Well, who would have known. This chapter turned out pretty serious. Hope you enjoy it anyway.
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Twilight woke up to a cloud covered sky and the sounds of rain. The air was stale and humid, the whole day altogether seemed like a perfect day to spend doing absolutely nothing but mope around and wait for such ugly weather to pass. But Twilight would have none of that! After she refreshed herself and lit the fire in the fire place to chase away the humid air, she woke Spike up and asked him to fix them breakfast before she finally went to search for Discord. A few minutes later, she decided he left somewhere, but she had no idea where or why. Frowning, she went into the kitchen.
"Spike, have you seen Discord?"
"Not since last night." Spike replied an answer she expected. Twilight shrugged it off, wondering where could he be. But, the Sun was still in place, plants were still whole, animals normal and houses weren't turned upside down. He probably wasn't doing anything troublesome.
"Oh well. He'll be back sooner or later." She dug into her crusty sandwich filled with sunflower seeds. Her and Spike talked about what they should do today - the weather was so nasty they didn't really want to go and play outside and Twilight was done with her research.
In the end, they decided to visit the movie theater. Putting on their rain coats, they went to see a newest sensation of a movie called the Hay Games. It was, needless to point out, one of the best movies that came out recently. Much better than the Dusk Saga, anyway.
After that they spent most of the afternoon in the cafe of the theater, eating popcorn, drinking hot chocolate from the dispenser and watching rain fall. It was a nice afternoon, definitely.
Yet, something was missing. She needed something amusing or fun, she couldn't quite pinpoint it. Something that usually made any experience only slightly more... colorful.
It took her several long minutes to figure out it was somepony she missed, not something.
"I wonder where Discord is." She finally spoke her thoughts. Spike waved his hand.
"Oh, he's probably at home already and wondering where you are."
"Yeah, I guess so. Speaking of which, it is getting late. Let's go back, we can tell him about the movie!"
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"He... he is not here."
Twilight and Spike got back to the library to be met with the same emptiness they left behind them. Twilight was only slightly shocked. Truth to be told, she was sure that Discord, once he would realize he was home alone, would transform her library into an amusement park or something. For the first time, seeing her regular library was an ugly sight.
"Where could he be? It is past dinner time."
"... Twilight, we could go and ask around somepony if they saw him."
"... No. No, it's OK. He's probably just.. adventuring or something... Leave it be. He'll probably be back in the morning."
Discord wasn't back the next morning. The morning after that either. It was definitely time to conclude Discord wasn't just out and about.
Twilight and Spike had spent most of the day questioning everypony in the whole city if they had seen him. Finally they found a clue; the last time he was seen was by the young Post Haste. He claimed he saw the Spirit flying to the direction of the Everfree forest one early morning a few days ago. Naturally, upon hearing that,Twilight instantly started packing.
"A-are you alright?" Spike asked her. Twilight was in her room and packing only the most necessary supplies frantically.
"No, Spike. No I am not." She sincerely said, her voice quivering. Spike wasn't sure if she cried, but she sure seemed like she was about to.
"Shouldn't you ask the others to help you?"
"Yeah, sure, whatever - I don't have time to inform them. Discord could be in great danger right now and I can't afford to wait for anypony. You inform anypony you want, I am leaving."
"B-but Twilight! Twilight!" Spike called for the mare, even though she was already outside, galloping to the East. She was well out of his voice range and he knew she couldn't hear him. At some point she almost tripped and fell, only to frantically continue running without a second thought. Spike watched as she disappeared behind a corner, wondered what should he do. Twilight was powerful, she could probably take on several dangerous creatures in that forest by herself. But still, it didn't quite calm him down.
With a heavy sigh, he skipped out to find Pinkie Pie. If anyone could spread news fast enough, it was her.
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Twilight felt no regrets when she stepped into the dark forest alone, feeling chills climbing up her spine, but bravely ignoring them as she moved forward. If her friends were going to come, fine - but she sure as heck didn't have time to organize a rescue party. Discord could already be... she shook her head on the dark thought and proceeded.
The path under her hooves was quickly lost once she reached a certain point, so she was happy she brought her compass - even if she got utterly lost, or was for whatever reason incapable of casting her transporting spell, she always just had to head west and she would eventually reach Ponyville with ease.
The forest was darker the further she went, the trees forming a thick shield of leaves that Sun barely shined through, offering Twilight little to no light. Soon, she had to ignite her own spell to light the nonexistent path.
