//------------------------------// // A joke gone wrong // Story: Changing Fates // by Ulthor //------------------------------// Chapter 2 *2000 AH, nine months after Nightmare Night, the day that Discord returns* It was supposed to be a simple school excursion for a group of fillies and colts, when the teacher looked at the cutiemark crusaders and they were asked what they noticed about the statue they had just gotten to, they then started to say it had different parts like an evil claw, a lion paw and a snake tail. "This creature is called a Draconiquus, he has the head of a pony and a body made up of all sorts of things." The teacher noted, before asking. "What do you suppose that represents?" "Confusion." Apple Bloom said before being shoved aside by Sweetie Bell. "Evil." The white filly then interjected before she was shoved aside by Scootaloo. "Chaos." The little pegasus quickly added, she had actually been more correct then the other two, but wouldn't know it right away. They then started to fight among each other and their teacher then told them that in a way they were all right, not noticing the little black pulsing spot on the chest of the statue, nor did anypony else. "This statue represents Discord, which means 'A lack of harmony between ponies.' In fact, you three have demonstrated Discord so well, that your each going to write me an essay explaining it." The teacher said as the CMC looked a bit deflated by that last part. "Now let's go and I don't want anymore fighting." She added before heading off with her class, the three fillies continued to argue in hushed tones at the back while following her, as nopony noticed the large cracks that started to appear on the statue outside of their view, nor the sinister laugh as it reached the glowing spot. Not that much later, back in Ponyville, Dash was doing some aerial tricks as a sudden pink cloud zoomed passed her, making her spin in place. "Come back here you!" She exclaimed and chased after the odd cloud, catching up nearly instantly and collided with it, to her surprise however it didn't poof like a normal cloud would, but rather she got stuck into it as if it were some sticky substance, as her curiosity got the better of her she tasted some of it and realized it was cotton candy. Several more pink clouds appeared all around her zooming all over the place, one however stopped right above her head, before a single drop of a brown substance fell onto her head, Dash mentioned that it wasn't supposed to rain before tomorrow before it suddenly started to pour down on her. Meanwhile Applejack was harvesting corn in the cornfields, until she heard the cracking of a storm, she looked to where the sound came from and saw Dash chasing a pink cloud raining chocolate milk with a horde of similar clouds also chocolate milk tailing her. "Rainbow Dash, what's goin' on with this rain? I mean chocolate milk? I mean chocolate milk rain?!" Applejack asked as Dash flew towards her. "Turns out there's crazy weather all over Equestria! Cloudsdale is getting soaked by a major cola storm right now! But don't worry. I'm not leaving you until I get control of Ponyville!" Rainbow Dash answered as the cornfield started to turn into popcorn. Dash flew off, attempting to stop the storm while leaving Applejack surrounded by mountains of popcorn, who was suddenly assaulted in the face by popcorn coming from the corn plant in front of her, it then knocked her back into a pile of popcorn that had formed behind her. "Why would you wanna stop this?" Pinkie said to herself after hearing Dash say so, as she then swam through the popcorn, only to stop to open her mouth to the sky in order to drink some chocolate milk rain. Rarity who was wearing a fashionable and functional outfit to keep out the chocolatey goodness falling from the sky, walked up to Applejack before clearing her throat and saying. "I heard about your troubles, Applejack, and I came to see if there's anything I can do without getting wet. Or dirty. Or out from under my umbrella." All of a sudden, the apples in Sweet Apple Acres trees enlarged several times their size, causing the tree trunks to somehow bend over from the weight of the apples, causing all kinds of critters to show up and start eating them. Applejack quickly called upon Fluttershy for help, who was already there for some reason aswell. "Fluttershy! Do somethin'!" Fluttershy looked at the nearest one that just happened to be her own pet bunny. "Now, Angel, you really shouldn't–" In a flash, Angel's legs transformed into extremely long skinny horse like legs. "No! It's not possible! I must be seeing things!" She said wait a gasp as a small horde of bunnies with the same condition ran past. Just then Twilight came by. "Don't worry everypony, I've learned a new spell that will fix everything!" She exclaimed as she started the spell, it looked quite powerful and colorful, but after it was done, only half of the clouds had vanished and even less of the animals had turned back to normal. Twilight was shocked as she mentioned her fail safe spell failing and asking what they should do, likely not expecting a real answer from the little drake who then said give up as a reply, Twilight wasn't about to however as she quickly came up with a new idea and relayed to her friends what they had to do. After it was done and over twilight started to talk about this as if learning a lesson in not giving up, before Spike belched and a letter from Celestia appeared, after reading it she gasped and told her friends that Celestia had asked them all to quickly come to the Canterlot castle. Once they got to the castle Celestia was pacing back and forth till they came in, she told them thanks for coming before Twilight started to ask if it was about the weather and the animals changing. "What's going on? Why is my magic only working partly?" Twilight added as Celestia raised a eyebrow for a moment wondering how it was even working at all, but decided to ignore it for now and told them to follow her. As they walked through a hallway with glass pains depicting certain moments in history, Celestia explained to them that an ancient foe that she and Luna had once beaten using the elements of harmony named Discord, had once more returned and to make things worse, they couldn't stop him a second time as the elements no longer responded to them, they did however respond to Twilight and her friends, so Celestia asked them to beat this foe for all of Equestria. Twilight thought for a few seconds but didn't need long before resolving her mind and say yes, the others also agreed except for Pinkie for a moment as she mentioned chocolate rain, Twilight reassured Celestia by telling her to pay Pinkie no mind as she didn't really mean it, as such Celestia took out the box that held the elements and opened it in order to present the elements, only to be shocked to find it empty, as was everypony else. As they were wondering what had happened, a laughter was heard and Celestia recognized the voice, she called out to Discord and demanded to know where the elements were, he just quipped that she was no fun, before showing himself in the pained windows. Dash quickly tried to hit him, only to miss and hit the window itself which was somehow as solid as a wall, either by Discord's power or by a magical enchantment meant to prevent any damage to them, Discord retorted as he mentioned she must be the element of loyalty, clearly already knowing it to be so though, he also showed off by letting them all know he knew who they were and what they represented. Celestia once more demanded for him to tell them what he had done with the elements, Discord didn't really feel like telling them but he was never one to pass up on having some fun, so he told them he would tell them, but only in his own way as he then told them a riddle. "To retrieve your missing elements just make sense of this change of events. Twists and turns are my master plan. Then find the elements back where you began." After that he vanished while laughing, leaving Twilight and her friends to contemplate what he meant, Twilight looked out of one of the normal panels of glass and saw the royal maze and figured that must be it, after Celestia wished them luck they quickly headed there. Once there Fluttershy wondered how they would ever be able to find the elements in there, Dash let out a laugh as she mentioned he had forgotten she could fly and would be back in a jiffy. As she took off however, her wings suddenly vanished and she fell to the ground, before Fluttershy's wings finished and she gasped, next up was Rarity's horn as Twilight gasped and told her, at the same time a sound that sounded a bit like a spell fizzing out was also heard. Rarity gasped as she realized her horn was missing, before Discord appeared and laughed, only to stop laughing once he realized something was amiss here. "Hold on, I was sure I took your horn aswell, I must be getting a bit rusty." He then said as he snapped his fingers, only to hear another fizzing sound, for a moment he contemplated if he should just keep trying out of some odd feeling of pride to not let anything stop his powers, but not before