Upon being informed the entire account of what unfortunate fate had befallen Twilight Sparkle, the natural reaction from Princess Luna was nothing short of utter shock. She was speechless; still overtaken by this stunning news. It takes her a few seconds, but she regains her composure and her own mindset on the next course of action for them all to take.
"We must remedy this situation forthwith!" the princess proclaims for all to hear.
"That's what we came here to do!"
"But we haven't a clue as to how to do it!"
"We just thought Princess Celestia might help!"
Everyone turns to Celestia, who is now forced to relay her regrettable answer to Twilight's friends, "I understand your coming to me in this dire time, but I simply haven't a clue as to how this problem can be solved. I have never seen curse of this kind at any time in the past, and I do not contain the knowledge necessary for said curse's removal from Twilight."
It wasn't easy for Celestia to tell everyone that she could not help, but it was even harder for Twilight's friends to hear that not even Celestia had the solution to this dilemma. Everyone looked completely demoralized by this blow, not knowing where to turn next.
As everyone contemplated as to what they should do, there came a stirring from the grounded draconicorn. Her fingers began to twitch, her arms following with the same sensation. Twilight's eyelids fluttered as her conscious mind returned to her. She struggled to get back up on her feet, as her head was not one hundred percent normal as of yet. Twilight clasped her face as she stumbled about, attempting to keep herself upright. While she did this, Celestia took notice of Twilight's return to her wakened state, and alerted to the others of the draconicorn's condition. Everyone turned their attention to Twilight, and quickly ran over to check up on their ill-fated friend.
"Twilight!"
"Are you all right??"
"You're not hurt too bad, are you?"
"How many hooves am I holding up?"
It was already difficult for Twilight to get her head straight, but the barrage of questions being thrown at her from all directions was not helping. She was now clasping both sides of her head, trying in vain to ease the throbbing in her skull, but each new word reverberated throughout her cranium like a booming echo inside a capacious cavern.
"Would everypony...STOP?!!" bellows the infuriated draconicorn, whose outburst forced back all who had gathered around her. Everyone stared back at the exasperated Twilight, silenced by her alarming upsurge. But as quickly as it had come, the silence was ruptured by none other than Twilight, who at that moment began to exhibit uncontrollable convulsions. Twilight's friends dreaded what was coming next, though Celestia and Luna had yet to witness this particular characteristic of Twilight's cursed state. Though Twilight's entire form was experiencing a spasm, her mane was flailing much more wildly than the rest of her body, and soon this very mane began to glow brightly. The length of Twilight's mane decreased, receding to just the back of her neck, ending above where her serpentine body began. Its shape then took on an upwards, straightened position, before bursting into a blinding luminosity, temporarily immobilizing all of Twilight's friends. After assuming it was safe to uncover their eyes, everyone turned their attention back to Twilight, horrified to see that their friend's mane had transformed into the spiny dorsal fin of a fish! Even the hair on top of her head had been adapted to this new form! However, this was not the most troubling sight for Twilight's friends to witness.
Even though her transformation appeared complete, Twilight's body had yet to cease its incessant contortions. Though initially perplexing, the answer to this problem was soon given to the onlookers by the display of Twilight's left hind leg, which was now thrashing excessively. Yet another glaring illumination was produced by the draconicorn's rear limb, with the ponies and Spike acting in the same manner as they had just previously conducted. Upon her appendage's evanescence of its coating of light, Twilight's body at last halted in its incessant trembling. With her mind functional once again, Twilight's attention was drawn to her metamorphosed leg, which she was utterly shocked to see it had transformed into the leg of an insect(most similar to the smaller back leg of a green grasshopper)! Though already in a state of alarm, Twilight became even more panicked when she realized her mane was gone. She felt around the top of her head for any remnants of hair, and her scouring hands came upon the dorsal fin now aligning her nape.
"Oh no..." Twilight said; so horrified in her realization that she could barely raise her voice to an audible level. "It's accelerating...it'll only be a matter of time before I change entirely..." The disheartened draconicorn clasped her face as she fell to her knees, having lost nearly all assurance that things would get better. Her friends stood by in silence as they watched their dispirited companion.
"Twilight...?"
