//------------------------------//
// Elements 
// Story: Flurry Heart 
// by Buttery Biscuit 
//------------------------------//

Six friends were on the train to the crystal castle. Even though it was one of the hottest days of the year, each were super excited to see their friends.

Rarity, now an even wealthier mare, was able to open two more stores. She was finally able to upgrade her house. Getting a workspace instead of using her bedroom. Not only that but Rarity had gotten a little more adventurous in her clothing lines. She started a whole new avant-garde line call Daroas inspired by her own line. Chaotic darkness. It was unlike anything any creature had seen, and she had so many orders she had to hire workers. 

She was so glad Discord had pushed her out of her box. She was thankfull, even more so as Precious barked at her. Precious rubbed against her and she cooed. The best thing about him was he needed no food, no bathroom care, and he was already trained. She loved Opalescent, but she could be a stuck up princess. And of course, her store was the envy of all, having kept the furniture Sombra accidentally made. She wondered if he could maybe open his own craft store, there certainly was a market for it. She should talk to him about that.

Fluttershy sat next to Rarity. Over the year she had tried many things, flying a foot higher than normal, racing rainbow even though the race was slowed down, she tried new foods, read books she never would have before. But the best thing was her new nickname Flutterbold. See Fluttershy had a hard time standing up to creatures. 

Then she got that whistle from Discord, she blew the whistle and Discord had protected her. After that anytime some-creature harassed her for saying no, or demanded that she help even if she didn't want to. She blew the whistle. Discord or Sombra would show up and protect her. It made saying no a lot easier as she could just call her friends for back up. It filled her with confidence to know they had her back no questions asked. The only downside is they became known as Fluttershy's lackeys which she didn't appreciate, they were her friends, not servants.

Next to Fluttershy sat Pinkie Pie. She couldn't wait to cook with Discord. With his magic, she could bake food she normally couldn't like glass cake, paper cupcakes, and wooden pies. She would also get to see Sombra, see both he and Discord treated her well. They never brushed her away, or ignored her when she said something strange. Something she promised to address with her friends, as soon as Twilight was free. She just loved hanging out with them.

On the other side, facing her friends, was Applejack, her family owed Discord and Sombra a lot. They helped them every cider season, and every zap apple jam season. With their powers, things got done fast. More breaks could be taken, more could be sold. 

Especially since Twilight had been booked for the past year, sometimes they helped more than the rest of her friends did, and Granny loved them. She couldn't wait for them to come to the family reunion, the rest of her friends had gone. Discord and Sombra had never taken part, but they should since they were practically family now.

Rainbow dash chilled next to her pet cloud. Discord made a rogue cloud to mess with her and to cheer up Fluttershy. She had been mad until she got it to work for her, then she insisted on keeping it. Now she had a pet cloud, which was part of the army of Tank. Her number 1. Having a cloud was cooler than she first thought as she could make rain, snow, and lighting whenever she wanted. She had to admit it was a pretty funny prank. She wondered if Sombra would make a good prankster, or if he even tried.

Spike could not wait to propose the new campaign he made for Discord. Now that they made a new one. Sombra could join in, he did show some interest. Shining said so, he was excited to let another player join in.

Twilight grimaced in her chair, she was glad her friends came with her. She was mad that Discord and Sombra had a hold on Cadence and Celestia. She was glad they didn't get to her friends. All she needed now was proof, proof they were evil. Then her friends, and she could convince every creature and put them back into ice and stone. Whose idea was it to reform them again? Well, whoever's idea it was they were a dumbass. Soon, she would once again save the world, just like always.

Six friends left the train, the station completely abandoned. Not a single creature was around.

"Uh, Twilight they know were coming right?" Rainbow Dash asked, she was under the impression they were for some sort of friendship thing. She hoped it was just casual, Twilight wasn't looking so hot.

"No its a surprise visit," Twilight said, it had to be a surprise. That's how they would catch them in the act, the act of being evil.

"Oh darling, are you sure about this?" Rarity asked, it seemed rather rude to just show up. This was also the first time they had all seen Twilight in a really long time. Plus she seemed, different.

"Yes," were her friends doubting her, were they under their spell too? No that would be ridiculous. Never.

Twilight friends followed her, it was incredibly vacant until it was incredibly not. All the roads and sidewalks were turned into water. You had to swim around to get around. Right in the center was a game of volleyball. On one side was Sombra, Discord, Ivy, Spear, Cloudclaw, and Silver. The other side was Moon, Sandy, Shining, Glisten Rain who is the owner of a muffin shop, Zap Sparks who is a retired wonder bolt, and Clarity Fly who is a doctor.