At some point, she decided to look at the compass. With a quite big amount of horror, she noticed it wasn't still; the needle kept turning and turning, never pointing North. Twilight gulped. She had no idea what caused the compass' unusual behavior until that very word got stuck in her mind. Unusual. Chaotic? Resemblance was close enough. Twilight decided Discord must be somewhere nearby. Her hopeful mind didn't have any space for doubt.
Minutes passed. One hour, more. Twilight soon lost the track of time. She kept looking at her compass - at one point it actually pointed North, upon which she trotted back until it started acting weird again. By now, she was absolutely sure it was Disord's magic that caused this. Which meant, he was capable of casting magic. That was good. But why wasn't he returning home then?
The area his magic had affected must've been big, because it took her quite some time before she found a first clue - a few blue feathers. Blue as the sky. Blue as Discord's angelic wing. Twilight gulped, starting to walk a bit faster. Her hooves echoes eerily in the huge, quiet, deserted forest.
Then before her, an unusual and quite unsettling scene. A tree, scratched and torn in so many ways, as if somepony tried to get something out of its core. A few broken and fallen branches. Twilight shuddered, afraid to even think what might've happened. She took a look at the compass. It's needle was spinning wildly, faster than ever.
Silently she kept walking, observing the numerous traces of destruction, following its path, until she finally rounded a large, thick bush...
Discord was lying, sprawled on the ground. His slowly raising and falling chest gave her a clear proof he was still alive, but he was in such a position he looked as if he were attacked. He looked so tired, worn out... old, even. His filly-ish smile replaced with a painful grimace, his sparkly golden eyes closed into a small, tense frown, his breathing short and shallow. Even his slim, long body seemed unnaturally thinner than usual and his wings, instead of being folded, laid open in the dirty ground.
Without a breath, Twilight approached the Spirit, carefully, glancing around. No living being seemed to be around.
"D-Discord?" She called with a whisper, but knew she would only get silence in response. Taking comfort in the fact he was still breathing, she checked him out. He didn't seem to be hurt, not anything serious at least, no blood, no scars... until she rounded him and got a good look of his neck; then she got positively sick.
Two very recognizable bite marks, slightly smudged by dark, red spots. Twilight gritted her teeth. Apparently, a few deserter Changelings liked their new home in the Everfree forest. Twilight would have to inform her brother of this; the Royal Guards were probably ignorant of the fact a Changeling, maybe even more than one, resided here.
Twilight knew that Changelings fed of their victims this way; once they bit their victim, they would release a spell into their body that would provide them with constant flow of the 'food', given that their victims felt any love for anypony at all, until they would break it off once the victim became too weak – they wouldn't destroy their own food supplies. But Discord might've been here for two days already, just lying and being used as a food container.
Around Discord lied traces of his magic - simple examples of food and several empty glasses, some of them still containing a bit of... of pure milk?! Discord would never summon himself just milk!
Unless... he wasn't capable of doing more. Thanks to those nasty changelings, he was probably weaker than ever.
Twilight whimpered, feeling her eyes tearing up. She slowly lowered her horn to his wound, concentrated, then cast a spell.
Slowly, as if she was pulling out something heavy, green smoke-like substance started to rise out of his wound, dispersing the moment it touched the air. The curse. Being encouraged by the unexpected success of her spell, she continued.
After a few moments, it was all gone and Twilight successfully closed the wound.
The expression of Discord's face noticeably changed to a more relaxed one, but he still wasn't waking up. Twilight bit her lip. Suddenly, something rustled in the bushes. Two brilliantly blue eyes stared at her from the darkness. In the next moment, they closed. Everything was dark for a few more moments, when before her came the exact replica of herself. Even thought her double was wearing a cocky, confident smile, Twilight felt no fear. Instead, she felt rage.
"You must not remember me kicking your kind's flank back in Canterlot." She said darkly. Changeling was looking at her in confusion before recalling the mare that ruined their queen's perfect plan; then it let out a frightened yelp, gaining its original form back and swiftly disappeared in the dark forest. She didn't chase him - Shining Armor would take care of that once she informed him.
With another spark of a spell, Twilight managed to transport them both to the edge of the Everfree, just in time to see her friends getting out from it - it appeared they were all going in group and searched one section of the forest by one, not wanting to risk separating or getting lost. With a surprise, she noticed the sky has grown dark - just how long has she been in that cursed forest?
