• Published 14th Mar 2012
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Learning ABCs - Adorable, Bothersome, Chaotic - Isopod



Twilight unwillingly starts seeing something more that just chaos in a certain Draconequus.

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6) Dreams of Loyalty

The whole day went by in excitement and chocolate. Fairly literally.

Discord spent much of the day making Twilight and Spike drink his famous chocolate milk, even after they drank enough to be ozzing it through their ears; while he kept simply summoning it all the time, he also kept saying it was made by "his own, original recipe" he had learned a couple decades back in a faraway land. The unicorn was laughing it off merely to tease the Spirit a little bit but she had to admit it had a unique taste and thought back to Pinkie Pie's reaction to the chocolate rain with a new sort of understanding.

As if that weren't enough, he then decided he was in charge of making lunch. And by making, he meant summoning a bunch of the oddest foods one could find, including the pizza tasting candy and candy covered pizza. The mere sight of the strange food seemed to have given him a certain sort of glow and Twilight couldn't help smiling at the expressions he made.

Naturally, the Spirit didn't spend his time summoning the food only. Apparently Celestia's gem gave him back his tranporting ability, though only on short distances - that didn't stop him from giving a scare to approximately half of the Ponyville population, popping out in strangest of places.

Discord also found out he could ever so slightly change the laws of nature - something that couldn't be avoided, his powers originally being primarily directed to chaotic deeds. Able to speed up the growth of plants, as well as make them wither, shapeshift into a few smaller animals and, on everyponys' unfortune, mess with the weather to a certain degree, he seemed to have a time of his life - and those were only the things Twilight witnessed or had heard about from a couple of distressed citizens of Ponyville. The Spirit spent the entire afternoon wandering in the vicinity of the Everfree forest, trying out his powers on whatever he could find in any way he could think of.

If she didn't know better, Twilight would have thought he was using magic for the first time; he was that excited.

It was pretty late when the Spirit came back to the library; it seemed he had spent some quality time with Pinkie Pie because she entered the library along with him for a few minutes to say good night to Twilight, nearly proceeded into telling her a full fledged story of their evening, just how awesome of a time she had with Discord and thanking him for what was probably a gazillionth time for the cotton candied, chocolate raining cloud he seemed to have made for her. The scene of the two bidding each other bye, promising to have fun again sometime and the practically blossoming friendship between the two brought a delighted smile to Twilight's face.

As she was wrapping up her daily research of the circulation of cloud in the Ponyville sky, the purple pony noticed with Discord was about as sleepy from fun as she was with her work, his eyes half closed yet a content smile on his mismatched face, comfortably nested into her favorite sofa and sipping on a glass of orange juice. It was strange seeing him acting so regularly, so much like a... well, like a pony.

Before she managed to vocalize that, he contently announced: "I don't think I ever had a better day in my thousands of years long life."

She frowned in disbelief. "I thought you had everything you wanted back when you ruled Equestria; before Celestia's rule."

"It was indeed quite a prosperous era for me." The Spirit admitted. "But I guess one does not know what they have until they lose it. And the feeling of gaining it back... there are no words to describe it."

Such a comment left Twilight stunned. "Wow. That's pretty... um... I don't know what to say."

"What?" The Spirit's eyebrow arched as he gave the unicorn a questionable look. It was kind of funny that he didn't understand.

"Well... it is not like you to be, um... grateful, I guess?"

Discord got lost in his thoughts as he digested the comment before deciding to frown upon it.

"Grateful, me? I am simply happy to have my powers back, I owe no gratitude to anyone." He replied snobbishly, standing tall and proud in his sofa and looking just as silly as he sipped on his juice again.

Twilight laughed. "As you say."

"I am serious."

"Fine, you are serious."

"I am."

"I heard you the first two times."

The Spirit was nearly upset by now. Apparently, he cared a lot about other ponies' opinion. It was odd to see someone so desperately wanting to be terrifying, mean and evil in other ponies' eyes, though Discord didn't have to work hard for that - while she did get used to him, he was still dangerous if not watched after and she knew that she still had a long way to go if she wanted to show him just what is so attractive about not turning houses upside down.

