//------------------------------// // Twilight Time (gone terribly wrong) Part 1 // Story: What Howls at Night // by A Mysterious Pony //------------------------------// "Ooh, I just know that today's Twilight Time is gonna be the best ever, crusaders!" Said a little yellow Earth filly with a red mane, and a pink bow a little bit too big for her, to her other two friends beside her. "Maybe because we finally figured out those things Twilight helped us learn to do and now we're going to be helping her to teach Sweetie Belle how to teleport?" Questioned a small orange Pegasus filly with a purple mane, trotting beside her friend, with said friend beside her. "Well, all I know is that you're both very right. It's gonna be so awesome, once I learn to teleport. I'll be able to transport us almost anywhere, faster than we usually go!" Exclaimed an excited white Unicorn bobbing up and down while also trotting alongside her two best friends, called by the trio, The Cutie Mark Crusaders. The three fillies, all belonging from each of the three types of ponies, Earth, Pegasus, and Unicorn, were trotting down to the Friendship Rainbow Castle from Sweet Apple Acres. The friends were just chatting away with each other about regular news, or just the next most awesome thing that might or has happened in their young, filly lives. Applebloom, the Earth pony, Scootaloo, the Pegasus pony, and Sweetie Belle, the Unicorn. Twilight Time was the most fun time any of them ever have, besides a few fails in their learning, who knew it could be fun? Twilight, the new Alicorn Princess of Friendship, just made learning to do stuff yourself so fun, and if anypony else had the Princess as your very own teacher, who's friends with your sisters and adoptive sister, then they would say the same thing. As they reached the castle, the chatting started to die down, and the fillies were in a peaceful silence. Until that silence was decided to be broken by a filly who gets bored easily with complete and utter silence. "Hey, girls?" Scootaloo asked her friends to her left, in which she recieved nods that showed they were listening to her. "Last one to the entrance is a rotten manticore!" Then, as suddenly as she said it, she dashed off towards the castle. "'Ey no fair, Scoots!" Applebloom shouted, before she sprinted after the grounded Pegasus. It took Sweetie Belle a few moments to register what exactly just happened. When her mind finally figured it out, she was off. She scrambled after the two disappearing racing specks that were her friends, who left her in the dust. ---- By the time Sweetie Belle finally reached the Library, exhausted was not a word anypony could use to describe how spent she was. She was just about ready to collapse and rest in sleep, until she got closer to the opening of the crystal palace, however. Applebloom and Scootaloo were in, yet another argument. Probably over who won, Definitely not me. "Noo! I won because I'm more awesomer than you!" Bingo! "'Dat don' even any sense, plus that's not a real word. And ah won because you're a big chicken! Cluck! Cluck!" "Now who's not making sense!" Knowing this type of fight, they're probably going to drag me into this, even though I was barely here for the most part. "SWEETIE BELLE?!?!" Right again. "Um, well. Can't we just, you know, call it a-a tie?" Sweetie smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of her head with a front hoof. She watched as her friends stared each other down with their own glares. Then, Applebloom let out a chuckle and Scootaloo cracked a smile. Before she knew it, both her friends were rolling and laughing away on the ground beneath their small hooves. Sweetie just sighed and sat down on her haunches, but not before letting loose a grin of her own at her friends' silly way at settling a dispute. As the minutes went by, Sweetie Belle remembered why they came to the place they were at in the first place and decided if she should get up and open the door, before anypony came and saw three hysterical fillies laughing and rolling around on the ground. Right when she got off of her haunches, the door swung open and Twilight, the alicorn princess exited her castle/home/workplace. Her bulging saddlebags, that had her Cutie Mark on both of its sides, showed that she was going somewhere to drop off.... something. Twilight stopped in her tracks as soon as she caught sight of two gaggling fillies and another weary. "Well, well, well. What have we got here? Two giggly fillies on the ground? Sweetie Belle you look very tired; studying hard will do that to you. I've been there before, many times, wasn't pretty, trust me." The two said giggling fillies stopped their rolling around and shook their heads, 'Yes', in order to answer their part-time teacher's rhetorical question. While Sweetie Belle just shrugged, considering how weared out she was, Twilight was right, being tired isn't nice. "Well, I was just heading over to Fluttershy's cottage to drop off some books she checked out, but she never