Chaos and Harmony

by MLP Fangirl

Chaotic Crystals

Ever since that day in Canterlot, Discord had been hanging out with Twilight more often than not. The two had become great friends within the timespan of about two weeks. Before, Twilight would be nothing but annoyed with the Spirit. Now, she could go entire days without him frustrating her.

When her friends found out, they were all shocked that the two had become actual friends. Fluttershy was overjoyed that Discord had broken out of his shell and made another friend. Discord was happy as well. When he was released from stone for a chance to redeem himself, he didn't think it would actually happen. In the end, he was proven wrong, and he was okay with that. Even Twilight's friends started to act more friendly around him. Discord had started to learn the magic of friendship. Today, he would get a chance to see something that would remain in his memory for a long time.

Twilight was sorting through her mail. Ever since she became a princess, she had been getting a lot of fan letters. Twilight was a little bugged by it, however. Twilight had never been an egotistical pony. Even back in Canterlot, she didn't brag about being Princess Celestia's prized student. Eventually, she learned to deal with it. Besides, not every unicorn completes a spell, gets turned into an alicorn, and becomes a princess.

"Fan mail, fan mail, bill, bill, fan mail, a letter from the Crystal Empire, fan mail...Wait! A letter from the Crystal Empire?! Oooh!" Twilight exclaimed.

"What's this I hear about the Crystal Empire?" There was a flash of light, and Discord appeared in the room.

"Hi, Discord! I got a letter from the Crystal Empire! Wait! What if it's a bad thing? What if the Empire's being attacked by some other being even worse than Sombra? What if Cadence has fallen ill and needs me to watch the Crystal Empire for her? What if--"

"What if you never read it? You'll never know what it says," Discord smirked ending her what if's.

"I suppose you're right. Won't know until I read." She opened the letter with her magic and began to read.

Dear Twilight,

How have you been? I hope you've been adjusting to your new role as princess. I'm writing you to ask if you and your friends would like to come to the Empire on Saturday. I'd love to have you over. Let me know if you can make it.

~Love,

Your sister-in-law-,Cadence.
"Cadence is inviting us to the Crystal Empire! Oh, it's been so long since I saw her last. I'd better let her know right away. Spike!" She called.

There was a pattering of feet that could be heard scurrying down the stairs. "Yes, Twi? Oh, hey, Discord!" greeted the purple dragon.

"Hello, Spike. Twilight needs you to take a letter," Discord told him.

"Oh, okay. To whom?" Spike asked whipping up a quill and parchment.

"Cadence. Ahem. Dear Cadence, I am just letting you know that we would love to visit you in the Crystal Empire. Saturday will be fine. I look forward to seeing you. Thanks for the invite. Yours, Twilight Sparkle. Did you get all that?" asked the alicorn.

"-light Sparkle. Got it!" Spike had learned something new about his magic fire. Not only could he receive and send letters to Princess Celestia, but he could also send letters to anypony he wanted to as long as he pictured who he wanted to send it to. With a deep breath, he sent the letter to its proper recipient.

"Wait, Cadence invited you to the Crystal Empire? Sweet! Can I come, too?" He asked hopefully.

Twilight ruffled his spines playfully. "Of course, you can, Spike. You're my friend, too, after all."

"Wow! This is great! I'd better start packing." He rushed upstairs as fast as his little legs could carry him.

Twilight felt a poke on her shoulder. "Can I go, too?" asked Discord giving Twilight his puppy eyes.

"Of course, you can. You're my friend. But, Discord, please try not to draw too much attention to yourself. I'm not quite sure how the Crystal ponies will react to seeing you, but don't spark their curiosity by using your powers." Twilight warned.

Discord nodded understandingly. "That's fine. I'll keep the usage of my powers to a minimum."

"Good. Now, I'd better find my friends and tell them. Care to join me?" The alicorn asked with a twinkle in her eye.

"I thought you'd never ask." With that, the pair headed out to tell the rest of their friends.

Saturday came up fast. All of the ponies (plus one draconeques and one dragon) were about to board the train that would take them to the Crystal Empire. Pinkie, as usual, was the most excited of the group. She hadn't stopped bouncing since she woke up that morning.

"I can't believe today is finally here! Seemed like Saturday would never come, but, boy am I glad it did! 'Cause today we're all going to the Crystal Empire!" She exclaimed enthusiastically.

"Hold your horses, sugarcube. Contain your enthusiasm jus' a little bit," Applejack told the overly energetic pink mare.

"I don't blame you for your excitement, darling. I am very excited as well to be able to visit that magnificent place. Those Crystal ponies are so lucky to have such radiant coats," Rarity sighed dreamily.