Then again... it only slightly reminded her of Rainbow Dash, who always wanted to be looked upon as tough, strong and cool, to be looked upon as an idol rather than a regular pony and was yet still not more dazzling nor special in any other way than her ability to outfly half the Equestria. As accomplishing as it was, Twilight figured, she was still just Rainbow Dash.

She hadn't expected to be able to say the same for Discord any time soon and yet, here he was. Just being Discord and not causing half the Equestria to worry because of it.

"You'd get along with Rainbow Dash." Twilight said out loud to no one in particular but herself. The words. however, caused quite a reaction, as the draconequus started giggling uncontrollably.

"Just how in the Equestria am I like your rainbow maned friend? Well, apart from leaving allies alone in times of trouble..."

"Well, you both like to be thought of as something specific, an image you created for yourself," Twilight started off, ignoring the jab at her friend, "you don't like the idea of someone thinking of you differently than from what you think you are. Not to mention Rainbow Dash is also pretty prone to making bits of trouble every once in a while. Also, despite preferring to think of yourselves as grandiose, you're both pretty humble when you get that out of your head."

Discord eyed her suspiciously.

"I am not grateful."

"...Definitely like Rainbow Dash. That reminds me of that time she refused to admit she loved the book I loaned her." Twilight laughed, much on the chagrin of the mismatched Spirit. She paid for her insolence by getting a huge shower of bubbles upon her and her book.

"The book! No! No!" The pony gasped in terror and used a spell instantly to create a heat wave that burst the bubbles in a second. She dully noticed the book was still wet sprinkled with the remains of now gone bubbles. The perfectionist unicorn wasn't happy. Discord raised his arms defensively when she glared at him.

"You asked for it."

Twilight mumbled something that sounded an awful lot like "the book didn't" and put the injured thing back in its place on the shelf after drying it out as best as she could. The view of her well-organized library reminded her of a warning she was supposed to give him.

"Oh Discord, one more thing now that I know you'll mess with whatever you can with your powers: if you ever, ever decide to mess with my books, I promise you that not only will you lose your magical powers but you'll probably lose your physical powers for quite some time as well. Think that through." Twilight said sweetly, a bookishly protective look in her dazzling eyes.

Discord gave her a look of disbelief but as the unicorn turned around and headed upstairs to bed, he had to admit that her creepy sweet talk gave him chills.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Discord pondered whether he should go to sleep. Once Twilight fell asleep, he spent some time setting up a prank for her in the morning and the excitement of it kept him wide awake.

He looked outside the window. The night was beautiful. It invited for a fly.

Deciding a short stroll around the sky might be a relaxing option, as well as a chance to stir up some trouble, he flew out into the dark night. Luna's Moon was almost full, shining especially brightly. The visibility was pretty good; if he were any more into flying as a hobby, he definitely would have thought it was a great night for a recreational flight.

Apparently a certain pegasus thought so.

"Discord? What are you doing here?" Discord cringed as he heard a painfully familiar sound of Rainbow Dash's annoying, challenging voice. It took him a moment to notice her, flying directly above him - she has apparently just descended from the heights of the sky where she practiced, being a bit out of breath.

"Can't a draconequus enjoy a stroll through the beautiful night sky, Rainbow Dash?" Discord purred. The pegasus snorted.

"If I were asked about it, you'd still be a statue."

"That's nice to hear - it is because of the whole 'me being a statue' thingummy that this story was born."

"... what? What story? What are you yammering on abo--"

"It is too meta of a concept for you to understand, my dear, so let go of it now, for I have a complaint to make! You're being excessively harsh, my dear. I haven't done anything since I was released to deserve such hate."

"I don't care about 'now'! Everypony seemed to have just forgotten about what happened, forgotten what you have done to us." Rainbow angrily replied. "Well not me! I will never, ever forgive you for what you have done."

"It is not like I asked for forgiveness though, did I?"

The draconequus' coolness and teasing smile only served to make her angrier. It seemed to have amused him as he started laughing lightly.

"Oh that angry face! I kind of missed that expression ever since you first challenged me to a box match in Celestia's dear, and for reasons unknown, amazingly complicated maze."