he thought about what it might be that's stopping him. "Sorry about that, I must be losing my touch after being trapped in stone for so long." Discord knew he wasn't rusty or anything like that, but it was odd as there shouldn't be anything that could disrupt his powers like that, well, except if another would have chaos powers, but that was just ridiculous even to him, he did recall that a long time ago he had similar issues with a certain race but dismissed that aswell as they wouldn't be able to wield the elements at all, not after having seen that war while he was encased in stone that is… However, this might be the perfect time for a prank that could also ruin their bonds even quicker. "Actually, now that I think about it, I believe there was this one species that could resist me turning them into something else, mostly because they could alter their own appearances to look like anything they wanted." Discord had a sly grin as he used honeyed words. "Oh what were they called again? It's on the tip of my tongue… Ah, now I remember, they were called Changelings and they take the place of family members and friends to feed off of them." Discord snapped his fingers, making sure to force enough power into it to go around whatever was blocking his power, as a green flame went over her to turn her into a regular changeling form, but to his surprise it was followed instantly by a lavender flame, it still turned her into a changeling form, but not the generic one… Or a completed one for that manner. Twilight and her friends gasped in shock as Twilight had turned into what Discord recognized as a young Changeling queen or perhaps a princess, however she seemed to have parts of both races, her left front hoof, her mane and her tail were still the same, her eyes were mostly the same with the only change of them having a draconic slit in them, she now had two pegasus like wings, the rest was just like the body of a changeling though, but the hue of some of her carapace seemed slightly like lavender rather then black, even if it was more on the black side, her horn was also long, jagged and completely black. For a moment Discord had considered if perhaps he had accidentally had the picture of a changeling queen in mind rather then just another generic one and if the disturbance of his powers was greater then he thought which would have led to parts of her remaining pony like, but then he realized that if that was the case, but then why did she have pony wings? And then it hit him, he realized what likely was going on… Well, that and the still lavender hoof that suddenly sucker punched him. "I don't know what you did, but turn me back!" Twilight exclaimed as Discord's head seemed to spin round and round while his body did not, before it stopped upside down. Discord seemed slightly confused, but then smiled "You know, that's hardly the appropriate thing to do to those similar to yourself." He took his own head off and put it back on in the proper way. "Also, if you want to turn back then why don't you just do it yourse… Hmm, that's odd, if I didn't know any better I'd say you seem truly confused and angry… You do realize what you are, don't you?" Applejack was the first to break the silence. "Twi, what in tarnation is goin' on ere? What's he talkin' about?" "Don't listen to him girls, this must be some kind of plot of his! I'm not whatever this is." Twilight answered, the others nodded as to agree. "Really? Your serious here?" Discord stroked his goatee for a moment as to think. "You know what? Fine, if that's how you want to play it, then who am I to stop your fun." He grinned. "And speaking of fun, I set up a little game for you all, the prize is that which is yours if you find it, I've hidden them in this maze, but be warned, there are three rules. First is no flying and no magic." He looked at Twilight. "That goes doubly for you, if you use any then it's game over and I win. The second one is Everypony has to play or the game is over and I win again." They waited for him to say the third rule, but after a few seconds of saying nothing, Pinkie spoke up. "So what's the third rule of this fun game?" "Oh that's a simple one that only counts for little miss Twilight Sparkle here, but I'll only tell her once the game has started and she can't tell any of you or the game is over once more, your getting where I'm going with this, right?" Discord laughed as he simply vanished before their eyes, leaving behind his laughing mouth before it turned into a large smile and vanished aswell. Twilight glared at where Discord had been for a moment before asking the others if their ready, all of them were eager to beat his silly game and save Equestria once more, they quickly all headed into the maze with a synchronized step going inside, as hedges suddenly appeared in between and behind them, preventing them from staying together, after some quickly shouted inspirational words, they all quickly try and head for the center of the maze to find each other once more, all but Fluttershy why was so scared she hardly heard them in the first place, but eventually she would do the same. As Twilight headed her own direction though, Discord showed up in front of her, making her gasp. "Discord! What do you want!?" She shouted at him, Discord however seemed to rub his goatee and stare intently at her, as he realized she really didn't know. "I really should tell her, but this is too much fun as is… Still, for a hybrid of two races that reject each other to exist… It should only be possible through chaos magic, this could be a once in a lifetime opportunity… But who am I to spoil the fun? Plus it's not like I don't have a way to counter changeling magic, I just didn't expect it before." Discord thought to himself. "Oh it's nothing much my dear Twilight Sparklebug, I just thought you'd like to know the third rule by now, it's quite simple really, all you have to do is find all your friends, before you or your friends reach the center or before the game ends." He smirks. "Oh, but don't worry, not being able to do so doesn't result in a game over, only telling them about what I tell you will do so." "Then what's the point of this rule?" Twilight snapped at him. He chuckles. "I will give back their wings and horns… Well, one horn at least, as I'll tell them I'll turn them all back to normal regardless of whether they win or lose, however, if you fail to do this, you will remain as you are now" Twilight was about to shout 'What!?' and demand a reason, but he vanished before she could do so, confetti falling where he had been as laughter was all around her, all she could do at this point is shout out his name as loud as she could in frustration and anger. Things had not gone as Twilight had hoped, after they were separated and Discord had told her that last rule, all of her friends were acting odd whenever she found them again, it was almost like they were acting the complete opposite of their normal selves, they even seemed to actually believe she was an actual monster at this point. That said she only had Dash left to find, so things would likely soon be alright again, however, the worse part was just about to happen as Applejack had mentioned Dash leaving and they looked up to see her fly off with her regained wings. Discord then showed up as he laughed and said they had lost the game, Dash had broken one of his rules that said they all had to do it together and that no flying or magic was allowed, the maze vanished and he then said he would return them back to their true selves and snapped as Fluttershy's wings and Rarity's horn reappeared, Twilight however remained the same as she was, which after what Discord had just said made them look at her with an even worse look in their eyes, as if any remaining doubt they may or may not have had left about her being this being had just vanished. "I always knew you couldn't be trusted." Fluttershy said as she intended to hurt her with said words… And they did, they hurt a lot, it didn't help that most of the others responded in similar ways, though also different, rarity had simply growled at her while 'protecting' the 'diamond' behind her, Pinkie didn't even seem to acknowledge her and Applejack had told her that it had to be true if Discord said it. If it hadn't been for their current actions and words, she may have just been annoyed and angry at Discord, but right now she was just hurt and disappointed at her so called friends, she then looked at him. "Why would you do this? How is turning me into this.. This… Thing! Going to aid your plans Discord!?" Discord blinked a few times before bursting in laughter. "Oh.. Oh my." Gasping for breaths between laughter he started to slowly recompose himself. "That's hilarious! You really don't know, now I'm really interested in what happened to you in the past." A book appeared in front of Twilight as he snapped titled 'Unique and impossible beings of the unknown, by Dar Wing', Twilight gasped for a moment as she had only heard of this book from Celestia long ago when she had told her about long lost books, Discord then smiled. "How about you check out the chapter starting at page 513? I ensure you you'll