Chapters “Discord really has changed, the elements saw hope in him and set him free. We’ve gotten over the hate that we once held over each other, and real love has blossomed. You may not understand it, but I’m just asking you, my most faithful student, to accept our love. You will understand when you see us together.
Princess Celestia.”
Spike finished the letter, lowering it so he could see his friend’s reaction.
“But… There’s no way that he could have changed!”
“Oh come on Twilight, you just heard it from the princess herself! Now let’s go get some food, I’m starving!” The baby dragon wined, throwing the letter to the side.
“We can’t Spike, we have to save the princess! Discord’s tricked her somehow, so it’s up to me to put an end to this!” Twilight began browsing through the huge assortment of books, desperately trying to find something that could help.
Spike rolled his eyes at her and sighed. She really was impulsive at times, “But Twilight, remember Nightmare Moon? The princess knew about everything, you should have just listened to her in the first place!”
Twilight shook her head in anger; she really didn’t like to bring that memory up. That may have been when she made all her friends, but she had acted… Stupid , to say the least… “This is different Spike! Now get me the book on mind control!” The baby dragon sighed again before going to grab her book. Sometimes there was just no reasoning with her…
“But, but Celestia! He isn’t even the same species as you, what could you possibly see in him?” Luna questioned, eyeing her sister as a group of servants took her measurements.
“Ugh... Do we have to do this now? They need to get these measurements to Ponyville so my dress can get started.” She craned her neck so a pony could measure her.
“Well we have to- wait what? You’re getting your dress done in Ponyville?!”
Celestia closed her eyes and let out a sigh, “Yes sister. From what I’m told Twilight’s friend is a wonderful designer.”
“But… Ponyville’s just a peasant town filled with earth ponies! Why on Equstria would you ever let them make your dress with their dirty little hooves?”
Celestia reaching the end of her line, snarled. Very rarely would she let her Princess like composure slip, but when she did… “Luna…” She said through clenched teeth, “Would you please, get out and let them finish? We can talk later.”
Noticing how angry her sister was getting she had to keep from letting out a chuckle, “Very well, we’ll finish this discussion later.” With that she left the room, letting her sister breathe a sigh of relief. Her sister sure knew how to push her buttons, even more so then Discord…
“Alright Spike, but only ten minutes then we’re back in the library!” Twilight lectured as the door bell rang throughout Sugarcube Corner.
“Right.” He nodded and ran to the counter as fast as his little legs could take him. He tried to peek over the counter, wondering where Pinkie or the Cakes could be. “Didn’t Pinkie say she’s looking after the place for today? Where is she?”
Suddenly the sound of laughter echoed through the store. The deep laugh reminded her of someone and she immediately scanned the store, her horn at the ready.
“I think it’s coming from the kitchen.” Spike commented casually, stepping around the counter and heading deeper into the bakery.
“Wait Spike, its dangerous!” She ran after him protectively, sliding to a stop in the kitchen. What she saw made her jaw drop.
“It’s delicious!” Pinkie Pie giggled covered head to hooves in chocolate milk. Positioned above her was a cotton candy cloud that rained chocolate milk into her awaiting mouth.
Hovering right beside her, laughing up a storm was Discord. His tail flickering back and forth as he chuckled heartily. “Pinkie, you sure do know how to appreciate a laugh!” Noticing Twilight enter his grin grew at least two sizes. “Twilight Sparkle! Just the pony I wanted to see!” He snapped his fingers and within a blink of an eye he was beside the purple unicorn.
His sudden movement scared her, and she jumped back a few feet. “D-d-discord! But, what in Celestia’s name are you doing here?”
Her reaction made him laugh, “Oh Twilight Sparkle, I don’t think your teacher would be very pleased to hear you say her name in vain.”
“But?! What do you want?!” She grinded her hooves into the floor, and pointed her horn directly at him like a loaded gun.
“Calm down my little pony.” The Draconquus reached out an arm and pushed her horn towards the ground. “I’m not here to hurt anypony.”
Twilight snarled at him, “You’re not fooling me! You can trick the princess, you can trick my friends, but you’re not tricking me!”
Discord rolled his mismatched eyes at her. “Oh come now, didn’t the princess tell you? I’ve changed, just ask your friend.” He pointed a finger to the pink pony who was bathing in the chocolate milk.
“Yeah Twilight! Discord’s changed now, he’s fun!” She said in between mouthfuls of the sugary treat.
Not believing a single word of it she shook her head, “Spike! Back me up here!” She looked to her side, but the dragon was gone. It took her a minute to realize he was with Pinkie rolling around and drinking his fill.
“I was just on my way to see you when I came upon this amazing bakery. You know, Pinkie was the only pony who wasn’t scared of me. She understands the joys of laughter, unlike so many other ponies…”
“That’s it, Spike we’re leaving!” She turned her tail and went to leave. Noticing the anger and seriousness in her voice, her assistant followed without a word.
“Well if you must go, but we’ll see each other again soon. I can’t wait to see you at the wedding, it’ll be hilarious!”
Twilight left with Spike in tow, barley able to contain her anger at this point. “See! I told you that he hasn’t changed!” She growled as they went onto the main street of Ponyville.
“But it’s not like he’s hurting anypony, why don’t you just give up on this?!” He pleaded, trying his best to keep up with Twilight, who was almost galloping down the road.
“No! I’ll prove to you and everyone else that I’m right! Just wait and see!”
Picking up speed Rainbow Dash angled herself upwards. She continued climbing higher into the sky, until she reached a sufficient height. Knowing this was the perfect time; she stopped and instead turned downwards. With a speed that could rival the Wonderbolts she spiraled towards the earth, a rainbow trailing in her wake.
“Yes, this is gonna be it!” She yelled her voice barley audibly over the supersonic winds. A visibly cone was forming around her, just a little faster and she would break it. “I’m gonna do a sonic rainboom!”
Suddenly a lightning bolt shot out right beside her, scaring her half to death. With the cyan Pegasus’s concentration broken, the barrier forced her back. Rainbow Dash flew high into the sky before plummeting to the ground below. Moving far too fast to extend her wings she closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitably impact.
It came, but it wasn’t what she was expecting. It was almost like she had sunk into the ground. When she opened her eyes she quickly realized she was floating in an odd blob of green. Curiously, she stuck out her tongue and tasted the weird thing. “Jell-o?” She asked, her voice muffled from the food.
Licking her lips she quickly ate her way out, creating a tunnel out to the side. Landing on the ground she realized she was covered in it, and quickly began licking the delicious food from her face.
“How does it taste Rainbow Dash?” An unknown voice called out to her. Her eyes raced across the sky as she tried to find the mysterious figure. “Up here.”
Rainbow Dash looked up, and floating above her was a creature that made her heart swell with rage. “Discord!” The cyan Pegasus roared before shooting up into the sky beside him. “Put em up you wing stealing monster!” She shot at him like a bullet, but with a snap of his fingers he was already long gone.
“What is with everypony? They keep expecting that I’m evil, all I want is a little fun!” He grinned as the Pegasus charged at him again.
“Yeah, and that fun is at the expense of everypony!” After a few missed charges she was panting, barley able to keep herself up.
“You know we can relate Rainbow Dash, I love flying to! It’s not as fun as laughing, but it’s still enjoyable to fly through the sky!” Discord moved his arms like he was an Olympic swimmer, moving through the air as if it was water.
“Don’t even try and compare us! We’re nothing alike! All you are is a monster who gets a kick out of other pony’s misery!” Rainbow Dash found a new found strength, and once again raced at him.
“Oh but we are the same! I’ve heard that you love pranks, so do I! This is one of my favorites!” He moved his snake like body and she shot right past him. Turning around they were face to face. He grabbed her hoof with his lion paw, and immediately an electric current shot through her body. She pulled away momentarily stunned.
Discord burst out in a storm of laughter, he fell on his back almost crying. “What’s the matter Rainbow Dash, are you shocked to see me? Bwahaha!” The Draconquus burst out in laughter again, holding his sides it hurt so much.
“That’s not funny…” She mumbled, rubbing her sore hoof. It seemed like she had forgotten that was one of her favorite pranks, employing it against Gilda when she had visited and occasionally on Pinkie Pie.
“Oh come on Rainbow Dash, lighten up! Haven’t you heard the news? I’m getting married to Celestia!”
Her previous expression of anger immediately faded, instead confusion filled her face. “Wh-what? You’re getting married to Celestia?!”
“Yep, and oh look at the time.” He checked an oversized wristwatch that was adorned with letters instead of numbers and seemed to be running backwards. “I’m meeting her for Dinner tonight, time just flies when you’re having fun! Well goodbye Rainbow Dash, hope to see you sometime before the wedding!” With a loud snap he was gone, leaving the bewildered Pegasus alone and even more confused.
“So what were you up to today?” Celestia asked, knowing that he was probably out causing trouble.
“Now why do you say it like that? I assure you I wasn’t harming anypony.” Discord replied with a mischievous grin.
The two were currently sitting in the large dining hall, a dozen servants bustling back and forth between the kitchens making sure they were tended to. The princess was finally glad she had someone to eat with; it had been lonely over the thousand years when it was just her.
“Why isn’t your dear sister with us?” He asked with a slight irritation in his voice.
“Well… I asked her but she declined. She’s been…stubborn, lately.”
“She’s always been stubborn.” He said with a chuckle. “Anyway, how’s the wedding going?”
Celestia rolled her eyes, “It’s been tough, especially with Luna pestering me at every waking moment. But we should have everything ready when the time comes.”
“Well I paid a visit to your top student today.” Discord smiled, knowing the princess would be interested.
“And? From what I’ve gotten in her letters she’s not very accepting of this…”
“Yes, she was very demanding of the fact that I haven’t changed. But… It was very amusing seeing her so upset.”
“Great, now I have my sister and my student to deal with…” Celestia sighed.
Twilight was shaking her head in frustration as she flipped through the pages of a thick book, surrounding her were at least two dozen other books, all discarded and open at random pages. “No Spike! I need you here to help me!”
“But, come on Twilight! Rarity really needs the help, and what other chance do I get to spend time alone with her?” The baby dragon pleaded, looking at her with his best puppy dog eyes.
She looked up from her book and stared at him for a few moments, finally shaking her head and sighing. “Fine… I can just get Owlicious to help me anyway…”
“Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!” He jumped around, far happier than he had been in awhile. “As soon as I get back I’ll do whatever you want, I’ll be the best assistant ever!”
“Yes, now shouldn’t you be going?” She asked, delving back into her book.
“Right! Cya Twilight, hope you sort this whole thing out!” He yelled before rushing out of the library and towards Carousel Boutique.
Focusing her attention back on her book her mind began to drift. She had been buried in books almost the entire day, hoping to find something, anything that could prove that Discord hadn’t changed. So far she had come up with nothing, and with no evidence how was she supposed to stop the wedding?
When she first saw him in Sugarcube Corner she had pondered for a moment if he really had changed. But that was quickly forced out of her mind as she remembered how he destroyed their friendship. No monster like that could ever change.
And so she was determined to expose him for the evil monster he really was. Even if everyone told her she was wrong.
Her deep thought was suddenly interrupted by a loud rapping at the door. Wondering who it could be she answered it, and was greeted by several figures that forced their way in.
The first to enter was a dark blue Alicorn, whose mane flowed just like her sisters. Behind her marched two armor clad guards, who didn’t say a word as they entered.
“Twilight Sparkle!” Luna said, her voice echoing through the hollow tree.
“Ye-yes Princess?” Twilight said meekly, bowing so her horn touched the floor.
The moon princess glanced around the library, a scowl crossing her face as she noticed how cluttered and dirty it was. “So, you’ve heard about the wedding?”
Twilight raised herself back up, being shorter then Luna she had to look up. “Yes, why?”
“Well I’ve heard from my sister that you disapprove of it… As do I…”
An odd look crossed her face as Twilight processed her comment, “So you want to stop the wedding to?”
“That I do, I think that Discord hasn’t changed at all and the whole thing is just, wrong. I’ve tried to convince my sister but she won’t hear a word of it, she’s madly in love with him.”
Twilight’s eyes lit up as she realized what this meant, she was going to have the princess’s help in putting a stop to this all. “Finally! Sompony actually see’s through his tricks! I thought I was the only one!”
Luna smiled knowing that she had just recruited an ally in her struggle, “Well then maybe we should start coming up with idea’s to end this relationship.” She nodded to her guards, who left the building at her signal.
“Right! Now I was thinking…”
“And then he told me he was getting married to Celestia!” Rainbow Dash said as she hovered beside her childhood friend.
“Oh, oh my… If Discord’s escaped, does that mean we’ll have to fi-fig…” Fluttershy’s weak voice trailed off, as she remembered how terrifying it was first facing him.
“Well from what’s he been spouting he apparently changed! I’m not sure if we should trust him though, he is the spirit of Disharmony and trickery after all...”
“Oh, maybe he just wants to make friends then?” Fluttershy said, hoping that the once mischievous Draconequus had turned kind.
“I doubt it, I wonder if Twilight’s heard about this? I’m sure she would back me up.”
“Oh! What if we changed the dates on all the invitations! Then everyone would show up on the wrong day and they would have to call off the wedding!” Twilight said excitedly, thinking that her plan was fool proof.
Luna gave her a somewhat disgusted look, “You’re kidding, you’re kidding right?”
Twilight shrank under her look, “Umm, no…”
Luna sighed, “We need something that will actually stop this absurd relationship! If we could somehow prove to my sister that Discord hasn’t changed, then she’s sure to end it!”
Twilight put a hoof under her chin, the sound of gears moving in her head almost audibly. “What if we were to use the elements to seal him up again? I’m sure that would break the spell he’s put on Celestia!”
“Well at least that somewhat better, but it won’t work. The elements are what set him free; I doubt they’ll be able to turn him back unless he does something particularly evil…" The two of them sighed as silence returned to the library.
“Hey! What’s the big deal, let me in!” There was a loud yell from outside followed by a ruckus.
“That sounds like Rainbow Dash!” Twilight’s ears perked up.
“Hmm, my guards must be keeping her from coming in.” Luna opened the door to see the cyan Pegasus restrained by her two guards.
“Get your filthy hooves off of me!” She roared, trying to struggle out from under their grip. Standing at a distance hiding under her wing was a yellow Pegasus, far too shy to do anything.
“Let her go!” The moon princess barked at them, immediately the guards backed up and the Pegasus shot into the air.
“Princess Luna?” She asked, putting down her raised hooves.
“Yes, I was here visiting your friend Twilight Sparkle. I told my guards to keep everypony out.”
The next minute they were all in the library, Twilight explaining the situation to Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy.
“Yes, but I think Discord’s tricked her.”
“Come on Twilight, this is Princess Celestia were talking about! The strongest pony in Equestria, there’s no way dopey Discord could have tricked her!”
“So you’re saying that he really has changed? Because that’s just absurd!” Twilight retorted.
“Well it makes more sense than him tricking her!”
