//------------------------------//
// 5. Twilight's Plan 
// Story: Dealing in Harmony 
// by Ckat_Myla 
//------------------------------//



“…and similarly to the incidents in Vanhoover and Rivertail, all of the abnormalities completely vanished without a trace as suddenly as they at started. Not a single baby chick remained.”

Princess Celestia had been zoning out, only catching the last part of her assistant’s report on the increase in incidents of severe improbability. Most certainly not something a good or proper thing for a monarch to do when being given important news, but it was difficult to keep her focus on the words being said when Celestia was distracted by the source of these so-called ‘abnormalities.’

For she knew why these things were happening, or at least she had very good suspicions. The only problem being, that since these random bursts of chaos magic seemed to disappear just as any pony began to notice, the princess couldn’t definitively accuse Discord of breaking his promises.

She had no idea what game he was playing, but since his probation was over and her ruling made to allow him more space and freedom, there wasn’t much she could do about his goings on. If this was indeed his doing - as she highly suspected - he was at least cleaning up his messes. What the alicorn did not understand though was why?

Regrettably Twilight Sparkle was not of any help in this matter either. Officially she was no longer the official liaison between them, and her last few letters indicated that he had not been in contact with her for some time. When Celestia had asked her about this, Twilight had answered that he had only expressed a wish to ‘explore’ this plane he was now a full resident of.

He would not respond to another royal summons either even if she could pin down his location to send him one. He must have known that she and her sister would want to know what in Equestria he was up to. Did he not think they would notice?

Celestia attempted to rub her temples with a hoof, but her large golden shoe made it difficult to perform the gesture. What was more, her unicorn experts on magical theories and physiology had begun sending her reports on what they called 'a decrease in the temporal consistency of spells.' This decrease appeared to be affecting most unicorns with a high level of magical skill, and they explained that - if left unaddressed - could begin to be felt by others.

Princess Luna and Princess Cadance had been at that meeting as well, and though it might have been a leap to make in some pony’s eyes, Celestia wondered if it had something to do with Discord’s funny little trolling sessions.

Just what in Equestria is he up to? She thought to herself, but then she remembered her assistant’s latest report that she had begun tuning out of again, and she recalled hearing a name not found within her borders.

“My apologies,” she lifted a hoof to interrupt the small silver mare. “But where was this last incident?”

The mare looked surprised and fearful for a moment, no doubt unsure if she would receive a reprimand or dismissal. Celestia watched her flip back through the pages she was reading from. “Um, it was in Cheval, Your Majesty. The giant cloud hovered over a small village, glowed in an array of colors, and rained down live baby chicks down onto the populace.”

Celestia blinked, sitting back up into a more royal position, her interest caught fully again. “Cheval, as in the country across the sea? Not Cours De Cheval?”

“No, Princess, it was indeed the country. I spoke with an official representative of their government, and they have asked for any information we could give them about the nature of these happenings.”

“And did you give them any?” Celestia asked, which made the mare look nervous again.

“No Princess, because we have not issued an official statement about them to our people yet, I… wasn’t sure what you would want ,me to tell them.”

Celestia’s gaze dropped from her assistant’s worried expression, nodding a little non-committaly. “Good, good. You did the right thing. Do not worry. I shall send them a letter personally.”


Dismissing the mare, Celestia pulled out her quill and paper to set about doing just that. The current king of Cheval was an older unicorn gentleman, one that did not completely subscribe to the histories and mythologies of her country. Even though Cheval had had a long standing peaceful relationship with Equestria and in spite of the fact that she had been on good terms with his father's father's father's father before he took his throne No matter what evidence lay before him - what with she and her sister being clearly much more than regular monarchs - he refused to see it or regard them as literal children of a spirit. So if he was asking her for some sort of assistance, she knew he must be in a bind for answers.

The princess was not certain how much about her dealings with Discord of-late she should share with the king, the usual amount of diplomatic explanation and offering to help how they could would most likely suffice for the unicorn. Anything having to do with other-worldly beings might not be met with gratefulness.

It would seem that a full investigation was in order. One that needed at least some source close to the draconequus, but not the being himself . 

Twilight Sparkle was most certainly that pony. She swept a piece of parchment and the royal seal stamp before her and began to pen an official letter of summons to her student. Surely, Twilight would have some answers for her, and they could officially conclude whether or not she was right to have what small amount of faith she had in Discord.










