“Spike, I THINK I can handle this,” Twilight muttered in annoyance, shaking her head.
The dragon just stared at her, through flat eyes. “Uh huh. Sure you can.”
“I can make a sandwich!” she snapped, tossing a glare over her shoulder as she trotted into the kitchen.
“Sure you can. Like the daffodil one?”
“I toasted it!”
“You TOASTED the DAFFODIL! You toast the bread! I’m not even a pony and I know that!” the dragon snapped.
Twilight’s cheeks turned red before she walked to the massive fridge. “I’ll be fine.” She opened it up and pulled out some ingredients. Then let out a yelp when a red bottle was grabbed from her hooves by Spike.
“What is this for?”
“Well, the more sauces a sandwich has, the better it tastes!” she said proudly. “So, there are ten different sauces here, if I add them all, then the sandwich will be delicious!”
The dragon stared at her. Then face hoofed. “Do you… ever… cook for yourself?” he asked.
Her cheeks turned red. “Err… well… I ummm… err. I technically...” She shuffled her hooves.
“What?”
“I’m not… technically allowed to. But it’s just a sandwich so it should be fine!”
He blinked a few times and stared at her. “What do you mean, not allowed to?”
“W-well, it was an accident. A completely silly, minor, not at all nearly the big deal that they made it out to be accident!”
“… What?”
“W-well, err, last time I tried to make a casserole I accidentally, through absolutely no fault of my own and my teacher really shouldn’t have been so up tight about it. I mean, technically--”
“What did you do?”
“I accidentally disproved Starswirl’s fifteenth law of magical conversion. I got in a lot of trouble for that one.”
Spike stared at her a few moments, blinking. Finally he shook his head, walked over to a chair and pushed it to the counter. “I’m making the sandwiches.”
“But--”
“Just get me a butter knife.”
The earth pony let out a low, frustrated grumble, but slowly nodded. “Fine. It’s just a sandwich.” She walked to the drawers and started pulling some out. “It’s not that hard or anything...”
“Mmmmm hm,” Spike mumbled as he got to work.
She walked to the fridge and peered around, before her face lit up. She pulled out a big, white bowl. “Yes, he did it!”
“Hm?”
“The head cook! I asked if he’d make me up some potato salad for the picnic. He’s the best.”
“That’s nice.”
She nodded, then glanced over. “How… uhhh… are you feeling?”
“Fine.”
“I just… you know… I know its been a few weeks since the Gala and--”
He glanced over. “Yeah?”
“I just wanna make sure you’re doing okay,” she mumbled.
He shrugged while he neatly stacked the sandwiches up. “I’m fine.”
“Okay...”
The gala had gone off without a hitch. Twilight had tried to find ways around the spell. Dropping hints, leaving important details out, trying to show something, anything to let people know where Celestia was.
But nothing she did seemed to do anything. The spell on her was incredible, any plan or idea she came up with often resulted in some kind of back fire, usually in a painful way for her, but sometimes more subtle. She hadn’t even been able to hint that she WASN’T telling them everything.
On top of that, her friends had been busy for the last few weeks and she had barely seen them in ages. Her being confined to the castle failed to help any. However, they’d all managed to get the time to finally meet up today for a picnic. Even better, as Nightmare Moon had permitted it.
Other than the spell on her, there had been no other repercussions for her actions. The alicorn hadn’t laid a hoof on Spike, or her friends(at least as far as she knew), and hadn’t said a word about it since. However she had been drawn to the ruler’s side far less often, leaving Dancer alone to deal with the alicorn.
Tirek was being Tirek. The book was going slowly and he was beginning to take pretty much every opportunity to try and corrupt her. It was almost cute, in a way. He got really flustered when he tried some ‘secret corruption technique’ and she listed a number of books that it was used in. Sometimes it even had a name or was even a common cliché. Watching a mega powered spirit of magical might cross his arms and just pout in the corner was definitely not something she expected to see in her life time.
Everything was going back to its own weird version of normal, now. In a way, it was almost boring. Her actions had, unfortunately, burned many of her hard worked bridges with Nightmare Moon, so she was no longer aware of how to continue. She felt another pang of regret at how she’d reacted. She should have been slower, more methodical. But in those moments she’d seen a chance to end this nightmare all at once, to escape their fate and make everything right in a heart beat. In that split second she’d been a filly again and expected the princess to solve all their problems, regardless of the evidence available.
But nothing was ever that simple, was it? At least, not now.
------
“So, is that your real name?” Rarity asked as she relaxed in her chair, glancing over to Redfang.
Fluttershy blinked and put down her tea cup, staring at the vampire, cocking her head to the side when the pony froze in place.
“W-what?” he asked, his eyes going wide. “W-why would you even ask me a question like that?”
“I just mean, it is a little on the nose, isn’t it?” Rarity asked.
“…” The vampire fumed.