Twilight growled, “Not you to! Why doesn’t anypony believe me!”
“Uh listen Twilight, maybe you should just calm down a bit and lo-”
“No! If you’re not going to help me then get out! You’re just as bad as Spike; I’ll prove to you that he hasn’t changed, even without the help of my so called friends!” She roared. Fluttershy squeaked and quickly ran out, Rainbow Dash shook her head at her before following.
Luna grinned slightly, “Well you showed them. Some friends they are huh? Not even supporting you.”
Twilight was slightly regretting what she had just done, she had yelled at her friends. But Luna was right… None of her friends were supporting her, “Yeah! You’re right! If they won’t trust me then they aren’t my real friends!”
“Good… Now we need an idea…”
A few minutes of silence passed before Twilight jumped into the air. “That’s it! What if we made him really mad, I’m sure his disguise would slip then! Princess Celestia would finally see he hasn’t changed one bit!"
“Now that’s an idea! We would have to make sure my sister sees it though, so it’ll have to be in Canterlot.” A mischievous grin formed on her face, “And I know just the way to get him angry…”
“Well that sure don’t sound like Twilight at all.” Applejack said, giving a tree a good hard kick causing a dozen shiny apples to fall to the ground.
“I know! She’s really determined about this whole thing!” Rainbow Dash replied, hovering just a few feet above the apple tree.
“Well, ah say we give the poor thing a few days to clear all this nonsense from her noggin. She’ll probably have turned around by the time of the wedding.” The cowpony nodded before going about picking up the scattered fruit.
The pegasus swooped down and grabbed the brightest and largest apple for herself. She floated back into the sky and began eating it. “Well I hope so, it sure would be awkward going to that thing without Twilight…”
Applejack rolled her eyes at her lazy friend, “How many days till that thing again? Five?”
“Uh,” Rainbow Dash took a minute to think, “Six I think. You know it’s hard to believe that Discord and Princess Celestia are actually getting married!”
“Yeah! But you know what they say, opposites attract…”
“Well,” Rainbow Dash swallowed the last of the apple before throwing the fruitless core away, “If you excuse me, I’m late for my afternoon nap…” The pegasus sped off, leaving Applejack alone.
“Laziest pegasus Ah’ve ever met…” She mumbled before going back to work.
Once again Discord was strolling through Canterlot, just minding his own business. The ponies had started to get use to him, and only a couple ran at the sight of him. The city was still as boring as ever however, at least in Ponyville he had some decent entertainment…
“Discord!” A voice called out, twirling around he caught sight of his fiancée’s sister.
“Ah! Princess Luna! How long has it been? A thousand years?” He asked, smiling.
She growled at him and held her head high. Standing beside her was the slightly smaller Twilight Sparkle, trying her best to keep her composure in front of the creature that had ruined her friendship.
“Oh! And the dear Twilight Sparkle, what brings you to Canterlot? The wedding’s still a few days away!” He snapped his fingers and appeared right in front of her face, causing her to jump back in fright.
“Still sticking to your story that you’ve changed eh?” She asked, pure hatred filling her eyes as she looked at him.
He held his face in his talon, “Don’t tell me you’re still obsessed with that? Why can’t you just accept what you see in front of you?”
“Because you destroyed our friendship! You tore us apart all for your own amusement, nopony like that could ever change!” Twilight barked furiously at him.
Just looking at her made him chuckle, “Oh Twilight, has anypony ever told you that you’re cute when you’re angry?” At this she took a step away from him, blushing slightly.
“Enough Discord!” Luna finally spoke up, stamping a hoof in front of him. “Your little game ends here!”
“Oh does it?” He asked putting his arms behind his head and lounging backwards. “I’m sure whatever plan you have is brilliant, remember how you’re last one turned out? A thousand years on the moon!” He broke out in a fit of laughter, this only fueling her anger.
“Ugh, where is Celestia?!” She mumbled under her breath, scanning the street for any sign of her sister. “You won’t be laughing in a few minutes Discord! Just wait and see!”
“Oh I can wait all day…” He said with a grin, simply watching the two of as he hovered in the air.
A few minutes passed with nothing being said, Luna was beginning to get more upset as she hadn’t caught sight of her sister. She had told her to come, but that was her sister, always late…
Then finally, when Discord was just about to leave because it was so boring, she finally saw her. Stepping on to the street she could see her mane from a mile away. Smiling, she spoke up. “Well Discord, I know you love getting ponies angry…”
“That I do Luna, but it’s all in good fun! It’s not like before, where I would make them really suffer.”
“Well let’s see if you can take it… Do you remember, oh, a thousand years ago?” Discord’s grin disappeared and he stared at her menacingly.
Noticing that her words were taking affect, she pressed on. “Remember what happened with Celestia? How she rejected you! She called you, oh what was the word? Oh yes, monster!” She lashed out at him, laughing as she spoke. “She could barley even look at you, then you ran away crying! I had never seen something so pathetic…”
Twilight’s jaw dropped as she listened to Luna’s words. She couldn’t be serious, Discord, crying? If this was true than…
But then, just as Celestia made it towards them, Discord smiled. “That was your plan?! To bring back some dusty old memories?! What, do you think that’s supposed to make me angry? If anything’s pathetic it’s your plan!” He burst out laughing, and Luna’s expression turned to horror.
Celestia had just reached hearing distance and a confused look crossed her face. “Luna, what did you so feverously want to see me about? And what is Discord talking about?”
Seeing her made Twilight shrink, and the scared unicorn tried to back away. Maybe the Princess hadn’t seen her yet…
“And Twilight? What are you doing here?” Celestia gave her a cross look, knowing something was afoot.
“Oh just Luna’s pathetic attempt to break us apart, I always knew your sister wasn’t very smart!”
Upon hearing Discord’s word’s everything fell into place. A very angry look crossed her face, and she shook her head at the both of them. “The castle. Now.”
Twilight was shaking feverously back and forth, stroking her mane as she did. This was awful; she should have never listened to Luna. She should have just gone along with everything, instead… The Princess was going to punish her, and it would be bad. No, awful! Maybe she would be locked in a cage, or sent to the moon! Or worse…Magic Kindergarten!!!
The horrific thoughts continued to drift through her mind as she lay on the floor. Standing right beside her with a worried look was Luna. She was occasionally glancing down at the unicorn beside her, who appeared to be having a mental breakdown. The two of them just waited for Celestia to arrive, and ruin their lives with her horrible punishment.
After what seemed like forever the single door of the room was thrown open, and the sun Princess stepped inside. She gave them both a very upset look as she paced in front of them. “I’m very disappointed with both of you… I tried to tell you that Discord had changed, and all I asked was for you to accept it. You two couldn’t even do that…” She shook her head at both of them.
“But sister I-”
“Not a word!” She cut her off. “Twilight!”
The unicorn closed her eyes, not being able to stand looking at her teacher. This was it, her life was over…
“Stand up!” Reluctantly she stood, opening her eyes and almost crying. “Because both of you so rudely disobeyed me…”
“Goodbye, Ponyville…” Twilight mumbled quietly under her breath, at tears at this point.
“You will not be attending the wedding!”
Twilight burst out sobbing on the ground, and started begging the princess to revoke her punishment. But after a few moments of this she looked up, “Wait, I’m not going to Magic Kindergarten?”
“No! Whatever gave you that idea?” She gave her student a confused look, who merely blushed and pulled herself up.
Luna breathed a sigh of relief; she had not been looking forward to another thousand years on the moon.
“Now, I know this may seem a bit harsh, but if you can’t accept our relationship then you will not be attending! I’m disappointed in both of you, especially you Twilight.” She again shook she her head at them. “Now I have things to attend to, and I’m expecting a friendship report this week!” At this Celestia left leaving the two schemers in a rather awkward situation.
“Yeah I guess I exaggerated that a bit.”
“A bit? You were having a psychotic breakdown!”
“Hehe…” Twilight blushed profoundly, “Um, well… I guess I should be heading back to Ponyville, I need to apologize to my friends, I was acting real stupid earlier…” She said sheepishly before teleporting away.
“Alright, just a little to the left and…. Perfect!” Rarity exclaimed, taking a moment to step back from her creation. The thing was truly a work of art; based off a traditional white wedding dress it was adored with hundreds of sparkling white diamonds that would have put a Diamond Dog into cardiac arrest.
“No! There are too many jewels on the left side now, it’s awful!” She cried, using her magic to dismantle the masterpiece.
Rarity shook her head at him, “Well it needs to be better than perfect! This is a dress for the Princess Celestia, there can’t be anything wrong with it!”
Just looking at the pony you could tell she had worked herself to the bone. The dark bags under her eyes revealed she hadn’t slept a wink, and her work room was an absolute mess. Bits of random silk and cloth covered the floor, and jewels of every color were scattered across the room.
“Don’t you think you should rest for a bit? You still have almost a week before the wedding.” Spike suggested, brushing off her bed.
“I can’t Spike! I still have so much more work to do! Oh, woe is me!” She sobbed, landing on the ground in a crying fit.
Taking his chance to comfort her, he rushed to her side. “Come on Rarity, everything will turn out fine, you’ll see! You just need to take a break, maybe get something to eat!” The baby dragon suggested whilst picking up a stray purple amethyst. He was about to take a bite out of it when it was suddenly yanked from his grip.
“That’s it! Spike you’re a genius, oh thank you!” She exclaimed, pecking him lightly on the cheek. She turned her attention back to the dress, using her magic to pick up another dozen of the glittering gems. “Oh, these will go perfectly with the diamonds!”
Spike however didn’t hear a word of it as he rubbed his cheek, a smile stretching from ear to ear. “Ugh, yeah…No problem…” He mumbled, in a complete daze.
“Oh this is going to be amazing, my finest work yet!”
Twilight teleported into the library to find that it was empty. “Oh right, I gave Spike a break…” She mumbled, taking a step to the door.
“Now I wonder where the others are?” She glanced outside. “Well, Dash’s is probably sleeping in some tree, so I guess I should go and see Fluttershy first. Oh, I hope she isn’t too upset about earlier…”
Twilight turned to leave, almost making it through the door before she stopped. Something was tugging at the back of her mind, almost as if she had forgotten something very important. She thought back to how her and Luna’s plan went so horribly wrong, and how Discord had laughed through it all…
A scowl crossed her face as a light bulb went off in her head. When Discord was first released, he had tricked them all into thinking the elements were in the maze. From there he had split them up and corrupted them all, completing his master plan.
That’s all this was. Just another complex plan he had come up with to triumph over them. He had tricked Celestia, and getting them banned from the wedding was just another step in his plan. Without her and Luna at the wedding, there would be nopony to stand up against him. He could corrupt all her friends again, or even kill Celestia! They were all putty in his hands at this point…
Twilight clapped her hooves together; a slightly crazy look visible in her eye. “Ha! Discord thinks he’s won this just because his plan is going perfect so far! Well I’ll show him, I’m not stupid!” She let out a creepy laugh while an equally creepy smile crossed her face.
“Uh, Twilight? You here?” Spike asked as he stepped into the library which was pitch black. “Twilight?”
There was an eerie silence in the room, and he reluctantly took a step inside. “Twilight?” He called out again, a slight hint of fear in his voice.
Cautiously, he made his way up the stairs, a loud creak filling the room as he took each step. Finally reaching the top of the stairs, he peaked into Twilight’s bedroom, which was just as dark as the rest of the place.
Sitting on Twilight’s bed was a mass of covers, which appeared to be moving. “T-t-twilight?” Spike stuttered into the darkness, the thoughts of zombie ponies coming to his mind.
“Hehehe…” A maniacal laugh punctured the silence in the room, causing the baby dragon to jump back in fright.
“Twilight? Is that you?” He asked, forcing himself to take a step towards the bed. After what seemed liked forever, he was standing at the side of the bed, intently looking at the unidentifiable lump. Slowly, he reached out a claw and poked it.
The mass threw the covers off and what was lying underneath caused Spike to let out a blood curdling scream and fall backwards.
It was Twilight, or at least something similar to Twilight. Her mane was a mess, with individual hairs sticking out at random places. Her pupils had shrunk to the size of bits, and they gave off a crazy, maniacal look. Her teeth were grinding together, and she had a truly frightening smile plastered on her face. “Hiiii Spike!”
“Uh, t-t-t-Twilight, what happened to you?!”
“Oh, nothing! I just finally realized that Discord’s brainwashed and tricked all of you, and that I’m the only sane one left!” She grinned, her ear twitching as she spoke.
Spike tried to give her a comforting look, “Uh, I think you’ve stayed up a bit too long. Why don’t you just take a nap? I promise you’ll be better when you wake up!” He went to tuck her in, but she swatted him away.
“Oh, no! You’re not going brainwash me too! I’m the only one left that can save the Princess, and Equestria! You’re not going to trick me!” She laughed before jumping down from her bed. She rushed into the main room of the library, and Spike hurried after her.
“Wait Twilight; just listen to me for a second! You’re not thinking right!”
“Oh, no Spike, you’re the crazy one here, not me!” She ran to the door, throwing it open.
“Wait Twilight! Don’t go! We need to get you some help; I promise you’ll be all better soon!”
“Just wait and see, I’ll stop the wedding! I’ll save the Princess, and all of Equestria, because I’m the only pony who hasn’t gone crazy!” She laughed manically again before running out into the night, disappearing within a few seconds.
“Oh Twilight…” Spike shook his head, concern trying to overcome his urge to sleep. “I’ll find you, even if it takes…” He let out a yawn, his eyes drooping as he spoke. “All…night…” He passed out on the ground, his snores filling the library.
“Alright, so we’re having red wine for the wedding?”
“Red wine? Ugh, that just screams boring! Why not chocolate milk? Or no, how about-”
“No, Discord! Really? Chocolate milk? Half of Canterlot is being invited, so we can’t serve Chocolate milk!”
“And that’s why I hate these Canterlot ponies! They don’t know how to have fun, and all they know how to do is drink tea and spit it in the peasant’s faces!”
Celestia sighed, dropping the scroll in front of her. Discord had been uncooperative from the very beginning, not offering a single serious suggestion. The whole Twilight/Luna fiasco had only furthered her burden; she just didn’t have time for these things.
“Oh, something wrong, Celly?” He asked, brushing his face up against hers.
“No, just you being you…”
He grinned, “Well, that’s what you love about me.”
“Yes…” She smiled slightly, he was always good at making her laugh, or smile. She quickly changed the conversation, “I really hope Twilight gets over all this nonsense. Sometimes I worry about that pony.”
“Oh,” Discord said, stifling a laugh, “I’m sure she’s doing just fine …”
Celestia gave him a confused look. It almost seemed like he knew more than what he was saying. “Do you know something I don’t?” She raised an eyebrow.
“No! We don’t keep secrets from each other, right my dear?”
“Well, it sure seems like you are…” She stared at him for a few minutes, trying to detect something. Finally, she brushed it from her mind, treating it as just a passing thought. He’s changed, she told herself.
