//------------------------------//
// Chapter 26 The Nature of the Magic of Friendship 
// Story: Super Stallion 
// by PioneerofImagination 
//------------------------------//

After revealing his secret identity to Princess Celestia she sat down with him and talked with him through the night. 

“So it was made by Star Swirl?”

“Yeah, I was pretty shocked when I heard it too.”

“And you figured out what the sphere could do, but you asked me if you could have it?”

“Well if I didn’t, that would be stealing.”

“How noble, just one of the many things I love about you,” Princess Celestia said as she kissed Squeaky. “This whole thing with Sombra has gotten me thinking about us.”

“What do you mean?”  

"I'd like us to keep dating until the annual Sunset Festival and if you and I are still in love by then. Will you marry me?" Squeaky was now the one utterly shocked and it was Princess Celestia's turn to wait for a response.

"Y-Yes! A billion times yes!" Squeaky started to jump up and down in excitement until Celestia stopped him.

"Don't get too excited, we're not getting married just yet."

"Right, it's kind of weird though, I always thought the stallion was supposed to ask the mare."

"Well in this case I beat you to it. I hope you don't mind." 

"Not 1 bit. Though if we do make it that far, am I really worthy, I'm no king."

"You are to me Squeaky," Celestia answered as she placed her hoof on his cheek. Squeaky then gave his princess the most passionate kiss he could and she embraced him and kissed back. But suddenly Twilight opened the door and walked right in on them.

"Princess are you all OH MY GOSH!" Squeaky and Celestia then separated. "Sorry! Never mind, I'll come back later!" Twilight then walked out and closed the door kicking herself for not knocking first.

"Well that was awkward, now were we?" Squeaky then tried to embrace his princess but she put her hoof on his chest.

"I'm not in the mood anymore."

"Too bad," Squeaky replied as he found a way to get her on the ground and kissed her neck.

"Squeaky stop it I'm not in the mo-," Princess Celestia then started to laugh and laugh. "S-stop tickling me."

After some quality time Princess Celesia went to talk with Twilight.

"You and Squeaky, wow it's kind of like something out of a fairy tale," Twilight said.

"Well don't get too excited, Squeaky and I aren't there yet. Though I might make the days a little shorter so we can get there faster." Twilight and Celestia sat and talked for a while but when morning came she and Princess Luna were nowhere to be found. Twilight went straight to Squeaky.

"They're missing!? Are you kidding me I just rescued them?!"

"And on top of all that I got a letter from Ponyville and it appears that the Everfree Forest is invading." 

"Huh, I wonder if the 2 are connected." Squeaky then made sure Super Stallion got Princess Twilight and Spike to Ponyville as Twilight was still getting used to her new wings. There she reunited with her friends and used the Elements of Harmony to call forth the spirit of chaos and disharmony. 

"Well well Twilight, want to learn more chaos magic already. Not that I blame you."

"What!" Twilight's friends all said together including Spike.

"Oh," Twilight blushed as she turned to face the others. "Did I forget to mention that?" 

"Yes!" Twilight's friends answered. 

"Twilight darling, why in the wide wide world of Equestria would you want to learn his type of magic?"

"Yeah I mean I know you're an egghead and like you're super addicted to books and all that but you actually want to learn that?"

"Did he teach you how to make chocolate the size of boulders appear?" The rest of Twilight's Ponyville pals stared at Pinkie Pie. "What? That would be great."

"Twi learning Discord's magic makes about as much sense as, well, Discord." 

"Oh I see, wanted to surprise them after you learned enough to make a grand epic chaos themed party," Discord said.

"Oh that might be really fun. I've never done a chaos party. Can I help?"

"Why of course you can Pinkie Pie,” Discord said. “You know Pinkie, you're quite the bottle of chaos yourself. Maybe after Twilight you'd be interested in learning a thing or 2.” 

“No way,” Super Stallion said as he got in-between Discord and Pinkie. "You having chaos magic is enough."

"Oh it's not so bad once you give it a chance." 

"Like the time you turned all the water in a lake into chocolate milk?" 

