Twilight was lying on her desk face first, her hooves holding a new letter from Canterlot. The wooden surface muffled her groans, but if there was anyone who walked in on her, they would plainly see that she was despondent.
She just received an invitation to her brother Shining Armor and Princess Cadance’s wedding. Now that she was left without the Elements, it meant she had to speed up on her way to devise a foolproof plan and a sufficiently powerful offensive spell to thwart the invasion by the changelings. However, it would push her way above her current magical limit.
At the very least, she had to find a way to triumph over their leader in a one-on-one fight, which would be an incredibly difficult task, as not even Celestia would be able to beat their ringleader in a magic duel. She hoped that her mind magic would be sufficient with her intensive practices, but she was not entirely sure and she wouldn’t bet on it.
While it was a tall order to track down a race of shapeshifting insectoids, Twilight couldn’t help but feel incredibly useless not being able to find them even right before the moment the wedding take place.
Twilight had considered tracking down Cadance and offered her full-time protection, but she could not do it without guarding her around-the-clock, which was impossible given her duties in Ponyville.
It would also be very suspiciously-looking. Twilight was hesitant to let herself fall into a situation where she had to explain where her knowledge came from.
At least she could take relief in the idea that Cadance and her brother still got together. She was afraid that any overt interference would separate Cadance and her brother in the way that they would fail to meet and fall in love with each other.
While she was uncomfortable with the deterministic overtone, she was even more uncomfortable and ill-at-ease if it did not happen, which would invalidate a whole lot of her foreknowledge and cause a lot of regret in her heart.
In any case, Cadance herself was very elusive, and she was scheduled to only come back right before the wedding after a long diplomatic mission to Griffonstone and its myriad tiny duchies and counties. Twilight could not just monitor every pony in Canterlot with her revealing spell, which would be logistically impossible and not to mention extremely exhausting for her.
So now, however reluctant, she was forced to contain any invasion in Canterlot around the wedding day, even though she felt bad about having to subject Cadance and her brother with any possible hurt. If she acted rashly or revealed the plot early, it would alert her enemies. The changeling queen would then likely change their invasion plan, and not only her advantage of having foreknowledge would be negated, it would also open a can of worms if they scatter to somewhere else.
Suddenly, the door to her library bolted open. Twilight gasped and turned, and she saw Discord showing up at the door with a giant bouquet of flowers that almost buried his entire self, while sporting his usual cavalier grin on his protruding head.
Twilight gulped. Discord was strangely out of her sight for pretty much of the last moon, not even during the cider sale. Whenever he visited her library, he simply went straight into his room without speaking much.
‘But what’s up with… Oh! No wonder Spike, Rarity and Pinkie disappear to who knows where. It’s that day!’
“So my dearie Twilight,” Discord grinned. “Today’s you ponies’ Hearts and Hooves Day, isn’t it? Care to join my wild ride of love?”
“Um, uhh…” Twilight spluttered.
“Hmm?” Discord pressed on. He laid down the flowers and leaned forward towards the purple mare, who was sweating beads.
“Um, the thing about that is…” Twilight was completely thrown off by the draconequus’ sudden advance.
“Is that a yes or a no?” Discord got closer and closer, until Twilight could feel his chocolaty breath on her face.
“O—okay!” Twilight eventually could not bear it anymore and yelped. “Geez!”
“Good!” Discord smiled as he slinked back. “So let’s go and have a wonderful and unforgettable date out!”
“Um…” Twilight still didn’t know why exactly she agreed to this. ‘Maybe I don’t want to disappoint him? What the hay was I thinking?’
After a moment of silence, Twilight spoke up as they prepared to leave the library. “So, uh, why would you want to go out with me?”
“Because you’re a cute and lovely little pony?” Discord said.
Twilight blushed, “Um, uh… W- Where’re we going today?”
“Shh…” Discord whispered. “Let me plan this out.”
“Alright…?” Twilight nodded hesitantly.
The draconequus snapped his claws, and suddenly he was in a complete gentlemanly tuxedo. He tipped his black top hat and bowed. “Shall we?”
“B—But.” Twilight’s eyes widened and looked at herself, who was only carrying her saddlebag. “I’m terribly underdressed!”
“You’re always dressed just right in my eyes.” Discord cooed.
Discord clapped his claws together, and suddenly an exquisitely-decorated chariot, adorned with a huge representation of her six-pointed star cutie mark, appeared in front of the library.
Twilight again gulped at the blatant display. She looked left and right, and noticed a lot of gasping passers-by. But her own errant thoughts were interrupted by the gentle call from the draconequus.
“My dear Twilight, we shan’t waste any time. Let’s come on, shall we?”
Twilight rigidly walked towards the chariot, and Discord graciously extended a claw to help her up. Twilight hesitated, but then took his strong claw with her hoof, and then entered the chariot.
