> These Dreams
>  by lorettafox
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"In these dreams..." Twilight Sparkle spoke before she fell fast asleep in Pinkie Pie's bedroom.

Twilight opened her eyes and saw that she was in the dark. It wasn't pitch black so she was able to see where she was. She saw black blobs in the darkness. She stared at the blobs for a moment before she realized that the blobs were simply trees. She must have be in a forest of some kind.

Deciding that she was sick of standing in the dark, Twilight used her horn as her own personal flashlight. The forest lit up, causing Twilight to notice that it was also very misty here.

"How odd, I wonder why I'm dreaming that I'm in a dark, misty forest?" she asked since she knew how to lucid dream after reading a book about dreams a few weeks ago. "What the hay am I wearing?"

Twilight looked down to notice she was wearing a simple white dress and nothing more. That was unusual, why was she dreaming herself in white as well?

"I can't stay here in this stupid forest. I have to find him! I rather him be in my dreams than nothing at all!" she cried out as as started to gallop ahead at full speed.

Twilight galloped through the many trees, not crashing into any of them since her horn lit the way. She went around one tree and turned right at another. She kept on running until she stopped next to another tree, exhausted from running through this forest. It was completely useless to keep on running through here. There seemed to be no way out of this endless forest. She flopped down against a tree and panted heavily.

She finally caught her breath as she laid comfortably against the tree. She put her hoofs against the tree when she felt something hard. Rock hard. Trees weren't rock hard, not even in her dreams! Twilight got up from where she was sitting and looked at the thing she had sat next to. Oh Celestia! It was Discord's statue!

"Discord! Hold on, I'll free you!" the alicorn screamed.

Twilight's horn glowed it's usual purple as the statue glowed the same color. Cracking noises began coming from the statue as it indeed began cracking everywhere. Twilight increased her magic output so he would be free faster. The spell did break the statue completely now, it laid as a bunch of rubble at her hoofs. She saw Discord standing before her, with a smile on his face.

"Oh interesting that I'm still a statue when you first fall asleep after what happened." he laughed. "I could have gotten out of that anyways."

"Dizzy, why?" Twilight asked, on the verge of tears now.

"Why what, my dear?" he questioned back.

"Why didn't you try to escape from the Elements? You could have easily poofed yourself away! Why didn't you flee while you could?" Twilight asked, sadness very obvious in her voice.

"I can't tell you why, my dear." he stated simply.

"W-Why?" she cried out. "I thought you wanted to be with me. I thought we were gonna be together and create chaos together. But now, without you there, there won't be any cotton candy clouds or any chocolate rain."

"I know you're hurt, Twilight, but I want to promise you something."

"What is that?" she asked sadly.

"No matter what happens in reality, whenever you dream, I'll be here. No matter what." he said with an assuring smile.

"I just might end up sleeping more just to see you. I don't want to leave you." Twilight said as she thought of her friends. "I wish my friends would have understood. I wish it couldn't have ended this way."

"Twilight, you must look on the brighter side!" Discord laughed happily.

"What brighter side? You've been turned into stone! Stone!" she yelled through her tears.

"That this isn't the end, it's a new beginning. The beginning of another story!" he smiled.

"What story? It'll be a pretty boring one if nothing happens in reality."

"Who says it has to be reality? What about your dreams, hmm? We can do so many things here to you, know. We are control of everything, after all." smiled Discord. "This dark forest is starting to bore me. We need someplace that is more, exciting. But where could we possibly go to?"

Twilight wiped the tears from her face. "H-How about we go to a snowy mountain top in a warm ski lodge?" she stated.

The surroundings changed before the pony and mismatched creature's eyes. The dark forest disappeared and instead turned into what Twilight had suggested, a warm ski lodge with a snowy mountain out the window. A fire was going in the fireplace that was on the opposite side of the lodge, it made Twilight feel happy, and at the same time, almost safe.

"Not bad imagination you got here, Twilight. It seems perfect a little too perfect for my taste." he said playfully as he snapped his fingers. A cotton candy storm appeared above them and lightly began raining chocolate milk rain. "That seems a bit better in my opinion."

Twilight couldn't help but laugh as she got pelted by chocolate rain. She hadn't been able to taste any while she was with him back in reality, maybe she could try some since she was in her dreams. Twilight tilted back her head and opened up her mouth with her tongue sticking out. Chocolate rain made their way into her throat. Twilight closed her mouth along with her eyes. The chocolate milk rain tasted so wonderful, even better than the chocolate milk she had drunk the other day at Sugarcube Corner. This is how she should always be. Completely happy.

Twilight tilted back her head into it's normal position and opened her eyes. She watched Discord snap his eagle claw fingers as he made the cotton candy storm disappear. He walked over to her and handed her a mug. She happily took the mug and looked into it. It was a cup of hot chocolate, with tiny little marshmallows floating on the top.

"Thanks so much Dis-" Twilight noticed that he disappeared in a flash. "Discord, what did you go?"

"Are you looking for me?" asked a small voice, sounding like his but oddly high and almost soothing. "Look down, my dear."

Twilight glanced down into her cup and her eyes opened as large of discs. He had turned himself into one of the marshmallows in her cup. She started to laugh.

"Why are you a marshmallow in my hot chocolate?" Twilight giggled.

"What?" he asked in the high voice. "I can't be a marshmallow in your chocolate? Afraid I'll cause something to your hot chocolate?"

"Knowing you, you most likely would do something to my hot chocolate." Twilight laughed.

"I have done anything. Much." he laughed in his normal voice.

Twilight sipped the hot chocolate, fully aware that marshmallow Discord was sitting happily in the cup. She quickly took notice that the chocolate didn't taste like it was supposed too, it tasted sweet, but a different sweet. Twilight pulled the cup away from her lips and looked into the cup again. Her drink was now pink! She looked closer at the liquid in the cup. She stared at it for a moment, when she realized what it was.

"Discord! You turned my drink into Cotton Blast?" she freaked. Cotton Blast was a drink that was meant to taste just like Cotton Candy. It was a popular item at Sugarcube Corner.

He let out another laugh. "I couldn't resist! It was too much of an opportunity." the marshmallow replied back.

"Dissy, get out of my drink. You a cute marshmallow and all, but I don't want my drink or it's contents to be able to talk back at me."

"Oh, alright." he said as he poofed out of her drink and right next to her, no longer a marshmallow.

Twilight took another sip of her drink, no longer tasting like Cotton Blast, but regular hot chocolate. She glanced down to see the drink had indeed turned back into hot chocolate. She smiled as she took another sip of it. She soon finished the drink and set the empty cup on the coffee table that was near her.

"That is something I needed." Twilight smiled.

"Twilight? Twilight?" a voice called out.

"What was that?" Twilight asked to Discord.

"It sounds like Pinkie Pie trying to wake you up. You probably should so she doesn't worry about you too much." he laughed.

"But, I'm having a wonderful time at the lodge here!" Twilight stated.

"Just see what Pinkie wants and then go home and go to sleep. We can continue our fun when you fall back asleep." smiled Discord.

Twilight gave him a sad smile. "Alright. You promise to be here when I fall back asleep?" Twilight want to make sure he didn't leave her in her dreams as well.

"Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." said Discord. "I did learn a few things from Pinkie Pie. Now go on and I'll wait for you."

"Alright then. Goodbye for now." said Twilight as she forced her real self to wake up to Pinkie's voice.

"Twilight? Are you waking up?" Pinkie Pie asked as Twilight sleepily opened her eyes to the pink pony. "Oh goody! You're awake!"

"What happened?" asked Twilight.

"You fell asleep here a few hours ago. I wanted to wake you up so you could get back to the library and get to bed in time." Pinkie smiled.

Twilight glanced at the clock. It was almost nine. Twilight thanked Pinkie for letting her sleep there for the last few hours. She quickly left Sugarcube Corner and transported herself back to her treehouse. She opened the wooden door to see Spike eating a blueberry muffin.

"There you are Twilight. How was Canterlot?" he asked.

"Nothing much really happened. I had an exhausting trip though. I'm gonna turn in now. Good night, Spike." Twilight said as she headed upstairs to her bedroom.

"Good night Twilight." Spike waved to her as he kept on eating his muffin.

Twilight got under her starry covers and fluffed her pillow. She lied down her head and close her eyes so she could go back to the ski lodge she had been before Pinkie had woken her up.

Twilight opened her eyes to see she was back at the ski lodge, but not inside it, but outside on the snowy mountain. She glanced around the area, seeing if she could find Discord.

"Discord! Discord! Where are you now?" she called out as she was answered by his trademark laugh. "I know you're there. I can here you laugh-"

SPLAT!

A snowball had made contact with Twilight's face and then it quickly fell to the ground. Twilight quickly made her own snowball and looked for the creature who she knew threw it. She turned around and saw him.

"There you are! You're gonna pay for throwing that snowball at me!" she yelled out.

"Oh, you mean this snowball?" he taunted as he magically made another one make contact with her face.

"Discord!" Using her magic, she threw the snowball at him, which hit a bull-eye's broad he conquered up in front of his chest. "I challenge you to a snowball fight!" Twilight laughed.

"A snowball fight against the spirit of chaos? Sounds fun." he said as he threw a snowball at her out of no where, this time being able to avoid it.

"Hah! You mis-" Twilight got pelted by another snowball mid-sentence. The snowball fell off her face as she saw Discord rolling in the snow, laughing at her.

"That was perfect!" he laughed.

Twilight used her magic and made several snowballs and began firing them at him. A few did miss, but most them did hit their intended target. The two went at it for an hour, until Twilight claimed defeat for she felt like she couldn't throw more snowballs at the god of chaos. She flopped herself into the snow and relaxed, noticing the snow didn't feel cold at all, just relaxing to her.

"And the winner is Discord, the spirit of disharmony and chaos!" he cheered as he flashed himself next to Twilight. "Ever want a rematch?"

"Maybe in another dream." she laughed. "I don't think I've had this much with you in my dreams for quite some time now."

"You need more chaos in you dreams, so I provided ir for you. We can't waste any opportunities to use chaos now!" he laughed.

"No we can't!" laughed the purple alicorn. "Where should we do now?"

"How about another change of scenery? I'm starting to get bored with this now dull ski lodge." he spoke as if truly bored.

Twilight simply laughed at him. "Maybe we could visit a beach?"

Discord smirked. "An excellent idea. I can create plenty of chaos there. You better make sure I don't find any crabs on the beach." he laugh evilly.

Twilight showed a look of horror. "You wouldn't actually do that to me, would you?"

Discord laughed once more. "Nah. It requires too much effort on my part anyways."

Twilight smiled. "I love you and your chaos, Discord."

"Me too, Twilight Sparkle." he smirked.

"What chaos have I caused?" she questioned.

"Your little doll." he laughed.

"Oh. That. Let's get to the beach now, shall we?" she smiled.

"Oh alright then. Be careful of me when we get there. I'm dying to try some new pranks." he laughed.

Back in reality, Twilight, still asleep, formed a smile and laughed quietly.
> Chapter 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

BAM!

Twilight bolted up from her bed when she heard something sound like they had fallen. It was about the middle of the night and Twilight quickly galloped downstairs to see what had fallen.

She reached downstairs and realized that a book had merely fallen from the shelf. She relaxed, thinking it could have been some breakable so some kind. She used her magic to pick up the book from the ground and brought it over to herself. The title on the book quickly woke her up. The book in question was titled My Love In Stone. She shook her head and decided to put the book back, it was just a coincidence that one book fell off the shelves.

Twilight returned back upstairs to return to bed when she got eye of something in her pillow. It looked like a pair of green sunglasses. She suddenly realized that she had seen Discord wear these glasses once, in a dream of her's. But how did these glasses get here? Maybe Spike found them somewhere and got it for her? Twilight glanced over at Spike, who was snoring away in his bed. It couldn't have been Spike, he looks knocked out completely. Then where did these glasses come from? Twilight set the glasses on her nightside table and got into bed and quickly went back to sleep.

Twilight reappeared in her dreams, but this time, she was at a beach, wearing a ocean blue, one-piece swimsuit on herself. Twilight did like the suit her imagination gave herself, but she had to find Discord...again.

"Discord, why do I have to find you when I fall asleep and not the other way around?" she said annoyed.

"What's wrong with a simple game of hide and seek, hmm?" his voice sang out.

"Discord, we're on a beach! There's not really any place we can hide."

Discord appeared before her wearing his giant red sunglasses upon his head. "Do you always have to be so logical Twilight? Can't you just be a little more fun than that?" he asked her.

"I am fun! I just pointing out the logical part of your hide and seek game and why it wouldn't work to well on a beach. The game would work better in an ocean's coral reef, where there are plenty of places to hide, that is, if you were small as a fish." she giggled slightly.

"You're full of ideas aren't you, Twilight?" he asked.

"Full of ideas? What the hay are you talking about?" she asked when she saw a flash and saw that she had been transported underneath the ocean, nearby a coral reef. She also realized she could breathe as well, but since this was her dream, it really didn't exactly matter. "Oh, that idea. What are we supposed to do under the sea?"

"Oh we could so many th-"

Twilight shot open her eyes to the sunlit room. She looked around in panic seeing what had woken her up so rudely. She saw Spike running towards her.

"Twilight! The princesses are here!" he yelled.

"What?" she panicked. "Why are they here for?"

"Celestia said she needed to check on you after the whole Discord thing that happened yesterday. She says you got hypnotized while in Canterlot!" he panicked.

"Spike, calm down. Let me see what the princesses want, ok?" Twilight said with a calm smile.