"There was also the time I used it to help you during that whole time travel adventure." Super Stallion wanted to retort but that was a good point and Twilight got in-between him and Discord.

"Enough already! We need to do something about the Everfree Forest, remember?" 

"Yeah, so call it off Discord!" Rainbow Dash said. 

"What makes you think I'm behind it?"

"Uh duh because you're you. This has your cloven hoof prints all over it."

"I'll have you know I only have 1 cloven hoof." Suddenly Discord's cloven hoof leg kicked Rainbow Dash right in the rear. After a while and Discord almost getting blasted back to stone, Twilight with the help of Zecora learned about the Tree of Harmony. Super Stallion found the tree and was able to bring the group there and Twilight figured out right away what to do. 

"We have to give the tree the Elements of Harmony," Twilight said.

"What but that can't be right," Applejack said.

"The tree is where the Elements came from and now it needs them back." 

"Twilight we can't just give up the Elements, they're the thing that keeps us connected."

"No Applejack, the magic of friendship is what has kept us connected despite everything that's happened to us." 

"But Twilight, what if there's another major problem that we need to deal with but we don't have the elements." Twilight then groaned out of frustration. 

"Here we go again."

"What's that supposed to mean Twi?"

"You always want to go against my idea first no matter how many times that backfires." 

"Well what if this plan of yours doesn't work? What do we do then little miss I know everything?" Applejack asked, a little upset.

"Then you can push me off my high horse for a change." Twilight then gave smirk and Applejack couldn't help but chuckle. The mane 6 gave the Elements of Harmony to the tree resulting in the black roots disappearing and the princesses were rescued. After they were freed Twilight hugged her fellow princesses.

"We know how difficult it must have been to give up the elements. It took great courage to relinquish them," Princess Celestia said as she continued to hug her former student. 

"I don't care about that, I'm just glad you 2 aren't hurt." After that they all made their way out of the Everfree Forest 

"Well look who's back sunbutt if you and your sister keep getting captured like this we're gonna have to start putting bells around you," Discord said. "Wait a minute something's missing. Could it be you misplaced your precious elements?" 

"We had to give them to the Tree of Harmony so they're gone," Twilight answered. 

"Gone?” Discord asked. “Gone,” he said as a sinister smile suddenly appeared that Super Stallion noticed right away.

"You can stop right there, I can always borrow the magic of that tree and beat your butt again."

"Interesting theory, maybe you and I should test that out sometime," Discord said.

"Come on you 2. Can't you get along for 1 minute?" Twilight asked.

"Though 1 thing I don't get," Applejack said. "Why did all this happen now?"

"Oh yeah now I remember," Discord said.

"Remember what?" Super Stallion asked. 

Discord explained before he was imprisoned he planted Plunder Seeds in the ground. They would drain the tree of its magic and trap Luna and Celestia. But the magic of the tree was so powerful, it stopped the seeds from growing for over 1000 years. 

"So you're behind this whole thing!?" Super Stallion asked, ready for a fight. 

"Well past Discord was anyway." 

"You realize this is information we could have used hours ago?" Twilight said.

"Oh you mean that would have been nice? Like it would have been nice if you asked me for help when you brought me here or at the very least sent a letter like sun butt actually said you should?” Rainbow Dash then got in Discord's face ready for a fight even more than Super Stallion was. 

"Why I oughta-" Rainbow was suddenly off when Discord stretched his neck out and forced Rainbow Dash to the ground, spooking the usually brave blue pegasus.

"You oughta what? Your precious elements are gone now, remember? So if I were you I'd start playing nice or you might find yourself with cheese wings." Discord said while also poking Rainbow Dash with his claw a little bit. "Actually I might do that anyway." 

"Hey back off!" Super Stallion said ready to pull Discord off Rainbow Dash.

"You back off!" Discord then pushed Super Stallion with his paw that almost sent him half across Ponyville. "I've had enough "friendship" for today so I'll see you later, much later." 

Twilight then brought the royal pony sisters back to Canterlot. "Do you think the tree is making a new set of elements in that chest?" Celestia asked.