The train station was not as busy as it usually was,  only a few other ponies waited at the platform with Twilight as she anticipated the arrival of her sister-in-law.

She had only just said goodbye to Fluttershy and Rarity here as they set off on their own pursuits, and though that meant that most of her friends were away,  she didn't feel quite as lonely as she would normally.  Especially with the arrival of Cadance.
And though it had also been a few days since she saw Discord, with his revelation that the anomalous activities were involuntarily caused by him, Twilight had doubled her efforts at devising a solution, even going so far as to give away her secret about finding the Statera Equus and attempting to replicate it.
Though she was filled with an even greater determination, she hoped that perhaps Cadance might bring news of how much the princesses new about the goings on. For if they knew about it, perhaps they had found a solution or were working towards one as well.
She watched as the train roared into the station, slowing as it made its entry and coming to a stop with a cloud of steam.
The passengers disembarked one or two at a time,  and soon Twilight's eyes spotted a pink horn and golden crown in the throng. She waved and the crowd parted to reveal Cadance, whose eyes brightened at the sight of her. Once she had caught sight of her, Cadance made a beeline for Twilight and they engaged in a friendly hug and their usual greeting of 'sunshine, sunshine'.

“I hope your trip was alright,” Twilight said as they started on their way towards town. “I know it was a last-minute change, but thank you for understanding.”

“Oh, it wasn't any trouble,” Cadance replied, matching stride alongside her. “I got to have a few days at home with Shiny before having to leave him again, plus I was very interested in seeing you, Twilight. Even before all the... strangeness started happening.”

“You did?” she asked, to which Cadance tried to hold back a suspicious looking smile.

“I must admit that I originally came here because of what Rarity said in her letter about you, but ever since my aunts have let me in on what they been hearing about, I've felt that that sort of supersedes any sort of advice I might give you.”

“Advice, for what?” Twilight was confused. “I'm sorry, what letter?”

Cadance blinked, “The letter that Rarity sent me asking me to come and speak with you. Surely she mentioned it to you.”

She hadn't. And now that her friend was conveniently absent from Ponyville Twilight could not find her  and  demand an explanation from her about it.

“And for what precisely did Rarity think that I needed your advice?”

Now there was no hiding the grin on Cadance's features. “Maybe we should go and get something to eat. We can talk more over a little lunch and you can talk as much as you want about whatever you feel comfortable with.”

Twilight had a sneaking suspicion that whatever Rarity had written to Cadance about was not a topic she wanted to talk about so quickly. If it had been about herself and Discord... she had only just started to become comfortable with the idea of them... that they really were... but like Cadance said, were there not more pressing concerns at the moment? If the subject came back up over their lunch, perhaps Twilight might be open to talking about it with her sister-in-law, but only after she had found out just how much Cadance and the princesses had discovered.

It didn't take long before they had found a small outdoor cafe and settled themselves down for a light lunch. The two mares had chit-chatted the whole way there about lighter things, but had soon run out of light topics as the weight of the more serious ones compressed upon their minds, stilting the polite, breezy conversation.

After they had ordered their food and it was served to them, it was finally Twilight that spoke up about the elephant at the table.

“Cadance, I told you about my experiments over the past month, to analyze the magical fields and examine the strange phenomena. The thing is, I feel – more than feel, really – that I might know now the cause of it all.”

“You do?” Cadance asked, looking pleased and a little relieved, but when Twilight's expression did not match hers, she asked, “Then why don't you look happy about it?”

“Because the conclusion we – I – have come to, it isn't exactly one I was hoping for,” she answered. “I was hoping that Princess Celestia and Princess Luna might have thought of something, if they have even heard about all of what's going on.”

“They do know,” Cadance nodded, but paused before continuing, as if unsure of how Twilight would take her information.“The princesses have been monitoring the situation as it has progressed. It appears that any major abnormalities are being dealt with before any pony can notice, any pony but Celestia and Luna that is."

Twilight halted her chewing and put her tiny sandwich down. She wondered how much her sister-in-law knew, or suspected.

"I am sure they considered letting you and the other element bearers know sooner. so that you could try to fix things, but everything appears to be being fixed as they happen. I have my ideas about that as well."

Of course, Twilight knew exactly what – or rather who – was fixing everything, she just wasn't certain how much she should divulge to Cadance. 

“I wonder, how much have you heard from Discord in the past month?” Cadance asked, going straight to the suspicions that Twilight had been hoping she had not been drawn to.

