Dealing in Harmony

by Ckat_Myla

10. In Control

Not even bothering with the train, both Twilight and Princess Celestia teleported directly into Canterlot Castle. Twilight's saddlebag still fastened around her tightly, they made their way towards the residential wing to find the members of her family. Their expedience did not prove to be necessary however, since it turned out that even if the situation were important and crucial - which it was - there was not entirely much that could be done at this point in time.

They found the couple nestled in one of the smaller, cozier bedrooms of the castle, where Celestia left Twilight to be with her family. And there was Cadance, sitting comfortably upon many brightly-colored pillows, already showing.

Standing almost protectively beside her was Shining Armor, and Twilight noticed that while Cadance's face brightened when she saw her enter, her brother's grew more stern and – was she seeing things? - slightly cold.

“Twilight!” Cadance greeted her, beginning to stand but being halted by a gentle hoof from Shiny. Twilight watched as they had a silent but meaningful conversation with their eyes, one that it seemed that Shining Armor lost. He seemed to relent to Cadance's wish to get up and greet Twilight properly.

“Well, I guess since you're here you've heard the big news,” Cadance said, turning her gaze back to Twilight and smiling as she touched her belly with her hoof.

“I just heard, that's so wonderful, Cady!” she embraced her sister-in-law warmly. It was a bit awkward with her belly in the way, and it took Twilight by surprise. “I hadn't expected you to look so... pregnant though.”

“That's one of the things every pony is so concerned about,” Cadance said when they ended their hug. “It's only been about two or three months since I found out, but it looks and feels more like I'm in my tenth month.”

That was certainly a red flag. Twilight's mind immediately went to a magical hypothesis.

“Do you think it could have anything to do with the order magic transference?”

“We're not sure,” Cadance answered. “I mean, every pony wants me to undergo some magical tests to ensure that everything is fine with it, but it hadn't been affecting me in any negative way before I found out. So there may not be that big of a problem.”

Twilight thought she heard a scoff and some muttering coming from Shining Armor's direction, and Cadance must have heard it too, for her expression stiffened slightly as she glanced behind her towards her husband. Then when her eyes met Twilight's again she was back to her normal, warm, smiling self.

“There's not much we can do right now,” she added with an air that seemed to convey that she was trying not to worry about it. But the tenseness between them was more than evident to Twilight, and it most definitely was surrounding the unanswered question that was on everyone's mind:

'Will this harm the baby?'

Even if it appeared as if Cadance was preparing to pop, it was still too early to tell how the foal was being affected, if it even was. But the worry still hung over them, and Twilight felt useless for not being able to do anything nor provide any sort of comforting words on the subject. This was certainly a unique experience, and she had no experience with even a regular pregnancy.

At the moment, she felt the best thing she could do was to follow Cady's lead and put on a face of hopeful excitement.

She turned to her brother, practically jumping up to give him a hug as well.

“And congratulations to you, mister father-to-be!” she said as she wrapped her hooves around him. His own hug was stiff and far less warm than Twilight was used to receiving from him.

It did nothing to ease the tension, and Twilight was glad when Cadance broke the silence afterward.

“How about you,Twilight? How have you been?” Cadance asked, which apparently prompted Shining Armor to speak out loud for the first time since Twilight had entered.

“Yes, how have you been doing, Twily?” he asked pointedly. And for a moment Twilight wasn't sure what he was being so pointed about, but it was making her feel awkward.

The awkwardness of the interaction must have been evident to Cadance, because she immediately swooped in with a suggestion.

“Hey, you know what we should do? How about we all play that word searching game you used to love, Twilight?” suggested Cadance, most likely to ease the tension brought on by her husband's cold demeanor to his own sister.

“That sounds like fun,” she agreed, if a little uneasily. Shining Armor looked more like he wanted to talk than play board games. And Twilight thought that it was safe to assume that she wouldn't like the conversation when they got around to it. So agreeing to play with Cadance was as good a way as any to avoid that if only for a bit longer.

Rummaging through her closet, Cadance soon emerged with the box that held all the pieces in her magic. She set them down in between the three of them, and they all gathered to sit around it, Twilight uneasy but willing, Shiny still stern.

