"Ohho-ho-ho!" I cry out happily. "Now this looks suspicious, does it not?"
Twilight looks up from her book to take a look at the building a short distance away below us, particularly at the six carriages.
"Well, Princess Celestia did say that she was going to be spending the day at a sports resort of some sort. I guess we've caught up, huh?" she says, summoning her book bag and then placing the book inside.
"Where are we, anyhow?" I wonder. "This place is rather isolated, although I suppose that is a good thing because they have quite a large field there."
"I'm not familiar with the location, but I think I can see a Reebuck advertisement over there."
"Oh well, it matters not," I declare. "Let's get a bird's eye view here!"
"Here we go..." says Twilight.
As the machine flies closer, I'm able to see more of the large field. It is fenced off to keep non-paying customers out, but this naturally doesn't slow us down. There is a large running track running along the perimeter of the field, and inside of that are ponies engaged in a wide variety of sports activities.
"Who the hay are all these ponies?" I ask. "Wasn't the Celestia going to book the place all for herself?"
"That's her guard entourage."
"Huh? It is? What about those ponies over there, just watching? Anyway, I thought the guards all invariably have white coats."
"They're all guards. The colorful ones have taken off their armor, it appears. I suppose some of them are taking the opportunity to relax, just like the Princess is, although not all of them at once of course. Their armor is enchanted to make them look similar when they wear it. Well, at least in most cases. I have seen just a few exceptions. They are able to perform their jobs more effectively when they are incognito."
"Oh. And here I was thinking that Celestia might be some sort of white coat elitist or something."
"No, of course not!"
"Alright, I was wrong," I admit. "It was just a theory anyway."
I scan the area below, looking for the Princess herself. I find her in almost no time at all, as she literally stands out.
"There's Celly over there," I announce, pointing. "Looks like she's enjoying herself. Is that normal for her?"
Twilight ignores this subtle quip at her Princess and instead gazes at her in surprise.
"She's playing tennis with some of the guards!" she says, declaring the obvious. "That isn't normal!"
"Well, wasn't the whole point of this trip to get away from the burdens of ruling the whole country and have some fun?"
"Well, yes, I suppose so, but I'm just not used to seeing the Princess... enjoying herself around other ponies."
"Isn't she the one who made you make friends?" I ask in deadpan. "That's a bit hypocritical of her, wouldn't you say?"
"The Princess isn't some kind of a recluse!" Twilight snapped back. "It's just that her incredibly busy schedule leaves... precious little time for actual socialization that isn't with someone that she is obligated to talk to... It isn't her fault!"
"Well, if I were her, I would make time for it, and who cares what anypony else thinks about it? Which... is why Celestia is much better at ruling Equestria than I am."
"Wait, you're admitting that Celestia is a better ruler than you?" says Twilight, sounding quite shocked.
"Better at ruling harmoniously. If freedom via anarchy is your thing, then I've got you covered.
"That mare isn't actually even that great of a ruler anyway," I mutter, making sure that Twilight didn't mistakenly get the wrong impression.
"Of course she is!" Twilight rebutted, as expected. "Equestria is arguably the most prosperous and peaceful nation in the entire world, thanks to her! But I guess peaceful doesn't appeal to you, does it?" she finishes in aggravation.
"Whoa, what's with the sudden aggression? First of all, how do you define the word 'peaceful' here? If you define it as an antonym of 'violent', then I'm all for it. If you define it as synonymous with the word 'boring', then I'm not so for it. The peace that Celestia imposes is kind of both, if you ask me."
"I'm sorry," says Twilight, her mood swinging from angry to apologetic almost instantly. "I was taking my frustrations out on you and making false presumptions. You didn't deserve that."
"Alright, alright, I forgive you!" I cry in annoyance. "Just go back to being 'happy Twilight' instead of 'innocuous and apologetic Twilight', I liked you much better that way."
"Wha-"
"Oh, yes, and another thing, about Celestia. How do you think she managed to guide Equestria into this state of prosperity and peace in the first place?"
"I told you, it's because she's a good ruler!"