"We can only hope so," Luna answered. “With the elements gone it could be that much harder to protect Equestria from a new threat or an old one that might have a chaotic relapse." 

“How true,” Celestia said. “We should also try to tighten security, now makes a total of 3 recent royal abductions.”

"Well at least this ponynapping was in our own universe," Luna responded.

"Was that supposed to cheer me up Luna?"

"I suppose a little bit of Swift Sweep's impression.” 

"You're quite fond of him aren't you?"

"Yes," Luna answered as she blushed a little. "It's thanks to him that I sleep much better." 

"I beg your pardon Luna," Celestia said, rather shocked by what she just heard.

"Oh perhaps I should explain a little better."


***


Ponyville was having a spring festival and Princess Luna had decided to join despite it being during the day. "Thy princess lacks a partner who shall step forth and-" Princess Luna stopped when she realized Swift Sweep had already run off and grabbed one of her forelegs with both of his. "My my quite excited to help thy princess of the night are we? Let us partake in glorious fun."

"Okay." Swift Sweep and Luna then got all sorts of games from 7 legged racing to tug a war to pie eating and even a scavenger hunt. Swift Sweep enjoyed every single second of it because he got to spend all that time with Princess Luna. 

"This day has been a complete blast," Swift Sweep said with absolute excitement when the 2 of them were on the ferrous wheel.

"Indeed most fun," Luna said as she moved a little bit closer to Swift Sweep. "I have noticed thou among the night ponies."

"You have?" 

"Tis quite difficult not to. You quite fancy me do you not?"

"Huh?"

"Well that is to say you are quite sweet on me."

"You want me to get you a candy bar?"

"No," Luna tried to figure out how to talk to Swift Sweep in a way he'd understand. "You wanna smooch me don't you?"

"Okay!"

"Wait, that was a question not a-" Luna was cut off him Swift Sweep swiftly planted a firm yet soft kiss on her lips. "You are a most passionate romantic." 

"I think you're a good smoocher too." Princess Luna then chuckled a bit as she couldn't help but find Swift Sweep's personality humorous. 

"Out of curiosity, what does thou find so charming about me?"

"You mean besides your rocking bod?"

"Uh yes, besides that." 

"Well you're smart because you know just about every constellation in the night sky and you can travel through dreams which alone is super cool but you also use that to help ponies figure things out which is noble. Also that shirt doesn't hurt all that much."

"Yes I found it at a store and just said to myself that I had to have it."

"Plus even though you have the title of princess you actually show up at a festival like a casual pony. Basically your highness you're perfect."

"Oh Swift, that's sweet of you to say. Insanely sweet actually, but I'm far from perfect."

"Oh yeah based on what?"

"Well there is the incident where I became Nightmare Moon and tried to make night last forever."

"Oh for crying out loud, that was like 1000 years ago that's getting old." Hearing that Princess Luna suddenly bursted into laughing, surprising Swift Sweep. "What's so funny?"

"You are Swift Sweep," Luna answered when she managed to stop laughing. 

"I am?" 

"Yes very." Princess Luna then got even closer to Swift Sweep almost sitting right on his lap. "I really like a stallion that can make me laugh." Princess Luna then kissed Swift Sweep quite passionately and Swift Sweep returned the passionate kiss with one as equally passionate and the 2 ponies held each other tightly yet gently. 

After the festival Luna returned to the castle feeling better about herself than she did in a long time. When she made it to her chambers she quickly hopped on her bed and as she found herself in the realm of dreams she approached a small moving black ball.

"I hate to tell you this at the last minute but I don't think your service will be required any longer." Luna then absorbed the small thing that she called the Tantabus into herself. 


***


Luna then explained that Tantabus was something made to give herself nightmares. "Luna, why in Equestria would you do that to yourself?"

"You forgave me but I hadn’t forgiven myself. But after that night with Swift Sweep, I was finally able to. He’s very special to me.” 

"Perhaps we should go on a double date sometime?"