picked them up, so I'm just going to save her the hassle. She probably thought all the books were destroyed when Tirek blew up the library. Good thing I have spares! And--oh! Today is Twilight Time, isn't it? I'm really sorry, girls. I forgot. I knew I was leaving something off of my schedule for today! Why did I forget?" she said to silently to herself the last part. "How did I forget?" Twilight saw the disappointed faces of her part-time students, and felt the guilt settle in. "And I was also going to ask Fluttershy to teach me how to make a tea for dragons. Spike's been having some stomach problems lately, so I'm going to make him the only thing that would soothe a dragon tummy ache; well, his stomach. You girls can tag along if you want, think of it as Twilight Time: Field Trip, if you do come." "Aww, poor fella. We'll be glad ta come, Miss Twilight." "Yeah, yeah. I did want to help Sweetie Belle teleport, but alright. I got nothing else, besides that, better to do anyway." "But--I--wait--what about? *Sigh* Fine, I'll come to, I'm bummed out, though," Sweetie Belle harrumphed and her face contorted into an upside-down smile. Twilight looked at her sympathetically and thought again for a moment. She then leaned in and whispered in Sweetie Belle's ear, "It's okay, Sweetie Belle. On the walk, I'll tell you a few pointers for Teleportation Preparation. Does that sound good to you?" Sweetie Belle seemed to have contemplated ths ultimatum for a moment, then whispered back into her teacher's ear, "Deal." The knowledgeable mare raised her head and smiled. "Okay! Let's get going Cutie Mark Crusaders, don't want to get home late, now do we?" "Weeell. Applejack did tell me ta' be home before dark. We're gonna 'ave a campfire supper and the full moon's gonna be out, so I heard it's gonna be real beautiful like," Applebloom explained, her eyes becoming starry at the thought. "BORRRRINNG!" Scootaloo groaned to Applebloom, then pulled her lower eyelids down quite dramatically. "Oh, really? Did I forget to mention that mah sister invited Rainbow Dash over, since she loves eating outside?" Applebloom feigned shock by putting a front hoof over her mouth, while her mouth was formed in a cocky grin. She looked at the now speechless Scootaloo and grinned even wider than before, she was afraid that her face was either going to split in half or stay frozen like that, either way, it would be worth it. "R-really?" "Eyup!" Applebloom now had a goofy smile upon her face. "Hey, Appleboom, guess what." "Whut?" "Race ya ta Fluttershy's house!" Scootaloo was about to take off, but a pull in her tail kept her from moving any further, less she wanted more hair pulled from her tail. "Yeee-ouch!! Hey! What was that for?!" "Ta stop ya from runnin' of again, ya big cheater. Ya got count down from three, after ya say three, ya say, "GO!". Got it?" "Yeah, yeah, got it. Now get ready." Applebloom looked sceptical, but obliged anyway and set herself up to go. " 'Ey, Sweetie Belle. You gonna race too?" Applebloom asked her magical friends, who had been quiet enough that Applebloom and Scootaloo had nearly forgotten about her. "Uuhh. No, thanks. I think I'll just walk." She didn't want to go for two reasons one; she really wanted to learn something about how to teleport. And two; she really didn't feel ready enough to run that fast again, especially since it's a long way to Fluttershy's from Twilight's. "You sure?" "Yeah, but no thanks." "Okay, it's your choice." "Ready to lose Applebloom?" Scootaloo said to her Earth pony friend after they set up. "In your dreams, Scootaloo!" Applebloom tossed a side glance at her Pegasus friend on her right who returned it with a grin. "THREE! TWOONEGO!" Scootaloo rushed the last few numbers and took off before Applebloom even knew what hit her, when she found out a puff of smoke blew out from her nose and yelled after the running Pegasus. "THAT'S STILL CHEATIN' YA BIG FEATHERBRAIN!" "HEY, YOU DIDN'T SAY HOW FAST I COULD SAY IT. YA GOTTA BE MORE SPECIFIC NEXT TIME, APPLEBLOOM!" Scootaloo half-laughed, half-shouted behind her to Applebloom. Twilight watched with a chuckle as she saw the two fillies run towards Fluttershy's while arguing at the same time. "Ahh, they're so much like their sisters." She saw that Sweetie Belle was still beside her and they were in the same spot. So Twilight nudged Sweetie fporward a little bit to tell that they were going now. Sweetie nodded as if saying "okay", and they started walking together to Fluttershy's cottage. ------------------------------------ It was about 4:00 p.m. At least that was what Twilight determined, she measured how long shadows were, and judged the position of the Sun in the sky, it was probably 4:00 p.m. So that meant the walk to Fluttershy's cottage was already 10 minutes long, which was strange, considering how she's been over to her shy friend's house before, and it only took about 4-5 minutes long, tops. It's probably just because it's a nice, quiet day today. And the only reasons I go