Twilight headed down the stairs to see the princesses had indeed showed up. Even her brother showed up as well! Twilight descended the last stair and warmly greeted them all and asked why they were all here.

"You were under a very powerful spell that Discord placed upon you. I wanted to make sure you were alright." Celestia smiled when she took notice of Twilight's body. "It seems he gave you a pair of pegasus wings as well."

"He gave you wings, Twilly?" her brother, Shining Armor, said in shock.

Twilight glanced at her back to see the wings he had given her still existed on herself. She swore that they would have disappeared when he was turned back to stone yesterday, but there they stood on her, clear as Celestia's sun.

"I guess he did. It must have happened when I was under his spell." said Twilight. "I really don't remember what happened with Discord exactly, but the others told me what happened."

"Are you feeling ok, Twilight Sparkle?" Luna asked her.

"I'm feeling ok, Princess Luna. I'm just a bit sleepily since Spike just slammed the door open so loudly." Twilight said as she rubbed her eye with her hoof.

"You sure you're alright, Twilight?" asked Princess Cadence. "Do you want me to stay with you awhile just to be sure his spell doesn't have any effects on you?"

"Well, the only affect his spell on me is that it just made me more tried than I usually am is all. I think I should spend some time today recovering on some sleep." said Twilight.

"Maybe I should stay with you, Twilight. I could be your foal sitter once more." Cadence laughed.

"That's alright, Cadence. I'm just tried is all. I just need some more sleep and I'll be fine, really." Twilight argued sleepily.

"Maybe it is a good idea for Cadence to stay with you, Twilight." said Celestia. "I know Discord's powers didn't have any after effects on your friends when he first was released, but on a pony with as much magic as you, your magic and traces of his might cause an effect."

"How so, Princess?" asked Shining Armor.

"It happened to me. After I was released from his power over a thousand years ago, I shortly caused short bursts of chaos for a few days, but it did fade away. If Cadence is there by Twilight and something should happen, she can contact me immediately." said Celestia. "This is for your own safety, Twilight. I just to make sure nothing happens."

"I understand, Princess Celestia. If this is what you want, who am I to question you?" spoke Twilight.

"I'm glad you understand, Twilight." Celestia smiled. "Let us go and let Twilight get some sleep. Cadence, make sure nothing happens to her, ok?" asked Celestia.

"I'll make sure she's ok, Tia. She's in safe hoofs." Cadence smiled.

"We'll come back later to see how you both are doing." Celestia spoke as she, Luna, and Shining Armor disappeared in a bright flash of light.

"You should really get back to bed, Twilight. You look like you're going to pass out any moment now.' said Cadence as she lifted the purple alicorn with her magic. "I'll send you off to dreamland." she smiled as she carried Twilight to her bed.

They reached Twilight's bedroom and Cadence placed Twilight back into her bed. She even was kind enough to tuck Twilight under her covers.

"Thanks for foal sitting me again." Twilight smiled.

"It's no problem, Twilight. You were my favorite foal and now you're my favorite mare." Cadence smiled. "Now, you should go back to sleep. I'll still be here whenever you decide to wake back up."

"Good night then." Twilight said.

"Good morning." Cadence laughed as she conquered up a tiny heart that touched Twilight, giving her the feeling of love.

Twilight closed her eyes as Cadence left the room and went to read some books downstairs. Twilight took a moment to close her eyes as she watched Cadence to leave the room. When she was completely gone, Twilight closed her eyes and quickly drifted off.

She opened her eyes once more and was back under the ocean with Discord giving her a look of worry.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Spike scared me awake. Now Princess Cadence is here foal sitting me to make sure your supposed hypnotic spell doesn't have any after effects on me." she spoke.

"Princess Cadence? I'm not sure I've met that princess."

"She's Celestia's niece. She married my brother recently. I sang at their reception."

"You sang?" Discord said, stunned.

"Yes I sang and I'll have you know I have an excellent voice, thank you. I sang the song called Love Is In Bloom."

"Interesting." he chuckled. "I believe we were talking about that there are many things we could do any the ocean."

"Like what exactly?" she said mockingly when suddenly, the scenery changed into a dark, misty forest. "Discord, what did you do?"

"I haven't done anything at all. You must have changed it."

"That's strange. I don't remember wanting to change it from an ocean to a forest. What is going on here?" Twilight asked.

"Twilight, where are you?" asked a voice.

"Whose there? Who is calling my name?" Twilight yelled.

"It's me, Twilight!" yelled the voice. "I'm just through the clearing!"

Twilight ran through the clearing just to find out who the voice belonged to. She stopped when she saw the pony whose voice was talking to her, but it wasn't no normal pony, it was Nightmare Moon!

"Nightmare Moon? Get out of my dreams! Get out!" Twilight screamed. "Get out!"

"Twilight Sparkle, I have a message for you and I intend to deliver it." said Nightmare Moon.

"What message?" Twilight asked curiously.

"It's a riddle from a very powerful pony who knows how to free Discord from his stone prison again and won't go back to stone if the Elements are used again." Nightmare Moon cleared her throat and delivered the riddle.

"One that dreams of him day and night She misses him with all her might Stone can be reserved and crumble If she allows her voice to rumble."

"What does that even mean?" Twilight asked.

"You must figure that out for yourself, Twilight Sparkle. Discord may know the answer, but he cannot tell you for if he gives you the answer, he can't ever be freed by anypony."

"But why did he allow himself to turn to stone in the first place?" Twilight screamed.

"That answer you will also find out in due time, Twilight Sparkle. But now, you must wake up if you wish to free Discord permanently." Nightmare said.

"What good will waking up do if I simply wake up? I have no idea where to start on figuring out your riddle!" Twilight just then realized that Discord had vanished when she ran to Nightmare Moon. "Discord? Discord? Where are you?"

"He will be back in your next dream, Twilight Sparkle. My messenger has told me to tell you that they have left an object to help you start on your way to free Discord. If you want to help free the pony you care for, you must wake up, Twilight Sparkle. Good luck and may the odds be in your favor."

Her dream started to blur around her as she was starting to wake up. Twilight opened her eyes and looked at the clock that was in her room. It was 2pm. She really must have been tired, or she didn't want to leave her dreams. Twilight glanced at her nightstand and saw that next to her new green sunglasses laid a book titled, "Love's Melody."

Twilight opened the book and began reading it, hoping that the book would help her solve the riddle she heard.
> Chapter 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight finished the book rather quickly since it was actually a filly's book and was only 32 pages long. It also was a picture book.

"I don't get it? What does this book have to do with that riddle that could possibly free Discord?" Twilight said aloud.

"What about Discord?" asked Cadence as she walked into the room.

"Oh, I was saying I'm glad he's turned back to stone! He deserved it." Twilight said before adding something under her breath. "Not he didn't."

"I'm glad you finally woken up. You've been sleeping all morning with the biggest grin I've ever seen on you!" laughed Cadence.

"I was smiling?" asked Twilight.

"The biggest grin I've ever seen on you. You were laughing quite a bit too."

"Was I talking in my sleep at all?"

"No, but you were laughing loud enough that I could hear you from all the way downstairs."

"I was having a good dream." Twilight smiled. "But then, this book appeared next to my nightstand. Do you know where it came from?"

Cadence looked at the book Twilight had just read. "Love's Melody? That's a filly's book. Wonder what it's doing here anyways?"

"I don't know. I didn't put it there when I fell back asleep this morning."

"Hmm. That's very strange." Cadence said as she levitated the book with her magic. "Well, it doesn't matter anyways." She quickly took notice of the sunglasses on Twilight's nightstand. "Cool sunglasses! They seem very...different. So...chaotic."

Twilight placed the sunglasses on her head. "Thanks. I found them the other day." She suddenly felt her stomach growl in hunger. "I guess I forgot I haven't eaten anything today. I should probably eat something."

"I saw a daisy sandwich in the fridge. It looked rather fresh, like it was just put in there." smiled Cadence.

Twilight teleported herself downstairs and went into the kitchen. She opened up the fridge and there laid a daisy sandwich, it did seem to be freshly made. How did it even get here considering she hadn't bought any daisies from the market in a while. Twilight pulled out the sandwich and took a bite out of it. It tasted so sweet...just like when she and Discord had the picnic before the elements ruined everything.

"Is that a good sandwich?" Cadence smiled.

"It is." Twilight said between bites. "Spike must have made it for me while I was gone yesterday."

"That was nice of him. Could I drink some of the wine that's in there too?" asked Cadence.

"Wine?" Twilight ate the last of the sandwich and peeked into the fridge. There sat a bottle of red wine. "Just like the one at the picnic." Twilight whispered.

"What did you say?" Cadence asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I said I don't mind sharing my wine." Twilight pulled it out and read the flavor. "Yummy, it's cherry flavored too."

"I haven't had cherry wine the longest time now." smiled Cadence as she pulled out two cups and poured them both a cup. She handed one over to Twilight who took it happily. "To a bright and happy future!" smiled Cadence as she drank her wine.

"To a great future." said Twilight as she drank her wine. The wine was the exact flavor she had been drinking with Discord. But how did the daisy sandwich and wine get here anyways? Did Discord have enough power to at least send her gifts of his affection for her? She smiled happily at the thought. At least he was there for her in reality in a way. At least he was trying to provide things for her.

Twilight yet out a yawn, indicating she was still tired. "Cadence, I'm gonna go back to sleep."

"Is that a good idea, Twilight? You've already slept the day away already." Cadence asked concerned.

"Maybe it's an affect from the spell Discord put on me. I'm sure it'll wear off in a day or two." Twilight spoke. "I'm going back to sleep now."

"Alright then." Cadence smiled slightly.

Twilight teleported herself to her bed and quickly got in. She closed her eyes and relaxed her entire body. She soon drifted back to sleep and went back into her dreams.

She opened her eyes to find herself being held by someone. She glanced upwards and saw Discord was the one holding her.

"What am I, your personal plushie?" she joked.

"You are." he spoke as he snapped his fingers, turning Twilight into a moving plushie. "Now you really are."

"Discord! Change me back this instant!" Twilight yelled.

"Why should I?" he asked playfully.

"You know what. I think I can change myself back." Twilight said as her horn began to glow, turning herself back to normal. "I was right! I turned myself back to normal!"

"But normal Twilight is so boring. I prefer alicorn Twilight if I must say. So much more interesting then a simple unicorn." Discord laughed.

"Oh ha ha." Twilight said. "You know, Nightmare Moon delivered me a riddle on a way how to free you from stone, forever." she sounded happy. "I just got to figure out what the riddle met. She also said you couldn't give me the answer or else it wouldn't work."

"Interesting. Did she say that I couldn't help you?" he asked.

"She didn't say anything about you helping me in any way. You just can't give me the answer if you know it. The riddle was One that dreams of him day and night She misses him with all her might Stone can be reserved and crumble If she allows her voice to rumble. I wonder what exactly does it mean?" Twilight said.

"Well, it has something to do with your voice, right?" he asked.

"Rumble. Does that mean shouting of some kind?" she pondered.

"Oh, you can solve that riddle later. We should have some fun since you're here!" Discord laughed.

"But I want you to be with me in reality sooner!" Twilight protested. "Don't you want to be with be?"

"Of course I do, but I know Celestia very well and she'll be very worried if I just escape a few days after being encased in stone. But you can always sleep more if you wanna be with me so much. Come on, let's go back under the sea! We keep being interrupted so so many rude ponies. We haven't been able to have any fun!" Discord said.

"Oh alright. Back to the sea!" Twilight cheered.

The scenery changed back to under the sea and the two were happily among the coral reef once more.

"So, what are we gonna do under the sea?" Twilight giggled.

"First, I take care of one small thing." Discord snapped his fingers, putting her back into the one piece blue swimsuit she had on when on the beach.

"Wait, you were the one who poofed the swimsuit on me? Why?" she asked confused.

"What can I say, you look good in blue." Discord smirked.

Twilight's face went a light shade of red. "Umm...h-how about we swim among some of the fish, hmm?"

"Interesting proposition, Twilight, but it's too dull. We need to spice the idea a bit." He snapped his fingers once more, turning Twilight into a colorful small purple fish and disappeared again.

"Discord! Get your butt back here and why did you just turn me into a fish and not yourself?" she yelled from her tiny fish more.

"Oh I did. Just something a little more...chaotic." he spoke out from behind, scaring her.

"What fish is so cha-" She froze in mid-sentence, coming face to face with a great white shark. "D-Discord?" she spoke meekly.

"Yes, Twilight dear?" he asked, flashing his new rows of MANY teeth.

"Why are you a s-s-shark?" she sounded pretty scared. "W-With such b-big teeth?"

"Why, the better to frighten you with, my dear." he smiled a bit bigger.

"Ok then. I'm gonna hide behind this reef. Alright, bye!" Twilight said quickly and swam behind a large coral reef.

Discord swam right in front of her, flashing his teeth still at her. "Why are you swimming away from me?" he asked mockingly.

"Teeth. Giant teeth." Twilight replied in a tiny, squeaky voice.

"Oh, are afraid that I'm going to-" his snapped his teeth together. "-snap you up?"

Twilight swam away quickly. She knew he was messing with her, but since he was literally a hundred times bigger than she currently was, it scared the fins off of her. Twilight hid behind in a tiny opening that was just big enough for her to fit through. She kept her mouth quiet so he wouldn't hear her and hopefully give up his shark joke on her.

"Twilight, where are you? You can't win this game of hide and seek against the god of chaos." he taunted out. "Come out, come out, wherever you are."

