//------------------------------// // Flashes of Anger // Story: I Am Twilight Sparkle // by Mike the Red //------------------------------// "You two will need to eat well -- we have a hectic day ahead of us," the dragonequus noted. We sat at a table which was just large enough for the two of us to eat, facing each other no less. We had hay pancakes and orange juice and ate in silence, only occasionally glancing at each other. Trixie was the first to break the silence. "Thanks for letting Trixie hold you, Sparkle," she offered, smiling demurely. "You're welcome," I replied tersely. I stole a glance of the show-mare, her face showing a light blush. I smiled in return. "You know, it felt kinda nice having you hold me like that." Her blush deepened before she turned away from my gaze. "I thought you two made a pretty pair," Discord offered, chuckling softly. "I think you two will get along pretty well together -- you both just needed a push in the right direction. That having been said, you'd better finish eating soon, there's lots to do today!" "Ugh. What are we doing today?" I asked, disgust evident as dread filled me with whatever nightmarish possibilities the dragonequus could dream up. "There's a certain library you two are going to be organizing for me -- or maybe disorganizing, I forget which. It's a pretty big library, so it's best we get an early start." He gestured grandly with his lion paw as he said this. "Trixie does not care for libraries," she muttered. She glanced at me before looking away, suddenly finding her left forehoof extremely interesting. "You still think I'm Twilight, don't you, Discord? Well, tell me this then -- which library are you talking about?" "The Library of Congress, of course," he chuckled, his tone quite nonchalant. His eyes seemed to twinkle a little. "Pretty big is an understatement, Discord -- that's the largest library in the world!" I exclaimed in exasperation. "That's why I told you we needed to get an early start, Twilight," he responded, chuckling even louder. He appeared to blow a soft breath across his eagle talon. "That's pretty mundane -- can't you do something like that yourself?" I asked. I had a hard time looking at him, a feeling of revulsion hitting me every time I chanced a glance in his direction. "Well, I could -- but it's much more fun to have you two do it, since I know you can't stand the idea of a library whose books are not in order." His smile took on a mischievous glint before turning a little menacing. I felt a twinge of pain inside my head as Twilight face-hoofed. "Michael, please do something about him! Try to see if you can surreptitiously distract him from this! I don't want to see that library disorganized!" she exclaimed, but unfortunately, the words came out of my mouth alerting the chaos entity to her presence within me. His initial surprise gave way to amusement. "Ah, there are two of you in that body? Interesting," the chaos entity mused. "I have ways of fixing that!" he exclaimed as he waved his lion's paw at me. I could sense Twilight's mind merging with mine and wailed in despair -- or was it Twilight who cried? Either way, the sense of deep loss overwhelmed me as I fell to my haunches and started sobbing. The pain of losing my individuality was too much for me to take. "Discord, what did you do to Sparkle?" Trixie asked angrily. She trotted over to me and wrapped a foreleg around my withers and started cooing to me softly. "What has he done to you, Sparkle?" she asked softly into my ear. "There's only one of us now, Trixie -- what he did caused our minds to merge, so now we have to --" Trixie expressed outrage at the dragonequus, catching him off-guard. She powered up her horn to unleash her strongest magic attack at him, her rage so extreme as to cause him to display surprise and even a little fear as she assumed her elemental form. "How dare you do that to Sparkle?" she screeched as she hurled her magic attack at him. "You dare attack me?" he retorted, sweeping her attack aside harmlessly. "After all I've done for you? Begone with you, little show-mare!" he roared, enveloping her in a dark aura and making her disappear. "TRIXIE!" I screamed as she vanished. "What did you do to her? Where did you send her?" "I told you, any who disappoint me get punished. She's out there somewhere, minus her horn. She'll have to find a way to survive without her magic," he replied nonchalantly. "Do you desire the same fate? I can find others to amuse me, if that is your wish." Something within me snapped -- I can't explain it exactly, it just seemed as though an essential part of my psyche went into overdrive. I seethed with rage, assuming my elemental form, a sight which initially made Discord chuckle. "Aw, little Twilight got mad!" he said in a very mocking tone of voice. "So you do have feelings for Trixie? Perhaps I was a little harsh," he mused as he snapped his talons and she reappeared, her horn restored. She was visibly shaking as I powered down. "I suppose I should thank you for returning her, Discord," I grumbled. The show-mare trotted over to me, wrapping her forelegs around me in a tight hug. "Trixie wants to know what you did to get him to bring her back," she said softly. "Consider it an act of contrition on my part," the chaos entity stated flatly. "Let that serve as a warning, Trixie." She stuck her tongue out in protest. "Don't anger me further, Trixie." His visage darkened, causing her to cower behind me. "Sparkle, can you protect me from him? His magic is too strong for me," she whimpered softly to me. "I wish I could, Trixie -- his magic is too strong for me, too," I replied softly. "Isn't there something we can do?" she asked fearfully, desperation tinging her words. "I don't have any answers, Trixie -- he's got us on a very short leash, so I suggest we play along with him until he tires of us -- I just hope he doesn't do to us what he just did to you when he's finished playing around with us," I told her, though great trepidation made my voice waver a bit as I said these words to her. The prospect of being without the use of my magic was truly terrifying and I didn't want to do anything that might jeopardize my abilities. "If you two are done with the heart-to-heart, we have a job to do. It's time for us to go," Discord stated flatly, though annoyance at our delay was evident in his voice.