Twilight Sparkle fluttered her eyes open and found herself in a strange surrounding. Another thing she noticed was that she had bits of cotton candy on her. “Eww!” she grimaced. “How did I get this on me?” Just then, a group of bright lights flew towards the princess. She took a closer look and saw that they weren’t bright lights; they were luminous Breezies! Then, she realized where she was: in the Everfree Forest!
All those stories her aunts told her about it made it sound scary and foreboding. But Twilight knew that couldn’t be true. Fortunately, she had books stored away about the Everfree Forest. She learned that though it hosted terrifying creatures, it also was home to beautiful places and living things. She knew all of the creatures that lived here…even a strange creature called the draconequus. The Everfree Forest sounded so interesting that she had to check it out. Tonight, she got her chance.
The luminous Breezies swarmed around her body and licked the cotton candy off her. They all agreed it was quite delicious. Twilight joked, “You mean the cotton candy or me?” The Breezies laughed and circled around her playfully. She got up and admired every single one of them. Suddenly, the Breezies noticed something to their left and flew off.
She turned in the direction they were facing and saw a tall silhouette behind the trees. She noticed something familiar about the shadow and said to it, “I know you’re there. Don’t be afraid.” The shadow chuckled at this trivial echo of his childhood and replied, “I’m not afraid.” Twilight urged him, “Then come out.” The figure answered, “Then you’ll be afraid.” The unicorn shook her head, “No, I won’t. I promise I won’t be scared.”
He shrugged, “Suit yourself.” The shadow slowly emerged from the brush and Twilight was slightly stunned that it was a draconequus. However, she put on a brave face and said, “I know who you are.” Discord was not convinced and asked, “Oh, do you?” Twilight broke into a smile and said, “You’re my fairy godfather!”
Discord was surprised by this and asked, “Err…what?” “Your shadow…” she explained, “…it’s been following me my whole life. You’ve been watching me since the day I was born.” Just then, an owl flew in and landed on a branch. Twilight said, “I remember you, pretty owl.” Discord said, “This is Spike. Perhaps he would like to say ‘hi’ to you.”
He snapped his fingers and Spike became a dragon. Spike smiled, “Hello, Twilight. I’ve known since you were little.” As he took her hoof and kissed it, she chuckled, “You’re charming and cute when you’re a baby dragon.” She turned to Discord and asked, “So, is this the Everfree Forest?” Discord nodded and slowly answered, “Yes.”
She hopped into the air and squealed, “This is amazing! I’ve never seen the Everfree Forest before! My aunts told me it was awful, but I didn’t believe them! I’m glad I read the book about it and now, I’m here! Tell me, what’s it like to live in such an abundant…” Discord had all he could take of this, so before she finished her sentence, he blew the sleeping dust on her. She drifted off to sleep and levitated almost immediately.
He faced Spike, who had his arms crossed and was glaring at him, and told him, “She’s quite the chatterbox, isn’t she?” Spike suggested, “Maybe she should visit here more often. I like her.” Discord was alarmed by this and refused, “Oh, no, no, no, no! I will not have the daughter of my greatest nemesis traipsing around in my forest!” “Well, she did call you her ‘fairy godfather’,” he reminded him slyly. “I thought it would be nice if you would let her visit the forest to live up to your ‘good’ name.”
Discord blushed when his aide mentioned that Twilight called him her fairy godfather. He gritted his teeth and groaned, “All right! Fine! She can visit here, but only once a week, do you hear?!” Spike nodded, satisfied that Discord, if not reluctantly, agreed to his idea.
Soon after he brought her home that first night, she visited the Everfree Forest once a week as per her agreement with Discord. At first, he didn’t like the idea of the daughter of his enemy wandering around the forest. However, he knew the things she said about him were true. He did watch over Twilight her entire life, and now she knew him. He thought back to that first day they met; not when she was five, not when she was at the cottage, but when he cursed her…
As the weeks passed by, they began to grow on each other. Somehow, in some way, Twilight found her way into Discord’s stone cold heart…although, it wasn’t so much as stone anymore as it was when Fluttershy had been sent to the dungeon. He thought he would hate Twilight for being the daughter of the stallion who wrecked his life. However, he slowly saw that she wasn’t anything like him; she was only more like her aunt Fluttershy. He smiled at the thought as she reminded him more and more about his lost love.
Somewhere between a month or two, Discord and Twilight began exchanging stories. They recollected how the unicorn got her cutie mark. Discord chuckled, “Oh, I remember that day. I was there.” Twilight looked at him with amazement, “You were? That’s right…”
A long time ago, Twilight was practicing her magic with Spike, as an owl, looking onwards. She tried to do a complex spell, but found it to be difficult. Just as she was about to give up, Spike urged her to keep trying. Taking his wordless advice, Twilight tried again; but this time, something completely different happened. When she lifted a prism near the sun, a rainbow shined on her horn and her magic began to expand out of control. Her horn shot many rays around the cottage; one hit Spike and turned him into a rutabaga. The three fillies went outside to see the commotion, only to be hit by three more rays and got turned into books.
Discord, watching at the edge of the forest, found this funny and cackled at it. “This is priceless!” he laughed. “Why didn’t Twilight do this ages ago?” Just then, a ray of magic nearly shot him. “Whoa!” he cried. “Okay, that was a little too close for comfort. Time to put a stop to this.”
