//------------------------------// // 1) Too Great Expectations // Story: Learning ABCs - Aristocracy, Bureaucracy, Chaos // by Isopod //------------------------------// The Summer Sun Celebration was officially over. Even though it was an event she would never forget, Twilight Sparkle simply wanted to remain in the library and rest. Now that the celebration was done with, she had some time to dedicate herself to her by now dusty books, her tea and the warm comfort of her bed that no silky sheets in Canterlot Castle could provide. Or, at the very least, she had hoped so. "You can't stay mad at me forever you know. I know you're familiar with how well I can get under anypony's skin." Bemused, Twilight noticed a tiny Discord floating through her leg and then popping out of her right hoof, batting the new, ridiculously huge eyelashes at her. Although there was, thankfully, no unusual sensation following his little magic trick, she was annoyed by it and a slightly little bit disturbed. She swung her hoof as hard as she could and heard him crashing into the wardrobe as he slipped out of her leg. Alright, that was amusing. "Well, that's one way to tell me you're still upset with me." Putting on a poker face any professional gambler would be envious of Twilight sipped her tea and turned another page of the book, concentrating as hard as possible on the read. It wasn't so hard actually. Not while she was as upset with Discord as now - ignoring him was something she gladly did. If there was one thing she knew that agitated him, it was being ignored. There was an audible sigh and a popping sound that clearly indicated he did something. She couldn't know what that something was, but it was something magical and very likely that something should have brought a reaction out of her. Alas, she never looked at the source of the noise. Another magical "pop" indicated he gave up. There was another, defeated sigh and Twilight Sparkle knew the draconequus was getting, if even a bit, anxious. "Twilight Sparkle, my dearest Princess, what more could you ask of this poor draconequus? Shall thou truly leave my heart to wilt without your fancy?" No reply. The fact she didn't even look at him only meant she wouldn't see the most fabulous Victorian outfit he put on for the sake of his poetic words. Discord pouted and, she couldn't explain it, but she could feel him doing so. It was almost as if his pouts and frowns sent frequencies through the air. She knew for certain that he made that face; he was waiting for her to turn around, slightly angered by the silent treatment. Deciding she will otherwise never get her desired relaxation, she finally looked him in the eyes, though largely indifferent. That face immediately changed into a sly smile and he clicked the silly outfit away. "Much better! Now how about we bury the hatchet, huh?" He produced a shovel and started digging through the floor, sinking into the hole. Seconds later,he dug up through her bed, giving her a big toothy smile as he threw a summoned hatchet into the hole. Her bed, that she desperately wanted to simply rest in, was now largely a pile of dug up remains. Either he knew how much she disliked the mess or he noticed the glare on her face, but he dispelled his magic moments after, producing big apologetic but teasing grin as the bed molded back into its original shape. "I still can't believe you let us all waste our precious time on something you could've resolved in seconds!" She finally said bitterly. The draconequus rolled his eyes. "It was but a sign of courtesy." "Courtesy? My friends could have been seriously hurt!" "Bravo, bravo, such an unselfish act of concern." The draconequus rolled his eyes. For that display of disinterest in safety precautions, he earned a strong kick in the flank and clumsily slipped off the bed. "Ouch. Now you see, that was unnecessary. Unlike all the secrecy about my plunder seeds; it only taught you a valuable lesson of princesshood." Twilight groaned in frustration. Then she did a self-help thing she did so many times before; breathed in deeply, preparing to lay out all of her inner frustrations in a rambling speech: "You just don't understand! Princess Celestia and Princess Luna have made it clear how important it is for me to grasp the knowledge of what it means to be a princess! I cannot waste a single minute of my time doing things I shouldn't be doing in the first place, especially if they are your fault - and if you're wondering why, it is because things that do turn out to be your fault shouldn't even be, let alone develop into what they developed the last time! I cannot go chasing after your unfinished business, especially the unfinished business of such evil nature!" At this point, her speech became devoid of air - she paused merely to breathe in loudly, then proceeded to bring a conclusion: "And that, Discord, is why you should've helped us with more sufficient aid than letting us head straight into the dangers of the Everfree Forest. But I guess that by now, that issue might be put aside as a thing of the past and I don't want to deal with it anymore. So please, just keep in mind what I said and everything is going to be just fine." For a moment, Twilight lived in a blissful ignorance, convinced she has made an impact on the chaotic mind of the draconequus. But only for a moment. "Did you know that when you're upset your wings start flapping around?" Twilight gave her wings a quick