Stone and Secrets

Twilight paced in her borrowed quarters. Her mane was a mess, her coat was a mess, her mind was a mess. Thoughts, questions, ideas, concerns, distractions; all of these together conspired to make her a very confused and worn out mare.

What if Discord was lying? What if he wasn't?

But what motivation could he possibly have lie?

I suppose he doesn’t really need one. This is Discord I’m dealing with...

Will Luna will react badly if I ask her?

What if I hint at the subject?

No. I need to ask directly... if I ask at all.

How do I know that she knows the truth?

Where will any of this even lead me?

Just as her brain was frying its own circuits, she heard an increasingly loud voice calling her name.

"Yes, Spike?"

"Twilight, you've been pacing and muttering to yourself for twenty minutes now. Will you please just tell me what's going on?"

He's not ready for this!

But... Maybe he'll be fine.

Maybe he could help.

She started speaking in a blur, describing all that had happened since they had come for their visit in odd and minute detail. Fortunately, Spike managed to get a word in edgewise and she slowed down, explaining from what had happened from when she saw Celestia the first night all the way to when she spoke to Discord.

Spike watched with a rather concerned expression, and waited patiently for her to finish. He had learned from his experience with Twilight how irritating it was to be interrupted during an explanation.

"So... what do we do now, Twilight?"

"That's precisely it. I don't know!"

Spike scratched the back of his head for a moment, then offered a question. "Well, why not just ask Luna? She probably knows what's going on as well as anyone. And she's pretty good at noticing what's going on. There's more to her than you might think."

The last part of what he said caught her attention. "And how do you suddenly know that?"

Spike was slightly surprised, but answered quite normally. "Well, I talked to her a lot while you were doing your research. She's got a lot to say when you really get talking to her.

Twilight, I know it sounds fishy because Discord told you to, but I think you should try it anyways. She's bound to know something."

I guess that's true.

"You're right. I'll go talk to her right now."

She was almost out the door when she turned back to Spike, who was apparently following her out, and added "oh, and I need you to find me anything you can about Celestia's past, especially in relation to Discord and Chaos Magic."

"Um... alright, but I kind of wanted to..."

And with that, Twilight was out the door.

"... go with you to talk to Luna... Well, time to get researching."

After some asking around and a bit of regular searching, Twilight managed to find Luna in her study, reading a book.

She took a moment to catch her breath and mentally go over her questions.

"Luna, I need to speak to you about something."

Luna left her book open, but looked up to Twilight. She had a warm smile on her face. "Yes, Twilight Sparkle? What hast thou come to ask us of?"

"I need to know about Discord. And Celestia. And Chaos Magic. And whatever else is going on that's making Celestia act so strangely!"

"We see."

Luna looked down for a moment, sighed, and set the book aside. She spoke calmly, in somber tones.

"Tell us, Twilight Sparkle, why didst thou cometh to us for this knowledge?"

Sometimes, Twilight spoke before she thought.

"Discord told me to ask you."

Luna's eyes widened, and she reeled. "Discord? Why in Equestria wouldst thou speak-"

"Because, she keeps acting strange when I mention Chaos Magic or Discord, and she's been acting depressed and... and I saw it! I saw Celestia, late at night, when no one was looking, she went out and-"

Luna raised a hoof to silence Twilight. Her eyes were closed, and her face bore a hardened expression.

"Enough, Twilight Sparkle. We know already of our sister's secret doings. We will tell you what we can."