“Well, let’s try to move through this list,” She said, picking the scroll back up. “Next thing, hors d’oeuvres. I was thinking-”
“Cotton Candy!” Discord exclaimed.
Celestia put her hoof to her forehead; this was going to take awhile.
Rainbow Dash scanned the town as she zipped through the sky. It was almost morning now, and still no sign of Twilight. She had been searching ever since she arrived at the library to find Spike alone. She woke him up to only get a few legible words out of him; they were enough to tell her Twilight was in trouble.
Immediately she had begun searching, worried for her safety. A crazy unicorn could hurt herself, or any other pony she came into contact with. She really didn’t want another smarty-pants incident on her hooves…
Finally, Rainbow Dash caught sight of the lavender pony. Hidden in a dark alley she swooped down landing right in front of her. “Twilight! There you are! I’ve been looking all night!”
“Rainbow Dash! Don’t even try and trick me, because you won’t! You want me to take a little nap, so you can get Discord to brainwash me like he did to everypony else! But I won’t fall for it, because I’m smart! Oh yes, so very, very smart…” She cackled, tapping her hooves together as she rocked back and forth.
Just looking at her friend creeped her out, she really had snapped. “We’ll get you help Twilight, just trust me! I’m your friend!” She reached out a hoof to help her up.
“No!” Twilight slapped the hoof away and got up. “You’re not getting me!!!” She turned tail and bolted, running as fast as she could down the alley.
Rainbow Dash sighed before taking chase, her wings allowing her to easily keep up.
“Just give up, Twilight; you’re not out running me!” The Pegasus went to tackle her friend to the ground, but she just ducked and Rainbow Dash slammed into a wall.
“Hehe! See, I’m too smart to get caught! Much to smart…” Suddenly she screeched to a halt as she nearly ran into a brick wall. It was a dead end.
The Pegasus got up panting. “Alright Twilight, we can do this the easy way, or we can do it the hard way.”
Twilight began sweating bullets as she looked from left to right; there was no way out of this alley. It was a dead end, and there was no more running from her friend. Unless…Yes, how could she forget? “Don’t worry Dash, I’ll save you. Along with every other pony when I take down Discord!” She grinned before teleporting away.
“Darn it…” Dash stamped the ground. “Forgot she could do that…”
Luna sighed depressingly as she lounged on her ornate bed. “Maybe Celestia was right, maybe Discord really has changed…”
Maybe I was just being too much of a snobby, stuck up Princess to see that… I should just let my sister be happy for once, she deserves it…
Suddenly a brilliant flash filled her room, and standing in front of her was a maniacal, crazy unicorn. “Twilight Sparkle?” She asked cautiously, unsure that this twitching, psychotic mare was the same one she was with just yesterday.
“Princess Luna! Has Discord gotten to you yet?”
“Wh-what? I haven’t seen Discord since your plan went so horribly wrong…” Luna glared at her.
“Oh good! I thought I was the only pony left!”
“What do you mean, ‘only pony left’?”
“The only sane one left!” She laughed, sending chills down the moon princess’s spine.
“Um, right… What do you want exactly?”
“To stop Discord before he takes over all of Equestria! I’m sure he’s going to strike at the wedding! We need to stop him before then!”
Luna grinned slightly. This pony was definitely crazy, but maybe a crazy ally would work out better. Something told her to trust her; she didn’t know quite what it was, but she listened to it nonetheless. Her earlier thoughts were quickly swept out of her mind. Discord couldn’t have changed. “Now you’re talking…”
“Don’t you think Luna been acting a bit… how do I put this… different?” Celestia asked as they were pacing one of the large halls of Canterlot Castle.
“Different? I don’t know what you mean.” Discord retorted, avoiding her gaze.
She sighed, “I mean, she been acting a bit… snobby?”
“Well she’s always been snobby if memory serves right.” Discord grinned, letting out a small chuckle.
“No, not like this… The last time I saw her being so snobby was right before she turned into Nightmare Moon. When the elements changed her she went back to being the kind, caring sister she had been for so many years. It’s almost as if she’s going back to her evil self…”
“Oh, I’m sure it’s nothing. She’s just a little upset that we’re together, and she simply can’t accept the fact that I’ve changed! I’m sure after the wedding this will all blow over.”
“Well, I hope you’re right… It’s just… her transformation happened so suddenly, as if the little sister I once knew was killed. I don’t want that to ever happen again…”
Discord laid a comforting paw on her shoulder and pecked her lightly on the cheek. “She’s fine, trust me…” He said, smiling on the inside.
“Why go back to Ponyville? Why not just stay here where we can plot and keep an eye on Discord?”
“Because, my sister is far too close. We need to stay in Ponyville until we can come up with a decent idea.”
The two mares walked outside of Canterlot’s massive gates. Luna was just about to teleport the two of them to Ponyville when they were interrupted by an all too familiar voice.
“Princess Luna and Twilight Sparkle! I was wondering when you two would try another of your pathetic plans!” Discord said, floating down from somewhere in the sky.
“Actually, we were just about to go…” Luna said brashly.
“Oh, really? That’s a pity. It’s so entertaining watching you two plot against me!”
Just then an idea came to Luna’s mind. A brilliant idea that was sure to work. She smiled at how clever she was sometimes. “You love games, don’t you?”
“Oh, that I do!” The Draconequus grinned back.
“Well, how about we have a game? We win you call off the wedding.”
“…And if I win?” He asked, slithering forward and shoving his face in front of hers.
Luna thought for a moment, trying to think of something the Draconequus would want. A light bulb suddenly went off in her head, “Ponyville. For one day you can cause whatever chaos you want, and if Celestia has anything to say about it, she can take it up with me.”
Discord leaned back, stroking his beard in deep thought. “Alright…” He finally agreed, “…But I get to make the game!”
Luna was hesitant for a moment, but if this was the only way. “Fine, hit us with your best shot!”
The spirit of chaos chuckled, “There’s something in the Everfree forest that resembles me the most. Find it by sundown and win, if you come up short handed then I’m the victor! As for rules there are none! You can use whatever magic you have, and I can use all of my powers to prevent you from winning!”
Wait, maybe this wasn’t such a good idea… Discord always made sure he had the upper hoof, so he was obviously manipulating the game so- Luna thought only to be suddenly cut off.
“You’re on Discord! Oh, and you won’t be able to beat my smarts and Luna’s magic! Ha! I didn’t know you could be so stupid!” Twilight suddenly shouted, grabbing Luna by the hoof and running towards the Everfree forest.
Discord burst out laughing watching them, “Good luck! You’re sure going to need it! Hahaha!”
The two ponies were pacing through the scary, increasingly dark forest. Creatures stirred all around them as they moved, and it didn’t help that Twilight was sticking her head in every nook and cranny.
“It’s got to be around here somewhere!” She shouted, pulling her head out from a dead hallow tree.
“Twilight, don’t you think we should maybe slow down a bit and think about this for a minute? I don’t think we’re going to find whatever it is by combing every inch of this forest, it’s far too big!”
“Ah, you’re right!” Twilight teleported right beside her and sat on the dirty ground. She rested her head on one hoof and began thinking, her mind going into overdrive. “That’s it! I know exactly what were looking for!”
Luna looked at her expectantly, maybe she wasn’t completely useless.
“Were looking for a Draconequus! That’s what resembles him the most, so this should be easy!” She laughed, getting up and running deeper into the forest.
Luna sighed at her crazy companion. “Celestia is going to kill me when Discord turns Ponyville upside down…”
Twilight was running around like Pinkie Pie after eating a whole bag of sugar. She was really checking every spot, even turning up rocks to see if she could catch a glimpse of a Draconequus. “Hmm, there has to be one around here somewhere!"
Luna glanced up at the ever darkening sky; they only had a few hours before sundown…
Discord meanwhile was hovering above them unseen, delighting in their pitiful attempts to defeat him. Neither of them were even going in the right direction and Twilight, if anything, was hindering them! This game was as good as his! Still, he wasn’t going to spoil some perfectly good entertainment…
“Does this look like a Draconequus to you?” Twilight asked, holding something she just dug out the bottom of a swamp.
“That’s a stick…”
“Oh! Well it still kind of looks like one…” She said before tossing it to the side and returning to her search.
Suddenly, as the stick hit the ground it transformed. What used to be a piece of dead wood, was now a massive, twenty foot long snake. Its scales were a shimmering dark green, and it had two, piercing dark red colored eyes. It let out a mighty hiss before lunging at Twilight.
“What in Celestia name?!” Luna cried out as the snake wrapped around Twilight.
“Okay, now I know that’s defiantly not a Dracoenquus!” Twilight called out, somehow not panicking as it surrounded her. The snake enclosed the mare tightly, efficiently trapping her. It then reared its massive head and lunged at Luna.
The moon princess thought fast and quickly flew into the air, a cloud of dust rising from the impact crater. “Is Discord trying to kill us?!” She yelled, flying across the clearing away from the great beast.
With a loud pop Discord appeared a few feet from her, laughing up a storm. “Oh it’s not dangerous! It’s just a basilisk!”
“A basilisk?! The king of snakes?! The thing that can kill anything with a single look?! How is that not dangerous?!?!” Luna screamed, her voice almost at the volume of the royal Canterlot voice as it charged at her again.
“Well I made some adjustments to it. First of it doesn’t kill anypony with a glance. Second it couldn’t even crush a twig it’s so weak. And finally, it has no teeth!”
Dodging another of the basilisk’s lunges she gave him an angry look, “Are you crazy? This thing is going to kill us! Now get rid of it already!”
“Oh, now where would the fun be in that? Oh, and I forgot to mention it-”
Discord was cut off as the basilisk made a disgusting retching sound; it reeled back its massive head and spat up an orange liquid all over the exhausted Luna.
“Bwahaha!” He couldn’t contain his laughter, falling onto the ground and rolling about. “Oh, I can’t remember that last time I had this much fun!”
“Discord…” Luna said with a savage tone in her voice, “…What is this?” She wiped the unknown liquid from her eyes.
“Oh don’t worry! Just orange soda!” He said, wiping a stray tear from his eye.
“Orange…Soda?” Just said in between deep breaths, her anger reaching critical levels. “This is going to be impossible to get out of my mane!!!” She screamed, a massive bolt of lightning hitting the basilisk leaving nothing but burnt ashes.
“Oh…Time to go!” Discord quickly snapped his fingers and teleported away, fearing for his safety.
Twilight sat up, rubbing her head; the bolt of lightning hadn’t hit her but it affected her somewhat. “Well, let’s get searching again!” She shot up and went back about her search.
Luna stood taking very deep, sharp breaths. Everypony around here was crazy! Why in Celestia’s name did she come up with this stupid plan?! Here she was, covered hoof to head in orange soda with a crazy mare in the middle of nowhere! Oh, when she got her hooves on Discord…
“GAH!” A high pitched screech echoed through the Everfree forest. “We’re running out of time! This is our best chance to break up their relationship, and we’re letting it slip away!” Twilight cried, finally giving up and collapsing on the ground.
“Yes… We only have about an hour before sundown, and still nothing that resembles Discord in the slightest…” Luna responded, slightly calmer now that she had had some time to cool off.
“Oh, it’s all over! Celestia’s going to get married to Discord and we’ll all be doomed! Doomed, I tell you!”
Luna rolled her eyes at her. She was such a drama queen. She found it odd how not too long ago she was so full of energy and hope, and now she was just a crying mess. She did have a point though, their chances of winning at this point were very, very low…
Suddenly a single ray of hope shined as she caught sight of something. Just past a dense clump of trees were dozens of different colors, but she couldn’t quite make out what it was. Maybe the answer was in there. “Quick, follow me!” She quickly brushed past the trees and stepped into a completely new world.
Everything was colorful, the ground they were walking on was all shades of colors, and they were surrounded by a candy cane forest. They sky was pink and it was raining gumdrops. “It looks like Discords’ been to work…”
Twilight’s eyes shined as she observed all the different colors, “Whatever resembles him is bound to be around here, let’s go!” Her energy back she began running across the endless wasteland.
Knowing that she would cover much more ground in the air, Luna took flight. She soared across this chaotic paradise in the Everfree forest, just looking for anything that remotely reminded her of Discord.
After a few minutes her hopes were quickly diminishing. All she saw were candy cane trees, and nothing that resembled a Draconequus. But then suddenly she saw it. Sitting atop a dangerously steep hill was a statue of Discord. That must be it!
She pushed her wings to their limit as she rushed towards it, landing right beside it. This thing really was Discord, looking just like he did when he was imprisoned in stone. She gave a stout laugh, “We beat you Discord! Just in time too…” The sun was almost gone from the sky.
The Draconequus appeared before her with a grin that shot from ear to ear. “Oh, you won, did you?”
“Yes! This statue looks exactly like you, so don’t even try and weasel out of this, we won fair and square!” Luna reached out a hoof and tapped on the statue for effect. She raised her head up and now it was her turn to laugh. That was until a loud crack filled the air.
The statue broke, and a wave of hot chocolate poured out of it. Before Luna could get out of the way it washed over her, quickly hardening in seconds.
“Ah! Looks like you lost this particular game Luna!” He chuckled, giving her chocolate encrusted body a light tap with his eagle claw.
Just then psycho Twilight came running up the hill, pointing a hoof at Discord. “There’s the Draconequus! We won! Yippee!” She yelled in glee, repeatedly jumping around him in circles.
Luna, fuming with anger, exploded with fury and the chocolate encasing her shattered. “ENOUGH! I’ve had enough of you and you’re stupid little games! This ends here!” She screamed, jumping at him with her hooves swinging.
Discord teleported away and Luna rolled face first down the hill, finally coming to a stop when she crashed into a candy cane tree. Her head was spinning as she got up and he reappeared.
“I won the game fair and square Luna, so don’t get angry about it!” He stuck out his tongue at her.
“But…” Luna sighed, he was right. They lost the game and he won, and she never should have come up with this stupid idea. How could she possibly think that she’d be able to beat Discord in a game? “Fine… You win…”
Discord fist pumped the air triumphantly. “Yes! Oh, don’t be so sad Luna, you put up a good fight! I’m sure you’ll have another chance to break apart mine and Celestia’s relationship, just keep at it!” He snapped his fingers and they all left the woods.
Within an instant they were at the edge of the Everfree forest. Discord looking towards Ponyville with a grin.
“Oh, this is going to be so much fun! I’m going to paint the town red! Literally…”
Luna put her head down in shame, Celestia was going to freak on her. She might end up sending her to the sun instead of the moon!
Discord turned back to them. “Enjoy today, because tomorrow, chaos reigns!”
“Ah, The things I’m going to do! They’ll put my previous changes to shame!” Discord cackled as he gazed upon the unsuspecting town.
Luna just stood completely speechless. She had failed miserably and now they were at Discord’s mercy…
“Bu-but…” Twilight said, her lip quivering as she looked at him. “We found a Draconequus! Why didn’t we win?”
