?” Applespike asked himself, confused. He turns around and gasps. “Where’d the flag go?” As soon as he realizes what had happened, he grabs his earpiece. “Zany! Mothball! They got the flag. Probably on their way back to their spot now. Can you try to find and stop them? I heard them super speed tunneling straight through the center, so you’d better move fast.” Mothball grabbed his own earpiece. Got it! Zany, meet me at the exact center, okay? And move fast!” “Roger that. I’m on my way.” When they got to the center, they almost immediately saw Screwy and Twinkle super speed tunneling through the balls and about to run them right over. “Ahh!” They stopped as fast as they could, but it was a close one. Oh, come on,” Twinkle complained. “We’re so close!” “Not so fast!” Zany exclaimed. You're not getting past us.” Screwy smirked. “Oh we’re not, are we? Then just watch this! Twinkle, up!” Screwy handed her the flag. Twinkle immediately understood. Using her wings, she propelled herself upward, and, creating a wide tunnel with her magic, super speed tunneled back to the girls’ flag territory. “Uhh!” Zany grumbled. I should have known she’d do that. Come on Mothy. Let’s catch her.” Soon everyone except Jewel (Applespike had finally caught up to the rest of them, not being able to tunnel through slowed you down a bit) was chasing everyone else all through the ball pit, but finally, Twinkle burst into the girls’ air pocket and cried out, “Girls win!” Zany, Applespike, and Mothball groaned. “Aw, we were so close,” Mothy said. Applespike nodded but said, “It’s okay. We’ll do better next time.” Zany agreed. “Yeah. I hope we can play again soon.” He glares at Twinkle. “And I’m not losing to her again. I have to redeem myself!” But he gave a slight smile to Twinkle when the conversation moved on to Jewel. Screwball saw this, and she had also noticed the glare her brother had given Twinkle just then was not as strong as other times. She also thought back to earlier that day when Twinkle had acted strangely after saying she got held up by Zany. Thinking back even farther, she realized that Zany and Twinkle had not been the same around each other for about a month now, ever since that incident with Jewel and those awful model ponies. She shivered. Those ponies were really awful. She wondered what had happened between her brother and Twinkle that had caused them to act weirdly. “Screwy? Screwy?!” said a voice, breaking into her thoughts. “Yeah?” “We’re going up to the kitchen to get some snacks. Are you coming?” asked Mothball. “Oh! Yeah, I’m coming,” she said, following them. Tonight, Twinkle and I are going to have a talk, she thought.
Twinkle Tells The TruthLater that day, after the girls’ hilarious sleepover pillow fight, Screwy said to Twinkle, “Come on. You and I are going to have a talk.” She pointed to a random room and led Twinkle inside. Once they made it inside and locked the door, Twinkle asked, “So what is it?” She looked scared. She had a pretty good idea what it was. “I want answers. And you’re going to give them to me-- honest answers. Understood? Twinkle sighs and nods, knowing there was no way out of it now. “Understood,” although she still looked scared. Hopefully Screwball won’t tell anypony or, she gulped as she thought of an even worse scenario, any draconequus. Screwy took notice of her scared expression, and softened her expression. “Hey, don’t worry. Whatever we talk about in this here won’t leave this room. I’ll even put up a sound barrier,” she said and cast the spell. “Pinkie promise?” Twinkle asked, knowing if anyone, pony or not, chaos powers or not, broke a pinkie promise, all she’d have to do would be tell Pinkie Pie, and whoever had broken it would be sorry. Screwy nodded. “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” “Okay,” Twinkle sighed. “Now what did you want to know? “Well,” Screwy started. “Why were you so scared earlier when I asked you what Zany did? And how come you two have been acting different around each other ever since that crazy incident with Jewel a while back?” Twinkle actually looked surprised at that second question. “You’ve . . . noticed?” Screwball nods. “And I want to know why.” Twinkle takes a deep breath. “Well, in answer to your first question, I didn’t answer because we both did something, not just Zany. And what we did . . . Well maybe I’d better start at the beginning. This will answer your second question too.” “Okay.” “You see, that, in the process of escaping from those awful ponies, Applespike had used a marshmallow bomb in