She wondered what went redder the moment she mentioned Discord, her face or her aura. Cadance was taking a particularly keen interest in both after her question.

A smirk was growing on the pink mare's face, and Twilight didn't think she could hide all that much from her in any case. Honesty was the best policy.

“I hadn't until the other day, when he came back to tell me--- that he felt he was the cause of what has been going on,” she ended a tad flatly, knowing that she was confirming Cadance's suspicions.

Cadance only nodded, smirk fading to a thoughtful frown. When she observed the area around Twilight again, it took her a moment to speak once more.

“So, it is true. I'm sorry to say that the princesses have come to the same suspicions, but that they don't exactly see it as I do, as him fixing the mistakes. They think all of this has a more... well, less innocent purpose.”

It didn't take Twilight long to consider what the princesses must be thinking – how they must be seeing all of these anomalies and the hasty patching of them up.

"They think Discord is covering his tracks, trying to be sneaky in his rule breaking," Twilight said. They would of course assume the worst. She didn't blame them. She certainly would think Discord capable of that, if things were different. But he did promise. They knew that.

Cadance shifted her weight a bit on her cushion, looking slightly uncomfortable.

"I wasn't certain about Discord being the cause, though I had to admit it is more than a coincidence that it appears to keep following him. But... there's something amiss going on with the magical field. You have to have sensed if too, the magic we use feels different lately. it is less... solid, I suppose."

Twilight had noticed, finally some pony who supported her theory on the magical fields. Her extra effort needed to pick things up with her magic lately, her need to re-perform simple spells for added power, whatever it was happening in Ponyville... she wondered now if it was only her. If this sort of thing was happening to every unicorn...

"How do you think we can fix it?" She asked, assuming that Cadance must have an idea, or at least leading to something.

"You know our magic is comprised of energy exuded from all of the spirits of balance, and we manipulate that energy to do whatever spells we need to do. I think maybe that energy has gotten out of balance. I am not sure how, but maybe if we could find a way to set it even again, the magic would return to normal, and so would everything else."

"But how could we do that? Princess Celestia. and Princess Luna manage the balance with Discord. Not to mention the other two that don't live here."

"Yes but that is the point. I think – it might be risky – but I think there might be something we could bring up when next we see the princesses.”

Twilight cocked her head to one side, but leaned in closer to hear.

“What if I told you,” Cadance began with a measured breath, like this was a speech she had been rehearsing. “That they - the princesses - have actually been considering stepping down as the keepers of order?” Twilight blinked, and Cadance must have anticipated her next question.

“It’s only the last few decades that they were seriously thinking about it, only until they could find mortal ponies worthy enough for it, ponies they trusted enough to bestow upon them their mother’s gift.”

“I’d say that’s ridiculous,” Twilight said. “They couldn’t do that, could they? Wouldn’t that kill them, if it were even possible?”

“No, it wouldn’t kill them,” Cadance said with some concern for the very idea. “Harmony only faded away after creating them because of the effort of maintaining her physical form while actually creating her daughters. They were made specifically for this realm, so they can pass the power down onto any pony they see fit.”

Twilight was following the path this conversation was taking, almost reading ahead to the next page of the script. “And you think they are considering… me?”

“Like I said, they were only getting serious the last few decades,” Cadance gave a proud smile. “They approached me at first because of my well… special position as lost princess of a lost empire. Not that I knew about my whole destiny yet. I just knew that I was the only winged unicorn around my age. But when I started foal sitting for you--- I saw your potential. Didn’t you ever wonder who got you that audience with the admissions committee at the school for gifted unicorns?”

Twilight remembered that day, but she had no recollection that it had been Cadance who told the school about her.

“You did, really?” she asked with growing wonder.

Cadance nodded. “You were already so skilled, but I had no idea how much. I didn’t know Auntie Celestia would take you on as a protégé. I think… I think that was when she started to think about us as potential candidates for Keepers of Order in the balance of the world.”

“But, both of us? If she already had thought of you, why would she consider me too?”

“Because we have two order beings now,” Cadance answered. “After Harmony made them, she split the power of order between them, so presumably it would take two mortal ponies to succeed the two alicorn princesses.”

Twilight could see the logic in that, since there were currently two order beings that balanced out Discord’s chaos. Yet another thing that made them conform to this world in a way that he couldn’t.