glance. They were outstretched and moving in weird motion, half looking like she was trying to fly... and half like they were just bouncing around without control. Trying to make it look as subtle as possible, she carefully but forcefully tried to fold her wings with her hoof. Subtlety wasn't working so she started outright struggling with her new feathery appendages. It must've looked incredibly funny, because the Spirit couldn't stop snickering. "Ugh, again?" Twilight mumbled and, as always, gave up. Then, as if by magic, her wings folded themselves without her even trying to. All this time and she still couldn't deduce whether it was done by relaxing, tensing up, working them out to do so, or something entirely different. "I have no idea how do I do that." "Oh you know," the Spirit tried to help, "sometimes you just have to... wing it." He summoned a huge set of drums and played a "ba-dum-ts" to add to the effect of his joke, eyeing her expectantly. But his punny ways were to no avail. The young princess frowned. "Did you even listen to what I said?" "I always listen to what you say, dear. I just don't listen to you ." He smirked teasingly. "Ugh, forget it. Why did I even hope you would care to help me with anything?" "The magic of friendship, perhaps?" "That was a rhetorical question." "Oh." Discord paused, before playfully continuing. "Well, in that case, you'll have to find the answer yourself!" "Wouldn't be the first time!" Twilight retorted. "Touché, my dear." The Spirit laughed and stretched his body. "Too bad my "vacation" is over, though. I can not say I didn't enjoy the temporal disarray. Now it's back to the grind." "You don't even work." Twilight dead panned. Unexpectedly, the expression of the mismatched Spirit suddenly fell. "And what a double-edged sword that turned out to be." Discord noticed a bit bitterly as a giant claymore protruded his chest before falling apart into hundreds of tiny gummy-bunnies. If anything, his sense for showmanship was still intact. To some extent though, he was right. He had seen more world during his idle trips to various parts of Equestria and farther than most ponies ever have. After several quite long months, he has grown tired of travelling and wishful of good old Ponyville and its residents. But in all honesty, while he enjoyed his days here, there was not much he could actually do. Twilight has been thinking of trying to get him to help with her researches but she knew that, in the long run, it wasn't exactly fitting. Not for someone who once ate one of her books. Definitely not. "I'm sure Princess Celestia would gladly-" "I don't think it'll happen, dear," the draconequus cut her off, stuffing his face with gummy-bunnies, "Celly knows way too much of the old chaotic me to trust me with anything she does." "You must be over reacting." Twilight remained stubborn and gave him a reassuring smile. "I'll speak with her about that as soon as I can. I promise." She crossed her chest with her hoof in attempt to make an abridged "Pinkie swear". "That's quite lovely of you dear." The Spirit sincerely said. "Gummy-bunny?" He offered. Twilight eyed the candy hesitantly. The tiny gummy-bunny shined rather colorfully even under the dimmed light and looked quite tasty. "No, thanks." She finally decided. "I just brushed my teeth." "Hmpf. You're no fun." The rest of the gummy-bunnies soon disappeared in the depths of his stomach. "I see that you can't wait to sleep so I'll leave you to it. If you should need anyone to cuddle with in the middle of the night, you know where I am." It was long since he made her blush the way he just did. "Very funny." She chuckled a bit nervously. "Good night, Discord." "Good night, Princess." The draconequus ruffled her mane as much as possible before swiftly flying out the window - probably to find Rainbow Dash and race with her. It has become quite an often occurrence in the evening. Twilight sighed and finally put the book away. The draconequus distracted her to the point where even reading seemed like a task. A sound from the first floor indicated Spike has returned from his visit to Rarity - those visits became suspiciously frequent and at times when she allowed herself not to be utterly rational, Twilight wondered if Rarity had started seeing something in the dragon despite his young age. "I'm home!" "Up here, Spike!" Twilight called. Spike trotted up the stairs. There was a bounce in his step Twilight easily recognized - plus it was matched with a blissful face expression. His time at Rarity's, whatever it was that he had been doing there, had been as productive and wonderful as ever. "Had a nice time, I presume?" She asked with a snicker. Spike nodded, waddled over to his basket and flopped into it. Twilight barely managed not to laugh at the funny but downright adorable sounds the dragon was making in an attempt to stop himself from outright bursting with joy - half squeals and half giggles. Rarity probably gave him another kiss on the cheek or something similar. "I'm hopeless." Spike finally admitted through a snicker. The lavender unicorn rolled her eyes. "You're just a baby dragon, silly, of course you'd be." She teased. "Don't forget to brush your teeth. I'll be back soon to tuck you in." "I don't need to be tucked in! I'm not that young, you know." "That may be true," Twilight accepted, "but that still doesn't mean you don't like it when I do so." The baby dragon blushed and glanced sideways. There