“Oh come now Twilight, let’s face it. You’ve gone crazy, and that’s coming from me!” He chuckled. “I won and you lost. That’s all there is to it!”
“But…then what were we supposed to be looking for?” She asked with a pout.
“Ugh, isn’t it obvious? It was a manticore! They have the body of a lion, a scorpion’s tail and wings! All different animals, just like me! Really, I thought it was too easy, considering how smart you usually are...”
“Hey! I’m smart! Yes…so very, very smart…” She cackled, stroking her mane as she spoke.
Discord just laughed at her. “Well, I’d love to stay and chat, but I have plans to make up! Just wait and see! It’ll be amazing!” He flashed Luna a toothy grin before teleporting off, leaving the two mares alone at the edge of the forest.
“Well…” Luna finally spoke up. “We should probably be heading back to Ponyville. Who knows what Discord will be planning for tomorrow…”
“OW!” Luna screeched in pain. She gritted her teeth again as the brush moved through her mane, getting snagged in random patches of chocolate and orange soda. The more she pulled the more hairs were yanked from her skull, resulting in a great deal of pain.
“I’ve got it! What if we hired a bunch of hit ponies to take out Discord?! Oh, but we wouldn’t have the bits…” Twilight sobbed in the corner. She had been this way for the past half hour; just sitting there and coming up with insane ideas to end the wedding.
“Twilight, now you’re just talking crazy… None of these ideas will work. Maybe you should get some rest?” Luna suggested, cringing in pain again as she furiously tried to fix her mane.
“THAT’S IT! WE’LL BURN DOWN THE CASTLE!!!” She suddenly yelled, letting out a mad cackle as she clapped her hooves together. “Then they’ll have nowhere to have the wedding and they’ll have to call it off! It’s brilliant, there’s no way it could fail!”
Luna put a hoof to her forehead. Discord had reduced the both of them to a truly pathetic team. Twilight was completely useless in this state, and even she was starting to have doubts that they could break up the two.
“Oh I have some matches around here somewhere, where are they?!” Twilight said aloud to herself as she flung open a drawer, sending its contents flying across the room. “Darn it Spike! Stop moving my things!” She threw open another drawer, doing the same as before.
Had anypony been looking at Luna they would have noticed a visible twitch to her eye; this pony was driving her insane. If she had to spend even another minute with this infernal pony she’d probably grab one of the knives from the kitchen, put it against her chest, and plunge it directly into her-
“Ah, screw it!” Twilight finally announced in frustration, dropping to the ground in the middle of the library. The place was now a mess, with extra quills, bits of parchment, and broken bottles of ink lying all over the room. Too bad her assistant wasn’t there to clean it up.
Luna sighed and threw the brush to the side, finally giving up in her fruitless crusade to rid her hair of the orange soda and chocolate. “It’s been a long day and I’m exhausted, we can plan more tomorrow…”
“Oh don’t worry, I’m fine! You can go to sleep princess, I’ll keep thinking!” Twilight grinned before returning to her lonely corner.
Luna rolled her eyes before heading off to the bedroom.
Luna felt something poking her slightly, in response she moaned and squirmed under the covers. Again she was poked, and she let out a groan. The relentless thing refused to stop, and continued jabbing her. Finally having enough she popped open her eyes and looked to the side.
Sitting right beside her, with a devilish grin was Twilight Sparkle. Her eyes were bloodshot, and her mane had somehow gotten messier. “Hiiiiii Princess!!!”
“Gah!” Luna shouted, jumping backwards right off the bed. Standing to her feet, she was breathing incredibly fast, eyeing the unicorn with fear and anger. “How long have you been there?”
“Oh,” Her voice sounded like hooves on a chalkboard, “About an hour! I wanted to wake you early so we can come up with more ideas!”
“How early is it?” Luna questioned, peering into the window just above her. It didn’t make sense. It was almost pitch black out. The sun should have been out by now… was her sister getting lazy? “What time is it?”
“Nine O’clock!”
“That can’t be right…” She responded firmly, still gazing out the window. Then suddenly she saw a sight that made her heart fill with dread. The sun was out. And it was dark. “Discord…”
Luna swiftly turned and headed for the staircase. Racing down the steps. Twilight followed right behind her, trying her best to keep up. As the moon princess made it into the main room a look of horror crossed her face. “What in Celestia happened here?!”
The room was an even bigger mess then before. There were books everywhere, and several of the bookcases were tipped over. Smashed bottles of ink and torn pages littered the ground, and random assortments of objects lay about. But that wasn’t what scared her. It was the huge, bright red words that were printed all along the walls.
ALL CHAOS AND NO ORDER MAKES TWILIGHT A DULL GIRL
“T-t-twilight, did you do this?” Luna asked, stuttering as she spoke.
“Oh yes! I thought the place needed a little redecorating!” Twilight said happily as she rushed downstairs. “Look at all the idea’s I came up with!” She held up a stained piece of parchment, having been completely drenched with ink it was illegible.
Luna gave her an odd look, “Um, alright…” She’s gone even crazier, just how that happened I have no idea… It’s probably best just to leave her, who knows what she could do next… She ignored her and made her way to the door, pushing past all sorts of junk to get there. Finally reaching it, she threw open the door to reveal the horrors behind it.
The ground was all multi colored, with massive patches of blue, green, pink and yellow all over. The sky looked like it was day and night at the same time. While it was dark and the stars were out, the sun still sat there, just as bright as before. It hurt her head just thinking about it…
Yet despite all this chaos, there was still many ponies bustling about. Some looked at the sky with confusion, while some paid it no attention. Ponyville had been the victim of a great many disasters, so some of the citizens just accepted whatever kept coming their way.
“Where is that Draconequus?” Luna questioned, looking left and right for the cause of all this. The houses had retained their house like shape; however they were all painted differently colors. Some of them looked simply horrid, while others actually had color’s that matched.
Stamping her hoof in frustration she took to the sky and scanned the town for Discord. The entire town was in this chaotic state, with nothing being spared. After a few minutes of searching, she finally caught sight of the Draconequus. He was barley visible as it was still dark out. Immediately, she flew down and landed right in front of him.
The spirit of Chaos was sitting on a throne, just about to enjoy a glass of his favorite beverage. “Luna! I was wondering when you’d get here!” He said before drinking the glass and throwing away the chocolate milk. Surprisingly, it didn’t explode.
“Discord! Tell me right now what you’ve done with my moon! It should be down right now!”
“It’s fine! You’re moon is down, that’s just a fake!”
“But-what? Never mind…” Luna said, giving up with that. Discord never made sense.
“Don’t like it? Well that’s too bad… Chaos is an art you know.”
“That it is!” Pinkie Pie yelled happily, jumping out of nowhere. “Now make with the chocolate milk!”
Discord laughed, “Oh Pinkie Pie, I’m glad someone appreciations my work.” He snapped his fingers and a cotton candy
“That’d be great!” Pinkie Pie laughed between a mouthful of the sugary beverage.
Wait a second, this was a perfect opportunity! Maybe this loss would pay off… “Ha! You think you’re so smart, Discord? Well, I can just go tell Celestia that you’re back to your old tricks! She won’t be able to deny it with the evidence right in front of her!” Luna went to teleport but she was cut off.
“Like that’ll work! She’d believe me over you, and besides, you wouldn’t even be able to talk to her! She’s much too busy with the wedding.”
“You’ll see! She’ll have to listen to me!” She yelled back, teleporting away with a flash. Discord just shook his head and laughed.
A lone guard stood outside the door to the Princess’s chambers. He stood there waiting nervously for someone to answer the door. Finally, it swung open, and a well dressed mare poked her head out.
“What is it? The Princess is very busy!” She barked at him.
“Um, I uh… There’s been a problem in Ponyville, It’s important that she look at it right away!”
“Well I’m extremely busy right now! Send it off to my sister! We are co-rulers you know, why do I always have to do all the work?” The voice of the princess echoed from within the room.
The mare gave him a stern look, “Well, you heard her! Off with you!” She yelled before slamming the door shut. The guard just looked around, unsure of what to do.
Insanity
Twilight Sparkle was gone. Instead, an insane, broken shell was all that remained. Gone were her organized, intelligent thoughts. They were replaced with only one desire, stop Discord. So every thought that entered her mind centered on him and how she could stop his nefarious scheme.
She giggled softly to herself, rocking back and forth. She was surrounded by the mess of the library but she didn’t mind. It didn’t matter what her house looked like. No, she had a much bigger problem to deal with, and she was the only one who could solve it.
All her friends had turned on her, and even her beloved teacher didn’t believe her. But she was smart; she saw through Discord’s tricks. While everypony else might love him, she knew he hadn’t changed at all. The same devious monster still lied beneath, waiting for a chance to strike at the foolish ponies.
She would stop him, no matter what. Even if all her friends thought she was crazy. The thought made her laugh. They actually thought she was the one who was crazy! But in reality they were the ones who were crazy, and she was the only sane one left. She was the only pony not under Discord’s control.
Luna was the closest thing she had to an ally, but she wasn’t radical enough for her tastes. She wasn’t able to take risks to stop Discord. She hadn’t taken any of her ideas seriously, and some of them were brilliant! Sure, maybe not all of them would have worked, but would it have hurt to try?
Suddenly she began to come to a realization. She didn’t need Luna! The alicorn was weighing her down by refusing all of her perfect ideas! She didn’t need her permission to act! She could do it on her own!
Twilight’s insane grin grew from ear to ear, and her eyes darted around the room in excitement. She would put a stop to Discord, no matter the cost. “They’ll see… They’ll all see that he hasn’t changed at all, and that I’m not the crazy one!” She cackled before teleporting off.
Luna stamped her hoof against the ground in frustration, snorting as she looked left and right. “Now where is she? Every other day she’s in her room, so why did she pick now to suddenly go somewhere else?”
A very nervous guard was walking down the nearby hallway, completely unsure about how he was going to find Princess Luna. Sighing he continued down the hall, shaking his head as he went.
Suddenly he bumped into something. Turning to see what had run into him, he fell back in fear. Standing right in front of him was a very angry looking Alicorn who was looking at him with pure disgust.
“Watch where you’re going!” She barked at him. “Why do we even employ such stupid guards? I should have you fired on the spot!”
“Oh, uh, I’m every so sorry you’re highness… I was just looking for…” He paused a moment, his confused brain organizing itself. “Princess Luna! I was just looking for you!”
She gave him an odd stare. “What for?”
“There were some rather disturbing reports that we received from Ponyville. I went to tell Princess Celestia about them, but she was much too busy and she directed me to find you! At first I had no idea just how I was supposed to find you-” The guard was talking a mile a minute. He only stopped when Luna cut him off.
“Enough of your babbling! If these problems are about Discord then I don’t want to hear about it!”
The guard pawed the ground nervously, unsure of what to do next. “Well actually, they are about him… So, should I just go find Princess Celestia again?”
“You should get out of my way!” She yelled. The guard was shivering in his armor, and he quickly scurried off lest he anger her any further. She sighed before heading down the hallway, trying to find any sign of her sister.
An explosion suddenly came from deep within the castle, shaking the building violently. After a few seconds it was gone, and the silence of the palace returned. “What in Celestia was that? It sounded like it came from the elements hall…” Luna wondered, quickly teleporting to the disturbance.
The room was a complete mess, with a massive hole leading to the elements storing room. Some of the windows had shattered, and pieces of smoking rubble lined the ground. She took a cautious step towards the hole, trying to peer through the smoke for any sign of the perpetrator.
All she heard was an evil laugh that echoed through the room, then whoever it was teleported off. The smoke cleared, and she found the room vacant, save for an empty case adored with jewels. “This is bad…”
Applejack bucked the tree hard, and sent a storm of apples falling to the earth. She picked one up and shook her head. “Now who In Celestia’s name would do this to mah apples?” She remarked, commenting on how the apples were painted various colors. She sniffed it cautiously, and then took a bite out of the bright blue apple. It tasted just as it should, so she just scratched her head and threw it away.
The cowpony headed over to the barn and began loading several bags of apples on to a cart. As she headed back in to grab another bag, there was a rustle behind her. Turning around, she jumped back in fright, spilling the fruit all over the ground.
Twilight took a step towards the frightened Applejack, a grin on her face.
“Holy Horse-apples! Don’t scare me like that, Twilight! You dawn near gave me a heart attack!” Twilight didn’t respond, instead taking another step towards her. Cautiously she stepped back, “Uh, Twilight? Are you feeling okay, sugarcube?”
Again no answer as she stepped forward again. “T-t-twilight, you’re scarin’ me!” Applejack continued to step away from the crazy pony. Finally she felt her back brush up against something. It was the wall. She was trapped.
Seeing that she had nowhere to run Twilight laughed. “It’s okay Applejack! Everything’s going to be all right…” Her voice was like ice, and it sent chills down her spine.
The cowpony was now breathing heavily and her eyes darted around the room for any sign of escape. There was something wrong with her friend; something very, very wrong. She remembered seeing her during the whole Smartypants crisis, but this was something completely different. This was much worse.
Twilight closed her eyes and her horn began to glow. Applejack let out a scream before everything went dark.
“Alright, one…two…three!” Pinkie Pie yelled, dumping her bucket onto her unsuspecting target. At that exact same time a levitating bucket tipped downwards. The snoozing mare was suddenly drenched with a pink liquid. Disgruntled, she wiped it from her eyes and shouted.
“Who did that?!” Rainbow Dash jumped up from her cloud and looked left and right. “Come out whoever you are!”
“Pinkie? What is this stuff? And did you just say Discord?!”
“That she did!” The Draconequus laughed, appearing out of nowhere. “Just us playing a few goodhearted pranks!”
Rainbow Dash shot him a glare; he might have changed, but she still didn’t like him. Just the sight of him made her blood boil. “What is this stuff?” She questioned, eyeing her now pink coat.
“Strawberry milkshake!” Pinkie shouted with glee. “Isn’t it great? We were going to do chocolate, and then I shouted no! I said Strawberry milkshake would be better, and then Discord asked who we should prank first, and who else came to mind but you! So we found you and pulled a prank on you! Then you asked who-”
“Pinkie, you can stop talking now…” The pink pony instantly shut up and just looked at her friend with a smile. Rainbow licked her foreleg and a grin spread across her face. It was delicious! Quickly she began eating the delicious treat and soon her coat was a shining cyan.
“Let’s go find someone else to prank! Maybe we can find Twilight! That’d be hilarious!” Discord laughed.
Pinkie’s eyes lit up with excitement and joy. Just the thought of the usually clean Twilight covered head to hoof in Strawberry milkshake made her giggle. “Let’s go!” She untied a few balloons and drifted towards the ground.
Discord turned to the mare, “Enjoy yourself, Rainbow Dash! All of this wonderful chaos only lasts one day, so why not live it up?” He smiled before following his pink companion.
