Well guys... only one more chapter left. Whoah, I am getting emotional here.

As always, thanks to his glorious, stunningly awesome editing deity, one and only, the Skittles. One of your comments on this chapter made me laugh like an idiot.

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Twilight jerked and gasped, standing on all four hooves. She was back on her balcony. The horizon was the only place in the sky that wasn't completely dark or covered in stars, marking the first signs of the Sun that would rise in a couple of hours.

Her body was tense and her mind was running, her head bothered by a sudden painful aching caused by all the commotion; but the feeling of utter joy and happiness she felt moments ago as she joined Discord into controlling his Chaotic self was still there. Despite the raging headache, she smiled to herself and for some more time simply stared into the sky until the headache disappeared.

Then suddenly, she jumped up, eager to find the Spirit - even though she had no idea how would she go about the search. It just wasn't a problem right then. Nothing was, she told herself happily.

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Discord reappeared back in the White Tail forest; the first thing he noticed was that his whole body felt like it was being pricked by countless needles. It prompted the draconequus to rapidly shift, trying to locate the source of the awfully painful feeling, not realizing right away it was the effect of him having used his powers against himself. Sadly, he had forgotten he was on a tree, so he found himself tipping over and soon after, loudly crashed into the ground.

"I'm OK, I'm OK!" He informed the non existent conversationalist before struggling to get his muzzle out of the hole it made in the ground upon the impact of the fall. Once he managed to get himself free, he shook his head violently. The awful feeling in his body finally started to fade away, making him sigh contently.

"Much better." He commented. The Spirit was just standing idly, for a moment or two, regaining his composure. Then, like he knew what to do all along, he transported into Twilight Sparkle's library, right to the spot on front of the fireplace he came to love so dearly. Thinking she was in bed, he was about to climb up the stairs, when a purple blur practically flew down the stairs and knocked him to the floor. All he could hear before his back hit the hard wooden floor was a surprised call for his name. His chest suffered a short lasting, sharp pain as Twilight's hooves pressed him to the hard floor and she spent a few short seconds apologizing until he caught his breath.

Moments passed as both of them just stared, not processing right away that they didn't need to look for each other anymore. Then Twilight squealed in joy, Discord yelped in delight, and they gave each other a firm hug, like two long lost old friends. They stayed like that for a long time.

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"So basically, what you're saying," Twilight started to clarify for herself, "is that your conflicts were so strong and so bothersome for your own well being that they prompted a subconscious spell that sent both of us to your mind?"

"Something along that scenario, yes."

"But why me along with you?"

"Several reasons, I believe." Discord yawned, "One was that you had to do with those conflicts in a lot of ways; but the main reason, I think, was that I needed a... ugh... a friend to help me subdue myself - even though I wasn't aware of that, apparently a subconscious part of me was. As my emotions ran wild, so did my power."

"That makes sense... I think." Twilight shrugged, before drawing another sip of hot chocolate milk from her cup.

The two had been sitting on front of the fireplace, wrapped in a big, fuzzy, warm blanket and discussing what had happened - Twilight had lots of questions considering it was a branch of magic she genuinely knew nothing of, so she asked both questions relevant to the situation and the ones that were purely there to satisfy her curiosity. The Spirit didn't seem to mind answering them, though. He summoned a whole pitcher of warm chocolate milk and some rice cookies for them to munch on as they talked.

Discord had explained to her that, since his powers of Chaos had ran a bit wild back then, she was sent to a small realm of her own, where, as he concluded by what Twilight had told him happened (naturally, she didn't tell him all about the dialogues she had with Pinkie), her own bonds to the Elements of Harmony were tested.

"So what would've happened if I were to, umm... bow to the Chaos, so to speak?" Twilight chuckled.

"Frankly, I am not sure, but my guess is that nothing I couldn't fix would occur." He sneered. Twilight rolled her eyes as he continued: "Most likely, you'd be 'twisted' - the way you and your friends were during my last breakout. Seeing as my many powers were blocked while we wandered my rich fantasy-land, I would probably have to use some more 'mortal-ish' methods to help you."

