The whole day went by in excitement and chocolate. Pretty literally.
Discord spent much of the day trying to make Twilight and Spike drink his famous chocolate milk, even after they drank three glasses each; while he was simply summoning it all the time, he kept saying it was made by "his own, original recipe". The unicorn was laughing it off, but she had to admit it had quite a unique taste.
Then he decided he was in charge of making lunch. And by making, he meant summoning a bunch of the oddest food one could find, including the tomato tasting candy and candy covered pizza. The mere sight of the strange food seemed to have excited him like never before.
Naturally, the Spirit didn't spend his time summoning the food only. Apparently Celestia's gem gave him back his tranporting ability, though only on pretty short distances - that didn't stop him from giving a scare to approximately half of the Ponyville population, popping out in strangest of places.
Discord also found out he could ever so slightly change the laws of nature - something that couldn't be avoided, his powers originally being primarily directed to chaotic deeds. He was able to slightly speed up the growth of plants, as well as make them wither, shapeshift into a few smaller animals and, on everyponys' unfortune, mess with the weather to a certain degree. At least those were the things Twilight witnessed - the Spirit spent the entire afternoon wandering in the vicinity of the Everfree forest, trying out his powers on whatever he could find in any way he could think of.
If she didn't know better, Twilight would have thought he was using magic for the first time; he was that excited.
It was pretty late when the Spirit came back to the library; it seemed he spent some time having fun with Pinkie Pie - she entered the library for a few minutes to say good night to Twilight, nearly proceeded into telling her a full fledged story of their evening, just how awesome of a time she had with Discord and thanking him for what was probably a gazillionth time for the cotton candied, chocolate raining cloud he seemed to have made for her. The scene of the two biding each other bye and promising to have fun again sometime brought a delighted smile to Twilight's face.
Twilight was looking up something for a research of hers - Discord's absence that day gave her plenty of time to work. It tired out Spike though, who was already sleeping in his basket.
Twilight noticed with surprise Discord was sleepy as well, his eyes half closed, but a content smile on his mismatched face. It was strange seeing him acting so much like a... well, a pony.
"I can for certain say I never had a better day in my thousands of years long life."
"Oh? I thought you had everything you wanted back when you ruled Equestria; before Celestia's rule."
"Oh well sure, it was quite a prosperous era for me." The Spirit commented. "But I guess one does not know what they have until they lose it. And the feeling of gaining... there are no words to describe it."
Such a mature comment left Twilight stunned.
"Wow. That's pretty... um... I don't know what to say."
"What?" The Spirit's eyebrow arched as he gave the unicorn a questionable look. It was kind of funny that he didn't understand.
"Well... it is not like you to be, um... grateful, I guess?"
Discord seemed to have been lost in thoughts for approximately a second; then he made a grimace, putting his tongue out.
"Ugh, gag! Grateful, me? I am simply happy to have my powers back, I own no gratitude to anyone." he replied snobbishly, standing tall and proud.
Twilight laughed.
"As you say."
"I am serious."
"Fine, you are serious."
"I am."
"I heard you the first two times."
The Spirit was pretty upset by now. Apparently, he cared a lot about other ponies' opinion. It was odd to see someone so desperately wanting to be terrifying, mean and evil in other ponies' eyes, thought Discord didn't have to work hard for that - while she did get used to him, he was still dangerous if not watched after and she knew that she still had a long way to go if she wanted to show him just what is so attractive about not turning houses upside down.
Then again, it only slightly reminded her of Rainbow Dash, who always wanted to be looked upon as tough, strong and cool, to be looked upon as an idol rather than a regular pony.
"You know, you kind of remind me of Rainbow Dash." Twilight finally expressed her thoughts. Her words cause quite a reaction, as the draconequus started giggling uncontrollably.
"Just how in the Equestria am I like your rainbow maned friend? Well, apart from leaving allies alone in times of trouble..."
"Well, you both like to be thought of as something specific, an image you created for yourself; you don't like the idea of someone thinking of you differently than from what you think you are. Not to mention Rainbow Dash is also pretty prone to making bits of trouble every once in a while"
Discord eyed her suspiciously.
"I am not. Grateful."
"Yup. Definitely like Rainbow Dash. That reminds me of that time she refused to admit she loved the book I loaned her." Twilight laughed, much on the chagrin of the mismatched Spirit. She paid for her insolence by getting a huge shower of bubbles upon her and her book. She gasped in terror.