This left Rainbow Dash alone to comprehend what he had just said. Ponyville was in what appeared to be chaos, and while it might have been light out, the stars and moon were still visible. She just shook her head and rested back against her cloud, soon drifting back to sleep.
“There you go! Now make sure to keep off that wing, and soon you’ll be as good as new!” Fluttershy said happily to a blue jay, who’s left wing was freshly bandaged. The bird gave a sort of salute with its good wing before running off.
Fluttershy walked to her kitchen, whistling a happy tune as she went. She pulled out several ingredients from the various cupboards, and went about making some cookies.
In a few minutes she was just about to put them in the oven when a loud noise startled her. Dropping the pan she scanned the room with her scared eyes, ready to run at the sight of any danger. Instead, Twilight step through her door.
“Oh, Twilight! Thank goodness, I was really scared there for a second!” Fluttershy said, her voice as innocent and pure as ever.
“Yes…” She hissed, walking over to her friend.
“Um… Twilight? You look… different… are you okay?”
“Oh, I’m just fine! Yes, perfectly fine!” She said, scraping her teeth together as she spoke. Now standing right beside her friend, Fluttershy took a step away from her.
“D-do you need s-something?” The Pegasus’s voice was quiet as a mouse.
“Nothing, nothing at all…” Her horn began to glow purple, and the next second Fluttershy hit the ground.
“Finally, after all this time it’s finally done!” Rarity announced, stepping back from her magnificent creation. “I couldn’t have done it without you, Spike.” She turned to the little green dragon beside her.
“Aw, it was nothing, really!” He waved a claw at her, slightly blushing.
“No really! If you hadn’t given me the gem idea, well… It would be a disaster! I have only you to thank!” Rarity pecked him lightly on the cheek. “Now, I’m sure Twilight’s busy without you. I have so much deserved rest to get to, so see you later!”
Spike stepped back, waves of pure ecstasy washing over his body. Rarity had just kissed him… Well, it was only on the cheek but still. He barely heard what she said and just walked out the door in a trance.
“Now, I must go take a shower; I smell simply dreadful!” Rarity sniffed herself, a scowl crossing her face as she pulled back. She made her way into the bathroom and began preparing her shower.
Twilight crept quietly through the Boutique, not making a sound as she made her way up the stairs. She pushed open the bathroom door, slowly approaching the showering Rarity.
In one fluid motion Twilight threw open the shower curtain and Rarity immediately let out a blood curdling scream at the sight of her. Twilight’s horn glowed and she fell against the porcelain, her hoof catching the shower curtain, each ring breaking off slowly before finally letting her drop to the cold floor. She had knocked over a bottle of Shampoo on her way down, and it slowly spiralled down into the dark drain.
“What do you mean she’s busy? This is important and I demand to speak to my sister!” Luna roared, slamming her hoof in front of her.
“You demand? Well, as I said, Princess Celestia is extremely busy right now and she can’t be bothered by ponies like you.” A very uptight mare responded.
Luna growled, how could this mare possibly talk to her like this? “And just who are you?”
“I am the royal Princess’s wedding planner, and I am helping her with the grand wedding. It’s a lot of work, you know; this will probably be the biggest wedding In Equestria history!” She said, straightening her glasses.
This mare was driving her up the wall. She was a Princess while this pony was just some lowly wedding planner! How did she think she could get away with this sort of disrespect? “I’ll have you thrown in the dungeon if you continue to talk to me like this! Now go get my sister!”
The pampered pony let out a laugh, “I don’t take orders from you. Princess Celestia has given me the power to send away any and all guests, so if you really want to get serious, I’ll have to call the guards.”
Luna had to fight the incredibly powerful urge to disintegrate this annoying mare. Finally, she let out a sigh and turned around. “Fine. I’ll just deal with this myself…”
The wedding planner let out a laugh after Luna teleported away. She then turned back into the Princess’s chamber and slammed the door shut.
Rainbow Dash stretched out her forelegs and let out a long yawn. Having finally slept enough she shot up from her cloud and looked down at the chaotic Ponyville. She really had no idea on what to do, as there was so much happening at once. While she didn’t think it was ideal, it was a nice change of pace for the usually boring town.
“I wonder where Pinkie Pie is. Knowing her, she’s probably still out pulling pranks on ponies with Discord.” She launched herself down into the town, and began scanning the streets for her pink friend.
Nearby, Twilight stepped out of an alley. She kept her eyes directly on the Pegasus, teleporting whenever she lost sight of her. Finally her friend made her way into Sugarcube Corner, Twilight coming in right behind her.
“Pinkie?! Pinkie?!” Rainbow called out into the empty store. Well, not empty, it was anything but empty. All sorts of different baked goods were stacked up in piles taking up a large section of the store. By empty, it was devoid of ponies, as she couldn’t see the Cakes or Pinkie Pie hidden in this mess.
Twilight threw open the door and the Pegasus spun around to see her. “Twilight?!” Rainbow blurted out, “Where have you been?” Her scared voice suddenly turned to anger, as she recalled the fight they had days before.
“Oh, Dashie, don’t be angry! I’m not mad at you, no, not at all…” Twilight’s shaky eyes darted around the room as she made her way over to her friend. “In fact, you’re going to be helping me with something very important!”
“Just stay still…” A bright flash shown through the room, and Rainbow Dash collapsed to the ground seconds later. Twilight walked over to her, giggling hysterically. “Such good friends I have…” She stroked the unconscious Rainbow Dash’s mane as she spoke. “Yes, good friends…”
“Bwahahaha!” Discord roared with laughter as Pinkie soaked another passerby with strawberry milkshake. Surprisingly, he wasn’t mad, and instead he began licking the sugary treat off of himself. He walked away with a smile plastered on his face.
“Oh this is great! Why can’t everyday be like this?” Pinkie Pie asked, helping herself to one of the lollipops that had grown beside the road.
“Oh I do wish everyday could be like this… But I promised Luna one day, and I don’t think Celestia would appreciate an eternally chaotic Ponyville as much as us.”
“Well that’s not good! Chaos is awesome! It makes everything better!”
“How I wish there were more ponies like you, Pinkie Pie…” Discord responded before turning back to Ponyville. He loved watching chaos; it was one of his favorite pleasures of the world. How he had missed it when he was imprisoned.
Prison… How the thought struck out in his mind. He almost couldn’t believe that a mere week ago he was imprisoned in that statue, conscious to the world but unable to act. Boring was the best way to describe it. But now he was set! He had a beautiful fiancée, an amazing day filled with chaos, and the ability to just live life. He had been restricted of all of these things for soon long, and now he was finally free. He never wanted to go back to that cold, lonely place where he had suffered for so long.
“Discord!” A yell broke his chain of thought and he looked around for the pony addressing him. He spun around, and standing in front of him were five ponies. Standing in the lead, and no doubt the source of the yell, was Twilight Sparkle, crazy as ever. The rest of her friends were standing behind her, all of them having blank looks on their face. Their eyes appeared vacant, and they just all stared at Discord. But what scared him most was the fact that each was wearing a jeweled necklace, all except Twilight who had a golden tiara perched on her head.
“Hey, Twilight! I was wondering where you were!” Pinkie Pie bounced over to her happily, acting as if nothing was amiss.
“Pinkie! I can finally stop Discord, just stay still for a minute.” She said before closing her eyes, her horn glowing magenta.
“Ohhh, pretty light! What’s this Twilight? A new spell?” Pinkie asked, turning her head sideways as she looked into the light. Suddenly she dropped against the ground, completely unconscious.
Discord looked at Twilight and began to laugh. “Hah! Trying to put me back in that stone prison? Well, go ahead and try, I won’t even move so you’ll have a nice clear shot!” He chuckled before leaning back, putting his arms behind his head as he relaxed in the air.
A few seconds passed and Pinkie Pie got to her hooves. Her mane was no longer poufy, instead it lay down straight. The usual smile that plastered her face at all times was gone, and she had just the same blank, vacant look all her friends had.
“No…” Discord muttered under his breath. “You’re friends aren’t in tune with elements! This can’t be happening!”
But the elements paid no heed as they lifted their bearers into the air. Twilight opened her eyes, no pupils, just bright light. Their aura’s blended together into a spectacular Rainbow that shot straight into the air.
“N-no! This can’t be happening! The elements can’t be working! I’m not going back in there!” He went to snap his fingers but he was too late, as the rainbow curved and landed on him full force. There was a massive white flash, blinding all nearby. Slowly their hazy vision refocused, and Twilight gazed at the scene before her.
Another statue of the Draconequus was lying on the ground, with yet another horrified expression on his face. His arms were above his eyes looking like he tried to shield himself from the blast. Discord said nothing, and instead lied there immobile.
“Yes!” Twilight jumped into the air with glee. “It worked, Discord’s back in stone! Celestia is saved! Equestria is saved!”
Twilight nodded with a huge grin, “Yes Princess! I stopped Discord!”
Luna swallowed hard and slowly looked over at Twilight and her brainwashed friends. “You turned Discord to stone…”
The unicorn nodded.
Luna just stood there for a long time not saying anything. Suddenly she burst out yelling. “Do you know what Celestia is going to do to us when she finds out what you did!?!?! She’s going to kill us! I can’t believe you turned him to stone! Oh, were so dead…”
“But… I stopped Discord; the spell on the Princess should be broken!”
“There was no spell! Don’t you get it? He wasn’t brainwashing her and she’s going to kill us now!”
Twilight looked down at the ground, unsure of what to do next.
“Uh…” Thoughts raced through Luna’s head at supersonic speed. They needed a plan, and they needed it quick. “That’s it! Don’t worry Twilight, I’ll get this all sorted out…” Luna then teleported off, leaving them alone with the stone Discord.
Luna threw open the doors of her sister’s bedroom with a determined expression. “Celestia, we need to talk! I don’t care what your stupid wedding planner says!”
She hurried into the first room, and an angry looking mare suddenly appeared in front of her. “I already told you, the Princess is very busy!”
Luna growled and knocked her out of the way. “This is urgent, now stay out of my way or else!” She roared before heading into her sister’s study. The mare chased after her, and tried her best to keep her from bothering the hard working Princess.
She found her sister there, surrounded by stacks of papers. “Luna? What is it? I’m very busy here!” Celestia said looking up from her work.
“Yes, well. Something’s happened to Discord…” She said rather bluntly.
Celestia’s expression instantly turned into one of anger and annoyance. “What?” She said sharply.
“Well-“
“I told you to leave, now get out of here before I call the-” The mare butted in, trying to drag Luna out.
Celestia cut off the flustered mare, “She’s fine, just leave us for a minute.” She shut her mouth and immediately left with an annoyed look.
“Well, like I was saying… Discord started causing chaos in Ponyville, and me and Twilight had no choice but to stop him! We gathered the elements and her friends, and turned the monster to stone! So don’t worry about it, everything’s under control. Just wanted to let you know. See you lat-” Luna went to dash out of the room but Celestia suddenly appeared in front of her.
“You turned him to stone?! You can’t be serious!”
Luna gave her sister an awkward smile, “Well, we did, but it was because he was evil! He was destroying Ponyville!”
All of Celestia usual princess composure was gone; she was fuming and looked like she was going to explode any second. “Show me…” She managed to mumble through clenched teeth.
When Discord had turned to stone, the town had instantly reverted back to its old self. All signs of Discord’s fun chaos had disappeared, just like the last time they imprisoned him.
Twilight was pacing around with not an insane look, but a very worried one. Her sanity was finally returning, but with this came a whole new set of troubles, guilt, doubt, fear… Her crazy self had almost completely vanished, as it had served its one purpose. Stopping Discord.
However, this was now the cause of her current crisis. Celestia was going to do something terrible when she saw what they did to Discord. There would be no easy punishment like last time.
But there was another voice inside her head that suddenly appeared. It reminded her of the other times Celestia had been upset with her; she had always been just and forgiving. Twilight remembered how she always exaggerated these punishments, and in the end they all turned out to be nothing. That’s all this was. Celestia would probably let her off easily.
So Twilight smiled, knowing that things would turn out perfect by the end of this. Things always did.
A bright flash made her jump, and as she turned around she caught sight of the two Princesses. She bowed as her teacher walked over to her.
Celestia’s eyes quickly fell on the stone Discord, whose horrified expression shot shivers down her spine. He really was imprisoned again, and this wasn’t a joke.
“So, Twilight, tell the Princess how Discord was causing all of that horrible chaos, and how we were forced to seal him in stone again!” Luna quickly began.
“I don’t want to hear it!” Celestia roared at her, her voice rising far louder than Twilight had ever heard. “I knew about the chaos Discord was causing! This was just your plan to break us up!”
“N-n-no! No dear sister, I assure you he was evil! This was the only thing we could do, lest he wreck havoc on all of Equestria!”
“Don’t lie to me!” She yelled, causing Luna to step back in fright. Never before had she seen her sister this angry. A bad feeling in the pit of her stomach told her this was going to end badly.
“Because of you stubbornness and your stupidity, Discord’s back in stone, alone! I told you two to stay out of our relationship, and what do you do? Defy me, twice! There is absolutely no reasoning with you two! You were too stubborn to see that we loved each other and that he really had changed!”
“S-s-sister! You should calm down a bit and think about this rationally!”
“Rationally?! You imprisoned my fiancée in stone just because you didn’t approve of my relationship!”
“Well, when you put it that way…” Luna said with a weak smile, hoping to elicit some compassion from her sister.
“I see now that going easy on you two won’t work… Know that your punishments are your own fault.
“P-punishments? What are you going to do, lock me outside the castle?” Luna said with a weak laugh.
“No, you’re going back to the moon.”
Luna looked at her sister with a horrified expression, “You can’t be-” She was rudely cut off as Celestia’s horn glowed and Luna disappeared with a flash.
“…And my student, Twilight… Or should I say ex-student…” Celestia turned her attention to the quivering unicorn. “I was expecting better of you... You served me faithfully for years, but I ordered you to stay out of our relationship. I have no choice but to banish you to the Everfree Forest… Goodbye Twilight.”
Twilight watched as her whole world crumbled around her. The belief that things would turn out fine had died as soon as she had seen the rage in her teacher’s eyes. There was no good ending for her. She watched as her ex-teacher closed her eyes and cast the spell that sent her away from Ponyville. Away from her life. Away from her friends…
Twilight was lying alone in the rugged dirt. She could barely see anything around her, as this was the deepest part of the forest. It didn’t help that it was almost night.
I can’t believe this is happening… She thought quietly to herself, as she rolled upwards to stare into the thick covering of tree’s that looked miles away. I should never have gone along with Luna… I should have just let things happen. Just like all my friends suggested…
Friends.
She had no friends now; there was no pony but her in this deep, dark, scary forest. There was no Fluttershy to brighten her day. There was no Rarity to compliment her dress, or a Pinkie Pie to bake her a cake. No Rainbow Dash to brag, or Applejack to support her. No Spike to help her.
She was alone.