over to her house is for emergencies, help, or just because I freak out over 'no big deals'. Hmm. I should visit her more often on peaceful days, when no-one is trying to destroy or take over Equestria. I wonder what's on Sweetie Belle's mind, she's been awfully quiet "So Sweetie Belle. Tell me, what's on your mind? You look like you want to ask me something. It was true, Sweetie Belle kept opening and closing her mouth as if trying to say something, but rethinking it and starting over. It liked like the words couldn't exit her mouth, like they got stuck on her tongue. Sweetie Belle once again open and closed her mouth, but this time shook her head and it looked like she was about to speak. "Well. You said that you were gonna tell me some pointers on how to teleport." "How to get ready to teleport." "Right. How to get ready. So?" Sweetie looked up with a hopeful smile and big puppy-dog eyes. "Of course Sweetie Belle. You're not only my student, but you are my friend, and I don't let my friends down." She gave the little filly a genuine and heartwarming smile. "Cool! Thanks Twilight! So what do I do first? Do I think of a magic word and force all the energy into my horn, or do I have to tilt my horn a little a give my head a little shake, or--?!" "Woah! Sweetie Belle calm down, calm down. First, I'm going to tell you how to get ready to teleport, even if you do know all the basics and whatnots, you don't have enough power at your age. So, just be patient, okay? I doubt it won't come naturally to you, you just have to wait. Remember this, "Good things come to those who wait. If I recall, I remember Applebloom once saying that to you, and Scootaloo, and almost everypony else in town."" Sweetie thought this over in her head a couple of times. Hmm. "Good things come to those who wait?" It sounded hard to wrap her head around, but broken up it becomes a phrase that's particularly simple. "K. I can be patient, Twilight. What's first?" "Twilight giggled at the filly's enthusiasm. "Okay, Sweetie Belle. The first step for any step is relax; breath in and out, deep, even breaths." "Right. Gotcha, deep, even, in, out." "Then, you should picture in your mind where you want to go. Imagine the breeze, or warmth, the aroma, every little detail you can about it, to the best of your ability." "This sounds peaceful, relaxing, and educational." "That it is Sweetie Belle, that it is." "Is that all it takes to get ready to teleport?" Sounds way to way to me. I thought it'll be more complicated than that. "No, no. It's more complicated than that, Sweetie Belle. You didn't think it would be that easy, now did you?"I am on a roll today, what is that, like the third, second time? I should become a psychiatrist, or is it psychic? "Of course not." "Then, the next step is--" Twilight cut herself off as she looked ahead. ", oh! We're here, and it only took about 15 minutes. Still a bit long, but it is an unusually peaceful and quiet day today." Sweetie mumbled to herself, thinking. "So that mean something's bound to go wrong today, and I really hope I'm wrong." Fluttershy's cottage came closer in view, and they could already hear the song birds singing their melodious tunes. It twas a very low and quiet tune, but that would be expected considering that it was nearly time for sunset, and most of the animals would be peacefully resting with their families in their respective homes. Closer they came, and saw that there were, actually no animals in front of the animal caretaker's home despite the chirping of birds. Something strange was going on. "Hmm. Sweetie Belle, get behind me, something is not right." Sweetie Belle immediately did what was told with no hesitation whatsoever, although she was a tiny bit worried. As Twilight, with Sweetie behind, ventured further to the cottage, they could both hear laughing, like little fillies' laughter, and two other familiar voices as well. Twilight went first, walked past the little bridge connecting Fluttershy's house to the road back into Ponyville, and shielded Sweetie from anything that might try to hurt or scare them. She slowly paced herself to the door and was about to knock on the door. She whispered in a hushed voice to the filly behind her. "Sweetie Belle I need you to go lean against the wall, so that if somepony bad opens the door you won't get seen nor hurt by the door." Sweetie obliged and leaned against the hard cottage's outer wall. Twilight slowly raised her hoof and knocked on the wooden door of the cottage three loud times, so any and everypony could hear somepony else is at the door. She heard some shuffling from inside and heard a voice, she listened closer and made out an unmistakable tone of voice. She visibly relaxed, sighing to herself. "You can come out, Sweetie Belle. It was just me overreacting again, sorry." Sweetie came out from her "hiding spot" and just smiled at Twilight. "It's okay, Twilight. You were just trying to protect me, that's all." Twilight smiled a smile similar to Sweetie's, before looking up