"The box ma--?" Rainbow paused, having recalled her eagerness to fight the Spirit hand to hand; or in this case, hoof to paw... or talon. Whatever. The memory of it made her snort, as she smiled a bit smug.

"Oh right; the match you were too afraid to accept."

"Afraid? You will not taunt me with your petty challenge, dear Rainbow Dash. The fact I don't like senseless violence you're trying to drag me into only proves my original theory of you being a local, to use the fashionista's words, brute."

Discord happily noticed he hit the nerve of the colorful pegasus.

"Alright then Discord, how about this - we both have a pair of wings, don't we? How about a race?"

"By the Chaotic Cupcakes, you're not thinking of actually defeating me in a race, now are you?" Despite the mocking, Discord knew she was serious; the pegasus' determination intrigued him.

"Heck yes I do! Come on! If I ever want to be in the Wonderbolts, I simply gotta have a 'defeated the Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony in a race' in my résumé." She teased back, by now in a much better mood than when she met him; she couldn't help but think she was probably the first pegasus ever who had a chance to race Discord. The thought excited her.

"Alright fine, Rainbow Dash. You're on. It'll be such a satisfaction to show you just how faster than you one can get."

"It's settled then." Rainbow smiled, now devilishly smiling. "Tomorrow, the Ghastly Gorge, noon."

"Oh, the good ol' showdown at high noon. I like it."

The two slowly parted ways. They both eyed each other, their looks full of adrenaline already.

Discord had quite a difficulty falling asleep that night. He would've never admitted it to anyone, mostly because he had a feeling Rainbow Dash would make a joke of it, but the truth was, this was the first actual race he would ever be participating in.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"A race with Rainbow Dash? That is a brilliant idea! Maybe you two can even--"

"Don't get your hopes up Twilight Sparkle, your colorful friend is holding a very well rooted grudge against me and I am wasting no time to reciprocate those feelings."

"Rainbow Dash? No way, she's not that ill-willed."

"Oh well, suit yourself; once you see her glare, you'll understand. It's as if she was trying to turn me back into stone with the power of hate."

When Twilight awoke that morning, aside from a very successful prank where she got a bucket of water over her head the moment she put a hoof out of her bed, she got another surprise as she heard about Discord's racing plans. She accompanied him, deciding to be the judge of the race; she believed the race was a great way for the two to connect, even though it seemed Rainbow Dash hated the Spirit with a passion. On their way over to the Gorge, Twilight invited her friends, Pinkie Pie being the first to eagerly accept the invitation. Later on, Twilight meekly thought it was sheer luck that they had her with them, because Pinkie was mostly responsible for talking Rarity, Applejack and Fluttershy into accompany them. They all reluctantly agreed, eyeing the draconequus suspiciously.

Discord, on the other hand, had a hard time being around a bunch of ponies that he wasn't about to turn into plants. Not to mention that these ponies could talk. Oh boy did they talk... Usually.

Yet now, they did nothing but glare suspisciously, ocassionally exchanging a glance or a whisper whenever he did just about anything.

He got tired of that quite quickly.

"Well ladies, I do applaud you, you're all indeed a marvelous company and you could keep this draconequus occupied with your silent judgment for days but I should get a move on and stretch this little things should I ever hope to beat the amazing Rainbow Dash in her own game." Blowing them all a collective kiss, he flew ahead, leaving the five ponies alone to their distaste of the Spirit.

"Well, this is kinda awkward." Applejack decided to give in, trusting that if Spirit was that blunt, it would be better for all of them to just join in. "I don' think any of us, including Discord, figured this would go any smoother than it seems to."

"Well no wonder, that ruffian does not know how to behave around the proper ladies such as we are!" Rarity huffed, feeling more than a little offended by the subtle way he used to tell them they were boring him.

Twilight bit her lip. "You just have to get to know him better! He changed at least a bit, I promise!"

"Well, um, I would love to try and make friends with him but, he doesn't really seem to notice me." Fluttershy added in.

"Well, duh!" Twilight tried to point out. "It is not like you ever tried to - I never saw you coming to visit me while he's around or anything."

