//------------------------------// // Shooting // Story: Chaotic Cupid // by Silent Strider //------------------------------// Twilight was eagerly reading her new book on tridimensional arcane matrices, her horn lighting to turn another page, when she heard clawed footsteps on the stairs. Ignoring the distraction, she kept reading. A purple reptile head suddenly appeared in front of her. “Twilight, come fast! There’s something strange happening!” “Aaagh! Spike, you startled me!” The little dragon was jumping from one foot to the other. “This is important! Everypony out there is acting strange!” Sighting, Twilight put the book away. “Coming. Tell me, Spike, strange how?” Already running down the stairs, Spike answered without looking back: “It’s like everypony -” A knock on the front door interrupted Spike, but before he could do anything it opened with a blue magic aura. “There you are, Spikey-wikey! You must come to the boutique. I just found a recipe for ruby cookies that is simply divine, and I insist you join me for tea and biscuits!” Rarity trotted over to where Spike landed after tripping on his way down and gave him a peck on the cheek. “You will be there, won’t you, Spikey-wikey?” Spike, airily, answered: “Of course.” Twilight could swear he was already floating towards Rarity. “Oh, hi, Twilight. Didn’t see you there. Now, if you excuse me, I have some tea to prepare.” As her eyes trailed the white unicorn leaving, Twilight noticed her own mouth was open. “You were right, Spike. There’s something very strange happening.” “Strange? I don’t see anything strange. Say, Twilight, may I leave now? I can’t leave Rarity waiting.” Twilight’s hoof shot towards her forehead. “Aaagh! Yes, Spike, you may go.” Outside the situation was chaotic. The first thing Twilight noticed were the couples; there were more couples  together than in Hearts and Hooves day. Where she stood in the central plaza she could see Meadow Song sharing a drink with Berryshine, Caramel nuzzling Golden Harvest by the fountain, and Thunderland and Cloudchaser playing in the sky above, among others. Besides the happy couples Twilight could see not-so-happy ones, like - A pink blur passed by Twilight, followed by a blue blur with a prismatic contrail, leaving Twilight dizzy on the ground. “Wait, Pinkie, just one more hug!” Shaking the dizziness out of her head, Twilight stood up. “Now that was strange. What in the wide, wide world of Equestria is happening?” The pink blur passed her again. “Twitchy tail, twitchy tail!” Twilight instinctively looked up and saw an unfamiliar white pegasus filly with golden mane aiming a bow at her, arrow drawn. Twilight bent her front legs and lowered her head, pointing her glowing horn at the filly. “No, you don’t…” A gray and golden comet tackled Twilight. “Free hugs!” Eyes wide, Twilight looked from the wall-eyed gray face to the bow aimed at her. “No! No, no, no, no, no, no…” The filly released the arrow. Twilight poured as much magic as she could into her horn, the aura almost blinding her, and closed her eyes… And promptly opened them as she felt a burning sensation and then fell into water within moments. The gray pegasus was still clinging to her, a bit singed but no worse for the wear; her head turned towards an amber stallion with a brown mane, and faster than Twilight could follow she was already speeding towards the stallion with the same “free hugs” battlecry. Twilight looked at herself, and winced as she noticed that her own tail and mane were singed. Her ears perked as she heard a disturbingly familiar voice: “Oh, poo.” Turning her head towards the sound she saw Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom pulling their red wagon, a tan colt with a too familiar smile inside. Twilight’s horn glowed again, a golden bubble appearing around her, against which another arrow promptly smashed. Twilight left the fountain and deliberately walked towards the three young ponies. “Discord! What do you think you are doing?” Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom backed a few paces, appearing to shrink, while the tan colt laughed. “Oh, I’m just spreading some love.” He pointed at the white pegasus as she loosed an arrow at another pony. “Want some?” “You.” Twilight’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “Will.” Her horn started to glow furiously. “Fix.” Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle jumped inside the fountain, peeking over its border. “Everything.” Discord stopped smiling and mouthed “Oh my.” “Now!” Celestia was sitting at a palace balcony, enjoying the countryside view while glancing fondly at her cake. She had waited for this moment for hours, going through boring meeting after boring meeting, but finally she had a moment of peace. Discord was away, nopony knew where. Luna was asleep. Philomena was playing with some filly she had befriended. Every potential problem was dealt with, and the guards knew better than to let anypony intrude on her during this break for anything less than the catastrophic destruction of Equestria. A golden magic aura engulfed a slice of the cake… And promptly died as a huge magical burst, in a very familiar purple hue, could be seen coming from Ponyville. Celestia sighed, wondering if the universe conspired to drive her away from her cake. Spreading her wings, she left in the direction of the observatory. Perhaps it was nothing, or perhaps Twilight had already managed to handle whatever had happened. Landing back in the balcony, Celestia took the cake, and the table it was on, in her magic as she left for the observatory once more. No reason to not take a bite while I look at the problem.