from Sweetie and hearing fluttering of wings approach the door. Muffled words were coming from inside the cottage behind the door. They were not that difficult to make out, "I shall get the door ladies, so relax and sit back. Keep having fun, I love fuuuunnn!" The cottage door swung open and who other than Discord, popped his head out, but with his paw holding it. "Oh! Why hellooo there, Princess Twilight, and, uh, the, last Crusader I see, hmmm? Well do come in, I'm not a monster." Discord threw his head into the air which exploded into little Discords that turned into rainwater. When Twilight and Sweetie Belle looked back to the draconeques, his head was in fact, intact. And he had a bowtie and top hat on while leaning on a cane. "Coming or not? You're Crusader friends won't be happy if I tell them you went home. And Fluttershy won't be able to use those books she oh so needed, sooooo?" Twilight just rolled her eyes, while Sweetie Belle shook her head, "yes", a couple of times. "C'mon. Twilight let's go in, it's only Fluttershy's house." Twilight "hmphed" and walked past Discord with Sweetie in stow. Discord just smiled happily, ignoring Twilight's reaction to his presence, then ever so swiftly and gently, before Sweetie was able to walk past him, he bent down and handed her a giant rainbow lollipop. Sweetie was skeptical at first, but after she thoroughly inspected the unusually large lollipop she grabbed it with her magic in a light green aura, thanked him graciously, then skipped merrily away to her awaiting friends. But what she didn't see was a draconeques trying to stifle sinister giggles. --------------------------------- Sweetie Belle took the large lollipop, she hopped over to her two friends who were sitting on Fluttershy's couch, drinking apple juice, while Twilight and Fluttershy talked to one another, on the other side of the room. Discord just, disappeared somewhere in the kitchen, something purple and liquid like Kelly spewing from the kitchen for every 2 minutes. "Hey, girls! Sorry we took so long, Twilight was just telling some things on how to get ready to teleport!" She plopped herself down next to her friends, licking her comically large lollipop, which got her some strange looks. "Um, that's great, Sweetie Belle. We don't mind that you guys took so long. But, uh, where'd you get the huge pop?" Scootaloo paused her slurping and looked at Sweetie Belle while speaking. Applebloom continued to suck her juice box dry, and just shaking her head to reasonable points. "Oh, this? Discord gave this to me. I think it was pretty nice of him." Sweetie licked the lollipop some more, but stopped when she opened her eyes to see her friends giving her incredulous looks of disbelief. Scootaloo was the first to come out of her stupor and simply replied. "YOU TOOK CANDY FROM DISORD!?!?" Applebloom caught up as well and softly put. "Ah'm sorry, but, WHAT THE HAY IS WRONG WITH YA, SWEETIE BELLE!? YA DON'T JUST TAKE CANDY FROM THE GOD OF CHAOS, HE COULD'VE BRAINWASHED YA WIT' 'DAT, AH MEAN--*Sigh*, sorry, Sweetie Belle." Sweetie Belle looked as though she was about to burst into tears any second. Scootaloo, while not really the sympathetic one of the group, crawled over to Sweetie Belle and gave her a comforting past on the back, and a sweet smile. "We're sorry, Sweetie Belle. But what we're trying to say is that while Discord isn't the bad guy anymore, he's not necessarily the most trustworthy pony you could ever meet or have as a friend. You understand what we were trying to do, now, right? We were just lookin' out for our friend, that's all. Can you forgive us?" "*Sniff, sniff*. It's okay, I forgive you, both. I guess I thought it was kind of strange for him to just hand me a lollipop out of nowhere, but then I thought he just wanted to do something generous for a friend." Sweetie looked at the chromatic lollipop and shrugged before throwing it into a nearby trashcan. "Oh, well. It was really good to, but I suppose I shouldn't take chances when it comes to Discord." "Aww, cheer up, Sweetie. Hey, I know why don't you tell us some of the hints Twilight told to you about how to teleport?" Scootaloo jumped up from Sweetie Belle's side, fluttering wings with excitement. "But I don't think I could tell them easy enough for you girls to understand." Sweetie simply replied, and wanted to tell them somehow, but thought it was too hard for non-unicorns to understand. "Well, duh. You don't have to tell us, you can just show us. It's gonna be so more awesomer to see you teleport for the first time, maybe you can be able to teleport us! So....Cool." Scootaloo emphasized her explanation with sound effects, hoof gestures, and finally falling flat on her back on the couch. "Hmm, I guess that could work, and while I'm do the steps I can be explaining what I'm doing while doing it, brilliant!" Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo high-hoofed each other and giggled. "Now wait a darn minute. How're we gonna pull this off, in Fluttershy's cottage, wit' all th' grown-ups around?" Applebloom, who had been quiet for almost the entire time, questioned in a hushed voice. They all thought about it for a while, forming and discarding ideas after ideas. All of a sudden Scootaloo brightened up and Applebloom and Sweetie Belle could've swore they saw a light bulb light up from nowhere. Then they all looked up confused and saw Discord in an electrician uniform with a wrench, screwing in the light bulb in an imaginary socket. "Just inspiring a little mischi-I mean inspiration!" Ha! Saved it! That was the weirdest thing I've ever seen. Is what the Cutie Mark Crusaders all thought at the same time. Scootaloo coughed to bring the attention back to her idea. "Sooooooo. I think we should just be all casual like, you know acting like it's nothing, and just plain out ask Twilight and Fluttershy if we can go in her backyard to "play", she made quotation marks in the air with her hooves to emphasize her true plan, "and then you can show how you can teleport, it's foal-proof!" "Yeah. I guess it could work, but aren't Miss Twilight and Fluttershy gonna be checkin' in on us ta make sure we're okay?" Applebloom threw back another flaw I'm the plans. "Ugghh! Ever the pessimist, aren't you Applebloom? Well, now I have that question on my mind, but I have no answer to it!" Scootaloo huffed and crossed her forehooves, while pouting all the same. "Ooh, ooh, ooh, I know, I know! How about instead of taking both of you, I could take one of you from one side to the other. That way it'll look like two of us were running around or something!" She clapped get hooves together in excitement. "Yeah! Great idea, Sweetie Belle!" Scootaloo playfully punched Sweetie Belle in the arm, emitting a giggle from her, apparently she was ticklish in her arm. "But, what if somethin' goes wrong wit' th' tele-portation?" Applebloom, honestly, was terrified of even the thought of teleportation, she knew Sweetie Belle was good at magic, but she didn't want anything bad to happen to her or to any of them. "Oh my gosh, Applebloom! You're making this so much more complicated than it's supposed to be!" Scootaloo groaned in annoyance and fatigue. "Oh, it's okay, Scoots. I can do some warm-ups first if you'd like Applebloom, that way I can be used to it and be totally ready for you girls." Sweetie finished with a smile which showed off her pearly-whites. "You good, now?" Scootaloo crossed her forelegs and sat back. Appleboom tried to think of any other bad outcomes or flaws in their plan, but she could not find our think of anything else. "Eyup." "Okay, alright! Let's go ask Twilight and Fluttershy!" Scoots jumped up and landed on all fours, looking like she's about to race. "CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS TELEPO--. Uh, we mean, Cutie Mark Crusaders Teleporters! Yay!" They didn't want to give away they're plan they worked so hard on to put together. -------------------------------- Twilight walked past Discord with her nose held high. She went to go find Fluttershy, which wasn't hard, considering Fluttershy had to watch the fillies, she would probably be in the kitchen making snacks or on the couch. Well, the couch was filled with fillies, so the kitchen was the last option. When she entered the kitchen she thought a purple tornado exploded in there. Purple gunk on the ceiling to the walls, floor, and even in some cabinets. Discord was standing on the ceiling swishing a mop back and forth with a pout. "What happened in here?" "Discord tried to copy Pinkie Pie's cupcake recipe, and it turns out that she is the only pony who's capable of making them and handling them." Fluttershy explained, while walking back from her closet with wet rags and paper towels. "Oohh. Do you need any help? I don't have that much on my schedule tonight." Twilight stepped back as a huge glob of purple slowly tried to plop onto her head. "Oh, um, you could if you'd want to, but I told Discord what could happen if he tried to do this, he didn't listen, though. I also told him that if he made a big mess, then he has to clean up by himself without magic. I'm just giving him some supplies to help." Fluttershy put the rags and paper towels on a counter and gave Discord a slight glare, which made him clean slightly faster. "Hey, if you don't mind me asking, why is Discord here anyway?" Twilight looked up to see Discord in front of her, upside-down, smirking. "Weeellll, if you must know...... _______(Flashback)__________________ "DISCOOORD!" A voice rang out in Canterlot Castle, and it didn't sound happy. Said draconeques fluttered out of nowhere and towards the Princesses' throne room, with a sly smile. He entered and was greeted a torrent of bananas and an angry pair of princesses, well, one princess and one prince. "Ahh, do you like my gifts Princesses, I mean, Princess and Prince?" Discord mockingly bowed to the rulers of Equestria. "Gifts? Theses are not gifts, they are more like, what is that word, ah, yes, the foalish pranks." A deep voice that