my tower. So once we knew that Jewel was safe, I made Zany clean it up, and he did, but, um, we kind of ended up dueling right there in my tower.” Screwball sighs. “Of course you did.” Twinkle chuckles. “Yeah. That was fun. Probably our best duel ever, because nopony interrupted us. Although, nopony won either...” she trailed off. “And,” Screwy prompted. “And if you want to get right down to it, it kind of ended when Zany turned my horn into an upside-down vanilla ice cream cone.” Screwy snorted. “Of course Zany would do that. Wait did you say kind of? And I thought you said nopony won. If he took your horn, doesn’t that mean he wins? “I’m getting there. I said nopony won because because I got my horn back, but the duel didn’t continue from there. And I said it kind of ended because technically getting my horn back would count as my turn.” Screwy nodded. “I guess that does make sense. But did you say you got your horn back? How in Equestria did you do that? And how come you said you didn’t finish the duel? I can’t believe you two actually had the chance to finish one of your contests, and then just didn’t.” Twinkle took a deep breath. She knew this was it. It was time to tell the truth. “Well, I kissed Zany, and that’s how I got my horn back." “I’m sorry, what?” “I KISSED ZANY, AND THAT’S HOW I GOT MY HORN BACK!” she yelled this time. Screwy gasped. “WHAT?!” A blushing Twinkle didn’t answer, but instead kept going. “And then he kissed me, and then we kissed again, and then Mom and Uncle Discord walked in on us, and Discord got really mad, and Mom just stared at us, and then Zany teleported us home, and then--” “Okay I get the idea,” said Screwy. But if Dad and your mother saw you, how come neither of them ever brought it up, or more specifically, how come Dad didn’t come home and flip out on Zany at the dinner table?” Twinkle sighed. “Because I got Zany to cast a spell on them so they’d forget about it.” “Oh. That makes sense. Wait, does that mean that Jewel or Applespike or anypony else doesn’t know about this?” “Yeah, just you,” Twinkle answered. Screwy nodded. “Okay, but my second question? What were you doing that made you take so long earlier?” “Well, like I said, I ran into Zany and got distracted. I was originally going to try to distract him because he was heading straight for our flag, but then we started talking about that day, and I kind of forgot. And then-” she blushed. “Well, you know.” “Ahh,” Screwy nodded. It all made sense now. “I see. So,” she asked slyly, “any other big secrets you hiding?” At that, Twinkle froze. “Wh-what?” Screwball smirked. “Oh you don’t think I know you’ve been hiding what your cutie mark really means this whole time.” Twinkle groans. “Look Screwy, I’m really not allowed to tell anypony. Not even my mom knows what I can do. Only Princess Celestia and Luna and Jewel know what my talent is.” Oh, okay,” Screwy said, disappointed. “Wait, did you say Jewel knows but not your mother?” Twinkle sighs. “I guess you’re gonna find out tonight after all. Lucky you. But you can’t tell anypony. Seriously, this is even more important to keep a secret than me and Zany. So my special talent is dreamwalking. I can navigate the dream realm and visit ponies’ dreams, just like Princess Luna. That’s why she took me as her student instead of Princess Celestia. The only reason Jewel knows is because I had to enter her dream and talk to her last month to help her escape from those model ponies.” “Okay, but why can’t you tell your mother?” Twinkle sighed again. “The princesses don’t want anypony knowing until I can control my power better.” Screwy nods. “All right. You should probably listen to them. Anyway, let’s go to bed now, okay? She deactivated the sound barrier, and pointed to the Screwy’s old bedroom, where they were having their sleepover.” Twinkle yawned and agreed. “Yeah.”
Truth or Dare“Rise and shine sleepy heads,” came Uncle Discord’s voice. “It’s time for breakfast. The menu is as follows- blueberry pancakes with syrup for you ponies, sapphire pancakes for Applespike, and chocolate milk for me, Screwy, and Mothball. So who’s coming?” Discord grinned as everypony sat up and got out of bed after hearing the menu. “Always works,” he muttered to himself as he left. “Be down in ten minutes!” After breakfast, Jewel asked, “What do we do now?” Screwy grinned. “Let’s play truth or dare.” Screwy loved this game, mostly because she could always tell if ponies were lying during their truths. But many ponies didn’t want to play truth or dare with her for that particular