"Alright, fair, she's a good ruler, purely from a 'managing the nation' perspective, but she's not fantastic. I don't know if you have noticed, but her special talent doesn't have anything to do with being a Princess, or managing a nation, or being talented in politics, or anything even resembling any of that. It is true that she has gotten to be quite good at what she does after being trapped in her job for a couple thousand years, which clearly helps, but it's not the secret to Equestria's success."
Twilight gives me a confused look. "But, then, what is?" she asks, finally displaying willingness to listen to my opinion.
"The real reason that Celestia is a good ruler is her magical ability for her ticker to keep on ticking, century after century!" I declare.
Twilight glares at me.
"Discord, that's not fair and you know it!"
"Let me put it another way then," I say. "The reason that Celestia is a good ruler is because she has ruled Equestria ever since day one. There has never been a time in Equestria's existence when Celestia wasn't a beloved Princess."
"Are you insulting Princess Luna now?" cries Twilight, becoming even more angry.
"No!" I cry. "Gragh, I'm not saying it right! Look, consider other nations outside of Equestria. Take the Griffins for example. Kings come and go, and every time leadership is transferred to the next heir, it's a complete gamble whether the new king will be a good one or a bad one. A 'good' ruler, and use the term 'good' in a subjective manner mind you, a good ruler cultivates the kingdom into something that he or she can be proud to give to their heir one day.
"Now, on the other paw, a 'bad' ruler doesn't care about the stability and success of the kingdom at all, and they exploit the kingdom for their own desires and destroy everything that their ancestors achieved. By the time they are out of the job, the next in line is left to pick up the pieces and has to start all over at square one. And I know that by these definitions, I was a 'bad' ruler, but I had good reason to not care about what ponies thought, seeing how we didn't like each other in the first place. I didn't have a reason to care.
"But my point is that Equestria has never had to fall apart and start over like that, because you ponies got lucky enough to have a decent ruler from the start, and she has been crafting Equestria into her ideal ever since. It's not what I consider ideal of course. It used to be better when Celestia had her sister ruling alongside her. She helped spice things up."
"Wait!" cried Twilight suddenly. "If I'm understanding you correctly... Are you saying that you disapproved of Princess Luna turning on Princess Celestia?"
"I'll admit that the chaos surrounding Nightmare Moon's little rebellion was quite delicious," I answer. "But I was smart enough to figure out what it would mean for the long term if those two couldn't manage to find a truce of some sort. Either, one: Celestia banishes Nightmare Moon and she becomes even more boring than she was already, and indeed that is exactly what did happen, or two: Nightmare Moon banishes Celestia and imposes eternal night upon the nation and she becomes an inflexible tyrant that rules with an iron hoof. So yes, it would have been better even in my eyes if those two had never gone at it. As it was, I was actually sort of relieved that Celestia came out on top. Do you have any idea how much worse being trapped in that accursed statue would have been if night was everlasting?"
"I suppose I can see your point," Twilight said. "Well, Princess Luna is back, and she is starting to ease her way back into the diarchy. Maybe you'll have less of a problem with Princess Celestia with her sister at her side."
"I'm counting on it," I mutter.
"What was that?" asked Twilight suddenly.
"Nothing!" I shot back quickly, suddenly embarrassed. "What are we doing, hanging around anyway? Going up!"
I give the balloon more gas and we quickly start ascending.
"What are we doing? We're getting even further away from the Princess!" Twilight points out.
"I need moisture!" I answer her.
She pokes her head out to the side so she can look up into the sky without her view being obstructed by our Celestia balloon. A moment later she pulls her head back and gives me a look.
I deactivate the magical engine.
"We aren't going to be traveling very far for a little while, so there's no point in leaving that thing idling," I explain.
We've now ascended into the cloud layer, so I decrease the gas once again so that the machine stays level.
"Alright, now, first of all, we need to pull one of these clouds down closer to the ground."
"Huh?" says Twilight. "How are we supposed to do that?"
"We have a scoop for a reason..." I say mischievously.
"Oh..." says Twilight in understanding.
Pedal power allows us to make much smaller and more precise movements. It doesn't take long for Twilight and I to align the machine's snow scoop in front of a long cloud, although the process was made slightly more awkward because it was necessary for me to point the air outlet over Twilight's head in order to move sideways a bit.