Twilight helped Cadance open the box and get out all of the pieces. A large clear casing with many small cubes on which letters were inscribed. When shaken, the cubes would jostle around, randomizing into any number of possible combinations. The object of the game was to find and write down as many words in the resulting jumble of letters as one could find within a set amount of time.

It had been one of Twilight's favorite board games as a filly, and she almost always won whenever Cadance would foal-sit her.

“Shiny, do you want to shake them up?” Cadance asked Shining Armor, who was still busy frowning and every so often looking over to Twilight with silent indignation.

Without speaking, he lifted the clear container with the cubes inside and shook it with his magic, far harder and with more aggression than was really needed or called for.

When he was done, he slammed the box down and Cadance started the timer, and soon Twilight had nearly forgotten her brother's oddly unfriendly behavior, for she was busily searching every side and space of the letters to find some useable words.

She looked up, down, diagonally, and in small squares to find as many words as she could, coming up with a good twenty on her list. Mostly they were short words, but she had found so many of them she had to be a little impressed with herself.

When the timer went off, Twilight looked to her brother and sister-in-law. It looked as if Cadance had gotten a number of words on her list, but Shiny had only appeared to have written down five.

“Okay!” Cadance said gleefully. “Time to read out what words we got.”

“Let's see, I found 'cat', 'tac', 'golf', 'flog', 'art', 'cart', 'cab', 'age', 'cabbage', and 'artistry'.”

She then turned to Shining Armor, rubbing his shoulder lovingly or perhaps to get his attention. “Shiny, how about you?”

Shining Armor read off his list in a taciturn, stilted way, still giving off the vibe that a game was not what he wanted to be doing at the moment.

“I got 'Twilight', 'is', 'a', 'dumb', and 'cabbage'.”

“Shiny, you know you can't use names in this game, that's cheating. Plus most of those words aren't even on here. Well, except 'cabbage', because I got that.”

Not being able to ignore or pretend to not notice any longer, Twilight gave a deep sigh and decided to ask her brother what was up.

“Is there something bothering you, big brother, something that you'd like to talk with me about?”

“As a matter of fact, there is,” Shining Armor said, rising up to his hooves from where he sat. “Twilight, can I see you in the hallway?”

She shrunk back from him at his tone, and his use of her proper name.

Without looking to see if she was following, Shining Armor walked out into the hall, not looking to her nor his wife.

“Uh--- I guess I'll be right back,” Twilight said as an apology of sorts to Cadance for leaving her alone with the game as she followed her brother and his stiff, soldier-like steps.

“Okay, so why am I a dumb cabbage?” she asked once they were out in the quiet corridor. Shining Armor dismissed the guard that had been posted there, so they were quite alone.

“'Cabbage' was just because I couldn't find another word in that jumble to describe you in the time frame,” he grumbled, still clearly holding back what he truly wanted to say.

“Alright, so why am I dumb, then?”

“That's just it, you're not dumb. Not even close, you're probably the smartest pony I know, so why is it that the smartest pony I know is doing such dumb things?”

Twilight was beginning to see what this was all about, the pieces were falling together, and the picture they made all pointed to the same things.

“So, I guess you heard about my big news, too,” she said, a lameness to her words as she made the realization for her brother's behavior.

“Which big news would that be?” he replied. “About the dangerous magic my sister's embarking upon, or her new 'coltfriend'.” he emphasized the last word with indignation, as if the very word were so absurdly wrong.

So this had been about what Twilight had worried it was, but that didn't explain exactly how Shining Armor learned this information.“Wait, did Cadance tell you everything?”

“She told me about the first part, the second I had to hear from my lieutenant, but neither of those things did I hear about from you.”

Oh, she should have known. There had been plenty of ponies there that day to witness her plea to the princesses, and it was true that word could have gotten around to him about her relationship with Discord. Still though, it wasn't as if her brother hadn't done something similar not long ago.

“Hey, you didn't tell me about your own wedding until I confronted you about it, and that was after I got the invitation.”

“This is different, Twily.” he deflected. “This isn't just about not telling me about your relationship, this is about your safety.”

“What about Cadance?” she fired back at him, growing indignant herself. “Your own wife is also taking on some possibly dangerous magic. Did you try and give her a talk like this, too?”

