//------------------------------// // 2) Pride and Prejucheese // Story: Learning ABCs - Aristocracy, Bureaucracy, Chaos // by Isopod //------------------------------// "Spike, I don't think this was such a good idea." Twilight carefully eyed the long distance between her balcony and the ground, feeling uneasy. She was still not used to heights, not even with all the flying she already did. Her eyes glanced and settled on the distant silhouette of the Canterlot Castle. Somewhere behind her, Discord snickered, enjoying the sight of the startled and nervous mare. Spike shot him a warning glare before speaking up. "Come on, Twilight. You know you could always use some practice." He encouraged, already having prepared a pile of pillows beneath her balcony. While the extra measure of caution by all means ensured her safety, it still offended the young Princess slightly. She liked to think her flying had improved by now, but as she prepared to lift off into the air, she found out her stomach felt like it was filled with writhing snakes and she backed up. "I can't do this! Not from the balcony!" She proclaimed. Spike rolled his eyes as his friend tried to leave for what must've been the third time. "It is so much easier to take off from the ground! Perhaps I should consult a book or two before I try this, I know this great essay on-" "Why, let me help you, dear!“ Discord suddenly scooped her up, with Spike desperately trying to stop him. The Spirit comically whispered ‘anything for my darling’ into her ear and with strength she rarely witnessed before, threw her into the air. For a brief moment, before she started screaming like a complete madman, she recalled her brother doing the same with Cadence - it would have been a most amusing thought if panic and fear hadn't completely overtaken her senses. “Discord!!” He kept laughing as he lazily flew below her, observing her fall. Unfortunately for her and luckily for him, she didn't get the control of her wings on time and fell straight into his lap, which he welcomed by ruffling her mane to the point where her careful grooming wasn't so obvious anymore. It was impossible to resist it. “Great job, dear! Truly, this has been one of the better take offs I've seen from you. Well, if we forget about you falling for me as hard as you did right now.” He added teasingly, making the newly crowned Princess blush. "That is a completely wrong usage of that idiom!" Twilight protested, getting away from the embarrassing subject with some help of grammar knowledge. The Spirit, noticing her lame attempt to escape the subject of physical contact that she was still so shy about, rolled his eyes and helped her catch the air current. Her wings finally listened to her and she glided downwards effortlessly. “See? You’re fine!” The Spirit added chuckling. Twilight dead panned, trying to concentrate on flying straight rather than paying Discord any attention he craved so much. “Perhaps I should've asked Rainbow Dash to escort me to Canterlot.” She replied bitterly. Discord faked a sad expression. “Now, really my dear? The fact you can’t trust me with helping you get the hang of this is really quite heartbreaking.” There was a sound of breaking glass but no visual gag to accompany it. Instead, his eyes blinked at her innocently. It was one of his facial expressions, funny enough to make her smile. “Well, I’ll admit it is nice of you to have offered to help me – but I can't say I prefer your lift-off style.” The Spirit shrugged playfully, fully understanding her sentiment and fully knowing she knew it would be done again at least a few more times at some point in the future. They flew in silence until they reached a proper altitude then continued to effortlessly glide through the sky. "So what's all this about you being summoned to Canterlot for some important meeting?" Discord finally asked. Not having the chance to do so before, Twilight told him about the contents of the letter she received last night - it was this very morning that he decided to accompany her, which she was largely uncertain of. After all, it was the former Lord of Chaos that would be visiting with her and not everyone in Equestria, or outside of it, has quite come to love him the way the citizens of Ponyville did. "But don't worry - I'll make sure I catch some time to talk to the Princess about you." The Spirit looked confused. "Sorry dear, talk about what, exactly?" Now it was Twilight's turn to glance at him with confusion. "You were bored, remember? I promised to ask Princess Celestia about your, um... let's call it 'employment'." "Let's not, it sounds far too boring." Discord laughed, but smiled at her genuinely. "Don't take this the wrong way, but I didn't think you'd take me quite that seriously." "Oh?" Why? "I guess I'm not used to it, even after all this time." He added, unknowingly answering her question. They flew on in silence and it then occurred to Twilight they were alone, with quite some time before them. Might as well talk about it now, she figured. "Uhm, Discord? Can I ask you something a bit weird?