"I think I'd like that very much, Celestia." 

Time passed in Equestria as it usually does and the ponies went about their lives. Meanwhile deep within the Everfree Forest Discord was still trying to figure out the magic of friendship.  

"Discord are you here?" Twilight asked as she arrived for a visit.

"Yes right here," Discord answered as he teleported right in front of her. Twilight then got out a lamp and offered it to him.

"It's a lamp modeled after you. I got it at the Traders Exchange." 

"Oh I know, I saw the whole thing." Discord then snapped his fingers and a portal appeared behind him showing Twilight overseeing a trial.

"So let me get this straight, you basically sold off your own friend in non paying servitude to get a book. Way to show that element of loyalty Rainbow Dash."

"Oh come on Twilight I said it was a mistake now I need you to do something about it." Discord then closed the portal.

"Yet another wonderful moment brought on by the magic of friendship." 

"Discord we've had this talk before," Twilight said knowing where this was going.

"And we're going to have it again." 

"Haven't you said all there was to be said about this by now?"

"You talk about how precious your friendship is but I can't help but notice it comes with quite a bit of drama wouldn't it be better to just get rid of it all together? End the drama?"

"Of course not friendship isn't always easy but there's no doubt it's worth fighting for. It's like I told my friends when we were leaving the Everfree Forest, there would be times where our friendship would be tested, but it won't ever be destroyed." 

"Perhaps I would understand it more if I actually got involved in some of it."

"Oh you mean you want to hang out? That would be fun I mean if you kept the chaos on the down low."

"So none of this?" Discord then a small army of dancing cupcakes appear. 

"Yeah nopony would really go for that, except for Pinkie Pie.”


*** 


The Equestria Games had finally arrived at the Crystal Empire and the princesses sat next to one another when suddenly a 5th throne appeared with Discord on it.

"Well this is nice isn't it, the 5 cornerstones of Equestria sun, moon, love, friendship, and chaos." 

"Discord, what are you doing here?" Celestia asked. 

"Oh I invited him," Twilight answered and Celestia gave Twilight an upset look. 

"Twilight, can I talk to you in private?" 

“Uh, okay?” Twilight then followed her teacher somewhere private.

"Twilight what were you thinking?" 

"Oh come on it couldn't hurt to let him watch the games with us could it?"

"No Twilight! No no no no no! My sister and I came here to relax, that's going to be very difficult for all of us to do with him here." 

"Princess I know that you 2 have a rather long history but you got to let you of all that."

"Let go, after all he’s done." 

"He's making an effort to change and has actually done a good job once or twice. I think it's time you 2 try to start a new relationship." Princess Celestia then took a deep breath from hearing all that. 

"Twilight you're right. I know you're right I've let him get the worst of me for too long." 

"That's the spirit, listen we can talk about this later. The games are going to start soon and I want to see Spike light the fire. For now just try to be nice to Discord." 

Twilight and Celestia then made their way back to their thrones. 

"Back already I guess your head isn't as hard to get through as usual today huh sun butt?" 

"No I guess not," Celestia replied a little annoyed. "So Discord, that's a nice beard you have there."

"Uh, thanks I grew it myself." 

Meanwhile Spike was getting ready to light the fire to officially start the Equestria Games but he was having some trouble and it was about to get worse. He was a little nervous but once he got up the ladder and saw the many ponies that had come to see the games, his nervousness soon became fear. 

"Mr. The dragon, are we having a problem?" Ms. Harshwinnie asked but he wouldn't be able to answer her as suddenly Spike fell to the ground shocking her and especially Twilight who saw Spike fall to her complete and utter horror.

"SPIKE!" Twilight suddenly leapt off her throne and flew straight to Spike in seconds. Rainbow Dash would have been impressed if she wasn't shocked as well. "OH MY GOSH HE'S NOT BREATHING! DISCORD GET OVER HERE! DISCORD DIS-" Twilight was cut off when Discord used his claw arm to grab Twilight's lips.

"I heard you, in fact I think the ponies still in Canterlot heard you." 

