//------------------------------//
// Seriously? 
// Story: Equis: Interlude 
// by Tatsurou 
//------------------------------//

	Sapphire awoke from hibernation cycles to discover something serious was off.  The Queen was not there.

She was not the only one to realize this terrible event.  Every critter large and small in the cottage was in an uproar over this.  The Queen was not in her proper place, and this was a great wrong.

What was worse, from Sapphire's perspective, was that Rainbow Dash was there, not quite herself, and trying to use the Queen's voice!  Sapphire felt Rainbow Dash trying to connect to her and, much like the other critters, violently rejected the mental contact.  As the blue faded from her body to be replaced by angry red, Sapphire knew there was only one way to appropriately respond.

"Not the Mama!" she skreed angrily, and charged, teeth bared.





Twilight woke for the first time in a long time with a smile on her face.  The sun was shining, the weather was clear, and the shadows that had haunted her nightmares were finally laid to rest.  On her desk was the letter she'd received the other day from Cadence and Shining Armor.  Apparently, next time she visited the Crystal Empire would be for the Equestria Games.  Apparently, the Empire had shown such great patriotic spirit - even amidst repairing its own damages from the war, groups of Crystal Ponies had volunteered in other, worse off cities to help rebuild - that the Games Commission had selected the Crystal Empire to host the games.  Having such a big event after the Empire had been gone for so long was a huge boost for the Crystal Ponies' morale, and Twilight knew that would be good for Shining and Cadence.

On top of that, there were so many good things going for Twilight in Ponyville.  There was Sapphire, who was fascinating to study and enjoyable to be around.  Watching her play with Spike and the Crusaders had made her laugh, especially when they had played 'Pin the Tail on the Pony' and Sapphire had failed - or refused - to understand the concept of a drawing.  Watching the little jelly floating along in pursuit of the crusaders with the fake tail clutched in her teeth - with Spike trying to catch her before she caught the Crusaders - had been hilarious.

And then there was Discord, who had taken to reading her Friendship Reports for better insight into Friendship, while also asking her questions about it.  He always made sure the environment around them at those times was suitably chaotic to be engaging, while also ensuring to put everything back when he was done.  Her favorite time was when he had transported them into Braythoven's study as he composed, but they were both mouse sized.  She hadn't known that Braythoven had owned a pet cat...though she was pretty sure the rest of what happened had been Discord's doing, and not an actual part of history.  It was still fun, though.

And then last night Celestia had sent her one of Starswirl's last tomes, which included a spell that Starswirl himself had failed to complete, and that Celestia was confident Twilight could.  Good friends, faded nightmares, good news, and a great challenge?  Everything seemed so wonderful.

So wonderful, in fact, that Twilight went to throw her window open, deciding to sing about it.  "Morning in Ponyville shimmers!" she sang out.  Heading downstairs, she decided to share her joy with Spike, uncovering him as she sang out, "Morning in Ponyville shines!"

She was rather unsurprised when he sat up startled, smiled at her, rolled his eyes, and curled back up to sleep some more.

"And I know for absolute certain!" she sang as she stepped out the front door.  "That everything is certainly f-UCK!"

Her singing was interrupted on the last word because she had been run over by a familiar prismatic pegasus, flattened to the ground as she charged off screaming.  Growling, Twilight got back to her hooves.  So much for my good mood, she grumbled.  She hoped her interrupted musical didn't lead to all of Ponyville distrusting beautiful days.  "Rainbow Dash!" she snapped out angrily.  "Watch where you're...the fuck?"

Her use of a curse word she'd picked up from Samus rapidly became apparent.  Rainbow Dash was racing around Ponyville like a headless chicken, a glowing red Sapphire latched onto her head, and Fluttershy's Cutie Mark on her flank.  Rainbow Dash was screaming her head off, and Sapphire was skreeing angrily, squeezing her teeth together without breaking the skin to emphasize each skree.

As strange as it looked, it was a pity Twilight couldn't understand either of them.

"GETITOFFGETITOFFGETITOFFGETITOFFGETITOFFGETITOFFGETITOFFGETITOFFGETITOFFGETITOFFGETITOFFGETITOFFGETITOFFGETITOFF-"

"Not the Mama!  Not the Mama!  Not the Mama!"

Twilight stared at the absurdity before her for a time, then came to what felt like a logical conclusion.  "Discord?"