be quite surprised." He then grinned. "Though you may also be interested in page 565." He quickly added. For a moment Twilight considered doing just so, but instantly shook her head and looked at him defiantly. "Like I'll ever trust anything you say or do! And what more do you want from us anyway? You already took away the maze, so we can't even get the elements anymore!" She was practically shouting at this point as her anger and frustration was crawling back into her mind. Discord had once again started to laugh. "How funny, you actually thought they were in the labyrinth?" He snaps and their both suddenly back where he had told them all his riddle the first time with them all still standing there as they listened, likely an illusion of some sort to show the past and the words once more were said. "To retrieve your missing elements just make sense of this change of events. Twists and turns are my master plan. Then find the elements back where you began." Once the past Discord had said it, the illusion vanished and they were back where they were before. "I never said they were in the maze." Discord then said as he laughed and vanished. "So they were never here? Then why did we just..? Argh!" Twilight sighed in frustration. "I just want to go home and have this all be over with… Go home… Back where you began… Of course! How could I have been so blind? Girls! I know where the elements are!" She turned to her friends who were acting as oddly as before with each other, as she then grumbled. "This is going to be an issue…" =====+++===== *A few miles from Ponyville* The trip back to Ponyville had been… Eventful, in a way, though not in the good way as Rarity accused anyone who got near the rock or tried to touch it that it was her 'diamond' and nopony else's, Applejack kept telling lies to all of them about a whole variety of things, including the train schedule, which made them actually miss the first one before Twilight decided to take matters into her own hoof and check out the schedule herself, Fluttershy took every opportunity she had to be mean to just about everyone in the group and outside the group, even any animals that came near weren't spared from her And Pinkie… Well, Twilight didn't even know she could be such a grump even if she were to actively try, or be influenced for that manner. Twilight herself didn't have it much better though, anypony they came across thought she was some kind of monster that would eat them whole, some even took it to themselves to throw old vegetables towards her and a single frightened mare had thrown a whole bench at her when she tried to explain who she was, I was a wonder she was even allowed on the train in the first place, though perhaps her being absolutely furious at that time had something to do with it as the conductor didn't even try to get their tickets and stayed as far away as possible. It wasn't long before the train had stopped, but it was still a way away from Ponyville, Twilight wondered for a moment if they had stopped because of her and had somehow build up enough courage to try to kick her out, she was starting to slightly hyperventilate and opened a window to get some fresh air, when she saw the real reason that had stopped, apparently the tracks a bit further from the train had turned into living gummy worms and had started to eat the rest of the track, the machinist would likely soon start to go backwards, so she decided to take her friends and walk the rest of the way, regardless of how much they might refuse, even if she had to put 'Tom' on her own back all the way, 'Tom' being the rock Rarity had taken with them and decided to name during the ride. A bit later as Ponyville came into view, they could see the ground in different colors, buildings floating and upside down, the sun and moon going up and down quickly after each other and more, Twilight suddenly instinctively dodged some long legged bunnies that would have likely trampled her otherwise, then she felt an odd feeling inside herself and sat down. "Why do I suddenly feel so… Soapy?" Before she could really wonder how she even knew how that would feel like from the inside out, the dirt road changed into a soapy road, making Applejack slip and fall down. Discord then showed up as he skated down the road. "Beautiful isn't it? This is the new and improved Ponyville, and these are only my first changes." Pinkie skated by in a stylish manner. "This may look like it's fun, but it's not." She then stated. Twilight grumbled before looking to her left as Discord then placed a paw on her back and his head popped out from her left side and took her up while he grew behind her. "Picture it, the chaos capitol of the world." As he then held her out the sun turned into the moon. Normally this would make it too dark to see, but Twilight's new eyes somehow made everything easy to see, almost like wearing some special goggles, or having draconic eyes. "You mean this mess?" Discord then dropped Twilight. "Oh just wait a few minutes and see it in the light, you'll see it much better then, or not." The sun came back out and Twilight looked again. "Nope, still a mess." "Well excuse me little miss critic, I don't see you create any better chaos." Discord replied as he skated off over the soapy road. Twilight had a deadpan look in her eyes as she looked at him skate away. "It's not like I can use chaos magic in the first place." A chuckle could be heard from Discord as he was about to say something, but before he could they could hear a loud shout coming from the village. "DISCORD!" As they looked they then saw a dark blue alicorn fly towards them at a speed that Dash would envy. "How dare you change this place that is the home of me and my goddaughter into this!?" Luna then landed in front of him with a loud bang, making a small crater where she landed, which then shot her back up into the sky as it had turned into a trampoline, before she found herself suspended in the air by Twilight's magic in order to gently put her onto solid ground, though Luna seemed to be to enraged at the time to notice it was Twilight who did so. "Oh Lulu, how I missed you, you always was more fun then that stick in the sun Celestia, how have you been?" Discord replied to her happily, either missing her outburst or simply ignoring it. Luna looked at him with a furious look "How have I been? HOW HAVE I BEEN!? You turned my home into a cardboard cutout! Just the fact that you’re here endangers my goddaughter and her friends! I hope your prepared to be a lawn ornament when I'm done with you! Now what have you done to her and her friends!?" "Done? I haven't done anything to your goddaughter, I didn't even know you had one, in fact didn't you only come back a year ago? You move fast to already have one Lulu." Discord quipped back. "Don't give me that, and my name isn't Lulu! Now tell me where she is! Tell me where Twilight Sparkle is!" Luna yelled at him as if she was about to blast his head off, and likely would aswell with how her horn was charging. Discord however, looked surprised by what she had said, twice in one day? Why if this would keep up then this time period promised to be absolutely delightful to Discord, who then grinned and moved out of the way, showing Luna that Twilight and friends were right there, holding their ears from the use of her Canterlot voice. "Twilight Sparkle is your goddaughter? Well, why didn't you tell me straight away? She's right there." He pointed at Twilight expecting Luna to be surprised by her new appearance. "Though I suppose you likely won't recognize her without her disguise~" Once again he found himself surprised however when instead of being shocked or ask him what he did to her, Luna just simply jumped at Twilight and hugged her. "Thank goodness your alright Twilight!" She exclaimed, still in her Canterlot voice, before seeing them all grasp for their ears once more. "Ah! … Sorry, I was kind of… Heated there." "Ouch." Twilight rubbed her ears. "That's alright Luna, I can imagine why with him around." She pointed at Discord, at least she thought she did but he was floating above them on a pink cloud. "Color me surprised Lulu." Discord said as he looked void of color and completely white with black lines as some pencils appeared. "I was sure you of all ponies would be shocked to hear that, from what I heard while I was a statue, you and your sister had fought those changeling 'monsters' to the brink of genocide once, yet here you are hugging it like it's no big deal, why one would almost believe you knew of this already." He then grinned. Luna looked at him in anger while Twilight looked at Luna with a bit of doubt. "W-what does he mean Luna? Did these Changelings actually exist? B-but I'm not one of them as he claims… Right?" Twilight then asked, her voice quivering in fear of if she might actually be some kind of monster. Luna noticed her quivering voice and rapid breathing and decided to just calm her down rather then tell the truth at this point, but she also didn't want to lie to her, so instead she opted for a third option. "You are who you have always been Twilight, yourself, no matter what he may say or claim, you have to at