Learning Is Magic

by Lucky Penny

Lesson 5- Barriers

It took Twilight a moment to adjust to the new peculiar landscape that surrounded her. The ground looked like a massive chess board covered with giant black and white square checkered tiles. There was nothing else that seemed to exist in this bizarre land except a few small withered trees. Even the sky looked unnatural which was somehow darkened but with no storm clouds to be found, Twilight could still hear the faint rumblings of thunder in the distance. She realized that Discord was nowhere to be found either, yet there was nothing around that could keep him hidden in plain sight.

"Alright my FAITHFUL student, now you truly ARE all alone!" said Discord's voice which ominously echoed throughout the air, "Your friends are gone and possibly in danger, your beloved princess Celestia isn't around to help, and you are in an unfamiliar land. So tell me, my little pony, what will you DO?..."

There was a crack of lightning that engulfed the sky and another loud BOOM of thunder which startled Twilight.
She searched frantically for Discord or for some way to escape this trap. As she started backing away slowly, a giant white bishop piece crashed from behind, just nearly missing hitting her. She let out a frightful yelp as she began galloping away as quickly as she could- But without warning, even more giant chess pieces continued to rain down from the sky! Twilight continued to dodge and duck as they fell and blocked her path. She had no idea where or what direction to run to and so was not paying any attention when a large white pawn had just landed in front of her: ...Twilight barely managed to stop herself from crashing into it and skidded on the smooth black and white floor tiles violently to a halt.

"You see Twilight," said Discord's voice, "It is not I who is stuck playing around in this foolish game- It is YOU. Always stubbornly and naively following all these rules; presented by those who wield more power than you. Being told what you can and can't do. Never wanting or thinking beyond the game board."

Another white pawn suddenly appeared from behind Twilight with a loud crash. Rapidly it came sliding across the game board and pushed her up rudely against its partner; trapping her in tightly pinned between the two pieces. Discord cackled to himself enjoying her struggle. "Such a good little pawn you are!" he chided, "CHECK!"

Twilight was able to squeeze out from between them as she began to fly away from the vicious continuing rain of attacking chess pieces. However, still inexperienced and new to flying, she was only able to just barely hover a few meters off the ground. She tried to ascend higher, but it was difficult for her already, and now with the preoccupation of having to avoid gigantic chess pieces from knocking her down out of the sky, every which way she turned there was always another obstacle in line of her path.

"Still running away from your problems, eh Twilight?" mocked Discord.

"I'm not running away from anything!" she panted.

"Well I'm certainly not seeing any magic," the voice wickedly scoffed when a large black knight crashed directly in front of her. "CHECK AGAIN!" he gleefully cheered.

For once in agreement with Discord's remarks, Twilight's brow furrowed as she landed back on the ground. She kneeled forward and began to concentrate: Her eyes glowed radiant as a beam of white energy shot straight up at the black knight- There was a loud echoing clatter as it crumbled apart instantly into dust. Taking courage, she then began zapping chess pieces left and right all about her with her horn. But with every piece that was disintegrated, another simply fell from the sky. Twilight backed away and silently gasped in horror. She felt on the verge of crying, but refused to allow Discord to see her look weak. The trial really seemed impossible now...there were only even more of them! The tall chess pieces circled around her threateningly...another earthshaking bishop fell loudly in the distance.

"Tick tock my dear, tick tock! Time is running out," Discord's voice drawled. "Ughhh! I'm getting so weary of this!-"

"AIEEK!" shrieked Twilight in alarm as another knight piece slid out of nowhere and bashed her harshly to the left.

"Mmmmmmmmm on second thought actually, no. I am not weary of this at all. This is HILARIOUS! AHA HA HA!! HA HA! OOH LOOK HERE COMES ANOTHER ONE! HA HA-" Twilight staggered dizzily as she got back up to her feet, but another white pawn from above nearly crushed her and it took all her strength to hurl herself out of harm's way-

"DISCORD!!" Twilight shouted hysterically. "You are not acting like a teacher! You're just behaving like a bully! Celestia did not want this at all! Stop it!"

"AHAHAHA! I've never had so much fun in my life! I COULD PLAY THIS GAME FOREVER! AHA HA HAAA!" Bellowing laughter ricocheted over the land as lightning filled up the air. Twilight's mane hanged down in front of her eyes as her ragged breath raced in and out of her lungs. She was becoming more and more exhausted with every attempt in stopping or fleeing the chess pieces before becoming squashed. All she could think about were her friends...Twilight recalled their terrified faces that she had seen in the bubble, and began imagining all of the worst horrors they must be suffering through there. Panting, Twilight sat roughly on top of the cold ground to catch her breath- Distracted by her stressed thoughts, she failed to take notice that all of the black chess squares now had vanished under her feet. Twilight cried out as she nearly tumbled down into the chasm beneath her but quickly managed to correct her balance, and pulled herself together.