Cadence sat on the sidelines in a plastic tube. Flurry sat on her head covered in floaties, just in case. Next to her sat Fire Rush, who elected to judge due to her pregnancy. The mothers had become closer since Discord and Sombra were good friends with Silver. Cadence was glad for that, Fire was a good mare and she liked spending time with her. Most of their conversations were about motherhood, something she never got to discuss. All the other mothers were in it because she, and her daughter, were alicorns. Fire was in it for the advise and company. "Alright, it's 3 to 3 whoever gets this last point wins," Cadence announced. "Ready, set, go!" She yelled.

Sombra served as they had just gotten a point but the ball didn't get far as it was hovering in purple magic.

"Oh hello, Twilight!" Sombra waved, he had so many things to tell her. He had seen her maybe once since staying with Cadence. But that was understandable she was busy. He could not wait to tell her about all the friendship and forgiveness he had achieved. She was going to be thrilled.

"What is happening?" Twilight asked as she looked around at all the chaos. This was going in the proof pile for sure.

"Oh it's too hot to get anything done, so we're taking a day off." Cadence clarified it had to be about 100 or 102.

"I did it, isn't it great? Get in, waters the perfect temp." Discord said proudly, more chaos, more fun.

Twilight watched in horror as her friends got into the water. She wanted to protest but if Discord and Sombra had their limbs on Cadence and Shining. Then it was possible the kingdom was also under their spell. Which meant Twilight had to fight a lot of creatures, but not if she could isolate them. "Actually I was hoping to speak to you, Shining, Discord, and Sombra. Alone."

"Oh, I guess we could do that," Sombra said as he turned into smoke and bolted to pinkie. "Can you take my place on the court?"

"Yes!" Pinkie bounced, that looked like a lot of fun and Cadence was right. It was too hot to do anything.

Sombra grabbed her and turned back into smoke, taking Pinkie with him. He placed her in his spot. "Kick some serious flank, show no mercy Pinks." He said as he turned into shadows and bolted out of the pool. He shook off and grabbed his shirt out of a nearby Bush. Putting it on lazily. He was going to get back in of course. Discord chose Fluttershy for his spot. Cadence chose Fire to take her place, and a guard took Shining's. They all followed Twilight off. Out of view of the kingdom. Cadence took Flurry off of her head and onto the ground, so she could stretch her hooves. She watched her daughter waddle around, exploring the ground.

Twilight took a deep breath, the moment of truth. As soon as she freed them, they would free the empire. Her friends would make an excellent distraction for the kingdom. "You have been lying to me! You have been lying to me. I know so! You're lying about Flurry Heart. She is super powerful and you lied!"

"I just didn't want you to worry about it Twilight, you have a lot on your plate and-" Cadence stated as her heart thumped in her ears. Her fears, coming true. Before she could explain herself further, she was interrupted.

"And you been brainwashed by Discord and Sombra. That's why you lied. In fact, this whole place is under their spell." Twilight said with confidence.

"Do...do you think we would do that?" Discord asked. No wonder they treated them like trophies, treated them like idiots. Like they wouldn't touch them, even with a 5 ft pole. It's because they never moved past them being evil, in their eyes they were still evil.

"After messing up so many times I wouldn't call it impossible. Plus Gold told me all about your evil deeds, like you could hide them from me. I'm lucky I found him, befriend him." Twilight stated, it wasn't like that was a lie. They fudged up their reformation, the elements did just fine learning friendship. So should they. This was the last time, no more chances.

"Gold? He's a scumbag, and a manipulator. We are good I swear." Sombra said, more desperately then he realized, he didn't want to go back to his ice prison.

"That's what you want me to believe but you're you! No, your useless I wished you never reformed! It's your fault that my family is in trouble. It's your fault they lied to me!" Twilight said as she pointed a hoof at them accusingly.

"Twilight! Do not talk to them like that! They are good creatures who helped Shining and I-"

"Hide the fact your baby is powerful just so you could avoid the guilt of having to put a dampener on her? Was it for her or was it really for you?" Twilight snapped at Cadence, accusing her of lying without Discord and Sombra's influence. She felt her head throb and her head filled with thoughts. Her world got blurry. It was their fault. All their fault.