"Well, actually," Fluttershy continued, shyly as always, "on several occasions, when I saw him flying around Ponyville and such, I tried to say hello, or start a conversation... but, um, I don't know... he either ignored me or hadn't noticed me. Oh, but I'm sure it was the latter."

"What?" Twilight seemed to be disturbed by the discovery. "That is so mean of him! He could at least have... pranked you or something to make a point of noticing you!... Then again, if he didn't prank you..." the unicorn scratched at her chin and finally admitted with a deadpan: "Yeah, he probably just didn't notice you."

"Truth to be told, I am not surprised." Applejack started. "You're probably the quietest pony I've ever encountered, Fluttershy. Discord is flippin' bananas all the time. Ya wanna talk to him, ya'll probably have to attract his attention first by doing something out of ordinary."

"Oh. Well. I guess so." Fluttershy admitted quietly and seemed to have sank into thoughts.

When the five of them finally arrived at the Ghastly Gorge, there was an amusing scene; Discord and Rainbow Dash were staring at each other intensely, their faces a few inches apart. They both had determined looks in their eyes.

"Oh, oh! The Stare challenge!" Pinkie pie exclaimed quietly, motioning her hooves to tell everypony to stay quiet. The mares accepted the game, deciding to wait for the two to finish their contest.

Twilight honestly couldn't have thought of a more boring and pointless competition, so when Rainbow Dash finally blinked she let out a breath of relief, somewhat amused by her friend's her agonized expression that threw Discord into hysterics.

"Alright y'all, let's get this over with." Applejack interrupted Discord's laughing fit. The two looked at the newcomers.

"Finally; I was getting bored with this guy already. Let's race!" Rainbow Dash immediately settled on the start line, eager to show the draconequus who's the best flyer in all of Equestria. Discord lazily followed her.

"Alright then, I think you know the rules." Twilight started, probably less formally than she usually would. "No cheating, flying out of the Gorge, pulling at each others wings and hooves, fighting, tickling, touching on purpose in general, and NO magic."

"Fine with me." Discord positioned himself into the take-off pose. Rainbow followed his example. Whereas the draconequus looked relaxed, Twilight noticed the tense position of Dash's wings. If she were to lose this race, there would be Hell. She silently gulped.

"Once you start racing, I will transport us all to the finish line." Twilight added to her friends, before turning to start the race. "OK then, ready! Set! GO!"

The two took off fact, way too fast for an untrained eye to notice the incredible precision it took. Discord and Rainbow Dash disappeared into the Gorge in a matter of seconds.

"Well, we'll see how that goes." Twilight commented before using the transport spell.

Then something strange happened.

Twilight found herself in the midair. That wouldn't be so bad, if it weren't about twenty feet above the ground, and inside of the gorge itself. Her friends were nowhere to be seen. In a single horrifying second, Twilight put the puzzle pieces together: her spell malfunctioned. She was lucky enough to have successfully transported her friends but now she had to face the fall. A pony's legs weren't nearly strong enough to endure the fall without consequences; she concluded she would at the least end up with a broken leg if she doesn't do something.

Twilight was lucky to be a pony of quick thinking. About only a few moments before she hit the ground, she used a spell that didn't stop the fall completely but did slow it down enough for her to try and land as best as she could. She shut her eyes tight and yelled out in pain as her rear left ankle twisted in a pain, her voice silently echoing the tall stone walls of the Gorge.

Calming herself down, Twilight tried to use her magic, only to discover the pain in her ankle was distracting her too much. She suppressed the tears of pain and consoled herself quickly: soon Rainbow Dash or Discord will pass by and pick her up. The pain was such a bother though. She will probably have to stay put for at least for a week.

Minutes passed as Twilight tried to distract herself from the pain by looking for shapes in those few clouds she could see from her position. Just as she thought she might as well try walking, she heard the familiar zooming of Rainbow Dash in the distance, as well as the roars of the monsters living in the Gorge caves. Soon enough, she saw two spots in the distance.

"Was about time!" she sighed. She tried her best to prop up to be more visible, but with her ankle twisted, she couldn't do much.

"Hey~! Over here please!" She waved her hooves at the two as the were approaching, their speed much too fast for her taste. If she hadn't witnessed both of their flight skills by now, she would be worried for their well being. But at that moment, she was more worried about being missed.