"Help Spike use your chaos magic. Do something!" Discord then made a doctor costume appear on him as he picked up Spike to look at him.

"Well let's see what we can do here or rather what I can do." After Discord looked at Spike a little he handed Twilight a small rubber ducky.

"Why did you give me this?"

"Because I'm a quack," Discord answered and then proceeded to laugh at his own joke. "Seriously, get him to a real doctor."


*** 


Spike was taken to a real doctor in no time at all since Discord could teleport him. As it turned out Spike's heart stopped and the doctor couldn't figure out why. Twilight's friends along with her brother, sister in law, Discord, and the royal pony sisters were all waiting together while Twilight was pacing back and forth just outside the emergency room worrying more and more about Spike with each passing second. 

"What's taking them so long it can't be that serious can it but it has to be if it's taking this long so is that why it's taking so long?" 

"Twilight please you have to calm down," Princess Celestia said to Twilight, starting to worry about her as well as Spike.

"Calm down how in the name of all this is sane and reasonable do you expect me to calm down at a time like this?" 

"I know it's not easy but you aren't going to help him if you give yourself a panic attack." Celestia then wrapped her wing around Twilight and gently pulled her away from the door. "Besides, you'll wear out the floor if you keep pacing like that. You need to sit down, who knows how long it'll take before the doctor finally comes out." Just then the emergency room doors opened as one of the doctors came out and Discord couldn't help but laugh.

"Oh what none of you found the timing of that whole thing funny? I know you at least had to Pinkie Pie." 

"Give it to me straight doctor how is he? How serious is it? How long will Spike have to stay here?" Twilight wanted to ask more questions but Discord cut her off by making a gag appear on her muzzle. 

"Thank you Discord." Princess Celestia then stopped out of sheer shock. "Did I honestly just say that?" 

"Well he seems to be doing better now but he's suffered heart failure." Hearing that shocked everypony and even Discord. 

"But how could that have happened? The adorable little dear is just a baby dragon?" Rarity asked.

"Well that's what we're having a lot of trouble figuring out. He's on life support now but I'm not sure when he’ll get better."

"Discord can't you do something with your chaos magic?" Rainbow Dash asked as she flew over to him. "Look I know I haven't been your biggest fan, like at all. I still think you’re completely obnoxious and it’s really creepy that you spy on Twilight all the time-” Rainbow Dash was cut off when Applejack put her hoof in her mouth.

"What I think she's trying to say is maybe you can help him somehow."

"Yes if there's anything you can do to help my beloved Spikey Wikey then you must do it you must! I adore that adorable little dragon." 

"Okay," Discord said. He then teleported to Spike and after Discord put his paw on Spike's chest for a moment or 2, he woke up. Wasting no time the ponies, especially Twilight, Rarity, and Celestia went to see Spike.

"Where, where am I? What happened, why are there tubes in my nose?" 

"Your heart stopped out of nowhere Spike," Twilight answered.

"It, it stopped, how the heck does that even happen?"

"A curse," Discord answered. "When I came to see you I could sense it. So it was just a matter of removing it or rather what was left of it there was hardly any of it left."

"But why would anypony want to curse me?" Spike said, understandably scared.

"That does seem to be the million bit question but I don't think we're gonna get an answer in this chapter."

"What?" 

“What?” Discord closed his eyes out of frustration. Dang it.

“Well if it's gone now does that mean I can take this tube out?" Spike asked.

After the drama, Spike finally started the fire to begin the Equestria Games. While he was still a little scared, nearly dying made hundreds and hundreds of ponies staring seem like nothing. 

"Are you okay Twilight?" Cadance asked her as Discord and the other alicorns returned to their thrones. 

"I am now that Spike is. I was so worried that I thought I was gonna have a heart attack too." 

"I should thank you as well Discord." I've actually said that to him twice in 1 day, unbelievable. "I've grown quite fond of Spike as well. In a way I think we all actually have."