"The book! No! No!" she used her spell instantly to create a heat wave that burst the bubbles in a second. She dully noticed the book was still wet, thought only slightly. The perfectionist unicorn wasn't happy. Discord raised his arms defensively when she glared at him.
"You asked for it."
Twilight mumbled something he couldn't hear and put the book back in its place on the shelf after drying it out as best as she could. The view of her well-organized library reminded her of a warning she was supposed to give him.
"Oh Discord, one more thing. If you ever, ever decide to mess with my books, I promise you that not only will you lose your magical powers, but you'll probably lose your physical powers for quite some time as well. Think that through." Twilight said sweetly, but with a distinctive note of 'I'll kill you if you disobey'.
Discord gave her a look of disbelief, but as the unicorn turned around and headed upstairs to bed, he had to admit that her creepy sweet talk gave him chills.
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Discord pondered whether he should go to sleep. Once Twilight went to bed, he spent some time setting up a prank for her in the morning. In the meanwhile, his sleepiness went away; the sky was pretty beautiful that night though. It invited for a fly.
Deciding a short stroll around the sky might be a relaxing option, as well as a chance to stir up some chaos, he flew out into the dark night. Luna's Moon was almost full, shining especially brightly. The visibility was pretty good; if he were any more into flying as a hobby, he definitely would have thought it was a beautiful night for a recreational flight.
Apparently a certain pegasus thought so.
"Discord? What are you doing here?" Discord cringed as he heard a painfully familiar sound of Rainbow Dash's annoying, challenging voice. It took him a moment to notice her, flying directly above him - she has apparently just descended from the heights of the sky where she practiced, being a bit out of breath.
"Can't a draconequus enjoy a stroll through the beautiful night sky, Rainbow Dash?" Discord purred. The pegasus snorted.
"If I were asked about it, you'd still be a statue."
"Why, you're so harsh my dear. I haven't done anything since I was released to deserve such hate."
"I don't care about 'now'! Everypony seemed to have just forgotten about what happened, forgotten what you have done to us!" Rainbow angrily replied. "Well not me! I will never, ever forgive you for what you have done."
"It is not like I asked for forgiveness though, did I?"
The coolness of draconequus and his teasing smile made her only angrier. It seemed to have amused him as he started laughing lightly.
"Oh that angry face! I kind of missed that expression ever since you first challenged me to a box match in Celestia's dear, and for reasons unknown, amazingly complicated maze."
"The box ma--?" Rainbow paused, having recalled her eagerness to fight the Spirit hand to hand; or in this case, hoof to paw.. or talon. Whatever. The memory of it made her snort, as she smiled a bit smug.
"Oh right; the match you were too afraid to accept."
"Afraid? You will not taunt me with your petty challenge, dear Rainbow Dash. The fact I don't like senseless violence you're trying to drag me into only proves my original theory of you being a local, to use the fashionista's words, brute."
Discord happily noticed he hit the nerve of the colorful pegasus.
"Alright then Discord, how about this - we both have a pair of wings, don't we? How about a race?"
"By the Chaotic Cupcakes, you're not thinking of actually defeating me in a race, now are you?" Despite the mocking, Discord knew she was serious; the pegasus' determination intrigued him.
"Heck yes I do! Come on! If I ever want to be in the Wonderbolts, I simply gotta have a 'defeated the Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony in a race' in my résumé." she teased back, by now in much better mood than when she met him; she couldn't help but think she was probably the first pegasus ever who had a chance to race Discord. The thought excited her.
"Alright fine, Rainbow Dash. You're on. It'll be such a satisfaction to show you just how faster than you one can get."
"It's settled then." Rainbow smiled, now devilishly smiling. "Tomorrow, the Ghastly Gorge, noon."
"Oh the good ol' showdown at high noon. I like it."
The two slowly parted ways, Discord returning to the library and Rainbow Dash most likely going back to her cloudy home. They both eyed each other, their looks full of adrenaline already.
Discord had quite a difficulty falling asleep that night, despite the earlier tiredness. He would've never admitted it to anyone, mostly because he had a feeling Rainbow Dash would make a joke of it, but the truth was, this was the first actual race he was ever participating in.