The chariot was strangely spacious compared to the look outside. Twilight surmised that some magic must be involved. It was like a miniature clubhouse, with violet and red finishing, shelves filled with her favorite story books, a long, red, silky soft lover’s couch, and a cupboard filled with expensive wines. The blinds were lowered, and the only source of light inside was a few white candles, which seemed to be emitting some sort of luring fragrance as well. With a snap of finger, the chariot started moving by itself.
Twilight looked at this prototypical romantic setting, and she simply felt a bit mushy and uneasy inside. Romance was just something that she read about and saw all the time, but never really pictured herself to be in one. Even the relationships that her Spike involved himself with were not exactly a model for her to emulate. After all, it was a strange love triangle. Not that Twilight minded, but it’s not something she would dare to try.
But she did not have time to worry about the love issues of others. She herself was utterly bemused by the sudden interest from the spirit of chaos. She did not recall him showing any of that kind of affection towards her. Discord often teased her about her severe face, which she happened to sport a lot more as she had tons of things on her minds recently. But other than that, her mind turned up a complete blank with regards to Discord’s possible motivation.
“Why, Twilight.” Discord lightly chuckled. “You speak so little and think too much. Why not just enjoy this moment?”
Twilight simply felt strange seeing the spirit of chaos acting so gentle and considerate, considering his usual playful and teasing attitude. She nonetheless nodded quietly.
Discord took out a bottle of wine and poured Twilight a glass. “Ponies say drinking a bit of red wine can ease your mind. Have some, Twilight.”
Twilight could not bring herself to refuse the rare kindness from the draconequus. She took the glass and began to sip. She winced at the strong bitterness on her tongue, as she was not used to drinking wine. But miraculously, she really began to mellow out, and even started to become more comfortable with the idea of going out with Discord.
Discord observed the changing expression of the purple mare, he grinned. “Great, you seem calmer now. So, what about watching a movie with me?”
“Mm.” Twilight merely nodded. The wine seemed to be quite potent, as her cheeks already grew a bit red and hot.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The chariot stopped in front of the Ponyville Theater. Discord, who was holding the hoof of an embarrassed Twilight, entered the building. It was strangely empty for the hour. The spirit of chaos snapped and winked at the theater staff, who simply smilingly nodded. They then got in the main theater, where the red seats were all empty.
Discord suddenly lifted Twilight up with his claw. “Wait wha—?” Twilight yelped, “Gah!”
The draconequus flew Twilight into the middle of the theater, where she was then seated snugly next to the chaos spirit.
“Best view in the theater, you know?” Discord grinned.
Twilight said nothing, as her heart was still racing from being suddenly taken up into the air by Discord. She blushed furiously but she was strangely… not against it.
‘Discord is just my friend! Is he crazy? Am I going mad?!’
Then, bright light began to be shone on the big white screen in front of the stage. Twilight expected some sort of romantic movie, but to her surprise, it was the first movie adaptation of the first Daring Do book, Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone, which was always her guilty pleasure.
Twilight laughed out loud as she watched the wooden dialogues by actors and actresses that barely had any training. Scripts were read off cue cards, and consisted purely of cheesy one-liners and poorly thrown together expositions. The actress who played Daring Do wasn’t even a pegasus, but a white earth pony with tacked-on wings. Twilight was laughing tears when she saw clearly fake boulders rolling off a hill, which bounced up into mid-air after reaching a small kink.
As the movie drew to a close, Discord turned to the purple mare, who was still whizzing from the incessant laughter. “Enjoyed the show?”
“Yes! It was great… fun?” Twilight squeaked and looked at the spirit of chaos. For some reason, his mishmash of features suddenly look… cute and alluring. Each blink of his eyes and each quirk of his mouth all seemed delightfully pleasant.
‘Wait, wait, wait!’ Twilight stopped her thoughts and averted her gaze from the smiling draconequus. ‘What am I thinking? I befriend him just because I think he’s lonely!’
Twilight peeked at Discord. He simply smiled and nodded. His expression remained inscrutable as to whether he was aware of her bashfulness.
“I’m glad you enjoyed the movie.” Discord said. “Dinner, shall we?”
Twilight was surprised at the strangely regular date plan so far, considering her partner was Discord, the lord of chaos. But she’s so far having a good time, so she’s not complaining.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Twilight and Discord was once again riding inside the chariot, and they were sipping some more wine as they chatted.
“So, um, where did you go in the past moon?” Twilight asked with interest. “I didn’t see you often in the library.”
“Oh, how perceptive.” Discord chuckled. “I merely went out and visited other parts of Equestria as a tourist.”
“A tourist?” Twilight asked in surprise.
“Yes!” Discord grinned. “Do you want to hear my exploits?”