Cadence gasped "of course it was her. Everything I do, I do for the love of my children, my kingdom, and my husband."

"Well, guess you did a shit job since you put them in danger, and they are not your children." Twilight said, danger, every creature was in danger. She was in danger. Everything was dangerous.

"Hey! You cant talk to her like that!" Discord yelled, she could shit on him and Sombra all she wanted, but she was pushing it now. Cadence was just doing what she thought best.

"Yeah," a group of voices could be heard agreeing with Discord. It was the crystal ponies and the elements. The elements were suprised, concerned, worried. They elected to stand by, prepared to jump in and help when they were needed.

"You aren't mad? But you all could be in great danger!" Twilight protested, was that her friends? Why did they look so...concerned? Oh no, the spell had effected them, that explained their sudden admiration for Discord and Sombra. How could she not see it? She let the situation explode out of control.

"If it was a real problem she would have gotten help!" Spear Roaster exclaimed, he had ultimate faith in Cadence, who always did what was best for her empire. "Which she did!"

"From Discord and Sombra," Ivy added, she did get help, help that wouldn't harm her baby in the long run. If she was a mother, she would do the same for her child. Cadence was a good mother, a good ruler, she was good.

"Yeah!" It looked like the empire agreed with both Spear and Ivy as they backed them. This was their protected, their guide, the mare who helped without asking for much in return. Who thought of her subjects first, her family first, love first. Sometimes at her own demise, she always put others before herself. It was their turn to do that for her. Protect her, as she did them.

"And if we couldn't handle it then she would have done the dampener. Right Cadence?" Sombra asked, as he turned to Cadence but to every creature's surprise she was crying.

Cadence was sobbing, but she managed to croak out "I'm terrible, what was I thinking? Twilight I just didn't want to overstress you, I swear. I was going to tell you as soon as you felt better. I swear. I was just trying to do what is best for you."

"I decide what's best for me. But that's ok because I'm still sure that they made you do it. So after I put a damping spell on Flurry for her safety, as well as the empires. I will be putting them back into ice and stone so the spell they cast stops. Clearly they have learned nothing." Twilight said as she shot off a spell, lost in her own demented world. Every creature was evil, except her. The icon of good, of justice. There was just no way she could ever be anything but that, it was everyone else that was wrong.

Sombra didn't think about it, he just did it, he dove for Flurry. He picked her up in his hooves. He covered her body and felt the blast of magic, it hurt. He ground his teeth together and his eyes teared up. It hurt more than anything he had ever felt, but he kept himself together, forcing his scream down.

Discord took hold of Twilight's face, his eyes becoming spirals. He didn't care if he didn't have permission, this was an emergency. Plus he was protected by Cadence, he was sure she would forgive him for this. "You'll listen to the sound of my voice and only my voice."

"I will."

"Sleep" Discord told Twilight, and she slumped to the ground, "we can yell at me about that later! We....need a plan."

"Soma goo?" Flurry was obsessing over a flower when Twilight cast the spell. Now her uncle was snuggling her. Sombra was so nice to her that's why she loved him. She wondered why Discord was trying to get auntie Twilight to sleep in the middle of the day. He was so silly sometimes. That's why she loved him. "Goo, goo?"

"Yes Flurry, I am fine," Sombra said as he shifted between smoke and pony. "Just wanted a hug. How about we play a game? I want you to close your eyes and open when your father tells you to. It's like a long game of peekaboo."

"Yes," Flurry said, she couldn't say ok yet, it was the k that she struggled with, so she said yes instead. She closed her eyes tightly. She felt Sombra pick her up and give her to her father. She tried to listen to what was going on, but she couldn't

Shining had a shield over Flurry. He frowned freely, making sure Flurry kept her eyes closed. This was bad, so very bad. Sombra was struggling to stay in one piece and Shining couldn't be more worried. And Twilight, he had no idea it had gotten that bad, she always had issues but this was just, another level. What was he going to do?

"Take the people and hide them. Just in case Twilight wakes up. I don't want her hurting any other creature. Then come back we might need you." Cadence said

"Ok." Shining said as he left with his Daughter and led the people to a pre-planned safety point. It wasn't too far away but still a good hiding spot. They didn't want to go too far just in case.

D--ord I a- -- p--pa--" Sombra's voice glitched in and out. The world was incredibly hazy.