Twilight swam a bit further back into the opening, hoping he wouldn't see her. The opening was a bit dark, so it would hard to spot her in there anyways.

"He's not gonna find me." Twilight barely whispered to herself. "He's not gonna find me."

"Oh, are you sure about that?" said a voice in the cave as something wrapped itself around her fish body and pulled her in.

"Let me go! Let me go!" Twilight screamed as she heard a laugh. "Discord, let me go!"

Twilight got pulled a bit further into the opening and come face to face with a red octopus with a familiar stare.

"You should have seen the look on your face, Twilight!" Discord laughed. "You were so scared! It was priceless!"

"Oh ha ha." Twilight said an annoyed tone.

"Oh, come now, Twilight. You must learn to take a joke. After all, I am the god of chaos." he smiled.

"I know you're the god of chaos. You say it more than enough. You didn't have to scare me out of my wits." Twilight complained.

"Oh, it seems you're mad now." Discord mocked. "What is it gonna take to make me get a smile from you?"

Twilight thought for a second. "Do something romantic for me. You say you love me. Prove it." she said in a challenging voice.

"You want romantic now, Twilight? Fine, you win. Romance it is." he smiled as he tapped a tentacle on the ground, teleporting and changing them to a restaurant which looked like it was in the heart in Manehattan.

"What a lovely place, especially with a sunset in the distance." Twilight smiled. "Who knew dreams could be so wonderful."

"You said you wanted romance, Twilight. So I gave you some romance, though I did add some things to make it worth my while." he smirked.

"What did you do?" she asked concerned.

"Oh, there is our waiter now." Discord smiled, trying nor to laugh.

"Welcome to the Manehattan Grill, what can I get you?" said the waiter who was Princess Celestia!

"Umm...I'll take a some tulips and roasted potatoes." Twilight smiled.

"I'll just have this." Discord snapped his fingers and made it rain chocolate rain all over Celestia. It went on for a few minutes, Twilight couldn't help but laugh at the sight of Celestia getting pelted by chocolate rain. He snapped his fingers again and the cloud disappeared.

"Right away then." Celestia said as she walked back inside the restaurant.

Twilight shot Discord an 'are you serious?' look. "You made Princess Celestia wait on us, seriously?"

"I've always to have Celestia wait on me. I just want to be able to waited all for once in my immortal life."

Twilight simply laughed at his comment. "Only because this is a dream, will I not say anything about you having Princess Celestia be the waitress. I must admit, it is kind of funny for her to be a waitress."

"If you think that was funny, then you'll love this." Discord stated as another pony came up to the two of them. It was Princess Luna dressed as a chef!

"How are you both doing this evening? Could I interest you in some free desert?" Luna smiled.

"Oh, I would love desert after dinner! Do you have any cotton candy cupcakes and brownies?" Twilight smiled.

"Of course, my lady! I'll have it ready for you as soon as you finish your meal!" Luna smiled as she turned to Discord. "Can I get you any free desert for right now, Discord, sir?"

"Sir?" Twilight asked in confusion.

"I could go for a chocolate rose or two. Real roses preferred." Discord smiled.

"Of course! We only use real roses here! Chocolate roses. I'll have them right out!" Luna smiled as Discord caused her to trip over a chair that magically got into her way. Luna quickly collected herself and faced Discord. "Great prank, Discord!" After that, she went back into the restaurant.

"Were you seriously that desperate to have the princesses wait on you?" Twilight laughed.

"We're in your head so it really doesn't matter." Discord laughed. "Besides, my idea of romance and yours are very different."

"Your idea of romance is completely and utter chaos." Twilight mocked.

Discord smiled at her. "You know me too well, Twilight dear. And your idea is..." he started to talk in a rather high, feminine voice. "...two ponies together and they're so much in love. He tells her he loves her and she returns the compliment. They love being in each other company and never bore of each other." he finished his speech with a taunting smile.

"Well...that is my idea of romance." Twilight giggled.

Just then, Celestia and Luna both appeared. They both brought over Twilight's dinner and Discord's chocolate roses. Discord quickly made another cotton candy cloud rain on them both for a moment before he ceased just a moment later. The princesses left quickly back into the restaurant to leave the couple in peace.

"Tulips and roasted potatoes. I haven't had this in such a long time!" Twilight said hungrily. "It's too bad tulips are a bit expensive. They are so sweet." Twilight lifted a tulip into her mouth. "Oh Celestia! These are delicious!"

Discord simply laughed at the purple alicorn as she began stuffing several tulips and potatoes into her mouth, causing her cheeks look puffed up. Twilight heard him laughing and gave him a look of what on her face. This caused the god of chaos to simply laugh at her even more. Twilight swallowed the load in her mouth and stared at Discord.

"Why are you laughing now?" she asked.

"Your cheeks like that. You looked like a squirrel who tried to stuff all their nuts into their mouth!" he laughed.

"You know, if this is romantic, I'm not seeing it." Twilight stated.

He levitated a chocolate rose to her. "Here, a chocolate rose for my favorite alicorn."

Twilight smiled as she grabbed hold of it with her magic. "Oh, thank you Discord. I guess this is romantic." she said as she bit into the chocolate rose, which was simply a whole rose head covered in milk chocolate. Twilight smiled that her chocolate rose tasted just how she thought it would.

"This is delicious, Discord. I wish I knew where to find some of these in Ponyville." Twilight laughed.

"Maybe you have some at home." he said happily.

"Sure I do." she replied with sarcasm obvious in her voice.

"I'll think of some of these tulips for another time. Those cotton candy cupcakes and brownies are starting to sound mouth watering to be." Twilight said as she ran her tongue across her lips in anticipation.

As soon as Twilight finished her sentence, Luna came out with the sweets Twilight was starting to crave and her her meal plate away. Luna quickly dashed back inside.

"Oh boy! Cotton candy cupcakes and brownies!" Twilight said happily as she picked up the pink cupcake and took a bite. "You want a bite, Discord?" she asked, mouth full.

He poofed from his seat and appeared right next to her. He ran his lion paw down one side of her face and replied, "I'd love a bite."

Twilight didn't move as he ran his lion paw down her face. She had forgotten how soft it felf on her face. A small blush appeared on her face as she levitated the cupcake to him and levitated the entire brownie into her mouth and began chewing it.

Discord devoured the entire cupcake and smiled. "Cotton candy cupcakes. I would have never though of that."

Twilight swallowed her brownie. "Hey, you ate my cupcake! I said you could have a bite, not the entire thing!"

"Oh Twilight. You can have something a little sweeter than a cotton candy cupcake." he smiled, his teeth flashing happily.

"And what can possibly be sweeter than a cotton candy cupcake?"

"Myself?"

Twilight stood on her chair and put her forehoofs on the back of it. She stretched herself upwards in order to attempt the god of chaos, but she was too short for her to reach him. So, she simply had her eyes closed and lips sightly puckered into an 'O' shape. Discord couldn't help but realized she looked rather adorable the way she was at the moment. He decided he would be nice to the purple alicorn and give her the kiss she desired.

He leaned is head down and his lips met up with those of Twilight's. It had been quite awhile since they had kissed each other in these dreams, so it an happy feeling overtook both of them as they kissed each other. It felt like their souls were connecting with each other's once again.

The two pulled away after a moment and Twilight opened her eyes, coming face to face with Discord's yellow and red eyes. She blushed again as she never was ever really at eye level with him. "You are sweeter than cotton candy cupcakes. Sweeter and have more bang to you."

"That's what I thought, my dear." he smiled back at her, a slight blush on his face as well.

Celestia returned back outside to the table once more to clear the table for the two of them. She smiled at them and said, "Thanks for choosing Manehattan Grill. We appreciate your service," she turned to Discord. "and your chaos."

"I have to admit, this was one of the best dinners I've ever had...in my own head." Twilight laughed.

"Twilight, time to wake up. Twilight." rang Cadence's voice through the area.

"I guess it's time for you to wake up. It must be getting late." Discord said.

"Hey, wanna meet up in Appleloosa next time? Change of scenery?" Twilight asked.

"Sure thing, my dear. Until then, arrivederci!" he said as he disappeared.

Twilight opened her eyes to see the figure of Princess Cadence standing above her. Cadence smiled as Twilight further opened up her eyes.

"Good evening, sleepy head. That is one after affect. I've never seen a pony sleep so long." Cadence said.

"Good evening. What time is it?" Twilight asked.

"It's about seven. You've slept the entire day away. Are you hungry again? I saw something you might like in the fridge." Cadence said.

"Sure. Let's grab some food." Twilight said as she and Cadence teleported themselves into the kitchen. Twilight used her magic and opened the fridge. "Let's see what we have in here."

The fridge opened up wide to reveal that there were some tulips, potatoes, and some chocolate roses inside. Discord must have enough strength to send certain things from her dreams back into reality. That was sweet that he was caring for her in the real world too.

"Care for some tulips and potatoes?" asked Twilight. "I also have chocolate roses for dessert."

"Wow, you must have wanted an expensive meal. Roses must be at least ten bits of piece and tulips at eight bits a piece!"

"Well..." Twilight quickly thought of a lie. "I was in the market the other day and wanted to be a bit impulsive."

"Every once in a while is always cool to do something like that." Cadence smiled. "Let's cook these things so we can eat!" Cadence laughed.

"Sure thing!" Twilight laughed as she looked outside the kitchen window and mentally spoke, 'Thank you so much for the food, Discord. See you in Appleloosa!'Twilight smiled as she finished her thought.
> Chapter 4
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

After enjoying a rather expensive meal together, Twilight and Cadence returned to the library area.

"Cadence, can I ask you something?" Twilight asked.

"Sure thing, Twilly. What's on your mind?" she replied.

"You know that book I showed you earlier?"

"Oh, Love's Melody. The little filly's book."

"I read through it and I was wondering, what is it like to be in love with Shining Armor?"

"Your brother is wonderful, Twilight. He's the kindest colt I've ever met. He's romantic, sweet, and cares for me with all of his heart, just like he cares for you with all of his heart."

"He is my BBBFF." Twilight smiled.

"And he'll always be." Cadence smiled at her. "He'll love us both and protect us with his life until the day comes he is too old to do so."

"I know he will. Cadence, what does it feel like just to around somepony who loves and cherishes you romantically?"

"Twilight, do you have a crush on somepony?" Cadence asked happily.

"Well, I do like somepony..." Twilight said with a slight blush. She had to be careful not to give away too much information or something horrible could happen. She didn't even want to think of those possibilities.

"How that's so cute, Twilight! Whose the colt?" Cadence asked excitedly.

"I'd rather not say. I'm too embarrassed to tell."

"I'm your foal sitter, Twilight. You can trust me with anything!" she smiled.

"I'm just too scared to say is all. I'd rather not tell anypony. At least not quite yet." Twilight replied.

"I respect that then. If you ever wanna talk about colts and love tonight, you know where to find me!" Twilight let out a rather long yawn, causing Cadence to worry. "Are you still sleepy, Twilight?" Twilight simply shook her head yes. "You should get back to sleep then."

"Good night, Cadence. Are you staying overnight?" Twilight asked.

"I am. I have to make sure you're ok and nothing happens to you, right?" Cadence laughed.

"Right. Good night, Cadence." Twilight said.

"Good night. Sweet dreams." Cadence said as Twilight teleported herself upstairs. "I better let Tia know about Twilight's condition." Cadence said as she went to write a letter to Celestia.

Twilight got back under her covers for the third time today and went directly back to sleep and back into her dreams.

She appeared in Appleloosa, just like she had told Discord where to meet her before she woke up an hour ago. Twilight began walking when she noticed a long transparent sleeve on each of her forehoofs.

"What the hay?" Twilight said as she glanced around to see what was on her person. She wore a thin blue dress with transparent sleeves in the front. On her back hoofs, she wore a simple pair of black cowpony boots. Twilight laughed. "Oh Discord. You always want me to blend in just right with the scene."

"That's right, my dear." he said as he appeared next to her, causing Twilight to fall over laughing. He was wearing the same outfit that she was wearing too. He smiled that he had made her laugh.

"W-Why are you wearing a dress as well?" Twilight spoke between laughs.

"What? Can't I look just as good as you?" he asked.

"Well, no pony can ever look good as me. I'm me." Twilight smiled.

"You have a point there." he snapped his fingers and a burst of light blinded Twilight. The light disappeared instantly to reveal that Discord had turned himself into a mirror image of Twilight! "There-" he changed his voice to match her's. "-now I look and sound as good as you."

Twilight laughed at her mirror image. "Well, you may look like me, but you aren't good as the original Twilight!" she laughed.

"And the original Twilight can't do this either." Discord stomped his hoof on the ground, causing a tree to grow. On the trees were an unusual muffin fruits.

"What the hay is kind of tree?" Twilight asked.

"A chocolate muffin tree." Discord Twilight smiled at her.

"A chocolate muffin tree. You never cease to amaze me." Twilight laughed as she levitated a muffin off the tree and took a bite out of it. "This is good. It tastes just like the roses we had at the restaurant."

"Oh, I forgot to mention they're chocolate on the outside, roses on the inside." Discord Twilight smiled again.

"Creative idea. Delicious one too." Twilight giggled as she devoured the rest of the muffin.

"You are so mare-like, aren't you?" he taunted.

"I may be a mare but since I'm with you, being mare-like is the least of my worries. Besides, I think mare-like ponies probably bore you, correct?" Twilight asked.

"You are right. You're starting to know me better and better." Discord said as he turned himself back to his normal, mismatched self. "You deserve a reward for guessing correctly. Twilight Sparkle!" he poofed on himself a suit and a slick back gray hairstyle. "You have won a fabulous prize! We have up for grabs is either a kiss from moi or a wonderful new taxi? Which prize would you like?" he said happily.