"Happy to help out sun butt. I mean Celestia." A little longer Spike decided he wanted to do more to help out in the games. So he decided that he would sing the Ponyville anthem but since the Wonderbolts won he was supposed to sing the Cloudsdale anthem, something he didn't know. Thinking quickly Celestia whispered in Discord's ear and with the snap of his fingers, a piece of paper appeared in Spike's claw.

After the games Twilight met up with Flash Sentry who offered to show Twilight around the Crystal Empire which she gladly took him up on.

"And where do you think you're going, soldier?" Shining Armor asked as he saw the 2 of them leaving together. 

"Oh Prince Armor!" Flash Sentry quickly saluted upon seeing the prince. "Just thought I’d show the Princess of Friendship around the empire." 

"Is that so?" Shining Armor asked, his big brother instincts taking over. 

"It's fine Shining Armor." 

"You might think so but it would probably be best if I went with you 2 to make sure the princess is all right."

"I'm more than sure that isn't necessary Shining," Twilight said a little annoyed Flash wanted to agree but he didn't want to upset his superior.

"Well you can't be too sure about that Twily now can you?" Before Shining Armor could continue Twilight got out a piece of paper that she knew he would recognize. "You actually brought that?"

"Just in case I needed it."

"Look, I think this might be an exception." Twilight then flipped the paper around which literally said no exceptions written right on it. "Fine," Shining sighed in defeat. 

As the day came to a close Princess Celestia came across Discord who was gobbling up loads of sweets in a candy shop. 

"Discord what are you doing?" 

"Eating my body weight in sugar I figured you'd understand that." 

"I hope you're paying for all that." Discord then made a pile of bits appear on the ground. 

"I trust that will do?" 

"Y-Yes," the crystal pony that was running the shop answered as he was hiding behind the counter in fear. 

"It seems that pony is rather intimidated by you. Perhaps I could help you show them that you aren't so bad." 

"I don't know, I kind of like it. Reminds me of the good old days." 

"You mean when you tried to drown Equestria in your chaos?"

"Of course," Discord said as he sighed. "It's sad how the memories fade over the years."

"Well since I ran into you I wanted to thank you again for helping out Spike."

"Yes this has been quite a day hasn't it? Me saving the adorable little mascot and he in return saving the Crystal Empire from another ice age." 

"Yes perhaps I could trust you a little more with helping out in this and other lands. But for now maybe we should just relax. I think we've had enough drama for a while." 


*** 


"Discord you're most likely wondering what the reason is for me calling you here," Celestia said as she was sitting on her throne. 
"Do you want me to make it rain chocolate again?"

"No." 

"You want to officially make me a prince of chaos."

"No I-" 

"You're breaking up with Squeaky and you want me to tell him for you."

"Excuse me!" 

"You want me to remodel the castle."

"Discord!"

"Oh relax sun butt I'm just teasing you."

"Yes, well." Princess Celestia then sighed several times to calm herself down. "There is a dangerous centaur named Tirek who is stealing the magic of the ponies and I need to find and capture him. I believe you would be the best one to do this because you'll be able to sense unusual magic." 

"That I can, I'll have him captured by the end of the chapter."

"What?" Discord then disappeared before he could answer the princess's question, making her sigh once again. "Sometimes I wish he was still trapped in stone." Discord then made his way to a different part of Equestria that he had tracked Tirek down to. 

"If only I could get stronger at a faster rate, but at least it's better than continuing to rot away in Tartarus." Tirek then made his way to another pony only to be surprised that it was Discord. 

"Tirek I presume. Fancy meeting you here." 

"Discord? You're free?"

"As a bird." Discord then took the shape of a bird as he said that. After that Discord attempted to capture Tirek who could barely fight back. 

“I should have known you’d want to have Equestria all to yourself.”

“Well actually I’m doing this for my friends. Just between the 2 of us, it’s mostly for Twilight.”

"Twilight? Don't tell me you have actually resorted to making friends with these ponies. Can't you see it's just another form of imprisonment? Forcing you to meet their standards just to stay in their good graces?" 

"And what would you know about that?"