least have faith in yourself, I know I do." She then nuzzled Twilight gently before looking back at Discord. "As for why I wasn't shocked or anything like that, I never joined that battle, that was all Celestia." She looked back at Twilight. "And yes, before you ask again, they did indeed exist, though they weren't some kind of monsters as he makes them sound, just… Misunderstood." "Oh? I guess you can't believe anything you eat anymore these days." Discord put his claw into his mouth and down his throat as if he was looking for something, before he took out a book, completely horrifying Twilight as this meant he had eaten a book before now. "Hmm, hold on a second, this isn't even mentioned in this book at all anyway, I suppose the winner writes history as they please huh? But you likely know all about that, 'Nightmare Loon'." He chuckled. "Enough!" Luna slammed her hooves down onto the ground. "Return everything the way it was Discord!" "Or what? You'll use those elements of yours to turn me back to stone? Oh wait, you can't!" Discord shouted gleefully as he started to laugh. "You and your sister can no longer use the elements and even if you could, you don't even have them anymore." "What are you…" Luna started as she was interrupted by Twilight. "Laugh while you can Discord, but I have an idea of where they might be, and when I find them, me and my friends will stop you!" Courage now renewed with Luna now here, Twilight knew she could do this. Discord blinked. "Oh this I got to see, you'll find me at the center of town when you do, feel free to visit me at anytime." And with that, he vanished with a loud poof as his laughter echoes around them. "Well, now that that's taken care off, let's go gi…" Twilight started but didn't finish her sentence as she turned around to find all but Rarity and Luna missing, Rarity only still being here as she was unable to move very fast with 'Tom' on her back, she then look at Rarity with a deadpan look. "Where are the others?" "I wouldn't know, nor do I care, as long as Tom and I are together.' Rarity replied as she kept trying to walk past Twilight. "Oh great, now I have to find both the elements and their bearers, could it get any harder!?" Twilight facehoofed as she said this, only for Luna to put a hoof on her back in comfort. Luna then smiled as Twilight looked at her. "Don't worry, I'll find them, you just focus on the elements for now, I'll take them to the library when I do." "How will you get them to comply?" Twilight asked her. "I mean if they just up and left right now, then it's likely they won't want to come willingly either and I'd rather not have them hurt." Luna put her hoof to her chin as she looked up and closed her eyes, clearly in thought, before she put her hoof back down and looked at Rarity. "I suppose I'll do this then." She hit Rarity with a sleep spell, who then started to wobble before falling face first into the soapy road, 'Tom' however fell down with the intend to likely kill her, had Luna not quickly reacted by a levitation spell to put the rock down on the side of the road. "I'll uh… Be more careful with the others." Twilight who had a look of terror on her as she almost saw her friend get squashed, then looked at Luna before recollecting herself. "Please do, their not as sturdy as you or Celestia." "… I'll keep that in mind… I suppose I'll go look for them at their own addresses first then, do you want me to take her with me or do you want to take her to the library herself? The spell should keep her out for several hours or till I wake her up again, so there's no risk of waking up either way." Luna said as she stretched her wings. "No, that's alright, I may just aswell take her with me myself, at least she won't have me lug 'Tom' along if she's asleep." Twilight responded. "Tom?" Luna shook her head after Twilight pointed at the rock. "You know what? Forget I asked, I'll see you when I've found the others." And with that, Luna took to the skies. Twilight gave one more look at 'Tom' and then at Rarity before sighing in relief, at least carrying a single mare would be a lot easier then a huge piece of rock. Not much later Twilight finally got to the library and opened the door, calling for Spike, who then walked out of the kitchen while looking back at it, likely because he was cooking something. "Oh hey Twi, what's uEEP!" The little dragon had just turned his head and saw Twilight, he instantly ducked behind a flowerpot and threw some books at her. "What are you and what do you want of me?" He paused for a moment and stopped throwing. "Please don't say you want to eat me…" Then he noticed Rarity on her back. "Rarity! Let her go you ugly monster!" He was about to throw another book when it was taken out of his claw by a familiar purple magic. "Spike, it's me, Twilight… Don't throw my books!" Twilight seemed a bit more angry because of the books then the monster part, but then Twilight's face seemed a bit sad. "You really think I'm ugly now?" "Twi? … How do I know this isn't some kind of trick?" The little dragon asked. Twilight deadpanned, something she had done a lot of today. "You once spend a whole month guarding a large chocolate egg as you thought it was another dragon egg just because it was about the same size, you cried when it then molt in the sun one day and I had to spend all day explaining to you that it had been made of chocolate all along." "It is you! … Hey! You promised you'd never tell anypony!" Spike crossed his arms in frustration. "Rarity's asleep, I haven't betrayed your promise, yet." Twilight replied as she floated Rarity off her back and some pillows from her room to put her on, before she looked back at him once more. "… Do I really look that ugly now?" "Huh? Oh… Nah, not really, I mean it's just something you shout in the heat of things you know?" He walked up to her. "You look mostly the same now that I take a better look at you anyway, though the odd horn and those wings are new, not to mention the holes in… Three of your hooves? Why only three? Also, why is your body mostly blackish now? And smooth… Is this some kind of scale?" He asked as he touched her side. "It feels nice." "I think it's Chitin actually." Twilight replied before Spike had in turn replied back with Chwhatnow? "Chitin, it's the primary component of cell walls in fungi and the exoskeletons of arthropods such as crustaceans and insects, aswell as several other things for other creatures, though the hard layer is more commonly known as carapace and is an exoskeleton." She said as Spike was already lost once more. "So… Your saying your some kind of sea creature or bug now? Though looking at the wings I'm guessing it's more like a bug… I suppose pegasus wings aren't normally found on bugs though." The little dragon pointed out. "No I'm…" Twilight stopped to think for a moment. "I'm… I'm not sure, Discord turned me into this telling me it was something called a Changeling, but I don't know if they aren't some kind of bug like creature now that I think of it…" Sighing Twilight shakes her head. "No, that's not important right now, Spike, I need to find reference guide to 'The elements of harmony' to fix all this." "The elements of harmony? Oh! I know exactly where that book is." Spike dashes for one of the stairs to the many bookshelves and climbs it, soon after he pulled out a book. "Found it!" "Thanks Spike, I don't know what I'd do without you." Twilight levitated the book towards her before she opened it and found it mostly hollow with the new addition of the actual elements inside, making her gasp. "The elements! They were here all along… In my book… Which has been ruined! When I get my hooves on Discord I'm gonna…" Spike interjected there. "Hey Twi? Who's this Discord you keep mentioning?" Not having been there when they went to Canterlot but rather staying behind, Spike had no idea who he was. "Oh nopony special, just the one who's making a royal mess out of everything outside." She grumbles before taking out the elements. Before Spike could say anything else though, Dash suddenly crashed though the door, fully asleep and clutching a small cloud in her hooves, before Luna came in slightly worried. "Is she alright? I didn't think she'd keep on flying after I put a sleep spell on her, I'm amazed she landed here though." The lunar mare said. Spike checked Dash to check for any physical damage aswell as a pulse. "I'm sure she'll be fine, she's done larger crashes before, plus her pulse is steady and there are no obvious injuries besides a few cuts and bruises." Twilight just sighs as she looks at her broken door. "I suppose I'll put it to the list of things she owes me, she crashes in here more often then it rains and that's without her being all cuckoo." "I didn't realize she did it that often." Luna said while floating in Pinkie, Applejack and Fluttershy. "We keep a list of the times she's done so and what she broke, I think it might one day become a best seller titled 'Rainbow Dash's crashes and debts'." Spike jokingly said. "So anypony want to fill me in on why our friends are apparently under some sleep spell? … Or looking gray?" "I'm not completely sure, Discord did something to