"Oh, like what?" Twilight took a big gulp from her cup.

"Oh you know, cheesy stuff that appear in fairy tales and such, like umm..." Discord span his finger in air as he tried to remember any, and then snapped them as he continued: "Speeches of our wonderful growing friendship, or memories of good times we had, a true love's kiss, tears of regret..." Discord continued to count the ways, either ignoring or not noticing the baffled Twilight , who nearly spat out the contents of the cup upon hearing the words 'true love's kiss'.

"... or perhaps the self sacrificing act that proves my devotion to magic of friendship, yadda, yadda, yadda, so on and so forth. The list is pretty much endless."

"... so, which method would you pick?"

Twilight had absolutely no idea why she asked that; she knew only that the question posed as a challenge in her head and that her voice was strangely calm, smooth even - and judging by Discord's strange look he gave her, he got it as a challenge as well, as well as caught the change in her voice.

Did... did I just flirt?!? Oh, no. Why? Why, why, why oh, by Celestia's mane, why? No seriously, why did I say that?! OK, calm down. It is not like he'll notice such a thing. Twilight took a subtle deep breath; she was expecting Discord to get into a ramble on which method would he chose and the practical advantages of the method.

No such luck.

"... whichever method is most comfortable with me, I'd suppose. That is, whichever method I would enjoy the most." Discord replied slyly, a wide, very wide, semi-familiar smile spreading on his face. There was something in that smile that he knew she was aiming to get out of him. Once again, before her stupid mouth started talking against her will, she asked herself what the heck was she trying to do.

"And which one would that be?"

Shut up! Shut! UP! What is WRONG with you!? This is not how you usually behave! Bad, bad Unicorn! O, what would Celestia say if she saw me right now!

"Hmm, well, I'd probably have to think about it..." Discord expertly slided one of his arms around her in what she hoped was a friendly manner as she awkwardly glanced at his hand on her shoulder, "but if I were to just-- blurt one out, of the top of my head..." Twilight felt her stomach lifting into her throat, "it would probably have to be--"

"Twilight? Is that Discord with you? He is back? Are you OK?" Spike's last question was a bit panicked, as Twilight did tell him bits of what had happened two days ago. The baby dragon was obviously waken up by the sound of their voices.

Twilight never felt more grateful for having that small dragon live with her.

"Spike!" She swiftly got up, feeling both the blanket and Discord's hand sliding off her. "Oh, Spike, we have so much to tell you!"

"Twilight... it's five o'clock in the morning!"

"Well, since you're up already, we might as well start telling you." Twilight insisted despite Spike's groan, that clearly announced he was ready to go back to bed. Still, he himself was curious about what happened, so he shrugged and came down the stairs, taking up a place between Discord and Twilight, much to her relief. Discord didn't seem to take the interruption of the awkward moment in any specific way. That smile was still lingering on his face.

"So, what happened with you guys?"

"Well, it all started quite a while ago, to be honest..."

Twilight and Discord had told Spike everything, about Discord's growing powers, about their fight, about how he ran away and at last about their battle in the realm of Discord's mind. Spike just listened, mostly shocked to hear all of that. Twilight made sure to cover everything so the little dragon wouldn't have to crack his head with questions. By the time she finished her story, the first ray of Sun peeked out on the horizon.

"Wow... so you actually had your original powers all this time? And if you knew better you could at any time totally turn Ponyville once again into the chaos capital of Equestria?"

"Eeyup." Discord replied cheerfully. Spike shook his head.

"Twilight, you need to inform Princess Celestia of this! This is a big progress! I will go right now to make a reservation on the tickets--"

"Slow down, Spike. We'll buy the tickets tomorrow. As well as for my friends. We'll all go to Canterlot and tell the Princesses of what happened - together!" Twilight gave him a smile.

Spike's expression of excitement melted into a friendly smile as he nodded in understanding. "I see... Umm... do you guys want breakfast or something?"