“For your information, I did,” Shining Armor's eyes glanced to the door of the room they had just left. He pulled Twilight further out into the hallway into a smaller room and evidently away from his wife's earshot.

“We had a long conversation about it - and it took some convincing on her part that she'd be okay - but that's not what we're talking about. We're talking about you.”

“That's what I want to talk about, Shiny. That's a double standard---”

“Yes, I'm worried out of my mind about Cadance and the foal,” Shiny interrupted, evidently trying to calm himself and her in the same breath. “But at least I know the ponies involved and the magic they're giving her. I don't know anything about Discord's magic and the only time I ever met him I didn't even know it was him.”

“But you know what he's done to help us, you saw some of it with your own eyes,” she pointed out, referring to when he had gotten rid of the Smooze and settled the Cloudsdale crisis.

Shiny shook his head. “I'm not saying that he hasn't helped the world, but you can't stand there and convince me that he and his magic aren't dangerous. Whether or not it's helpful or part of a balance or whatever.”

Yes, it was dangerous, possibly more so than she really had given thought to when she agreed to it, but that didn't change the fact that she had. Her brother however, appeared to have guessed what she was thinking.

“Twily, how much of this did you really think through when you agreed to it?” he asked, still trying to sound calm but not able to hide the accusation in his whisper. “I mean, I get that you'd want to help him, but did you stop to think about what all of this could mean for you?”

“What do you mean? Of course I have. I'd become the new chaos being and balance out the world with Cadance,” she had the answer prepared and ready to go, because that was the long and the short of it, excluding the whole part where Discord would get to stay with her. But evidently that was the part that Shiny really meant.

“But even if everything goes right, Twily, have you--- I want you to think about what all of this could mean for the two of you in the long run. Are you even going to continue to be with him after you become the new chaos being? Will you get married? How about kids of your own, have you even discussed that? Is that something that is even possible for you?”

Her eyes wandered away from him at this thought, she blinked and looked down to the etchings of stars and moons on the rug protecting them from the cold marble floor.

“Don't you want something like what Cady and I have some day?”

Twilight had honestly never thought about it before. Marriage? Foals? Those things had never even crossed her mind until this moment. But then, neither had falling in love with any pony until very recently. What would their life together look like a decade down the line? What kind of a life could they have together? All she knew was that she wanted peace and balance for Equus, and for her to be able to have Discord in her life for as long as she lived.

She wanted more days of being woken up by his breathy, sometimes deafening sleep-purring, more philosophical discussions about the nature of the soul, more nights spent close together with a book in her magical grip, warm and secure. That was the type of life that she wanted.

“I just don't think you're thinking about the big picture. I don't think you understand the consequences of your choice here, what you could be giving up.”

“Who's to say that I am?” she answered, still imagining a future filled with moments like what they had enjoyed over the past weeks. If that was what her choices would yield, how could they be wrong?

Then, suddenly, her mind wandered off to another possible future, still much like the one she wanted, but with an additional tiny some pony nestled between she and Discord, or possibly several some ponies. It was probably the first time she had ever seriously contemplated the notion. They were tiny beings in her mind, small but formless, for it was difficult to imagine what their progeny would even look like.

And strangely, Twilight felt a pang, because if she couldn't imagine her hypothetical foals, did that mean that they couldn't exist? It was odd to feel a sense of loss for something that she didn't even have... didn't even know she had wanted.

“Maybe--- I don't know,” she added as the forms of her imaginary offspring changed and shifted inside her head, the complications of how they might some day come to be beginning to form alongside them, and they seemed further and further away in terms of possibility. “I don't really know how it could be possible.”

Twilight ran a hoof through her mane, giving a sigh betraying the uncertainty that now began to plague her. But then she noticed flecks of something on her hoof, and she gazed down in horror at the bits of her own fur that had come off from her face.

She had evidently scratched some of the dried salve off of herself without thinking, and that was when she realized that she need to re-apply it before her brother or any pony else could see more than she wanted them to.

“I--- need to use the restroom,” she said abruptly, hoping that she had remembered to put the salve in the saddlebag she still had around her. She then hurried away from Shiny out the doorway towards one of the restrooms down the hall.