A flash of light beside her heralded his arrival.  "Yes, Twilight?" he asked.  "What can I-"  He gasped as he saw the scene before him.  "Why Twilight, you did all this for me?  And it's not even my birthday!"  Reaching down, he pinched her cheeks.  "I knew we were friends, but I didn't know we were at the 'gifts for no reason' stage!  And I didn't get you anything..."

Twilight stared at him for a time.  "W...what do you mean, I did this?"

"Well, it's definitely your magic at work-"  Discord froze.  When he thawed, he was smirking.  "Another accidental magic flare?  I thought you'd outgrown that!"  His voice took on a teasing tone.  "Then again, with everything that's happened to you recently, a few childish relapses aren't totally out of the question.  How're your sheets?"

The stink eye she gave him in return only made him cackle and roll his eyes.  "Do you think you could help me figure out how I did this?" she demanded.  "Or perhaps fix it?"

"Can't fix it," Discord replied.  "It has something to do with the Elements - I can feel their magic at work here, too - and I can't undo magic they've worked.  That's how they were able to bind me in stone in the first place."

"The Elements?" Twilight asked in shock, dashing back into the library.

Discord merely smirked, sitting back in the air with a bucketful of popcorn.  This was going to be fun to watch.





Two hours and a musical number about friendship later, Twilight completed Starswirl's spell, only to vanish in an explosion of light caused by the Elements.  The only thing left behind was a burn mark on the floor in the shape of her Cutie Mark.

Discord, floating nearby, knew Celestia would want what was to come of this to be a surprise for Twilight's friends.  It was the way she worked.  However, with the way several of them were starting to hyperventilate or otherwise express hysterical behavior - hysterical behavior that was out of character for them, as Rarity wasn't being overly dramatic, Rainbow was huddling, and Fluttershy had just slumped unmoving - he realized the scent of scorched wood and the sight of an explosion had triggered something unpleasant, and warped them all outside.  "It's alright," he told them.  "I guarantee you that Twilight is...not dead."  He would have said 'just fine', but he knew what was going on...and he wasn't entirely certain, all things considered, how well Twilight would take it.

"Where's Twilight?" Spike whined, curled up in a fetal position and crying.  "W-where's Twilight?"

"She's with Celestia right now," Discord replied.  "I imagine, all things considered, they've got quite a bit to talk - or sing - about."

Everyone started to calm down a bit.  "Then...then she's okay?" Rainbow asked worriedly.

"...physically," Discord replied carefully.  Seeing everyone's worried looks, he raised his mismatched paws.  "Nothing to worry about, really.  Just...you're all in for a bit of a shock, and you know how delicate Twilight's been lately...emotionally, that is."

The others let out sighs of relief.  "Then we'll just have to make sure to have a 'Congratulations on Your Totally Unexpected Life Changing Event that makes Perfect Sense in Hindsight' party!" Pinkie shouted out.  "That's sure to make her feel better!"

Discord chuckled, amused at how much Pinkie seemed to know sometimes.  "Just leave off the last six words," he pointed out.  "No need to make her get existential just yet."





Several hours later, just as the sun set, Twilight made her return...as an Alicorn Princess.  All of her friends looked at her in amazement and bowed.  After a moments thought, everyone except Pinkie and Discord glanced towards Pinkie and began to chuckle knowingly.

"What?" Twilight asked, confused.  When those laughs merely increased, she frowned.  "What?"





A few days later, Twilight and her friends were relaxing in Discord's chaotic home dimension, enjoying a bit of tea and cookies in his little house on the event horizon.  As Twilight sipped her tea, she kept glancing at her wings.

"What's bothering you?" Discord asked curiously.

"It's just...I'm worried about how this has...changed me," she replied.  "I mean...I'm an alicorn.  I'm a Princess!  Am I...am I still me?"

To her surprise, Sapphire latched onto her back, draining a little bit of her energy.  She then let off a skree that set Fluttershy to giggling.

"What's the joke?" Pinkie demanded.  "What's the joke?"

Fluttershy smiled at Twilight.  "Sapphire says you don't taste any different!"

As all the stress that the group had lived with for so long had built up, it all came flooding out in hysterical giggles at that simple statement.  Sapphire skreed happily as she hovered around the group, pleased that all was well.