reason. Also, the dares in the Castle of Chaos could get out of control, especially when you were playing with somepony who lived there and knew exactly what was behind the door of every single one of the 137 rooms in the Castle of Chaos. Needless to say, everypony had mixed reactions to this proposition. Zany jumped at the chance. “Yeah! Let’s do it Screwy!” Applespike was a little more hesitant. “Well, if Zany’s doing it…” Twinkle shrugged and said, “Okay, if you all are gonna do it.” Jewel and Mothballs’ reactions were more along the lines of, “Uh, I don’t think so,” “Um, I don’t know, I could just watch,” and, “Maybe we could go do something else while you guys…” “Nuh uh, you two,” said Screwy. “It’s four against two. You’re playing.” All they could do was look at each other and groan. “Well, I guess we’re playing,” said Mothball. Then he whispered, “Prepare yourself.” All Jewel could do was nod. “Okay,” said Screwy. “The rules are pretty simple. Basically your standard game of truth or dare, except you can only pick truth three times in a row before you have to pick dare, and vice versa. So who’s ready?” Screwy didn’t wait for an answer. “I’ll go first, since it was my idea. After that, whoever I pick will go next. Everyone okay with that?” “Yep,” everyone replied in unison. Even if they hadn’t been okay with it, it was no use arguing with Screwy. She always won. “Okay. Jewel, truth or dare?’ Jewel looked scared. She hadn’t expected to be picked first. “Um, truth?” she said tentatively, more of a question than a statement. Screwy grinned. She loved this. “What was the biggest mistake of your life?” Jewel didn’t hesitate, instead she hung her head and said regretfully, “Going to model for Picture Perfect. I always knew there was something off about that stallion, even before I signed the contract, but I just went and did it anyway, to get away from the school. I now know that if I had stayed in the school, I would have gotten better in time, but instead, I just ran away.” Screwy nodded. “Interesting. Okay now it’s your turn, Jewel. Jewel nodded. “All right.” She was starting to warm up to this game. “Screwy, truth or dare?” Screwy didn’t hesitate. “Dare!” Jewel thought about that for a moment, then remembered something Gemstone had told her about. ‘Screwball, I dare you to go to that room with the creepy roller coaster Gemstone told me about and ride it. Screwy nodded excitedly. “Done.” “Wait!” Zany exclaimed. “Can we come with you?” Screwy thought about that. “Sure if you want to. You weren’t dared to, so you don’t have to do it, but you can.” “Awesome! Come on you guys! Let’s go!” Twinkle nodded immediately. Mothy, Applespike, and Jewel shrugged. “Why not?” “Great,” Screwy said as they reached the door. There were three rows of seats. Screwball and Mothball went in the first row, then Applespike and Jewel, and that left Twinkle and Zany for the last row. They glanced at each other and then at the rest of the group before climbing into the seats. Then came the voice, “Sit back and relax as we take you through a journey of time and space and gumdrops. We hope that you have a pleasant ride, for it may be your last!” They all shivered at that, except for Zany and Screwy. Suddenly, the car dropped. The ride had started. Once the ride was over, they got out of the car, all looking shaky except Screwball. “Woohoo!” she yells. “Let’s do it again!” “Riiiiiiight,” says Jewel. “Or let’s not. It’s your turn.” “Okay,” says Screwball. “Hmm. Twinkle, truth or dare?” Recalling their conversation from last night, Twinkle quickly chooses dare. “Dare.” Screwy grins evilly. “Hmm. I dare you to kiss Zany. Right here, right now.” Twinkle was looking at Screwy with horror, probably thinking something along the lines of, How could you do this to me? Zany’s usually snarky expression was also replaced with horror, and more horror, and still more. He turns to Twinkle, his questioning gaze asking, Did you tell her? She nodded in affirmation, with a pleading look that said, She made me do it! When Zany saw that, his expression softened on her, and he turned his accusatory glare from Twinkle to Screwy, who was enjoying every moment of this a little too much, in his opinion. Twinkle asked timidly, still not completely recovered from the shock, “Can I pass?” Screwy shrugs. “Technically you can, but you don’t want to be a chicken, do you?” She really knew how to get under her skin. Plus, Twinkle knew Screwball would take that literally and turn her into a real chicken if she didn’t do it. Contemplating