"I think," she opened her wings and flew up to his face. "I want..." Discord started to blush as he was positive he knew which one she was gonna choose.

She got close enough to be able to whisper to him. "...the taxi."

Discord's face fell. He thought she was going to choose the more obvious choice. A small snicker came from Twilight. She flew down to the ground and couldn't hold in anymore and busted out laughing.

"You thought I was gonna kiss you, weren't you?" she laughed.

"You evil mare you are, Twilight." he said with an embarrassed blush on his face.

"Besides, only a gentlecolt deserves my kisses." Twilight smirked.

"Oh Twilight, you know a gentlecolt can still be chaotic, right? That sounds just like me."

Twilight realized that he had got her with that one. Not all gentlecolts were elegant, but they could still be childish and create chaos, just like the creature she loved. "Oh, alright, Discord. You got me with that one."

"I should get an apology since you tricked me." he smirked.

"Then I should get multiple apology gifts too since you've tricked me at least three times today!" Twilight argued back.

"I think your dinner and desserts were my 'apology gifts' to you, Twilight dear." he said as he used air quotes. "Well, I would like my apology gift now!" he smirked again.

"And what would make the great God of chaos forgive me for my horrible trick?" Twilight asked mockingly.

"That kiss you were supposed to give me." he smirked. "But...not just any kiss. I want it my way."

Twilight looked at him in confusion. He had never said that to her before. "Your way? How do I kiss you in your way?"

He grabbed the clothed Twilight into his arms and fell down onto the ground so now that were both lying in the desert dirt. Twilight looked at him in surprise. He then pointed above her head, she did look above. Above her head, Discord had changed the fluff of his tail into a tiny thing of mistletoe.

"It seems like you have to kiss me now." smirked Discord as one of his fingers from the lion paw ran down Twilight's cheek. "Well, I'm waiting for you to apologize to me."

"Oh, alright." she said as she slowly leaned in towards his face and closed her eyes. Her lips met up with his and she felt happy. She opened her eyes slightly to meet his red and yellow eyes. But she slowly opened them, she saw a pair of purple eyes staring back at her! Twilight opened her eyes all the way to see that she was literally kissing herself!

"Hey there, pretty mare. Come here often?" the other Twilight said as she batted her eyes.

Twilight screamed in shock and fell backwards off of the other Twilight. The other Twilight suddenly broke out into laughter. Twilight stared at her.

"Discord! That wasn't funny!" she yelled.

"It was priceless! You thought you were kissing me but you were kissing yourself! That was beyond funny!" Discord Twilight laughed.

"What did you do that for?" she asked annoyed.

"If you pull a trick on the god of chaos, you'll get one pulled right on yourself." he smirked.

"But I thought that kiss was gonna make up for it!" she pouted.

"Nope. I only did it so you would fall for my prank and you did!" he laughed again, harder than before.

"You big meanie." Twilight said with a pout.

"Oh Twilight." he said as he turned back to himself. "How about I give you a kiss, no shape-shifting this time. How about it?" he asked, laughter still clear in his voice.

"You Pinkie Promise you won't do any funny business? No mistletoe on your tail or any shape-shifting?" Twilight said annoyed.

"I promise." he smiled at her. "Come on now." he laid down back in the dirt and patted his stomach. "Come here and I'll make up for it." he said sappy-like.

"Oh alright." Twilight said as flew up onto his stomach. "No funny business at all!"

"I won't. Now come on. Pucker those little lips of yours." he said as he grabbed Twilight's head and pushed her cheeks inward, making her face look like a fish's.

Twilight pulled his eagle hand off of her using her magic and simply closed her eyes and slightly puckered her lips. She slowly leaned into Discord and felt his lips touched her's. She opened up one eye just to make sure he hadn't done anything. She saw the same horns and head, so she deepened the kiss on him, which he happily accepted from her.

They pulled away a moment later, a smile on Twilight's face. Discord simply smirked at her smile. "Was the kiss that good, Twilight?" he asked.

"It was knowing that you kept you're promise." she smiled.

"Well, I don't usually, but for you, I'll make an exception every once an awhile." he sounded bored when he spoke the sentence.

"Why is that a bad thing?" she asked.

"I'm not the type that keeps promises." he spoke.

Twilight giggled. "That's alright. You don't need to perfect. I love you for who you are."

"Oh really?" he taunted.

"Well, of course. If I didn't, why would I want to be with you in my dreams, mhm?"

"Bored of reality, perhaps?" he suggested.

"Well, a bit. But I love you for you and I just love your pranks, even if you pull them on me." she said slightly annoyed.

"Could you be any more lovely-dovey? Gag me already!" he joked.

"Oh ha ha, Discord. You know you don't mind it at all." smiled Twilight.

"Have you forgotten about the riddle?" whispered a voice.

"The riddle! I have to solve it!" Twilight spoke aloud.

"That riddle again?" Discord said.

"I don't care if Celestia and all of Equestria comes after me! I want you free now!" Twilight panicked, completely changing from the way she was before.

"Twilight, you need to calm down. You're overreacting." Discord told her.

"I want you free this instant or I'll just keep sleeping more and more just to be here with you!"

"Well, you better get to work on it now, shouldn't you?" laughed Discord.
> Chapter 5
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I should get to work on that riddle, but I have no idea where to start!" Twilight freaked out.

"Well, just forget about it for now and let's play a game!" Discord smiled.

"But what about your freedom, Dizzy?" asked Twilight.

"You can figure out that riddle later. I just thought of a fun game we could play together!"

"What game is it this time?" Twilight asked non-chantly.

"Let's see what can make you blush." he smirked out here.

"What?" Twilight yelled.

"Come on now. It'll be fun." he taunted.

"For you, Discord! I don't want to play this childish game!" Twilight yelled.

"Come on now, you'll have fun with it." he taunted her more.

"No, I'm just gonna try to figure out that riddle so I can free you." Twilight said as she starched her head. "Stone will reverse and crumble if one allows her voice to rumble. It involves my voice, but how?"

"Do you really need to worry about that riddle, Twilight dear?" he asked.

"YES! I need to worry about it! It's like you're dead at the moment!" Twilight yelled.

"I'm trapped in stone, my dear. Not dead." he said.

"To me, it feels like you were never even there after the Elements took you away...again!"

"I'm here now, don't worry." he smiled.

"How...how..." she muttered.

"How what?" he asked.

"How would you feel if I were trapped in stone and there was nothing you could do but solve a riddle? What if you couldn't visit me in my dreams, huh? What if I somehow died inside the stone? What you do about it, huh? What would you do about it?" she yelled out in one breath.

Discord simply stared at her in shock at what she asked him. What would he do if he lost her? Would chaos be worth it without a wonderful pony by your side? Would he convert into order just for her memory if something happened to her?

"I...I...I" was all he could say.

"Well...what would you do?" she yelled.

"I don't know." he sounded as if he were going to start crying. "I don't how I would handle if I lost you. It would be losing an external part of myself."

"Now you know why I want to solve this riddle." she also sounded if she was going to cry. "I just want you to not be gone from me anymore. You are apart of me as I am of you. I just want to see you again."

His urge to cry went down a bit as he couldn't stand the sight of seeing Twilight sad, not even if it was his own prank that did it. He grabbed Twilight and hugged her as a sign of apology. She felt a warm feeling in her heart and hugged him back.

"I just want to see you again. I just want to be able to tell you everything I can possibly tell you." Twilight said with a slight sob in her voice.

"Twilight..." he said.

"Hmm?" she said as she glanced up at him

"I love you." he said with a happy smile.

"I know you do." she smiled.

-
A few days later...

Twilight had been literally sleeping most of the days and nights away, only being awake to either eat or use the restroom. Her friends, the princesses, and her parents were all worried about her and why she had been sleeping so much. It had been at least four days since Discord was returned back to stone. Princess Celestia and Luna were at Twilight's place looking over the sleeping alicorn.

"And she's been like this ever since Cadence watched her?" asked Celestia.

"Yeah. Ever time I come in here, she's always sleeping. I'm worried, it's not normal for a pony to sleep like this, is it?" asked Spike.

"It is not. I have a feeling this isn't just Discord's powers after affect on her. There is something medically wrong with her." said Celestia.

"Is she gonna be ok, Celestia?" Spike worried.

"I don't know, Spike. I honestly don't know." Celestia sighed and looked over at Luna. "Luna, when you watched her, what did you say she was like when she was awake?"

"She would just go and eat daisy sandwiches that seemed there at lunch and dinner. I asked her how she was and she answered me that she's alright. She's sounds so secretive when I asked her any questions." said Luna.

"Daisy sandwiches?" Spike said in confusion. "She doesn't gone to the market for daisies lately. How could she have been eating daisy sandwiches?"

"I do not know, Spike. I remember opening up her fridge and there would be a daisy sandwich and some wine." said Luna.

"That is very unusual." said Celestia. "I don't suppose anypony has come by recently with any food?"

"Well, Rainbow Dash and Rarity did visit the other day, but Twilight was asleep. They didn't bring any food with them." replied Spike.

"This is very unusual." said Celestia. "Twilight should also be taken to a doctor immediately. We need to know what her condition is exactly."

"Twilight, you have to wake up. It's an emergency!" Spike said as he shook her softly.

Twilight opened her eyes. "W-What's the emergency, Spike? I-Is there chaos around?" she asked sleepily until she noticed the princesses. "Princesses, what are you both doing here?" she asked.

"Twilight, you need to visit the emergency room. You have been sleeping for the last four days and I'm worried you may have the Sleeping Pony condition." Celestia worried.

"I'm alright, Princess Celestia. I've just been tired is all." Twilight answered.

"I just want a doctor's analysis of you, Twilight. I just want to make sure Discord didn't put any affects like this on you." Celestia said.

"As you wish, Princess Celestia. I'm off to the Ponyville Hospital then." Twilight said.

"I'll take you there myself." said Luna as she teleported the two of them to Ponyville Hospital's emergency room, where a nurse spotted their entrance.

"Princess Luna! How may we help you?" the nurse asked.

"Twilight Sparkle is in need of a medical exam immediately." Luna stated as she pointed her hoof to Twilight.

"What seems to be wrong, Twilight?" asked the nurse.

"I've been sleeping day and night the last four days only getting up to eat or use the restroom." Twilight replied.

"Oh my. I'll put you in a room ASAP and have Dr. Medic look at you. Follow me." said the nurse. "Luna, you should come as well to ensure she doesn't fall back asleep."

The nurse led Twilight and Luna to a hospital room, where Twilight hopped onto the examination table. The nurse left and the doctor entered the room just as quickly as the nurse left.

"I've been told you've been sleeping alot, Twilight?" he asked.

"Yes." she replied.

"Have you been having any emotional issues of any kind at all?"

"Well...yes."

"I see. I'm going to give you a routine check-up and see if there is anything else that might be affecting your sleep patterns." the doctor said.

The doctor gave Twilight a basic pony check-up: height and weight check, heart beat, heart pressure, and a reflex test. She seemed to pass them all just fine.

"Well, Twilight. You are healthy as a filly. I think I understand why you are sleeping so much though." said the doctor.

"And why so, doctor?" asked Luna.

"She told me earlier she is having emotional issues. She might be sleeping more in order to not have to deal with them. What ever the issue is, it must be bothering her quite a lot. I've seen this in other ponies who lost a loved one or lost someone's trust or any other emotional issues." replied the doctor as he turned to Twilight. "Twilight, I recommend you visit the psychiatrist, Dr. Hoofville. He might help you get through your emotional issues."

"When should I see Dr. Hoofville?" Twilight asked.

"You can see him right after you leave her a matter of fact. Would you like me to call him and tell him you're coming? Today is usually a slow day for patients." said Dr. Medic.

"Please do. I'll escort her over to him ASAP." said Luna.

"Alright then. He's not too far from the hospital. The building is just down the street. It's called Hoofville's Mind Therapy. You can't miss it."

"Thank you, doctor. Where do I go to pay the medical bill?" asked Luna.

"No need to, Princess. The royal banker will take care of it for you. I'll give Hoofville the call right now. I hope you can sort through your emotional issues, Twilight Sparkle."

"Thanks, I'll do my best." Twilight said with a fake grin as she and Luna left Ponyville Hospital and made their way to mind therapy.

Luna escorted Twilight to Hoofville's Mind Therapy. They both reached the building and realized the doctor wasn't kidding when he said you couldn't miss it. The building did have a large brain on it as well as the name. The two of them walked inside to come up to a receptionist unicorn using her magic to type away on the computer. She heard the door open and glanced up to see them.

"You must be Twilight Sparkle that Dr. Medic called about." she replied.

"Yes I am." Twilight replied.

"Dr. Hoofville is waiting for you right through that door. Nopony else is in there, so go right in." the unicorn said.

Twilight walked through the door as Luna stayed out in the lobby as she chatted with the unicorn who was trying to finish up some paperwork for Dr. Hoofville.

Dr. Hoofville was sitting in his special chair as he watched Twilight walk into the door. He smiled when he saw her. "Good afternoon, Twilight Sparkle. Dr. Medic called me telling me you're having some emotional issues that are affecting your sleep patterns."

"I am." Twilight replied.

"Why don't you lie down on the couch over there and let's see if we can sort through this. You have as much time as you need Twilight, as I have no other appointments today."

"Ok then. One question though, you won't tell anypony about this, correct?" Twilight asked concerned.