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"A race with Rainbow Dash? That is a brilliant idea! Maybe you two can even--"
"Don't get your hopes up Twilight Sparkle, your colorful friend is holding a very well rooted grudge against me and I am wasting no time to reciprocate those feelings."
"Rainbow Dash? No way, she's not that ill-willed."
"Oh well, suit yourself; once you see her glare, as if she was trying to turn me back into stone, you'll understand.
When Twilight awoke that morning, aside from a very succesful prank where she got a bucket of water over her head the moment she put a hoof out of her bed, she got another surprise as she heard about Discord's racing plans. She accompanied him, deciding to be the judge of the race; she thought the race was a great way for the two to connect, even though it seemed Rainbow Dash hated him with passion. On their way, Twilight invited her friends, Pinkie Pie being the first to eagerly agree. Twilight thought it was luck that they had her with them, because Pinkie was mostly responsible for talking Rarity, Applejack and Fluttershy into accompany them. They all reluctantly agreed, eyeing the draconequus suspisciously.
Discord, on the other hand, had a hard time being around a bunch of ponies that he wasn't about to turn into plants. Not to mention that these ponies could talk. Oh boy did they talk.
Under the excuse he was going to stretch his wings before the race, he flew ahead of them, leaving the five ponies to travel alone to the Ghastly Gorge. Rainbow Dash was probably there already, as she wasn't at home.
"Well, this is kinda strange." Applejack mumbled as she watched the Spirit flying off swiftly. "I think even Discord thinks this is awkward."
"Well no wonder, that ruffian does not know how to behave around the proper ladies such as we are."
Twilight sighed.
"You just have to get to know him better! He changed at least a bit, I promise!"
"Well, um, I would love to try and make friends with him, but, he doesn't really seem to notice me." Fluttershy added in.
"Well, duh!" Twilight tried to point out. "It is not like you ever tried to - I never saw you coming to visit me while he's around or anything."
"Well, actually," Fluttershy continued, shyly as always, "on several occasions, when I saw him flying around Ponyville and such, I tried to say hello, or start a conversation... but, um, I don't know... he either ignored me or hadn't noticed me. It was one or another."
"What??" Twilight seemed to be disturbed by the discovery. "That is so mean of him! He could at least have... pranked you or something to make a point of noticing you!... Then again, if he didn't prank you... yeah, he probably just didn't notice you."
"Truth to be told, I am not surprised." Applejack started. "You're probably the quietest pony I've ever encountered, Fluttershy. Discord is all hyper all the time. Ya wanna talk to him, ya'll probably have to attract his attention first by doing something out of ordinary."
"I, I guess so." Fluttershy admitted quietly.
"Maybe I should practice my cheering, and use it to call for him louder?" The yellow pegasus took a deep breath, prepared to crumble everything in front of her with the might of her voice.
"Yay!"
Naturally, it was barely audible.
"Oh, oh, you wanna hear about the evening I had yesterday? You'll never guess what Discord gave me!" As Pinkie Pie interrupted the semi serious discussion with her stories of chocolate rains, the five of them finally arrived at the Ghastly Gorge to witness an amusing scene; Discord and Rainbow Dash were staring at each other intensely, their faces a few inches apart. They both had determined looks in their eyes.
"Oh, oh! The Stare challenge!" Pinkie pie exclaimed quietly, motioning her hooves to tell everypony to stay quiet. The mares accepted the game, deciding to wait for the two to finish their contest.
It took them both a couple of minutes, but the Rainbow Dash finally blinked, her agonized expression as her eyes burned throwing Discord into hysterics.
"OK, OK, we're all here." Applejack interrupted Discord's laughing fit. The two looked at the newcomers.
"Finally; I was getting bored with this guy already. Let's race!" Rainbow Dash immediately settled on the start line, eager to show the draconequus who's the best flyer in all of Equestria. Discord lazily followed her.
"Alright then, I think you know the rules. No cheating, flying out of the Gorge, pulling at each others wings and hooves, fighting, tickling, touching on purpose in general, and NO magic."
"Fine with me." Discord positioned himself into the take-off pose. Rainbow followed his example.
"Once you start racing, I will transport us all to the finish line." Twilight added to her friends, before turning to start the race.
"OK then, ready! Set! GO!"
The two took off fast, way too fast for an untrained eye to notice the incredible precision of the take off. Discord and Rainbow Dash disappeared into the Gorge in a matter of seconds.
