Third Time's a Charming Wave of Chaos

*If you're a newer fan of the show, you can go ahead and skip this "Past" chunk. All I do is give a brief summary of the major events that have happened so far.*

---Past---

Equestria.

Home to the most magical and interesting ponies you'll ever find. Within this land live many iconic figures. Figures that would have gone unnoticed if had not been for the thinking of Princess Celestia to send a young unicorn into the town of Ponyville. Twilight Sparkle was sent to observe preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration, with an additional request from the Princess to pull herself out of he books and make some friends. Upon entering Ponyville, Twilight bumped into several ponies that didn't seem very interesting at first. Pinkie Pie, the town's leading expert in parties, was introduced through an awkward meeting. Applejack seemed forceful, constantly wanting Twilight to sample everything. Rarity, a fellow unicorn, wouldn't stop trying to fix up Twi's appearance. Rainbow Dash, a pegasus, was always showing off. Fluttershy, also a pegasus, had a very hard time opening up and talking until she saw Spike the baby dragon, also Twilight's assistant. All of them (except, of course, Pinkie, who wasn't seen again until later that night) became even more excited and unbearable once they heard Twilight was from Canterlot, home of the Princess herself.

Within the first evil, an entity known as Nightmare Moon, came their first adventure. Nightmare Moon appeared at the Celebration, taking the place of Princess Celestia, and seeking to trap Equestria in eternal night. Twilight and her new, still a bit awkward friends wouldn't let that happen, chasing down the devious Mare while tackling every challenge she threw at them. With every challenge, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity and Fluttershy all proved their worth and importance in Twilight's heart, and Twilight herself came to trust each and every one of them more and more. When the time came to face Nightmare Moon, Twilight and her friends rose victorious. Using the Elements of Harmony, they exposed Nightmare Moon for what she was: the young alicorn sister of Celestia, Princess Luna.

Much happened between that encounter and the next, with the friends behaving just how all friends do.

Disaster struck with the return of Discord, god of chaos and disharmony. Discord had ravaged once before, but was thwarted by Celestia and turned to stone. After a difficult struggle with her friends, all of whom were acting drastically out of character (much to the thanks of Discord himself), Twilight Sparkle and the others defeated the god of Chaos and Disharmony, sealing him once again in a stone prison. Twilight herself felt Discord's touch when she completely gave up on herself and her friends. However, her faith was restored after another direct intervention from Princess Celestia. After restoring her friends, one by one, to their original state, they once again won against the dark force.

Their most recent victory was against the Queen of the Changelings: Chrysalis, an Alicorn disguised as Princess Cadance and seeking to marry Twilight's brother, Shining Armor, to feed off of his emotions for her own power. Twilight knew from the start that something was off when she first encountered the disguised the queen. Cadance had been partially responsible for Twilight's up-bringing, and the two were very good friends. Twilight spoke out against Chrysalis, only to find everyone terribly disappointed with her. The Qeen trapped Twilight in an underground cave, where she ran into the real Princess Cadance, mistaking her at first for the imposter. The two escaped just in time to stop the wedding and reveal Chrysalis's true figure. Once again, the Elements of Harmony were needed for this battle. Chrysalis, however, had other ideas. She sent her seemingly endless army of Changelings to stop Twilight and her friends. Victory was achieved in the end, as always (though this time without the Elements), and the real Cadance finally married Shining Armor.

Everything has been pretty quiet since then.

Almost too quiet.

---Present---

-Canterlot, Castle-

It was nearly nightfall in wintertime Equestria. Very soon Princess Luna, younger sister of Celestia, would take over and bring night to the land. She knew many things had happened since those six ponies from Ponyville broke her from the nightmare she had become. Every once in a while she'd work herself up again about how everything interesting seemed to happen while she slept during the day, but wouldn't let what happened before happen again. Besides, what was night without day? What was good without evil? You couldn't have one without the other.

But that was just it. She didn't know what was doing it but 'nearly nightfall' seemed to be taking much longer than usual. She knew her sister liked to joke around from time to time, but for three hours straight? It had to be her imagination, or the clock moving too fast, or something. Anything!

There was something in the room with her! No, wait....no. AH! THAT SHADOW MOVED!!! Oh... it was just the curtain.