"Ok, ok, ok, ok. Sombra just hold on, give me a second to think." Discord looked down at him, he had to assess the spell, maybe he could take it off. He stopped casting every spell he could and put all his power into holding Sombra together. "Uh, uh, uh." Sombra was low on magic right now, he knew that. He could feel it fading. So it was time to start there, it was better than blindly taking off the spell. Which had a great hold on Sombra. "Ok. Cadence go get a popsicle." Discord said as he tried to figure out a solution. His eyes trailed over Sombra, reading into the spell Twilight had cast, it was supposed to be a dampener, just a dampener, but like Twilight's mind, it had warped. It was sucking the magic right out of him.

Cadence and Shining came back at the same time. Shining left Flurry with Ivy and Spear, the Kingdom could watch her. They were more than willing to. Cadence handed Discord the popsicle, taking a moment to run her hoof down his neck. She sported a reassuring smiled and hoped that would make Discord feel better.

Discord calmed a little bit, "Thanks" he said as Cadence gave the popsicle to Sombra which he gobbled down in an instant. Discord breathed once more, he had to keep it together.

"Girls, can you tell me anything about Twilight, what she feeling, thinking, acting like?" Cadence asked, she for one wanted to know what happened. She felt sad, scared, but she would have to focus on the situation now. Twilight needed help.

"Well, I'm not sure we have barely seen her over the past year." Rarity said as she looked over to a sleeping Twilight, her pour friend. Some element she was, she hadn't even noticed, she just assumed Twilight was ok.

"Wait she hasn't been socializing with you?" Cadence asked in surprise.

"Uh no," Fluttershy said as she hid behind her mane. She hoped with all her heart that every creature would be ok.

Suddenly Discord piped up "Has Twilight been trembling or shaking? Sleeping? Eating? Seeing things that aren't there? Losing time? Talking to herself?' Is she constantly afraid of....never mind I know what's wrong." Discord stated, it sounded like something he had been through, he expected as much. Twilight had been through a lot, her mind was breaking down. She had break downs before, but never ones this big. Discord assumed one day it would happen, it looked like today was that day.

"---i h--- j" Sombra tried to say something, but he passed out.

"He's getting worse ...Cadence it's time to put your bits where your mouth is." He stated, "because he's gonna need to drink the blood of another creature. You haven't been part of a dark magic ritual? Or cast any dark magic spells, heavy ones. Light ones are fine."

Cadence shook her head no, she hadn't done that. She didn't even flinch as she stuck out her hoof to Discord, whatever he needed, she would give.

"I won't lie it's going to hurt." Discord said as he opened Sombra's mouth. He watched as Cadence stuck her hoof into his mouth like she was going to shake a limb. She was unbelievably calm, Discord shut Sombra's mouth and saw Cadence flinch. "Sorry." Seconds passed before Discord opened Sombra's mouth.

Cadence held her hoof, it had stung but it didn't hurt as much as she thought it would. Though she felt a tad faint, probably from blood loss.

Sombra gasped for air, breathing in and out deeply, he looked up at Discord with confusion. "Why does my mouth taste good?"

Discord chuckled as he let go of Sombra. "That was the exact wrong thing to say."

Sombra wiped his muzzle with his hoof it was oddly wet, he stared at his hoof. Was that blood? He looked over to Cadence. "Hey, what's wrong with...." Sombra trailed off as he stared at Cadence's hoof. It was bitten into. He tasted his mouth and his eyes went wide. In all the element's existence, they had never seen Sombra sport such a look of horror. "I'm going to be sick!" He said as he covered his mouth with his hooves.

"Don't! You might die, that spell is killing you magically. This isn't normal body death. You will die and stay dead. No creature can do anything, none!" Discord explained quickly, "so don't do that."

"Well shit! Reverse the spell!" Sombra said, his stomach turned. He felt so gross, so very gross. He needed a very long, very hot shower.

"I tried, but that spell is really on there. Twilight is going to have to be the one to take it off. I could end up making it worse, it's not worth the risk." Discord explained. The air was deathly silent as Discord and Sombra just sat there. The next steps unknown, who knew what Twilight would do once she woke. She was clearly unstable and so was her magic.

"Did....is...Flurry alright?" Sombra asked, breaking the silence. It had been on his mind but he was scared. Scared to ask, actually scared. He wasn't scared that often.

"Yes, she's fine, thanks to you. Thank you, Sombra." Cadence hugged Sombra tightly "you probably saved her life, and Twilight's."