Twilight chuckled. "Oh, it's OK Spike, we're both very tired, too. Just go to sleep - in honor of this event, we'll have a day... or three, off from work."

"Awesome. Well then, good night Twilight, 'Cord." Spike greeted before going up to return to his slumber.

Twilight herself felt quite worn out, so she lied down, warmed by both the fuzzy blanket and thick rug beneath her. She smiled into it.

"What are you so happy about?" She heard the Spirit ask.

"Just... everything." Twilight let out a girly giggled as she further snuggled into the rug. Suddenly a thought crossed her mind and she raised her head abruptly, drawing a confused look from the draconequus.

"I-- I never apologized to you properly." She realized, her face once more saddened and ashamed.

"Oh, goodness." Discord chuckled and Twilight felt a bit of warmth climbing into her cheeks.

"What?" She demanded.

"It is all right. Dandy and fabulous. A-OK. Nothing to worry about." He pinched her cheek like she was a small filly and she tore away from him with a clumsy smile.

"I still feel quite guilty, though - I mean you were so angry and... and I did kind of betray you..." She trailed off as she tried her best not to remember that one again. Discord sighed.

"Yes, I was quite, as you say, 'angry', but a draconequus of my greatness realizes that sometimes, just as pure Chaos means constant trouble, Harmony means doom."

"Wait... what do you mean?"

"Well, had you been honest with me back then, I'd either be free and producing Chaos or back in my statue-y form. And I have a feeling you wouldn't like either of those options, while I'd have quite a problem with the latter one."

"Um... no I wouldn't. So what you're trying to say is--"

"Life is a mysterious path, Twilight Sparkle." Discord said wisely, with seriousness he himself probably wasn't aware of. "Had there been only Harmony, with nothing to disrupt it, life wouldn't be worth living. Imagine a predictable existence, where you know exactly what and how and when everything will happen. It would be so--"

"Boring." Twilight ended as realization hit her. The word he had been repeating the most ever since the day she first saw him  dancing on her head on those colorful windows of Celestia'a palace. She looked over to him. "You had been present here... even while you were in stone; weren't you?"

The draconequues laughed a mysterious laugh before he descended into the rug much like she did before and closed his eyes.

"Chaos, like Harmony, is a natural force just as much as it is magical. Not easy to subdue, Twilight Sparkle." Was all he said before he drifted off into sleep. Twilight decided not to question that statement as he didn't seem like he wanted to talk about it. Not right now or too soon, anyway. So she returned back to snuggling the warm rug and felt the overall warmth putting her slowly to sleep - her skin was warmed by the blanket, but she couldn't tell if her insides were so hot thanks to Discord's chocolate milk or something else.

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The next morning, Spike had immediately bought eight tickets for Ponyville Express and sent the Princesses a letter to inform them of their urgent arrival. The clock tower didn't even strike noon, and all of them were already riding a train to Canterlot. Twilight didn't want to tell her friends right away what was the matter - in her words, she wanted it to be a surprise for when they all gather together - but she said it was an 'urgent happy occasion'.

Her friends all seemed a bit fidgety and excited - any special news regarding draconequus seemed to have intrigued them greatly.

"So what is this important thing you two must tell us?" Fluttershy decided to try asking. Twilight was about to tell her it was a pleasant surprise, when Pinkie decided to give it a guess.

"Oh, oh, oh!" She raised her hoof as if she wanted to be given permission to speak, but spoke anyway with an excited, wild glint in her eyes: "Are you two finally getting married?"

Discord arched one of his hairy eyebrows and Twilight let out a baffled 'what?' while the rest of them just laughed.

"Oh, I gotta see that!" Applejack exclaimed as she wiped a tear from her eye, hardly catching her breath. Still giggling, Rainbow Dash decided it was time for a 'song'.

"Twilight an' Discord, sittin' in a tree~"

"K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Pinkie finished happily, clapping her hooves. Discord lowered his face into his palms in disbelief, muttering 'mares' silently.

