//------------------------------//
// Chapter 14: Pinkie and the Brain II: The Return of Starlight Glimmer 
// Story: The Inane Adventures of Hazelnut Latte 
// by Porcelain Mug 
//------------------------------//

Once again, Pinkie Pie was prancing around town. As always, there was candy everywhere and everypony had big, sparkly anime eyes and were all dancing and singing. It was a place of eternal happiness where everything had a positive side. When she arrived at the railway station, she pulled a sign out of nowhere and held it out. It had 'Starlight Glimmer' written on it in bright pink glitter in the style of comic sans. When the train pulled up, a cloud burst up. When the cloud faded away, it revealed Starlight Glimmer and a large amount of Starlight Glimmer's luggage. The unicorn raised a brow and said, "Nice sign."

Pinkie giggled and said, "I made it myself!"

"Did anything interesting happen while I was gone?" Starlight asked.

"Well, Twilight and this new pony named Sugar Shock had something reeeaally crazy happen to them." Pinkie Pie said cheerfully. "Now they need your help 'cause Twilight doesn't know the right spell!"

"It sounds like an emergency!" Starlight sounded rather alarmed.

"Not really." Pinkie Pie said. "It's just super-duper crazy. Also, Twilight keeps saying that she's not gay."

Starlight chuckled and said, "She's still in the closet?"

"Yeppers!" Pinkie Pie replied. "Now let's go! I'll take care of your luggage."

ooooooooooooooooooooooo

A few hours later, Starlight entered Twilight's castle. A few seconds later, a surprisingly non-exhausted Pinkie Pie trotted in, pulling a cart full of luggage behind her. "Twilight!" Starlight called out. "I'm back!"

The first pony to gallop over to Starlight was a caramel-colored unicorn with sapphire eyes and an extremely curly chocolate-brown mane and tail. Her Cutie Mark was a wrapped piece of hard candy. On the wrapper was a starburst that was suspiciously similar to the ones on Twilight Sparkle's Cutie Mark. The brown-coated mare looked at Starlight from behind a pair of stylish glasses with black cat-eye frames. "Hi." she said. "I'm Sugar Shock. Am I to assume that you are Starlight Glimmer."

"Yeah." Starlight said with a smile. "Nice to meet you, Sugar Shock."

Pinkie Pie leaned into Starlight's ear and whisper-yelled, "She's the one that Twilight is gay for."

Sugar Shock rolled her eyes and said, "If that was true, I'd know by now."

The sound of hoofsteps could be heard as another pony approached. Soon it was revealed that said pony was none other than Twilight Sparkle. The first thing Starlight noticed was that the starbursts on the alicorn's Cutie Mark had been replaced by lightning bolts. The unicorn raised her brow and asked, "What happened to you?"

Twilight took a deep, deep breath as she fought the urge to scream. The alicorn inhaled, then exhaled loudly before grinding out, "Where have you been?"

Starlight Glimmer rolled her eyes and said, "You know where I was. I was in Zebrica."

"What took you so long to get back?" Twilight asked.

"Get off my back. I came back early." Starlight Glimmer said, sounding slightly annoyed.

"Well, you're back now. You know what's wrong. Fix it!" Twilight snapped.

"All right, all right!" Starlight said defensively. "I'll fix it. Just give me a minute."

"How was your trip to Zebrica?" Pinkie Pie asked.

"It was really nice." Starlight said. 

The unicorn then used her magic to remove a large jar from her saddle bag, which contained a brain suspended in goo. "By the way, Pinkie," Starlight added, "I found this."

Pinkie Pie squealed in delight. "You found my brain!"

The pink earth pony used her hoof to open the top of her head, which seemed to be on a hinge. She then popped the brain into her head before closing it. The other three mares stared as she did this. There was a brief silence before Starlight asked, "How did this happen to you?"

"There was magic soda involved." Twilight elaborated. "We both drank it and now our Cutie Marks have switched. I don't remember the spell to fix it."

"So you need me to change your Cutie Marks back?" Starlight nodded. "I can do that."

Starlight's horn glowed as she concentrated on the spell. Soon afterwards, there was a flash of light on Twilight and Sugar Shock's respective flanks. When it faded, the lightning bolts on Twilight's Cutie Mark had been replaced by her normal starbursts and the starburst on the piece of candy on Sugar Shock's Cutie Mark had been replaced by its normal lightning bolt. 

"Thank goodness!" Twilight exhaled loudly. "Thank you, Starlight!"

"Just be careful about drinking magic sodas, okay?" Starlight chuckled.

"We're not off the hook yet." Twilight said with a frown. "We need to change somepony back into their true form. Something happened."

"Well, let's get to researching then." Starlight said with a grin. The idea of a new spell was very exciting.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Discord was not happy. Fluttershy had received yet another message from Pretty boy asking her to hang out with him. The transformed Draconequus knew what the stallion's plans were and he was truly worried about the sweet, innocent Fluttershy. She was a paragon of all that was pure and good and he wouldn't let her be tarnished by the foul Pretty Boy. Discord would not let the idiot lay a hoof on his precious Fluttershy! Well, she wasn't really his, he thought with a frown. She was definitely precious, though. He cared about her more than he had cared about anypony before. She was special to him. He wouldn't define the way he felt about her, but he would protect her with every fiber of his being. As he saw Fluttershy putting on something cute, he knew that she was going to go out with Pretty Boy. Before he could stop himself, he blurted, "Don't go out with him."