"I'm looking forward to some good R&R. Hopefully, we won't have to deal with anything bad. We've dealt with bad too many times!" Rainbow proclaimed angrily throwing her hooves in the air.

"I'm glad that Discord's able to come with us. Is this your first time going to the Empire, Discord?" Fluttershy inquired meekly.

"It is, in fact. The Empire was discovered eons after I was set in stone. So, you can imagine I'm quite excited. Twilight, are you allowed to take crystals home with you?" Discord asked the purple alicorn.

"That I'm not sure. It doesn't mean we can't inquire about it." Twilight responded.

The train whistle blew and the conductor announced, "ALL ABOARD WHO'S COMING ABOARD!"

"Guess that means us. Come on, guys," Twilight urged.

Everyone boarded the train, and in a few minutes, they were on their way to the Crystal Empire.

In about three hours, the train arrived at the Crystal Station where the Empire itself was visible from the waiting platform. The Crystal Empire truly was a sight to behold. The way the crystal buildings sparkled in the sunlight was something that one could never get tired of seeing.

Rainbow rubbed her eyes at the sheer amount of light coming from the Empire. "Is it just me or has the Empire become even more sparkly than last time?"

"I think you are right, Rainbow Dash," replied Rarity, "It seems as if every time we come here, the Empire keeps on becoming more and more stunning. Oh, how I'd love to live here! Sadly, I doubt I could afford it."

They passed many Crystal ponies on their way to the palace all going about their daily routines living without fear of being treated as a slave. Some of them looked at Discord a bit weird, but when they saw him with Equestria's heroines, they realized he wasn't here to cause harm.

"This place really is beautiful!" Discord exclaimed as he admired the scenery, "Probably the most beautiful place in Equestria!"

"Indeed. Cadence has done an amazing job of restoring the Empire to its former glory. Ah! Here we are! The Crystal Castle."

As they opened the doors, a trumpet fanfare played to announce their arrival.

"Announcing the arrival of Princess Twilight Sparkle and her friends!" announced an orange Pegasus guard.

Cadence's eyes lit up with joy. "Twilight! It's so good to see you!" She exclaimed as she opened her arms.

Twilight rushed forward and jumped into the older alicorn's embrace. "Oh, it is so good to see you, too! Hey, where's Shining Armor?"

"Sadly, he is not here. He was called to a meeting with the Princesses in the Coltish Isles. He won't be here for another few days." Cadence explained. She noticed Twilight deflate a bit. Cadence placed a hoof under the mare's chin and lifted her face up. "Don't worry, Twilight. We'll still have a lot of fun today even without your brother. This will be the perfect time for us to have some nice sisterly bonding time together. Oh, where are my manners? Hello, girls, Spike, and... Discord? Twilight, what is Discord doing here?"

"He came along with us," Pinkie answered before Twilight could even formulate a response, "Twilight and Discord, along with the rest of us, have become really great friends. So, when you said Twilight could come, along with her friends, she allowed Discord to come, too, since he's her friend like we all are!" She spouted without stopping for air.

Cadence blinked twice before processing what the vibrant pink earth pony just said.

"Forgive her, Cadence. She is very enthusiastic." Rarity apologized.

After understanding what she said, Cadence turned to the group with a smile. "It is fine. But if this is true, you girls sure are something. When Aunty Tia told me she had released Discord in order to give him a chance to be reformed, I thought it was an absolutely horrible idea that would never work. Now, I definitely sense a change in you, Discord. Celestia's idea must've worked." She turned to the spirit which he replied with a nod.

"Thanks, Cadence. I, too, thought it was a bad idea. But that was before I realized that he's not so bad once you get to know him." Twilight said happily.

"I can believe that. Now, I assume you all are tired and would like to relax. Flash, escort Princess Twilight and her friends to their chambers." She ordered the young guard.

"Right away, Your Highness. Come along, Princess." With that, the Pegasus began leading them to their rooms.

Rarity walked faster to keep up with Twilight. "Say, Twilight, isn't our escort the guard you have a crush on?" She whispered smugly.

"I thought I might have had a crush on him, but that's only because he reminds me of the Flash in the human world. I realized my feelings for him weren't true. Besides, I don't have time for a love life." Twilight answered. Rarity saw no hint of a blush and realized Twilight was telling the truth, so she left her alone.

After a few hours of fun, relaxing, and catching up, everypony just settled down in their chambers. Discord was bored and decided to explore the Empire. He didn't want to go alone though. He flew over to Twilight's chambers and knocked. The purple alicorn appeared on the other side. "Oh, hey, Discord! What's up?" She asked.