“Sure!” Twilight cheerfully said. Her head was a bit light, but she felt a swelling of joy and affection as she heard the draconequus’s voice. She wanted to hear more of him and see more of him. She wanted him to be with her, as his very presence made her heart tingle.
‘… Am I in love with him?’
Discord grinned and began to talk about his adventures across the entire Equestria from coast to coast. He talked of how he was mistaken as a monster in Las Pegasus, but then somehow landed himself a job as an actor in Applewood through luck and trickery. He talked about how he travelled to Rainbow Falls and trading a box of chocolate shaped as Celestia’s tail for some figurines of himself from an astonished seller.
Twilight listened, bobbed her head and smiled, occasionally chuckled heartily. Discord seemed to have an endless well of funny and interesting encounters to tell.
“Oh, here we are.” Discord pointed towards an upscale diner outside the window.
“… Oh, really?” Twilight rubbed her eyes.
Twilight’s vision quivered. Her steps were already a bit unsteady, as she was never a mare that drunk much. Discord helped her to get off the chariot carefully, and grabbed the mare tightly by the shoulder as they entered the Prench restaurant.
The greeter seemed to have been expecting them, as he swiftly directed them to a table at the most secluded corner. They sat down, and Twilight could only see candlelight shone upon the weathered grey face and yellow eyes of the draconequus.
“Commander?”
“To order?”
Discord called forth the waiter.
“Si?”
“Yes?”
The waiter pony asked, somewhat surprised that someone in rural Ponyville did speak to them in Prench.
“Je serais ravie d'avoir l'apéritif d'aujourd'hui. Pour le plat principal, nous aimerions fumé salade de cresson dans une infusion laiteux.”
“I would love to have the appetizer of today. For the main course, we would like smoked watercress salad in a milky brew.”
Twilight watched Discord as he graciously spoke in the velvety tongue of Prench.
Prench was the language of the unicorns, aristocrats and any aspiring upper-class in general. However nowadays, only ponies in the small enclave of Ville de Platine in the Northeast spoke Prench as their daily tongue.
While Celestia had long ago started to promote ‘speaking plain’, which meant Common Equestrian that was understood by most members of the three races, knowing Prench was still a badge of status and culture.
Hearing Discord so effortlessly rolled the words off his tongue made Twilight feel as if someone was massaging her ears.
Discord had brought in some more bottles of wine, and the waiter graciously helped open it and pour it in the glasses in front of them.
Time passed as the dishes came and they ate. The food was a delight to taste, but Twilight was feeling dizzier and dizzier as she drank more and more, and Discord simply kept refilling her glass. Still, she was for some reason feeling quite partial to her date partner, and simply nodded with a wide grin at whatever topic Discord happened to bring up. Her mind was a cloud of mist and her heart was simply all fuzzy and warm.
“And by the way, my dearie Twilight.” Discord casually said.
“Mhmm?” Twilight said.
“I’ve been always wondering…”
“Yes?”
“That what else can I know about you.”
Twilight giggled as she stroked her red face. “Oh Discord, I’m what you see, just a purple mare who loves her friends and books.”
She covered her mouth before a hic came up. “… and you.”
Discord gently cooed. “Really? Well, if you love me so, can you tell me what you’ve not been telling me?”
“Eh…?”
“The one little thing that Applejack asked you but then stopped you from answering…?”
“Um… uh, oh! You mean that, hehehe!” Twilight again giggled, her usual restraints and guard were completely off as her rational mind had shut down long ago.
“Yes, my dear.” Discord whispered. “Can you tell me that?”
The spirit of chaos leaned forward slightly, and stared right in the half-open eyes of Twilight. Some faint white light, almost imperceptible, floated across the table like dimming fireflies and into Twilight’s eyes. Twilight could feel some gentle probing in her head, but she was too engrossed with the sight of her lovely date partner and the influence of wine to pay attention.
“Speak up, Twilight.” Discord again cooed, but this time more forcefully.
“… Yes, my dear Discord.” Twilight smiled blissfully. “I’m ac—”
“Wait! No, Fluttershy!” A suspiciously familiar voice suddenly boomed from the metal door next to their table.
“Um? I just remember that I have to collect some watercress from the kitchen for my animals.” The voice of a mare, presumably Fluttershy, said. “The chef agreed to give me his leftovers, how kind of him!”
“No, it’s not like that… Where’re you going?”
“The chef is not here… I wonder if he’s behind this door?”
“Wait!”
The door creaked open, and in came a surprised yellow pegasus, and another somewhat panicky Discord at her behind, trying desperately to get her away.
“Um…” Twilight again rubbed her eyes. “Is it the wine, or are there two Discords in front of me?”
Fluttershy’s eyes grew as wide as a pan, and then immediately glared angrily at the two Discords. “What’s the meaning of this? Didn’t you tell us we’re on a date?”