"I have to tell Princess Luna something but whoever or whatever is causing your emotional problems I will not tell. It's my job." Dr. Hoofville smiled. "Now tell me, when did this need for endless sleep start?" he asked.

"About four days ago. After my friends and I defeated Discord, he got freed again."

"Oh? Do you know how he got freed?"

"I freed him using a book of ancient spells."

"I see." he said as he used his magic to write something down. "Why did you free him in the first place?"

"Well, after we sealed him the first time in stone, I began getting these dreams shortly afterwards that showed me as a pegasus unicorn when I simply was just a unicorn then. The dreams also had him being romantic towards me."

"Oh? How did you feel about these dreams at first?"

"Well, they did scare me at first but after a week or so, I realized the dreams were the one of the closet things I would have towards romance, so they stop bothering me."

"Do you still have these dreams now?"

"Whenever I fall asleep. It's like being happy all the time."

"Twilight, have you developed love for Discord at all?"

"Well..." Twilight sighed. "I have. At first I was appalled by it, then as the dreams kept going, I realized that he isn't that bad of a pony, he's most likely lonesome and just wants a pony to prank around with."

"Is this love what lead you to free him from his stone prison the second time?"

"Yes, but my friends think it was because I was under a spell of his, but I wasn't. When they used the elements in him just later that day, I lied and said that I was under a spell. But I never was."

"Is the reason you've been sleeping so much the last four days is just to see him?"

"Yes. My friends made me turn him back to stone by force when I didn't want too. Now, I've been given this riddle in my dreams."

"Riddle? Do tell."

"Well in my dream when the frequent sleeping started I got this riddle stating: "Stone can be reversed and crumble if one allows her voice to rumble. I'm not sure what it means exactly but it can set him free if I figure it out."

"Twilight, if he was freed forever, how would you feel about it?"

"I would be more than happy. My love will be freed forever." Twilight laughed. "Oh, and I'll make sure he doesn't affect your business. I'm sure he'll make it boom with all the weird chaos that'll run around."

"I see. About this riddle. It sounds like something involving you using your voice, correct?"

"Yes, at first I thought it meant shouting, but that makes no sense. I haven't been able to think of anything else since I haven't been trying for a few days in my dreams to go and solve it."

"Twilight, perhaps the answer you seek to your riddle is singing. Singing causes vibrations just like speech does. If you sing high enough, it might be possible to cause stone to crack and break, freeing him." he smiled as he wrote down more notes.

Twilight sat there, dumfounded. Dr. Hoofville was right. That was the answer she had been looking for! The answer was singing this entire time! But, what song was she supposed to sing anyway? She didn't know any songs that were really that high and did she even know how to sing that high?

"Twilight? Twilight Sparkle?" he called her name.

"What?" Twilight said as she came back to reality.

"Did you realize something?" he asked.

"I think I just found out the answer to the riddle. Thank you, Dr. Hoofville. I think my excessive sleeping will be ending in a couple of days." she smiled.

"I'm glad I was able to help you, Twilight. I have just one more question for you. Will you make sure when you're able to release Discord than he not do anything to my business?" he laughed.

"I'll make sure he doesn't do anything to your business, Dr. Hoofville. He'll more than likely increase your business!" she laughed. "Are we done here?"

"Yes, Twilight. You are done here. I just need to tell Luna that I think your excessive sleeping will disappear in a few days." Dr, Hoofville said as he and Twilight walked out where Luna and the reception unicorn were chatting away. Luna looked up to see the two walking over to them.

"So, how is she now, Dr. Hoofville?" asked Luna.

"Well, the reason for her excessive sleeping is that she is missing somepony very deeply and sees them very frequently in her dreams. We were able to sort through her emotional issues and I think in a couple of days, Twilight will back to regular sleeping patterns."

"I see. Is there anything we should worry about in the mean time?" asked Luna.

"Not at all, your highness. Twilight here will be still asleep a lot the next two days, at the most. But afterwards, I think she'll be better and happier than ever after all her emotional problems are talked with the young pony in her dreams."

"Thank you for everything, doctor." Twilight smiled.

"No problem, Twilight. I hope you feel better!" he smiled as the two mares walked out of the building.

Luna and Twilight walked outside the building. They began walking away from the building when they both ran into Pinkie Pie, who was making some fillies laugh by telling jokes. She saw Twilight and smiled.

"Hey Twilight!" Pinkie called. "Hey Princess Luna!"

"Good day, Pinkie Pie." Luna smiled.

"Hey Pinkie." Twilight smiled.

"Twilight, I got you a fortune cookie!" Pinkie said as she pulled it from out of nowhere it seemed. "I saw this on the counter today and something told me that you needed this one fortune cookie!"

"Thanks, Pinkie." Twilight said as she cracked up the cookie open and put one half into her mouth. She pulled out her fortune from the other half and read it aloud. "You will soon witness a miracle." Twilight smiled at the fortune and at Pinkie. "I see why this cookie called out to you, Pinkie Pie. I hope the fortune comes true."

"I love it when my fortunes come true, especially the good ones!" Pinkie said happily. "Hope you witness an awesome miracle."

"Me too, Pinkie. Me too." Twilight said as she and Luna made their way back to Twilight's treehouse.

They both returned back to the treehouse and opened the door to see Celestia reading a book and Spike playing with a toy stallion he had. They both heard the door opened and looked up.

"How is she, my sister?" Celestia asked. Luna explained the whole thing to her. "That's a relief it'll be over in a couple days. Who is this pony you're missing, Twilight?"

Twilight quickly spoke. "I only talked about one pony but I actually miss my parents and grandparents."

"Have been having any problems with them, Twi?" asked Spike.

"No, it's just been awhile since I saw them. After the elements defeated Discord, I realized shortly afterwards, what if Discord broke free again and I couldn't see my family again? The homesick feeling must have grown so intensely that I began seeing them in my dreams. It was so wonderful to see them again, I didn't want to leave them." Twilight lied. She did miss her parents and grandparents, but she wasn't dreaming about them. Though, she did dream that her and Discord were visiting them for a little awhile.

"I think I can get them all to come and see you again." smiled Princess Celestia. "I'll get Cadence and Shining Armor to come as well. Will tomorrow be alright? This way we can get you back to normal."

"I would love to see them." Twilight smiled.

"I'll make sure to wake her up and stays up." said Spike as he did a salute pose.

"Thank you, Spike but I'm sure she'll stay awake with her family by her side." Celestia smiled when Twilight yawned. "Why don't you go back to your dream family until tomorrow, Twilight. I'm not worried anymore now that we know what the problem is. But I do want to know one thing."

"Yes, Princess?" Twilight asked with hesitation.

"Why were you being so secretive about this?" asked Celestia.

"I didn't want you to think I was so homesick and missing my family. I wanted you to think that I could handle myself."

"Twilight, there is nothing wrong with being homesick. It happens to every pony sometimes. You could have told me from the beginning and I would have understood."

"I know and I'm sorry I worried you Princess Celestia. I should've just told you." Twilight said sadly.

Celestia gently hugged her faithful student. "It is ok, Twilight. Go to sleep and we'll see you tomorrow. Luna and I will be there as well. I'll have your friends come as well."

Twilight hugged her mentor back. "Thank you, Princess Celestia. I'll see you tomorrow then. Good afternoon then." Twilight said as she teleported upstairs and went under the covers and back to sleep.

"Sister, will she be normal after seeing her family again?" asked Luna.

"I hope so, Luna. If not, then I know what truly is bothering her." said Celestia. "Spike, watch after her, alright?"

"Of course, Princess!" said Spike.

Celestia and Luna walked out the treehouse and got into their chariot where the pegasus ponies driving it flew off into the sky with them on it.

"What else could be bothering her, Tia?" asked Luna.

"Discord." said Celestia as they both flew back to Canterlot.
> Chapter 6
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight fell back asleep that late afternoon. She quickly opened her eyes once more to see she was near a lake, but not the one she had been to before. This one had a waterfall connected to it. Twilight got onto her feet and gave her wings a good old stretch. She glanced around the area but didn't spot Discord anywhere.

"Discord, where are you?" she called happily. "I have such wonderful news you have to hear!"

"And what news would that be?" his voice rang out.

"How about you show yourself and I'll tell you." Twilight laughed.

"Alright, you win." he stated as he appeared in front of Twilight. "Now, what is this wonderful news that I have to hear?"

"I finally know the answer to the riddle!" Twilight said happily.

"Oh? What is the answer then?" he asked happily.

"It's singing! I have to sing to break you out of that stone prison!"

"And how exactly are you going to do that, Twilight?"

"That I really don't know, unfortunately. I wish I knew what to sing though."

At that moment, Nightmare Moon appeared before Twilight and Discord. Her appearance did scare Twilight a bit.

"Twilight Sparkle, you have figured out the riddle. Congratulations." Nightmare Moon smiled. "Now, you are able to free Discord whenever you wish."

"But, what song am I supposed to sing anyways? The riddle sounded like I had to sing something with a high note."

"Twilight Sparkle, the song must come from your heart. That will break the stone prison." said Nightmare Moon.

"A song from her heart?" Discord laughed.

"Discord, she's being serious!" Twilight complained. "Why are you so childish?"

"Relax, Twilight. I'm only messing with you." Discord laughed as he tapped her nose, something that really annoyed her.

"Discord, I hate when you do that!" Twilight yelled as she looked back at Nightmare Moon. "A song from my heart, you said?"

"Yes, Twilight Sparkle. Only will a song from your heart break him free once more. I must depart now. Good luck to you Twilight and may the odds be in your favor." Nightmare Moon said as she disappeared before Twilight's eyes.

"May the odds be in your favor." Twilight repeated. "The odds are in my favor tonight." she spoke as she nuzzled herself next to Discord. "You're going to free after tomorrow, Dizzy. Finally free."

Discord smiled at the thought as finally being free. "To wreck havoc on all those ponies. How fun!"

"No wrecking havoc on those poor ponies!" Twilight yelled. "Pranks only!" she nagged.

"What are you now, Naggy Sparkle?" he laughed.

"I am NOT being naggy, Discord! I am trying to get you to be a bit more responsible!" Twilight argued. "It wouldn't kill you to be more responsible, would it?"

"It probably would kill me." he smiled. "I'm not the responsible type, Twilight. Remember?"

"I know you're not the 'responsible' type, but it's not going to kill you to become just a bit more responsible. I can only wonder what you were like when you were ruler of Equestria..."

He sighed sadly. "Not the prankster you know me as right now."

"What were you? A vicious monster?" asked Twilight.

"Actually yes. I was rather cruel creature until I met Princess Celestia. I stilled ruled several years after that, but I was much more kinder and simply created prank-like chaos instead."

"Wow. I never knew that. How exactly were you cruel before meeting Princess Celestia?"

"You know the cotton candy clouds that I use all the time that pour chocolate milk rain?"

"Mhm."

"Well, they used to be normal clouds that rained extremely hot tea."

Twilight stared at him in horror. "You stopped after you met Celestia, right?"

"Well, yeah. I found out it was better to annoy ponies instead of hurting them." he smiled.

"It always better to annoy than hurt." Twilight said as she hugged him.

He happily hugged her back.

The next day...

"Twilight! Wake up! Everyone's here!" Spike called out into her bedroom.

Twilight opened her eyes weakly. "Where is everyone?" she asked.

"Your family and friends. They're all downstairs waiting to see you! They keep wondering where you are!" Spike said eagerly.

Twilight smiled. "Ok. I'm up, Spike. I'm up." Twilight smiled as she hopped out of bed. After she saw her family today, she was going to slip away for a little bit and free Discord. She finally figured out what song she was going to sing. It did reflect how she felt about him, after all.

Twilight quietly crept downstairs and glanced below. Everyone was indeed here, even Applejack's cousin Braeburn and his girlfriend, Little Strongheart, whom was a buffalo, was there too. Twilight smiled at seeing everyone there. She walked down the stairs without caring if the stairs squeaked underneath her. Her grandmother was the first one to spot her.

"Twilight dear! There you are, sleepyhead!" her grandmother said happily.

"Hi Grandma." Twilight smiled back.

"Princess Celestia says you've been sleeping excessively because you've been missing us?" asked Grandma Sparkle.

"I-I have." Twilight stuttered.

"You alright, Twi? You hesitated there for a second." said Applejack.

"I'm alright, AJ. I've just been sleeping excessively." Twilight said with a fake grin.

"Oh alright then, Twilight. Hopefully seeing yer family will return you back to normal." smiled Applejack.

"It will." Twilight said as she turned around and saw her parents. "Mom! Dad!"

"Hey there, Twilight! How have you been?" Mr. Sparkle asked.

"I've been ok, Dad. Nothing really special."

"Twilight, Celestia says you been sleeping day and night for the last five days. I'm worried about you." said Mrs. Sparkle.

"I'm going to be alright, Mom. It's because I've been missing my family so much and I see you guys in my dreams all the time that I didn't want to leave." Twilight lied.

"I hope so. We can't have our daughter sleeping all the time. She has to get back to her studies!" laughed Mr. Sparkle.

"I will be getting back to my studies very soon, Dad. Maybe tomorrow or Saturday perhaps. Unless, I have plans with a special pony." Twilight smiled.

"Oh, you've met a nice, young colt?" asked Mrs. Sparkle. "Who is he then? Go on, tell us!"

"Well, I met him just after we sealed Discord the first time in stone." she lied. "He's really sweet, but ironically, is a prankster."

"Wait, when did you meet a colt?" asked Rarity as she walked over. "I've never seen you with any colts."