It was silent once more until Sombra could no longer take it. "Is that how you all feel? Like how Twilight feels." Sombra looked at the elements in the eyes. "Is that what you think?" Rage could be heard in his voice and if he had enough power, purple would pour from his eyes.

"No! Of course not! You, Shining, Discord, Cadence, and Flurry are like a tiny family now, who would have thought it was possible-" Rarity stated she was going to go into how much they evolved before she could she was cut off.

"Oh so I guess you all do, you feel the same as Twilight! No no, I get it once evil always evil. Look at King Sombra attempting to be good isn't that hilarious. Hey, I got an idea why don't we befriend him but not really be friends. We'll reform him so others won't become evil, use him as an example. Parade him and his friend around like trophies. That'll be real fun." Sombra snapped back bitterly.

"We don't think-" Rainbow started to protest, of course, they were friends.

"Oh come on, you never invite us to anything, if something happens we are the last to know, and you never call us for anything unless you need our powers. We're just here to prove a point, don't be evil just be good." Discord added, "you dropped Trixie's past, you dropped Starlight's, you dropped Tempest's. So why? Why can't you drop ours? Is it because they're like you? We're just too different for you, we don't fit into your perfect society so you dust us under the bed."

The elements just looked at Discord and Sombra, they had no idea they felt this way. Applejack stepped up first "I won't lie, when we first met I had mah doubts. I thought Fluttershy was downright crazy. I thought Pinkie and her were crazy after that. Reforming the likes of ya. Twas me that was mighty wrong. I didn't even give ya a fair chance. I didn't join the bandwagon until later and I regret it. Ya more than my friends ya my family. Now I ask ya ta give me a second chance."

"Applejacks right, I'm sorry, for the element of loyalty I didn't have your backs. I should have kicked more butts for you." Rainbow Dash said as she joined her friend's side.

"I'm sorry too I gave you both a hard time at first and while yes. We did brag about our accomplishment of reforming you. It eventually became your accomplishment too. We aren't bringing it up to shame you, or prove a point. Not anymore, we bring it up because we're proud of you. You've gone through so much, we do the same for the ponies you mentioned. I for one don't care if you fit in, you're my friends. Screw what others think. You were right Discord, I hardly do what I want because I'm afraid to. What I want is to be your friend, both of you. So I'm asking too, for another chance." Rarity said as she too joined her friends.

"I'm sorry, Sombra. I just assumed you knew how I felt. You could always read me so well that I just assumed you knew what I was thinking. I'm sorry I should have said something you're my friend not a project. I'm sorry if I acted like you weren't. Discord, I never meant it to feel like I used you just for your powers, I always thought we were kindred souls. Chaos, together. So I hope you will give me another chance too." Pinkie pie walked up to her friends and sat beside them.

Fluttershy came out from her mane, "I would NEVER send you back to stone and ice. You're my friends and I love you!" She ran to Discord and Sombra and wrapped her hooves around them. "I'm so sorry." The elements followed her actions as they each joined the hug, tears running down their muzzles. Cadence and Shining joined too.

"You really mean that?" Discord asked surrounded by his best friends. With his tail swishing back and forth, he couldn't help but smile, friends with the elements. Something he more than glad to be. He wished he had said something sooner, brought his feelings up. He spent a lot of time assuming the worst when it had been the best. 

"Yes. Of course, we mean it." They said all at once as the hug increased in strength.

"Well then, I guess you could help. Sombra's gonna need more." Discord said with a scoff. 

"Nooooooooo." Sombra whined "I don't want to. Why it always gotta be me at death's door? You could take a turn you know."

Discord chuckled, "there, there, Sombra, I can put it in a juice pouch and you can pretend its strawberries. You don't even have to know who it's coming from."

"I guess that's slightly better," Sombra said, he didn't want to disappear, so he had to do this. He sighed, there went his streak as vegetarian, or as vegetarian as a practitioner of dark magic could get. 

"I kinda want to know what I taste like. Like on a scale of would have again to terrible, 1 to 10." Pinkie Pie said, getting more of the bounce she was known for back into her voice.

Sombra smiled at her, she was a crazy one. He was glad they were friends. He gently bit her hoof, making sure to not draw blood. "You're so yummy, Ima eat you alive. Ahhhhhh."

"Oh no! Please I'll do anything!" Pinkie said dramatically as she became less and less gray, her hair bouncier. She knew she wasn't really in harm's way, but that didn't mean she wasn't going to play along.