"Well, we'll see how that goes." Twilight commented before using the transport spell.
Then something strange happened.
Twilight found herself in the midair. That wouldn't be so bad, if it weren't about ten meters above the ground, and inside of the gorge itself. Her friends were nowhere to be seen. In a single horrifying second, Twilight put the puzzle pieces together: her spell malfunctioned. She was lucky enough to have successfully transported her friends, but now she had to face a ten meter fall. Pony's legs weren't nearly strong enough to endure the fall without consequences; she concluded she would at the least end up with a broken leg if she doesn't do something.
Twilight was lucky to be a pony of quick thinking. About five meters before she hit the ground, she used a spell that didn't stop the fall completely, but did slow it down enough for her to try and land as best as she could. Alas, faith had different plans. She yelled out in pain as her rear left ankle twisted in a painfully awful manner, her voice silently echoing the tall stone walls of the Gorge.
Calming herself down, Twilight tried to use her magic, only to discover the pain in her ankle was distracting her too much. She suppressed the tears of pain and consoled herself quickly: soon Rainbow Dash or Discord will pass by and pick her up. The pain was such a bother though. She will probably have to stay calm for at least for a week.
Minutes passed as Twilight tried to distract herself from the pain by looking for shapes in those few clouds she could see from her position. Just as she thought she might as well try walking, she heard the familiar zooming of Rainbow Dash in the distance, as well as the roars of the monsters living in the Gorge caves. Soon enough, she saw two spots in the distance.
"Was about time!" she sighed. She tried her best to prop up to be more visible, but with her ankle twisted, she couldn't do much.
"Hey~! Over here please!" she waved her hooves at the two as the were approaching, their speed much too fast for her taste. If she hadn't witnessed both of their flight skills by now, she would be worried for their well being. She was more worried about being missed though.
The purple mare gave away a desperate sigh of annoyance when both of the fast flying blurs completely missed her, probably not noticing her.
"Great! Just great!" she angrily argued with herself and stomped her hooves - which was a mistake, as it only hurt her more. She wailed in pain, the tears of both frustration and pain finally managing to sneak out onto her cheeks. She quickly tried to remove them, but the pain was just too strong to stop her crying spree. By now, Twilight Sparkle was pretty much... well... pissed off.
"I hate this..." she mumbled incoherently to herself, flopping onto the ground. A few minutes passes in desperate silence during which she couldn't help but bathe in despair. She felt miserable.
"Twilight Sparkle, just what in the name of everything Chaotic are you doing?"
Twilight jerked as the familiar voice addressed her, her mood instantly jumping up.
"Discord! Thank Celestia you saw me!" she breathed out with a relieved smile as she turned around, seeing the mismatched Spirit being out of his breath. Which was strange, considering he was in as good condition as Rainbow; and it took a lot of work to get Rainbow running out of breath.
She couldn't help but feel slightly intimidated when he suddenly approached her with a very... sort of, grumpy, look on his face. It was a strange expression, she haven't seen it before.
"Uh, is everything alri-OW!" the draconequus poked her harshly in the very top of her head, making the unicorn frown.
"What the actual hay, Discord?! What is your problem?!" Twilight unsuccessfully tried removing the sharp talon digging into her scalp.
"Nothing." Discord hissed, and without another word lifted her onto his back carefully. Twilight felt immensely confused about his behavior, but figured this wasn't the time to think about that - nor she could think of that, since pain spread all over her left rear leg.
"Hold on." he flew up, bringing Twilight to the finish line in less than a minute. Her friends all stared at both of them in confusion.
"Twilight, where were you?" Rarity started. "We were all transported here and--"
"OH MY GOSH; TWILIGHT YOU'RE HURT!" Fluttershy immediately approached her as she came down from Discord's back, limping.
"Just what in tarnation happened?"
"Ugh, my spell was kind of a failure; it didn't transport me properly, so I ended up in the Gorge hurting myself."
"Oh that is the. Worst! Possible! Thing!" Rarity dramatically whined. Discord looked ever more grumpy and annoyed than before. Twilight figured they best move the things along.
"Uh, anyway, I should be heading to the hospital."
"My house is so much closer and I have experience with these kinds of injuries - please Twilight, let me take care of you!" Fluttershy softly explained, the honest wish to be the one to nurture Twilight in her eyes. Twilight softly smiled to her.