“ "Whatever you want." The Spirit confirmed. "What is it, dear?“ Twilight simply didn't know how to ask it without sounding utterly ignorant (which she really didn't want) or like she wasn't happy with what they had going on – so she decided to make it about him. "Have you ever been in love?“ There was no answer. "...Discord?“ She turned around and realized he wasn't there anymore. She doubted the question was so complicated that he'd run away, so she slowly made a loop to turn around and stopped, flying on the spot. The Spirit was nowhere to be seen and it confused her. Did he transport himself for some reason? Hit a bird or a Pegasus on his way? They weren't high enough to hit a cloud, that was for certain. She grew a bit worried. "Discord!“ The young Princess called and then finally heard him reply from below. He looked a bit out of breath as he flew up to her level. "Where in the world did you go?“ Twilight asked, frowning a bit. The fact she didn't have a clue as to why he lost control of his wings and fell in the first place only shocked him even further. "Nowhere, my dear. I just lost control in the air current, for a moment. These damn wings, I don’t use them that often.“ He snickered. "Right...“ Twilight found that highly suspicious, seeing how he flew around with Rainbow Dash fairly regularly these days. Plus, he was the one he helped her learn to fly. They kept flying towards Canterlot, waiting for the reply, but Discord didn't seem too keen on answering her question. At least, so it appeared at first. She was about to question whether he had heard her at all, when he suddenly spoke: "I can't say I've been, not as genuinely…,” he started, “but I'd say I definitely understand the idea of it.” I guess that'll do, Twilight thought. “Well, do you know what it feels like?” “Cheesy.” Discord replied in his usual slapstick manner, munching on a freshly summoned and exceptionally smelly piece of cheese. Twilight rolled her eyes. “I’m serious! I want to know.” “Now, this is getting interesting.” He began, deciding to turn the tables. “For a change, Miss Egghead does not know something. I supposed you don’t have a book you could read to study the topic.” He joked. “Not in my library, there isn’t.” Twilight replied, all too seriously. Discord had to sustain laughter with great effort, finding out she actually tried looking for such a book. The newly discovered level of ignorance Twilight Sparkle had about the topic of romantic emotions was simply too entertaining. “You'll know it, when you feel it.” He finally said. “It’s not like I haven’t got a clue!” The alicorn protested, shaking her head – but her answer drew a small ‘ooh’ from the draconequus and she knew that sound well – it was the sound he made whenever he found something new to "play"with. Having a bad feeling it might be her he wanted to play a game with, she wanted to avoid it by once again trying to make it about him. “I guess you were the wrong pony to ask.” She claimed, hoping to wound his pride and therefore, stir the conversation away from herself. But the Spirit, naturally, was now much more interested in her sudden curiosity. “What I’m wondering,” he began cunningly, “is why are you even asking.” “Just because.” Twilight replied almost stupidly, mentally banging her head against a wall. "I think you know as well as I that such an answer won't do." "My, how insightful you are." Twilight fell silent, looking for the right words. She could feel the Spirit's eyes fixated on her, expecting some sort of explanation. "I've simply been thinking about... well, about... oh by Celestia, this is just... about us." It was the first time she addressed their relationship and even labeled it as 'us', as a sort of unity between two persons; both her and the Spirit found it weird and surprising on many levels. It was in that moment that Twilight realized nothing ever changed since the moment she planted that unbelievable smooch on his nuzzle - but it wasn't the lack of change that bothered her, but the questions it raised. Was it alright, nothing to change? Was it supposed to? What were his thoughts about it? They never spoke of it, because as far as she was concerned, words weren't really necessary. Was she doing something wrong? Did she lack knowledge? Was it like this among everypony? "About 'us'." Discord repeated. Twilight dared to look