“Unless you were born a vampire. Is that a thing? It’s a lot like a pony naming their child Mooney McMoon, and then them becoming a werewolf.”
“...”
“So, is it your real name?”
Redfang put a hoof to his forehead and groaned. “… My pony name is Sundrop Sprinkles.”
Rarity blinked and stared. “Wait, really?”
“Yes! My parents run a tanning salon in upper Canterlot.”
The unicorn stared at him for a long moment. “But… you’re a...”
“YES! The irony is -not- lost on me!”
“… Is it doing well?”
“Yes, it is doing extremely well. With the whole lack of a sun. You would be amazed how many ponies want fake tans during times like this.”
“Hi guys!” Twilight yelled, galloping into the garden with a big grin on her face, a bag of food over her back. Spike trailed behind her, carrying the potato salad. “Sorry I’m late, there was a bit of an issue with… we’re done now, that’s all that matters!”
Rarity glanced over and gave a big grin. “Ah! Twilight, darling! We were just having a talk with Redfang to pass the time,” she said, giving a wave. “The others should be here soon.”
The vampire gave Twilight a look, making her almost trip. She stared into his eyes and felt a chill go down her back. He looked worried. She would have preferred he looked angry or upset. But worry scared her. He then turned away and nodded. “Now that she’s here, I’ll make my exit. Lady Rarity, Lady Fluttershy, I will ensure that you have a proper escort when you leave.” He then took to the air.
Twilight frowned while she watched him fly off. “Did he escort you two here?”
“Indeed,” Rarity said. “I have the sneaking suspicion he was monitoring us. But he was a perfect gentlepony throughout, so I have no objections to his company. And for such a supposed creature of the night, he gets flustered so easily.”
Twilight nodded. “How about your little… err… shade problem? Is… she causing you any problems?”
Rarity blinked a few times, her face falling. “Ah. No. She has startled me a few times, but she seems harmless. I do wish she would be better at not sneaking up on me, however. It is enough to almost make a poor pony’s heart explode, turning off the lights and having her standing there, staring at you from mere inches away..”
Twilight nodded, before glancing to Fluttershy. “How have you been?”
“Me? Oh, I’ve been fine,” the pegasus said with a nod. Twilight waited for her to expand, but the mare just stared at her awkwardly.
“O… kay then. Is Rainbow still coming?”
“Of course,” Rarity said with a nod. “And I do believe Pinkie and Applejack will be making an appearance.”
“Wait, really?” Twilight said, her eyes going wide. “Why?”
“Pinkie because she’s Pinkie,” Rarity said as if that explained everything. To Twilight’s mild amusement, despite only knowing the mare a short while she felt it did. “And I believe Applejack still feels she owes you for the whole gala. I hear her family made quite the windfall from the event, more than sufficient to help them through a few issues their farm had been struggling through. Not to mention they’ve been asked to cater a number of quite high class events since.” A frown formed on the unicorns face. “In fact, I believe Applejack may have begun to attend more of the upper class parties than I have. But only for the last few weeks!”
Twilight nodded. “She doesn’t need to do that. She really helped me just by being willing to cater the event.” She sighed and glanced to the side.
“Twilight? You seem troubled. Is something the matter?” Rarity asked.
The earth pony felt the spell on her tingling already. She shook her head. “No. Just thinking about the gala, is all.”
“It truly was magnificent, was it not?” the unicorn said with a sigh. “While not exactly how I envisioned it to be, it was still a once in a life time experience. Why, ponies are still talking about it with excitement. I can’t imagine how we’re going to possibly trump it next year!”
Twilight felt a knot form in her stomach. “Next year?” She hadn’t even considered it. But it was true, there’d be another gala next year. And the year after that and the year after that and forever, with Luna at the helm and--
“Darling? Darling!” Rarity yelped, jumping to her hooves. Twilight felt magic grip her and shook her head, realizing a moment later she was falling over. The unicorn raced up besides her, propping her up along with her magic. “What in the heavens happened to you? Are you ill?”
“S-sorry. I’m just… not feeling very well,” Twilight mumbled, slowly regaining the strength in her legs. She sat down a second later and sighed. “Do you think they’ll be here soon?”
“Did someone saw AWESOME?!” Rainbow yelled, before she crash/landed on the ground, digging a groove in the grass with her hooves. “Because that’s my middle name!” she said proudly.
“… No. Nopony said awesome,” Rarity snapped. “And just look at what you did to the grass! Rainbow, do try to think of the gardeners who have to clean up after your landing.” Her horn glowed before her magic picked up clumps of torn up turf, putting them back into place to the best of her ability.
The pegasus looked down, then grinned sheepishly. “Oh, right. Heh heh. My bad. But seriously, guys, you missed it. I got all the way from Cloudsdale to here, I knocked a whole minute off my time!” she said proudly, puffing her chest out. “A minute! You should have seen me! I was passing up ponies left and right, they couldn’t even see me.”