He snapped his fingers and just like that, Twilight stopped shooting off magic. Spike and the three fillies reverted back to their own selves. By the time the fillies had regained their senses, Spike had fallen over the stump backwards in dizziness from the transformation. He was thankfully out of the sight of the fillies. Sweetie Belle then pointed to Twilight and cried, “Look!” When Twilight noticed that her aunts were looking at her flank, she decided to look, too. It was then she noticed her cutie mark: a six-pointed star with five smaller stars surrounding it!
She jumped for joy at her accomplishment. Scootaloo grumbled, “She’s lucky she has her cutie mark.” Sweetie Belle nudged her with her elbow and whispered, “Don’t ruin this moment for her!” As Twilight was jumping around, she noticed something in the trees. She saw a deer antler and a goat horn from behind one of them. She thought nothing of it and continued to jump for joy.
It was only now that she recognized the antler and horn and remembered the snapping that made her magic seize. “You must’ve been the one who helped me control my magic!” she pointed out. Discord replied modestly, “Oh, I only stopped your magic burst. You controlled your magic on your own.” She smiled, “I just want to say ‘thank you’.” She put her arms around him; Discord thought it was weird at first, but soon found warmth in her hug. He was, after all, her fairy godfather.
Weeks turned into months, and during one of those months, Twilight got into a mud fight with the Diamond Dogs. Discord watched as he sat on a tree root. When one of the Diamond Dogs threw mud at the unicorn, she dodged it. She turned to see that Discord got hit. Spike was laughing hysterically until a bunch of mud flew at him and covered him. Discord had a mischievous look in his eyes as he grabbed some mud. He smirked, “Oh, you messed with the wrong draconequus.”
Twilight squealed playfully as Discord joined the mud fight.
Some time after the mud fight, Twilight and Discord were walking about the forest, admiring the scenery. The unicorn couldn’t help but notice that many of the creatures could fly. She wondered why Discord didn’t fly, even though he had wings. She asked, “Well, the other creatures fly. Why don’t you?” Discord replied, “I have wings. They are strong, though not nearly as strong as they used to be.”
Twilight asked, “What happened?” Discord paused, and then replied reluctantly, “Let’s just say that I’ve been deprived of my flight and teleportation by someone who also took somepony away from me. Let’s just leave it at that, okay?” The unicorn couldn’t help but have sympathy for him, and she decided she would do something to make him feel better. She planned a surprise for Discord and enlisted the help of the other creatures.
After a few days, Twilight blindfolded Discord and led him somewhere. He smiled, “Where are we going?” Twilight replied, “If I tell you, it won’t be a surprise anymore.” He implored, “Oh, come on! You can tell me! Please? Pretty please…for an ice cream sundae with a cherry on top?”
She only chuckled, “No!” When they got to the destination, Twilight magically took off Discord’s blindfold. He didn’t know what to make of what was in front of him. It was just a board with a rope hanging from either opposite end. “Err…what is it?” he asked confusedly. Twilight smiled, “It’s a swing. You get on it, push yourself back and forth, and you’ll feel like you’re flying!”
Discord couldn’t believe it and Twilight had to convince him to get on the swing. Finally, he gave in as he sighed, “Oh, all right. If you insist.” The unicorn showed him how to get on the swing and push himself. At first, Discord saw no point in this, but as he got higher and higher, he took great delight in it. “Woo-hoo!” he smiled. “I do feel like I’m flying, although I’m just going back and forth.”
Twilight chuckled, “I knew you’d like it!” He kept swinging until his tail got sore. Still, he was happy and told the unicorn, “Thank you, Twilight. You’ve given me a new toy and a way to fly without using my wings.” She replied, “It was my pleasure.” Suddenly, he realized that her 16th birthday was coming up. There was the matter of the curse, but he had loved the filly so much that Discord now took it upon himself to remove it from her.
That night, Discord slipped into the cottage and went over to Twilight’s bedside. He could see that she was resting peacefully and thought that now was the time to lift the curse before it was too late. He extended his arms and said, “I revoke the curse! Let it be no more!” He repeated this as a yellow light began leave Twilight’s body. However, instead of absorbing into Discord, it blasted him across the room and re-entered Twilight.
As he regained his senses, he heard the whispers saying, “This curse will last till the end of time…No power on Earth can change it…” His heart dropped when he heard the words he said when he first cursed Twilight. In that moment, he was filled with regret and wished he could take it all back. He whispered, “I failed you, Twilight.” With eyes glistening with tears, he dug his head into the side of the bed as he said, “I’m sorry…I’m so sorry…”
Meanwhile, at the castle, a dark figure was conversing with a yellow Pegasus in the dungeon. The door knocked, to which the voice belonging to the figure said, “Enter.” The guard peeked into the dungeon and reported, “The King is gravely ill and has not long to live. He wishes to speak with you.” “Hush,” the voice admonished him. “Can’t you see I’m in the middle of a conversation?”
The guard apologized, “Right. A thousand pardons.” After the guard left, the voice purred while holding a yellow orb, “Once the king is out of the way, all that is left to get rid of is his little daughter, Twilight Sparkle.” Fluttershy weakly protested, “You won’t get away with this!” The voice chuckled menacingly, “I already have, my dear.”