Twilight’s lip quivered at the thought, and soon she was bawling her eyes out in the middle of the forest. She would remain here to the day she died, all because she had acted so stupidly. She wanted her friends back; she wanted to be the Princess’s student again. But that would never happen; no, instead she would die alone in this forest…
“I can’t believe this!” Luna shouted, her voice echoing across the vast, barren wasteland. “Celestia’s banished me again!”
“Come on…” She muttered in frustration as another of her teleportation spells failed. She tried again several times, before finally collapsing on the rocky surface. She was breathing very heavily, as long distance teleportation spells usually used a lot of energy.
“I can’t believe this… Another thousand years on this terrible place… Well, how can I say it’s terrible? This is my moon after all…” Her moon, to remain on alone for a thousand years…
The unicorn wept for some time, her sobs echoing through the large empty clearing. Her tears pleaded to no one however, as there was no pony to hear them. She gazed into the nearly pitch black forest through tear-filled eyes. “Is this what it’s like to be completely alone?” She asked to herself, her voice weak and raspy from all the crying.
“Why, yes it is, Twilight. This was exactly how I felt.”
Twilight jumped up with incredible speed and looked into he dark forest, “W-who said that?”
“Just me, your conscience."
Confusion spread across the unicorns face as she looked around the area. There was no sign of this familiar voice. “B-but you sound like Discord?!”
“Well, the conscience tends to manifest itself in familiar things. Really, with your knowledge I would have expected you to know that!”
Twilight pictured Discord laughing as he hovered mid air, maybe partaking in a certain dairy drink. “What do you mean by exactly how you felt?”
“Well, how Discord felt I mean. He was alone for a thousand years, unable to talk to anypony.”
“But Discord was evil, he deserved that!” She felt pretty ridiculous arguing with an invisible voice that only she could hear.
“Do you think any creature really deserves this, no matter how evil?”
Twilight took a minute to gaze at the forest around her, and the loneliness that seemed to invade every feeling in her body.
“And would you call Discord evil? He wasn’t always ‘evil’ you know. He was turned that way, forced to by the cruel and uncaring world around him. Is a person really evil for being forced to become so?”
The words of this mysterious voice sunk into her head, its strange philosophies challenging everything she had learned in her life. “I… I guess not…”
“Well, this terrible world is what you forced upon Discord, for a third time. He’s alone now, just as he had been for a thousand years. Can you imagine the pain he must be experiencing? He had the taste of a wonderful world, a world where he wasn’t evil. But then you took that away from him far too soon. If anypony’s evil here, it’s you and Luna.”
The voice was right. It was entirely and completely right. “This was how Discord felt, for a thousand years…” For the first time ever she began to feel some sort of pity for the Draconequus. He had changed, she now began to realize. “He’s lived an awful, painful life… Being alone for so long… Being branded evil because no pony understands him… Then, when he finally gets some ounce of deserved happiness, I take it all away from him… I am evil…”
“Yes… Now you finally understand… Well, my job is done here, goodbye!”
“Wait, don’t go!” Twilight shouted into the forest. There was no response. She was alone again.
Redemption
The moon was a horribly desolate place. No creature stirred, no wind blew across the empty plains, and no plant attempted to grow from the lifeless earth under her hooves. It was truly a terrible place.
“I can’t even remember how I killed those thousand years… Did I really just sit here and stare into space?” Luna’s voice echoed across the vast plains.
As she continued to gaze into the vastness of space, all the constellations she had memorized started coming back to her. The infinite amount of stars began forming lines, creating masterpieces of art in the black sky. Her jaw hung open as a new world of beauty opened in front of her.
Actually, this isn’t half bad… It’s quiet, tranquil, and so unlike Canterlot… Still, I am alone…
An hour later and her mind had already wondered from the constellations. She had begun reworking all that had happened in these past eventful days, up until that very moment. Her mind lingered on the elements. Why had they worked? Twilight wasn’t herself, and her friends had all been brainwashed. So why in Celestia’s name had they worked?
The elements were very unpredictable; she still remembered the day she had been lectured about that…
“So? What did you find out?”
“Hmm…” Star Swirl the Bearded stroked his long, goat like beard as he eyed the gems in front of them. “Quite a lot actually! These elements are really quite remarkable!”
Luna gave him a somewhat impatient look. “Go on then!”
“Well… First of all they are extremely powerful! The sheer amount of magical energy stored in them is remarkable! I dare say even the combined powers of you, your sister and Discord wouldn’t even come close!”
She grew wide eyed for a moment. She had no idea they were that powerful. Then again, some ponies had been saying that with his old age Star Swirl had begun to lose his sanity.
The old pony laughed to himself. “There is another very interesting characteristic about the elements! It’s almost as if they have a mind of their own! The bearers are mere tools for the elements to harness, and unleash their true power through!”
Luna didn’t like to be referred to as a ‘tool’. “I highly doubt that a couple of pretty jewels have a mind of their own. It was me and Celestia who turned Discord to stone. The elements never chose that.”
“Oh, quite the contrary! The elements chose Discord’s punishment, not you or your sister. I believe they could revoke that punishment at any time if they see fit.”
She couldn’t help but let out a chuckle. Those ponies were right. This crazy old wizard was saying a couple of stones could think! There was no doubt that he was going senile.
“Ah, you don’t believe me!” He turned his attention to Luna and looked at her with weary eyes. “I’m not going crazy, I assure you!”
She couldn’t take any more of this... “Right, well… This was certainly… interesting , to say the least. But I have a lot to do, so…”
“Hmm, you may not believe me now, but one day Luna… One day you’ll see the elements aren’t just mere gems. You’ll see that everything they do has a purpose in the end!”
That day was today. The elements did have a mind of their own, and they had freed Discord. Maybe that meant they had seen something in Discord that she hadn’t… Maybe he had changed…
“Oh, what does it matter…? It’s too late now; I’m stuck here for good…”
Maybe Discord isn’t so bad after all… Sure, I still have a dislike towards him, but maybe he isn’t that evil… It really does seem like Celestia cares for him, and who am I to come between them? Were I given another chance, I’d accept them… Fat chance that’s going to happen though…
Twilight had continued to wander in the forest, trying to find anyplace that she could call home. She suspected that night had fallen so the need for a shelter was great. Not long after searching, she found a cave and quickly took refuge in its dark, damp inside.
“Well… At least it’s better than nothing…” She mumbled quietly to herself, lying against the cold rocky ground beneath her. A breeze rushed into the cave and she shivered as the cold wind touched her skin. “It’s f-f-freezing in here, so I’ll need something to keep warm…” Getting an idea she hurried out of the cave and back into the forest.
Within a few minutes she arrived back at her new home with a pile of sticks floating behind her. Arranging them inside a circle of rocks, she closed her eyes and concentrated. The next second there was a roaring fire in front of her, lighting up the entire cave. “That’s better.” She smiled weakly to herself, curling up beside the heat.
“I wish I could go back and change what I did… If I had just accepted the Princess’s relationship, I wouldn’t be in this mess… I guess Discord wasn’t so bad, and now that I think about it… They were sort of… cute together…”
“In the end all he wanted was some fun… He was bored and alone for an awful long time… No pony deserves that…”
Suddenly there was a brilliant flash, and the cave that surrounded her was gone. It wasn’t cold or dark; instead she was in a well furnished room. Confused and dumfounded, she looked around, and standing behind her was the Princess.
“P-p-princess Celestia?” She stuttered, her mind desperately trying to understand what just happened.
“Confused, Twilight? I’m not surprised.” She smiled, and there was another flash of white as her horn glowed.
Appearing beside her was Princess Luna, who quickly became just as baffled as her. “Celestia? Twilight? What just happened?” She questioned, examining her new surroundings.
“I think I can explain that…” There was a final flash, and a Draconequus appeared beside Celestia.
“Discord?!?!” Both Twilight and Luna exclaimed at the same time as the two of them fell back on their rear hooves.
The two of them nodded.
“Oh, quit teasing Discord. Explain everything to them before I do.” Celestia shot him a playful glance.
“Oh, alright Celly… Well… You see, this whole thing was a plan me and Celestia came up with.”
“Yes, I wasn’t surprised when I first heard that you two didn’t approve of the relationship. Of course, it didn’t help that Discord kept teasing you two…” Celestia shot another glance at him.
“What?” He held a paw to his chest and laughed, “I couldn’t help myself!”
She shook her head before continuing. “After hearing from Spike that Twilight had started to go crazy, Discord and I formulated a plan. We’d show you what it’s like to be alone so you would know what Discord went through, then maybe after that you’d accept us.”
“And just like I guessed, you stole the elements, brainwashed your friends and turned me to stone. Of course, that never would have worked in reality, but a little magic can make anything seem real…” Discord butted in.
“So you weren’t turned to stone?” Twilight questioned, her mind wrapping around this new revelation.
“Nope, that was just a fake. If you remember, the old rainbow was much more colorful.”
“After that, all I needed to do was act angry and banish you two, then hopefully you two would learn what it’s like to be really alone.”
“So that voice I heard… It was-”
“Yes, it was me!” Discord waved his paw and laughed. “It really was quite easy you know. I would have thought you would have put up more of a fight… The same goes for you Luna! I was there listening to your thoughts, ready to jump in at any time. But you changed all on your own! Maybe you aren’t as bad a pony as I thought you were…”
Luna looked completely dumbfounded, and after a moment of silence finally spoke up. “So, we’re not banished? This was just some game you were playing with us?!”
“Oh come now sister, don’t be angry. We had to teach you a lesson and this was the only way you’d learn considering how stubborn you two are…”
Twilight blushed profoundly at this and just stared at the floor.
“Well, now that we have that out of the way…” Celestia turned her attention to her embarrassed student. “Twilight, you have some apologizing to do… I broke the spell you put on your friends, and they’re waiting in Ponyville.”
Her friends; how she had missed them. “Thank you Princess. I’ll never doubt you again.” She smiled sincerely.
“I’m glad you understand. I’m also going to take back my previous punishment, Both of you can attend the wedding.”
“Oh, please do come Twilight; it’ll be ever so boring without you…” Discord chuckled, gaining yet another glance from his fiancée.
“I’d love to. Now, I really should be seeing my friends…” Twilight smiled once again before teleporting away, leaving the three in an awkward air.
“Does she have to come too?” Discord finally asked, pointing a claw at Luna.
“Sometimes I wonder why I’m getting married to you…”
Twilight appeared in the middle of Ponyville with a flash. She found it normal and chaos free. Noticing her friends over by the fake Discord statue she quickly galloped over, barely able to contain her excitement.
“Hey, lookie guys! It’s Twilight!” Pinkie Pie yelled, pointing a hoof to the approaching unicorn. “Hi Twi-”
The pink pony was cut off as Twilight tackled her to the ground, tears streaming from her face as she hugged her. “Oh, Pinkie Pie… I’m so glad to see you…” The rest of her friends gathered around her and looked at her awkwardly.
“Uh, I’m glad to see you too Twilight!” Pinkie giggled as the unicorn backed off.
“I’m so glad to see all of you…” Twilight smiled. “I’m sorry for what I did… I should have listened to you guys.”
“Um, would you kindly explain what the hay is going on? Last thing Ah remember was being in the barn…” Applejack said, scratching her head.
“With pleasure…”
“…And that’s when I got back here… being so alone made me realize how much you guys mean to me… I don’t know what I’d without you. I’m sorry for everything I did. I was being stupid…” Twilight finished, wiping a few tears from her eyes.
“Aw, shucks Twilight, it ain’t your fault. You was just trying to protect us, that’s all!” Applejack patted her on the shoulder.
“Yes dear, at least you had good intentions.” Rarity nodded at her.
“Thanks guys…” She sniffed, almost on the verge of crying again.
“Well, I know what this calls for! GROUP HUG!” Pinkie Pie suddenly yelled, grabbing all of them in a tight hug.
Twilight was happier than she had been in days. Her banishment now seemed like a horrible nightmare that never happened. Almost everything was back to normal now; everything except Discord anyway. She could hardly imagine what life was going to be like with him butting in at every moment… Knowing him, it’s going to get annoying...
Twilight awoke with the sun shining through her bedroom window, letting her now that the big day had finally arrived. She happily jumped out of bed and rushed downstairs to find her assistant putting away a few stray books.
It had taken Twilight and Spike a full day to get the library back in its old state, and the large red lettering from her dip into insanity was still partially visible on the wall. They had sorted all the books and got the place back in working order; Twilight could still hardly believe the whole ordeal had happened.
Noticing the faded letters, she let out a weak smile. “I’m still really sorry about the mess Spike… I wasn’t acting normal…”
“Ha! You can say that again!” The dragon chuckled, jumping down from the library ladder. “But really, it’s fine. I’m sure that’ll come out eventually…”
Pushing the guilt from her mind, she jumped to another topic. “Can you believe it? Today’s finally the day; it felt like these past few days have dragged on forever!”
Spike shot her a playful glance. “Hey Twilight… Is it possible that you’re excited about the wedding?”
“E-excited? No, not at all!” She replied awkwardly. “I’m just a little interested… Yeah that’s it! I’ve never seen a royal wedding but I’m sure it’s quite a spectacle!”
“Yeah, I’m sure that’s the reason… Anyway, how about I make something for breakfast?”
“That’d be great!” Twilight took a seat at the table, and flipped open the book that had been sitting there. It was a rather large book, decorated with old engravings and covered in a thick layer of dust. “You know, there hasn’t been a royal wedding in a very, very long time! This book says that the last one happened before Princess Celestia and Princess Luna…”
“Wow! It’s probably going to be massive then! I wonder what they’ll have to eat? Probably something amazing…” His mouth watered as his mind began to wander to delicious sweets. He was so distracted that he didn’t even realize he had poured half of the waffle batter onto the pan. “Uh, whoops…”
Twilight shook her head at him. She rose from her seat and began scavenging for what was left of the mess. “Pinkie Pie and the Cakes made most of the food. They spent all yesterday baking, remember?”
“Oh, yeah! I’m sure it’s going to be great, then!”
After having a delicious breakfast the two decided to finish the last of the chores around the library before heading off to Canterlot with their friends.
As Twilight finished dusting the top shelf, the front door was thrown open and a Pegasus swooped in. Her fast entrance sent several books flying from the shelves and piling onto the floor. Rainbow Dash let out a nervous laugh and scratched the back of her head. “Hehe, sorry Twilight…”
Grinding her teeth and fighting back the urge to yell at her friend, she smiled weakly. “It’s fine, really… I’ll just have to reorganize those… again…”
“Well, anyway... Are you pumped for the wedding?! Cause I sure am! It’s gonna be awesome!”
Twilight cocked an eyebrow at her as she went about picking up the books, “You aren’t the type to be excited for a wedding. You do know what a wedding is, right?”
“Of course I know what a wedding is! Sure, a lot of it’s gonna be boring talking, but the best part is the party afterwards! The Wonderbolts are supposed to be attending!” Rainbow Dash squealed, nearly fainting just mentioning them.
