Pinkie poked at the ground with her hoof, humming a random tune. She paused and sighed, looking at the walls of the cave. Some of the ceiling leaked and little drops of water fell from time to time. Discord lay curled up in a dark corner, he said nothing, just stared at the wall, afraid to make eye-contact with Pinkie. She noticed him and smiled sadly. The silence was broken by a question. “Dissy? Are you ok?” he turned his head slightly but didn’t look her in the eye. There came no answer, so, Pinkie walked over to him slowly. “Discord?” she tapped him and his eyes finally met hers.
“What?” he said in a small voice, just above a whisper. Pinkie sniffed and lowered her head.
“Wh-why’d you have to do that? Come on, you could have just left me here…wouldn’t you like to be free for the rest of your life?” she giggled softly, “You have forever ahead of you.”
Discord’s expression became serious and he lifted Pinkie’s head to meet his eyes, “I do, but you have shorter time than I do. I’m immortal, you’re not. Besides, I thought Tyranny would let you go…” he stifled a growl, “That pathetic excuse for a Unicorn, he should be locked up in Tartarus.” Pinkie nodded her head slowly.
“You think somepony will rescue us?” she said with her sad blue eyes gazing up at him, “I miss my friends…” Discord turned his head away, unwilling to answer. Pinkie pouted and turned it back. “Hey, hey, hey, I didn’t say I’d rather be there than with you!” she bit her lip, “I meant that I wanted you there with me, and for all of my friends to think you’re a good draconiques. Not a bad one.” Discord lowered his eyebrows in sympathy. Pinkie lowered hers in seriousness, she normally didn’t wear a frown, but it was almost essential now.
Discord blinked and closed his eyes, “I don’t know if we’ll get out of here. Tyranny’s got my magic and…I’m not strong enough without it. Besides, there’s a wall around here. How do we break that?”
“I dunno, Dissy.” Pinkie hugged his muzzle, “Maybe the girls will find a really powerful Unicorn to get us out.”
“Maybe…” he nuzzled her, “Maybe.”
---
One book, two books, three books, four. The books were being sorted by a purple Unicorn and a dragon of the same color. “History, history, history. Fable, fable, fable.” The Unicorn sorted the books into piles with her hot pink magic aura. Her dragon was a much slower sorter, but she could use the help.
“Hey, Twilight. What pile does this book go in?” Spike held up a book with a black cover and blue lettering on the front. “I can’t even read the title.” Twilight squinted at the book and then levitated it, bringing it closer to her face. She deadpanned.
“I don’t know…” a cloth floated over to her and she used it to wipe the dust that had collected on the cover away. “Explorations of Southern Ponyville, Volume One.” She read aloud, “A Hiker’s Guide to the Perfect Sightseeing Spots.” Twilight giggled, “Huh, guess we’ll have to make a ‘Geography’ pile for this book. Thanks for telling me, Spike!” She set it down next to the other piles.
Spike smiled and continued sorting, “It looks really old. Like, it’s been here for years and years.”
Twilight nodded absentmindedly. “Uh-huh.”
Spike flashed a tiny stare at her, “Isn’t it weird, though? The pages…” he stood up and walked over to the book, opening it. “The pages are made from…paper, but a kind I’ve never seen.”
Twilight laughed and then smirked, “Since when are you a paper expert?”
Spike slumped his shoulders, “I dunno, it just seems intriguing to me, that’s all.” He tossed the book back on the floor and forgot all about it. A few minutes later, there was a frantic knocking at the door. Twilight gazed over at the wooden door and then looked at Spike.
“Could you get that, Spike?”
“Of course!” he stood up and ran over to the door, leaping over book piles to show off a little. He opened the door to see a panting Fluttershy with the CMC crowded around her. “Uh, hey, Fluttershy. Hi, girls.” The girls nodded briefly and Fluttershy stared at Spike with frantic eyes, it was almost creepy. Spike recoiled. “Uh, come on in.” he stepped aside and allowed Fluttershy to enter, followed by Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle.
Twilight looked up and smiled, “Hello, Fluttershy! Hello, girls!”
Fluttershy trembled slightly at such a warm greeting, but spoke. “T-Twilight? We need your help.”
Spike laughed and smirked at the four of them. “Did Scootaloo get her scooter stuck in a tree again?”
Scoots flushed bright red, “Why, I oughta-” Sweetie nudged her and Scoots sighed and looked at Twilight, then she spilled out the whole story. Twilight listened intently but when Scootaloo came to the part about Discord and Pinkie being trapped in a cave, Twilight’s face melted into a frown and she stood up.
“We have to get her out of there!”
“Don’t you mean ‘them’?” Spike asked. Twilight glared at him.
“No, I mean her.”
Fluttershy nodded, “Yes, but ho-”
“Sounds like Tyranny’s a pretty powerful Unicorn. Where did you say the cave was?” Twilight searched through her books, trying to find a spell book.
Apple Bloom spoke up, “In the south somewhere, Ah think.” Twilight gasped and looked at her. “What?”
Twilight whistled and Spike darted up to her, “Yes, milady?” he saluted her. Twilight looked around searching for something.
“Find that book you had earlier! About southern Ponyville!” she commanded. Spike saluted again and dove into a pile of books, “Hurry! We haven’t got much time!” Spike nodded.