Maybe we should have figured out a different method of propulsion, but we have what we have.
"Alright, I don't actually know how much cloud we can cram into the machine before it stars coming out the blower, but we'll just take as much as we can carry and call it good."
"This... this is not what I expected to be doing today."
"Get used to it. You should have learned to expect the unexpected by now when you are in my company."
I start pedaling once again and the machine lurches forward. The cloud gets encompassed by the scoop, and then suddenly starts getting slurped into the machine.
I keep my eye on the blower, peering inside, waiting for the cloud to come through.
I don't have to wait long.
"Argh!" I cry in surprise, suddenly getting a face full of cloud.
Twilight bursts out laughing at this.
There is a suddenly a brief flash of light. And not the purple light of Twilight casting a spell. I didn't feel any magic anyway.
"Did you just take a picture of me with your camera?" I demand, unable to see for myself.
"Yep."
I sigh, and then put my paw to my forehead and drag it down my face, scraping the cloud away as I do so.
"Whatever, I guess you can do it if you want. Wouldn't you rather have a picture of me in which you can actually see my charming smile though?"
"I can make you smile whenever I want," Twilight says in a smug tone. "But I may not ever get you looking like that ever again."
I just ignore her for now and just focus on descending our balloon.
"Right here should be good," I decide, coming to a stop. "Let's unload."
The cloud shoots out of the blower as I start pedaling again.
"Okay..." says Twilight uncertainly. "Now what?"
"Now help me get close to it," I instruct, holding up my towel as I do so.
"Are you going to do what I think you're doing?" asks Twilight.
"Maybe."
Twilight doesn't speak again, but she helps me position the machine.
As soon as I am able, I reach my arms out to the cloud with the towel stretched between then and scoop off a chunk of the wispy stuff before drawing it back in. Then I wrap the towel completely around the cloud chunk and squeeze the fabric into it. The cloud gets absorbed into the fabric, now reduced to water.
"More!" I declare as I scoop off another chunk off cloud and repeat the process.
After the second scoop, the towel is good and soaked.
"Are you going to squeeze that out over the Princess?" asked Twilight, partially horrified and... partially excited?
Just what I was hoping for!
"Naw," I answer with a wave of my paw. "Don't want to attract too much attention, do we? Even though Celestia probably can't see us, we still don't want her getting too suspicious."
"Oh," says Twilight. And then she mutters something that I don't manage to catch.
"What was that? You'll have to speak up!"
"Nothing!" says Twilight.
I look at her disbelievingly, but then decide to just shrug at her.
With Twilight's help, I steer our abominable blimp over the Solar Princess.
"There is a fine art to this sort of thing," I say as I hold up the towel. "Sometimes subtlety can be just hilarious."
I wait for the right moment, and then give the towel the lightest squeeze and a large drop of water comes out and plummets toward the ground below. It's much larger than your every day raindrop. Celestia will definitely feel it. Oh yes...
I can't keep my eye on the drop all the way down of course, but within a couple of seconds Celestia is looking skyward in confusion.
She completely fails to stop a serve from her opponents in the meantime.
"Hahahahaha!" I cry victoriously. "Wow Celly, keep your head in the game!"
"Um..." begins Twilight.
I stop my laughter and turn to her, holding out my claw at her, urging her to go on.
"I can't help but feel slightly disappointed?" Twilight suggests.
"Ohho, no need to worry, it gets better!"
I let another water drop free.
It winds up having almost the same effect as the first.
Twilight gives me an uncertain glance, and then peers back down at the alicorn, now having some sort of a discussion with the guard ponies.
They're asking her why she's playing so badly all of the sudden, probably, I think to myself with a smile. Well, either that or she's asking them if they feel any water drops, I suppose.
I take more careful aim this time and release another drop, and then I pull the towel back and wait for a reaction.
About two seconds later, Celestia's right ear flicks and she looks up once again, the confusion in her face having increased. Even as she looks up into the sky, her right ear keeps flicking back and forth, as though trying to dislodge something. It flicks about six times before she finally stops.
Twilight lets out a poorly concealed laugh, and I turn and look at her.
When Twilight realizes that I caught her, she stops holding back and starts letting out full fledged laughter.