“Of course they couldn’t,” Rarity muttered as she tried to decide which two pieces of turf fit best into a particularly deep gouge. “Your uniform is all black and purple.”
Rainbow opened her mouth, then closed it, then looked horrified. “Wait, you mean I was making my best time ever… and no pony SAW? That’s so lame!”
Rarity rolled her eyes before nodding in satisfaction at her mostly repaired grass. She then glanced up. “I’m sure a few ponies saw, Rainbow. And I’m sure they thought it was spectacular.”
“Heh, you’re probably right,” the pegasus said with a cocky grin.
Twilight nodded, giving a weak smile as she finally regained herself. She still couldn’t help dreading the coming of more galas. Especially knowing where Celestia was. Would others find out? Would there be more ponies like her? Perhaps a chance to… no. Even if they could rescue Celestia, by the alicorn’s own admission, there was nothing she could do. Nightmare Moon was here to stay.
Oh well, it wasn’t like things could possibly get any worse.
BOOM!
Her eyes widened and she looked around in confusion, moments before little pieces of rock rained down on them. It took her a few moments to realize it wasn’t rock, it was actually rock candy. “What?” she said in confusion, before looking around in bewilderment.
Whatever it was, it had come from the maze. “Girls, we need to--”
“Already on it!” Rainbow yelled, flying off.
“Let the guards handle it!” Twilight yelled, before rolling her eyes. She slid out from under her bags, then galloped after the other mare, her friends close behind. She swore Rainbow was going to get them all in a lot of trouble one day. And she was pretty certain that day was today.
The girl’s arrived to find Rainbow hovering in front of a massive pedestal the size of a tower, with stairs criss crossing in the front. Six spot lights were in front of it, all trained on a single bipedal creature in a tuxedo holding a cane at the top, its back to them. Twilight stared, her mouth open. It was impossible. She knew. Was it some kind of prank?
Whatever the creature was, it looked quite similar to the statue that had once stood here.
Suddenly music began, as well as light tapping. The creature turned and proceeded to begin… dancing down the stairs.
“D is for the disarray that I’ll cause,” the creature sang, as it swung down the steps, spinning its cane along. “I is for insanity that they all say I am.”
Twilight just stared, the girl’s starring along with her. What WAS this madness?
“S is for selfish desires that I all see in your hearts.” He made it about halfway down already, swinging along as he went. “C is for Canterlot, the first step of my master plan.”
Twilight felt a weird… itching. It felt like it was on her brain, as if it was trying to deny all of… this.
“O is overwhelming that I am, R is for rescue that I’ll do from your boring lives,” he sang as he made the last few steps, stopping in front of them, before reaching out with his cane and tapping the bottom of Twilight’s chin, making her look up.
“And D is for Discord, master of chaos and anarchy. A pleasure to meet you at--” The music suddenly ground to a halt and the creature looked confused. He stared at Twilight for a few moments. The cane and suit disappeared and suddenly he reached out and grabbed Twilight by the face, turning it from side to side, a look of bewilderment on his face. “Shouldn’t you be… hornier?”
Twilight’s cheeks flared and her eyes widened. She tried to think of a response to that, but she wasn’t sure there WAS a response to that.
“HEY!” Rainbow yelled. “Get your hooves off my friend! Or… claws! Or whatever!” The mare flew through the air and crashed through the creature, who seemed to have turned into smoke for a second so the pegasus flew off through him.
“Yes, yes, quite,” Discord said, a frown on his lips as he stared at her. Twilight stared back, then yanked her head back.
“H-hey! Who are you? What are you?”
Discord smirked. “What am I? Why, I am Discord. Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony. One could say the opposing force to the--” He blinked a few times. “Elements… of Harmony. Oh my. And where’s dear little sunbutt?” He rubbed his chin and his eyes widened. “Could it be? Is that… Tirek I feel? My my my. I have been gone for a while, haven’t I? And is that--”
“DISCORD!” Nightmare Moon’s voice roared and all heads turned towards the alicorn.
“Ah, Nightmare Moon! Decided to take a walk on the wild side again? How cute,” he said, standing up straight and yanking Twilight up.
The earth pony squeaked, flailing her hooves. “Hey, put me down!”
The alicorn froze. “Unhand my bard, you disgusting abomination,” she growled, landing on the ground and glowering at him. “If you harm one hair on her head, your suffering will be never ending.”
Discord hummed, nodding. “I see.” He glanced around for a moment before picking up Fluttershy in his other hand. “I think it’s time we have a little talk. There’s so much I need to catch up on.” Twilight tried to break free from his grip, but it somehow managed to be simultaneously like steel and water at the same time.
“DISCORD!” Nightmare Moon yelled, dashing forward.
The spirit smirked and then snapped his tail and the spirit and two ponies disappeared.