This is starting to get to me. The young Princess thought to herself. Oh, I hope Celestia gets back soon!

Celestia had gone to Ponyville to visit with Twilight and the others. It started out as just a visit, but had since escalated to each of the ponies showing her something of their own. She knew being otherwise occupied didn't have any effect over her sister's control over the sun, but that was hours ago. The clock was about to strike the fourth hour of Luna's growing panic when...

"Luna." A voice came from outside. It was Celestia, finally returning. "Are you all right? I apologize for not setting the sun, but you wouldn't believe what happened."

The door opened and the Princess walked in, worry in her stride and panic in her eyes. When she noticed her sister on the ground looking like Twilight when she was late to send a letter, she allowed herself a quick chuckle before continuing.

"I would've set the sun a few hours sooner, but upon my return I noticed that the statue in the Royal Garden... you know the one I mean... was missing."

This, as you would expect, did nothing for Princess Luna's nerves. The sun still hadn't set completely and the statue was missing. She was sure she knew the culprit, too.

"I wouldn't say missing, dear Princess." came another voice from the darkness. "If you'd ask me, I'd say it just grew legs and walked away. If you catch my drift."

The voice was all too familiar to the sisters. But this was impossible! Nothing could have broken him out again! Unless, of course, Miss Cheerilee decided to bring those Crusaders on another field trip to Canterlot.

"Discord! What are you doing out again?" Celestia demanded. The entity of chaos laughed at the remark.

"I would've thought it obvious, Princess." A large pair of eyes opened in the shadows. "What am I always doing when I'm not trapped by you or your little ponies?"

Luna got to her hooves and stood by her sister, trying to look stronger than she felt at the moment. Once again, Discord laughed.

"I almost forgot," He finally stepped into the light, his lion arm extending. "I have to thank the one responsible for my escape."

He bowed low, his mischievous eyes not leaving the young Princess of the Night. "Thank you, Luna."

"Luna?" Celestia turned to her sister, shocked.

"I wouldn't be so surprised, Princess." Discord continued, turning his gaze to the elder sister. "I should also thank you. After all, you were the one who didn't set the sun at the right time. Luna here has been stressing and panicking for several hours now, poor thing. As an Alicorn, and Royalty, her power almost matches yours. So, in her state of *chuckle* mild disharmony from the normal routine, I was able to break free." He looked again toward Luna. "Much more power than those three fighting fillies, even if it was a different wavelength."

Princesses Celestia and Luna were now backing up to the door. If they could just make it outside...

"Oh, I wouldn't try that way." Discord's talons snapped, and the door was gone. Another snap and the windows vanished as well. The only light in the room was now coming from a candle burning in the corner. The god of chaos thought for a second, then smiled again. With a final snap, the horns and wings of the Alicorns disappeared. The sisters looked at eachother, then at themselves. Shock and panic worked their way onto the mares' faces.

"How is this possible?" Celestia gasped.

"Oh really, Princess, you do ask the most obvious, boring questions sometimes." Discord began pacing the sealed room. "And once again, it has an obvious answer. With your sister's power melded with my own, I'm much stronger than the last two times you tried to stop me. Now, if you don't mind," Five necklaces and a crown fell to the floor. The Elements of Harmony. "I'm going to keep these here. I'll see you two later."

With a final guffaw of laughter, Discord vanished. Luna turned to her sister, eyes welling up.

"Sister. I'm sorry."

-Ponyville, Carousel Boutique-

Rarity was beat. She had just finished displaying her new dress design to the Princess, proceeded to make adjustments to the already perfect design, then made five more. If that wasn't tiring enough, she also had to keep the Cutie Mark Crusaders in line AND try to stop Opalessance (several times) from shredding her design plans. Now that Sweetie Bell, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were finally asleep, she could lay down as well. She was just about to drift off when a thump came from outside, followed by frantic knocking on her door.

"Oh, dear," Rarity sighed, rubbing her eye and yawning. "Whoever could be calling at this time of night- er, morning."

Sleepy and sluggish, she dragged herself downstairs. The knocking hadn't stopped. If anything, it had gotten louder.