"Rainbow, Pinkie!" Twilight, already crimson in face looked at them in frustration. Pinkie looked confused by the interruption.

"What? It is so CUTE, don't you agree?"

"Urgh!"

Despite the eventfulness of the ride and the jokes they continued to crack, traveling to Canterlot had never been so slow for all of them - even the Spirit, who always had something to entertain himself with and was hard to surprise or excite, was a bit silent in expectation.

Just as the Sun slowly started to head west, they finally reached the capital of Equestria. The citizens gave them strange looks as they made their way to the palace. The surprised guards let the bearers of the Elements and the Lord of Chaos through the palace gates without a word, slightly startled by the unusual sight. Several guards inside nodded to them as they told them they were expected, gesturing for them to follow them. Soon, they were brought before what Twilight recognized as the door to Princess Celestia's chambers.

Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were both in there, sipping tea and awaiting their guests, when Discord barged into the room, prompting Luna to jerk and spill tea all over herself and the rug. Discord laughed loudly, stopping only when Applejack kicked him in the flank and mumbled 'show some respect' - she was obviously not familiar with Discord's behavior around the Princesses.

"Princess Celestia, Princess Luna!" Twilight excitedly hopped to her mentor and affectionately press her cheek against her neck, a hug Celestia eagerly returned. Rarity still had the need to bow before her, even though such formalities were long since needless for them around the Princesses.

"Celly, Lunny!" Discord, most likely for teasing reasons, threw a bunch of flower petals around the room as Celestia rolled her eyes, then pulled both of the royal sisters into a group hug and cried fake tears of happiness. Pressed somewhere into Celestia's fur, Luna let out an audible sigh and a chuckle.

"Same old you, I see." Celestia noticed when he finally allowed them to get free of his crushing hug.

"Not entirely. Did you know I can control the Sun and the Moon again?"

"Very amusing, Discord." Celestia wisely smiled. The smile slid off her face in an instant when dracnequus clicked his finger, and for several moments, day and night rapidly exchanged before returning to normal. Luna seemed quite surprised but didn't seem half as shocked or in panic as Celestia.

"Ho...how...?"

"Oh, don't worry, Princess! It's alright!" Twilight happily interrupted before Celestia had a chance to shower Discord with some royal rage of righteousness. "Please, just sit back and relax - we have quite a story for you!"

Celestia was still under quite a shock - a sight that amused Discord greatly. But she listened to her student and sat down on a nearby cushion, eyeing Discord with quite a careful and observant eye.

"We hear you two have a lot to tell us." Princess Luna finally started as she took a place next to Discord - he wasted no time in giving her an affectionate noogie.

"You have no idea, Princess Luna!" Twilight laughed as she sat down.

Twilight was regularly interrupted by Discord, who was more than eager to tell most of the story to still shocked Celestia - he seemed to enjoy in every surprised look she gave him and in every gasp Luna emitted as he got into it with so much joy that Twilight let him tell the rest. He put on quite a show as he used his magic to portray their little adventure with small replicas of himself and Twilight made of pure, warm light and smoke.

Once the final 'scene' of the story dispersed into nothingness , Discord looked around, with a look of an author expecting his first critics.

A long, weird silence ruled the room. Rainbow Dash looked like she just received a marriage proposal from a Wonderbolt, her thoughts most likely at that moment made of such words as 'awesome' or 'fantastic'. Applejack was half smiling half looking confused, like she wasn't sure what she heard was good or bad or just allover strange. Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie looked genuinely happy about the story, with sensitive Fluttershy even letting out a tear of happiness as they were done speaking. Rarity looked just as much in shock as Celestia was.

"I must admit," Celestia finally spoke, "I did not expect such a development. And not so soon."

"I don't think anyone was." Rainbow Dash added blunty - once again, Applejack's hoof had something to say, thanks to her friend's bluntness.

"Well, I am sitting in the same room with the Lord of Chaos, without having to worry about Equestria being turned upside down... it is something I'll hardly get used to." Celestia finally gave away a smile. Next to her, Luna simply looked content, not overly surprised or shocked at all.