"Hey! THAT IS NOT FAIR Discord!" she snapped up at the empty sky above. "Now you're cheating!"

"Me? CHEAT? Whatever did you expect! How very observant of you," he said as a black queen the size of a Canterlot tower fell just in front of her. Twilight managed to jump out of the way just in time to the next white square before it landed on top of her.
She continued leaping from white square to white square in order to escape being crushed by the giant chess pieces. Discord cackled-

"You cannot tell magic that it's 'cheating'! Once you finally learn to jump over the boundaries, you will truly understand what it takes to control magic!"

Twilight's luck was just about to run out as she was about to leap over to the next square when a black king had appeared in right front of her face. It was by far the biggest piece of them all.The rumble its landing caused forced Twilight to skid across the entire tile and she was now just desperately gripping onto the corner of the white ledge for dear life above an abyss. She felt herself slipping and knew deep in her heart that she had failed not only herself, but all her friends as well...

"I'm so sorry," she thought mournfully out loud.

***

Spike and the young mares found themselves surrounded by a great darkness. It was so dark that they were unable to see their own muzzles. Nopony had any idea where they were or how to get out and so they began to panic. Calling out each others names in the hopes of re-grouping themselves, their voices kept shooting out from the darkness, but nopony could determine in what direction they came from. It was seemingly impossible...

"Rarity!" Spike cried out from the dark.

"Spike?" answered Rarity.

"MARCO!" called out Pinkie Pie with a slight giggle.

"Pinkie Pie!" said Spike, "This is not the time for that!"

"Sorry...," she said in a more serious tone. Meanwhile Applejack attempted to follow the direction of their voices-

"Is everypony alright?" Spike attempted to do the same as blindly he searched for her-

"I think so...Where are we anyway?"

"I'm not sure, it's far too dark to tell!" whined Rarity as she clumsily tripped over herself.

"This isn't just your run of the mill darkness Rarity, oh no. This is darker than dark! It's so dark that the darkness is darker than the darkest of darkness that's the darkest of dark that ever darkened the dark-"

"PINKIE PIE!" shouted everypony agitated by her rants.

"Well it is!" she defended. They all sighed unamused. Spike was now sitting down, tired from standing for so long as his spirits were beginning to fade.

"Wait a minute, Rarity, can't you use your horn to light up this place?" thought Spike cleverly.

"Oh my! Why how embarrassing, of course!"

But when she tried to light her horn it barely made a spark. She tried again and again but her magic was just not as powerful as Twilight's. Her horn was only able to provide the faintest blue glow, which was no better than if she had lit a small candle in a cave. Pretty soon, it flickered out.

"It's just too dark Spike. My magic here just isn't that strong ...I'm sorry," she whimpered.

Spike sighed disappointed but thanked Rarity for the effort in trying as he started to think of other ways they could maybe get out of this situation.

"Now do you see what kind of FRIEND Discord really is, Fluttershy?!" chastised Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy stuttered over her own words, unable to respond to her question. Rainbow Dash continued to scold Fluttershy's naivety and said,

"Look at what he has done, which you can't 'cuz it's too dark to tell where we even are! We have no idea where Twilight is and for that matter, if she's even safe."

"But Discord-"

"Hasn't changed a bit and he NEVER WILL! It's about time you woke up and see the horrid creature for what he truly is! You couldn't reform him Fluttershy- he tricked you and made you believe he wanted you as a friend, YOU FAILED!"

Rainbow Dash expected her to defend Discord's behavior but was rather surprised when Fluttershy remained silent. She was relieved for once to be surrounded in darkness, for she would only have felt more shame had Rainbow Dash and the others seen her cry. Fluttershy knew she failed after all her hard work and pride in reforming Discord. She truly thought he was her friend and felt so humiliated that she had put so much trust into their friendship only to be betrayed. Rainbow Dash now felt a bit guilty for taking her anger out on her friend. She realized that Fluttershy was only following orders from Princess Celestia and so understood that their circumstance was hardly her fault...