them, their acting like complete and utter jerks now." The annoyance could almost be felt as Twilight said that. Luna thought for a moment. "I had noticed that they were all acting nothing like themselves when I found them, almost like they were…" She then gasps. "Like their the opposite of their elements, Twilight, you can't face Discord with them like this, the elements won't react properly if the bearers aren't acting like their old selves." "But, what are we supposed to do then? It's not like I can just zap their heads with some kind of memory spell… Well, perhaps I could, but I'd rather not if I can avoid it, if it goes badly then bad things can happen including memory loss and a loss of basic skills, sometimes even the short term memory could be affected…" Twilight sighs. "Though I suppose this is quite a desperate situation…" As Twilight was contemplating on using said spell, Luna decided to chime in. "Actually, I may have a different option, though I'm not sure if your able to do it and as long as I'm keeping them asleep by force, I can't do it myself." Luna then looks at the sleeping mares. "Not many could do this type of magic even in my time, and it would seem that over the years all practitioners but me have vanished, though I suppose that was likely more because of a lack of teachers then anything else." "What is it? I'll do anything as long as it can save my friends!" Twilight was quick to respond. Luna looked a bit apologetic. "You have to understand though, this type of spell requires one to have a special attunement to the night and to protect others, it's not just a simple spell or something, it's a whole different state of being, even during my time there were but a dozen of them including me, so the chances are high that you won't be able to do it." Twilight didn't seem troubled though as her face was nearly stoic at this point. "I've always loved the night, Celestia may have been my teacher, but most of the time I was studying while it was daytime and while I was studying a lot of the time at night aswell, I did take the time to at least gaze at the stars, there's always been something that was soothing about it all, plus there's so much more going on in the night sky, I especially love it when there are meteor showers." Spike grumbled. "I can vouch for that, most of the daytime Twi had me grab book after book, while at nights at least I could rest while she looked through those telescopes." "I see." Luna let out a small chuckle. "Perhaps I should offer you my mentorship instead of my sister then, though as I'm your godmother, you but need to ask for guidance and I'll give it to you, so there's no real reason for that I suppose." Twilight's eyes sparkled for a moment as she considered having both Celestia and Luna as mentors, before she heard that last part. "Then please, guide me with this, I want to help my friends as best I can!" A small content sigh came from Luna. "Very well, I'll try and teach you the way of the dream walker, but remember, this is not something that works for everypony, no matter how powerful they are, my sister could never do it because of her alignment to daytime… And even if it doesn't work, I will think no less of you Twilight." "Dream walker… You mean go into the dreams of others?" Twilight asked. "It's a bit more complicated then that, we dream walkers protect those that dream from dangers far beyond the realm of imagination, there are ancient dangers lurking in dark corners of the mind that ponies have long since forgotten about that only we could fight…" Luna sighs again, this time it sounded more like a sad sigh. "I've been so busy lately trying to fight them all off, had I came back any later some may even have escaped the dream realm, or worse." She then looks at Twilight. "Promise me though that if you manage to do this and see one of these ancient dangers that you will not get their attention and if you do you have to escape instantly, cause I will only be able to teach you how to enter the dreams of others and to make simple changes or jog their memories." "Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!" Twilight makes the motions that come with the Pinkie promise but manages to not prick her eye for a change. "Huh, I actually stopped in time this time." She then looks back at Luna. "I can understand the need to jog memories, but what do you mean with simple changes? And why would I need that?" "To hide from plain sight, a dream walker doesn't often interact directly with the dreamer, and in the few cases they need to do so, they need to sooth the dreamer by having a form they think they can trust, as not to scare them awake, it's quite dangerous to be in a dream when somepony wakes up and while I will keep them under a sleep spell while your in their dreams, it is best you show them they can trust you, so they'll accept the memory jog quicker." Luna calmly explained. "I see." Twilight's curiosity sated for now… Well, slightly, she really had a hundred or more questions about this whole thing, but right now those weren't important, she made a mental note to ask her after this was done, regardless of whether or not she could do it, there was however one more question she had to ask. "So how do we get started?" Luna explained to Twilight the basics of it all and that unless she was more experienced, the easiest way to get into the dream realms of others would be through her own dream and that it's often hardest to realize you are asleep in the first place, only to be told by Twilight that she's always realized when she was in a dream already, which was surprising to say the least for Luna, before once more warning her of the dangers of those ancient evils that lurked the dream realm, though they didn't have much time left, she also felt the need to tell her how to recognize them just in case. "And that's all you need to know for now, I won't be able to help you once your asleep, but I can offer to at least pull you out in case something goes completely wrong, you just need to think of something strongly enough, in my experiences it's often best to pick something you absolutely hate or something you love." Luna said and prepared her sleep spell. "Something I hate or love… So either coconuts or chocolate then… There's a large chance chocolate is in some of Pinkie's memories at least so it's probably best I don't pick that, so let's go with coconuts, since I hate them." Twilight answered before she looked at Luna with determination. "I'm ready now." "Good luck Twilight." Luna then put Twilight to sleep. "… Coconuts huh? She never liked them either… And neither do I." "You don't? I absolutely love them!" Spike said as he came down the stairs carrying some blankets and pillows. "Guess that means more for me if we ever have them." =====+++===== *Inside the dream of a certain mare* The room was bright with the sun shining through the window as a little lavender filly reading a book like she always does sits on her bed, she then closes it however with a annoying grunt followed by a sigh. "Same as always huh? What do dreams have against reading?" She got off of bed, turning back into her current form while she does so, the letters on the book's tittle all jumbled up or turned into odd squiggles. After getting up and seeing she turned into her changeling hybrid form, Twilight grumbled once more. "I know she told me I had to change into my current bodily form before I can change myself so my friends won't be surprised, but I don't see why I couldn't just do it right away…" She closed her eyes and tried to recall what Luna had told her. Twilight then recited the words out loud. "In order to enter the dream of others, you need to peer through the veil of your own dream first, see the dreams of others beyond your own, the void between them is both big and small, your own imagination will be the guide to how quickly you can get to them." She then opened her eyes to look around, but didn't see anything just yet. "Focus Twilight, focus, you can do this, your friends need you, Luna believes in you… I can do this." And with that she closes her eyes once more, focusing. "What was it she said again? I need to have a special attunement to the night for this to work… Why would you need that? Is there perhaps a reason for it?" Without realizing it, she had started to move her head backwards to point up at the sky, as the building around her crumbled and the day turned to night, before she opened her eyes and saw she was now looking at the night sky, an odd shimmer seemed to move over it though. "The night… All those stars, should I see the distance of dreams to be the same? But then how do I get to them?" Twilight looked at the stars as she wondered, the odd shimmer almost making them seem right next to her, as she slowly started to reach out with one of her hooves. "It almost looks like I can touch them." She was squinting at the scene as she reached out a bit more, only to open her eyes completely in shock when she actually touched a star and suddenly found herself somewhere else complete. Looking around she saw she was in some kind of big city. "What the? Where am I? I've never been here before." Looking