"Alright, thank you Fluttershy. I'd much rather spend some time at your place than in hospital anyway."
The five of them suddenly looked expectantly at Discord, who confusedly returned their looks.
"What?"
"Um, her ankle is twisted?" Applejack started. "You can carry her much easier than the rest of us."
He rolled his eyes.
"Fine."
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Fluttershy excused herself quietly, saying she needed to get some bandages and medicine she kept in her shed for Twilight's ankle. The rest of Twilight's friends surrounded her on Fluttershy's couch, checking out her injury and asking how she felt.
"Sorry Twilight; I really didn't see you back there. You know I would come back to get you if I did."
"Oh of course Rainbow Dash - I mean since when are you the one to abandon her friends? You don't have to worry about it, really." the unicorn gave her a reassuring smile, making somewhat fretting pegasus relax.
Twilight couldn't help but notice Discord was acting odd. Almost like he didn't want to be near her. He was unusually grumpy all the way to Fluttershy's cottage and once he was free of Twilight on his back, he instantly flew away into the blue bright sky.
"What is wrong with Discord? Did something happen?" Twilight asked her friends, wondering if they might have any clue as to what the hay was going on with him.
She was quite surprised when they three of her firends giggled in response; all except for Rainbow Dash who rolled her eyes.
"You guys make me wanna puke." she commented, waving her hoof dismissively.
"What is going on?" Twilight asked.
"Well, Twi, let's just say that all of us, except for maybe Rainbow Dash here, got to know Discord a lil' bit better; an' we think that if ya keep up the good work, he'll turn out to be an acceptable fella."
Twilights' smile was so wide that it caused another laughter among her friends.
"Oh my, I'm so glad to hear that! But, what made you think that? I didn't notice you guys talking much to him."
"Well, it wasn't about talkin', 'twas about what he had done."
"What do you mean?"
"Well you see darling," Rarity began, "we were quite surprised when he decided to go back and look for you; Discord is not really known for being, well, friendly." She tried to explain.
"I mean just think about it; the same draconequus who once turned us against each other, the same one who once brought chaos to countless of ponies with not even a blink of en eye, the same one whose ego is bigger than a mountain," Rarity recalled Discord in the maze, comparing his 'beautiful' face with the beauty of a diamond, "has now willingly abandoned the race he took such great importance to, just to go and look for you. I must say, I never expected such an act from him."
Twilights' eyes got as wide as plates.
"He never got to the finish line?"
She tried to make sense of this. The only solution that came to her mind was that Discord did see her down there in the Gorge, but pretended not to... could it be his conscience told him to go back and get her? Could it be he deemed her worthy and friendly enough to deserve such a treatment?
Could it be he was genuinely... worried, about her?
All the mares jumped when Twilight started laughing abruptly.
"What is it?" Pinkie Pie asked in surprise.
"Oh nothing, nothing... I just thought of something... well, stupid and totally silly. Never mind, really."
"Is everything OK?" Fluttershy appeared at the door, having returned from her shed with the necessary equipment.
"Everything is just fine, Fluttershy. Thank you for your help. I can't wait to just get home and read, I think I've had quite enough of excitement for now."
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"Twilight?! What is wrong with your leg?!" Spike immediately approached his purple friend as she entered the library. Her rear leg was in bandages and with two little planks that kept her hoof in place. The twist of her ankle was a bit more serious than she thought, so she needed to wear them for a couple of days. She spent a good deal of the afternoon at Fluttershy's place, talking to her friends, and patiently waiting for Fluttershy to adjust her leg right. The sun was already setting by the time they got back into the library.
"I had a little accident." she smiled softly. Behind her, Rainbow Dash snorted.
"A little accident?! If you weren't thinking quick and magicked yourself safely, you could've been seriously injured!
"Just tell me what happened already!" the little dragon demanded.
Twilight slowly limped her way to the center of the library, followed by Rainbow Dash, where she sat down at the table, letting out a relieved sigh.
"Oh, that's so much better. So uh, this is what happened..." Twilight told Spike the whole story, every once in a while interrupted with Rainbow Dash's specific statement that she was the one who won the race in the end.
"So, where is Discord anyway? He seemed to be angry when he left, I want to talk to him." Twlight asked Spike, who shifted uncomfortably.
"I, I haven't seen him since you guys left..."
"... Wait, you mean, he's not home yet? He never came back to the library?"