came from the Lunar Princess, turned Prince, frowned at Discord. "Discord, whatever influenced yourself to give us these, "gifts" ?" The Sun Princess was trying her best to keep herself from turning Discord back into a rock, and sending him to the moon all the same. "Well, you see Princess, you said that while you love eating apples, you'd want to eat something different for a change. So, I thought to myself "hmm, Ishould do something nice for my dear old friend", and what fruit is better than bananas!" He smiled widely that his face stretched out and became frozen. A deeper voice was heard again, more questioning though. "And led you to think I wanted this gift?" "Now that, is a hilarious story, but long enough that I feel like I don't want to tell it. Sooo, long story short. Luna came into the castle one day complaining about how hard it was to be a mare and such, so I proffered to see what I can do, I think she had a little too much to drink that day, I think. I don't know, it was kind of hazy." Discord made a giant banana pop-up and had lain back with giant sunglasses. "Discord?" Celestia asked. "E-yeeeeeeeeeesss?" "Change my, "brother", back into my sister, NOW!" Celestia looked how Twilight was when she was trying to figure out Pinkie Sense, on fire. "Oh, alright." He snapped his fingers and there were no bananas to be found, nor gender-swapped princesses making googly-eyes at almost every single mare that passes by. "You're no fun you know." "We all have different meanings of fun, Discord. You're fun to us, is almost the same if you were to tell Pinkie Pie to have fun on her family's rock farm. I don't think she'll have much fun. Do you understand?" Celestia looked at him with a glare-like smile. "Yes, I do know, Princesses." Discord looked down in shame, then looked up with a giant smile. "You want to go to a rock farm to have fun your own kind of fun. Ohh, hangin' out with my two friends, yay!" He shot up into the air and confetti popped out from his ears, Pinkie would be so proud of him. "Uh, you see. Um. How to put this." The Sun Princess thought, looking for the right words. "We do not want to hang out with you." Luna had enough of this "being the nice pony" and just plain out told the truth. "Luna!" Celestia scolded her rude sister. "What? You know you were thinking the same thing." Luna threw back at her older sister. "Why are you so crummy?" "Excuse meee, but I'm the one who got turned into a colt!" "You're right, I'm very sorry, sorry you couldn't keep your eyes off of my assistant!" "You know I had different needs, I was a different gender, for crying out loud!" "Wait a minute. We never fight, let alone jokingly-fight." They both turned their attention to the only God of Chaos in the room who was playing with dolls. One doll was a Lunar Princess doll, and the other was a Sun Princess doll, who looked as though they were arguing. The real Princesses' shouted at the draconeques loud enough he fumbled with the toys and lost his grip as they turned into blue and white dust. "DISCORD!" "Ha ha. Yes, well. It was quite rude for you both to talk behind my back when my back wasn't even turned." He hopped up and spun only his body around while his head and neck stood in place. "Go on." "Discord?" Celestia had to break it to him gently. "Hmm?" "Get Out." ---------(Flashback Over)------------ "and since I didn't have any other place to hang out, or anypony else, I decided to spend this time with my most dearest, sweetest, nicest, first, and oldest friend." "Mmhmm. Remind me to never think aloud when you're around, Discord." Twilight really didn't want what she thought to be taken another way and thrown right at her. Fluttershy, although remaining quiet for almost the entire time, nodded her head to reasonable explanations and silly antics. "Well, while Discord's story might be right, and he complimented me so heavily." Discord looked to Fluttershy with a broad smile, while Fluttershy smirked. "You still have to clean up the mess you made," Discord grumbled something under his breath unintelligible and made soap come from his giant tooth and sponges out of his ears. "And remember, Discord, no magic." He grumbled even crankier, made the magic soap and sponges disappear, grabbed some regular mop and regular soap, and continued with arduous task of, cleaning. "Right, so--oh! I almost forgot here are the books you checked out, Fluttershy." Twilight levitated the bookfilled saddlebags off of her back and over to the yellow Pegasus. "Oh! Thank you so much, Twilight. I would've picked them up, but I've had my hooves full lately. I'm sorry if I caused you any trouble." She nudged open one of the flaps on the saddlebags with her front hoof to reveal a book about fruits, and what animals should and should not eat. "It was nothing, Fluttershy. It's just that maybe somepony else might've want some of those books you have and I couldn't hold on to them for long." She felt a tingling sensation in her nose. "I didn't know I might've prevented some