//------------------------------// // Prologue // Story: Operation TwiLuna // by twilight the scribe //------------------------------// It was a quiet and beautiful night. Princess Cadence gazed out over the crystal balcony over her small kingdom, watching the last of the crystal ponies retire to bed. Humming a small tune, she happened to glance up at the sky, where her brow suddenly creased in confusion. “Huh?” There was definitely something new in the sky, something very familiar. Before she could do anything, however, there was a bright white flash, and she vanished from the Crystal Empire. Moments later, in the empty space where she had been standing, a white note appeared with a burst of confetti and landed on the floor. “gone to extremely private princess meeting, be right back!” =o=o=o Princess Celestia was having a good night. The day’s worries and stresses over, she lay on her favorite cushion beside the roaring fire, contentedly reading a scroll. She had removed most of her royal regalia, and was now relaxing completely. Suddenly, there was a loud trumpet blast and a bright flash, and she too vanished from her room. =o=o=o= The two princesses found themselves in a large, richly decorated council chamber, seated around a curved mahogany table. Celestia immediately recognized it as the Canterlot Castle Council Chamber, one of the most important and useful rooms of the castle - with some changes. For one, the traditional lamps had been removed from the ceiling, replaced by silver disco spheres that threw sprinkles of light everywhere. In vases placed at intervals around the room, bright blue bouquets of Poison Joke waved merrily. Celestia and Cadence instinctively scooted as far as possible from the vases. Discord had only recently pranked the entire Canterlot castle with a sack of Poison Joke. It had taken nearly a whole day before the Twilight had sent the cure from Ponyville. Some of the castle staff still hadn’t gotten over it. Speaking of which… “WELCOME, WELCOME, EVERYPONY, TO THE VERY FIRST MEETING OF THE DISCORD COUNCIL!” There was a loud thunderclap, and chocolate milk began raining down the room from no apparent source. At the head of the table, there was the brightest flash of light yet, and the Spirit of Chaos and Harmony himself, Discord, flashed in lounging on a huge cloud of cotton candy, to be met with canned applause from all corners of the room. Cadence rolled her eyes. “Discord. Why are we here again?” Discord grinned. “Well hello to you too, Cady, I’m fine, thank you.” Celestia tapped her hoof impatiently on the table. “Discord, you had better have a good reason for bringing us here on such short notice. What do you want?” Discord shrugged, then poked his head around furtively, as if checking for eavesdroppers, then coiled around Celestia’s shoulders and whispered into her ear. “It’s about your sister…” Celestia shrugged him off. “What is it about Luna?” Cadence suddenly looked interested. “Is it about the stars in the sky?” Discord nodded gleefully. “Exactly!” He threw some popcorn at Cadence, who dodged them unamusedly. He turned to Celestia. “Tell me, Celly, how is our dear Lulu recently?” Celestia frowned. “What do you mean?” Discord shrugged and shoved some popcorn into his mouth. “Has she been more withdrawn lately, spending more time in her room, gazing out her window towards a small town, been rearranging the stars...that sort of thing?” Celestia quirked an eyebrow. “Now that you mention it, she has seemed more distracted lately, and more eager to go to Ponyville. She seems especially interested in knowing more about Twilight. And why have you been spying on my sister?” “I didn’t” He retorted. “Those guards told me all I needed to know.” Celestia sighed. “Please get to the point, Discord.” Discord grinned and pulled out a scroll. “No. Now let’s talk about our dear Twilight Sparkle. She has been, and I quote, ‘Spending a lot more time looking up at the night sky, making lots of star charts, pacing around at night and not getting enough sleep. She also flushes whenever I ask her about it, but I’ve noticed she spends a lot more time awake when it’s the full moon. Do you think something’s wrong with her? Signed, Spike.”’He stashed the scroll back to wherever it had come from. Celestia’s mouth dropped open. “DISCORD! How did you even get into my letter safe?” Discord had an infuriating smirk on his face. “I have my ways. So what do you think? Have you joined together the dots yet?” Cadence gasped in realization. “You mean…Twilight and Luna…?” Discord blew a kazoo in her face. “Correct!! It’s obvious, isn’t it? You remember the coronation? How their eyes kept drifting to each other when they thought no one else was looking?” Celestia nodded slowly. “So you’re saying my sister has a crush on Twilight Sparkle?” Cadence nodded eagerly. “I think that’s the case, and Twilight obviously is fascinated by Luna!” Celestia frowned again. “I still don’t see why we are gathered here.” Discord facepalmed. “Oh Celly, don’t you see the very crux of the problem? Your sister is admittedly not very good with socializing. Why do you think she hasn’t asked little Sparkle out yet? And Twilight is obviously too oblivious to realize Luna actually returns her feelings. Those two adorkable princesses need a push!” Celestia raised an eyebrow. “Adorkable?” Discord waved his paw dismissively. “So do you agree that those two need to be together and they are perfect for each other?” Cadence nodded and raised a hoof. “I’m always ready to help out where love and romance is concerned!” Celestia blanched. “Wait, what exactly are you asking us to do, Discord?” Discord spread his arms dramatically. “Isn’t it obvious? We shall give them that little push! Don’t you want your sister to be happy?” “You know, I’m pretty sure you’re in it just to see how much chaos you can cause to bring them together.” Celestia deadpanned. Discord snickered, “Oh Celly, you know me too well. But it is for a worthy cause, right?” Celestia let out a breath. “I suppose.” she agreed reluctantly. Discord flashed a thumbs up. “So the plan is simple. We just make Cady zap them both with her love spell and watch what happens!” “NO!!” Cadence and Celestia both shouted at once. Discord pouted. “Whyever not?” “That kind of magic only works for couples which are, or have been, truly in love. Right now we’re not sure how much Twily and Luna love each other yet, so we can’t take the chance.” Cadence explained. Discord sniffed. “I’m sure it would make no difference…” Cadence shoved her muzzle into his face. “Need I remind you that’s how the love poison incident started?” Discord shrugged nonchalantly. “Maybe. Was that when the bluejay made his nest behind my ear?” “Oh, right. You were still stone then…The point is, it can’t be done.” Cadence stomped her hoof to emphasize the point. “Guess I could always use my chaos magic.” Discord mused, his fingers crackling. “NO!” Again, Celestia stopped his train of thought immediately. “If we are going to get them together, we are going to do it my way first. subtlety.” Discord pouted and folded his arms. “Oh, all right then. Go on. Knock yourself out. I declare Operation TwiLuna in motion!” “Operation WHAT?!”