"Listen-...Fluttershy... I'm sorry. I know you really did try your best, but let's face it...there are...just some ponies out there you just can't change. No matter how much kindness and compassion you give, they will just take advantage of you. Not everypony can be as understanding and good like you, and Discord...is just going to be Discord."

"Yeah Fluttershy," agreed Pinkie Pie, "It's not your fault that Discord is a big ole' meanie-neenie-pants!"

"Darling you did everything you could to help him. You did more than what anypony expected and hoped for," said Rarity.

Fluttershy didn't say anything. Though she appreciated her friends' attempts at comfort, she still could not move past her feelings of embarrassment. Fluttershy just could not bear to believe that Discord really hadn't reformed at all and was just toying with her kind nature.

"Moping will do nopony good now," said Applejack taking charge, "What we need to do right now is find a way out of here and rescue Twilight!"

"In case you haven't noticed, AJ, how in Equestria are we supposed to find an exit out of here when we can't even see our own hooves!" snapped Rainbow Dash.

"There's gotta be a'way out Rainbow, and besides I'm not just gonna sit around in this here darkness. Twilight needs us, and I ain't gonna let Discord's tricks stop me!"

Spike and the other ponies cheered for Applejack, and it seemed their spirits were lifted. They spread out and searched through the darkness, occasionally bumping and tripping over each other. But as time passed, the ponies became tired and their hopes were beginning to fade once again. Deciding that their efforts were useless they gloomily sat down on the cold floor. Rainbow Dash let out a heavy sigh and said,

"Now what?"

"I'm not sure...," said Applejack faintly.

"Well that's just swell," grumbled Rainbow Dash, "So is that it? Are we...giving up?" she said choking on her words.

Nopony said anything as they sat in a long silence unable to admit that Discord had won and they were at his mercy. Thoughts that they may be trapped in this eternal darkness forever they could not bear to accept. All anypony could think about was Twilight and how if she were in this predicament, she would have thought of a way out by now. Or at the very least if Twilight was with them, she would have at least kept their morale up. But it seemed they were hopelessly trapped and their active imaginations, filled with all the horrible things that Twilight must be enduring through, didn't help either.

"There must be something we can do...," murmured Spike. He thought of all the times Twilight was there for him, and now at a time when she probably needed him most, he could not help her. After all, she had took him when no other pony would. Taking care of and raising a baby dragon was something once considered irresponsible and dangerous. But Twilight didn't hesitate to take on such a responsibility, and she was the closest thing to what having a mother must be like. Spike held back his tears for he could not imagine never seeing Twilight again.

"There's nothing we can do...," said Fluttershy somberly.

Her words shook Spike's senses as he suddenly realized that there was one thing that they could do. He stood up with determination in his heart and said,

"No, there IS something we can do."

"And what's that?" said Rainbow Dash unconvinced.

"We can think of all the good things Twilight has done and all the times she made us smile."

"Um... no offense Spike, but what exactly would that do?" said Applejack skeptically.

"Probably nothing, but it's better than just sitting here gloomily. I just thought...," he started slightly embarrassed, "that maybe if we just thought of our good memories together, she'll be able to somehow hear us, if we all thought really hard. I mean, our memories of each other helped defeat Discord's evil last time..."

"So let me get this straight," said Pinkie Pie a bit confused, "You're saying that if we think really, really, really, really, reallyyyyy hard about Twilight, she could somehow feel our thinking, and that she would think that we were thinking of thinking of her, which we would be thinking of thinking of Twilight, and that would somehow help?"

"Pretty much," said Spike.

Rainbow Dash couldn't help but laugh at his ridiculous idea, as she rudely commented at how "lame" it was. Spike agreed it was a silly proposal, but what other choice did they have? Nopony could object to that.

"I suppose Spike is right," said Applejack, "All we can really do is hope that Twilight will succeed..."

"She will," said Spike confidently, "I know she can."

"Are you two for real?" exclaimed Rainbow Dash, "Spike, that's not just lame, but it's also impossible! There's no way Twilight can hear our thoughts, and even if she could, what good would that do?"

"I don't know... let her know that we are ok and that we believe in her?"

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and sneered at Spike, "Seriously?"

"Do you have any other more helpful or better ideas, Rainbow Dash!?" argued Spike which she bashfully could not.

They all pondered quietly for a moment as they tried to think of other solutions. But it seemed Spike was the only one who was able to come up with anything, and his idea was at least something to occupy their minds from this dreary setting.

"So...what exactly should we be thinking of?" asked Rarity.

"I guess just think of anything that reminds you of Twilight. Like the way she makes us laugh, how she always is able to see the positives in any problem, or like how smart she is..."