"No." Spike replied a bit carefully. He and Rainbow Dash eyed Twilight with newborn worry - the purple mare seemed to have been upset.
"What are you worried about, Twilight? That he might try and cause some chaos? Because if he does, I'll slap his flank across the Equestrian skies!" Rainbow threatened, but Twilight shook her head.
"It's not that... he just seemed upset with something, is all."
"Huh, I couldn't care less!" Rainbow replied, her heartless comment making Twilight frown.
"Come on, Rainbow Dash, why can't you just give him a chance? Why are you so bitter around him?"
Rainbow didn't answer, instead pouting for reasons that remained a mystery to Twilight. Then again, not really; Rainbow Dash was an awfully proud pegasus. Still, it didn't look like it was just the matter of Dash's pride.
"I'll see you tomorrow." Rainbow Dash simply said, as she turned to leave. "Don't overwork that leg of yours, you hear? G'night, Spike!"
"Night, Dash."
As the door closed behind the colorful mare, Spike patted saddened Twilight on the shoulder.
"Are you alright?"
She gave him a soft smile, melancholic mood reflected in her eyes.
"I am. I just wish I knew what was wrong with him."
"Don't worry, I'm sure he'll be back soon. I was just about to prepare something to eat; are you hungry? We can spend some time on that research of Star Swirl the Bearded's notes!"
"That doesn't sound bad. Get us some snacks and tea then," Twilight suggested, with a renewed, happy smile on her face, "we're in for a relaxing night of reading!"
The two spent the evening researching on the notes on a casual atmosphere, every once in a while starting a conversation that had nothing to do with research, and feasting on the snacks. It helped Twilight forget the trouble-bringing draconequus; for now, she could enjoy Spike's company, tasty food and her lovable books.
The time passed fast, the two of them enjoying themselves way too much to notice - in fact, Twilight, probably due to the somewhat stressful day, fell asleep unintentionally, together with Spike on the fluffy pillows they brought for themselves in the library.
Once again, Twilight had a good old course of odd dreams running through her head. She was well aware of the fact she was dreaming though - in fact, it was the most self conscious dreaming sequence she ever had.
After a whirl of unmemorable, unreasonable and colorful dreams, she found herself in a forest that contained way too much of bright color yellow - sure, it was a nice color, but its brightness, and the fact the mentioned color decorated both the sky, the ground and even the trees, made her eyes hurt. As if on cue, the colors started changing, the sky becoming sea green, and the grass bright red. The trees changed the colors all the time which, while kind of dizziness inducing, was fun to see.
Just as she started wondering what was with this colorful dream, she saw a familiar Spirit laying on one of the tree branches. He didn't seem to notice her. In fact, he was seemingly asleep.
"Wow, that's pretty defined." Twilight thought to herself, finding it funny for her dream to be so realistic - a Spirit of Chaos in a chaotic surrounding.
"Discord! Hey, Discord!" She eagerly called for him, wondering what her actions will cause - for as we all know, dreams can easily change drastically with a single word or action.
But nothing irregular happened - the Spirit awoke at the sound of her voice and stretched, seemingly still not taking notice of her.
"Oh, what a bother..." He mumbled. He looked around, and upon noticing her suddenly yelled out in surprise, which caused Twilight to yell out in return and look around herself, searching for the source of his racket.
"What?! What is going on?"
"You!"
"Me?"
"You, Twilight Sparkle!" The Spirit angrily descended from a tree and approached her, poking her harshly in the chest, lowering himself to meet her eye level.
"What in the almighty Chaos are you doing in MY dream?!"
"What? Your dream?" She arched an eyebrow, making draconequus sigh dramatically.
"Oh, do not pretend with me missy - you are spying on me and my dreams!"
"What in the hay are you talking about! I thought I was dreaming-- wait, you're just a dream, what am I talking about anyway!"
"You're calling me a segment of your imagination? While I'm sure you fantasize about my handsome face a lot, I can assure you I am the real, one and only, Discord!"
Twilight decided to let the embarrassing remark about fantasizing slip by.
"Ugh, what is going on here? This dream is so confusing! And for your information, Discord, or whoever, or whatever you are, I have no idea how to enter somepony's dream! I think that's even illegal without consent of the dreaming subject, too."