around a bit more she saw that all the ponies were faceless, but in the way you'd think of some kind of horror show, but more in the way of them not being seen as important enough to have them, all but a single newsstand pony who looked bored on the corner of the street. Blinking a few more times Twilight suddenly realized. "I'm in somepony else's dream, he must have fallen asleep on the job or something, he looks almost bored enough to do it again." She then looked at the sky and turned it into night once more. "Hmm, but how do I know which dream is who's?... Also, I should change my appearance before I do so." She looked at herself after realizing the newsstand pony had seen her and suddenly all the faceless ponies looked in her direction. Before that though the newsstand pony started to panic and Twilight realized he might wake up from fright. "Oh, that's not good… COCONUTS!" She felt sick as everything started to swirl and turn. And then she woke up in shock. "Are you alright Twilight?" Luna asked her. "Y-yeah, I was in the dream of some pony I didn't know, in a city I haven't been to and forgot to turn myself into a normal form, the pony there seemed to panic so I realized he might wake up soon… Thanks for getting me out." Twilight said as she slowly calmed down and caught her breath. "You… You went that far? Normally dream walkers are only able to see the dreams in their own town or village at most first, they need to learn how to properly see more places then that… What were you picturing to traverse the dream realm?" Luna asked, clearly amazed that Twilight went that far, even she didn't remember going that far the first time she got into the dream realm. "Huh? I needed to picture something specific? I just thought about what you said before it all about how we needed to be attuned to the night, so when I looked up at the night and touched a star I…" Twilight was interrupted by Luna who seemed even more surprised now. "You pictured the stars as dreams!? And you were even able to touch them to traverse the dream realm?" Luna had to quickly reapply the sleep spell on some as she lost her focus for a moment. "That's incredible, no other dream walker besides me has ever even been able to imagine that on their own, let alone use it, you may just be more suited to this then I am once your properly trained." "… But it won't help my friends right now, how am I supposed to know which star to choose? There's too many of them, I can't just skip around randomly, what if I forget which ones I already went to?" Twilight seemed a bit defeated by this, she was eager to do this again, but not right now, not if she couldn't save her friends. "Hmm, I think I can help you with that, normally it's easy as the dreams are close enough for dream walkers to recognize other dreams, but I traverse the sky for them aswell, so I had to use a different method." Taking a small breath and checking if their all still asleep, Luna continues. "All dream walkers instinctively feel certain things, though not many notice without training, when I realized this I divided the feelings into certain different reactions and based them on some of my stars, as such when something like a nightmare happens they flicker for me, when an ancient danger is getting too powerful the star turns blue and so forth, I think you can do the same for friends and family, you have a deep bond with them afterall Twilight, use that bond to find them." Twilight considered Luna's advice for a moment. "Alright, I will, send me back Luna, I think I'm ready now." "Good, and perhaps put on your disguise before you go into their dreams next time." Luna chuckled as she put Twilight back to sleep. This time Twilight felt determined to do it right, after donning her basic form once more she checked herself over. "Alright, first thing's first, I'll turn back into my normal self again and then I'll connect my friends through my bonds somehow…" She sighed, suddenly feeling a little bit less optimistic as she didn't know how she would do so, but she steeled her resolve once more as she knew she had to and could do it. As Twilight changed her appearance in the dream, Luna smiled as a lavender fire surrounded Twilight outside of the dream aswell, as if working in tandem, once done Twilight looked the same as ever… With the exception of the two wings she forgot to remove. Inside the dream Twilight checked herself out. "Hmm, seems I'm fully normal again, horn? Check. Hooves? Check. Coat? Check. Wings? Check… Wait, wings?" She looked back at her back and facehooved. "I forgot to remove the wings… Well, I suppose they can stay for now, I mean this is only a dream, so there's no harm in keeping them for now, right?" She asked herself, but since nopony responded, she took it as a mental yes. She then looked at the night sky once more. "Connect the bonds with my friends to the stars… How exactly? Do I just think of them strongly? Or recall all those memories we made? And how will I recognize them? It's not like their names or cutiemarks are there, and doing it like Luna does would mean altering the stars themselves… If only there was some kind of magic screen that would appear in front of me as I moved my hoof across the sky that could tell me." She half jokingly moved her hoof across the sky, slightly shocked when it actually did appear… Well now, this would make things a lot easier. After looking around for a few minutes, she finally found a few of her friends. "Fluttershy and Applejack huh? I suppose I'll try them first then." Twilight went into Applejack's dream first, but what she found was not at all what she had expected, it looked chaotic and messy, Discord obviously did this to her, no way Applejack would dream of this even if she was the complete opposite of herself. It wasn't easy to find Applejack and then turn the odd dream into a bunch of memories, especially since Applejack made some remarks on her never being a princess in her eyes as she would only ever see her as some kind of bug monster now, Twilight hadn't really cared about the princess part, that had only been a mistake in the first place, but the monster part still stung. But it had eventually worked, and Twilight was off to the dreams of one of her other friends, their dream was similar aswell and she just knew for certain now that this was because of Discord, after that she just kept repeating it, find her friend, listen to their hurtful remarks but not believe them, then show them their memories and search for her next friend among the stars to repeat it, Dash had been the hardest to show the memories however, Twilight actually had to chase her down, if not for those new wings she had now aswell as this being a dream, she felt like she likely would never have managed to do it, but eventually she did. Twilight now sighed in relief. "Good, now to get out of here… Perhaps I should go to my own dream first to be safe." She looked for her own star but was unable to find it at first, then a new star appeared in the sky next to the moon and as she put the screen over it she saw her cutiemark over it. "Well… That's convenient." She muttered before touching it and finding herself in her usual dream, she then smiled. "Coconuts." This time the feeling wasn't disorientating or everything around her appearing to swirl around her, she just closed her eyes and then opened them again, as she woke in the normal world. "From your normal reaction, I take it things went well this time around?" Luna asked. "It did, you can wake them now, they should be back to normal… I hope." Twilight replied hopefully yet with a slight hint of doubt as she's never done this before, even Luna wasn't fully sure it would have worked. It had been a success however, as her friends all woke up wondering why they were in the library and what had happened… Before asking Twilight why she was now suddenly an Alicorn, Twilight who had till then been mostly preoccupied with helping her friends, hadn't even realized she had turned back to normal yet still had the wings for some reason, for a moment she panicked and asked what had happened, Luna told her to calm down and focus on Discord for now, this could wait till later on. Taking a few deep breaths, Twilight decided that she was right, it was likely some kind of effect from what Discord had done anyway she figured and after telling her friends about everything that Discord had done, they decided to don their elements and find him, luckily he had told her just where to find him when they came back to town. "Discord!" Twilight shouted as she and her friends found him sitting on a floating throne, Luna had opted to stay behind for a bit longer to quickly send a message to her sister through Spike. "Hmm?" Discord lowered his sunglasses as he saw them approach, deciding to drink a glass of chocolate milk before they were fully there, though he literally drank the glass and not the chocolate milk which he then threw behind his back into the distance before it exploded once it reached the ground, as he checked them out. "Well, well, well, I see you've found the Elements of Harmony. How terrifying! And it seems you've decided to don the disguise of a