"Because oh great spirit of chaos I've seen this all before from my so called brother Scorpan. But he was always weak minded, not me though. Not us, perhaps fate has led us to meet this day, if we join forces we can bring this entire continent to its knees. I would rob the ponies of their magic and you could flip their whole world upside down." 

"That does sound quite tempting."

"Then join forces with me. I can grant you something far greater than friendship, freedom. Unless of course pony errand boy is the role you wish to play." 

After that Tirek, thanks to Discord, was able to gather magic at a much faster rate and that news quickly made its way to Princess Celestia. Who had to explain this to Twilight. 

"But why would he do this? I thought we were friends. I thought he had changed."

"Yes I suppose I put too much trust in the effect that friendship would have on him." Princess Celestia then explained that in order to protect the alicorn magic from falling into the hands of Tirek, they would have to transfer their magic to Twilight.

"What? That's a terrible idea. What if he comes after you and tries to hurt you, you'll be completely unable to defend yourself."

“I know I ask a lot from you Twilight, but that’s because I need you.” Twilight then agreed while a certain janitor overheard the whole thing.

"When I find that spirit of chaos I'm gonna turn him into stone and throw him to the edge of the universe." Squeaky Clean changed into Super Stallion and traveled to the Tree of Harmony. Super Stallion then placed his forelegs on the tree hoping to borrow its magic, but it didn't seem to work. "It's not working, not good. Maybe that book Star Swirl gave Twilight has something that can help me." 

Super Stallion then made his way up to Ponyville but Tirek and Discord were already there and the latter had captured Twilight's friends for the former. 

"Soon it won't be long, all the magic in this land will be mine at last! This whole land will be under my rule." Tirek was suddenly bucked right on his head and fell to the ground. 

"Not on my watch," Super Stallion when suddenly Discord's tail wrapped around almost his entire body.

"Was wondering when you would show up," Discord said as he threw Super Stallion with his tail. "Sheesh Tirek I fly off for a minute and you already need rescuing."

"He just took me by surprise, that's all. Who was that anyway, another alicorn you didn't tell me about?"

"No, just a superhero, don't worry I can handle him." Discord then teleported to where he threw Super Stallion. 

"Discord, why are you doing this?" 

"Why not?"

"Why not!" Super Stallion said as he flew up madder than ever. "You've betrayed the ponies that actually extended their friendship to you despite all the chaotic things you've put them through! Doesn't that make you feel bad in the least?"

"Would it make you feel better if I said it would all be better by the end of the chapter?" 

"What?" Super Stallion wasn't sure how to respond to that and then noticed Discord had a new necklace that he noticed Super Stallion was staring at. "Oh you like it, this was a gift from Tirek, a sign of his gratitude and loyalty." 

"So you care more about helping him than us. For crying out loud Princess Celestia personally put you in charge of this despite everything. How do you think you've made her feel?" 

"I think right now she has other problems to worry about. Tirek trapped her along with Luna and Cadance in Tartarus." 

"What?!" Super Stallion then flew off leaving Discord rather confused. "I guess he loves sun butt more than he hates me."

Before long Super Stallion rescued the 3 princesses. 

"Thanks a lot Super Stallion," Princess Cadance said.

"Indeed we are most thankful," Princess Luna added. 

Super Stallion then led them out of the Tartarus while Princess Celestia thought about Discord’s betrayal. "Just when I thought there was a chance he and I could actually become friends." 

"And without the elements I can't use their magic to turn him back to stone but maybe you know a way to get the Tree of Harmony to help me."

"I'm sorry Super Stallion, but there's very little I know about that tree. Perhaps it would be best if you went to see Twilight. She may be able to help you with that." Suddenly the alicorns and Super Stallion saw Tirek who wasn't exactly hard to miss as he had become a giant. 

"Oh geez this day just keeps getting worse. Do you 3 think you'll be okay on your own for a while? I think I may need to deal with that."

"We’ll be fine," Princess Celestia said. Super Stallion quickly flew off to see what he could do about Tirek who on top of taking away the chaotic magic of Discord had forced Twilight to surrender all the alicorn magic she had. 