"Pardon?" Fluttershy questioned.

"Please." Discord said fervently as he walked over to Fluttershy. "Please, don't go out with him. Don't go out with Pretty Boy."

"I don't see how it's any of your business who I go out with." Fluttershy said softly but firmly.

"I don't trust him." Discord said. "I know what his motives are."

"Discord..." Fluttershy sighed. "What am I supposed to do tonight? I can't let him down. I said I would go."

"You could spend time with me." Discord said. He then awkwardly began to babble. "I mean, not that we're a couple or anything. Everypony knows that I look old enough to be your father and I'm not the best looking in any form. We could have tea."

"You're not that bad looking." Fluttershy said, blushing and hiding her face behind her bangs. "I think that you're hoofsome in this form."

"You think that I'm hoofsome?" Discord was puzzled.

"Your pony form is very, very hoofsome." Fluttershy said softly.

It was then that Discord noticed how close they were. He met Fluttershy's eyes and she shyly avoided his gaze. His eyes darted down to her lips. They were so close. If he were to lower his face, just a bit, his lips would be on hers. It was an idea that he was contemplated. It was then that Fluttershy met his gaze again. As if reading his mind, she waited with baited breath for him to act. Unbidding, a thought of what Fluttershy had said appeared in his head. Hoofsome in this form. Did she only find him hoofsome in this form? Considering that he looked like a mistake of nature in his true form, it was probably true. With a soft sigh, Discord took a step back. Looking away from the mare, he said, "Go out with Pretty Boy if you want to."

"Discord?" Fluttershy was very confused at this sudden change.

Discord didn't reply. He just turned away and started to leave room. In an almost anxious voice, Fluttershy called out, "Discord!"

Discord still said nothing as he headed towards the house's exit. Fluttershy galloped over to him and stopped in front of him, blocking his way. "Discord, talk to me! Why are you acting like this?"

"It's nothing!" Discord said harshly. 

Fluttershy flinched at her friend's tone. The pegasus stallion didn't miss this. He sighed and said, "Like I said, it's nothing."

Fluttershy was about to say something when somepony charged through the open door, colliding with her and Discord. When she saw the familiar curly, pink mane, she knew that it was Pinkie Pie. "Hi, Fluttershy!" the earth pony chirped. "Hi, Dissy!"

Discord frowned and asked, "How did you know that it was me?"

"It was my Pinkie Senses!" Pinkie Pie replied.

"I didn't know that Fluttershy had a guest." Starlight Glimmer said as she stepped into the house. "Is this Pretty Boy?"

"No." Twilight replied. "This is Discord."

"Twilight turned him into a pony." Sugar Shock explained.

"Really?" Starlight raised a brow.

"It was an accident!" An exasperated Twilight said. "Anyway, everypony step aside. We're going to fix this."

Fluttershy stepped out of the way. Sugar Shock took a mega-size energy drink out of her saddle bag and chugged it. Suddenly, her eyes began to glow. Twilight used her magic, which caused Sugar Shock's entire body to glow. Suddenly, lightning discharged from her horn. It made a direct hit on Discord. Lightning and a cloud of smoke flashed through the air around the stallion. When the smoke faded, there was the smell of burnt hair but Discord was in his true form once again. "I'm me again!" Discord exclaimed. 

The Draconequus grabbed his tail and kissed it with a loud 'mwah', followed by his arms and paws. He was his old, Draconequus-y self again! Things would once more be as normal as they could be for a being of chaos. He then looked down at Fluttershy, who was smiling up at him. That thought once again came to his mind. Hoofsome in this form. Now he looked like a mistake of nature again. If Fluttershy had ever been interested in Roguish Jape, she wouldn't be interested now. He didn't know if he could deal with that. Swallowing silently, he then said, "Fluttershy, I hate to say this, but I'm going to have to stay someplace else for a while."

"What?" Fluttershy gasped softly.

"It's a chaos thing." Discord lied. "I bid you adieu."

"Discord!" Fluttershy cried out.

Just as Fluttershy shouted his name, the Draconequus disappeared with a snap of his fingers. When he was gone, Fluttershy lowered her head and softly said, "Discord..."

Twilight smiled comfortingly at her pegasus friend and said, "Don't worry. He'll be back."

"I'm not so sure." Fluttershy said quietly.

There was a silence, which was finally broke when Starlight asked, "All right, what the hay happened while I was gone?"

Some distance away, Pretty Boy was watching them through Fluttershy's window with his spyglass. He had seen the whole thing. So Roguish Jape was secretly Discord? Interesting. Pretty Boy smirked. With the Draconequus out of the way, it wouldn't be long before he could finally make his move.