kissing Zany in front of all her friends or becoming a chicken, she decided kissing Zany in front of everypony wouldn’t be so bad. It wasn’t actually kissing him that bothered her, it was doing it right in front of everyone. And she really didn’t want to be a chicken. She supposed they’d find out someday anyway. And if they played their cards right, it wouldn’t have to be today. She just has to pretend not to like kissing Zany and vice versa. She looks at Zany, sending her idea through expression. He nods. “Well, okay,” Twinkle heard herself saying. She advanced toward Zany, constantly reminding herself in her head that she had to pretend not to like this in the slightest. But once she had her lips upon his, all of that was forgotten. Everything and everypony else in the room was forgotten and there was just Zany and Twinkle, in a world all their own. Zany, apparently, felt the same way, because he leaned in and kissed her back. After a few moments, they remembered where they were and what they had been trying to do. They both have the same desperate thought. Maybe they didn’t notice? But when they turned around, they found all of their friends staring open mouthed at them, save for Screwy, who was smirking like she knew this was going to happen the whole time. I wonder if she’s psychic too, Twinkle thought. “Er, maybe we should explain,”said a very embarrassed Zany. Twinkle nodded. “Yes. Yes we should. But first.” She turns to Screwy. “YOU PINKIE PROMISED!” Screwball just smiled, unfazed at the very, very loud yell from Twinkle, who had been using the Royal Canterlot Voice. “I Pinkie Promised I wouldn’t tell anypony what we talked about. I never said anything about getting you to do it.” “But you...I mean.” Twinkle sighed as she realized she didn’t have a comeback for that. “Why do you always find a way around things?” she grumped. “Sneaky Screwy. Really sneaky.” But she had amusement hidden in her eyes, showing that she was impressed by Screwball’s method, even if she hated what Screwy had actually used the method for. Screwball nods proudly. “I know.” She was cut off from saying anything further by Applespike asking, “Okay, um, you mind explaining now?” he asked, in a rather irritated manner. Twinkle and Zany were suddenly very quiet, all laughter gone from their eyes as they glanced at each other uneasily. Silently coming to an agreement, they faced the group. “Um, so we kind of, um,” stammered Zany. He was finding it harder than he thought to tell his friends. Screwy laughed, clearly enjoying this. Twinkle sighed. “You remember that, um, incident with Picture Perfect and Goodnight awhile back? Well, that’s when this,” she motioned to Zany and then back to herself, “kinda started. Twinkle went on to tell most of the story, leaving out a few embarrassing details, things she really didn’t need to tell her friends. When she finished, she looked up at them and almost laughed. They had resumed their earlier position, staring open-mouthed at them, except for Screwy, again. “So that’s it,” finished Twinkle. She smirked. "You can all stop staring now. You make me wonder how your eyes haven’t gone dry yet. Do none of you realize you’ve been staring, unblinking, at us for almost an entire minute?” Now they blinked. “Oh,” said Jewel. Mothball just stared some more. “You mean to tell me,” he started slowly. “That you two, the two I had to break up fights between almost every day when you were younger, are dating?” He had never looked so surprised. “That’s about the most unexpected thing that’s ever happened to me,” he said, grinning. “Congratulations you two. You have officially blown my mind.” Zany smiled his usual snarky grin and bowed with huge exaggeration. “Why thank you good sir. I never would have expected such an honor from a guy who can change into whatever he wants whenever he wants.” Twinkle rolled her eyes at this. “Okay, that’s enough everypony. It’s my turn. Applespike, truth or dare?”