"Twilight! You found him?!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed as she approached her and the sleeping draconequues on the ground.
"Yeah... h-he was b-bit by a Ch-Changeling..." She stuttered, the worry overwhelming her. Spike, who was there with them, looked at her with concern in his eyes - Twilight's mane was messy, eyes wide and scared, her hooves slightly trembling.
"A Changeling? They are in the forest?!" Fluttershy gasped. Twilight nodded her head.
"Yeah, but I don't think there are many... in fact I only saw one and it escaped as soon as I gave it a mean look." She chuckled without emotion. "They are probably just lost or something..."
"Come along, sugar-cube - let us get ya home."
Applejack quickly brought one of the carriages so they could carry the Spirit back to the library. Once there, Twilight put Discord in her own bed. He wasn't showing signs of waking up.
Fluttershy and Applejack occupied the kitchen, Fluttershy preparing some strong tea and Applejack cooking something she called 'the tastiest of all yucky medicines'.
Pinkie Pie was seemingly, along with Twilight, feeling worst of them all - she constantly looked over to the Spirit, expecting to see him moving, doing something, anything really. It was strange seeing him just lying there.
"Twilight? Is Discord going to be alright?" She finally asked, her voice not nearly as happy as usually. Twilight gave her a sad smile.
"Of course he will be, Pinkie - he is just worn out. The Changeling's feeding process can harm somepony in the long run and Discord seems to have been the, err... food provider, for two days constantly. After he gets a good rest, he'll be just fine, trust me."
Her words of comfort brought a smile, albeit still worried smile on Pinkie's face.
"Okie-dokie then." Her 'okie-dokie' never sounded so unenthusiastic.
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It was the middle of the night. Twilight was sleeping – well, trying to, actually - in Spike's basket - Spike generously offered her his sleeping spot and didn't want to hear her refusing, being convinced he was doing her a favor by giving away his comfy but a bit small sleeping spot for her, seeing how tired and worn out she was and how desperately she wanted to be next to Discord all the time. The basket was a bit too small for her, but with some struggle she managed to find a comfy position. Spike, on the other hand, decided to sleep on flour bags in the kitchen. He became really fond of those.
But despite making herself comfortable, Twilight couldn't sleep. It was very early morning, her eyes were stinging and she wanted to sleep desperately, despite initially deciding to stay up all night; she was just so tired.
Finally, somehow, she managed to drift off into a nap.
Twilight stood in a wide, grassy green field. Above her was wide, huge sky with fluffy white cloudy herds chasing each other and, for some reason, there was no Sun, despite it being a bright day. Breeze was blowing. Surrounding her, wherever she looked was nothing but many hills with equally green, lush grass. Nothing else. Just her, green grass, blue sky and white clouds.
Without a goal, she started to walk, looking around. Despite the desolation, she had a feeling like she was looking at something magnificent, like she was in a the world of something she always craved. Be it the incredible limitless sky or hills that seemed to have no end, or the clouds that almost looked alive... wait... some of those clouds WERE alive.
They were jumping one another... were those sheep!? OK, this is definitely the last time she'll allow herself to miss dinner due to stressful situation. Strange dreams were definitely not going to bring her any rest.
And then among all those sheep, she noticed a distinctive shade of red. A tail, hanging off a cloud that just so happened not to be a sheep. It must've been Discords! Too bad it was just a dream.
Then the tail disappeared and a head showed up. Discord seemed to be looking for something - or better said, somepony; the moment he noticed Twilight, he descended towards her.
The he pulled on her mane, and she yelped.
"Ow! What gives?!" She rubbed her neck, a bit annoyed.
"Just had to show you I was real and not a figment of your dreams by producing some pain." Discord said with a teasing smile. Twilight immediately stopped frowning, wide happy smile spreading over her face. Deciding not to restrain herself at least this one time, she leaped toward him and held him into a bone crushing hug. While he was clearly displeased, he patted her head with a resigning sigh and a tired smile.
"You must've been awfully bored without me." Discord noticed, chuckling. However, he was unpleasantly surprised when he noticed tears in her eyes once she finally let go of him. He lowered to her eye level and observed her with worry.
"What's wrong?" The Spirit asked - it was weird how genuinely confused he was by her tears. Seriously, wasn't it obvious?!