Twilight removed the palms from her countenance at the sound of her name. She looked around at her fellow ponies and Spike, having momentarily forgotten they had all encircled her. However, not even the sight of her dear friends could do much to renew her bygone sense of hope, and it took all of the sapphire-maned girl's remaining strength to keep herself from bawling all over the throne room floor.
Unable to stand by while the former pony suffered, Princess Luna approached he dejected draconicorn, placing a hoof atop her bald-pated head.
Twilight looks upwards towards the princess. At first she could say nothing, but soon the recent memories came flooding back to her: every harmful act she thrust upon the princess with every intent of causing harm to her person. Just the knowledge that she herself was responsible for these contemptible acts tied Twilight's stomach into knots; she grasped her chest, unable to bear the weight of this plight.
"I'm so sorry..." Twilight proclaims as she seizes Princess Luna's legs. "I...I'm just...I can't even begin to tell you how sorry I am for what I've done to you...for what I've done to everyone here: Pinkie, Rarity, Rainbow, Fluttershy, Celestia," there came a pause. "Oh, princess Celestia..." Twilight moved herself over to Celestia, grabbing onto her legs as well. "Princess...I... wish I could take back everything...all the pain and torment I caused you and Princess Luna...just everyone I've hurt while I've been like this...this—dreaded monster I've become!!"
At last, Twilight could hold it in no longer: the suffering draconicorn fell to the floor, overcome by guilt and despair. Nothing could hold back the flood of tears pouring from the girl's eyes. This breakdown was just as hard to watch as any of the others that Twilight had gone through, and all her friends felt just as hurt that Twilight was forced to suffer it all alone.
"That will be quite enough!"
Twilight slowed her weeping as she peered upwards to see Luna standing before her.
"I apologize for my seeming lack of sympathy, but now is no time for these forlorn outbursts!"
"Huh?" Twilight said, perplexed by Luna's pronouncement, whilst all the others were otherwise dismayed.
Luna sighed deeply, "I understand your predicament, Twilight Sparkle, but this senseless sobbing will do nothing to mend it! We must act with haste if there is any hope of returning you to your original self!"
"But how??" Twilight pleaded with the princess. "It's not like a solution is just going to poof in out of nowhere!"
As one would expect, nobody was prepared when there came a sudden explosion in front of Celestia's throne. After shielding themselves from the blast, a familiar voice emanated from the mass of smoke as it settled onto the floor.
"Not necessarily a 'poof', but I suppose we needn't argue semantics here," stated the master of chaos: Discord, whom nobody was particularly happy seeing—well, except for Fluttershy, who would consider herself more neutral than upset here, but that's just here.
"I'm relatively sorry to interrupt," the draconequus explained as he walked towards the congregation. "But I have been sensing quite the bit of activity today: numerous bursts of magical imbalances from around Ponyville, and then here! That's when I felt I should come and see the commotion for myself—mostly due to the fact that there has been much chaos going on, and yet I'm not the cause of it! That is something I simply cannot tolerate!"
After voicing his frustration on the matter, Discord finally notices that Twilight resembles him in a way, to which he is naturally surprised.
"...my, Twilight: I'm enjoying this new look you're trying out for yourself! A bit lanky; but it's nice to see somepony else finally getting some good taste around here!"
"This isn't some fashion statement!" Twilight retorted.
"And if it was, it would make for a very poor one!" Rarity added.
"Anyways," Applejack interjected. "Twilight didn't do this to herself!"
"It was a cloud!"
"A cloud that was causing chaos just like you!" Rainbow proclaimed fiercely.
"Is that so?" Discord asked, sounding a bit intrigued.
"It is most so!"
"And I think we can all agree that one particular draconequus is the one behind all this!" Rainbow affirmed, with her friends all strongly agreeing(except for Fluttershy, who naturally wasn't so quick to place blame on her reformed friend.
"Well, aren't we so quick to judge! Even though I'm the only one who appreciates some good chaos around here, I would never try to curse any of you! Scout's honor!" Discord stated, holding up his right hand and magically donning a scout's uniform.
"As if his word can be trusted!"
"And he's probably not even a scout!"
Discord could feel the tension as his so-called "friends" ganged up on him. So much for the magic of friendship, right? However, as the disconcerted draconequus cast his gaze upon Fluttershy, he could see by the expression on her face that this pegasus was not on the same page as her friends; she would be certain to hold a little trust in his word.