Leaving“Applespike, Jewel, it’s time for you two to go home.” Then Discord turned, addressing Twinkle. “Your mother is waiting to take you to the train station.” “Aww!” all the children exclaimed. “Do we have to? The bouncy room is so much fun!” Discord started to look annoyed. “Yes, you do. And Twinkle, I don’t see why you want to stay anyway. You and Zany have been fighting the whole time!” It was true. They had been fighting the whole weekend- when Discord was around, anyway. The rest of the time, they were agreeing more than ever, although they still had minor disagreements over little things. “Old habits,” they said. Besides, everyone argues about some things. However, they were quick to figure things out and apologize. The others were amazed. Twinkle looked a bit frozen at Discord’s words. “Well...I mean,” she stammered. “Well, it’s just I like spending time with Jewel. I don’t know very many ponies in Canterlot, and most of the ones I do know aren’t very nice.” Discord, looking satisfied at her answer, said, “Okay, but you still have to go with your mother.” Twinkle sighs. “Okay.” She and Jewel exit the room. Meanwhile, during that whole conversation, and even that whole weekend, Zany had been watching Applespike. He sometimes saw him looking at him weirdly. “Dad, can I walk home with Applespike? I’ll come back after dinner.” “Okay- wait, what? Did you say after dinner?” Zany smirked and shrugged. “What can I say? Even cotton candy and chocolate can’t compete against Apple cooking.” Discord grumbled. “Guess I can’t argue with that. But bring me back some apple pie.” Applespike smiled. “Don’t worry Uncle Discord. We’ll have one for you. We always do.” “All right. Now get going!” Once they were out the door, Applespike turned to Zany and said, “Okay, I need some answers.” “And you deserve them. What do you want to know?” Applespike took a deep breath. “I want to know why in Equestria you’d want to date Twinkle. Not that there’s anything wrong with it, but just why? She was your oldest rival, for Celestia’s sake!” Zany just shrugged and said, “For the same reason you date Jewel. It just feels like we’re meant to be together.” Applespike nods. “I guess I hadn’t thought about it that way before. I’m sorry. I was just shocked.” Zany smiles, satisfied. “Well, now that that’s covered, race you to Sweet Apple Acres!” Both took off galloping as fast as they could towards the farm. Twinkle sighed as she was walking beside her mom towards the train station. The weekend she’d just had was the most the most fun she’d had in a month. And telling all her friends about her and Zany had a huge weight lifted off her chest. It wasn’t that she didn’t like Canterlot, she just missed her family and friends while she was there. She also wished she could tell her parents about her special talent. It almost killed her to keep it a secret. She sighed again as she remembered the other secret she was keeping from her parents. She wondered if maybe she could tell her dad about that one. Nopony was keeping her from telling that one, and if she did, she probably wouldn’t feel as guilty. The more she thought about it, the more it sounded like a good idea to tell her father. Her only worry about telling him was that he would tell her mom, but she was sure she could work something out in the form of a Pinkie Promise. She made a mental note to have a talk with her dad when she came back to Ponyville next weekend. It was the Tri-Pies birthday. Oh Celestia, I’ve got to get them a gift,” she thought, but quickly dismissed it. The Tri-Pies were easy to shop for.
Cat Out of the BagAbout a week later, Twinkle was happily humming as she walked from the train station to the Party Palace. She noted the green of the grass and the beauty of the hills and trees of Ponyville. She couldn’t help noting the grass looked greener than usual. Then again, she had been thinking brighter all day long. Today was the long awaited day, the day she’d been waiting for for so long, the day she would finally tell her mother and father what her cutie mark meant. Of course, she couldn’t tell everypony. Luna had made that clear. But she was finally able to tell her parents. So what if she couldn’t tell anypony else yet. She could tell her parents! And she was sure she could tell Zany and Applespike. They were her best friends after all. And she really, really hoped Zany could be something more than just a friend. She wanted him to date her, and she absolutely didn’t want to have to keep it a secret like she was doing now. Zany was too, for lack of better term, he was too good to be kept a secret. But she’d worry about that later. For now, she’d just relish in the fact that she didn’t have to hide her talent from her parents anymore. Speaking of, she was approaching the Party Palace. When she walked through the doors, the first thing she did was drop her present for the Tri-Pies on the table, and run over to give her parents a big hug. She immediately said, “I have something important I need to tell you, but it can wait until after the party. It’s kind of private.” Her parents looked concerned, but nevertheless nodded and agreed to wait