"Discord, you're just terrible!" she says, but I can tell that she enjoyed that.
"Hey, all I'm doing is just proving to you that the Princess is just another regular pony, just like the rest of you," I insist with a grin. "See, even she gets bothered by silly little things."
"Yeah, right. You're loving this."
"Guilty."
I release another drop.
One, two-
"It happened again!" cries Celestia suddenly, staring up into the sky, her cry audible even to Twilight and I.
Most of the other guards enjoying different activities of their own look over toward their Princess in confusion at this sudden outburst.
One of the other ponies participating in the tennis match seems to have started laughing.
"You see, we're not the only ones that think that this is great," I point out to Twilight.
I decide to leave Celestia alone for a few minutes.
The payoff will be bigger that way.
"Hey, Twi. Why isn't anypony down there holding their racquets with magic? They're all using their mouths."
"Well, that would be pretty cheap if Princess Celestia used magic to hold it, wouldn't it?" Twilight answered. "She would be able to return every single shot without having to move at all."
I mentally kick myself as I realize that this answer should have been obvious.
I continue waiting, and watching.
Twilight quickly figures out that I'm holding back.
"Are you stopping?" she asks in surprise.
"Nah, I'm just letting her put her guard down again," I explain. "So, since we're waiting around, where are those goodies Pinkie Pie made for us?"
"They're in the pink bag over there," indicates Twilight. "Don't gobble them all up please."
"You know that I never learned how to share..." I answer in a teasing tone as I rummage through the bag, inspecting my options.
Twilight gives me an unamused look.
"Oh, very well, I shall hold back, but only because it is you."
I pull out four donuts.
"Here, keep ahold of these for me, would you?" I say, separating one donut from the stack and taking a bite out of it as I take the other three in my other hand and stick them onto Twilight's horn.
To my surprise, the look that she gives me is one of utter horror. She does a double take, looking up at her horn and back at myself twice.
"D-Discord!" she cries in equal parts embarrassment and anger.
"What did I do?" I exclaim in confusion. "I know you look a little goofy right now, but it's not that bad, surely!"
"Don't you have any idea what this signifies?!" Twilight cries at me, pointing at her horn with a hoof.
"Uh, I have no clue. Oh, don't tell me that it's some stupid taboo!"
Suddenly, Twilight's face lightens up, mostly.
"Oh, right, that particular tradition didn't exist when you last roamed Equestria for a significant period of time."
"What tradition?" I ask.
"Actually..." continues Twilight, "that brings up a very good question. Why don't you speak in old Equish like Princess Luna, considering how you've been separated from Pony culture for even longer than she had been?"
"Because unlike her, I wasn't trapped in a vacuum. I was able to keep up with the times by listening to the ponies that occasionally came into the royal gardens," I answer. "And because Celestia would occasionally swing by and tell me things directly."
Twilight scrunched up her face in confusion.
"She would?"
"Not that often. She must have been as bored as I was on the occasions she chose to do that. But don't change the subject! What's this tradition you are getting so worked up about?"
"Um, well, you see, it's traditional to place a special ring around a unicorn's horn to signify... marriage..."
I feel my stomach plummet out from under me, and I have to check to make sure that it didn't do so literally.
"Ugh! GAG!" Yeah, I'll just be taking these back..."
I quickly snatch my donuts back and then just sit there holding them awkwardly, my appetite suddenly gone.
"I'm sorry for blowing up at you," Twilight finally says. "I thought you were teasing me about my non-existent love life. Again. But you didn't know."
" 'Again'?" I ask.
"The first time being that time you ran away from me after we released you, remember?"
"You do realize that I was simply trying to distract you so that I could get away," I countered. "I honestly had no idea that your... 'love life'," I sputter, putting heavy sarcasm into the phrase, "is non-existent, as you say."
Twilight lets out a deep sigh.
"Yes, I understand that. But it still made me just feel so- so... Urgh! Look, I can... tolerate your ridiculousness most of the time, but any time anypony brings up anything to do with me getting into th-that kind of a... relationship, or anything remotely romantic, I just get really uncomfortable and... just distressed. So please, if you're going to make fun of me, do it in any other way besides that."
I blink at her a few times.