Twilight finished gathering the books and placed them all in a neat stack by a bookshelf, leaving the sorting to later. “Why are you so excited about the Wonderbolts? You’ve already met them several times, after all.”
“Well yeah, but I might be able to get them to sign my Best Young Flyers tiara! I know they already signed it before, but imagine how much more awesome it would be if they signed it twice!”
She giggled slightly to herself at her friend’s excitement. “I’m sure it’ll be great…”
There was a sudden white flash, and Discord swooped down from the ceiling with a speed only rivaled by the rainbow Pegasus. “Twilight! Rainbow Dash! A pleasure to see you girls!” He greeted as he landed in front of them.
His fast entrance sent a gust of wind through the library, and every book on the shelves fell onto the floor, completely covering the unicorn. “Discord… I just got this library cleaned… it took me ages…” She stated blankly, using all her self control to keep from snapping on the Draconequus.
“Oh, uh, hehe. Sorry?” He grinned, not being able to stop himself from letting out a chuckle.
Twilight pushed a book off her face and looked at him with and ice cold glare, “Fix it. Now.”
Genuinely scared, Discord quickly snapped his fingers and the books were sent flying back into their places. The fuming unicorn calmed down and took her eyes off of him. he let out a sigh of relief.
“So Discord, what brings you here?” Rainbow Dash said, eyeing him with caution. Their relationship was still rather flimsy, as it would take some time before she would treat the Draconequus as a friend.
“Ah! You say that as if you don’t want me here…” Discord frowned. “Really, Rainbow Dash, I’m hurt…” He turned his back to the mares.
“She didn’t mean it like that…” Twilight shot a glance at Rainbow who gave her a confused look, unsure of what she did wrong.
“Oh, I can’t stay mad today! I haven’t been this happy in well, ever!” He spun around to look back at them with a smile. “I’m finally getting married to Celestia! I’m sure the wedding is going to be… exciting …” He tented his fingers as he said this, a deviant smile plastered on his face.
“Discord, what are you up to?” Twilight questioned, knowing the look in his eyes.
“What? You expect me of being up to something?” He placed a hand against his chest and gave her a confused look.
“Whatever gave you that crazy idea?”
“You better not pull any pranks. Princess Celestia would be furious If you did.”
“Pranks? On my wedding day? Even I have days off, dear Twilight. Now if something completely random were to suddenly happen to a certain annoying guest… Well, I definitely wouldn’t be held responsible...”
He was up to something. She was sure of it. “I’m serious Discord; the Princess has been working awfully hard on this… If you mess it up…”
“I’d never! The mere thought of angering the love of my life makes my heart break! I assure you, Twilight; the wedding will go smoothly…”
Finally brushing the thought from her mind, she dropped her gaze. “Well, what are you here for?”
“Yeah, you haven’t been to Ponyville since you wrecked all that chaos!” Rainbow Dash spoke up.
“Well, I’ve been rather busy with Celestia as of late. She’s gotten me to help with all the wedding planning, and I’m glad it’s finally over because that was unbelievably boring! Part of me wished I was still in stone! Well, now that that’s finally over, I wanted to get out a bit before the wedding. You know, the bride and the groom aren’t supposed to see each other on the day of the wedding. Bad luck or something stupid like that. So, since I can’t hang around the castle, I though who better to spend time with then two of my favorite mares!” He embraced them both in a slight hug, Rainbow Dash quickly breaking free.
“Well, we were just about to go get the others, right Twilight?”
“Yes, Spike should be finished cleaning the bedroom any minute now. Once he’s done we can get the others and head off to Canterlot.”
“Oh! Today’s going to be so much fun. I can just feel it!”
“Oh, oh, oh! You’ve gotta try these triple chocolate muffins! I baked them myself, and just to make them more chocolaty, I filled them with chocolate! Is that a word? Chocolaty? Sounds funny! Chocolaty, chocolaty, chocolaty!”
“Oh, yeah! These things are amazing! I could eat a dozen!” Rainbow Dash grinned as she grabbed another muffin.
Twilight was waiting impatiently by the door as she watched the four of them eat. Despite her pleas that they would be late, they continued to ignore her, and merely sat, eating Pinkie’s sweets. “Come on, you guys! We still have to go get Rarity, Applejack and Fluttershy…”
“Oh, come on, Twilight, we have plenty of time!” Discord snapped his fingers and appeared beside her. “So, just sit back, relax and have something to eat.” A comfy, plush chair suddenly appeared out of nowhere, and he pushed her onto it. He snatched a muffin and promptly shoved it into her mouth. She lay back in the soft, relaxing chair and enjoyed the warm, chocolaty muffin as it melted in her mouth.
After another dozen muffins they finally agreed to get on their way, but not before Spike grabbed another batch for the road.
“Come on, Big Mac! Applebloom! We need to hurry it up if we wanna get to that wedding!” Applejack yelled, kicking a nearby apple tree.
“Aww, but sis… My hooves hurt from bucking so much…” Applebloom complained, rubbing her hooves as she lay in the grass.
“Applebloom!” She frowned when she saw her sister had taken a rest. “Get off yer rear and get bucking those trees! We don’t got a lot of time before Twilight arrives…”
Just as she finished saying that, the group arrived.
“Applejack! We’re already late as it is, so let’s get going!” Twilight yelled with impatience as she scanned the orchard for her friend.
The cowpony let out a frustrated growl before coming over to her. “I’m real sorry Twilight, but unless we get these apples done and bucked, then we ain’t gonna be able to attend the wedding…”
“What? But you need to come; it won’t be the same without you, Applejack!” Pinkie Pie pouted.
“Well I wish I could, Pinkie, but work comes first…”
Discord gazed across the vast apple orchard with a mischievous grin. “You know, I could get the whole thing down with just a snap…” He raised his talon, ready to create some chaos.
“Don’t you dare, Discord! You ain’t layin’ a single finger on mah apples!” She roared.
“I’m not going to hurt anything! I promise, your apples will be fine…” He said with a sincere look.
She made an unsure frown and looked at the spirit of chaos and disharmony. “Well, Ah don’t know…”
“Come on, Applejack! Just let him do it, what’s the worst that could happen?” Rainbow Dash cut in, urging her friend to decide.
“Well, alright then… But the apples better be fine or I swear I’ll-”
“No need, Applejack. They’ll be unharmed.” Discord snapped his fingers, and they all watched in awe as the apple trees uprooted themselves and soared into the air.
Applejack’s jaw dropped and she looked on in horror as the trees were turned upside down and shook violently. The apples fell to the ground in a storm of dirt and leaves. The trees then placed themselves back into the ground perfectly, looking like nothing impossible had just happened.
“There, see? Perfectly fine.” Discord snatched an apple off of the ground, rubbed it against his chest, then ate it whole.
Applejack closed her mouth and turned back to her friends. She was completely speechless, and just stood there for a few moments before speaking. “Alright, I ain’t even gonna question what just happened… Let’s just get going…”
“Oh, please don’t hurt him! Bunnies are awfully fragile; I think it would be better if you just put him down. If you don’t mind, that is…”
“Why would I hurt this poor, little creature? I love animals!” Discord gently patted the bunny that was sitting in his paw. Angel, upset that some grotesque creature had just picked him up and petted him, bite his outstretched talon.
“OW! Why you! I should turn you to glue for that!” He roared at Angel, raising his talon menacingly. He suddenly remembered the Pegasus in front of him and smiled awkwardly before setting the bunny down.
“If you remember, we’re late!” Twilight shouted, tapping her hoof against the ground.
“Alright, let’s go!”
“Rarity?! How in Celestia’s name did you make all of these dresses?! I thought you had spent all your time making the Princess’s!” Twilight questioned as she gazed at the individual dresses all set up in her boutique.
“Well, I did… But I just had to make something for you girls! It was a lot of work, given the short time, but I pulled through! I hope you like them…” Rarity’s muffled voice came through the bathroom door.
“They’re great! I love mine!” Pinkie Pie grinned as she looked over hers.
“Yeah, these one’s are even better than our last!” Rainbow Dash complimented.
“But we don’t have enough time to get these on! We’re already late as it is!”
“Oh, don’t worry, you can just grab them and get ready at the castle! Really, Twilight. I don’t see why you’re so pressed for time, the wedding is tonight after all…” Rarity commented, still in the bathroom.
“Well, yes, but we should be early! I want to talk to the Princess, and I probably won’t have time tonight…”
“Well, just give me a minute while I finish my hair. Pack up the dresses while you’re waiting, and don’t touch anything else!” Just as she said this, Discord poked a nearby mannequin, which fell over and in turn knocked over a massive stack of fabric.
As they all looked from the mess to him, he let out an awkward chuckle.
So finally, way behind the schedule Twilight had planned, they all piled into the chariots that had been waiting for them. Twilight, Spike, Pinkie Pie and Discord entered the first. Rarity, Sweetie Belle, Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo entered the second. This left Fluttershy, Applejack, Applebloom and Big Mac to the last one.
Once they were all settled in, the guards piloting them took flight, and for the first time that day, Twilight let out a sigh of relief.
“Ugh, this trip is probably going to be rather boring…” Discord pointed out as he gazed at the boring scenery below them.
“Oh, I know! Let’s play eye spy!” Pinkie Pie suggested with her usual enthusiasm.
“A spectacular idea! Let’s see… I spy… an annoyed unicorn!”
“Hmm…” Pinkie placed a hoof under her chin and looked around them. “Oh! Is it Rarity? She looks awfully upset over there with Sweetie Belle…”
“No.” Discord quickly replied.
“Hmm… Is It Sweetie Belle?”
“Nope.”
Pinkie thought hard, you could almost hear the gears turn in the ponies head. “Oh, I know! It’s Twilight!”
Discord laughed and clapped his hands, “You got it!”
Twilight snorted in annoyance and looked away from the Draconequus. He may have turned nice, but he was still annoying as hay. He really did get a kick out of making her angry, and she assumed it would always be like this. Still, it’s a huge improvement over the old Discord…
After an hour of flying, the magnificent city of Canterlot came into view. The tall, spiraling towers of the palace were the first thing they saw. As they neared, they could see tons of ponies bustling about in the streets, giving the feeling that the city itself was alive. It was so high class and busy. So unlike Ponyville…
“You know, I’ve always liked Ponyville more than Canterlot… This place has too many snobs who can’t appreciate chaos…” Discord commented as they approached the palace.
“They aren’t that bad! Remember that party we had when Rarity was staying here? It was great!” Pinkie Pie reminded.
“Discord, Ponyville’s no different than Canterlot… There’s only one pony that likes your chaos, and she’s absolutely insane…”
“Who’s that?”Pinkie Pie asked as she scratched her head, obviously not cluing in.
“Well, I think Celestia likes my chaos…”
“Which pony are you talking about?” Pinkie cut in, only to be ignored.
“I wouldn’t be too sure about that.” Twilight replied sharply.
“Well, there must be something she likes about me. Maybe it’s my charming looks?” He flashed her a grin as he stroked his beard.
“Who’s the crazy one?!” Pinkie Pie burst out, frustrated that she had been thrown out of the loop.
Twilight rolled her eyes at her and simply dropped the conversation. The guards pulled the chariots to the ground and they all hurried out of them.
“Well, we all have a few hours to kill before the wedding. I’m going to go see the Princess, so I’ll meet you guys in the garden at say, three o’clock?” Twilight questioned as her friends gathered around her.
“Sounds great! Ah think Ah’ll go and get me some of that there fancy apple cider they got here. It’s supposed to be amazin’!”
“Yes, and I simply must go and check some of the fashion salons. I need to see what’s in for this year!”
“Well, ladies,” Discord spoke up just as they were about to leave. “It has been a grand old time so far, but sadly I have to leave! Celestia promised the suitors I would be there early…”
They all murmured a weak goodbye; all expect Pinkie Pie who was energetic as always. “Bye Discord! I’ll see you at the wedding!”
Discord nodded at her, then before leaving glanced at Twilight. “Well? No goodbye?”
The unicorn sighed, “Fine… Goodbye Discord… See you soon.”
Satisfied, he pulled out a pair of his favorite shades and put them on. “Until later, ladies, arrivederci!” He disappeared with a white flash and soon they all went their separate ways.
“Oh, Princess, you look wonderful!” Twilight complimented as she gazed at the beautiful dress that Rarity had spent so long working on.
“Your friend sure is quite the dress maker, not even my personal tailors would be able to make something this dazzling!”
Celestia replied as she viewed herself in the mirror. “So Twilight, what was it you wanted to talk about?”
“Well…” She looked down at her hooves. “You’ve done all this work and finally you’re getting married… I was just wondering, what exactly do you see in Discord? What is it about him you like?”
Surprised by the personal question Celestia took a minute to respond. Finally she spoke up. “You may not see it, but he’s actually very sweet and caring. He has a very interesting personality and well… I knew him a long time ago, and he was the most innocent creature I had ever met… I suppose I feel some remorse for what I did to him, and pity him somewhat. But it’s grown past that; I love him for being him. You’ll understand one day Twilight, when you meet somepony who loves you. You’ll just know it in your heart that he’s the one you’re supposed to be with, until the end of your days…”
The words sunk deep in Twilight’s skull, and while she didn’t understand the whole thing, it started to make some sense. “I-I think I understand… Thank you Princess.”
Celestia smiled and turned back to the mirror. For the first time in over a thousand years, she hadn’t felt alone. How those thousand years had been painful for her… But they were finally over, and the wedding day had come at last.
“Thank you, Twilight. All I ever wanted was for you to accept us…”
Just as they had agreed, all of them met back in the garden at three.
“So, how was everypony’s afternoon?” Twilight asked as Rarity finally arrived.
“Oh, I had a great time! I spent the whole time in the garden here, and I actually met a few of the animals!” Fluttershy said with an innocent smile.
“Oh. well me and Spike had an awesome time. we went touring through all the sweet shops in Canterlot! First we stopped at the Donut place, and then we went to this great bakery! Then after that there was this delicious cake place that had this quadruple layered…” Pinkie Pie went on babbling about all the great places they ate at before finally stopping.
“Well, regardless of where everypony was, we should probably go and get ready for the wedding. We don’t have that much time after all.” Rarity commented and they all nodded their heads in agreement.
“Oh, I forgot to tell you guys! Discord popped in and I had a chat with him!” Pinkie suddenly said as they were about to leave.
“Oh, yeah? What about?” Twilight asked with curiosity.
“Well, since Discord doesn’t know many stallions, he asked me to be the best stallion! Er, mare!”
The unicorn looked at her with a surprised face; she really hadn’t been expecting that. “Well that’s… uh, great!”
“Yeah, he gave me these to hold on to!” Pinkie Pie pulled out a band and ring out of seemingly nowhere. Rarity’s eyes instantly light up at the sight of them.
“Just look at those! Gold plated, with diamonds! That must have cost a fortune!” She was practically drooling at the sight of them.
“Oh, I can imagine, good thing he trusted me with them!” She smiled before putting them away. To where is anypony‘s guess.