The purple mare gave away a desperate sigh of annoyance when both of the fast flying blurs completely ignored her. She was probably no more than a speck on the ground from their point of view.

"Great! Just great!" She angrily argued with herself and stomped her hooves - which was a mistake, she realized as she winced in pain. She felt the familiar tinge of frustration and it rose into the feeling of sheer anger as she realized just how helpless and useless was she at that moment. "Might as well get eaten, for all I care." She deadpanned and flopped into the ground, pouting and annoyed.

"Twilight Sparkle, just what in the name of everything Chaotic are you doing?"

Twilight truly never thought she would cheer up this much at his voice ever in her life. She turned over on the place and got up as best as her injured leg let her.

"Discord! Thank Celestia you saw me!" She piped and noticed the mismatched Spirit being out of his breath... Which was strange, considering he was in as good condition as Rainbow; and it took a lot of work to get Rainbow running out of breath.

When the draconequus stomped over to her and crossed his arms, a sort of a grumpy look on his face, Twilight blinked, confused. It was a strange expression, she hadn't t seen it before.

"Uh, is everything alri-- OW!" The draconequus poked her harshly in the very top of her head, making the unicorn frown. "What the actual hay, Discord?! What is your problem?!" Twilight unsuccessfully tried removing the sharp talon digging into her scalp but he was simply too strong.

"Nothing." Discord hissed and without another word lifted her onto his back carefully. The unicorn was immensely confused about his behavior and wanted to question it further but figured this wasn't the time to think about that - nor she could think of that, since pain spread all over her leg suddenly and in the end, all she could let out was a painful hiss.

"Hold on." The draconequus briefly informed. He flew up, bringing Twilight to the finish line in less than a minute. Her friends all stared at both of them in confusion.

"Twilight, where were you?" Rarity started. "We were all transported here and--"

"Oh goodness! Twilight, you're hurt!" Fluttershy immediately approached her as she came down from Discord's back, limping.

"Just what in tarnation happened?"

"Ugh, my spell was kind of a... well, a failure to put it bluntly; it didn't transport me properly, so I ended up in the Gorge hurting myself. It was quite a fall." She winced as Fluttershy touched her leg, checking it out.

Discord, in the meanwhile, didn't say much of anything. If his expression was to speak for him, he was thoroughly distressed and grumpy about something. Twilight figured they best move the things along before anyone dared questioning it; she could practically see the questioning wheel turning in her friend's heads.

"Uh, anyway, I should be heading to the hospital."

"Oh b-but my house is so much close, Twilight! I know I can help you, I have experience with injuries like these!" Fluttershy chirped in. "It'll be alright, anyway - you don't need to hospital for this kind of injury."

Those words marginally fixed Twilight's ominous predictions about not being able to stand for weeks and she smiled. "Alright, thank you Fluttershy. I'd much rather spend some time at your place than in the hospital, anyway."

The five of them suddenly looked expectantly at Discord, who confusedly returned their looks.

"What?"

"Um, her ankle is twisted?" Applejack started. "You can carry her much easier than the rest of us."

He rolled his eyes.

"Fine."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

As all of them got comfortable in the space of Fluttershy's cottage, the pegasus excused herself quietly, saying she needed to get some bandages and medicine she kept in her shed. Rainbow Dash looked particularly guilt ridden as she tried to apologize to her friend for missing her.

"Sorry Twilight; I really didn't see you back there. You know I would come back to get you if I did."

"Oh, of course Rainbow Dash - I mean since when are you the one to abandon her friends? You don't have to worry about it, really." The unicorn gave her a reassuring smile, making the somewhat fretting pegasus relax. "Another thing though... what's with Discord? He's been acting so strange. Did you guys have a fight with him or something?" The now absent draconequus was unusually grumpy all the way to Fluttershy's cottage and once he was free of Twilight on his back, he instantly flew away into the blue bright sky. Twilight was certain he had caused some sort of trouble none of them were willing to talk about in front of her.

Much to her surprise, however, three of her friends giggled in response; all except for Rainbow Dash who rolled her eyes.