was a muffled response she couldn't quite identify and she proceeded down the stairs, taking the teacup to the sink. But the more she thought about how disgustingly cute Spike looked when he acted this way, the more she found herself reminiscing her relationship with a certain mismatched Spirit. It was not like she wasn't happy. Discord was still Discord, he was still cherishing her as much as she cherished him and as far as she was concerned, everything between them was just fine from the first day they noticed they weren’t just friends anymore. Yet, there was something missing and Twilight couldn't for the life of her put a hoof to it. She told herself a gazillion times she would speak to Discord about it, yet she felt silly - everything was fine, ergo, there was nothing to discuss, she figured. So why did she get the feeling that Spike, who was biologically still a baby dragon and didn't happen to have a secretive relationship with anypony, let alone the Lord of Chaos, felt more enamored than herself? Perhaps it was a mare thing, but it was hard to say as she never really had liked anypony to this degree. She would need somepony to give her an advice. An expert. Someone who knew everything and anything about relationships, hormones, love and other things she didn't have a clue about. And she knew just the pony. Or ponies, that is. "I'm sure I have a few books on the subject somewhere around here. If anypony can help me, it's gotta be all those authors." Twilight concluded contently, going up to bed. She better get a good night's sleep, she figured. Her library probably has so many nice self-help books about relationships and she was determined to read them all. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Not a single self-help book was found. This brought Twilight to conclusion that either her library was poorer than she thought or the self-help books were not the proper kind of material to occupy shelves right next to the "Theory of Continuum Q" and "Quantum Murphydynamics" - after all, self help books, now that she thought of it, were notoriously lame, all the same and more than often empty, with the instruction to the reader to write their thoughts and emotions in it - if that weren't a brilliant marketing idea, Twilight didn't know what was. Silly book or not though, she needed one to at least put her on the right track and her library failed to provide her with one. It wasn't often that her library failed her. She would need to order a new batch of books soon. Still, finding herself with no book to help her out with this problem meant she would actually need the help of an actual pony - which was something she could never even consider. Now that she was a Princess, news of her unusual relationship would probably shake up citizens of Equestria - plus, who knew what would Princess Celestia and Luna say? For now, being secretive was for the best. Seeing as there was only one other person who knew of this secret, she figured she might as well ask Discord about this peculiar feeling - being a thousand years old draconequus has got to have given him some kind of knowledge. Just then she heard an audible familiar burp and saw Spike rushing towards her. It had barely been a day since he Summer Sun Celebration, so she was genuinely curious as to what the letter might be about. "Thank you, Spike." Using her horn, she uncurled the parchment and read: My dearest student, I write to you to inform you of the new studies you'll have to participate in as a newly crowned Princess. Seeing as you aren't a part of the Royal family, there is a lot for you to learn not only as a Princess, but as a politician, counselor, economist and much more. I have no doubts that you will fail to disappoint me in properly fulfilling the many duties appointed to you. Of course, I am aware of the fact you have to work your search for information of the recently located chest, which I would hate to get in the way of. As such, we'll occasionally be having you over to learn and grow, both as a student and as a public person in the eyes of your subordinates. Your first lesson will start in two days time. We'll be having a special guest over, so be ready. Yours truly, Princess Celestia. "Another visit?" Spike frowned. "Look like it'll be a lot of traveling for you this year, huh." "Looks so. I'll manage. Now that I'm a Princess, there should be no duty I'm allowed to find too hard - whatever it is, I'll give it my best." "That's the spirit!" Spike chirped. "Don't worry Twilight, if anypony can juggle too much work, it is definitely you." Twilight smiled meekly, slightly nervous, yet, a little bit excited. There was much work to attend to - not only her duties, but her personal life. Not only Discord, but her friends and her further study of friendship. Not to mention the Tree of Harmony... "The Tree of Harmony!" Twilight nearly forgot about the mysterious tree. "I better get to work. I need to see if I can find anything at all about that chest in my books. Or the six keys." She scanned the books with an expectant gaze. "I'm sure I'll find something." And so, as she always did, Twilight immersed herself into her books, searching, researching and questioning, not aware of the fun, slightly scary night of hide-and-seek she and her six friends will have in the old castle of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna only a day later... and even less aware of the dangers that lurked within.