"Indeed, I gave Celly enough trouble back when she was young." Discord sneered. "I might use this to my advantage. It'll be so much fun to stress you out everyday."

"Oh stop it, you." Twilight scolded him cheerfully. The two laughed. Pretty much everypony in the room looked at them weirdly.

"You two resemble an pair of very old friends." Celestia noticed, a hint of pride in her voice. "I can not even express my amazement, with both of you. To think that Discord, our ages old enemy agreed it was time for truce... to think my student successfully showed him why it is worth it... I can't be more proud of you two." She gave them a soft smile.

Twilight looked as flattered as any time Celestia would say something like that, while Discord simply rolled his eyes - he himself though, had trouble with keeping the happy smile off his face.

"So, my protegé, do you have a friendship report for me?" Celestia suddenly asked. Twilight at first blinked, then thought about it for a short moment of two and smiled.

"Dear Princess Celestia..."

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It was already night when mostly empty Ponyville Express rushed back towards its home with six ponies and a draconequus sharing a wagon, most of them either sleeping or about to fall victim to the land of dreams. The rest of the visit to Princess Celestia was mostly spent in celebrating - Celestia decided they should all stay for dinner and Pinkie Pie deemed it a perfect opportunity for a party, thus starting the wackiest party inside of royal castle of Canterlot that was crashed by few guards and a few of royal advisers - apparently, partying hard was something they were new to, and they found themselves absolutely loving it.

Twilight was still awake, though. Despite the overall awesomeness of the day, her mind was running and she couldn't stop thinking about the future with a heavy heart. Looking over to the sleeping draconequus, who found it very comfortable to sleep upside down on the train seat, she wondered what was he going to do now. His number one purpose when staying with her was simply to learn. Like he did all this time, slowly, day by day.

So what to do with all the knowledge he gained?

Deep inside, the selfish, 'overly attached' side of her as she called it, wanted him to stay with her in her library. Surrounded by books he mostly found boring and definitely not wanting to be her 'assisstant', Twilight had no idea what he would do, but she knew that one thing - she wanted him to stay.

The rational side of her knew better.

"I am going to miss you so much, aren't I?" Twilight whispered quietly. She jerked when the Spirit snorted in his sleep, for a moment frightened he might've heard her. She was happy to have gotten that out though, even with the risk of him hearing it.

Oh well, Twilight decided as she too, closed her eyes, hoping to get some sleep, we had some wonderful time together... a few months? Was it only a few months? Goodness... feels like years... and years...

Twilight drifted off into a light nap filled with pages and pages of her poorly filled diary, all of them dated the same, to that long, practically forgotten day when she wrote those silly, filly-aged words into her diary. Those stupid words she never thought she was going to remember with an ache in her heart.

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"Twilight?" Discord called for the mare as he peeked out from upstairs. Twilight was in the library, indulged into some new book she borrowed almost a week ago, while they were visiting the Princesses.

Life was pretty much... well, perfect from that day on, for everypony.

Discord enjoyed his now full array of powers to the max, occasionally bringing back the old tricks such as cotton candy storms (he called it an upgrade) and sometimes not being able to help himself but to do something on a more "menacing" scale, but in the end, he'd always make things right again, thus not really bothering anypony. More than anything, he seemed to have enjoyed 'decorating' Ponyville with weird but not at all harmful things; like over sized, huge flowers that showered upon Ponyville with colorful bubbles or turning the fountain water into green colored soda and clogging it so for the whole day ponies would walk around with sticky hooves.

Though, once, he ran a little overboard and turned most of the little town into a huge amusement park for one whole day. While it did get in the way of most ponies' jobs, those same ponies decided to take a day off upon seeing the perks of it. He was asked, however, by many of he citizens, not to do that too often, as it would interfere with their chores too much. It was nice seeing the draconequus agree with them instead of turning them into inanimate objects.