“Hey, no, we aren't done talking, Twily!” Shining Armor called after her, pulling her back into the room with his magic. Twilight had hoped that she had been fast enough to avoid Shiny seeing the bare patch of black that had been exposed after the salve had flaked off.

She had not been so lucky. Once caught in his magical grip, she noticed Shiny give her a once-over, and his eyes narrowed at the blackened patch on her fur.

Twilight could guess what was about to happen, it so often had when they were young. Whenever Twilight had tried to hide something from her brother, Shiny would pick her up with his magic and lightly shake her, usually causing whatever it was she was attempting to conceal to drop from her own grasp and be revealed.

This time though, what the shaking revealed was much worse than a nicked quill or an overdue library book. She could feel the magic gently peeling away the layer of salve, unveiling her true predicament in all its horrific glory.

Since the cat was apparently out of the bag, Twilight figured she might as well drop all pretenses - and her magical concealment spell – to show her brother the full extent of the residual chaotic influence.

Shining Armor gaped at her, and a look of revulsion came across his features as he looked her over, wincing like her friends had done over every discolored spot, pausing finally at her now mismatched eyes. She wilted at his expression, tears welling in her eyes at the fear she saw there.

“Oh, Twily... just look at you. I mean, what has he done to you? Have you seen yourself? Has that monster seen what this is doing to you?”

“Don't call him that,” she answered quietly, but with a sharpened edge. “And no... he hasn't seen it. If he had I doubt we would be continuing with this plan.”

“So you're hiding things from him, too?” he said, exasperated. “First thing you should learn about relationships little sister: don't keep huge secrets. How long did you think you could keep this up?”

She didn't want to answer that, because in all honesty she didn't know. She didn't want to admit that she didn't know what she was going to do.

“But Shiny, remember, this was my plan, my decision. I'm willing to take whatever effects occur.”

“And if this ends up killing you, would that be acceptable as well?”

That wasn't something Twilight wanted to answer, either.

“It won't,” she said adamantly, but she hated how immature she sounded as she did. “Once the whole of his power is given to me and I've acclimated to it, everything should be fine. It'll balance out.”

She didn't sound convincing at all and she knew it. She sounded like a filly who was in way over her head being reprimanded by her brother. Well, she may be in over her head, but she had to hold tight to her belief that this plan was the perfect solution. It was just much more difficult to see on this side of it.

Shining Armor appeared to be actually sick of looking at her in her current state, he moved his glance out to the room at large, and when he didn't reply again, she went back to defending Discord.

“If you must know, Discord is probably just as concerned about my safety as you are about Cadance, maybe even more.”

“Well, then he's got more sense than I give him credit for,” Shiny said. “And even if he is concerned, I doubt he's more freaked out than I am at the moment.”

Maybe it was the combination of all the secrecy she had been doing and the look on her brother's face, but for the briefest moment she contemplated about whether or not her plan really was for the best. If anything Twilight supposed that all of this was worth some reflection, given the circumstances.

She knew that everyone's concern for her wasn't without warrant. The princess, Discord, her friends, and now Shiny – even before they found out about this magical effect – they worried for her in a way that she had not been as concerned for herself.

Maybe they weren't really underestimating her capacity to absorb the magic or her abilities like she thought that they were. She knew that it all came from a place of caring, but she had to think about if she really wasn't able to withstand the whole of the chaotic power. But she had to be, it was the only way for everything to turn out alright, for there to be true balance.

Still, she had to finally admit to herself that there was something going wrong, and that needed to be addressed before they could move any further.

“I'm sorry, Shiny, for freaking you out,” she said, quiet once more, her head lowering.

“I know,” he answered, reaching out for the first time to give her a reassuring pat on the head. “I know that you'll do what you think is right, and I know I can't really stop you – but Twily – think about yourself just for a little while., or at least for the ponies who care about you.”

She couldn't hold back the tears any longer after that, and her brother it seemed couldn't hold back the proper hug he had been wanting to give her.

During their embrace she wanted to say that she was thinking about the ponies she cared about. It was true that maybe she hadn't been optimizing her health in this endeavor, but she never for a second failed to take her loved ones into account. They were what was driving her to do this in the first place. She was doing something this potentially dangerous to herself for her loved ones – all of them. She understood his meaning of course, but she didn't think he saw hers, not yet.