pony once more." He looks a bit closer at her. "Oh excuse me, you went with the whole alicorn bit instead of a normal pony huh? Well, who would blame you, being a princess is much more fun, isn't it?" As if on cue Discord suddenly has Celestia's regalia on and Twilight finds herself wearing Luna's regalia, shrunk to their respective sizes and shapes to accommodate them better. Twilight is a bit taken back by this but quickly ignores it and looks straight into his eyes with the same defiance as before. "Discord! I figured out your lame riddle. And with my friends at my side, we'll defeat you!" Discord just seems overly confidant. "I certainly am. You've 'clearly' out-dueled me, and now it's time to meet my fate." He get's up and makes a target appear on his body. "I'm prepared to be defeated now, ladies. Fire when ready." Normally he would have been a bit taken back by the sudden light that came from them all, but right now he was certain they would soon fail since clearly a changeling or a hybrid that realizes it's roots would be as disharmonious as he was and therefore would be unable to control it, a smug smile appears on his face as he doesn't even realizes he's hit by a rainbow beam and once more slowly turning to stone, that is till he realizes he can't move his body or mouth anymore and quickly opens his eyes in shock as he soon finds them to turn into stone aswell, just a second later a full statue is standing there with a smug look on his face, shock in his eyes and wearing both a target on his chest aswell as Celestia's regalia refitted to match him. Not a moment later the rainbow magic bursts out and forms a full rainbow before turning into a dome and turning everything back to normal, once it is the girls open their eyes and look around before they hug each other in glee, before Twilight winces a bit in pain as one of them hugged a bit too hard and hurt her wings. "Ow, watch it, your hurting my wi…" Twilight's eyes went wide as she quickly looked back at her still there wings. "W-what the!? I still have wings!? But why? Didn't everything go back to before Discord messed with everything!?" Her friends looked at each other as they too wondered what was going on, before Luna now showed up. "Sorry it took so long, Spike had trouble sending it with all that chaos magic, he managed to send it once everything turned back to n…" Luna then noticed her regalia on Twilight. "Is that… It looks good on you Twilight." "It does? … Wait, no, that's unimportant, why do I still look like this? Do you know?" Twilight quickly asked and for a moment Luna considered if now would be a good time to tell her about her true self. That is up until a brightly shining orb started to decent before them with the intensity of actual sunlight, making everypony look away from it. "Agh! Sister! Lower thine intensity! Thou art blinding us all!" Luna shouted in her own dialect from the sudden appearance. The intense solar light dimmed down and the orb appears to not be an orb at all but instead Celestia herself as soon as she's back to her normal self. "Ah, excuse me, when I read the letter I came here as quickly as possible, I had hoped to join you all to fight Discord if he proved too much." She looks at the statue. "But I see that I wasn't nee… Is that my regalia? I had wondered where it went." She pouts slightly but not enough to be noticed by the others, knowing she wouldn't be able to get it back for quite some time at this point. "Princess, Discord did something to me and it didn't go away once we beat him." Twilight suddenly said, still a bit unnerved about the whole thing. Celestia quickly looked at her with shock, only to be surprised rather then shocked from her current appearance. "This is…" Celestia thought hard for a second, as a idea came to her mind. "Congratulations Twilight, it seems you've ascended through this hard and arduous trial, you must have done quite the feet for this to happen." Luna couldn't believe what she was hearing here, Celestia was using the trial of ascendancy to fuel a new lie, to once more not have to tell the truth. "A-ascend? Me? But I didn't stop him by myself, and I looked like this before we even got to him, why would I suddenly become a alicorn like yourself?" Questions flooded Twilight's mind as she asked this, questions like how, when and why, more and more appeared. Celestia winced for a moment as she now realized she may have said it a bit too quickly as she had thought that it had happened after they defeated Discord. "W-well, think deeply, when did this happen? Did you do anything special at the time?" Twilight thought as her friends looked at each other, before Applejack decided to speak. "What about that whole dream thingy Twi? Ya did manage to enter our dreams and do that whole mind thing." Celestia was a bit surprised by this herself. "You managed to enter the dream realm and actually trigger their memories?" Luna felt a bit proud of her goddaughter at this point. "That she did dear sister, she has a great future ahead of herself as a dream walker, she's even more powerful then I was at her age, she managed to instantly connect it to the night sky in her mind and can already go as far as I can now, perhaps even further! Her connection to the night is greater then that of the day by a long shot" Celestia blinked a few more times, not really used to Luna acting this proud of anyone's accomplishments but her own, at least from before she came back. "My, it seems you've had quite the eventful day my faithful student… Or perhaps I should call you my fellow ruler, I could use somepony to handle the night affaires." Celestia had noticed that Twilight was now wearing Luna's regalia and decided to make fun of it, just a small joke. "Twilight's now the princess of the night? That's so awesome!" Dash quickly shouted. "Ah always knew ya were destined for greatness Twi." Applejack followed up. Celestia was starting to sweat slightly as it almost seemed like they had taken her seriously. "Neigh, she is not ready sister!" Luna objected. "Think of all the night time parties we could have! Oh! I'll finally be able to use all those glow in the dark decorations!" Pinkie bounced around almost twice as hyper as normally. "I'll have to make an ensemble of dresses for all the different occasions, it's no good for royalty to just have a single plain dress dear." Rarity motioned as she already started to measure Twilight for a new dress that would take her wings in account. "Hmm, perhaps I could work that regalia into the design, it would be a waste not to use them." Celestia meanwhile started to feel slightly lightheaded, were they messing with her or did they actually take her seriously. "Will you have to go back to Canterlot Twilight? Can we visit you? I-if that's alright I mean…" Fluttershy said as her voice got a bit softer. Twilight had almost asked if she got a say into all this, but as she looked at Celestia who was now looking tensed up as if she wouldn't take no for an answer, she decided to swallow her objection, at least it looked like that to her, Celestia was in fact sweating bullets while trying to look like nothing was wrong here, not wanting to admit that it had all been a joke after all this, Twilight did however decide to answer her friends. "Thanks everypony, I'll do my best to make you proud princess Celestia, and I'm sure you can all come whenever you want as long as your not disturbing any business… As for if I'll go to Canterlot, if possible I'd like to stay here in Ponyville, but I don't know if that'll be alright." "T-that would be fine." Celestia replied, a small crack in her voice before she made herself look and sound calm once more, even if internally she was not. "We can just make a building for night court here in Ponyville, and Luna could train you for the more finer details of the job while you’re here." She would be damned if she would be found out by now, so she went with it all. "Hmm, I suppose I can agree to that, but she won't have to rule the night till before I teach her completely and the building is done, understood sister?" Luna replied. "That… That's fine." A small relieved sigh came from Celestia, as it would seem that at least things weren't a complete flop here. "That's a load of my heart, to be honest I was a bit afraid that I wasn't ready myself." Twilight put her hoof up to her by now quickly beating heart, in fact it was beating so hard it was like there were two of them. *Later that night* Pinkie's victory party that seemed oddly specifically themed to have defeated Discord, had scoped most of the town, everypony had by now started to head to their respective homes while Pinkie cleaned up the streets, which seemed to be done nearly as quickly as it had been set up, something Pinkie was quite proud of it seems. Luna had invited Twilight for a bite to eat at her place as she often did and on Twilight's request she also invited her sister who was more then happy to join them, hoping to fix their still fragile bond, or at least strengthen it slightly. Celestia was a bit surprised when the dishes put on the table hadn't been the special kind of foods one would suspect royalty to eat, even royalty