“When you showed yourself as one of the bearers of the elements of harmony, I think that cinched it for them. If you could wield the most powerful of their mother’s weapons, then you were a perfect choice to take on this responsibility.”

“Along side you,” Twilight clarified. “As a fellow order being?”

“Well,” Cadance started to say, then trailed off uncertainly. “Only if you were willing to take this on. I’d have no choice but to oblige. I would be glad to be a team with you, Twilight. But it would need to be a team decision.”

Twilight’s mind was gearing back up at this revelation. The wheels were turning again, churning out new and different possibilities. New order beings… but would that solve the problems of the imbalances? Would that fix all of the chaos that was leaking out?

She wasn’t entirely convinced, since it wasn’t as if order was the problem here. Choosing Cady and herself was all well and good - extremely flattering and an honor to be sure - but that wasn’t the problem. It was Discord, even if he didn’t mean to be. He was the one causing it because he wasn’t made for this world… not like Celestia and Luna had been.

“Wait,” the thought clicked itself into place, and Twilight perked up and even jumped to her hooves at the idea. “They were made to be here, they are supposed to be here.”

“You mean Celestia and Luna?” Cadance asked confusedly, giving her a concerned look at Twilight’s odd behavior. “Yes, they were made to live on this plane. That’s why---”

“But Cady, you don’t understand, that’s why everything is out of balance, because they are meant to be here, and he isn’t!” She almost cried with her rise in volume, a thrill building up her confidence.

“Don’t you see? Giving us the power of order to try and balance out Discord won’t do anything, because it’s Discord that needs to pass off his power!”

Cadance cocked her head to the side. “Twilight, are you suggesting…that Discord should choose a successor instead?”

“Why not? If he gave away his power, the being he bequeathed it to would be a mortal born of this plane, made to be here the same as Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. It’s his direct influence and his power’s over-powering physical presence that’s causing all of the chaos to spread and run amok. But if some pony were to take it on - become the new chaos being - it would balance them out,” Twilight was surprising herself with her own brilliance, ecstatic that she had thought of it, and almost annoyed that she hadn’t thought of it sooner.

“Yes,” she breathed, almost laughing. “That would fix everything…” If some pony else had the power, if the chaos magic was filtered into some pony from this plane and he no longer was the sole possessor of it… maybe that meant he could stay here without harming anyone unintentionally.

No, not just some pony… her. It had to be her. Her stomach dropped and a near shudder of anxiety at that mere thought overcame her as she came to the conclusion. 

“Me,” she said quietly, trying not to notice Cadance staring at her with that same strange reading gaze she’d taken to giving Twilight every so often. “It should be me. I mean, it’s the only thing that makes sense. I already have some of Discord’s power inside me and I survived. What’s more, I could control it and wield it.” She steeled her nerve to look back up ad Cadance, trying to look only determined and not scared or even excited by the prospect.

“Twilight…” Cadance began after a few more moments of her confident stare meeting with Cady’s searching one. “I can see that you  feel very strongly about this, but… still is it a good idea?”

“Of course it is,” Twilight said. “It’s the best possible solution. I can do it. You know I can.”

“I don’t doubt your ability, Twily,” she said, now growing sadder to blend with the concern. “I just think this decision might be based on… something else along with your logical conclusion.”

This faltered her determined focus. “What--- what do you mean Cadance?” she asked. 

Cadance gave a humorless, sad sort of laugh. It was almost pitying,like something she remembered Discord doing before. Like she didn’t know what she was saying. But Twilight did.

“Twily, I do think this is the idea we’ve been trying to find, and it’s certainly not something Celestia or Luna would have thought of. I think only you could have, just as only you could probably be strong enough to take on such chaotic power.”

The unicorn was waiting for Cady to add that ‘but’ she could tell was on its way.

“But - and you know you can be completely honest with me - you seem awfully desperate to believe that this is the solution. Is that because if you are right and Discord is the problem, that he would have to leave? Are you wanting to take this on because you don’t want him to go?”

She wanted her to be honest, how could Twilight do that when she wasn’t even totally honest with herself? Especially not about that. She was just beginning to allow herself to accept what she might have been feeling for Discord, not wanting to admit to herself what he did to her just by being so close to her, just by being his own frustratingly extraordinary self. Twilight had trouble admitting it to herself what it did to her to think about the rest of her life without his crazy interruptions, without hearing his smooth, overly confident voice.