“It's going to work out,” she mumbled into his fur. “With me, with Cadance and the baby, with all of it. I have to believe that.”

“Why? Why do you have to?” he asked, a quaver in his voice now, too.

“Because, what other choice do we have?”

Twilight heard him sniffle to hold back his own tears, clearing his throat before speaking again.

“He could leave.”

“Be serious,” she said.

“I am,” he sounded much clearer now as he ended their embrace, looking into her eyes now in all seriousness. “Twily, it's the only thing that makes sense.”

Twilight shook her head reflexively, bemused by his almost matter-of-fact tone. “He's not doing this to me on purpose, Shiny. He doesn't even know it's happening to me yet.”

“That's not the only reason I mean and you know it. Think about it. All of the anomalies would stop, Cady could give back the order magic, and you would go back to normal.”

“You don't know that it would fix everything. Who's to say that I would go back to normal?”

“It's worth a shot.”

“No, it's not,” Twilight said, growing indignant again. “It's a last resort, if anything. And it's not an option I'm going to entertain.”

“Fine,” he answered, walking past her to the door. “I've said what I needed to. I'll let you go to the restroom and fix yourself up before Cady sees you like this.”

Frustrated with herself, with her brother, and with this whole situation, Twilight fumbled with the strap on her saddlebag, feeling like it was now constricting her. She finally was able to undo the strap, and shook it loose until it fell off of her in a moment of sweet relief.

That relief was short lived - however – when a small, grayish ear fell out from one of the pockets and rolled onto the floor.

Twilight's stomach dropped at the sight of it. She had almost completely forgotten about it, but she had a feeling that Discord had not.

---

It had been a day since Twilight had returned from her impromptu visit with her brother and sister-in-law. An entire day and Discord hadn't mentioned anything about it. He hadn't brought it up, and so Twilight hadn't either.

Who knew? Perhaps he hadn't been listening when she had had that conversation with her brother. Who's to say he had heard anything at all?

Still, it was definitely not the sort of conversation that Twilight wanted him overhearing, especially not when they were in the midst of her plan which he was still not completely on board with. It seemed like almost no pony was completely on board with it, but that would change once it was all said and done. When everything turned out for the best, just like Twilight had conceived.

Although, they had hit a literal baby sized hiccup. They still weren't sure how the order magic was going to affect Cadance's unborn foal. Her sister-in-law was still willing to continue, even after Shining Armor's vehement disapproval. Twilight wasn't sure whom he was more frustrated with, Cadance for continuing to take on the order magic while pregnant, or herself for taking on chaos when it was causing such unintended side effects on her.

This perfect plan of hers, this wonderful idea that would fix everything, it seemed to be unraveling before her eyes. Twilight had to try and weave it all back together, to prove that they were right to trust her and have faith in her even if they weren't sure about her methods.

She still hoped that he hadn't heard, not before she could have a chance to tell him about everything herself. She deftly held on to the hope that if she could see this plan through it wouldn't matter.

She wrapped that thought around herself like a protective armor as she met Discord in the desert again, fully intent on taking as much of the chaos magic as he was willing to give today.

With a flood of new found determination in each step, Twilight approached Discord as if everything were normal, as if he really hadn't over heard her talk with Shiny.

He didn't act as if he knew any more than he had before, but Twilight knew that Discord was adept at masking his true thoughts and emotions. If he were upset at what he might have heard, he did not betray it.

“So, we took a little break yesterday, but I think we should try not to take too many more. Time is of the essence still, and I sort of feel like I might fall behind what Cadance is obtaining.”

It was a determined statement, and one Twilight thought masked her own awkwardness quite well. But then again, reading past her surface was something else that Discord was quite good at.

“I think Ms. Sparky, that today we should focus solely on your mastery of the chaos power you already have inside you. I've given you a fair amount over the weeks, and even if time is of the essence, I should think another day without another transference won't cause much damage.”

Wait, what did that mean? Well, of course he was saying that he wasn't going to give her any more chaos magic today, but Twilight had more than a sneaking suspicion as to why that was. Again that fear that he really had overheard her talk with Shiny crept back to the forefront of her mind.