The others began to follow Spike's advice and so thought of all the wonderful memories of their friend; even Rainbow Dash who was reluctant at first, couldn't help but to become involved. Even though Spike's goal that Twilight could hear their thoughts seemed highly unlikely, they all deeply hoped it could be so...

***

As Twilight's grip began to slip from the corner of the square tile, thoughts of her friends emerged. It pained her to imagine what they must be suffering through and she wondered what would they do in a situation like this? Twilight tried pulling herself up but she could not grasp onto the ledge, and her wings were too tired to hold her up anymore. All she could think about was saving her friends and how if they were there beside her, they would help give her the strength she needed. It was then at that very moment Twilight realized something she hadn't before...

With a newfound energy, Twilight was finally able to pull herself up onto the square tile above. With a confident smile she was able to magically bring back the black checkered squares into place. Discord, surprised by her sudden power, had the large chess pieces encircle her. But with her magic Twilight was able to push back all the pieces created by Discord from the board completely. With a firm clop of her hoof, she looked up at the sky and said,

"You were right Discord. I was holding myself back because of my friends."

"I-I'm right?" he stammered with disbelief.

"Yes. This whole time all I have been doing was wishing my friends were here with me. I kept thinking how alone I was and that without my friends I am helpless. But that's just it...I am NOT alone."

"Come again?" questioned Discord's echo.

Twilight's smile glowed as did the rest of her face which beamed with sudden joy and hope-

"My friends may not be here physically, but I know in my heart that they are,(wherever they are), thinking of me. They believe that I can- that I WILL win this duel with you!"

Her horn glowed brightly, brighter than it ever had before."The Elements of Harmony aren't what give my magic strength, but it is the love and support of my friends that does!" she exclaimed.

Twilight charged across the middle of the chess board, and as she leapt off into the air, she managed to jump off the very boundaries of the game board entirely. She not only was able to escape the game, but also returned Discord and herself back to Canterlot. They stood back together in the gardens, everything was back to normal and lit up by sunshine. The illusion had shattered. Amazed and speechless, Discord looked around for he could not understand how Twilight was able to break his own magical barriers.

"Wha-what did you do?" he demanded.

"I did exactly what you told me I should be doing. I thought outside of the box: I left the game."

"You CAN'T DO that!"

Twilight with a smug smile said, "Yes I can. You said that in order for me to understand magic, I needed to start jumping over the boundaries that define it! That I needed to 'think outside the box', as you proclaimed."

Discord continued to stutter in disbelief as Twilight continued on to explain, "So that's exactly what I did. A chessboard is just a giant square, like any other. So I jumped off and out of the game board! You would not play by the rules, so I did not too. I quit the game."

Discord angrily growled, "NO, NO, NO! You can't quit! That's NOT how it was supposed to be done!" he said throwing a slight temper tantrum. "That's not fair! You cheated!"

"But if I recall from what you said earlier, you wanted me to disregard the rules of magic. Besides...you can't tell magic that it's cheating," she parroted.

"This proves nothing!" he argued.

"Yes it does! The power of friendship extends further than what you thought. No matter how far you may cast my friends away, their love from beyond will always give me the strength I need. CHECKMATE. YOU. LOSE!"

Though Discord was unhappy that Twilight spoiled his game by terminating it early, he couldn't help but be impressed by his new student. He smiled at Twilight, (which surprised her to see), and nodded approvingly.

"Well played Miss Sparkle. Well played indeed."

Twilight beamingly smiled, proud of herself for not just being able to outsmart Discord, but that she now knew her magic truly was powerful on its own.

"Alright Discord, you swore that you'd bring my friends back and let us go if I beat you."

"Hmph!" he said defiantly. But he was a creature of principle after all. "I suppose you are correct...," he said grudgingly.

He snapped his fingers which rather than returned her friends to the garden, instead had teleported them both back inside the castle where she found herself standing before a large door. Twilight had explored the castle many times before but this was the first time she ever took notice to this unfamiliar hallway.

"So? Where are we now? Where are my friends?"

Turning the knob on the large door, Discord effortlessly opened it as Spike, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy all fell collapsing on top of each other in a messy pile on the floor.

"Well it's about TIME you all decided to come out of the closet!" said Discord smirking.

"How-the-WHAT????" sputtered Spike confusedly as he looked around in disbelief.

"Are you kidding me?" snarled Rainbow Dash from underneath him, glaring up at Discord. "Are you just kidding?"