"Yes, yes, hold on." She opened the door to find Rainbow Dash flying in place on the other side. Quick as a bullet, she zoomed inside and buried herself in a pile of fabric.

"Rainbow! Is there something wrong?" Rarity asked, surprised.

"Something wrong!?" came Dash's muffled reply. She poked her head out of the pile."SOMETHING WRONG!?"

"Please, keep it down. I just managed to get the girls to sleep."

"Sorry Rarity, but I'm a little freaked out right now."

The white unicorn closed the door and walked over to her friend.

"What happened?"

"You remember Derpy, right? She destroyed town hall the day Applejack left for that rodeo."

"Yes, I remember her." Rarity replied after a few seconds. "The one with the goofy eyes?"

"That's her. You won't believe what I just saw." Rainbow Dash took a deep breath. "I saw Derpy and Screwball flying around the Weather factory up in Cloudsdale."

Rarity looked at Rainbow Dash for a few seconds.

"That's it?"

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Do you know what this could mean for Equestria? Almost an entire month's worth of weather problems!"

"Yes, well, maybe you should go and talk to Twilight about this."

"Good idea. I'll head there no-"

"Tomorrow." the unicorn grabbed Rainbow by the tail with her magic, stopping the pegasus before she could zoom off. "I'm sure she's sleeping, just like the rest of us should be." She turned her gaze skyward. "Although I don't know how anypony is able to sleep with the sun still out."

-Ponyville Library-

Sleep was the last thing on Twilight Sparkle's mind. She had been pacing around the room with worry since Princess Celestia returned to Canterlot.

"I don't know what could be wrong, Spike!" The purple unicorn wondered out loud for the hundredth time. Hearing no response from her assistant, she turned to look at him. Sleeping.

"SPIKE!"

The baby dragon jumped a few feet in the air, landing with a soft thud back on his bed. He took a second to look around before realizing it was Twilight that woke him up.

"How could you be sleeping at a time like this?"

"What're you so worked up about this time?" Spike yawned, rubbed his eyes, and looked out the window. "Huh. I wonder why the sun's still out."

Twilight sighed with annoyance and returned to pacing.

-Futtershy's Home-

"Oh come on, Angel. You know it's time for bed."

Fluttershy had been trying for the past-hour-and-a-half to get her mildly bad tempered bunny to get to sleep, but her efforts were to no avail. Angel refused her requests, hopping outside in defiance. He turned and blew a raspberry at her before slamming the door behind him.

"Well, I guess you can stay up for a little while longer..." The pegasus sighed.

-Sweet Apple Acres-

Applejack, having tired herself out over the course of the day, was fast asleep. She had helped her sister, Applebloom, get ready for the CMC Sleepover At Rarity's, helped Big Macintosh finish up some work on the farm, and hung out with her friends while the Princess visited. It had been a long, eventful day, and sleep was a perfect reward for a job well done.

Her prize was interrupted, however, when an urgent hoof shook her awake.

"Huh, whoozzat?" She asked groggily. A jittering pink blob took up her vision. Applejack's suspicions were confirmed when the blob spoke.

"Awake yet, sleepy head?"

"Ah am now, Pinkie." Apple yawned. "Whut'r you doin' here, wakin' me up like that?"

"You know, I was thinking that myself." Pinkie Pie began bouncing around happily. "I asked old Granny Smith where you were because Twilight said she wanted to see you and she said you were inside and you were all plum tuckered out and sleeping so I came in to wake you up because I couldn't understand how you sleep with the sun still out and then I thought wel-mmph!"

Applejack couldn't take much more of this, especially this soon after waking up.

"Pinkie, why don't ya just tell me what Twilight wanted? Ahm sure she wouldn't want us t'be late." She carefully removed her hoof from Pinkie's mouth as an expression of pure joy overcame the pink mare's face.

"That's a GREAT idea!" She bounced over to the door of Applejack's room. "She wanted to talk to all of us. She said something about 'Equestria being in danger' or something."

With that unmistakable Pinkie charm, the party pony bounced out of the room without a care in the world. Applejack, however, was starting to get antsy. Her exhaustion wasn't helping, either. If Twilight wanted to talk to them this late, however bright outside it may be, it had to be important.