that decided to live among normal ponies, though she had to admit, those curly fries and those hayburgers looked delicious, Twilight had told them to go ahead while she freshened up a bit. "So… How has the life of a regular pony been treating you?" Celestia asked, uncertain of how to start, but determined to make amends. "I quite like it, I should have done so ages ago, perhaps if I had done so you wouldn't have found it so odd and poked around where you shouldn't have." Luna adamantly replied, the look in her eyes still seemed like she blame her sister. Celestia sighed. "I've changed over the years Luna, I know I wronged you back then by lying, but at the time I held so much anger for them, and I felt so much fear of losing you…" "So instead of talking to me calmly you decided to just banish me instead, losing me by your own hoof." Luna jabbed back. A slight cringe could be seen by Celestia. "It's not like you really wanted to listen after that either… I wanted to tell you at times during the fight… But I doubted you would have believed me or listened to me, so I decided to see it through till the end." "I… I may have been a bit too enraged to listen." Luna admitted. "But that is no excuse for never even trying." "I know." Celestia sighed. "And I'm truly sorry for that, can you ever forgive me?" Luna looked at her sister as she prostrated herself in front of her, before she let out a sigh. "You did keep my goddaughter safe for all those years… I suppose… I could forgive you for your foolish lie." Celestia's eye's seemed to practically sparkle with happiness. "Thank you, thank you so much." She began to cry slightly, though these were tears of happiness rather then those from loneliness or sadness as she had often during all those years while looking back. Luna felt slightly uncomfortable seeing her sister like this. "Yes, yes. But don't think I'll forget sister, if you ever make a similar decision, I will hold it against you." "I understand, thanks you." Celestia was still crying her eyes out, somehow it actually felt like all the weight she had put onto her shoulders, all the guilt and all the sorrow had decided to melt away through her tears, before she heard a sigh and then suddenly felt a slight hug through the means of one of Luna's wings as she had decided to sit next to her. "It's alright… Tia, let it all out, perhaps I have been a bit too harsh this past year." Luna said as she hugged her sister slightly, the latter now fully letting it all go as she cried. Twilight however, had no idea what she had just walked in on when she came into the room and saw Luna with one of her wings around Celestia as a gentle hug and Celestia crying a river, it almost looked like a big sister soothing the little sister and once again she wondered why it was the other way around. A bit later, after some awkward explanations by Celestia, Twilight had learned that even immortal alicorns had emotions just like any other pony and that Celestia had kept hers in for way too long, it had been odd seeing her former teacher like that, as she always thought of her as some kind of perfect pony who knew only love for her subjects, but clearly this hadn't been the case, it made her feel a lot more down to earth in a sense, and it made Twilight feel glad, as it would mean she wouldn't some day disconnect herself from her emotions. By now the food had gotten cold however and Luna had decided to make some more, she said she could reheat it all but it would taste better fresh, especially since this was a family dinner now, so she put these aside for another day as she started to make a new batch. Twilight and Celestia were now the ones sitting across from one another in an awkward silence and once again Celestia had opted for saying something first. "So… A dream walker huh? How does that feel?" "Huh? Oh, uhm… It felt… Like it was meant to be? It's kind of hard to explain, don't you know already princess?" Twilight asked a bit uncertain about how it had felt. "No, unfortunately I was never able to do it myself, you need a special connection to the night for that." Celestia replied. "Oh, right, Luna told me that before, but I meant more like hasn't Luna told you how it felt princess? Or any of the other dream walkers of the past?" Twilight wondered why Luna had never told Celestia if that had been the case, though she herself was struggling for words on how to explain the sensation of moving from dream to dream. "Other dream walkers?" Celestia seemed truly surprised by this. "Luna never told me there had been more then her, she said it was too difficult to explain to somepony who couldn't do it and that she could only do it thanks to her connection to the night, I had always assumed that meant it was simply her talent and other ponies couldn't do it." "You thought wrong sister!" Luna shouted from the kitchen, obviously having heard. "It's not polite to listen in on the conversations of others Luna!" Celestia shouted back. "What?" Luna shouted back. "I said it's not polite to listen to other ponies speak!" Celestia once more shouted. Luna now opened the door and looked at them. "Sorry, what was that? It's hard to hear from the kitchen." Celestia sighed. "I said it's not polite to listen in." "Oh, I wasn't sister, I just passed the door as I was taking some cheese from the refrigerator, wonderful device by the way… Also, would either of you like some cheese on your burgers?" Luna answered and asked as she walked back into the kitchen. "I do!" Twilight shouted and looked at Celestia. "You simply have to try them with cheese, Luna is like a magician with them, it was a bit strange to eat her burgers at first, but their delicious." Celestia chuckled. "I suppose I'll have them with cheese aswell then." "Coming right up." Luna happily said as she went back into the kitchen with a spring in her step. Once Luna closed the door, Celestia turned to Twilight once more. "I have to say though, I didn't think Luna was that good at cooking, or liked it that much." Twilight smiled. "Well, she's not great with every kind of dish, just those with a certain food in it, and she seems to like to cook when family is involved as she says… It still feel weird, you know? Knowing that I was born so long ago and that Luna is my godmother… I should tell my family about this at some point now that I think about it." "Yes, that would likely be a good idea." Celestia then said with a gentle feel to her eyes. "Would you like me to tell them?" "You princess? Why?" Twilight asked. "Well, I was the one to place you in front of their house without an explanation, I figured it would be best I would also be the one to tell them about how you were actually born a millennia ago and Luna is your godmother, I figured it would come across better if I told them about the whole… Situation." Celestia said slightly awkward. "Well… Sure, if that's what you want princess, then I know it's for the best." Twilight knew Celestia wouldn't lie to her about this and it did make sense, hearing it from the princess would validate it as she wouldn't joke about something like this, not to mention that it would make it easier to introduce them to Luna later on rather then while explaining it, since Luna would likely want to go with her for moral support. "Also, you can stop calling me princess now, once everything is settled you'll hold the same tittle afterall, and you already call my sister by her name." Celestia replied. Before anything else was said, the door to the kitchen opens up with Luna floating a new batch of curly fries and burgers onto the table. "That's because she likes me better Tia, no need to be jealous." "Yes, yes, I'm sure she loves you Lulu." Celestia teased as she took hold of one of the burgers at the same time as Twilight and took a bite out of it after Twilight had already taken a large bite herself. "Hmm, these hayburgers taste peculiar." "Their not hayburgers, their cheeseburgers." Luna replied, slightly annoyed her sister called her Lulu. "These are made out of cheese?" Celestia asked as she lifted the bun to look a bit closer. "What? No, why does everypony ask that? Their just regular montre patties with cheese and vegetables over them" Luna replied as she took a bite out of her own. "… Doesn't montre mean monster in ancient Equestrian? Are… Are these made of meat?" Celestia asked, before she looked at the patty in the bun once more and then at both Luna and Twilight who were eating theirs happily, at which point she quickly ran for the bathroom. "Huh, I didn't take Tia for a strict vegetarian." Luna said as her sister ran for the bathroom with a sick look on her face. Twilight looked at the cheeseburger that Celestia had taken a small bit out of. "I didn't know what to think the first time I realized it myself… But I'm glad I decided to come back and ask you more about it, when you told me the meat wasn't from any sapient beings I felt relieved, and I'm kind of glad I didn't just give up on it completely either." Her eyes were now fixed on the cheeseburger on Celestia's place at she finished her own. "It would also be a waste to just throw that away, so… Dibs!" She then quickly grabbed the other burger.