"You guys make me wanna puke." She commented, waving her hoof dismissively.

"What is going on?" Twilight asked, frowning.

"Well, Twi, let's just say that all of us, except for maybe Rainbow Dash here, got to know Discord a lil' bit better; an' we think that if ya keep up the good work, he'll turn out to be an acceptable fella... in time." She shrugged.

The manner in which Twilight smiled at these newst caused another laughter among her friends. "Oh my, I'm so glad to hear that! But what made you think that? I didn't notice you guys talking much to him."

"Well, it wasn't about talkin', 'twas about what he had done."

"What do you mean?"

"Well you see darling," Rarity began, swaying her hair out of her eyes, "we were quite surprised when he decided to go back and look for you; Discord is not really known for being, well, friendly." She tried to explain. "I mean just think about it; the same draconequus who once turned us against each other, the same one who once brought chaos to countless of ponies with not even a blink of en eye, the same one whose ego is bigger than a mountain," Rarity recalled Discord in the maze, comparing his 'beautiful' face with the beauty of a diamond, "has now willingly abandoned the race he took such great importance to, just to go and look for you. I must say, I never expected such an act from him."

Twilights' eyes got as wide as plates.

"He never got to the finish line?"

She tried to make sense of this. The only solution that came to her mind was that Discord did see her down there in the Gorge but pretended not to... could it be his conscience told him to go back and get her? Could it be he deemed her worthy and friendly enough to deserve such a treatment?

Could it be he was genuinely... worried, about her?

All the mares jumped when Twilight started laughing abruptly.

"What is it?" Pinkie Pie asked in surprise, probably thoroughly confused by the fact someone laughed so hard without being prompted to it by her. Twilight shook her head at her, trying to catch her breath.

"Oh, nothing, nothing... I just thought of something... totally silly. Never mind, really."

"Is everything OK?" Fluttershy appeared at the door, having returned from her shed with the necessary equipment.

"Everything is just fine, Fluttershy. Thank you for your help. I can't wait to just get home and read, I think I've had quite enough of excitement for now."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Twilight?! What is wrong with your leg?!" Spike immediately approached his purple friend as she entered the library. Her rear leg was in bandages, two little planks that keeping her hoof in place. The twist of her ankle wasn't as serious as she thought - in fact, it wasn't even an actual twist - but Fluttershy figured resting up for a little while would do her good. All six of them spent some quality time together at Fluttershy's before finalyl departing for the day - the sun was already setting by the time Twilight got back to the library, Rainbow Dash following closely behind..

"I had a little accident." The unicorn smiled softly. Behind her, Rainbow Dash snorted.

"A little accident?! If you weren't thinking quick and magicked yourself safely, you could've been seriously injured!

"Just tell me what happened already!" the little dragon demanded.

Twilight slowly limped her way to the center of the library where she sat down at the table, letting out a relieved sigh.

"Oh, that's so much better. So uh, this is what happened..." Twilight told Spike the whole story, every once in a while interrupted with Rainbow Dash's specific statement that she was the one who won the race in the end.

"So, where is Discord anyway? He seemed to be angry when he left, I want to talk to him." Twlight asked Spike, who shifted uncomfortably.

"I, I haven't seen him since you guys left..."

"... Wait, you mean, he's not home yet? He never came back to the library?"

"No." Spike replied a bit carefully. He and Rainbow Dash eyed Twilight with newborn worry - the purple mare seemed to have been upset.

"What are you worried about, Twilight? That he might try and cause some chaos? Because if he does, I'll slap his flank across the Equestrian skies!" Rainbow threatened, but Twilight shook her head.

"It's not that... he just seemed upset with something, is all."

"Huh, I couldn't care less!" Rainbow replied, her heartless comment making Twilight frown.

"Come on, Rainbow Dash, why can't you just give him a chance? Why are you so bitter around him?" Rainbow didn't answer, instead pouting for reasons that remained a mystery to Twilight. Then again, not really; Rainbow Dash was an awfully proud pegasus. Still, it didn't look anymore like it was just the matter of Dash's pride. "Rainbow Dash, what are--"

"I'll see you tomorrow." Rainbow Dash abruptly said, as she turned to leave. "Don't overwork that leg of yours, you hear? G'night, Spike!"