ponies from taking out books. Sorry." Fluttershy pawed the ground slowly and softly. Now there was a rather bothersome itch that formed in her nose. "Really, Fluttershy. You don't have to be sorry. That's how a library works. Somepony checks out a book that somepony else might want for a short period of time to read and then--then-and then re--retu-ret-aaaaaaaaCHOOOOOOOOOOO!" She sneezed so hard she flew into one of the kitchen walls, then slid down the wall and sat on her hind legs. "Oh my!" Fluttershy flitted over to the collapsed Twilight and bent down to help her up. She stopped short when she heard giggling behind her and turned around to find Discord floating below the roof right above from where Twilight was just standing holding a pepper up to a cheese grater. "Discord! What were you thinking?! Twilight could've gotten seriously hurt from that ridiculous prank!" She scolded him hardcore, getting up in his face and turning her arms around in anger, in other words, Fluttershy. Was. Pissed. Discord lowered himself down, with Fluttershy staring him down and not breaking eye-contact at all. He twirled about Fluttershy, curling his tail around her face and tickling her nose with the tip of his dragon tail. "Oh, dear Fluttershy. I expected you out of everypony in Ponyville to know that if an alicorn manages to somehow get harmed, their only going to obtain some cuts and bruises." Fluttershy snorted a puff of smoke from her nostrils and frowned. "It does not matter. I know you're the God of Chaos and everything, but your not a little foal who gets his laughs from endangering ponies for some stupid, little pranks! Because I know you're better than that, Discord. You are not that monster I knew who got out from his stone prison!" As soon as Discord heard the word, 'monster', he immediately deflated. His ears pinned against the back of his head, his eyes started to water, and he collasped on to his knees, trying his best to wipe his tears away with his mismatched hands. "*Sniff, Sniff*. I-I, I, maybe you're right or maybe you're wrong, I just don't know anymore. I just wanted to have fun. All I ever want to do is have fun, no-pony ever wants to have fun with me because as soon as they see me, that's all they ever see a-a monster. Nothing more than a monster. And maybe, I'm starting to believe that I am, a monster." Fluttershy couldn't believe what she just did. She just hurt a creatures' feelings in blind anger. Sure Twilight didn't get exactly hurt, but she could've, Fluttershy had no right to harm Discord's feelings. "Oh my. I'm sorry, Discord. I-I, You're not a monster, and you try so hard to show ponies you're not. I shouldn't have called you a monster, when you're nowhere near that." Discord sniffled one more time before looking up at Fluttershy, looking at her straight in the eye and smiled. "Thank you, Fluttershy. I know you probably didn't mean those horrid insults. But, can I get a hug?" "Sure, Discord. Only if it'll make you feel better." Fluttershy came to the accidentally-broken down Discord and wrapped her arms around his neck while he hugged back. Then, they released each other. "Thank you, Fluttershy. I needed that. You know, you're a great friend." "Oh, well, thank you, Discord." Fluttershy blushed and smiled. "You're a great friend, too." "You're a little charmer, aren't you?" "Hehehe. Hey, Discord, guess what?" "What?" "You still get a timeout for endangering Twilight." Discord softly growled, but made his way to the closest corner of the room and the window on the wall. "Wraggle, fraggle, shnaggle!" He whispered quiet things about a certain pony and decided to keep it to himself. Fluttershy smirked to herself, turned around, then remembered that Twilight still might need help getting up. She looked in the direction Twilight in flew in and saw that she was actually quite alright. It looked like she watched the FlutterCord argument and sentimental, and helped herself to a cookie, which she was now nom-nomming on. "Are you okay, Twilight. That was a nasty hit and fall." Twilight's ears perked upwards that telled that she just noticed her friend. "Hmm? Oh, wha-? Oh, no, I'm fine. But, I, uh, I landed on my wing and sprained it." She moved her damaged wing in front of Fluttershy's face so she can get a good look at it. "Oh, my! Let me get my First Aid Kit, don't move it anymore, okay?" "It's just a sprained wing, there's nothing wrong with that. You just have to sleep it off." "Oh, no no no no no. You see if a Pegasus hurts his or her wings and they don't treat it immediately, they can possibly permanently damage it and won't be able to fly or anything else that has to do with our wings." "Oh, I didn't think it was that serious." Twilight blushed from embarrassment and pawed at the ground. Fluttershy then flew as fast as she could to her nearest First Aid Kit which was in the cabinet under her kitchen sink. She pulled out a slightly larger than average Firsr Aid Kit, flipped open the top and brought out some gauze and some Duck