Three alicorns and a dragon glided down towards a grassy hill on the outskirts of Ponyville, Luna and Twilight in the lead. If Discord had wiped Celestia’s memory in her sleep, they couldn’t take any chances with him. Twilight wanted to go get the rest of her friends just in case, but there was a problem with that.
“More tea, Fluttershy?” At her nod and happy thank you, Discord lifted the teapot with his claw and refilled her cup. He would prefer to snap his fingers and have the teapot do it itself, but he was on his very best behavior today. After everything that had happened yesterday, Fluttershy was still his friend, and now he knew that he wouldn’t trade that for anything.
“DISCORD!” Luna landed by crashing down heavily on her hooves. “WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?” Fluttershy squeaked and dove behind Discord.
Twilight and Celestia touched down at a much more reasonable speed. With a stern expression on her face, Twilight strode up to stand beside Luna, but Celestia stood back, watching with wide eyes. “What manner of beast is that?”
Discord put down the teapot and stood up. “Beast? Really? You’re interrupting someone’s tea party to yell at and insult them? Why, I never – Fluttershy, is there any reason for them to do such a thing?”
Fluttershy peeked out from behind Discord’s tail. Luna was scary. “Um, maybe? I don’t think so–“
“You see? Fluttershy agrees with me. Rude.” He retaliated by sticking his forked tongue out and blowing a raspberry at them.
“Cease your playacting,” Luna seethed. “You know what you’ve done. Explain yourself!”
“What?” Fluttershy jumped out to face Luna directly. “I thought you forgave him for that! He’s really sorry for siding with Tirek!” Meanwhile, Discord’s defiance disappeared and he wilted, feeling unworthy of how Fluttershy was defending him.
It was a hard heart that was able to resist a pleading Fluttershy, but Luna was determined to see justice done. “We shall see whether forgiveness was deserved. I speak not of yesterday, but of a crime committed afterwards.”
Fluttershy frowned. “Afterwards? But, he can’t have, he’s been here with me.” She looked up at Discord for support.
“That does not preclude his wrongdoing, even if he was … with you overnight …” Luna’s anger faded slightly. She looked from Fluttershy to Discord and back again.
Discord straightened up. “Oh, ho, uh, no … I don’t think we’re, ah, quite there yet.” His awkward grin was hard to decipher.
Fluttershy merely looked confused. “What happened overnight?”
Luna seemed to have lost her train of thought, so Twilight stepped forward. “Fluttershy, I was called to Canterlot this morning to help solve a mystery. Someone cast a spell on Celestia to make her forget almost everything!”
Fluttershy gasped. Her gaze moved to the white alicorn watching from behind Twilight. It was true, Celestia hadn’t said anything except to ask what Discord was. “Oh no! Who would do that to the Princess?”
Now that she had to break the bad news to Fluttershy, Twilight was hesitant, but she didn’t have a choice. “Well, I was able to trace the spell, and it looks like it was Discord.”
Fluttershy’s eyes grew round. “No.” She quietly turned to face Discord. “Is … is it true?”
Discord swallowed. His mouth felt so dry that it might as well have been a desert. In fact, a little sand might have fallen from his lips, but he managed to say what he needed to. “Of course not, Fluttershy. Yesterday, I almost lost your friendship because I was foolish enough to listen to Tirek. Please, believe me when I say, I’ll never make a mistake like that again.” She had doubted him for a second, but Fluttershy could tell he was being honest. She wrapped him in a hug, which he gladly returned.
Twilight frowned. Discord had learned his lesson. He had even given her the Rainbow Key of Magic to prove it. Everything she had learned about friendship told her to give Discord a chance, but at the same time she knew that it was Discord’s magic that had been used on Celestia. Probably.
Luna seemed to have come to the same conclusion. She glanced at Twilight. “So, we have found the culprit, yet the culprit seems to be innocent. What are we to do now?”
Spike grumbled. “You know he’s probably just faking it, right?”
Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Well, if he’s faking, he’s doing a really good job. I mean, how’d we get that big castle if he didn’t really learn the value of friendship?” She waved a hoof at the giant crystal tree palace visible in the distance.
Though the proceedings had served only to confuse her beyond belief, Celestia set aside her bewilderment. She had decided to trust these friends of Luna’s, so she joined their conversation in order to help out. “If that beast isn’t at fault, then perhaps we’ve misinterpreted the clue you found. Is there a way we could confirm one of our leads?”
Twilight bit her lip. “I guess I could take a look at it again, but if Discord really is guilty, he’ll run away when we leave. I’m not sure we should let him do that.”
Luna gritted her teeth in determination. “Then we shall have to bind him such that he cannot escape.”
She knew that was only logical, but Twilight still lifted a hoof apprehensively. “Does he really deserve that?”
“It doesn’t have to be cruel.” Celestia suggested. “It appears that he desires nothing more than to be in Fluttershy’s good graces. If we trust her, perhaps we can just make her responsible for Discord, by making her Discord’s warden.”
Twilight quirked an eyebrow, thinking. “Huh. You know, this isn’t the first time we’ve done something like that …”
She stared at Celestia, not saying anything. Luna and Spike did as well. Just as she was starting to wonder if her idea was horrible somehow, they turned to look at each other.
“Creepy,” Spike said. “Do you think this is what she thought the first time?” It had seemed foolish back then, but it had worked so well that it still sounded like a good idea. Was Celestia just that smart?
“It is very possible,” Luna also looked disturbed. “It seems that only Celestia understands how Celestia thinks.” It was obvious now, but Celestia had somehow predicted this before anypony else. Apparently, she still possessed that ability even after she had forgotten everything about Fluttershy and Discord.
“Well, she was right before. I guess we’ll try it.” Twilight turned back to Discord and Fluttershy, who were waiting for them to finish.
Celestia sidled up next to Luna and whispered, “What did I do?”
“The same thing you did before.” Luna replied quietly. “Let us say this is not the first time you’ve met either of them, nor the first time you entrusted Discord to Fluttershy’s care.”
Twilight spoke. “Discord, I want to believe you, but I still don’t know who wiped Celestia’s memory. I, uh,” she hesitated. Oh, if only there was an easy way to do this! “I want to be completely sure that I can find you if I need to.”
“You don’t trust me.” Discord said glumly.
Fluttershy reached a hoof up and touched his paw to reassure him. “Discord wouldn’t go back on his word now. Hasn’t he proven that?”
Twilight sucked in a breath. “He has, but … this is an opportunity for him to prove it again. I would like to cast a spell that would keep him from leaving you.”
Discord shivered. “You want to put me on a leash? Me, the master of chaos? ”
It wasn’t very comforting to be reminded that she was dealing with ‘the master of chaos,’ but it wasn’t anything he had ever stopped being. Twilight nodded. “Only for a short time, while we figure out how to get Celestia’s memory back.”
“And what if I refuse?”
“Then – I guess,” Twilight looked back at Luna, Celestia, and Spike, but they were waiting to hear what she said. Worry was evident on Fluttershy’s face. “I guess you refuse.” She really hoped he didn’t.
Discord watched her, an unreadable expression on his face, before he took a deep breath and nodded. Twilight cast the spell, her magic linking Discord to Fluttershy.
“I’m sorry. I’ll release the spell after Celestia’s back to normal again.” Twilight said. She turned away, unable to face him any longer.
Fluttershy hugged him. “It’s not so bad, Discord. We were together for the tea party, anyway.”
“I know.” He smiled wanly. “Thank you, Fluttershy.” As the princesses flew away, Discord and Fluttershy returned to their tea party, together.