Every single evening, though, Discord would settle down - somewhat - and to Twilight's surprise, read a few books. They all had to do, as she noticed, with either history or geography. He never read them too long, only checking a few interesting chapters or facts he was curious about. Twilight wondered what was that reading all about... until today.

She didn't seem to pay too much attention to him, her thought too much into the contents in the book as she mumbled a lazy: "Hmm?"

"I think I'll be leaving your lovely home soon."

After a few seconds, which was how long it took her to register his words, Twilight lifted the head out of her book. The Spirit stared at her a bit excited, like he just realized what his true call in life was.

"Leave?" She repeated hollowly. She cleared her throat in an attempt to prepare her voice better and shaped a polite and curious: "What for?"

"To travel." The draconequus readily replied as he gazed out the window, looking almost nostalgic. "Meet the world while it is not under my chaotic influence. Meet the ponies from all over. Perhaps find a random draconequus nest as I do and visit others like me - though I'm fairly sure none of them are as amusing." The draconequus playfully noted. "I just know there's a whole new world waiting to be discovered out there, someplace where nopony has ever even stepped close to; and who better to do that, but me! I could actually be of use to the community, so to speak. After all, I can't simply dilly dally all my eternal life in your library, now can I?" He snickered.

Twilight could her her heart drumming in her ears.

"Uh... no, no you can't. You're right, Discord. You should definitely do it! I'm so happy you found something you want to do!"  Her voice got strong and cheerful as she got up to approach him, a sincere smile on her face.

"Really? You think so?" Discord looked even more excited than before.

"Definitely!" Twilight said, firmly believing it was something the draconequus needed to do - he was a curious, hyper creature, after all! He shouldn't waste a day more here! If he was so interested in the outside world, heck, he should definitely explore it! "Learning is the mother of good ideas, and if you want to learn of the world, what better way but to explore it yourself!"

"I know, right? I mean, I never actually traveled around with a purpose! It'll be so much fun!" He shook his hand in joy, like a little filly.

"You'll see the world you never got to see before! In fact, how about we celebrate this in the evening, with a nice, big dinner? Then already tomorrow in the morning, you can go on your journey! I'll even provide you with my own map! Treat it carefully though, it took me ages to make it."

"Excellent! I shall pack my magicks and your precious map and be on my way first thing in the morning!" Discord exclaimed joyfully. "I don't know when was the last time I was so excited about something!" He admitted, a childish smile on his face.

"Great - so go for it! Who knows, one day, when you accrue enough knowledge, you may even be deemed a great pony in the eyes of all the citizens of Equestria! And then when you come back, we can try and do a research together o-or maybe e-ev-en write a re-port to P-P-Princess... Cel-estia..."

Twilight couldn't hold it in. She should've known she couldn't. With the last restrain of hers disappearing as she imagined working on something she cherished so much with somepony she cherished so much, she cried. She didn't wail or cry out, yell or even try to hide her tears. She simply cried, unable to speak, an occasional wince or sniff being the only sounds coming from her along with numerous tears.

Without a sound, Discord picked her up into a gentle hug. No words needed to be said. Just as their reunion after their adventure in realm of Discord's mind was followed by a long lasting hug as they expressed their joy over the happy ending they came to, the two had shared a heart ripping moment as they decided it was the time to say goodbye.

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That evening, Twilight, with help of Spike, prepared dinner. To hear she prepared food, even with help, was close to a miracle for Discord, so he enjoyed her meal much more than he would summoning his own. The three stayed up long into the night, especially once Spike learned he was leaving. Though happy for him and the fact he wanted to do something other than just have fun with troublesome powers and antics, he instantly expressed sadness, saying he'll miss him being around very much. To say Discord was surprised by such an expression of fondness coming from Spike, would be an understatement. When he questioned how was it that he came to care for him that much, Spike shrugged and said:

"I dunno. I guess... You just feel like family at this point, really."

To show his gratitude, Discord summoned him a shiny, heart shaped diamond as a parting gift.