"The ceiling, Sherlock. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out." He joked. Twilight gave him a deadpan expression.

"Ahem. Anyway, I was wondering if you could show me your favorite places here in the Empire." He told her.

"My favorite places? Well, I don't know if I... Oh! I can show you where we found the Crystal Heart." Twilight then proceeded to tell him about King Sombra's return and how they saved the Empire from the dark king's slavery.

"Well, if I ever told you that you were boring, I take it back," he said impressed, "I think I would like to see that if you can show me."

"I sure can. Follow me." He followed her into the throne room. He noticed she was casting a spell because her horn was glowing.

"Twilight, what spell are you casting?" Discord inquired.

"I call it the Pay-No-Attention-To spell. It's got a much more complex name which I don't feel like saying right now. I cast it on the throne room. If somepony passes it, they will pay no attention to it. If I'm going to show you this, nopony can be in here." She planted all four hooves firmly on the ground. She concentrated on things she hated and used that to perform dark magic. Discord jumped back a little after seeing her horn shoot a pure black beam at a crystal atop the throne. Immediately afterwards, the crystal sparked and revealed a dark flight of winding steps leading downward.

Discord was shocked at this. "You found this while you were still a unicorn, right?"

"Um, yah?"

"Well, remind me never to get you mad. So, did you find the Crystal Heart down there?" He asked staring down into the dark abyss.

"No. We're almost there. We just need to head down these steps first, then I'll explain the rest." The two headed down the stairs , and in about ten minutes they reached the bottom. Twilight was out of breath because she walked down them all. Discord was fine because he had flown down all of them. After Twilight caught her breath, she looked at the doorway which had helped lead her to the Heart. Twilight wanted to see what Discord's worst fear was, but she knew it probably wasn't the best idea.

"Well, we're one step closer. It won't be much longer." Twilight focused on things that made her happy which then activated and opened the door. On the other side was a long winding staircase, much similar to the one before, except this one led upwards and seemed to never end.

Discord stared at the stairs for a good few minutes. "Please don't tell me that we have to climb all these stairs." He moaned.

"Nope. Only a few. I'll tell you when to stop." The pair climbed for about five minutes before Twilight stopped.

"Discord, hang on to me." She told him.

"Are you serious?"

"If you want to see the place where we found the Heart, then yes! We're almost there." Discord relented and curled himself around her body. She levitated them both into the air, and in a few seconds, she flipped the entire room upside and started sliding at incredible speeds on the bottom side of the stairs. Discord was hanging onto the mare for dear life. He knew she was powerful, but this was ridiculous. Eventually, they stopped sliding and landed in a room. Discord quickly got off of the purple alicorn.

"Mare, you are dangerous! I didn't know there were such spells for average ponies! Sure, I can do it, but if ponies start mastering that spell, who knows what they'd do!" He yelled still a little discombobulated.

Twilight giggled and replied, "Gravity spell, in case you're wondering. Anyway, we're here. Probably the highest point in the castle. King Sombra hid the Heart really well. You can see the entire Empire from here."

Discord was already looking out the window. The scene before him was truly amazing. The Crystal ponies looked like tiny sparkles from this height. He saw that the Empire was indeed very big. Canterlot was visible in the far distance, if only a blur, but still visible. No words could describe it. It was that great.

"I've said this before, and I'll say it again, thanks, Twilight. This day has been just wonderful. "

"Not a problem, Discord. I'm glad you enjoyed it. Now, let's head back to our rooms. I don't know about you, but I sure good use some sleep. Our train leaves early tomorrow." With that being said, Discord teleported both of them to their rooms and slept peacefully dreaming about nothing but crystals.

Author's Note:

Have you ever been working on something and then it suddenly gets erased for some crazy reason? That happened to me, and I had to start this chapter all over again. Regardless, I hope you enjoy it.
On a side note, I am actually a big Flashlight fan, but Twilight having a crush on Flash would have no importance in this story. Sorry, to all of those FlashxTwilight fans.

Comments

[BastyTheKitty]

Another well done chapter. Only a few mistakes which probably won't take away from reading for most people on here. Unfortuantely I hyperfocus on things and it did interrupt my reading. Anyway, just another fantastic chapter.

[hhhhhhh]

I'm one of the few who fangirls if Flash appears. I squealed a bit at

orange Pegasus guard.

Flash, escort Princess Twilight and her friends to their chambers."

and

"Say, Twilight, isn't our escort the guard you have a crush on?"

I love this