"Um, quick question. How come when Tirek took all of the alicorn magic he becomes a literal giant, but when he took the magic of the essential god over here he hardly grew?" 

"You know Pinkie now that I think about it, that is a really good question," Discord responded while laying on the ground seemingly carefree. "Perhaps it's because he absorbs the raw energy of the individuals and alicorns have a bunch of those."

"Oh that makes sense." 

"Yes yes! All the power that I've waited for so long at last nothing can stop me now." Suddenly Tirek was cut off when Super Stallion flew straight at him and bucked him in the jaw and he fell down again. 

Discord bursted into laughter on the spot.

"Oh my gosh that couldn't have been funnier if Super Stallion had actually planned that."

"Actually yeah, that was pretty funny Discord," Pinkie said. Suddenly Rainbow Dash got in Discord's face as angry as she could get. 

"Is that all you can say? You stab us in the back just to get stabbed again and you don't even care about that!" 

"Come now Rainbow Crash, this is a time for graduations. My chaotic student Twilight cared about us so much that she gave up all her magic. Necklaces off to you Twilight." Discord then tossed the necklace Tirek gave him to Twilight. Suddenly the necklace reflected a rainbow and Twilight put the pieces together and she along with the others ran to the Tree of Harmony while Super Stallion kept Tirek busy. 

"I'll admit you're powerful for a pony but you still won't stop me," Tirek said as he tried to blast Super Stallion who countered with a blast of his own. Suddenly the mane 6 appeared and with their newly required rainbow power, they not only imprisoned Tirek, but returned all the magic that he stole.

"Well that’s new," Super Stallion said as he went to meet the mane 6. "What happened? How did you all do that?"

"They opened the chest that the seed sapping tree spit out and used the magic inside it to defeat Tirek." 

"So in other words you're the only 1 left to deal with." Super Stallion asked, ready to fight but Twilight got in the way. 

"Wait, Super Stallion, I think Discord planned all this." 

"What?" Everypony else and Spike asked. 

"She's right. I knew all along that Tirek was just trying to trick me by saying friendship wasn't as great as ponies made it out to be. So I played along and used him instead to help Twilight and her friends open the chest and apparently a new castle." Super Stallion turned around and saw the new castle made from the chest that came from the Tree of Harmony.

"How the heck did I miss that?"

"Maybe you should pay attention instead of doing your one liners," Discord said. 

"Wait Discord, how did you know that Tirek was just trying to trick you?" Super Stallion asked.

"Excellent question, perhaps he should hear it too." With a snap of his fingers Tirek was teleported out of Tartarus and in front of the spirit of chaos who was so shocked he fell down. "Hey buddy you don't look so good. Too bad I'm no longer of any use to or I might lend you a claw." 

"Now Discord when, when I said that I didn't actually mean-" Discord then wrapped his tail around Tirek and pulled him in.

"I guess pony errand boy doesn't look so bad now huh? You tried to trick me into thinking you could offer me something greater than friendship, but nothing could be greater. There was a time not so long ago, chapter 19 actually, that like you I thought friendship wasn't worth much. But over time these ponies and that markedly adorable dragon proved me wrong."

"When did we do that?" Super Stallion asked. 

"In a way all the time. I've seen friendship make you act in all sorts of different ways, such as helping others forget or at the very least not feel bad about their mistakes from the past. Sometimes friends can tease friends about certain mistakes to help get a point across. Or when you feel bad because a friend is in danger you feel like that because you care about them that much. Friendship can hurt, it can mend, it can teach, it can help you learn. Friendship can do sorts of things, it’s kind of chaotic.”

“He kind of has a point,” Twilight said.

“I think I can grow to like it a lot, but first." Discord then leaned closer to Tirek who was starting to get scared. "I'm going to teach a certain centaur what happens when he thinks he can just throw me away like an empty candy bag." Discord then dragged Tirek away while he grabbed at the dirt desperately trying to get free leaving the others in a rather awkward silence.

"Wanna explore the castle with us, Super Stallion?" Twilight asked.

"Okay."