"...Oookay then," I finally let out. "You're really not very much like other mares your age, are you?"
"No, I'm not, I don't start swooning just because some stallion is handsome. I won't."
"Alright, so, this is awkward. Say, would you like to take a shot at Celestia?"
"Yeah, sure," says Twilight, a little quickly. Then she seems to realize what she said. "Er, I mean, um! I guess so?"
I roll my eyes, but I pass my towel over to Twilight, who takes it into her magic. She holds it out over Celestia's head...
Drip.
I look down and watch. Moments later, Celestia lets out a cry of frustration and looks skyward again, her face dumbfounded at the apparent audacity of the sky.
Twilight lets out an unlady-like snort.
"Wow. I can't believe we're getting away with this..."
"Do it again," I encourage.
This time, the drop manages to get Celestia to rear back in frustration.
"Augh! Imprudent, rampant RAINDROPS!"
"Whoa!" I cry, suprised at how quickly Celestia is losing it. "You know, I think Celly might be close to hitting her limit. Maybe we shou-ach!"
I choke on my words as I watch Twilight suddenly and without ceremony absolutely squeeze the towel, forcing a torrent of water out all at once.
I only have a couple of seconds to watch the blob fall to the ground before splashing onto Celestia's coat.
"AUGGGGGH!" screams Celestia like a maniac, doing a one-eighty and looking behind her wildly, and then up at the sky once again.
I burst out laughing so hard that I can't help but stand up to relieve the pressure in my belly.
Suddenly my horns bump into something and I feel magic. I stop laughing and look up in confusion.
I see balloon fabric above me.
I feel extremely stupid as I realize what just happened. I almost accidently jabbed my horns into the Celestia balloon, and Twilight's safety spell stopped it from puncturing. It probably would have happened with the sharper of the two.
I should thank Twilight for thinking ahead.
I look back at Celestia, and suddenly she takes off of the ground with a flap of her giant wings and shoots into the sky.
"Oh crud!" I shout.
Twilight clutches her front hooves around my midsection and looks back at her deranged mentor in terror.
Celestia stops a short ways below us, looking wildly into the clouds, her eyes frantically darting all around trying to find anything unusual.
Her horn lights up and our lone cloud gets enveloped in her magic before being rapidly hurled away to who-knows-where.
But she doesn't stop there. She then takes off once again, quickly flying straight past us and up into the cloud layer.
Suddenly, I feel a burst of magic and I almost panic. And then a shockwave hits us, pushing the machine through the air. Twilight tightens her grip around me even more as she fights to keep from being thrown back.
"Confounding chaos! Did she find us?" I cry.
Twilight just squeaks in response.
I'm able to answer my own question as I look and see that whatever Celestia did actually caused all of the clouds hanging over the sporting field to be pushed outward, leaving a strangely circular gap in the cloud cover. She also even managed to blow Twilight and I a significant distance away from our starting position.
Celestia went straight back to the ground, but instead of returning to her tennis game, she moved to the track and started running around it at full gallop.
"I think I overdid it..." says Twilight weakly, finally letting go of me.
"Yeah, we definitely should lay low for the rest of the day," I agree. "You, my dear, have got some serious guts. What came over you to do something like that?"
"I... I don't know, I knew it was incredibly stupid, but I just wanted to see what would happen!"
I start laughing.
"Something happened alright!" I cry. "And we got away with it! Wow, that was a good one!"
"Let's not do anything like that again," huffed Twilight. "I might have a heart attack."
"Agreed. But it was still something that I shall remember forever."
Unfortunately, now that we're forced to leave Celly alone for the day, it is getting quite boring up here. It's even worse because I don't even have the advantage of traveling to keep me occupied.
My mind turns to my sole companion. Particularly wondering about that strange outburst earlier.
Hmmmmmm, I think to myself. Should I or shouldn't I? Should I or shouldn't I? Should I or shouldn't I...
I finally make up my mind. I've got to. I have just got to know. I have just got to know.
"So, Twilight..." I begin.
"Yes Discord?"
"Tell me... Why in the wide, wide world of Equestria are you so repulsed by the idea of romance?"
Twilight's eyes go wide.
"Wha- Discord! Not this again! I already told you enough!"