"Night, Dash."

As the door closed behind the colorful mare, Spike patted saddened Twilight on the shoulder.

"Are you alright?"

She gave him a soft smile, melancholic mood reflected in her eyes.

"I am. I just wish I knew what was wrong with him."

"Don't worry, I'm sure he'll be back soon. I was just about to prepare something to eat; are you hungry? We can spend some time on that research of Star Swirl the Bearded's notes!"

"That doesn't sound bad. Get us some snacks and tea then," Twilight suggested, with a renewed, happy smile on her face, "we're in for a relaxing night of reading!"

The two spent the evening researching on the notes on a casual atmosphere, every once in a while starting a conversation that had nothing to do with research and feasting on the snacks. It helped Twilight forget the trouble-bringing draconequus; for now, she could enjoy Spike's company, tasty food and her lovely books.

The time passed fast, the two of them enjoying themselves way too much to notice - in fact, Twilight, probably due to the somewhat stressful day, fell asleep unintentionally, together with Spike on the fluffy pillows they brought for themselves in the library.

Once again, Twilight had a good old course of odd dreams running through her head. She was well aware of the fact she was dreaming though - in fact, it was the most self conscious dreaming sequence she ever had.

After a whirl of unmemorable, unreasonable and colorful scenes, she found herself in a forest that contained way too much of bright color yellow - sure, it was a nice color but its brightness, and the fact the mentioned color decorated both the sky, the ground and even the trees, made her eyes hurt. As if on cue, the colors started changing, the sky becoming sea green, and the grass soft pink. The trees changed the colors all the time which, while kind of dizziness inducing, was fun to see.

Just as she started wondering what was with this colorful dream, she saw a familiar Spirit laying on one of the tree branches. He didn't seem to notice her. In fact, he was seemingly asleep.

"Wow, that's pretty defined." Twilight mumbled to herself, finding it funny for her dream to be so realistic - a Spirit of Chaos in a chaotic surrounding. "Discord! Hey, Discord!" She eagerly called for him, wondering what her actions will cause - for as we all know, dreams can easily change drastically with a single word or action.

But nothing irregular happened - the Spirit awoke at the sound of her voice and stretched, seemingly still not taking notice of her.

"Oh, what a bother..." He mumbled. He looked around, and upon noticing her suddenly yelled out in surprise, which caused Twilight to yell out in return and look around herself, searching for the source of his racket.

"What?! What is going on?"

"You!"

"Me?"

"You, Twilight Sparkle!" The Spirit angrily descended from a tree and approached her, poking her harshly in the chest, getting down for his angry eyes to meet her confused.

"What in the almighty Chaos are you doing in MY dream?!"

"What? Your dream?" She arched an eyebrow, making draconequus sigh dramatically.

"Oh, do not pretend with me missy - you are spying on me and my dreams!"

"What in the hay are you talking about! I thought I was dreaming-- wait, you're just a dream, what am I talking about anyway!"

"You're calling me a segment of your imagination? While I'm sure you fantasize about my handsome face a lot, I can assure you I am the real, one and only, Discord!"

Twilight decided to let the embarrassing remark about fantasizing slip by.

"Ugh, what is going on here? This dream is so confusing! And for your information, Discord, or whoever, or whatever you are, I have no idea how to enter somepony's dream! I think that's even illegal without consent of the dreaming subject, too."

Discord seemed to have started believing her. He pondered for a moment or two, and then let out a victorious 'ha!' and smiled so widely it was almost creepy. For some reason, he looked over at her with an amused smile, as he lay down on the ground, like a (part) lion he was, then looked at her.

"What?"

"I just got it - I know why you wandered into my dream, Twilight Sparkle. You probably aren't going to like what I am about to propose though."

"Just say it already, Discord."

"Well, it is possible to enter somepony else's dream instead of dreaming your own; but that happens rarely, mostly with ponies with great magical ability and only in certain cases. It bring us to the most probable conclusion of why you are in my dream."

"Really? What is it?"