“I’m lookin’!” books flew everywhere and Fluttershy flew a little ways up in the air to avoid getting hit, the Crusaders watched anxiously. Spike poked his hand out of a pile followed by his head. “Found it!” Twilight rushed over and grabbed the book, opening it to the index.
“Caves…caves…” she looked through the C’s, “AHA! Page one-twenty-six through thirty!” she flipped through the pages with her magic and stopped at one-twenty six. “Now, can you describe the cave for me?”
“Dark!” Scootaloo described.
“Scary!” Apple Bloom stuck her hooves in the air.
“Windy!” Sweetie said. The girls gave her frustrated looks. “What?”
“She said describe the cave, not the weather!” Scoots groaned. Sweetie smiled nervously.
“Oops, I mean…LOOOOOOOONG!” she said in a hollow voice. Fluttershy squeaked and held Angel close to her. Twilight smiled.
“Thanks!” she searched through the pages slowly and came to page twenty-eight. “Here it is! Flaming Caves!” she showed the girls a picture. “Is this it?” the girls grinned and nodded, Fluttershy shook with terror and Angel rolled his eyes. Spike posed and then hopped around on his tail like a pogo stick.
“Let’s go! But first, why do they call it ‘Flaming Caves’?” he asked. Twilight paused.
“Uh…” she read a bit of the book. “Flaming Caves is a dangerous place, guarded by two dragons and is the dungeon of dark creatures…” she read aloud.
“Like Tyranny is!” Sweetie pointed out, making everyone but Twilight and Spike nodded.
Fluttershy flinched, “S-should I stay here?”
Twilight shrugged, “If you want, but we have to go, now.” Angel Bunny sighed sympathetically, he liked danger and suspense. “We have to have a lot of Unicorns, who can we get?”
“Rarity!?” Sweetie nodded. “She isn’t that powerful at magic, but she’ll help, won’t she?”
Twilight nodded, “She will, we could use her. Who else is powerful?”
“Trixie?” Fluttershy suggested softly. Twilight shook her head.
“She’s not even here. Who else?”
“The Princesses?” Spike asked. A light bulb came on in Twilight’s head.
“Of course!” she ran upstairs but was suddenly stopped by a glowing white light that was blinding. She put her hoof over her eyes.
“Twilight?” after a few moments, she opened her eyes, re-adjusting her focus on two figures who stood in front of her. She gasped and bowed.
Spike gaped, “Wow, that was fast!” Celestia and Luna exchanged worried glances.
“Was thou looking for us, Twilight Sparkle?” Luna asked. Twilight nodded.
“We needed to find you because Pinkie Pie is trapped in a-”
“A cave. We know.” Celestia spread her wings. “Twilight, you must listen to me carefully.”
Twilight blinked, “Yes, Princess?” she looked into her teacher’s smiling purple eyes.
“Did you know Discord is there, too?” Twilight nodded.
“I do, but how did he escape?”
Luna spoke up, “The power of love cannot be broken forever. Sometimes you must do what must be done. Pinkie released him, Twilight.” The purple Unicorn sighed.
“Figures…”
Celestia shot her a glare, “Listen, Twilight. Discord isn’t the creature you think he is anymore. He wasn’t like that when we were children…” she smiled at the memory.
Twilight blinked, “You knew him when you were children?”
“We both did.” Celestia gazed at Luna and smiled, Luna smiled back.
“We played together every day, believe it or not.”
“When did that stop?” asked Scootaloo.
“One day,” Celestia began. “It all changed. Discord started loving his abilities more than he did to play. To him, play was a foolish thing and he started to gain powers and cause chaos. He said it was the new ‘fun’ but I hated it. Everypony but him hated it. After so many complaints from my subjects, Luna and I rose up against him…you know what happened next.” Celestia closed her eyes. Luna nuzzled her sadly and Twilight bit her lip. Tia forced herself to continue, “When he came back the second time, Luna and I were no longer connected to the Elements, so he got out. Pinkie took a liking to his chaos and over time, she took a liking to him. When he was put back, I could see past her joyous smile on the day of the celebration.”
“I only felt somewhat guilty, however. Discord cannot be broken out by a simple argument between friends, the friends have to argue so much, saying nasty things to one another, for the spell to work.” Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle gave each other embarrassed looks and giggled nervously. “When he came back…again.” Celestia looked at Luna, and Luna nodded with a smile. “It wasn’t the Elements of Harmony that turned him back again. It was me.” Twilight gasped.
“It was…you? How did you-?”
“I turned him back, Twilight. It wasn’t you. I was just so afraid that he would go back to being…Discord that I used my own power for his punishment that he didn’t deserve one bit.” Twilight closed her gaping mouth and cleared her throat. Luna smiled at her sister and winked. “But now I see,” the Sun Princess continued, “That he deserves a second chance. He deserves to be free…” a warm smile spread across her face like sunshine on a field. “He deserves to be with Pinkie Pie.”
The Crusaders whooped and cheered, and danced around the room. Fluttershy grinned and Twilight sat partially in shock and partially in awe and happiness for Pinkie. “Wait! Shouldn’t we rescue them?”
Luna laughed, “But of course! Let us go now! To Flaming Caves!”