"Hey, if you really don't want me teasing you about it, you better come clean..."
"I- I don't want to! It's... it's stupid... Nopony else would have these kind of reservations..."
"Wow, I thought your Princess had managed to squeeze the introvert out of you by now."
"No, it's not because I'm introverted!" cries Twilight in frustration. "It's because I've studied the science behind romantic relationships! 'You need chemistry,' ponies say! Well, I know what chemistry does to ponies who are in starry-eyed romantic relationships, and it makes me question our own control over our brains!"
I look at Twilight like she's gone crazy. This is not what I was expecting at all. I never would have guessed such a thing in a million years. "What are you talking about?" I ask in absolute confusion.
"I'm talking about all the different chemicals that ponies who are in love produce, it alters their personalities, it changes the way that they think!"
"They do...?" I ask, surprised. I grab Twilight's research notebook and quill and pop it open to a new page. Twilight doesn't seem to care.
"Yes! There's so-called sensory enhancers that make your special somepony appear more pretty or handsome than they really are! I despise that! If I were to get into a relationship with somepony, I want to see them as they truly are! There are chemicals that banish any sensory input that is unrelated to your special somepony! I do not want to lose track of important things just because I'm too hypnotized by somepony to notice! There are chemicals that make a pony just simply more attractive for no good logical reason at all other than that chemistry forces you to like that pony more! If I were to fall in love with somepony, how would I know that it was real? Would romantic relationships even exist at all if all of that chemistry were taken away? I can't tell! And if I did experience a relationship, I wouldn't be able to trust my own judgment! So, the only reasonable thing to do that I can see is to just... not participate in such things!"
I stop my doodling inside the notebook.
"A question for the ages indeed!" I agree. "Although I have never heard any pony put it quite the way that you have. Still, what to do, indeed! Have you ever told your other friends about this little insecurity?"
"Of course not!"
"Why not?"
"Because... because I'm..." Twilight stammers. "I'm afraid that they wouldn't understand..."
I raise my eyebrows at the mare.
"And you decided that I would?"
"Don't you?" she cries. "I thought that maybe you of all- well, creatures, would understand what I mean when I say that I HATE not being in absolute control of myself."
"I suppose that's true," I say as I resume crafting my creation. "Do you think badly of Rarity for her overly romantic mindset?"
"No! That's not for me to judge! If she is happy with such pursuits, then I'm happy for her! I don't want do have these stupid reservations that I have but... I just wish that I could stop thinking about this stuff the way that I do, but I just can't!"
Twilight gives me a hesitant look, and appears to be on the brink of becoming tear eyed.
"Sooner or later, all of my friends are going to find somepony. One by one, they'll have less time available to spend with my other friends and I, and then before I know it, I'll be the only one left. All by myself..."
"And you'd be the most sensible mare of your whole bunch."
Twilight groans.
"Why am I talking about this with you..."
"Hey, I'll have you know that I have seen thousands of ponies go through this sort of thing. I think I'm qualified to give you a little bit of advice."
Twilight stares back at me. "You're qualified... because you've seen others go through stuff?"
"Oh, give me a break!" I cry, almost willing to be offended. "You know that I'm the only Draconequus in this world, and every other intelligent creature in it despises me, do you really think I'm going to get a date in all of that? But I do know that romance is just as much chaos as it is harmonious, and chaos will control you if you can't control it. So, you should do what I do with chaos! Don't try to control it so much as just steer it in the right direction, and don't let it control you, but allow it to guide you. You won't believe how well that works."
Twilight lets out a sniffle. "Maybe you're on to something..." she mutters.
"You're a smart pony, you'll figure it out," I answer her with a shrug.
Twilight doesn't say anything, and I find my gaze wandering to my latest little drawing.
Anybody who tries looking at this thing isn't going to see anything meaningful unless they know the trick to it.
And yet...
No! Don't do it! screams another part of my mind.
But I can't resist...
This could backfire even worse than what happened with Celestia a few minutes ago! Don't do it!
I'm going to doooooo it...
Gah! What are you doing, you idiot!
"Hey, Twilight."
Don't answer don't answer don't answer-
"What is it?"
I'm not responsible for what happens at this point! cries my subconcious voice.