"That's because I've been keeping it a secret. Well, until now, that is." Twilight smiled.

"Oh, a secret romance! How romantic! Who is this lucky colt by the way?" asked Rarity.

"Well, he's not from Ponyville, so you don't really know him." said Twilight.

"Maybe so, but what is his name?" asked Rarity excitedly. "It's ok, you can tell me and your parents."

"I'd rather not say." Twilight said.

"Oh. I could have helped you two somehow. Maybe we'll be be able to meet him soon, yes?" asked Rarity.

"Very soon." Twilight smiled. 'I hope this time my friends will accept Discord. If not, I'll have to use a spell on them. I know I shouldn't, but I love him and I want him to be friends with my friends and family.' she thought to herself. 'Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie could pull pranks with him. Rarity could perhaps help him look better. Applejack could teach how to apple harvest. Fluttershy could show him some of the animals she has.'

"Twilight? Earth to Twilight!" called a voice.

"What?" Twilight said as she snapped out of her thoughts.

"Twilight, you looked lost there for a second. You sure you're ok?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"I'm fine, Rainbow. I was just thinking to myself is all."

"Thinking? What were you thinking about, egghead?"

"Stuff. Stuff you don't need to be sticking your hoof into to." Twilight said as she walked over to Little Strongheart. "Hey, Strongheart. It's been awhile, hasn't it?"

"It sure has, Twilight. How are you?" Strongheart asked.

"I'm almost over this sleeping condition according to the doctors I visited yesterday." said Twilight.

"That's good to hear. Applejack sent word to Braeburn and he was worried about you too." replied Strongheart.

Hours passed by and Twilight was having one of the best times with her friends and family. It was just shortly after the moon had risen, Luna even brought out the stars as well. Twilight and her family had just finished eating dinner, spaghetti and hay balls. They were all chatting away when Twilight decided it was time to free him.

"Excuse me,, everypony. I have to go into town and do something. I should be back in twenty minutes or so." said Twilight.

"Alright, Twilight. Maybe someone should go with you?" Celestia recommended.

"I'll go! I'll go!" Pinkie Pie said happily.

Twilight knew Pinkie Pie was the only pony who actually accepted her relationship with Discord. She smiled happily. "Sure thing, Pinkie. You can come with me and make sure I don't fall back asleep." Twilight laughed.

"Okey dokey lokey!" Pinkie smiled as she and Twilight walked outside and Twilight closed the door behind them. "Where are we going to anyways, Twilight?"

"You remember the promise you made me earlier this week?" asked Twilight.

"Of course I do! I haven't told anypony. Nopony what so ever!" Pinkie said.

"Well, I know a way to free him. That means chocolate rain once more." Twilight smiled.

"Chocolate rain once more! Hooray!" Pinkie said happily when she remembered something. "But the elements are gonna be used on him again. It's certain. What are you gonna do about it, Twilight?"

"You wanna know the real reason I've been sleeping so much, Pinkie Pie?"

"It's because of him, isn't it?"

"It is. But in my dream, Nightmare Moon came-"

"Nightmare Moon was in your dreams? That's so weird!"

"Pinkie! Let me go on! Anyways, she came in my dreams and delivered me a riddle from unknown pony who knew how to break the spell once more and a way that the Elements wouldn't work on him again!"

"That means chocolate rain forever?" Pinkie said happily.

"Yes, Pinkie. Chocolate rain forever." Twilight smiled. "We need to get to Canterlot now. I know a spell that can get us both there. You better hang onto me, Pinkie Pie."

Pinkie Pie sat on Twilight's back. "All ready to go, Twi!"

Twilight sighed. "We're off to Canterlot!" Her horn began to glow as the two ponies disappeared from Ponyville. They both reappeared in Canterlot, more specially the gardens. "Well, we're here, Pinkie. Could you help me find the statue?"

"Found it!" Pinkie Pie said happily.

"Already?" Twilight said as she walked next to Pinkie.

"Well, it's the only one with a magical barrier surrounding it." laughed Pinkie.

"Well, none of the other statues have any creatures in them." Twilight laughed for a moment before turning serious. "Stand back, Pinkie. I don't know if this is actually going to work."

"What are you gonna do?"

"The riddle's answer was singing. A song from the heart and I know the perfect one." Twilight smiled.

"Want some music for your song?" Pinkie said, a music station in front of her. Twilight didn't ask how she got it here in the first place.

"Sure thing." Twilight whispered the song into Pinkie's ear. "Ready, Pinkie Pie?"

"I'm ready, sister! Sing your soul out!" Pinkie said she threw a mic to Twilight who got it with her magic.

"It's time for your freedom, Discord. Your permanent freedom." Twilight said happily as Pinkie started up the music.

"Tell me, how do I live without you, Discord?
I want to know how I can breathe without you.
How do I ever survive?
Without you, there be no sun in my sky Be no love in my life If you ever leave forever, you'll take away the good in my life."

Twilight kept singing Sapphire Shores' song "How Do I Live?" with an obvious replacement of names. The magical barrier around the statue began to flex unusually as if it was breaking, but it didn't want to. Twilight watched and put a bit more power into her words. The magic that was in the song suddenly came out of her horn and attacked the barrier. The barrier tried to fight back, but Twilight's song was too much for the power of the barrier, causing the entire thing to shatter.

The barrier was gone, but the statue still stood. Twilight kept singing as the magic from the song flew off of her horn and attacked the Discord statue. The statue slowly began to start cracking, Twilight smiled happily and sang even more emotion into her song. The magic grew slightly more powerful, causing the statue to start cracking even faster.

Twilight's song was coming to an end and the statue was almost broken. She wondered if he could come out now. She sang the last note of the song and the magic finally cracked and made the entire stone statue crumble and fall to the ground, now just pieces of rubble.

The destroying of the stone caused a cloud of dust to appear, causing Twilight to look away but she was able to call out, "Discord, you're free! You're finally free!" she said with a slight cough.

The smoke cleared and Twilight looked in the direction of where the statue was happily, expecting him to stand there or doing some silly pose. Her mouth dropped when she didn't spot him at all. "Discord! I don't have time for your stupid pranks! Show yourself!" she yelled.

"Hey, who is in the gardens?" yelled an angry voice. It was one of the royal guards.

"Twilight!" Pinkie whispered. "We're gonna be in huge trouble if they catch us!" she sounded scared.

Twilight looked at the rubble and at Pinkie. "Hang on to me, Pinkie. We have to get out of here!"

Twilight tried to cast the spell to transport them both back to Ponyville, but she couldn't! "Oh no, I can't cast the spell! It looks like we have to take to the skies, Pinkie! Hang on!"

Pinkie clinged onto Twilight tightly as she gained full speed and opened up her wings and flew up into the sky.

"That's the pony who was in the gardens! After her!" one the gurads called from below. "She's broken the Discord statue as well! She must be captured at all costs!"

"Oh no, Oh no! Pinkie Pie, we can't get caught! What are we going to do?" Twilight panicked.

"Wait, look up there Twilight!" Pinkie Pie said as she looked up.

Twilight looked up to see a cloud above her. It wasn't no ordinary cloud, it was pink! "A cotton candy cloud! We just might be saved!" she shouted as she flew up towards the cloud.

"You will not get away with this, mare!" a guard flying after them shouted.

"Discord, if you can hear me, please help us, please!" Twilight pleaded aloud, desperately.

"Please, Discord! I approve of your relationship with Twilight and chocolate rain! The chocolate rain! Please help us!" Pinkie screamed aloud as well.

Twilight made it to the top of the cloud and stood on it and lowered herself, Pinkie still holding on just in case they had to fly off again.

"There she is and she has an friend as well!" a guard shouted. "Surround the cloud so they can't fly away!"

"No. Discord, help us, please!" Twilight screamed again.

"There's no where to fly! We have you surrounded, mares!" a guard shouted.

"Oh no. We're gonna get thrown in prison and Celestia is gonna hate me! What do I do?" Twilight panicked.

"Someone call for a little rain of chaos?" called out a voice.

"Yes! Please, don't let them capture us, please!" Twilight cried out as she hid her head and Pinkie did the same thing.

"As you wish, my dear." replied the voice as the guards suddenly were poofed down to earth and were stuck in bubble gum.

Twilight and Pinkie heard noises from below them, so they both slightly lifted their heads and glanced over the side of the cotton candy clouds. They saw the guards that had been chasing them, trapped in bubblegum.

"We're saved!" Twilight said happily. "Discord, where are you? I wanna thank you properly." she smiled.

"Yum! Cotton Candy!" Pinkie said happily as she shoved a hoof full into her mouth.

"Oh, what's the fun of being proper now?" his voice taunted.

"Can I at least see you?" Twilight laughed.

"Fine." his voice sounded annoyed by the request. A flash of light appeared before the two ponies and out of the light appeared Discord, the god of disharmony and chaos.

"Discord!" Pinkie Pie and Twilight said happily together.

He sat on the cloud next to the two ponies. "Hello Twilight and Pinkie Pie. It seems not just only one pony wanted to see me." he laughed.

"Are you kidding? I've been wanting these cotton candy clouds back!" Pinkie said happily.

Discord laughed happily. "I can see that." he suddenly felt a hoof tapping on him. He turned around to see it was Twilight, tears in her eyes. "You ok, Twilight?"

"I can finally have you again." Twilight cried happily. "You're finally free, forever. I've missed you so much, Dizzy." she said as she hugged Discord with all her might.

Discord laughed as he hugged Twilight back. "I've been missing you as well. Now I'll never have to worry about the Elements of Harmony or the princesses turning me back into stone for the millionth time!"

"Awww...that's so sweet!" Pinkie Pie said happily. "Hey, shouldn't we get back to your family before they start worrying?"

"Oh no!" Twilight panicked. "I will they react if they see you come through the door, Discord?"

"Not to worry, my dear. I know a spell that will get your family, friends, and the princesses to expect me and you together." smiled Discord.

"I don't know if I would feel good about putting them all under a spell..." Twilight said.

"Do you want to be together, Twilight?" he asked.

"Yes, so very much." Twilight cried.

"Then, no one will say that I'm a bad choice for you and you'll still have your friends." said Discord. "The only pony who probably doesn't have to affected is Pinkie Pie over there." he pointed to Pinkie, who kept eating gradually at the cloud.

"I guess you're right, Discord. Promise me one thing though?" she asked.

"What promise do you want me to make this time?" he asked.

"That you only affect how they feel about us and you. Nothing more than that, ok?" Twilight asked.

"I Pinkie Promise." Discord said.

"I guess we should get home then." said Twilight.

"Already taken care of." Discord smiled as he snapped his fingers and the three of them poofed away from Canterlot Gardens.
> Chapter 7
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Twilight! Twilight!" came a voice.

"Where is that voice coming from?" Twilight asked as she looked at Discord.

"I have not a clue." he stated.

"Twilight! Wake up! Everypony is here!" the voice shouted threw.

"Wake up?" Twilight repeated to herself. "Wait, I've been asleep this whole time?"

Twilight opened her eyes to see Spike towering over her. He gave her a smile.

"Finally you've woken up! Everyone's downstairs waiting for you, Twilight." Spike said happily.

"But, I thought I saw everyone?" Twilight said in confusion.

"Wow, this sleeping thing is getting worse. You're starting to confuse your dreams as reality now. Maybe you should go back to Dr. Hoofville." said Spike with concern.

"No, I must miss everyone more than I realized." Twilight spoke. "I should go and greet them now." she faked a smile.

Twilight hopped out of her bed and teleported herself downstairs. She reappeared in the middle of the room, scaring a few of her friends and family members, but they quickly got over it. They all smiled when they all saw that it was Twilight. Mrs. Sparkle was the first one of the family to approach her daughter.

"Twilight, it's been awhile! How are you sweetie?" Mrs. Sparkle asked.

"I-I've been alright..." Twilight said calmly.

"Have you been sleeping ok?" Mr. Sparkle asked. "Celestia told us just yesterday you've been sleeping quite alot. Are you ok, Twilly?"

"I'm alright, Dad. I've just missed you guys a lot." Twilight smiled. 'I could have sworn that dream was reality. Is Discord now trying to make my dreams seem more like reality or am I slowly going insane?' Twilight thought to herself.

"Are you sure, Twilly?" Mr. Sparkle asked. "Your mother and I are really worried about you."

"I'm fine, really I am. I've just been sleeping is all." Twilight said again.

"Twilly, over here!" called out Shining Armor from behind her always. "I wanna talk to you abit!" he smiled.

Twilight walked over to Shining Armor and Cadence, whom was standing next to him.

"What's up, BBBFF?" she smiled.

"Twilly," he sounded concerned. "I've been getting real worried about you lately with all this sleep you're doing. Are you sure it's just you've been missing Mom, Dad, and our family? Is there anything that has been bothering you at all and not just the family?"

"Shining, I'm ok. Really I am...I think." Twilight said in a burst of doubt. She realized what she had said and shook her head. "I'm ok! I really am. I've just been missing everyone."

"Twilly, I think there is something bothering you then just our family. You can tell me anything Twilight. What is it that is bothering you?" he asked.

"I-I-I..." was all Twilight was able to say.

"Twilight, it's ok. You can tell your big brother and sister anything. We won't laugh at you or anything of the sort. We're just really worried about you. Please, we just want to know what's the matter." said Cadence.

"I-I-I can't say..." Twilight said.

"Twilight, we're not going to do anything to you. It's ok, you can tell us." said Cadence in a reassuring voice.

"I don't wanna talk about it. Please, I really just don't want to talk about it." Twilight said when she heard the noise of a baby cooing. She turned around to see Fluttershy had a young baby pony in her arms.