until after the party to broach the subject of whatever she needed to tell them. Seeing the looks on their faces, Twinkle quickly reassured them, “Don’t worry. It’s nothing bad. In fact, it’s amazing. But it needs to wait till afterwards, okay?” Her parents nodded, and she smiled and went off to find her friends. She was ready to par-taaaaay! Seeing Jewel over by the snack table, Twinkle went up and greeted her. “Hey Jewel. Seen Zany or Applespike anywhere?” Jewel quickly turned at the sound of Twinkle’s voice. “Oh hi Twinkle! Yeah, Applespike and Zany are over there.” She motioned over toward the stairs. “Okay, thanks. I’ll come back, don’t worry. I just have to say hi.” Jewel giggled. “Take as long as you like.” Twinkle headed over toward the stairs. “Hey guys.” The two of them turned. “Oh hi, Twinkle,” Zany said. “Hey,” Twinkle answered. The two of them stood there awkwardly for a moment before realizing that Applespike had walked away to talk to Jewel. Finally Twinkle spoke. “Did your Dad find out?” “Nope. I don’t think he did. Well, he didn’t flip out on me yet, so I’m going to assume he hasn’t.” Twinkle nodded. “That’s reasonable.” After thinking for a moment about her other secret, she said, “Come on; I have to tell you something.” She led him into a corner. “You have to Pinkie Promise not to tell anypony, okay? I have another secret I need to tell you.” Zany went through the motions of a Pinkie Promise. “Okay then. What is it?” In answer, Twinkle asked, “Have you ever thought about what my cutie mark meant?” Zany blinked. “No, not really. What does it mean?” Twinkle sighed. "That’s my secret. Nopony knows what my cutie mark really means. Nopony except Princesses Celestia and Luna, and Jewel and Screwy know. You see, I’m a dreamwalker like Princess Luna. That’s why I’m her student instead of Celestia’s.” “Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Zany exclaimed. “Back up. You’re a dreamwalker?” He looked at her suspiciously. Have you ever come into my dreams?” Twinkle looked at him guiltily. “Maybe a couple of times. And I may have sabotaged them a few times.” Zany nodded. “I knew there was something wrong with those dreams. Thank goodness Princess Luna isn’t out to get me or something!” Twinkle looked up, surprised. “So you’re not mad?” “Are you kidding? You didn’t even tell your parents! How could I be mad?” Then, after glancing around quickly to make sure they were really alone, he leaned over and kissed Twinkle. Surprised but happy, she kissed back, savoring every moment. “Ahh!” Upon hearing the voice, the two snapped their heads back as quick as lightning. Then, their jaws dropped to the floor as they recognized the pony who had caught them. “D...d…d...dad?” Twinkle squeaked out, her voice so high you could barely hear it. Flash Sentry looked around, then pulled the two over to the door and dragged them outside. “Okay, you two are going to explain to me what in Equestria you were doing and why.” Seeing the terrified looks on their faces, he quickly softened his tone and reassured them, “Don’t worry, I’m not mad. I’m just...surprised. All I want is for you to tell me what you were doing.” The two looked at each other and silently came to an agreement. There was nothing left to do but tell the truth. Besides, it had to come out eventually, and they both felt that Flash would not judge them as badly as Twilight or Discord would. Nodding, they turned to him. “So,” Twinkle began. “It all started when…” “What?!” Flash exclaimed, staring at the two of them after hearing their story. He turned to Zany. “Hold on a minute. You put a spell on Twilight and Discord?” he asked, shocked. Zany winced, looking guilty. “Yeah,” he replied. Flash took a deep breath, then looked at Zany and Twinkle sternly. “You do realize you can’t keep this a secret forever, right?” The two shared a glance. “Yeah,” Twinkle said. I was actually going to tell you and Mom tonight when I told you my other secret, if Zany agreed that is.” She turned to face Zany. “I never did get a chance to ask you.” Zany shrugged. “Well I guess we definitely should now. We could tell my parents too if you want.” “Okay,” Twinkle promised. “We’ll tell everyone at the same time. But maybe I should tell them my other secret first, so we don’t have to deal with any flip outs before I get the chance. I’ve been waiting moons to be able to do this.” Zany nodded. “I understand. But are you sure you want to tell my family you’re secret too?” Twinkle nodded firmly. “I’m sure. Screwy already knows anyway, and Jewel found out