Celestia woke up tired. Even though she'd stayed up late dancing the night before, and had taken even longer to fall asleep, she still had a job to do, and she wasn't going to let any amount of shenanigans stop her. With a groan, she stood, and plodded over to her tea kettle. While she didn't usually drink this early in the day, she decided she'd make an exception. After the tea had brewed, and she'd downed enough cups to start functioning again, she noticed that Luna had left a scroll for her on the counter. Unrolling it, she read:
Dearest Sister,
We hope thee and Discord enjoyed mine performance last night. Pinkie Pie visited us beforehand and bribed us with multiple sweets to put on a show for you, and we'd like to know how it went.
Love,
Lulu
Celestia sighed, and smiled. Lulu always did have a soft spot for romance, even if she'd never had much luck herself. With her mind and strength restored, Celestia raised the sun and prepared for the day. Her first task was to let her beloved student know just what Pinkie Pie had been getting up to.
Dear Princess Twilight,
Ponyville, later
A situation that requires your attention has come up, Twilight read. It appears that Pinkie Pie, one of your friends, has recently come under the tutelage of Discord, or as he put it, "She's my apprentice." Twilight, I cannot stress enough the danger this development represents. Having one Master of Chaos is bad enough, even when he's reformed. I shudder to think what could happen if her budding powers ever went out of control, or if she fell and dragged Discord down with her. Please, do everything in your power to dissuade her of this notion, although you must not jeopardize your friendship. If she does fall, her friends might be the only way to bring her back. Act with caution, her powers have already started to emerge.
I wish you the best of luck,
Celestia
Twilight stood in place for a solid minute, letting the news sink in. It explained a lot actually, covering everything from Pinkie's inexplicable precognition to why there had been a stampede six days ago to why she hadn't seen a single pink hair of hers for the past few afternoons. Twilight grabbed Spike, and filled him in on the way out the door. If she was going to do this, she'd need backup.
Pinkie Pie was on break, enjoying her afternoon snack now that almost everypony had been catered to. She'd just bitten in to the last cupcake she was planning on eating when her friends, sans Fluttershy, showed up, the lot of them toting serious expressions. Pinkie swallowed, and greeted them.
"Hi, girls, what's up?"
Her friends all glanced at each other, like they were trying to decided who should speak first. Rainbow Dash appeared to have a hard time containing herself, and eventually, she blurted, "Are you really learning from Discord!?"
Pinkie cocked her head, confused. "Yeah, I am. What about it?"
This answer took them aback. After a short pause, Applejack spoke up. "We're just worried 'bout you, Pinkie, what with this whole deal between you Discord."
"Aren't you worried that he might do something?" asked Twilight.
Pinkie took another bite. "No, not really. He's been super nice, actually. And really, really funny. You should have seen Blueblood's face after we stuck him on the ceiling!" Pinkie giggled.
Rarity smirked at the mental image before she schooled her expression. "Regardless, we don't think it's the best idea for you to be learning from him, darling. It's not safe."
"Yeah, he might pull another mind game on you. Those aren't cool," Rainbow added.
"I guess what we're saying is, maybe you should... s-stop?" Twilight concluded.
Pinkie took another bite, and stared at them, her expression going from bouncy to more and more serious as she chewed. Swallowing, she said, "All right, who put you up to this? Your arguments hold less batter than a cake dish with no bottom."
"Um, Princess Celestia asked me." Twilight muttered, blushing. "Here, have a look." She pulled the scroll out of her saddlebags and passed it to Pinkie. Pinkie read, her expression darkening with every jump of her eyes. When she finished, she almost looked mad, with her ears folded back against her head.
"You took this seriously?" She stated, "Discord's changed, you know that, and he's been very careful to not hurt me in any way."
"It was from the Princess, of course I took it seriously!" Twilight retorted, ears twitching.
"And the first thing you did was try to hold an intervention." Pinkie snorted, "You didn't even bother to get my side of the story. You just took one look at the Royal Signature and rushed off without thinking."