"Oh, hi there Twilight. You wanna see Lickety Split I am foal-sitting today?" Fluttershy smiled.

"Oh, she seems very adorable! Whose baby is she?" Twilight asked.

"It Mrs. Sweets baby. She runs the ice cream stand in the summertime." Fluttershy smiled.

"Dizzy! Dizzy!" Lickety Split smiled.

"D-Dizzy?" Twilight said in slight horror.

"Every since she got spun around on the merry-go-round it's been her favorite word!" Fluttershy smiled happily.

"That's good to hear, Fluttershy." Twilight said, a bit on edge.

"Twilight, are you ok?" Fluttershy asked. "You seem to be scared. Do you need to lie back down?"

"N-No. I-I'm fine. Really I am." Twilight said as she slowly backed away from Fluttershy. 'What is wrong with me? I haven't act like this ever since Discord was put back into stone. Am I starting to go crazy because he isn't here anymore?' she thought.

"Twilight, dear?" asked a voice. Twilight flipped around instantly, seeing it was her grandmother. "Twilight, you seem to be a little dizzy, are you ok, dear?" she asked.

"D-Dizzy?" Twilight repeated the word back to her.

"You should it down or you'll end up falling over." Granny Sparkle said.

"I should." Twilight said. "I-I need some help." Twilight said as she raised a hoof to her head.

Rainbow Dash overheard the conversation and came over in a second. She used one of her wings to hold Twilight abit. "I've got you, Twilight." she said as she walked Twilight over to a nearby couch. "Gee Twi, you really do look like somepony took you on an never-ending merry-go-round. You alright?" Dash asked.

"I'm ok. I am ok." Twilight said.

"You sure, Twilight? You seem abit out of it." Rainbow stated as Applejack came over to see how Twilight was. "AJ, does Twilight look a little out of it to you?"

"I'll be honest to you, sugarcube. You don't look to well. You look abit pale and seem to have been walking a bit dizzy like." Applejack said.

"D-Dizzy?" Twilight said as she shot herself up onto her hoofs. "I-I'm alright! I'm perfectly fine. I'm-" She quickly ended up fainting to the floor.

"Twilight!" everypony in the room screamed.

"I'll take her to some help immediately, everypony. She'll be alright." said Princess Celestia. It'll be ok. Luna, I need you to come with me."

"Right, sister." Luna said.

The two royal sisters stepped out of the treehouse with Twilight placed carefully on Princess Celestia's back. Celestia caused a bright light to emerge from her horn and it engulfed the two princesses and Twilight. They soon reappeared back in Canterlot castle, more specially, in an old part of the castle which seemed to act as a place for conquering up magic.

"What should I get, sister?" Luna asked.

"Get some lavender and mix it with with a drop of starshine. That should remove the dizzy feeling and paleness from Twilight's being." said Celestia.

"Right away, Tia." Luna said as she grabbed the required ingredients. She put the two items in a flask and quickly mixed them. What was produced was a shiny light purple liquid that was not even enough to really drink out of the bottom of the flask. Luna handed over the flask to Celestia with her magic. "There you are, Tia. It's been shaken well."

"Thank you, Luna. This potion should help her. It's time she learned about that riddle I had Nightmare Moon send her." Celestia used her magic extract the tiny amount of liquid from the flask. It flew gracefully with Celestia's magic as she placed the liquid on Twilight's chest. The liquid immediately went into Twilight's chest, causing her to glow for a second before fading. Twilight was now no longer pale looking.

Twilight opened her eyes to see Celestia standing over her. "P-Princess Celestia? Is that you or am I having another realistic dream again?"

"My faithful student, it really is me. You have much to learn now." she spoke.

"L-Learn? What am I going to learn, princess?" Twilight asked, confused.

"More powerful magic then you've ever learned. The powerful magic of spells and incantations." Celestia stated.

"Princess, I really would love to learn all new magic but I must get back to my family or I'll end up sleeping just like before. You don't want me end up sleeping more, do you?" Twilight said with slight panic in her voice.

"Twilight, I know why you've been sleeping so much. I know it's been Discord this entire time." Celestia stated.

Twilight turned around and stared at the princess in utter shock. "B-But h-how do you know?" she said meekly.

"Do you remember how just a while ago when I tried to defeat him once more?"

"Yes I do, princess."

"When he sang that song of his again, I remembered back a thousand years ago how I used to be with him, the way you were with him for that single day."

"You and him, were actually together, Princess? I thought that something he made up to mess with you."

"It is very true, Twilight. We used to be the happiest couple until my father split us apart and convinced me that he was an evil monster back then. He actually did so some very bad things compared to what he did when he returned and stole the Elements."

"What exactly did he do, Princess? Back then, I mean?" Twilight asked, very much interested.

"It wasn't pleasant, Twilight. He destroyed ponies' crops and made it rain. Not chocolate milk like he did, but tea. Very hot tea that burned poor ponies. I never really noticed for he never really let me see things like that. Until that one day came, of course..."

"W-What happened that day, Princess?" Twilight asked, scared.

"I came to see him that day like I usually did when I saw the clouds started to form over me. He had told me he made it chocolate milk, so I naturally expected it to rain chocolate milk over me. When it started to rain, it began raining hot tea. I screamed out as soon it hit me and Discord knew it was me and he stopped the storm instantly. He apologized that I had got caught in his storm but I soon saw ponies that had been hurt by the same tea I had. After that day, I just couldn't forgive him for just hurting innocent ponies like that. I told my father about what had happened. He laughed and told me that he was right about Discord the whole time. He knew I had sneaked out to see Discord in the first place, but it wasn't until then I found out he knew."

"What happened next, Princess?"

"My father was a very powerful unicorn who was about to organize the stars in wonderful constellations at night, which he later taught to Luna. He knew about a thing called the Elements of Harmony which would be able to encase Discord forever in stone. He said it had to be done or else ponykind would no longer exist if things went on like this. Luna and I found them and confronted him with them. He was about to sing that song when we used the elements on him, locking him in the singing position he had been in before. When he got free and stole the elements the first time he escaped, I was beyond angry, afraid he might cause the same damage he had a thousand years ago."

"But he never did, he never really harmed anypony, well, expect for manipulating my friends, but I forgave him for that."

"I know you did. Now Twilight, you must be honest with me. Have you been seeing Discord in your dreams frequently?"

"Yes I have, Princess. That's the real reason I've been sleeping the way I have. I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier."

"It's alright now, Twilight. Have you been reviving a riddle in your dream by Nightmare Moon?"

Twilight suddenly realized that the wizard that had sent Nightmare Moon was Princess Celestia. "It was you. You're the one who sent Nightmare Moon to give me the riddle. The answer to which was singing?" she asked.

"Yes, it was I. It was after Discord sang that song, that I remembered the wonderful times we had. I wish I could have stopped Luna, though, but the elements got to her before I ever could explain Discord's reappearance again to her."

"I am very sorry to you, Twilight Sparkle." said Luna. "The elements had told me Discord had placed you under a love spell and I remembered what happened a thousand years ago, I quickly believed them. I'm sorry."

"It wasn't your fault, Princess Luna. Nopony understands that he can change for the better." said Twilight. "I know he's changing for the better. I've seen plenty in my dreams. Celestia, is singing really going to break Discord from his stone prison and be forever free from the Elements?"

"It is more complicated than singing, Twilight. You also have to be much more powerful than you are now. At the moment, the magic in your heart is not enough to break him free. But with my help, you will be."

"What do I need to do exactly to become more powerful?" asked Twilight.

"To learn to use incantations properly and a few new powerful spells that will help increase the power within yourself."

"When do I learn, Princess? I wanna free him as soon as I can." Twilight said as tears started to form in her eyes. "I want him to be with me again."

"Once he is free Twilight, you both will have to face the Elements once again." Celestia said.

"I know. When can I start learning?" Twilight asked again.

"Tomorrow we will start. Within a few days, you shall have him once again." Celestia said. "Let's get back to everypony back at your house and tell them you're alright now."

"Until tomorrow, Twilight Sparkle, let's take you home and have fun with your friends and family." smiled Luna.

"That sounds wonderful, Luna." Twilight smiled.

Celestia's horn glowed again and sent the three back to the treehouse through a very bright light. They all reappeared outside the treehouse and walked inside, all heads turning when the door opened up.

"Is my daughter ok, Princess?" Mrs. Sparkle asked in concern.

"She is alright now, Mrs. Sparkle. A little lavender and starshine did the trick. She shouldn't be so dizzy and pale anymore." Celestia announced happily.

"I'm much better now, Mom. No need to worry anymore." Twilight smiled as Rarity walked over to her. "Oh, hello Rarity."

"You sure you're ok now dear? You gave us all quite a scare when you fainted." Rarity said.

"I'm better now, honest. I'm gonna be in Canterlot for a few days. I'm so excited!" Twilight said happily.

"That sounds wonderful, Twilight! Hopefully, you be more awake then asleep while there." Rarity laughed.

"I will be. I will." Twilight said with a smile as an image of her and Discord together appeared in her head.
> Chapter 8
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A few hours passed on by and Twilight was enjoying the company of her family and friends. It was about 11pm when Celestia announced that Luna, Twilight, and she should be getting to Canterlot now.

"Hope you have a wonderful time in Canterlot, Twilight!" smiled Rarity. "Could you bring me some of the newest fashions if you can?"

Twilight smiled at Rarity. "Sure thing, Rarity. I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you, Twilight. You're a good pal." Rarity said.

"Have fun, Twilight!" Pinkie Pie said happily.

"Come along, Twilight." Celestia said. "You'll be back home in just a few days. We have a lot to learn." she finished with a smile.

"Coming, Princess." said Twilight as she followed Celestia out and Luna following after her.

The three were outside when Shining Armor and Cadence came outside.

"I guess I'll be seeing you a bit more the next few days." smiled Shining Armor. "Will you try to stay awake more?"

"I'll try my very best to not fall asleep." Twilight smiled at him.

"See you around the palace then, Twilight. Maybe we can spend some quality time together hopefully." Cadence said happily.

"We'll see you both tomorrow. Good evening." Celestia said as she sent all of them, Cadence and Shining Armor as well, in a burst of light that teleported them all back to Canterlot Castle. "You can sleep in your old room, Twilight. It hasn't been touched since you left for Ponyville the first time."

"Thank you, Princess Celestia. Good night to you and you as well, Luna." Twilight said with a slight bow.

"Good night, Twilight Sparkle." Luna said as she walked past Twilight on to her bedroom chambers.

Twilight walked the direction of her old bedroom. She found the doors to her old room and opened them up big and wide. It was the same when she had left for her first time in Ponyville, books aligned neatly on the shelves and her bed still made. Her bed was the same spread as back in Ponyville, a starry sky blanket and light blue pillows. She quickly hopped into bed and went immediately to sleep to tell Discord what happened tonight and maybe ask him why she dreamt she had freed him when she had obviously not.

Twilight opened her eyes to reveal that she was in a dark, misty forest and a bright moon hang above her and the trees. The light the moon shined down on the forest made it easier for Twilight to see, but it was still a creepy and dark forest. The moonlight also caused her to notice she was wearing a simple white dress and nothing more.

'This looks like the dress I wore the very first time I started this sleeping cycle...' Twilight thought to herself as she began slowly walking forward, not really knowing where she was heading.

She walked past several trees when she took notice of someone in the mist, dressed oddly like a prince.

"Hello? Discord, is that you?" she asked. She got no response. "Discord, where are you? I wanted to tell you something."

She walked closer to the prince figure to see if she could tell who it was. She got near the figure and saw that it had disappeared before her eyes! What the hay was going on in this forest? Was this Discord's idea of a prank or what? Twilight looked around her to see if there was any pony figures or a certain mismatched creature, but, she spotted none.

"Is there anypony here? Anypony at all?" Twilight yelled into the forest.

"Twilight Sparkle!" called out a voice. Twilight turned around to see that Nightmare Moon had returned once again. "Twilight Sparkle, it is time for one to begin her training."

"Training?" Twilight questioned. "I thought I was to start my magic training in the morning with Princess Celestia."

"You shall indeed practice in the morning with her, but I am your instructor on using magic within your dreams. I am being channeled by Princess Luna in order to teach you the magic you must learn in order to free Discord. Come, follow me. We have much to learn."

"Nightmare Moon, where is Discord?" Twilight asked as she followed Nightmare Moon through the forest.

"That is your first test, Twilight. Your dreams are powerful and we must see if you can once again free him from a stone imprisonment."

"Wait, he's trapped?" she panicked.

"Do not fear, Twilight. It is only for awhile and here in your dreams, he cannot be hurt by your magic. The laws of physics do not apply in the dreamworld." Nightmare Moon stopped in front of a statue. "This is your Discord now. Free him now, and we can further continue your magical training."

Twilight stood her ground as she caused her horn to start glowing. Her horn shot a ray of light purple magical energy at the Discord statue, which caused it start cracking and breaking. The whole statue collapsed, revealing Discord in a rather bad mood.

"What the hay was imprisoning me for?" he yelled. "One minute I'm waiting for Twilight and the next thing I know, I'm being trapped again in stone!"

"It was vital that I trapped you for a small while." said Nightmare Moon. "It was so Twilight could begin her magical training."

"Magical training? For what?" he asked.

"In order to have you freed once again and not be affected by the Elements."

"Oh, like you were Nightmare?" he taunted.

"That was when I was corrupted. I am now simply apart of Luna that resides in her. I am no longer the evil being that I once was when I returned from the moon a year ago."

