Chapter 12
Discord opened the latch of Twilight's backpack and tipped out the contents. Quills, scrolls, books, potion ingredients...everything she needed to bring to her new home.
She was going to do it, thought Discord, a tear welling up in his eye, She was going to stay in the Everfree Forest. She wanted to live with me, and be happy, and have fun. And be friends. She wanted to stay. She truly did.
He took his own BFF necklace off his neck and stared at it. He picked up Twilight's from the floor and stared at them both. Then he noticed something else poking out of Twilight's saddleback. It was a diary, with a leather hardback cover. He reached down and picked it up. On the front was something that made him want to cry.
Twilight's diary was titled My New Friend, and taped to the front was a picture Twilight had taken of her and Discord in their BFF necklaces. Upon seeing this, Discord felt a blow to his heart. He opened the cover of the diary and read what was written on the front page.
Dear Diary, it said, Having friends is something I've never experienced before. My whole life I've spent on my own, around trees and plants, and my three aunts always ignoring me. I've always wanted somepony else to talk to. But something happened to me yesterday that changed everything! I made a friend!
I met him in a cave I was exploring. He says he is a spirit and a draconequus, and is just the most interesting creature I have ever seen. He has the arms and legs of all sorts of creatures, and even has two different wings. He's so nice. He's just the kind of friend I always wanted. He's compassionate, and encouraging, he tells the most amazing stories and he can make ANYTHING funny.
Also, I thought my alicorn magic could do amazing things, but it is nothing compared to his. He can do absolutely anything just with a snap of his fingers. Today he showed me this amazing land, where everything is topsy-turvy. It was the most incredible thing I have ever seen. It has all kinds of crazy trinkets and wildlife, with a rainbow river and giant card pyramids, and even has pink clouds that rain chocolate. I also met a Tatzlwurm. It seemed scary at first, but it was really sweet. The place even had these endless staircases that go on forever and crazy doors to other dimensions. It was the most fun I've ever had in my life.
My new friend is very odd, but in all kinds of the best ways. He says he will always be there if I need him. I'll never be lonely again with him around. I just know we're going to be the best of friends.
Twilight Sparkle xxx
Discord felt his eyes well up with tears as he read this. He turned to the next page.
Dear Diary,
Today I had an amazing time with my new friend. He conjured up a magic bubble for the two of us to be in, and we went diving into a magic pool in his land. It held the most wonderful creatures with shiny scales and amazing plants. It was like a rainbow how all of the different creatures shone a different colour. It was just magic.
Then I had fun in his house, when we sat on his upside-down furniture on the ceiling, and he showed me all kinds of things his house can do. I've also become pretty hooked on one of his books, Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Statue. It's like I'm really there. I just can't wait for what me and my friend will do next.
Twilight Sparkle xxx
Dear Diary,
Today my friend conjured up a labyrinth and put in all sorts of obstacles and games for us to get through, and see who could get to the middle first. He also put a spell on the labyrinth so we couldn't use teleportation or flight inside it, so we couldn't cheat. It was so cool. My friend won, but I had so much fun doing it that I didn't even mind.
Afterwards, we played with some of his magic chess pieces, which do anything you tell them, and I mean anything. The best part was, you could do anything you wanted, and didn't have to follow the rules of boring old ordinary chess. It was great fun.
Twilight Sparkle xxx
As Discord read, he felt so touched. He really had loved being friends with Twilight, and it seemed she had loved being friends with him even more. So much that she had even written a diary. He began to skim-read with his magic, going through dozens of pages.
Dear Diary,
Today my friend and I had a tea party under the chocolate rain, and he used his magic to make all the cupcakes fly. And he made all the tea ware come to life and pour our cups of tea for us! He even made the tea pour UP instead of down! It was so crazy, and SO much fun!
Then later I told him how I couldn't use my wings, and he offered to teach me. All my life, I've tried to fly, but my aunts couldn't teach me because they don't have wings, and I've always thought I could never be a real alicorn if I couldn't fly. But my friend is a really good teacher! I used to be able to only hover for a few moments and then flop back down, but now I can really fly! My friend says I'm a natural, and he promised to teach me to fly every time I visit him. I'm so lucky to have such a good friend.
Twilight Sparkle xxx
Dear Diary,
Today I brought my favourite board game Ogres & Oubliettes for my friend and me to play. What I wasn't expecting was for him to make the game real! It was so cool, how I really became Princess Twilight, and he became an archer, and we faced the real Squizard with his skeleton warriors! Ponies may say that princesses are too girly for action, but I wouldn't let him steal all the fun! And so Princess Twilight and her friend saved the day from the evil Squizard!
Princess Twilight Sparkle xxx
Dear Diary,
Today I had great fun playing with my friend and his Tatzlwurm, but then I got splattered with chocolate milk, and me and my friend had a chocolate-cotton-candy-cloud fight! It was the stickiest, messiest thing I'd ever experienced, but SO much fun! I'd never laughed so hard in my life!
Then I gave my friend a surprise. Earlier today I had taken two of the jewels off that mysterious tree where we first met, and I made them into BFF necklaces for us to wear. He seemed so happy when I gave it to him. He promised he won't ever take it off, and so did I. We'll be BFFs forever.
Twilight Sparkle xxx
Discord read through page after page after page of Twilight's diary, and with each page he read, he remembered that very time he had spent with Twilight. By the time he gotten to the day before Twilight's sixteenth birthday, where the entries ended, tears were running down Discord's cheeks. He closed the book and wiped his eyes. Then he looked outside, at the castle in the distance. Then he noticed something else. The sun was low on the horizon, and the sky around it had only just started to turn a lovely golden colour, and the clouds bright pink, like his cotton candy clouds.
Discord's eyes widened! The sunset on her sixteenth birthday! His curse! The curse he had put on Twilight sixteen years ago! It was coming true!
Twilight reached the bottom of the stairs, and suddenly felt her hoof tingle. She looked at it and noticed that it had started to glow a sickly yellow. Twilight heard her name being whispered again, and turned round to where it was coming from. She headed down a staircase that led to a dark and gloomy part of the castle.
This must be the dungeon, she thought, as she stepped through the darkness.
She came upon a door. The voices whispered her name again, and the yellow magic opened the door. Her jaw dropped as she saw the sight before her.
Hundreds, maybe even thousands of spinning wheels stacked up in piles, every one of them in ruins. Twilight's eyes widened as she walked through the room. She realized Cadance and Shining Armor must have loved her more than anything to go to such extreme measures to protect their daughter. She walked among the broken spinning wheels, and spotted the strange yellow light sparkling around one. The pieces started to move. They levitated and connected, the pieces all joining together to create one whole spinning wheel. The yellow light shimmered around it, and Twilight became entranced.
The yellow glow on her hoof got brighter as she raised it near the glowing spindle. Words, the ones first spoken at her christening, echoed through the air.
"...Before the sun sets on her sixteenth birthday, she will prick her hoof on the spindle of a spinning wheel, and she will fall into an eternal sleep-like sleep...cast this curse to last until the end of time...no power in Equestria and beyond...will be able to change it..."
A sudden magical vibration flooded through Discord's body, and he shivered as he picked up on the magical imbalance. He stared at the horizon as the sun disappeared from view.
He buried his face in his hands.
"Oh, Twilight..." he whimpered, "What have I done?"
The unicorn Twilight had rushed past, Lyra Heartstrings, found the purple alicorn lying lifelessly on the floor. She sank to her knees and wept. Discord's curse had finally been fulfilled.