at him and she realized he had an awful lot of fun, grinning widely, with a familiar, devilish spark in his eyes, which wasn't surprising at all. But his intonation was much too teasing and she found herself blushing like a school filly, which she had entirely enough of. For goodness' sake, she was a grown mare! And a Princess, at that! "Yes, about us." Discord's devious smile only made her feel arrogant and daring and as her arrogance woke up, her nerves and heart grew stronger. She decided to be straight with him and took a breath of air. "I'm wondering how healthy our relationship is, if at all, and just how do you define one. I'm also feeling like we're doing something wrong or like something is missing, even though everything has never been nicer between us - we get along, we talk, we don't bore the wits out of each other - I just don't see if there really is a problem, or if maybe I'm just making one." She paused to let him comment if he needed to and looked at him curiously. "Interesting." It was his only comment. Mysterious as always. "... Sooo, what do you-" "I think I know what your problem is." "Oh!" Twilight smiled widely, happy to hear he had a solution to her problem. She knew she wasn't saying all of that in vain! Someone with thousand years of life must have an idea on what was going on with her. "So, what is it?" But the Spirit didn't reply. Instead, he did the one thing she never thought he would. He hugged her. It wasn't even a cute, heartwarming hug, she would often share with her friends. It was a fully developed, skillful, experienced, masterful love embrace that made her whole physical self enjoy, but her mind exploded into an angry mush the moment she realized what he was doing. His entire arms around her, her face close to hears, the way her neck sank into his and the way her whole body was kept warm by his hands. The heat on her face, this time she knew, was a mixture of both embarrassment and the mysterious anger, fury even, that came over her. She watched him stare at her, giving her the most devilish grin he could produce. It all culminated when he whispered to her, in the most teasing way possible: "You obviously need some lovin'." ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ "Twilight, my dear student!" Celestia welcomed the freshly crowned Princess as she descended before the gates of the Canterlot Castle by giving her an affectionate nuzzle, as she always did. "I hope you travelled peacefully." "Actually, Princess Celestia, I was flying all the way to Canterlot. Never enough practice, you know." Twilight said with a proud smile. Celestia's eyes grew wide with both admiration and mild concern. "Oh, well I certainly hope somepony else accompanied you. I know you're not yet entirely used to your new abilities." "Yes, Discord helped me with my flying. He watched over me." Her student confirmed. Celestia's smile grew even wider. "I'm glad to hear you two are still getting along." She looked around. "Where is our chaotic friend, anyway? If he's here, I would love to have a little talk with him about the mess he created a few days ago." Celestia shook her head. "Can't just let him go without a proper scolding, now can I?" She snickered almost sweetly. Was it not for the circumstance, Twilight would join in. "...Actually, he's wandered off a bit to have fun with his magic. You know him. Chaotic, random and all, heh-heh." Twilight said, sounding a bit nervous. Celestia either didn't notice or didn't pay much attention to it. "Let's just hope he doesn't cause anypony trouble," Celestia sighed, "I'm certain you are by now well acquainted with his mischief." "I wouldn't worry about that too much." Twilight enigmatically concluded as both her and Celestia entered the castle. He probably won't be capable of it for quite some time. Meanwhile, several dozens of miles away from the capital of Equestria, a certain draconequus finally made his way out of the extremely and impressively deep hole in the ground, shaped exactly like himself. His eyes span a bit before he shook his head and gave the Castle of Canterlot that shimmered in the distance under the afternoon sun, a long hard stare. "Dear me, looks like my Princess got even stronger since she became part of royalty, and even more arrogant - didn't think that was possible." He joked silently with himself, patting the dust off his fur. He gave the city of Canterlot another long, hard look, knowing his Princess was there, waiting for his turn. She just played hers - and while it wasn't a bad one, it was a very silly one, he figured. It's been a long time since he played a game. Boy, did he love games. He grinned widely to himself. "Looks like a night visit is in order."