Twilight winced. "Pinkie, I-"
Pinkie cut her off, "Well, now you're going to hear it. For all my life, I've known I wasn't normal." Pinkie twisted her hoof around and was suddenly holding a picture of her family. "I never quite fit in, and I never knew why. I tried my best to ignore it, because thinking about it only made me sad, but it was still there, just waiting for me to screw up." Pinkie stuck her leg out, the picture having gone missing at some point, and a phrase echoed through the air, each repetition done in a different voice. "Just Pinkie being Pinkie, Pinkie, Pinkie, Pinkie..." By this point her friends were in total shock, with their mouths open and ears flattened.
"You never tried to understand it, and no-" Pinkie added as Twilight started to speak, "your studies don't count. You gave up way too early, and worked off a faulty assumption that would never have gotten you anywhere. You set out to disprove my Pinkie Sense, instead of observing what I was doing and then coming up with possible explanations. You saw something that didn't make sense, and dismissed it as 'impossible.'" Here she made quote marks in the air, despite her lack of fingers. "Once you gave up, you just brushed it off, and never questioned it further, even when new evidence appeared that might have let you figure it out."
Pinkie stood and started walking towards the group, her eyes locked on Twilight. "Then Discord came, and gave me not only an answer to the question I had been struggling with my whole life, but offered to teach me about a side of myself I'd never understood or even really realized existed. And you want me to just give it up?" She stuck her nose in Twilight's face, eyes flashing.
"Pinkie, that's enough!" Rarity said sharply, then her voice softened. "We never even guessed that you might be feeling this way, and I, at least, am deeply sorry for causing you such distress." She stepped forward and hugged the pink mare.
"Yeah, that was pretty uncool of us." Rainbow added, joining Rarity.
"Sugar, if learnin' from Discord makes you happy, then we'd be total foals to try to stand in your way." Applejack stepped up and added her hooves to the group hug.
Twilight sighed, and capitulated. "You're right, Pinkie. We're your friends. Instead of trying to hold you back, we should have been encouraging you. I guess that explains why Fluttershy wouldn't go along with this." Then she hugged Pinkie as well, and the group was complete. After what felt like an eternity of bliss, they broke up, and made their various excuses to get back to work (or in Rainbow's case, practicing).
Twilight sighed as she walked back to her castle, already composing a letter, until an odd thought crossed her mind. Wait, was Pinkie leaner than usual?
88888888
Meanwhile, back at the palace, Celestia and Discord were having similar conversation. It was going about well as its counterpart, at least from Celestia's perspective.
"Discord, I told you, you have to stop this," she stated. "Equestria can't take another chaos user. The Compromise won't allow it."
"And I told you, Tia, that it's already too late," Discord retorted. "She's coming into her powers, and cutting it off now won't stop it. If anything, it will only make it worse, as she'll lack proper training." The globe he was holding fractured. "Besides, you know how lonely it gets being immortal. She's the only pony I've ever been able to really be myself around, and I think the feeling's mutual. Would you really break up a friendship like that?" He fiddled with some golden heart on a chain, but it wouldn't stop moving long enough for Celestia to get a good look at it.
"Graaaahhhh!" Celestia roared, and stormed out. The worst part was, she reflected, that he was right. She couldn't interfere without becoming a massive hypocrite. As much as she wanted to stop this threat before it manifested, the truth was where was nothing she could do. The only thing worse than another Discord is another Discord with no control over his abilities. As terrible as Discord's reign may have been, he at least restrained himself from killing anypony. If Pinkie lost control she'd have no such obstacle. Celestia could only pray that wouldn't happen.
Her brooding was interrupted by a scroll from Twilight. Opening it, she read,
Dear Princess Celestia,
I regret to inform you that our attempted intervention on Pinkie Pie's behalf was less than successful...
Celestia resisted the urge to scream.
Then she froze as she remembered something, an ancient backup plan that she'd never had to use, and had long since been discarded. Smiling grimly, she strode off in the direction of the palace vaults. She may not be able to do anything now, but that didn't mean she couldn't prepare for the worst.