“You don't need to be afraid of overwhelming me. Haven't I proven that I can handle it after every transference?”

“You have...” Discord said, trailing off for a moment.

“So, then... why can't we go ahead with another session?”

“I think you know why,” he stated, which was all the confirmation she needed. So he really had heard them, and now he was reluctant to give Twilight anymore power, lest it continue to have the undesired effects on her.

He was probably waiting for her to admit what she had been hiding from him, and maybe even hurt that she would do such a thing. And Twilight did feel bad about that, but unfortunately, that hurt was manifesting itself in away that was not beneficial to her plan.

“I do, but I think that we should proceed anyway. Because this is important.”

“And so are you,” Discord said. “If you wish to proceed with my giving of my chaos power, then I think I should get a say in how it is distributed. And I say that we should slow things down for a bit. Until you've acclimated to it further.”

So this was Discord's way of showing his displeasure with what was going on with her plan, to put a temporary embargo on the magic until they were sure she could handle what she had. His concern for her was more than evident, and she was grateful for it and did appreciate it. The more logical part of her agreed with this method, at least for now.

“Fine,” she said, still frustrated but willing to let this one go if only for now. “But know that I can still handle myself more than you think.”

“I know you believe that,” he answered, which wasn't entirely reassuring, but Twilight decided to let that slide as well.

Twilight placed herself slightly away from Discord, centered between two very large cacti. She tried to focus all of her mental and magical energy on tapping into and controlling her current supply of chaos magic.

For a while it appeared that everything was going well. Twilight was fixing each new strange thing that Discord threw at her, just as she had been doing. She had pulled the chickens out of the vacuum, settled the flock of crow/chicken hybrids, and disassembled the literal dust bowl he had formed before she really began to feel like something was off.

Maybe it was her fight with her brother, or this so-very-close to an argument exchange that she had been having with Discord, but for some reason when she felt the now familiar rush of the chaotic power fill into her, it swept in so hard and fast that she was almost unable to keep up with its magical current.

The determination she had felt only a short while ago was buried under all the fears and uncertainties that were mixing with the chaos magic in an unforeseen way, both seeming to invade her mind with their barrage of thoughts and feelings. Of its own accord, her horn began to glow and a cacophony of unpleasant screeching began to emanate seemingly from all around her. Her vision went blurry as beams of blue shot from her horn, and she could feel her hooves leaving the ground without her so much as thinking about it.

Gravity seemed to reverse itself, sending many rocks and small creatures flying off into space, Twilight tried to pull them back down to correct it, but was finding it difficult while still maintaining her flow of chaos magic.

The clouds were joined by sparkling fireworks that fizzed, popped, and flew all over and around where Twilight stood. She hadn't meant for them to appear, but it seemed that every time something she meant to correct righted itself, a new problem would crop up out of nowhere.

Through the haze of green clouds and multi-colored smoke trails, she looked to see if Discord was doing this on purpose, but his befuddled expression betrayed that this was not his doing.

That was the last thing that Twilight remembered before everything went black.

---

As she rose into the air, the wind picked up speed, swirling the sand below into a frenzied dust devil. The sand whipped around her so furiously that Discord could hardly see the outline of her save for the fierce, other worldly blue glow of her eyes.

Instead of fixing what was wrong, Twilight appeared to just be making things worse. The plants in the surrounding area – the usually sturdy cacti and brush – all withered and died upon contact with her cyclone of chaotic power.

The ground beneath her was beginning to rumble and crack, forming fissures that continued on outward in all directions, nearly a kilometer on all sides.

Frogs and fire rained down as her cyclone only gained speed, Discord didn't know if Twilight had a handle on things – or thought she did - but it definitely didn't look like it from the outside.

Thinking quickly, Discord tried first to pop into the cyclone to her aid, but the wind was going so fast and the funnel was so large by this point that he wasn't certain he could even find her in all the sand and fire and rain and frogs.

He tried then to snap the chaotic elements out of existence, he tried again and again as the chaos tornado that was Twilight rampaged farther and farther from their established space and closer and closer to the much more pony populated area of Appleoosa.