Discord seemed to have started believing her. He pondered for a moment or two, and then let out a victorious 'ha!' and smiled so widely it was almost creepy. For some reason, he looked over at her with an amused smile, as he lay down on the ground, like a (part) lion he was, then looked at her.
"What?"
"I just got it - I know why you wandered into my dream, Twilight Sparkle. You probably aren't going to like what I am about to propose though."
"Just say it already, Discord."
"Well, it is possible to enter somepony else's dream instead of dreaming your own; but that happens rarely, mostly with ponies with great magical ability and only in certain cases. It bring us to the most probable conclusion of why you are in my dream."
"Really? What is it?"
"You were probably dying to see me." Discord finished, a most devilish tone in his voice and most playful look in his eyes. If Twilight had any less self control, she would probably run away. It was obvious his reply embarrassed her to a certain degree.
"What is it then, Twilight Sparkle? Be quick, I want to sleep again."
"But if we're in your dream, doesn't that mean you're already sleeping?" Twilight couldn't help but ask, forgetting her wish to talk with him for a moment.
"I am, but this way, I'll sleep twice as much, gaining extra energy."
So that was why he seemed so full of energy back when he first appeared in Ponyville. Twilight was pretty impressed by such a complicated spell, but decided there were other matters at hand.
"Discord, are you angry with me for some reason?"
The Spirit looked at her lazily, a playful smirk still lingering on his face.
"I have no reason to be, now do I, Twilight Sparkle."
"I... I guess not--"
"Then don't break your pretty little purple egg-head of yours over nothing! Ha, did you just see what I did?" The Spirit laughed at his 'head' joke. If it was even qualified to be called a joke. Despite not liking being called an egghead, Twilight tried hard to suppress a smile - the action that seemed to have bothered him.
"Come now, Twilight Sparkle!" He sing sang, as he reached for her cheeks and stretched them into a badly formed smile.
"Where is that wonderful smile! I know it is in there somewhere~" He started to baby talk with her, which reflected so ridiculously on his face that she not only smiled, but laughed loudly too.
"Much better! I will have no sulking faces or hidden smiles in my dreams." The Spirit commented. Suddenly a sound was heard in the distance, making both of them look up. Discord seemed to have known what was going on and he didn't look too happy.
"Aww, shucks."
Shucks?
"The morning is already approaching. Time really does fly fast when you're having fun."
"It is? How can you tell?"
"It is my dream, I can tell easily." He turned towards her. Twilight noticed the dream world she was in started to disappear, seeing the trees vanish slowly into the air in the distance and the sky growing colorless.
"Time to say goodbye, Twilight Sparkle. I'll see you back in the library. Before we part though, here's some food for thought." He added in the end, and leaned in towards her.
"Was this all just a dream, or was I really here?" He purred as he used his talon finger to gently tickle her nose.
It took Twilight about two seconds to realize just how much of a 'troll' he was at that moment.
"Discord, you--" She couldn't finish her sentence before falling into a vertigo as the world around her collapsed, the last thing she heard being Discord's all too known laughter.
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Twilight woke up. She still felt that tickle on her nose, but had no way of finding out whether it was real or dream induced.
"Oh, good morning, sleepy head! It was about time you get up!" Spike cheerfully greeted her, immediately returning the box of ice cream back in the refrigerator, hoping Twilight wouldn't notice. Twilight didn't comment on the gluttonous little dragon, deciding to catch him unprepared later.
"Morning, Spike." she managed as she tried to stand up, only to have a sharp pain spread over her rear leg. She had already forgotten about it.
"Ugh! Oh, I should've known how troublesome this will be."
"Oh, so you'll have to spend some time at home - no biggie."
" 'No biggie'? Spike, I can't walk. And if I tried, the only one who could match my slowness is Tank."
"There, you'll have someone to hang out with." Spike tried to humour her. It didn't quite work.
"Heheh... I'm going to make breakfast." he left.
Twilight used her solitude to once again replay the events of the dream, desperately trying to connect the dots, to find something that could tell her whether the dream she had was fruit of her imagination, or the actual dream of Discord. It was so real, she remembered it all so clearly... yet she could prove nothing.
"I hope you slept well, Twilight Sparkle."
Twilight yelped with surprised as the Spirit came out of thin air, transporting himself from wherever he was before into the library, and startled the living daylights out of her.
"Discord, for goodness sake!" Twilight panicked.
Of course, he laughed.
Dear Celestia, how she came to love that laugh.