last month. And we’ll tell Applespike too, of course.” “Excuse me,” Flash butted in. “But what secret. Are you saying you’ve been keeping two big secrets from your parents?” Flash sighed. “Twinkle, you should know better.” “Dad, listen to me, okay? Just hear me out.” Flash simply nodded. “Okay,” Twinkle said. Now I don’t have a good reason for keeping this-” she gestured at herself, then Zany, “-from you, other than Mom and Discord would freak out, but I do have a good reason for keeping my other secret from you. You see, I was told not to tell anyone about my secret until today by the Princesses themselves. Now, they say I can. So I will tell everyone later, after the party.” “Well,” said Flash. “I don’t have a good argument for that,” he admitted. “But he obviously knows,” he said, pointing at Zany. “And I heard you say that Screwball and Jewel know. So if you told them, why not your own parents?” Flash looked hurt. “I can explain that too.” Twinkle said calmly. “I only told Zany today, after the Princesses said I could tell ponies. Screwy knew the whole time, what with her lie-detecting skills, and I told Jewel last month to help her get away from those fashion ponies. I had to.” Flash nodded slowly. “I guess that makes sense. But you are going to tell us later right?” “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” She smiled at her father. “I’ll tell you later, when I can tell everyone a the same time.” Twinkle had gone around to all the ponies she needed to tell her secret to and told them to meet her in the Whitetail Woods after the party. Now that everyone was there, she took a deep breath, looked to Zany for support, who nodded his encouragement, and addressed the group. “Okay everyone. I bet you’re all wondering why I’ve called you here today.” Twilight rolled her eyes at that. Then Twinkle sighed. “I’ve called you here so I can tell you two very important secrets about me. Some of you know them already, but most of you don’t.” Everyone was paying close attention now. “Okay, for my first secret, Mom and Dad don’t be mad; the Princesses gave me strict instructions not to tell anypony until today. Anyway, I lied to you all about what my cutie mark means. What it really means is-” she took another deep breath “-I am a dreamwalker like Princess Luna.” She turned to her mother. “That’s why I’m her student and not Celestia’s,” she explained. “I know that bothered you a little.” “Wow.” Twilight was shocked. “I’m… I’m sorry Twinkle,” she apologized. “No, it’s okay,” Twinkle reassured her mother. “You didn’t know.” A couple minutes later, some of the ponies were still getting over the shock, but most of them were getting impatient, wanting to know what the second secret was. As if on cue, they heard Discord ask, “So what’s your other secret already?!” Twinkle gulped. “Well…” she glanced around at all the familiar faces, most of them waiting restlessly, Screwy smirking, all her friends and her father waiting more calmly, knowing what was to come, and Zany giving her an encouraging smile under the sarcastic mask he always wore. Twinkle smiled at that. She had learned to read his face, and found that he had a sweet side, and that the snarky smile he always wore was usually just for show. Once again, Twinkle faced the group, took a deep breath, and said, “This is my secret.” She motioned for Zany to come forward. They had planned this beforehand, so Zany did not look surprised. Once Zany was by her side, she repeated, “This is my secret,” and pulled Zany in and kissed him. When they pulled apart, they faced a flaming Discord, two open-mouthed speechless mothers, and VERY shocked expressions from everypony else who didn’t know their secret. However, their immediate concern was the flaming Discord. “WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DOING TO MY SON???” “Discord!” Fluttershy said in a warning voice. “WHAT?” Discord was in a rage. He was just as upset as when he found out Screwball was dating a changeling, maybe more. “Honey, you need to control yourself,” Fluttershy said. “CONTROL MYSELF? WHO KNOWS WHAT THAT KID HAS BEEN DOING TO MY SON? SHE COULD BE BRAINWASHING HIM FOR ALL WE KNOW!” ‘’I highly doubt Twinkle’s brainwashing Zany,” Fluttershy said. Then she looked at the rest of the group and said, “Excuse us for a moment,” and she took Discord over to the edge of the wood to talk to him, leaving Zany and Twinkle to deal with the rest of them. “I have just one question,” Applejack said. “Are the two of you happy?” They both nodded. “Good,” she answered. “That’s