"You mean- we've only been locked inside some ol broom closet in the castle this whole time?" asked Applejack in awe. "How in tarnation did we not realize this!"

"Well now actually," interrupted Discord, "That's a pantry closet and it IS considerably large...Oh and that door was never locked."

The ponies looked at each other amazed, but also incredibly embarrassed.

"But we searched for a door!" exclaimed Rarity indignantly.

"Again- really LARGE closet," said Discord now eating a bag of potato chips.

Twilight was just relieved to see that her friends were safe. She couldn't help but grin knowing that there was never really was any danger threatening their lives. As she embraced her friends she said,

"I'm just so happy you all are ok!"

Nopony could disagree with that statement as the friends giggled joyfully. They were now back together and now knew that no matter the distance, their hearts would always be connected to each other. Discord continued to observe curiously but said nothing. Fluttershy glanced at Discord, and started to feel guilty for ever doubting his intentions and their friendship. With a smile she flew to him and hugged him as well. Discord bashful of this sudden kind gesture, pushed her away gently, (he had his reputation to think of after all.)But Fluttershy could tell that he was very grateful for her compassion and friendship. Though Discord still was bitter for losing at his own game, he was certainly proud of his student's achievement.

"Perhaps," he began to say sheepishly, "I...underestimated your ability...my pupil."

Twilight gaped for a moment stunned by Discord's humbleness, but managed a slight smile. She wanted to thank Discord for not harming her friends and to apologize for doubting his role as her teacher. But before she had the chance to speak, Princess Celestia appeared as she furiously bellowed,

"DISCORD!"

"Oh, hello there Celesti-poo! I say, aren't you supposed to be at some 'important' meeting thing or whatever?"

"I was until my guards had informed me of the chaos you have been creating on the castle grounds! A hydra!? Just what did you think you were doing?!" she lashed out.

Discord appeared from behind the princess while wrapping an arm around her. He playfully smiled at her as he pulled from thin air a contract and magnifying glass.

"I thought we had agreed that you would allow me to teach Twilight MY way."

"Yes, but I didn't expect for her and her friends' lives to be endangered! That was irresponsible and cruel of you!"

Discord rolled his eyes and said, "Oh please, their lives were hardly in any danger," he sneered, "I had the whole thing supervised and planned from the start! Besides, Twilight is MY student now, remember?"

Celestia stomped her hoof threateningly and glared straight into Discord's eyes, who was now feeling uncomfortable.

"I should have known better than to agree to your terms! I made a mistake to trust you...You are foolish and reckless and always have been! I have decided to cancel our agreement."

"What did you SAY?" he growled venomously.

"I will teach Twilight myself in advancing her magic. She needs a more acceptable rolemodel, unlike you!"

"And how praytell will you do that?" he said with a quiet murmur so that only Celestia could now hear him. "You CAN'T use magic-...or did you forget?"

"I'll figure that part out later, but Twilight more importantly right now needs an instructor who will teach in a safe environment; someone who will not endanger her or my citizens' life! She needs a magic tutor who exercises proper caution and safety and really knows what they're doing..."

Her words stung Discord. Celestia did not realize it, but her harsh words had brought back some unpleasant memories from the past...He looked at Twilight and then back at Celestia. He now was unable to think of a witty reply. Twilight who paid close attention to their argument hung her head as she approached the princess. She spoke gently and said,

"Princess Celestia wait-...If I may speak on behalf of Discord's defense?..."

Celestia and Discord were both surprised at Twilight. They looked at each other for a moment while Discord shrugged for he was just as amazed by Twilight's plea. Celestia nodded her head and permitted her to continue to speak:

"At first I'll admit, I was unhappy having Discord assigned to me as my teacher," started Twilight, "He mocked me constantly, pushed me to my limits, and made me believe my friends were truly in danger."

Discord grinned awkwardly wishing Twilight would just stop trying to help, for she was only making things worse by proving all the things Celestia already accused him of.

"-But he DID help me to understand magic in new a perspective I never had before: I learned magic can't just be simply achieved in just reading about it in books. That you cannot be coddled and always expect things to have an easy solution. Part of magic is in finding out how to actually deal with a struggle. But what's even more important, is that Discord helped me to understand my true abilities."

Princess Celestia still seemed unconvinced by Twilight's pleas, but she continued to listen and did not interrupt at any point.

"Discord said in order for me to become better at magic, I had to start to be more reliant on myself and my wits. I needed to think beyond the pages of my books and apply my imagination."

