"AGH!" Twilight screamed in frustration, throwing another scroll into the growing pile in the corner.
"Why can't I figure this out?!" Twilight got to her hooves and frantically circled the little school room. "I've tried every spell I can think of! I've read every scroll in this room and examined every corner! There has to be a way out of here!" She stopped and blasted a spell at one of the walls, only for it to fizzle out and do nothing.
"Why isn't this working?!" Twilight shouted, stomping her hoof against the stone floor. She stood there with her teeth clenched, breathing in short hard bursts as she held her hoof pressed tightly against the stone floor. As if it were the only thing keeping her from losing the last of her control.
As Twilight stared at the floor under her hooves, she spotted something out of the corner of her eye. Slowly, Twilight was able to breathe again as all the fight left her body.
Stiffly, Twilight straightened up and walked over to the armchair, where she had thrown the doll in an earlier fit of frustration. Twilight scooped the doll up gently, cradling it in her hooves.
"There has to be a way out of here." Twilight said to the doll, stroking it's mane and straightening it's wings.
Twilight sighed. No matter how hard she tried, she could only think of one possibility for escaping this room. And it involved the Lord of Chaos.
"Discord..." Twilight said, resigned to working with the annoying creature in order to escape.
There was a puff of smoke and a dazzling flash of light as trumpets sounded in the stone room. "You rang?" Discord said to the dizzy, and now slightly deaf, unicorn.
Twilight shook her head to rid herself of the spots in her eyes. She decided to get right to the point. "You said you knew how to get out of here?" She asked Discord.
"Of course I know how to get out of this drab little room! Where do you think I've been going this whole time?" Discord asked, puffing out his chest and folding his arms.
Twilight sighed and waited for Discord to tell her how. And waited.
And waited.
"Well?" Twilight asked finally, when it became clear that Discord wasn't going to.
"Well, what?" Discord responded, smiling innocently.
"How do I get out of here?!" Twilight shouted in annoyance.
"Well, I could tell you..." Discord said as he floated in circles above her head."But there is that little issue of you turning me to stone as soon as you escape, not to mention the fact that you weren't very nice." Discord stopped in front of Twilight and pouted.
"Discord!" Twilight groaned. He waited with an expectant expression on his face.
"Fine!" Twilight said, "I'll ask the princess to CONSIDER not turning you back to stone if you help me get out of here."
"And?" Discord asked. "Apolo-" *cough* "-gy."
Twilight sighed.
"I'm sorry I wasn't very nice to you." Twilight said through gritted teeth.
"Excellent!" Discord sang as he scooped her up in a spine crushing hug. "I'm sooo glad we're friends again!"
"Air!" Twilight gasped, struggling against Discord's suffocating grip.
"Oh right, I'm dreadfully sorry about that, I always forget just how breakable you ponies are" Discord said as he dropped her on the floor, this time right side up.
"Being trapped in stone makes you forget about little things like breathing, you know?" He straightened up and with a snap of his claws a large military map appeared in the middle of the room, complete with little figures of himself and Twilight.
"We're here." Discord said, suddenly wearing a general's uniform and using a military pointer. "And the Canterlot castle is here." Pointing at the opposite corner of the map.
"Where is 'here', exactly?" Twilight asked, gesturing at the room around them.
"I was wondering when you were going to ask that." Discord smiled and poofed up the cartoon chalkboard and started doodling. "You see Twilight, you were right when you guessed that there would be difficulties in altering a transportation spell in the middle of being cast. Especially with out you noticing. You being the Element of Magic and all. So instead, I simply redirected your spell and tagged along for the ride."
"But why here? I don't even know this place. Wouldn't it have been easier to send me to some place I've at least been to before?" Twilight asked as she started to pace again, only to glare at Discord when he poofed her onto a stool and tied her down.
"I was getting to that." Discord said as his outfit changed from a military uniform into an old -fashioned librarian's outfit, complete with little glasses on a beaded chain on his face. "Now sit still and pay attention!"
Twilight grumbled, but said nothing.
"Now where was I?" Discord mused, rubbing his chin, to the increasing annoyance of a certain purple unicorn. "Ah yes, redirecting your spell. You see, Twilight, to redirect your spell I couldn't simply choose a new destination, no I needed a destination you had a connection to. One you were drawn to, you might say. You have been here before Twilight. This place is actually very important to you."
Twilight looked around in disbelief.
"Well not this room exactly, but this building anyway. This is where you unlocked the Elements of Harmony and became the Element of Magic."
Twilight's eyes widened with understanding as she saw where Discord was headed.
"We are in The Castle of The Two Sisters" Discord smiled and untied Twilight. "Not a very original name but ehh, what can you expect? It works I suppose."
"Wait." Twilight said holding up a hoof "Why did you even need to teleport me here anyway? What's wrong with where I was headed?"
"The Golden Oaks Library in Ponyville? The place you live? How long do you think you'd have before your friends found you? An hour? Two? A day max. I knew that you wanted some time to think, so I decided to give it to you. Just a small favor for a friend. You'd have done the same thing for me if I was upset and wanted some alone time."