“Um…” “Uh…”
“Oh dear!” Fluttershy gasped, as she approached the purple mare. “What happened to you? Look at how red your face is! Discord! How can you give so much wine to Twilight?”
Twilight was jolted awake to the voice of the yellow mare, as she began to realize what happened. She silently gulped, as she struggled to cast a detecting spell, which confirmed her nagging suspicion. Her horn then shone as brightly as the sun for a very brief moment, momentarily causing the others to shield their eyes.
When the light died down, Twilight was already standing in the corridor. However, the purple mare was biting her lips, as her entire body shook with sadness and anger. Each of her breath was labored and painful.
“Twilight…” Fluttershy frowned.
“Discord.” Twilight said with gritted teeth. “How can you do this?”
The Discords snapped their finger, and they again merged as one. “Twilight, I…”
“All these… simply a trick to make me spill some words?” Twilight sighed. “Even resorting to love potion, plying me with wine, and even interfering with my mind?”
“Love potion?!” Fluttershy yelped, and then glared at the chaos spirit again. “Discord, you!”
“I, um, think we’re friends, but I really want to kn…” Discord stuttered, “I hope we’re still…”
Twilight sharply inhaled and looked up. “Don’t worry, I’ll tell you that one day, and we’re still friends.”
She put up a sad smile. “But it doesn’t change the fact that I’m deeply hurt by you trying to use my feelings, true or concocted.”
“Twilight, I just…”
“Please, speak no more.” Twilight waved her hoof. “I need time to think. We need time to think. Let’s go, Fluttershy.”
Discord looked at the leaving mares, his mouth agape. He was so close to pull off his plan, but he ended up alienating two of his friends. Also for some reason, his heart pained seeing the hurtful face of the purple mare, as if he had done something very wrong, and irrevocably so.
He, though, also felt a strange sense of betrayal as he wondered what kind of secret the purple mare guarded so dearly and why he was not worthy of knowing it, even though he was a friend to Twilight just like her mare friends. He angrily slammed the wall nearby with his fist, and simply watched as the mares left the restaurant altogether.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fluttershy was comforting Twilight in the library, who was sulking sadly about her eventful outing with Discord. The purple mare was bestowed with millennia’s worth of knowledge and experiences, she saw countless real and fictional stories that involved even more hurtful betrayals. She always thought she could shrug them off if those happened on herself, but when it really did, she was reduced to a shivering wreck.
Fluttershy sensed quite early that there was something not exactly forthright with Discord’s sudden invitation, but she too had been floored by the kindness and earnestness the draconequus had shown, and agreed to the date. Plus, Discord seemed to genuinely want to spend time with her, unlike his manipulation of Twilight with an ulterior motive. Therefore, she was not as hurt as Twilight, but she still felt incredibly sad and aching at the heart for the purple mare.
Suddenly, there was a loud thud on the door. The mares gulped, fearing it to be Discord. Fluttershy tentatively walked near the door and said. “Who’s there?”
“It’s me, Pinkie! I just finished my special shift in the Sugarcube Corner, so I figure I will drop by the library and see if any of you are here!”
‘Shift?’ Twilight wondered. Wasn’t Pinkie spending time with Spike along with Rarity?
The door opened, and a cheery pink pony bounced towards Twilight. But once she saw the purple mare’s face, her eyes immediately narrowed.
“What’s wrong, Twi? You’ve cried!” Pinkie Pie gasped.
“N—Nothing!” Twilight immediately wiped her face with a towel and squeezed out an uneasy grin.
“If you don’t want to tell me yet, it’s okay.” Pinkie Pie lowered her head and said.
“… Can’t hide it from any of you, can I.” Twilight sadly smiled, as she recounted the day’s events to the pink mare.
Pinkie Pie went silent, and then she began to cry a river of tears in typical over-the-top Pinkie fashion. Twilight simply watched with her mouth opened. She was hurt, yes, but it seemed that the saddest pony in the room was Pinkie.
“Um… Are you okay?” Twilight felt strange to be the one asking this question.
Pinkie Pie sniffled. “Discord was going too far! How could he play with the feelings of an innocent mare?”
The two looked at the pink mare silently. After she quieted down, Fluttershy asked. “So um, Pinkie, why are you working on the Hearts and Hooves Day? Should you be, um…”
“With Spike?” Pinkie Pie grinned. “Nah, today he’s with Rarity.”
“That’s it? You don’t mind at all?” Twilight couldn’t help but ask.
“I’ll be lying if I say I don’t mind at all.” Pinkie Pie said. “But I expected something like this from the beginning.”
Pinkie Pie looked out of the window. She opened her mouth, but she suppressed her incoming sigh.
Fluttershy and Twilight looked to the pink mare. There’s probably something wrong with her and Spike’s relationship. But it might also be nothing. Twilight massaged her temples. If this morning she started out with n problems, then now she’s got n+2.