I don’t think Pinkie is the best choice for that particular duty… Twilight thought to herself. Celestia’s going to kill Discord if she ends up losing them…
The time had finally come. After all those years of wondering, dreaming, and waiting, he was finally getting married to Celestia. He was nervous to say the least.
The wedding had been set up in a large clearing outside of Canterlot, and it had taken days of work to set up. A massive tent was covering them, and rows upon endless rows of seats were all set up. It had been one of the biggest gatherings of ponies he had ever seen, as more and more ponies continued to pour into the seats.
Discord wiped the sweat from him forehead and nervously played with his tail. He almost couldn’t believe this was happening.
“Oh, Pinkie Pie! Well, yes… I suppose…”
“I got the bands right here like you said! Kept them nice and safe!” She held them up in front of him to prove she had done her assigned task.
“Yes, that’s good…” He wiped his brow again as he peered out from his individual tent to see all the ponies out there.
A confused look crossed the pink pony’s face and she cocked an eyebrow at him. “Are you nervous Discord?”
“N-nervous? Me? Never! I’m just a little bit anxious, that’s all…”
Pinkie giggled, “You’ll be fine! Just go out there and kiss the Princess, that’s all!” He did have to admit the pink pony calmed him slightly.
“Where are your friends?”
“Oh, they’re with the Princess!”
“Alright, how does my hair look?”
“Oh, Princess, it’s simply marvelous! It’s amazing, how it sparkles like that! How do you get it to do that? Is it some type of conditioner?” Rarity asked, getting a glance shot at her by Twilight, she dropped the question.
Alright, alright… Calm down Celly, this is it… She took deep breaths as her heart was racing a mile a minute. “Twilight, where’s Luna?!” She demanded as she scanned her tent for her sister.
“Luna? She was here a second ago…” Twilight said as she poked her head outside the tent. Not being able to find her in the massive mess of people, she gave up. “Where could she be?”
“Oh no, oh no, oh no…” Celestia panicked, her heart racing even faster. “She better get her flank here this instant! We’re going on in just a few minutes!”
Just as she said that, the door flap was thrown open and the Princess of the Night walked in. “Oh, thank heavens, Luna! You had me worried!”
“Huh? Oh, sorry sister, I just went to get something to drink…”
“Well, whatever. Get ready because we’re just about to go on!”
Everypony in the audience finally settled down and the area grew quiet. There was anticipation in the air with each second past by, each slower then the last. Finally, the organs started up and everypony smiled as the bride began walking down the aisle. There were gasps all around as they caught sight of the princess and her elegant dress.
Celestia paced slowly down the seemingly endless aisle, dozens upon dozens of ponies eyeing her as she went by. Walking beside her was her sister, who had a somewhat awkward look as she went.
As they neared the altar, she caught sight of Discord, and nearly broke down in the aisle. He was dressed in a black tuxedo, and standing beside him was Pinkie Pie. A pony with large glasses and a book in one hoof stood in the middle, his flank adorned with two wedding bands. On the left of him were all her Bridesmaids, each with a smile on their faces. Twilight was in front of all of them, and she couldn’t help but grin as the Princess walked.
After what seemed like an eternity, she arrived there, and Luna stepped to the side. Celestia walked and stood on the other side of the priest. She glanced over at Discord, who looked just as nervous as her.
“The step which you are about to take is the most important into which pony beings can come. It is a union of two ponies founded upon mutual respect and affection. Your lives will change, your responsibilities will increase, but your joy will be multiplied if you are sincere and earnest with your pledge to one another.” The priest spoke from his book, a complete silence being heard throughout the tent.
“Discord,” He looked at the Draconequus standing beside him. “Will you have this mare to be your wedded wife, to love her, comfort her, honor and keep her, for as long as you both shall live?”
“I do.” Discord quivered, using all his strength to keep from shedding a tear.
“Celestia.” He glanced over at the sun Princess beside him. “Will you have this Draconequus, to be your wedded husband, to love him, to comfort him, honor and keep him, for as long as you both live?”
“I do.” Celestia replied, almost on the verge of crying.
“The bands please…” Pinkie Pie walked over and handed the band and ring to Discord. He raised up Celestia’s hoof and placed the glittering band on her. Celestia took the golden ring, and placed it on his finger.
“In as much as Discord and Celestia have consented together in wedlock and have witnessed the same before this company, and pledged their vows to each other, by the authority vested in me, I now pronounce you, husband and wife. You may now kiss the bride.”
The two of them leaned in, and their lips met in a passionate kiss. The whole tent broke out in applause as the kissed, and the two of them couldn’t help but shed a tear.
“I love you, Celestia...” Discord whispered as they broke apart.
“I love you too, Discord…”
Pinkie Pie suddenly burst out in tears, a massive puddle forming beneath her as she watched the two. Water flowed from her eyes like fountains, but her wails were lost in the applause of the tent.
I do have to admit, it’s heartwarming… Twilight thought to herself as she gazed out into the crowd. She could recognize some of the famous ponies, such as Hoity Toity, Prince Blueblood, Fancypants, Photo Finish and Sapphire Shores.
There were some other ponies she recognized in the front row; such as a cross eyed Pegasus, a pony who was sitting in a rather awkward position, a pony with several candy cutie marks who was looking at the pony beside her with an embarrassed look, and a brown earth pony with an hourglass cutie mark.
She could even recognize another pony who was at the bar, struggling to stand. She was a pink earth pony who was guzzling down drinks faster than the bartender could pour them.
Princess Celestia sure had invited a lot of ponies. A whole lot of ponies.
Everypony left the altar, leaving it deserted except for Luna who was just about to walk away. As Discord and Celesta were halfway down the aisle, Discord snapped his fingers and suddenly a wave of chocolate drenched her.
He broke out in a storm of laugher, and even most of the audience couldn’t help but laugh at the soaked mare. She rubbed the chocolate from her eyes and looked at Discord with an intense hatred. “DISCORD! I’M GOING TO KILL YOU WHEN I GET MY HOOVES ON YOU!” She roared and charged down the aisle, the Draconequus teleporting away from her.
Luna charged through the crowd chasing after him, Discord teleporting away whenever she got close. This went on for some time before she finally collapsed in an exhausted heap.
Discord teleported beside Celestia who gave him a very angry look.
“What?” He held a claw to his chest. “I couldn’t help myself!”
It was the end of the wedding, and most of the ponies had left. What remained were the ponies who were far too drunk to make their way back home, and Twilight with all her friends.
“I had a great time, Celestia…” Discord said as the two of them gazed out at the night sky.
“So did I…” Celestia responded, taking her eyes off the stars to look at her lover.
“I’ve never been happier…”
“Neither have I…”
The two of them gazed into each other’s eyes, lost in their beautiful colors. They both leaned in and embraced in a kiss. Just as they kissed, the sky behind them was light up as a dozen stars flew through it, which was something Celestia had begged her sister to arrange. She was still angry about the whole chocolate fiasco, after all.
Well… This is cornier then I would have liked… But I guess I’ll just roll with it… Discord thought silently to himself.
After a handful of seconds that seemed like forever to them, they pulled apart. They returned to staring into each other’s eyes, each trying to grasp savor the happiness that they each felt at that very moment.
“Do I still have to sleep on the couch tonight?”
“Yes…Yes you do…”
The Invitation
AN: If you have not read Love and Hatred, I highly suggest you do before reading this. It makes a lot more sense.
It was a cool winter morning when Twilight Sparkle awoke. She rubbed her eyes, let out a long drawn out sigh, and then rolled out of her bed. As she made her way towards the bedroom door, the delicious aroma of pancakes and syrup wafted up to her. She smiled, knowing her loyal assistant was hard at work making her breakfast.
As she descended the stairs in her tree house, she caught sight of her scaly green friend running back and forth in the kitchen. Reaching the table she found her breakfast already set up, with a stack of golden pancakes waiting for her. “Thanks Spike! It’s so nice of you to make breakfast!” The lavender unicorn took a seat, and quickly began eating her delicious meal.
Her sudden voice made him jump and he nearly dropped a stack of plates. “Oh it was nothing Twilight! I got up early this morning so I thought I’d do something special.” Spike took his own seat at the table, a plate of various gemstones sitting in front of him.
Twilight took a bite of her meal and smiled, “It’s delicious!” She commented cheerfully before digging further into them.
Spike blushed slightly, “Aw really, it was nothing.” The baby dragon began eating his own meal, happily chewing on a ruby. “Oh uh,” He paused a moment to swallow, “There’s a message over there from the princess. I just got it this morning.”
He nodded to an end table, where perched on it was a small scroll. Twilight smiled, “Oh! I wonder what she’s got to say this time? Maybe she just finished my report on the formation of stars and she wants to compliment me!” Not being able to wait a minute longer she floated the message over and began reading it while she ate.
“I was thinking we could go to Sugarcube Corner after we're done shopping, Pinkie Pie’s supposed to be making those amazing triple chocolate muffins!” The little dragon’s mouth began watering at the very thought of the sugary treats.
Twilight however nearly chocked when she finished the letter, she began coughing, trying to swallow the mouthful of pancakes stuck in her throat.
“What’s wrong?!” He asked, concern filling his voice as he saw his friend was in trouble.
Twilight took a minute to swallow her food before taking a few deep breaths. “If this is some sort of joke Spike, it’s not funny…” Her brow furrowed as she looked at the baby dragon.
“What are you talking about?!”
“This letter, you obviously wrote it. And really, did you think I’d fall for something so ridiculous?”
“B-but, I didn’t even read it! I swear, that just came this morning from the princess! What does it say anyway?”
A look of pure horror and confusion crossed the unicorn’s face as she realized this wasn’t some joke Spike was trying to pull on her. And now that she thought about it, this was the princess’s handwriting… But this couldn’t be right! There was no way this letter was telling the truth!
“Well spit it out already, what does it say!”
Twilight let out a sigh before reading it out loud.
“Dear Twilight Sparkle,
I have wonderful news! Discord has broken out of his stone prison and we’ve made up! We’re getting married one week from now in Canterlot, I want you and all your friends to come! Can’t wait to see you,
Princess Celestia.”
Spike jaw nearly dropped when she finished the letter, it couldn’t be serious. “The princess is getting married, to DISCORD ?!?!?!”
Twilight shook her head in confusion, “This can’t be right. Spike take a letter, I need to get this sorted out…”
“Oh come on Celestia, why does it have to be a whole week?” Discord asked, as he sat across from his beloved. They had just finished an exquisite breakfast, something the Draconquus hadn’t had in a long time.
“Because we still have all sorts of preparations to make. You only just broke free yesterday; don’t you think this relationship is moving a little fast as it is?” Celestia asked, smiling as she spoke.
“Well, we do have a thousand years to make up for...” He flashed her his trademark toothy grin.
Celestia just rolled her eyes at him. “It’s only a week, you’ll survive until then. Now, if you’ll excuse me I have to go plan the wedding. Why don’t you take a walk in the garden? It’s wonderful this time of year.”
“Ugh, I’ve had enough of that accursed garden for one lifetime. I think I’ll go someplace that I haven’t been for a thousand years.” He grinned at her before teleporting away.
Celestia called the servants to clean the table then she was off, pacing down one of the halls of the castle. As she headed towards one of the meeting rooms she caught sight of a dark blue alicron. Celestia sighed, she had been dreading this moment.
“Celestia! What is this I’m hearing about Discord?!There must be some mistake here!” Luna roared at her, steam literally fuming off of her midnight coat.
“Calm down dear sister, what you heard is true. Discord’s broken out of his prison, but have no fear. We’ve made up; he no longer wants to create chaos.”
Her explanation didn’t calm her down one bit; in fact it only seemed to infuriate her more. “You’ve got to be joking me Celestia? Does that mean you’re actually getting married to that, thing ?!”
The sun princess nodded, “Yes Luna. One week from now, and the only thing I’m asking you for is to accept it. He really has changed; now please don’t go picking a fight with him.” Celestia left shaking her head, Luna might have been her sister but she could be very hot headed at times.
The moon princess was left standing in the hall alone, rage still pouring from her. Discord may have brainwashed her sister, but the crafty draconquus wasn’t going to get here. She saw through all his tricks, this was just another one of his plans to take Equestria. And she would make sure to stop it…
“So this isn’t some kind of joke?”
“Nope Twi, I can see where you’re comin from, but I heard it myself. When them fancy ponies from Canterlot came round to Rarity’s, she dawn near had a heart attack when they told her she was making the princess’s dress!”
Twilight let out a sigh, finally realizing this wasn’t a joke. Princess Celestia was actually getting married, to Discord of all people. “But I just don’t get it! For one, how did he break out of his stone prison? It’s only been a couple months, last time it held for a thousand years! And two, why is he getting married to the princess? They absolutely hate each other!”
“Well come on sugar cube, let’s just take a breather. I’m sure there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation to all this.” Applejack put a comforting hoof on her friend, who for the first time this morning calmed down a bit.
“So I guess Rarity’s hard at work?”
“Well yeah. The pony’s locked herself in Carousel Boutique, said she ain’t coming out till she finishes the dress. I can’t even begin to imagine what it’s gonna look like.”
That was typical Rarity, pouring her blood, sweat and tears into her work. But a dress for the princess's wedding? She could just imagine her face when they told her she had the honor of making her wedding dress. “Well, I guess I should be happy for the princess. She is getting married after all!” Twilight let out a weak smile, hardly fooling herself let alone Applejack.
“Well you’ll have to excuse me Twilight; I got more apple bucking to do at the farm. I’ll probably see ya tomorrow.” The cowpony tipped her hat to her before leaving.
The truth finally began to sink in. Celestia, the alicorn she had idolized since she was a filly, her teacher, was getting married. To Discord, the monstrous creature that had tore their friendship to shreds and plunged all of Equestria into chaos.
But then suddenly It dawned on her, there was no way the spirit of chaos could have changed. He was still his old evil, chaotic self. He must be tricking the princess, trying to get close to her so he could strike. Then with her out of the way he could take over Equstria without any obstacles. Twilight let out a gasp, then galloped off full speed towards the library.
Discord rolled his eyes as another crowd of ponies screamed and ran off. He simply didn’t understand why they were all so scared of him; all he was doing was taking a morning stroll through Canterlot.
Still, he used to be the spirit of chaos and disharmony. The chaos was probably still fresh in these ponies’ minds. At least the guard wasn’t going after him, he was glad Celestia had made that clear to them.
He was glad to be out of the gardens, he had gotten sick of them after all those years. At least Canterlot was something new, something different. Even if it was filled with rich, stuck up ponies who ran at the sight of him. It was better than them regarding him as an ornament like they did all those years.
After twenty minutes of walking through the city Discord let out a sigh, Canterlot sure was boring. He needed a change of scenery, a place that wasn’t filled with snobby high class pony. A grin formed on his face and he let out a chuckle as he got an idea, he would go and pay a visit to his favorite pony…