She’d barely even admitted it to him, how much could she say to Cadance?

Apparently, she didn’t need to. Perhaps it was her special talent of being the ‘love pony’, but she seemed to be able to sense just what Twilight was feeling, what was going through her mind as the young princess had posed the question.

“I see,” was what Cadance said after a moment, her small sad smile blooming a bit more. “So you really do love him. I’d assumed as much you know. Back when we talked in the Crystal library about him. I’d wanted to ask then, but I couldn’t be sure because you left so quickly, and that aura didn’t come back. But I only saw it when you spoke about him.”

Cadance blinked again, shaking her head and shifting her weight again awkwardly. “It took me some time to try and understand, to try and wrap my mind around it and accept it, but I believe in love and all its forms. This is where your heart lies, and I’m happy you have finally discovered it. But… are you willing to do this for him? This is something very major. I’d actually thought you would be better suited for Order based on your feelings for Discord. You two would work as a team possibly better than he did with Harmony, and certainly better than he’s been doing with her daughters.”

“I’d  have to consult with him,” Twilight concurred. “But yes, honestly I want to do everything I can to get him to be able to stay. I want him to be happy, and all he’s ever wanted was to be able to stay here with us… me, with me,” Twilight fumbled with that last part. As much of her own feelings she was sorting out, the idea of his possible feelings for her were another thing entirely. She had always wanted fairness for all beings living here, even the ones that didn’t seem like they belonged. The ones that the rest of Equus counted out. They had a point, but if the threat to them was neutralized permanently they would have no more need to fear him, or hate him.

And every pony knew her, they all trusted and liked her. If she were the new chaos being, they wouldn’t hate her. She could get them to understand the importance of balance even without the Statera Equus,

The only ones that could possibly stand in the way of this brilliant plan were the princesses, and Discord himself.

“If you do do this Twilight, if you really want to take this on... then I want to help you,” Cadance said, her smile becoming more genuine. Twilight came closer for a hug.

“Oh Cady,” she squeezed her sister-in-law.

Cadance released her, and then looked her square in the face, all seriousness as she adopted Twilight’s determination. “If you take on chaos, I’ll take order. We’ll be partners. I don’t want you to have to face this new experience alone.”

Twilight couldn’t help herself from bringing her sister in for another hug. “Thank you,” she whispered closely to Cadance’s ear. 

“If you could maybe explain what we’re deciding to do to the princesses, I’d really appreciate it,” she said after they broke the second hug. “I’ll explain to Discord.”

“I think you’re giving me the suicide mission here,” Cady joked. “I think you should also be more open with him about the way you feel.”

Twilight scoffed, but nervously. “I’m not even sure how I feel. I don’t know how this happened. I never set out to feel this way for him. He was always such a puzzle, he scared
Me at first… I wasn’t ever supposed to even feel like I could sympathize with him, let alone---” she paused, overwhelmed again by just the idea of him and her. It was something unpredictable. But then, she couldn’t plan for much of anything in her life since he came along.

“Love isn’t always so direct,” Cadance explained with a much more knowing tone. “It’s not always that 'flash-bam' at first sight. Sometimes it sneaks up on you when you least expect it. It creeps into your heart slowly moment by moment. They grow on you until they become an intrinsic part of your life, until you just can’t live without them. Then one day you wake up and that’s when the 'bam' happens. That’s when you realize what these feelings mean. It’s something beautiful, Twilight. Love is hope. It fuels our dreams. It makes us believe the best in every pony, and that’s all forms of love. Love is the only thing stronger than any other force. it’s something even the spirits of balance are powerless against… obviously.” her fairly serious speech was lightened by a wink at the last word. 

Twilight wasn’t certain about that, but she assumed that it might make things easier - or less exceptionally charged - between them if she did voice her feelings for him. A kiss was one thing, but actually saying the words...How exactly to word it, she had no clue. 

The real challenge was going to be admitting it to every pony else, and most importantly, herself. 

Discord had grown on her like Cadance said. He had worked his way into her heart, and she was always thrilled to see him, hear his voice. His close presence to her was no longer as annoying as it had been, it made her breath catch and her heart hammer even when she knew she wasn’t afraid of him anymore.

He was so ridiculous, or profoundly unpredictable and still pretty full of himself. But she wanted him to stay because she loved that about him. Because she … loved him. She didn’t want to say it out loud though, not just yet.