Twilight looked at him in disbelief.
"Okay so maybe you wouldn't have today, but in time, when you realize just what a good friend I am, I'm sure you would have done the same thing. Because that's what friends do. They help each other."
"I still don't see why you had to teleport me behind my back or lock me in here!" Twilight said.
Discord smiled and draped a paw around Twilight's shoulders. "I didn't want you to worry. If I had revealed myself to you right away, you would have been conflicted, and probably have gone running straight back to Princess Celestia and your friends. Not to mention your brother. The very ponies you were trying to avoid. And then how would you have gotten anytime alone to think? Well, I suppose if she had banished you to the moon you would have plenty of time to think. But I didn't want it to come to that."
"What?!" Twilight yelled at the mention of banishment."Wh...Why would..."
"Oh don't worry, Twilight. I'm sure she wouldn't banish you to the moon or turn you to stone for a thousand years. After all, you're her faithful student, right?"
"Why would Princess Celestia banish me or turn me to stone for a thousand years?" Twilight asked, totally confused.
"Oh dear. Did you hit your head when you fell out of bed earlier? I knew I should have put railings on it..." Discord mumbled as he poofed up a doctors kit and shined a light on Twilight's head.
"Discord!"
"Oh right" With a snap of his claws the doctors kit disappeared and the chalkboard came back. "If you had gone back to Celestia with me in tow, don't you think she'll want to know how I got out in the first place?"
Twilight nodded, still confused.
"Sigh..." Discord face-palmed (he doesn't have hooves, at least, not front ones) "And then you'll have to tell her that it was you and your brother's drama that freed me. Or you could lie, but I don't think alicorn princesses are very easily fooled."
Discord put an arm around the now slightly panicked Twilight. "Plus, I'm sorry to say this, but you're a terrible liar. Honestly, you're worse than Applesmack and she's the Element of Honesty."
"Do you want your brother to be kicked out of the Royal Guards? The dream career he's worked his entire life for?"
"Huh?" Twilight asked, looking slightly more confused and panicked.
"Releasing a demon that Princess Celestia herself put in stone? Not just any demon, but the Lord of Chaos? That's got to be at least a felony, if not downright treason. Of course he is getting married to another alicorn princess... So maybe he'll just be demoted and not sent to Tartarus."
"Eep!" Twilight was now hyperventilating.
"All in all, he'll probably get off easy. And Celestia is rather fond of you. Or well, she was. I'm not sure about now with how she's been treating you lately. She might already know and that's why she's been distancing herself. Wouldn't be good press to be too connected with a criminal. Still, she's like a second mother to you right? After all, she's practically raised you in that school of hers. So maybe she'll just send you back to Magic Kindergarten. She is rather fond of turning full grown mares back into fillies. Wasn't Princess Luna a filly for a solid month after returning from the thousand year time-out Celestia put her in? Or was it longer? I can't remember, it's so hard to keep up with the current news when you're a garden statue."
"I used to wonder what friendship could be...
until you all shared it's magic with me..."
"Oh dear." Discord looked at the hysterical unicorn as Twilight rocked herself in a tiny ball, singing some song about friendship and magic. Gag.
'Great, now she's hysterical.' Discord thought to himself as he pondered how to fix this little set back.
"Thank you, Pinkie Pie" Princess Celestia said, after catching her breathe. "I think we can all agree that we needed a good laugh."
"Yes, thank you Pinkie." Princess Cadance said giving Pinkie Pie a hug.
"Aww, no problem!" Pinkie Pie said cheerfully as she gave Cadance one of her spine crushing hugs back (much to the alarm of Shining Armor) "Smiles are what I do best! And Parties! Smiles and Parties are what I do best! And Cupcakes! Smiles and Parties and Cupcakes are what I do best! And..."
"I think she gets it, sugarcube" Applejack interrupted as she and Rainbow Dash pried their friend off of the princess. Both Princess Cadance and Shining Armor sighed in relief.
"Speaking of cupcakes," Princess Celestia started as she walked back to her place at the table, "We were just about to have dessert. Would you care to join us?" She asked motioning to the empty chairs at the table as the palace staff set six new place settings. The chef (who had entered while everypony was laughing on the floor) served everypony red velvet cupcakes.
"And don't think I've forgotten about you, Spike." Princess Celestia added as she noticed his glum face, "I've had the palace chefs make something extra special for you."
Spike beamed as a tray was levitated in front of him. He lifted the lid and promptly started drooling. In front of him was an emerald- ruby cupcake with saphire frosting. Even though everypony had just filled up on donuts a half hour ago, they all dug into their desserts with gusto.
"After all." Rarity explained, "One simply cannot decline the Princess of Equestria's hospitality."
"Uh huh." Applejack raised an eyebrow. Nopony was fooled by Rarity's act. They all knew that Rarity rivaled Princess Celestia in her sweet tooth and red velvet cupcakes were her favorite.
Rarity blushed and they all enjoyed a good laugh. She glared at them for a moment and then joined in, not being able to help being swept into the good cheer.