"Free cupcakes for life," Sombra stated flatly as the very slight hope for some cupcakes flowed into him.

"I can't do that!" Pinkie pie would go broke if she made Sombra cupcakes free for forever.

"Eaten it is!" Sombra said as he gently nibbled her. He had noticed his actions were cheering her up. He wanted that, so he kept going. A happy Pinks was the best Pinks.

"Ahahahahahah. Stop that tickles, Sommmmmbraaa sttopppp ahahahahahhahaha." Pinkie said as she wiggled on the ground. More of her bounce came back, her hair becoming poofier, hide bright pink.

Sombra didn't stop until Pinkie was back to being, well, Pinkie. Only then did he give up "you've defeated me once more. How will I ever cope?"

"I'll make you free cupcakes anyway." Pinkie offered with a bounce, now free to bounce around now that Sombra had let go.

Sombra watched Pinkie bounce around excitedly, "thank you. All of you. For everything." He looked at Discord and gave him a strange expression. Which confused the girls. "I guess you could say..."

"Friendship is magic." Discord and Sombra had said together. The girls squealed around them. They said their phrase, and they couldn't be happier, but it was a bitter happy. They wished Twilight was here, to join in the love. There had to be something they could do to help her.





Twilight woke up in the middle of the crystal empire "I am Midnight Sparkle, and I am sick of you not obeying equestrian rules." She said as she approached a crooked building "is it that hard to follow simple codes?" She yelled as she fixed the building with her magic. Next, she strolled to sidewalks that were broken and uneven,. They clearly violated several codes. "Do you need me to baby you for every Celestia damn thing? Are you that stupid?" She said as she fixed the sidewalks with her magic, it wasn't that hard to do. Why did she have to do it? It didn't take a genius to fix sidewalks. So why did it have to be her? Couldn't it be somepony else?

Twilight stared down the buildings of the crystal empire. She noticed how the bricks on the houses seemed uneven. She used her magic to carve them into even pieces "I mean how hard can it be to get it right? I can get it perfect. I HAVE to make it perfect." Twilight looked around the empire once more, she noticed the illegally parked wagons, and she parked them into the right place. "Why is it just me, you get to have fun. I have to obey all the rules. Why can't I have fun? Why is it ok for you to disobey the rules? BUT I CAN'T!"

"You were right," Rarity said, "She doesn't realize its cardboard. I guess she did need to get this out of her system."

"Yeah, she might know. She's still Twilight Sparkle, Princess of friendship. I don't think she would willingly hurt any creature, accidentally definitely." Sombra stated as he watched her closely, just in case she went too far. He would stop her from doing anything to regrettable, with Discord's help of course.

"You put too much pressure on me!" Twilight said as she picked up the cardboard people and drew a circle on the ground. She then placed the cardboard creatures gently inside the circle. "This is the circle of I hate you. Stay where you are I organized based on how much you suck dong!"

Discord scoffed and ended up getting stares. "She said dong." That caused the rest of the crew to smile lightly she did say dong. In the end, every creature knew Discord was just trying to make the situation lighter.

Sombra snickered a bit before stopping in surprise, "Oh my she kicked that colt in the crotch. No cardboard babies for that guy."

"Yikes," Discord winced, it hurt to watch, it was pretty hard.

Eventually Twilight had settled down in the center of the cardboard empire and the situation became more somber as she cried herself to sleep. Then her 'evil' rampage was over.

"Now what?" Cadence asked.

"We wait for her to wake up." Discord said.





Twilight slowly opened her eyes. A heavy blanket covered her as she lay in a comfortable bed. Her head swam as her vision did. "What happened?" She grumbled her mind, scattered to the wind. She tried to find the pieces and put them back together. Flashes of the past few hours flooded into her, and she cried, "What have I done?"

"You did nothing. I replaced the entire empire with a cardboard replica 3 feet from the actual empire. You couldn't tell the difference. No creature got hurt. Even when your 'evil' your still Twilight Sparkle sorry I mean Midnight Sparkle." Discord said.

"Midnight?" Twilight asked, she was still gathering pieces, but she knew enough to know she really messed up. Her vision was still blurry the room an array of colors, it sounded like she was underwater as voices were soft and far.

"What you named yourself. For your 'evil' rampage, which might I say wasn't all that evil." Sombra stated calmly. He sipped on his juice box, which was juice, for sure juice. He will tell you that's what it was, but it wasn't.