"What do you mean 'what's wrong?'" Twilight sniffed loudly, her tears once again wetting his fur as she hugged him. By now, he reached a certain level of discomfort, but figured he should let her cry her eyes out in peace - this one time, he would allow the tears in the dreamland. It took her quite a few minutes though before she finally sat down.
"Better?" He asked playfully. His casual approach to her quite negative mood earned him a strong, sharp poke in the nose. "I'll take that as a yes." He snickered.
"Just what were you doing in Everfree anyway?" Twilight questioned, her voice still trembling slightly. Discord shrugged.
"I was bored." He replied simply. Twilight deadpanned, then kicked him, this time strongly, in the flank.
"Ow! What was that for?! You really ought to take some anger management classes."
"I was worried about you, you jerk!" Twilight angrily started. "Don't you ever, EVER sneak off like that to dangerous places without telling me!"
Discord laughed loudly, to her surprise.
"Yes, mother." He teased, making her pout. "Oh fine, fine. Though I must admit, I was surprised to discover there were Changelings here. And that little one surprised me quite a lot - little sneaks are way too fast."
"They usually don't reside here - some of them must've deserted their Queen." Twilight said, her explanation making the Spirit laugh.
"I am not surprised; Chrysalis wasn't exactly the kind of leader anypony would want - nothing like me, really."
Twilight giggled, much to Discord's delight.
"Much better!" He clapped his mismatched hands. "I can't wait to finally wake up – I was quite bored being with just myself for so long in my mind.”
"I think you'll be fine by noon. I'll have fresh water and food prepared for you. But both your powers and your body have been severely weakened thank to the Changeling's feeding, so you probably won't stay awake for long."
Discord groaned something incoherent, but Twilight managed to catch the word 'bothersome' among his grumblings.
"I know, I know - I've seen what they can do, remember?" She frowned.
After a couple of moments of silence, Discord abruptly suggested they go for a flight, so they did; he was strangely quiet during it, but Twilight was no different - many thoughts and memories ran through her head, the most frequent one being her diary and those blasted, impossible-to-be-true words she wrote down so long ago...
They flew among the cloudy sheep and chased them around until the world slowly started to disperse and before any of them realized it, Twilight had left her little dreamland and woke up.
"Oh." She quietly let out, getting up from the small basket. The clock tower showed noon. With an anticipating smirk, Twilight turned around toward her bed, to see the Spirit curled up among the warm sheets on her bed, looking at her with pretty tired, but otherwise, delighted smile.
"Welcome back." Twilight whispered quietly. Discord just nodded before grabbing both the water and the food that stood on her nightstand and hungrily devoured them, smacking his lips.
"I still feel so tired..." Discord mumbled, his eyes closing as he did. Twilight approached the bed.
"You'll probably have to spend a few days in bed, Discord. After all, being a food container of a Changeling for two days could mean severe health damage to regular ponies. You're holding up pretty good."
She descended into the kitchen to get him some more water, but when she came back, Discord was asleep again, quietly snoring. Now that he was safe and sound, back in her home and his good old teasing self, Twilight could finally think properly about all the things she felt that day, all the crazy thoughts that ran through her head and all the fights her stupid, stupid heart lead with her brain.
When she first wrote those words in her diary, it was easy to dismiss them - they were obviously written on a whim and she barely ever recalled them. But... what now?
That blasted draconequues was simply becoming too good to be true. Of course, it was her goal, teaching him of Harmony, becoming his friend; but feeling something that was possibly something more than a friendship? It just didn't felt right! Or did it? She couldn't solve that one either.
Discord shifted before her, his small smile a proof of him having some pleasant dream. There it was again. That small, completely insignificant and dream induced smile was one of the things she loved about him. Was it because they simply bonded so greatly? Was it because she liked to see him happy? Were both of those assumptions leasing to something greater?
"You truly are the Lord of Chaos, Discord. I hope you're proud." Twilight told the sleeping Spirit, a bit annoyed, yet with a small, worried smile. Yesterday, as she searched the Everfree for her chaotic friend, she constantly tried to imagine her life without the troublesome Spirit she came to respect and cherish so greatly, the life that resembled those two short days he was gone. Living was easy without him before, yet it was so painful to imagine life with the emptiness he would have left behind.
In conclusion, even if she were to come to realize she felt something more, Twilight knew it wouldn't matter - as long as the Spirit was safe and as long as he kept offering her his friendship, Twilight knew she could be happy.