"Here. I made you a present."
My mind has gone silent now, as I give Twilight the notebook. Without removing my drawing from it first.
"A present?" She accepts the notebook and gazes at the image in confusion.
Her confusion transforms into absolute befuddlement.
Look, says my inner voice, just ask for her to give it back before she figures it out. You can take it out and everything will be fine.
"Discord..." says Twilight slowly.
"Yes?"
"What in the world is this garbled chicken scratch?"
She turns the notebook back at me, showing me the seemingly random mess of marks, lines, and dots. As though I would forget what it looked like.
"It's something I made for you," I answer vaguely.
She eyes me critically for a few seconds.
"You're making fun of me again, aren't you?" she suddenly cries out in accusation.
"Actually, for once, I assure you that I am not," I answer. "You just have to figure out how to make sense of it."
"Make sense of it?" she repeats. "You really mean to tell me that there is something recognizable in this mess?"
"Yep. Promise."
Twilight pulls the notebook back and stares closely at the image.
After a few seconds, she cries out, "I don't get it!"
"Figure it out. I'm getting tired, so I'm going to get some sleep, so good luck with that!"
I cross my arms and slouch down in my seat with my eyes closed.
You know that she's going to figure it out eventually! She's too smart and persistant to NOT figure it out!
Of course I know that. That's why I did it.
"What?" cries Twilight in bewilderment. "But... it's not even that late yet! Give me a hint!"
I'm still wide awake, but I refrain from making any response.
The silence lasts for a few moments.
"Oh, come on, nobody falls asleep that fast!"
I don't answer.
After another brief period of silence, Twilight speaks again.
"Fine! I'll figure it out without your help!"
Even though my eyes are completely closed, I can still hear Twilight's movements.
I can hear Celestia and her guards engaged in the various activities down below. I can hear voices, but they are just far enough away that I can't actually understand anything.
Eventually, Twilight begins whispering to herself. Something about comparing the positions of the various marks on the paper. I think she is convinced that my drawing is some form of a code.
Only in the loosest sense of the word, I suppose.
Eventually, even the sounds of Celestia's group vanishes, leaving nothing left but the sounds of Twilight handling her notebook and fidgeting every once in a while.
Before very long, there is a noise next to me that sounds like Twilight rummaging through the luggage. And then the sounds of more fidgeting.
And then Twilight's noises cease as well.
But I don't risk taking a peek just yet.
Finally, Twilight starts making a periodic light breathing noise, indicating that she has fallen asleep.
I crack an eyelid and finally take a peek at her.
She's wrapped up in a blanket, and indeed snoozing.
She never did figure out the picture.
Not on this night, anyway. But she isn't through with it yet, I'm certain.
Suddenly, she starts fidgeting again, and making the nearly imperceptible moans of distress.
"Hey, are you okay?" I ask, now sitting up and moving about freely.
Twilight doesn't answer.
She is definitely asleep.
Having a nightmare, from the look of it.
What do I do? Do I wake her up?
Somehow, even though it would free her from her distress, I can't help but feel that that wouldn't be the best idea.
"Hey," I say to her sleeping form in a sort of desperation to help. "Whatever's wrong, you don't have anything to worry about. Whatever it is, I'll get rid of it myself."
And a rather strange thing happens here. I swear, Twilight immediately seemed to settle down, sigh in relief, and settle into her blanket.
What just happened?
Did I just banish a nightmare by giving the mare reassurances? From the real world?
As I am pondering this, I am startled by a sudden sensation of magic.
Whoa, what's going on? I think to myself. Twilight's asleep, so what in the world-
Suddenly, I identify the magic.
Dreamwalker magic.
It's centered on Twilight.
"Sorry Lulu, I already took care of this one," I announce aloud.
Naturally, I don't get a response.
Several minutes go by, but Luna's magic lingers.
"What are those two doing in there..." I whisper to myself.
This is making me nervous. I trust Twilight to not give me away to Luna, but I'm still nervous all the same.
And its also driving me crazy that the other Equestrian Princess is technically here right beside me and I can't so much as even say hello.
... Or can I?
"Hmm..." I whisper. "I wonder how susceptible Twilight is to subliminal suggestion..."