"You were probably dying to see me." Discord finished, a most devilish tone in his voice and most playful look in his eyes. If Twilight had any less self control, she would allow herself to fall victim to his teasing and even blush. It was obvious his reply embarrassed her to a certain degree, however and before she could utter any sort of a clever reply, he pinched her cheek and yawned.

"What is it then, Twilight Sparkle? Be quick, I want to sleep again."

She didn't reply right away, instead noticing another incoherent detail. "...But if we're in your dream, doesn't that mean you're already sleeping? What were you doing, sleeping in your own dream?" Twilight couldn't help but ask, forgetting her wish to talk with him for a moment.

"Ah, well, I'll sleep twice as much, gaining extra energy."

So that was why he seemed so full of energy back when he first appeared in Ponyville. Twilight was pretty impressed by such a complicated branch of magic but decided there were other matters at hand.

"Right, so, I did want to see you. I wanted to as you, are you angry with me for some reason?"

The Spirit looked at her lazily, a playful smirk still lingering on his face.

"I have no reason to be, now do I, Twilight Sparkle."

"I... well I don't think so, no." She replied and flinched when he again pinched her, this time on the nose.

"Then don't break your pretty little purple egg-head of yours over nothing! Ha, did you just see what I did?" The Spirit laughed at his joke. If it was even qualified to be called a joke. Despite not liking being called an egghead, Twilight tried hard to suppress a smile - the effort she put into that seemed to have bothered him.

"Come now, Twilight Sparkle!" He sang, as he reached for her cheeks and stretched them into a badly formed smile - and she couldn't help it as corners of her mouth started rising against her will. "Where is that wonderful smile! I know it is in there somewhere~" He started to baby talk with her, which reflected so ridiculously on his face that she not only smiled but laughed loudly too. "Much better! I will have no sulking faces or hidden smiles in my dreams." The Spirit commented. Suddenly a sound was heard in the distance, making both of them look up. Discord seemed to have known what was going on and he didn't look too happy.

"Aww, shucks."

Shucks?

"The morning is already approaching. Time really does fly fast when you're having fun."

"It is? How can you tell?"

"It is my dream, I can tell easily." He turned towards her. Twilight noticed the dream world she was in started to disappear, seeing the trees vanish slowly into the air in the distance and the sky growing colorless. "Time to say goodbye, Twilight Sparkle. I'll see you back in the library. Before we part though, here's some food for thought." He added in the end, and leaned in towards her:

"Was this all just a dream, or was I really here?"

The unicorn frowned.

"Discord, you--" She couldn't finish her sentence before falling into a vertigo as the world around her collapsed, the last thing she heard being Discord's all too known laughter.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Twilight woke up. She still felt a tickle on her nose but had no way of finding out whether it was real or dream induced.

"Oh, good morning, sleepy head! It was about time you got up!" Spike cheerfully greeted her, immediately returning the box of ice cream back in the refrigerator, hoping Twilight wouldn't notice. Twilight didn't comment on the gluttonous little dragon, deciding to catch him unprepared later.

"Morning, Spike." She managed as she tried to stand up, only to have a sharp pain spread over her rear leg. She had already forgotten about it. "Ugh! Oh, I should've known how troublesome this will be."

"Oh, so you'll have to spend some time at home - no biggie."

" 'No biggie'? Spike, I can't walk. And if I tried, the only one who could match my slowness is Tank."

"There, you'll have someone to hang out with." Spike tried to humour her. It didn't quite work. "Heheh... I'm gonna go. Now. See ya. Watch out for that leg." He inched away from her sight and back into the kitchen, were he likely continued to devour the ice cream.

Twilight used her solitude to once again replay the events of the dream, desperately trying to connect the dots, to find something that could tell her whether the dream she had was fruit of her imagination, or the actual dream of Discord. It was so real, she remembered it all so clearly... yet she could prove nothing.

"I hope you slept well, Twilight Sparkle."

Twilight yelped with surprised as the Spirit came out of thin air, transporting himself from wherever he was before into the library, and startled the living daylights out of her.

"Discord, for goodness sake!" Twilight panicked.

Of course, he laughed.

... Dear Celestia, how she came to love that laugh.