"Oh," Twilight stated as she yawned. She felt so tired, so very tired.

"Twilight when you feel ready, I"m going to need you to undo the magic spell you cast," Sombra said as he drank his juice that was most definitely juice. Though he'd really like to stop drinking that juice, strawberry wasn't his favorite flavor.

"Oh, no, Flurry!" Twilight sat up in a panic and it felt like she was hit with an ice pick, straight through her head. She winced in pain.

"Twilight please, relax," Cadence spoke as she tucked her step-sister back into bed. Of course, she was upset with her, but she forgave her. In the end, all her children were alive and that's what mattered most.

"I covered for her, but it's having very nasty side effects. It'll kill me, like actually, if I don't keep drinking...juice." Sombra said as that look of horror spread across his face again. Juice, strawberry, strawberry juice. That's what he had.

"Oh. I'll....try." Twilight said as she watched Sombra approach her bedside. At least Flurry was ok, she wasn't sure what she'd do if she ended up hurting her own family.

"Are you sure you're up to this, I'm uncomfortable, death is more present, but as long as I have my juice I'll be ok. I don't want to rush you. You just woke up." Sombra said as he looked down at Twilight, she looked exhausted.

"Yes, I could have...even if it was a mistake. Even if I didn't mean it, I could have hurt her. You...helped me." Twilight said, what was she doing? Why was she doing it? So much made so little sense. Twilight breathed as she removed her spell, it was really on there. So it stung to get off, but she powered through it and freed Sombra. "Cadence, I have to apologize to Cadence, and my friends!" She sat up again.

"I'm here Twilight, your friends are waiting outside. Just sit and relax I'll tell them you are awake. But please rest, apologies can wait you need to recover first." Cadence got up and left, going outside to see the elements.

"Sooooo tell me something about Twilight Sparkle I don't know," Sombra stated as he laid down next to Twilight, Discord joined the pile as well, curling around her.

"But Flurry, my friends, Cadence and you both. I uh....I'm sorry. I'm sorry about it all I just. I don't know what happened, I just and I just. I didn't..."

"Shhh, I think you went through enough today. Why don't we just chat?" Sombra asked, "you need to rest Twilight we can worry about the details later. If it matters that much, we forgive you. You forgave us, well you gave us a second chance. It would be-HOOVE us to do so." Sombra said as he wiggled his eyebrows and waved his hoof around.

"I do forgive you, your my friends and I'm sorry I ever thought otherwise." She paused before she realized what Sombra had said. "Was....was that a pun?" Twilight snickered, "that's so lame." She was already feeling a little lighter than last time. This time she would listen to her loved ones, depend on them. Recover. "My first crush was on Sherlock Hooves the book character."

Discord scoffed, that was a very Twilight thing to do. "I was trying to learn how to fly without magic. I was flying when I saw a hot mare. So I staired cuz I'm a teenager and teenagers are stupid. I ran right into the side of a mountain, then I got punched in the muzzle for staring."

"And then I laughed at him really hard," Sombra added.

"Thank you, Sombra," Discord said sarcastically.

"No problem, you made it easy," Sombra said and that made Twilight giggle, which made him smile.

Twilight looked up at the roof and cried once more. "Can I be honest? I don't want to do this. I was just a nerdy foal. I just wanted knowledge and to research, then I got friends. Now I'm an alicorn with responsibilities and I'm going to rule. What if I'm a bad ruler and creatures don't like me? What if my friends and I drift apart? What if I'm the worst possible choice? I'm scared of that, and being attacked again. I feel like some creature is always watching. I just don't know, I don't want to rule by myself. It's just all so much pressure, what if I'm secretly terrible and Celestia made a mistake? What if....I'm a huge mistake?"

"Then what would you call us? We messed up big time and were given another chance. You messed up, but everything worked out. Every creature is ok." Sombra said, trying to be as reassuring as possible this whole thing was so surreal to him and Discord. They couldn't believe they were helping the element of magic, instead of the reverse.

"Twilight, it'll be ok, one day at a time. You can stay here and watch Flurry with us. It'll be fun. Take a couple of weeks off." Discord suggested, it looked like she needed a little more chaos, freedom, and fun in her life. There was a lot of that around here, it would be like a vacation.

Twilight looked at the roof and closed her eyes, thankful for her friends. She wondered what she would do without them as she drifted off to sleep once more.