When that didn't work either, he flew along beside it, still snapping and trying desperately to gain some sort of control over his own element. But then, of course, it wasn't his element anymore. It had finally happened, he had given Twilight so much of his power that the balance had shifted, she now wielded the most chaos magic while he was left severely under-powered.

Speeding himself in front of the funnel's path, Discord held out his miss matched front limbs and willed every ounce of magic he had left to work, to help him wake Twilight up, to help her reign in the power that had taken control of her, he willed and he hoped and he prayed to anything and everything.

Finally, blessedly, whether or not it was due to his power or Twilight regaining control, the cyclone finally slowed and died, leaving Twilight floating in the center, and once her eyes' glow faded, she dropped like a rock towards the ground below.

Discord popped a pillow into being to catch her, but she still landed with a mighty whump and lay disturbingly still.

It was an excruciatingly long sixty seconds before Twilight let out a soft groan and began to stir.

A shimmer of magenta, and her visage changed as well. He could finally see what had caused her brother to respond with such ire towards him, with such disgust in his voice. Twilight was now over halfway covered in sickly dark splotches, her horn looked rough and craggy, and as her eyes fluttered open and landed on his, he could see their mismatched hues. For the first time ever, it pained him to look at her.

His first instinct was to get her away from the area, lest any residual anomalies crop up. It wouldn't exactly be difficult to assume that if any pony had seen what had happened from afar that it would be traced back to them. Most likely more so to him, but Discord could take that. He wasn't entirely sure that Twilight could take them learning the truth, however.

Popping them back to the relative safety of his castle, Discord set Twilight down on one of the newly-installed velvet cushions as he made to pull up a seat of his own. Undoubtedly a conversation was warranted after something like that had just occurred. He would attempt to remain calm, although he made himself no promises.

Of the infinite possibilities of what Twilight could have said next, Discord wasn't prepared for what he got.

"I can explain---"

"You lost control. What is there to explain?” he answered quickly, not even bringing up what she had been trying to hide. His eyes had adjusted to her appearance now, although a combination of her actions and his disgust within himself at the thought that this had been yet another unintended effect of his making was causing him to not be able to sit still for long.

"But Discord, I had it under control."

"Funny way you have of controlling things. If this was you in control I'd hate to see what was out of control,” he stood from his own seat and began to walk the length of his long table, Twilight's eyes following him all the while.

"No, I had it, it was just--- It took some adjusting. "

"Well, while you were 'adjusting', you could have thrown half of Equestria into chaos."

"Don't you think I know that? Don't you think it scared me, too?"

"Why would you be scared when you had it 'under control'?"

He paused for a moment, clutching the closest chair to him. Twilight appeared to deflate at his question, eyes lowering to the table top.

"Okay, fine. I'll admit it. I did lose control for just the tiniest moment."

"And that moment could cost you dearly. In that moment you could have undone all that you were setting out on this fool's errand to do."

He had begun his pacing around the table again, and when he looked to her again, Twilight's face had hardened.

"Well, if it is such a fool's errand, then why did you agree to help me do it?"

"Because I wanted to make you happy, not because I really thought it would work," he admitted.

"Oh, I get it now,” she said, voice growing in anger to match his. “So you really don't believe in me. You don't really want to stay."

"I never said that."

"But you're implying it. You never thought this would actually work, so what am I supposed to think? It was the only option I saw of you being able to stay, of us being able to be together."

"Yes, but I won't have it at your expense. If the choice is to live alone with you safe and unharmed, or be together with this magic harming you so, forgive me for wanting to take the former."

He was coming back around the table to her now, but Discord felt the need to keep some space between them, so he turned and began pacing back the other way.

"But I told you, I had it under control,” she said.Then quickly, she corrected. “Alright--- maybe not under control, but I eventually got reigned back in.”

“After you let it have its way, when I told you to go with the flow, I didn't think you'd be letting it run wild all around inside of you.”

“It was just a mistake!” she shouted, leaping onto the table and landing directly in front of him to halt his pacing. She stared defiantly into his eyes, as if she knew how hard that was for him to do at the moment.

“Oh, and how many 'mistakes' could you have created all over Equus in the aftermath of this one? What would that have shown any pony about how you could be trusted as the new chaos being?”