Discord couldn't hold back a smile as he comically blew his nose loudly into a handkerchief.

"If it wasn't for Discord, I wouldn't have learned how to do a new spell on my own!...If only I listened to him trying to tell me that the first place," she guiltily admitted. "I was stubborn and a bad student...Princess Celestia, I don't understand what is really going on beyond the fact that Equestria is in trouble, but if this is so, then it is my responsibility as princess to make sure that I can protect it."

"What is it that you are trying to propose?" questioned Celestia nervously.

"I need Discord to help me become stronger. I certainly can't ask of you to diverge your attention onto me when there are far more important things you need to be attending to. I need to be more independent...and that being said-"

Twilight mournfully approached her friends, unable to fully make eye contact with them.

"I ask that I may stay here in Canterlot, and to continue my studies under the guidance of Discord."

Her friends all gasped at once. They couldn't believe that Twilight was leaving them after everything Discord had done!

"Thank you all for visiting, it means a lot to me and I truly will miss you all very much," she said with a tear in her eye.

Her friends couldn't hold back their own tears as they embraced Twilight. Even though it pained them to let her go, they knew it was for the best and simply part of her destiny. As difficult as it was to leave Twilight, they all agreed that she would succeed and that no matter what they'd never hold her back. Twilight promised her friends she would train hard and be done quickly as possible.

"We are all so proud of you sugar cube," said Applejack tearfully. Her friends all agreed and assured her they would look after each other. They said their final goodbyes before they reluctantly released Twilight.

Discord meanwhile, had felt something inside himself that he hadn't felt in several centuries. He couldn't figure out how to describe this new emotion, but he had similarly felt it before when Fluttershy first called him her friend. It was a sort of nostalgic feeling which made him uncomfortable and confused...

"Wait!...um Twilight," Discord started to say as he awkwardly coughed. "I...I don't think Canterlot is a suitable learning environment!"

She and the others looked at him perplexedly as he continued to say with an idle wave, "Yes well... it's just- this ATOMOSPHERE! Yeah that's it, the air here is too polluted! It smells here and this castle is far too confining. It gives off bad mojo into the classroom!"

"What are you saying?" asked Twilight.

"I mean...I can't teach you in this sort of negative atmosphere! We'll just have to go some place else that's a more suitable learning environment!" He lied so that the others wouldn't suspect his change of heart, but it wasn't fooling anybody. Celestia smiled warmly at him as inwardly he cringed- "Like...oh I don't know Ponyville? (...hypothetically)".

Twilight grinned ecstatic by the news. "Do you really mean that Discord?"

"Sure! Why not? It's got...apples, and fresh air, and ponies and...more apples...It's better than this dump!"

Twilight ran up to hug and thank Discord as she and her friends cheered for her return. They laughed and gleefully chattered, so very happy that Discord had changed his mind.

"I do expect you to work hard, and be ready bright and early for tomorrow's lesson!" he proclaimed. He gave a leer down at her mischievously, "And believe me," he spat at her in a dark whisper, "from here on in, it's only going to get a lot, lot worse..."

Twilight nodded her head and smiled back coyly, promising she would certainly be prepared for anything he could throw. She and her friends galloped back home together excited that they would not be separated after all. Discord smiled to himself contented until he realized Celestia was now grinning from behind at him in the corner. He let out another embarrassed cough pretending to not be aware of his own emotions. Celestia continued to smile which made Discord uncomfortable.

"What," he asked grouchily, folding his arms.

"Nothing at all!" she said with a secretive smirk.

"Wait a tick...did you...GASP! You DID! You planned all this to happen didn't you??"

"I haven't the faintest of idea of what you speak of, Discord," she said with a wink.

"You DID! I should've known! ARGHHHH! YOU FIENDISH MONSTER!" he snorted. "I cannot believe I fell for that!"

Discord continued throwing a hissy fit while Celestia strutted past him and chuckled to herself, never to reveal the truth if she had really known all along or not he would have had a change of heart if Twilight defended him. Celestia folded out her wings as she walked out onto the balcony-

"I look forward to what you have planned next in your lessons to come Discord!" she said with one final mysterious wink, before taking off into the blue sun dappled sky.

Comments

[Zocarik]

It is not Rainbowdash. It is Rainbow Dash. It disrupted the flow of the story. Otherwise it is good.

[Lucky Penny]

3728951 Thank you. I have fixed this error in all my chapters. I appreciate your feedback and hope you'll stay tuned to the rest of this story as it emerges.