Tape. "Duck Tape?" Twilight questionably asked. "It's to make a temporary splint. Now, gently give me your wing." Twilight gave Fluttershy her wing, which took hold of softly. She took the Duck Tape and folded it up so it made a miniature board and did the same to make another splint. She put the homemade splints on both sides of Twilight's injured wing then wrapped gauze around to hold it straight up and in place. Twilight made a faint hissing sound when Fluttershy straightened her wing out and put pressure on it. "Oh, my! I didn't hurt you, did I?" "No, no. Just a little uncomfortable. Never really sprained a wing. Actually, I never really had wings to sprain with before, actually." Twilight inspected her patched up wing, seeing the feathers pushed together from the splints and gauze. She flapped it once and felt a sharp pain shoot through the base and side of her wing, the sting showed that it wasn't broken, but that it was indeed, sprained. Little hooves tapped against the hardwood floor in the living room, getting louder, which indicated that they were coming closer. "Oh, okay. I just didn't want to damage your wing anymore than it is." The padding on the floor was even louder than before. "Well, thank you, Nurse Fluttershy." Fluttershy blushed deep red at false title. "Uh, w-well, I-I, --." She was cut off by three shouting fillies who scrambles to get in the kitchen before the other. "TWILIGHT, TWILIGHT! FLUTTERSHY, FLUTTERSHY!" The Cutie Mark Crusaders yelled at the top of their little lungs. Twilight responded first, while Fluttershy curled up with her eyes behind her hooves. "Um, yes, girls?" "U-uh. Yes?" Fluttershy hesitated to ask. Scootaloo responded first. "Weeeeeell. Can we--?" Then Applebloom. "Play outside--?" Finally Sweetie Belle. "For a bit?" The three fillies looked at the fully-grown mares with face-splitting grins. "Of course, girls." Twilight said it like it was the most easiest question ever asked in Equestria. "YAY!!!" The Crusaders jumped into the air and high-hooved each other, then slowly floated back down until they reached the ground, and ran towards the backdoor to Fluttershy's backyard. "Just becareful, girls. And don't get to close to the chicken coop again! Elizabeak is still traumatized from that Cockatrice encounter." Fluttershy tried yelling to the Crusaders, but, alas, they were already out the door, you could even see clouds shaped like their little bodies that slowly faded away. Twilight thought to herself for a moment, closing her eyes in concentration. "I feel like they're planning something. Yet, I can't tell if it's truly dishonest. Oh well. It's probably not that important. But, I think we should keep an extra close eye on them though, just in case, Fluttershy." Said Pegasus nodded in agreement with her Alicorn friend. "Oh. You are quite funny, you are, Princess, really." Discord commented to the librarian's brush-off. He was still sitting in the corner, however. But his face was on the back of his head while his whole was opposite of his face. "What do you mean by that, Discord?" Twilight asked skeptically and raised a brow in curiosity, but, skepticism was the emotion on her face. "Oh, nothing much. Just know that everything is going to change, Twilight Sparkle. And I do not think you're 'oh so powerful' skills and magic will help you when things take a turn for the worse." Discord phrased it not so much as a threat, but as a warning. And the God of Chaos, the most happiest being in Equstria, next to Pinkie Pie of course, somehow made Twilight and Fluttershy shiver with fear of what he meant. "I hate to ask this, but, w-what do you mean by that?" Twilight was strangely hesitant to ask the question, but was more scared of the answer. "You'll find out soon enough. But, I'll tell you one thing, this will probably be your biggest and most dangerous crusade you've had in a while." He idly stroked his beard with his tooth while cleaning his ears out with his elbows. She pondered his response for a bit, something sounded...off. "-probably be your biggest most dangerous crusade?" Crusade. Crusade, crusade, crusade. It's very familiar, maybe it's..wait a minute. "*Gasp* The Cutie Mark Crusaders, crusade! The Crusaders are in trouble! Come on, Fluttershy, we have to stop them from doing.....whatever it is they're trying and/or doing!" Twilight didn't wait till Fluttershy complied, she levitated her friend and threw her on her back. Then, she ran outside as fast as she could with her shocked and flushed friend to see a disaster about to happen. "Wait! NO, DON'T!" She was too late, however. There was a huge, bright flash, then there was nothing but silence, scary silence. A few moments later, Fluttershy and Twilight heard frightened screams from the Everfree Forest. "We have to find them, it's already dark. We don't have much time." She looked up at the bright moon which provided light to see, but clouds were slowly moving towards it to block possibly their only way to finding the three little frightened fillies.