"Oh, my dearest Fluttershy: truly you of all ponies know that I have mended my evil ways and have become a decent and productive member of society," Discord explained in an overly dramatic fashion, which was clearly not working on anybody but Fluttershy.
"Don't let him entice you, Fluttershy! He is not nearly as charming as he makes himself out to be!"
"Oh, miss Rarity; can you not see that all of that is in the past? I may have been a bad seed back then, but today, I am naught but an angel," Discord said as he teleported himself over to Fluttershy, though when he did, he made himself look like a tiny angel, floating to the left side of her head.
"Believe you me, Fluttershy I am most certainly not the source of these recent acts of misconduct; I am an honorable creature through and through," he stated, playing a pleasant tune on his tiny harp.
Fluttershy looked to be trusting Discord's words, but then she heard a similar voice from the opposite side of her head.
"Don't listen to him, Fluttershy! He's lying and everyone knows it!"
These denigrating accusations were coming from a second Discord, who unlike the other one, was dressed as a devil. Fluttershy did not even know what to think at this sudden turn of events, and neither did any of her friends.
"You're the one who's lying! I would never even think of bringing such vile acts upon this beauteous land which I now call home!"
"Suuure—you say that now."
"How dare you say that!"
"I most certainly do!"
"That doesn't even make any sense!"
"You don't make any sense!"
The argument between the two micro-Discords raged on, with Fluttershy doing nothing but staring blankly at their quarreling.
"Umm...I'm very confused."
"That's it!" Applejack shouted, halting the verbal fracas. "Quit tryin' tuh mess with 'er head!" she shouted whilst shooing away the miniscule draconequui.
The angel and devil then poofed away, and Discord reappeared as his normal self and size before the ponies and Spike.
"All right, all right; I was just having a little fun there. But in all seriousness I am not responsible for turning Twilight into the spectacular creature she is now."
But alas, Discord's proclamation of honesty had no effect on his supposed friends as each held the same judgmental look upon their faces(minus Fluttershy, who still looked a bit puzzled from before). Discord was becoming a tad flustered by all this visual denouncing, and showed his emotion quite clearly.
It was this very expression which gave rise to Fluttershy's feelings of friendship she held for Discord. As everyone else was against him, she knew that as his only true friend, she must stand up for him, and not leave him a victim to such scorn from her pony pals.
"Now hold on, you guys," the pegasus situated herself over by Discord as she spoke her defense of the draconequus. "I know Discord hasn't had the most...reputable history...but that doesn't mean we should point all hooves at him just because he's the most likely one to have been behind all these wrongdoings."
"Thank you, Fluttershy—I think..."
"Discord is our friend now, and as such, he is entitled to full benefit of the doubt—just as we would do for any of you."
Nobody was happy with Fluttershy defending the one who should be the clear perpetrator of these malfeasances; but, as Fluttershy was their friend, she was deserving of trust, and thusly the ponies and Spike reluctantly chose to trust Discord's word as well.
"Oh, I am so happy my friends are finally coming along in seeing what an upstanding gent I have become," he proclaimed as he stretched multiple arms out to bring everyone in for an undesirable hug(by all except Fluttershy, of course).
"And I am so glad that we have put all this nonsense behind us," Discord stated once letting everyone go. "I mean, come on: why would I create a cloud to do my work for me when I prefer spreading chaos myse—" Discord's face froze in mid-sentence. His entire body had done the same. It was as if his mind locked up on him; which certainly made for a strange and uncomfortable sight for the others to witness.
"Discord? Are you all right?"
No response.
"What they hay is he doin'?"
"Is his brain broken?"
"Ooch! That sounds painful!" Pinkie stated, grasping her head.
With still no reaction from Discord, Fluttershy flew over to his head to see if he could hear her better.
"Discord?" she tapped the side of his head, with a small echo heard bouncing around inside his cranium.
Fluttershy turned to her friends, entirely unsure of what to make of this situation.
"I remember..."
Everyone swiftly placed their attention back on Discord upon hearing his barely audible words.
"It was so long ago...I'd completely forgotten..." Discord's body regressed back to its non-rigid state as he sat himself down on the floor of the throne room. The tone of his voice was very odd indeed...he spoke as if he had just recalled a horrible memory—and considering what he had said so far, that may very well be the case. So instead of responding to the draconequus, everypony and Spike listened to the master of chaos as he began his elucidation of events long past...