Twilight paused, the fire dying down in her eyes somewhat.

“I--- I hadn't thought of that. I hadn't been thinking about much lately besides being able to carry this magic so you wouldn't have to leave...” a realization seemed to dawn on her, a revelation that stunned her speechless for a moment.

“How selfish am I?”

Her eyes began to shimmer with tears, and she covered her face as if too ashamed to look him in the eyes.

“You're right, I wasn't thinking about that. And I can't expect you to be able to clean up the messes for me anymore.”

He gave along intake of breath, and then let it out slowly. His own anger had dissipated at the sight of Twilight's tears. Of the two of them, it was not she who should be beating herself up.

His paw hovered close to her face for a moment, uncertain if this would be the moment for such a comforting gesture when they had just been in a fight. But he ultimately couldn't stand it any longer. Lifting her chin so she would look up at him again, he gently cupped her face and felt a wet streak along her blackened cheek.

“It's getting to where I physically can't anymore,” he said, much more softly that he had been speaking just moments before. He saw that his words had made her well up again, and so he added for some encouragement. “But--- if you have it under control now, I will go and see if there are any new anomalies cropping up.”

Twilight sniffed, some semblance of calm returning to her. “I'll go back to my library and---” then she paused, looking worried again, face falling, “But, do you think it's safe to do that, do you think I'm safe?”

Discord looked at her, at Twilight Sparkle. At this amazing unicorn who had done so much for him, and who was continuing to do so much for him at her own expense, and now she was fearing that what he had done to her had made her unfit to be around other ponies.

But that still wouldn't deter her, she would just want to continue with this crazy plan of hers, even if it cost her everything, including her health... maybe even her life.

And it wasn't out of some sense of duty or even out of her sympathy. She genuinely cared for him. It was easy to wrap his mind around why he was in love with her, it was so much harder for him to see what made her love him. But there it was, there she was. Caring for him so much that this happened. He feared now that that love would soon turn her into the monster that Equestria had always feared him to be.

A plan of his own was now forming in his mind as he took in her desperately worried face, and it would involve her not being around for at least a few hours.

“If you truly do have a handle on it, then I shouldn't think any pony would be in any danger. But if you sense the slightest bit of chaotic influence, come straight to the castle.”

Twilight nodded, more enthused now that Discord appeared to have assuaged her fears.

“Of course, I won't be long.”

“If you're taking solace in your books, I should expect to see you tomorrow morning.”

He got a small, sad smile out of her as she made for the door. The moment she was gone, he quickly snapped a piece of parchment into being.

Discord wasn't worried about disturbing the princess, but he wasn't certain that she would even come when summoned by him. He wasn't a favorite among the princesses, that much was certain. But he had a hunch that if he worded his appeal well, she would come to at least hear him out.

Comments

[HeartfireFirebrand]

“I got 'Twilight', 'is', 'a', 'dumb', and 'cabbage'.”

hahahah but seriously Shining you are a bit too late to warn her.

[HeartfireFirebrand]

“I am,” he sounded much clearer now as he ended their embrace, looking into her eyes now in all seriousness. “Twily, it's the only thing that makes sense.”

Twilight shook her head reflexively, bemused by his almost matter-of-fact tone. “He's not doing this to me on purpose, Shiny. He doesn't even know it's happening to me yet.”

“That's not the only reason I mean and you know it. Think about it. All of the anomalies would stop, Cady could give back the order magic, and you would go back to normal.”

“You don't know that it would fix everything. Who's to say that I would go back to normal?”

“It's worth a shot.”

“No, it's not,” Twilight said, growing indignant again. “It's a last resort, if anything. And it's not an option I'm going to entertain.”

Everything Shining said here is plausable saving Twilight giving the magic back. Chaos magic is not like you orderly pony magic for all you now her body could collapse from the damage now that there is no chaos magic holding it together or she explode or turn into a cactus. Chaoss is way too unpredictable for you to make assumptions.

[HeartfireFirebrand]

"Funny way you have of controlling things. If this was you in control I'd hate to see what was out of control,” he stood from his own seat and began to walk the length of his long table, Twilight's eyes following him all the while.

Yeah that would be scary