Even though Spike went to bed early, Discord and Twilight were awake for a bigger part of night; just talking and peacefully playing Chess Mess. While it was as confusing, messy and fun as it was before, none of them were acting too amused about the game.

Twilight wasn't sure since when did she have so much to talk about with him, but now that he was leaving, this was her last chance. And judging by the fact he never once seemed bored during the course of evening, she took it as a sign that he too didn't mind spending their last evening together like that.

And it meant a world to her.

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Twilight felt a fuzzy, big lion paw shaking her gently. She didn't want to wake up. Not yet. Well, not until he shook her again. The feeling of that soft paw was so nice and familiar.

As he shook her again, Twilight finally gave in and yawned, blinking rapidly as she opened her eyes.

"Goodness... is it morning already?"

"Eeyup!" Discord grinned. "I'm going on the road!"

"... you'll be flying and/or transporting." Twilight noted.

"Well, you know what I mean." He grinned. While Twilight went up to the bathroom to make herself presentable, Discord summoned them a modest breakfast, like he knew she wasn't too hungry that early morning.

Afterwards, they climbed up to the bedroom. Breathing in deeply, Discord opened the window and observed the world he was about to fly off into. Everything was covered in a thin layer of snow and it sparkled beautifully in the sunrise. The excitement on his face was obvious.

"... so... you're leaving." Twilight made an obvious statement. He didn't linger on it, though.

"Sure am."

Twilight gulped. "Well... have a nice trip. Don't be a stranger." She laughed, knowing he was going to be gone for a long time.

"Come on, it'll be, what...a  few months before we see each other? I mean, I do have a lot of exploring to do."

"True - Equestria itself is rather big; I can't even imagine what miracles you might discover outside. Even you'll have to travel for quite a while before reaching its borders."

"Indeed. Well, how about we make a compromise; as soon as I start missing you guys so much that it becomes unbearable, I'm coming back. Sounds good?"

"Sounds awesome." She confirmed. Twilight wasn't sure whether to say it or not, but she found herself speaking anyway: "...we will miss you, you know. We all will."

"Ah... well, while I am not the one for cheesy moments, this old draconequus here is friendly enough to admit he will miss you all as well." Discord said after a moment of stunned silence. He probably wasn't used to be being missed.

"That's so sweet of you. Too bad everypony else is still asleep, they would probably love to bid you goodbye. Especially Pinkie Pie."

"I am not one for tear-jerking goodbyes, really; so I prefer it this way, if you don't mind."

"Oh, of course."

The two fell silent and stared each other in awkward silence; even Discord looked a bit uncomfortable.

"Well... I'll see you around, Twilight Sparkle. Thank you... you know; for everything." He vaguely showed around the room with his hands, but Twilight knew what it meant - for welcoming him here, for being his friend... for accepting him.

"Don't mention it. And... well, thank you also."

"Me?" The draconequus let out a confused, shaky laugh. "For what? What in the world did I do?"

"For being a good friend and a good person." Twilight said like it was obvious, smiling happily.

"A good pers-- now you're totally overdoing it." He waved his mismatched hands at her dismissively.

Twilight remained stubborn. "I mean every word of it." She replied with a pout.

He laughed once again. "Well, thank you, again. I just don't seem to be leaving, am I?"

A snicker. "Not yet, no."

"... OK, I am ready now. For real this time."

"Alright. Take care, Discord."

"See you later, egghead."

The two shared another short hug, before he climbed the window sill and flew over the Ponyville and towards the tops of the trees of White Tail forest.

In the early morning, on a particularly sunny day, Discord had left Twilight Sparkle alone in her library to explore the world.

Surprising herself, Twilight didn't shed any tears anymore. If anything, she was happy. Her friend and not-so-undefined-crush-anymore was off to do something he never even knew he wanted to do. Perhaps he was even going to make a dream or two come true on his journey. Who was Twilight to say that she wasn't glad for him? Heck if he didn't leave by himself despite his want to discover the world, she would kick him out if necessary!

After all, that's what friends are for.