all I needed to know. Applespike, you ready to go?” He nodded, and the two of them left. Jewel wasn’t there because she already knew both secrets, so that left only Twilight to deal with. The two turned toward her, and were very surprised at what they saw. Twilight had a very calm look on her face, almost too calm, considering how she had acted the first time. Twinkle spoke up. “Mom?” she asked tentatively. Twilight answered, “Yes?” “Are you okay? You don’t seem mad or sad or scared or even surprised!” Twilight calmly answered, “Well, it’s like Applejack said, if you two are happy, then that’s all that matters. Besides, your dad seems fine with it.” She nodded her head towards Flash. The two looked surprised, happy, and scared all at the same time. They had just remembered they still had to deal with Discord, and that scared them more than anything. Just then, as if he knew they were thinking about him, Discord floated back over toward them, still with a cross expression, but he wasn’t on fire anymore. He stared down at them and said angrily, “I still don’t like this, but I suppose I can tolerate it.” Then he turned to look right at Twinkle. “But that’s as far as you’re going to get right now, got it?” She gulped and responded, “Y...yes, sir.” “Good.” Discord floated back to Fluttershy, and they left. Zany and Twinkle were left alone. They looked at each other and smiled. They had finally done it. They had told their parents, and they were okay with it! Zany suddenly let out a cry of victory, and he swept up Twinkle and kissed her full on the mouth. She kissed him back, and silently cried victory to herself. She had never been so happy, and neither had Zany. And it was right then and there that they realized they never wanted to leave each other again. “I love you,” Zany whispered. “I love you, too,” Twinkle responded, grinning like the Cheshire Cat.
The NewsAuthor's Note This is an unofficial sequel to "The Chaotic Three: A Zany Story" by LunaJack. I do not own that story. The News “Applespike, you’re going to have to spend the weekend at Zany’s, okay?” “Sure Mom. I can’t wait. The Castle of Chaos is so much fun.” Applejack smiled. “Good. Jewel and Twinkle are going too.” “Awesome! Wait, does Zany know Twinkle’s coming?” I’m not sure, Sugarcube.” Oh boy, thought Applespike. A whole weekend with Zany and Twinkle together in the same house was going to be something to see. On the bright side, I get spend the whole weekend with Jewel. Plus, it’s the Castle of Chaos. It’s huge! Meanwhile… “Hey Zany. Applespike, Jewel, and Twinkle are coming over for the weekend.” “Twinkle’s coming?! For the whole weekend?!,” screeched Zany. His heart was beating wildly in his chest, but he tried hard to look mad. “Yes,” Fluttershy replied calmly. “And you will be nice to her. Right?” she asked sternly, with a glare that wasn’t quite as strong as the full power of her stare, but was enough to make Zany nod meekly. “Good,” she said, and left. Zany was left to think about that news. Twinkle’s coming! A small smile inched its way onto his face. Since they had been caught kissing in Twinkle’s tower by his dad and Twilight, he had found himself thinking about her a lot. They had both sworn not to tell anypony about that day, and they still pretended to hate each other when other ponies were around, but they weren’t quite as bad as they had been before. They also got together more when Twinkle came back to visit. Zany was sure his father hadn’t told anypony because Zany had put a spell on him to make him forget what he had seen in the tower. All he remembered was picking Zany up. Zany had done the same thing to Twilight, on Twinkle’s request. So nopony knew about it. At least, I think nopony knows about it. I hope nopony knows about it. Maybe Applespike--- “Zany!” Screwball burst into his room, cutting off his thoughts. “What?” I wonder if Screwy knows. She can tell when ponies are lying. Oh boy. I gotta be more careful around her. “Applespike and Jewel are at the door. Twinkle’s not here yet.” “Okay.” Zany teleported to the front door. “Hey guys,” said Zany. “What do you want to do?” “Ball pit,” they said in unison. “Cool. You wanna play Ball Pit Capture the Flag? If you do, I can get Screwy and Mothy to play with us too.” “Awesome,” said Applespike. “But won’t that mean the teams will be uneven?” “Well, yeah, I guess so. But if we wait until Twinkle comes, the teams will be fair.” “Okay great. What do we do until then?” asked Jewel. “We sit and have chocolate milkshakes until she gets here,” Zany supplied.