"I guess I can believe that." Discord laughed.

"Now that is aside, Twilight, until tomorrow, I leave you to be with Discord. You deserve to spend tonight with him. I will start your magical dream training tomorrow evening when you return to your dreams. Good evening." Nightmare Moon said as she disappeared from view.

"She better disappear." Discord said in annoyance. "After imprisoning me in stone when I already am in reality. So, my dear, how are doing this evening?"

"Well, I'm currently asleep in my old bedroom in Canterlot and I'm gonna learn spells that'll make me more powerful and have you free, forever. I couldn't be anymore happier. How do you think I'm feeling?" Twilight said with a smirk. "Well?"

"Happy, I would assume from the way you're speaking. Now, what in the world should we possibly do?" he said as he tapped his face with his eagle claw. "Maybe we can try playing a game of some type?"

Twilight laughed abit. "And what game should we play in this moonlit forest, oh god of chaos?"

"Perhaps a game of tag?" he suggested.

"A game of tag in a misty, moonlit forest eh? Sounds like fun." Twilight smiled.

Discord tapped her. "Tag, you're it!" he laughed before he disappeared in a flash of light.

"No fair!" Twilight said as she lit up her horn. "I'll get you, Dizzy!" she laughed as she ran forward.

A laugh was heard that echoed throughout the entire forest. Twilight knew he was laughing at her since she was simply using her magic just to light the way as she ran and not using it any further. Twilight stopped dead in her tracks when she remembered something.

"Wait, I'm in a dream. If I want him so badly, I can make him reappear in front of me!" Twilight said as she closed her eyes and her horn glowed as she muttered a quick incantation. "In this dream that I control, bring me the one called Discord!"

In an instant, Discord reappeared before Twilight right after she opened her eyes. She tapped him with her hoof and smirked. "You're it now, Dizzy! My magic helped me catch you."

"Oh really now? Are you saying your magic is better than mine now?" he asked.

"In my dreams, they are and in reality." she said as she stuck her tongue out at him. "Anything you can do, I can do better."

"No you can't, Twilight. Can you create chocolate rain?" he smirked as he conjured up a cotton candy cloud and made it rain chocolate milk rain.

"I can conquer up that no problem." she smirked as she summoned up a cotton candy cloud with a small poof.

"I guess you were right." Discord laughed as he summoned up a glass and filled it with Twilight's chocolate rain. He sipped the milk from his glass. "Not bad, Twilight Sparkle, but mine is still better." he smirked.

The two of them spent the rest of the night in Twilight's dream having fun and challenging each other's magical abilities until Twilight had to wake up to begin her magical training.
> Chapter 9
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Twilight, my dear, you must wake up now. We need to get started right away." called Princess Celestia as the sleeping alicorn woke up and stared at her with her purple eyes. "It is time to begin your training, Twilight."

Twilight got out of bed and looked at the princess. "Princess, how long do you think it'll take me to become more powerful?"

"That is all up to you and how fast you're able to learn the incantations and spells. You could learn everything today and within a few weeks." Celestia said as she turned around. "Follow me, Twilight. We need to head to the Magic Tower."

Twilight followed Celestia out of her bedroom and down a few corridors. After crossing through several corridors, they reached the same old room that they had been in when Celestia had cured Twilight last night. Celestia walked over to one of the three large bookcases that were filled to the top with old spellbooks. She pulled one of them down and flipped through the pages using her magic.

When Celestia found the page she had been looking for, she began to say the incantation that was written on the page. "One wishes to learn the power held within these books, let the crown come forth and allow one to be able to call upon the power that lurks within."

Celestia's horn glowed as the magic from her horn formed a white ball of magic. In the white ball of magic formed what appeared to look like a replica of the Element of Magic crown. The crown set itself on the floor as the magic disappeared from it.

"What is the Element of Magic crown going to do for me?" asked Twilight.

"My dear student, this isn't the Element of Magic crown." Celestia said as she lifted the crown with her magic. "Look at the jewel on the front. It isn't magenta, but rather green instead."

Twilight looked at the crown to see that she was right. "I see. What is this crown supposed to do for me, Princess?"

"This crown will give you new found power that you have never been able to experience before."

"I'm ready to begin my magical training, Princess." said Twilight as Celestia placed the crown on her head, causing her whole body to fill up with power. "P-Princess, what is happening to me?"

"Your new power is channeling through you, Twilight. It seems the crown is also altering your appearance as well."

Twilight looked down at herself and see she had indeed had in appearance altered. Her appearance had been altered by the means of clothing, a pair of blue shoes in the same style as the princess and a collar around her neck with a green gem on it. Twilight almost looked similar to Princess Celestia clothing wise, but just in blue and green.

"Princess Celestia, I-I look almost like you in a way." said Twilight. "B-But why?"

"Because Twilight." said Celestia. "Luna and I used this exact book in order to gain more power after we sealed Discord away the first time so we could defeat any more potential enemies in case we weren't able to use the Elements of Harmony."

"That is amazing, Princess Celestia. When can I learn my first new spell?" Twilight asked.

"Right now, my faithful student." Celestia said as she pulled down another book with her magic and flipped it open to a certain page. "This spell here will be able to very slowly be able to dissolve tiny bits of stone. Within time, your voice will be able to break the stone that traps Discord."

Celestia used her horn and poofed in some rather small pieces of stone on the table. "Focus your magic, Twilight, and carefully read the incantation."

"Of course, Princess." Twilight walked over to the small pieces of stone and the open spellbook. "Well, here goes nothing. Stone will bend and melt at my command and will return to it's natural state when I command. Let the stone melt before mine eyes!" Twilight read as the green jewel on the crown glowed.

The tiny pieces of stone slowly began to melt before the young alicorn's eyes. She opened her eyes in amazement. She must have been more powerful than she thought she was!

"Pieces of stone, I command that you return to your original states!" Twilight read from the spellbook. The stone stopped melting and reserved itself, rebuilding what had been melted mush just a moment ago.

"Excellent progress, Twilight! It seems you'll have him free in no time at all." Celestia smiled. "How about we get some breakfast this morning?"

Twilight laughed. "That would be wonderful, Princess." she spoke as she followed Celestia out of the room and to the royal dining room.

They reached the dining room where Luna and Cadence were there, already enjoying their breakfast. They both looked up and smiled when they saw the two walk in and take their seats.

"Hey there, Twilight. How did you sleep last night?" asked Cadence.

"I slept fine. I have alot to learn today." Twilight smiled.

"Oh, what are you learning today?" Cadence asked happily.

"You know, the usual. New magic tricks and what not." Twilight said with a big smile.

Cadence gave her a slightly confused look, partly suspecting it was just more than a magic trick or two. "That sounds wonderful, Twilight. I hope you and Auntie Tia will have fun today."

"We sure will. We have quite a lot to learn today." Celestia said as she levitated a donut to her mouth. "And you can always learn something new." she said as she bit into the donut.

At that moment, Shining Armor walked into the dining room and sat down next to Cadence. He quickly took notice of Twilight and her new outfit that she was wearing.

"Nice outfit, Twilly. Did Princess Celestia give it to you?" he asked with a smile.

Twilight wanted to say something but Celestia spoke instead. "I did indeed give it to her. A small gift for my number one student." she smiled.

"That was nice of you, Auntie Celestia." said Shining. "So, practicing any new magic today, Twilly?"

"Of course I am. Gotta study my books in order to learn more magic!" Twilight said with another large smile.

Shining Armor heard his sister's tone, almost sounding like she was hiding something. He overlooked her odd tone and gave her a smile. "You have fun then, Twilly."

"I will." said Twilight as she finished her donut.

"Twilight, let's have a walk through the Canterlot Gardens together. It'll be the perfect place for us to relax before we gt you back to your studies." Celestia said happily.

"That sounds like fun, Princess." Twilight said as Celestia got up and Twilight followed her right out.

Twilight followed the princess out to the Canterlot Gardens where the palace maze had placed back up and the stone statues were standing as tall as the day.

"Why are we walking through the gardens, Princess?" Twilight asked, knowing Discord was still here.

"I want to see if you can do another spell. But this spell comes from the heart and requires no incantation of any sort. Or any spellbook for that matter."

"I'm not sure if I'm understanding you, Princess."

Celestia walked a bit further and stopped in front of a statue. Twilight walked right next to the side of Celestia and looked up at the statue she was looking at. They had both stopped in front of Discord.

"I want to see if you can speak to him." smiled Celestia.

"But how can I speak to him? He's trapped in stone!" said Twilight.

"Not by speaking with your mouth but by speaking with your mind. You have already done it while you're asleep. Maybe you can do it while you are awake as well."

"H-How do I even start?" asked Twilight.

"I cannot explain to you how to do it to well. It's up to you on how you break past the stone exterior and into his mind."

"B-But Princess, I don't know if I can do this-"

"I know you have the strength and magical energy to do this, Twilight. Let go of any limitations you think you might have and try to break through the stone barrier and into his mind."

"I'll try, Princess." Twilight said as her horn and the jewel on the crown she was wearing began to glow purple and green respectively. She quietly whispered to herself, "My magic, break through the stone and let me talk to him, even if only through the mind. Let me here the voice for once when I'm awake and not fast asleep in my bed."

Twilight's horn and crown glowed for a moment, but the energy quickly faded away and Twilight had not heard a single sound from the statue, not a single voice different from her own in her head. Twilight looked at the statue and then at the ground sadly. How was she ever gonna free him if she couldn't even try accessing his mind like he was able to do to her?

"Twilight?" called out a voice. Twilight's head shot up instantly as Celestia smiled as she heard the voice as well.

"D-Dizzy? Is that you?" Twilight asked aloud.

"Sing to me, Twilight. Let me hear your angelic voice one more time." the voice called out happily.

Twilight opened her mouth and began to sing a wonderful melody, the words describing how much she missed him. Celestia smiled as her student sung for the one she loved and missed. Suddenly, the statue started to crack! Celestia looked at the statue in surprise and then at Twilight, whose horn and crown were both glowing as so was the statue.

The statue did stop cracking and glowing after a moment though. Celestia looked at the statue in surprise, not realizing just how powerful her faithful student really was. At that moment, Celestia decided that Twilight could easily learn the few powerful spells she needed to know in order to break Discord free.

The entire day had passed and Celestia had taught Twilight several powerful spells, which she had easily conquered thanks to the new power that ran through her entire body. Twilight arrived back in her bedroom that night and flopped into bed, still wearing her new outfit she had. As soon as she hit the bed, she fell fast asleep.

Twilight opened her eyes to see herself face to face with Discord, making her scream and fall backwards. He simply laughed at the purple alicorn.

"That was priceless, Twilight!" he laughed when he noticed Twilight's outfit. "Twilight...you almost look like Celestia."

Twilight looked down at herself and noticed the outfit she had been wearing in reality, she was also wearing in her dreams. "That's because this crown gave me power and created this outfit for me."

"Power?" Discord said with interest.

"Celestia taught me these powerful spells that can free you and you will no longer be effected by the Elements of Harmony and can't be sealed by them." Twilight smiled. "I told you all of this just last night, Dizzy."

"So, you're more powerful now?" he asked with more interest.

Twilight giggled. "Yup and we can create all the chaos we want, with limits of course." Twilight smiled.

"Oh, why limit the chaos?" Discord asked. "That wouldn't be any fun..."

"Dizzy, even order has it's limits as well and chaos needs it's limits as well."

"Such a shame you're turning like this. Before you didn't care how much chaos I spreaded."

"Well, chaos does need to have limits, Dizzy."

"This doesn't sound like the Twilight I had just last night. What happened to you today anyways, Twilight?"

"Well, Celestia conquered up this crown for me, I sang to you, and I practiced some new spells today."

"What kind of spells did you practice exactly?" he sounded concerned for Twilight before didn't care how much chaos he wanted to spread, now she wanted to limit him. This didn't sound right.

"Well, I did learn spells that required me to sing and Celestia performed a mind meld that helped me clear my thoughts when I got frustrated with one of the spells I had a bit of difficulty performing..."

"Twilight." Discord looked at Twilight with a bit of anger showing in his eyes. "Did Celestia do anything with that mind meld of hers?"

"Well, she muttered the mind meld in some old language and it seemed to clear my mind just fine. Is something the matter, Dizzy?" Twilight asked.

"Twilight, look into my eyes." Discord said in a slightly angered voice.

Twilight looked into Discord's red and yellow eyes. "Is something the matter, Dizzy?"

Discord's eyes slowly began to produce hypnotic swirls that caused Twilight's eyes to produce the same swirls as well. He began to mutter an incantation. "You will now be again accepting, become my chaos partner, and support me and my chaos."

"That'll remove anything Celestia might have put on you and put you back under the spell I had put you slowly under when you began to have these dreams." he said to himself as Twilight's eyes still had the swirls in them.

The swirls soon disappeared from Twilight's eyes and she looked up at Discord. "Dizzy, did I try to limit your chaos?"

"That would be Celestia's doing." Discord said.

"Oh. I'm sure she just doesn't want you turning her castle into a chocolate one." she laughed. "Or any other buildings into chocolate for that matter."

"Chocolate buildings? That's a rather interesting idea. Twilight, I want to ask you something."

"Can I ask you something first, Discord?" Twilight asked.

"What is it?" he asked.

"When I had that dream that I had finally freed you, was that your doing just to make me happy for awhile or was that my own doing?"

Discord gave her a sad smile. "I just wanted to make you happy for a little while. I just wanted to make you think that you had freed me in reality, but your baby dragon shattered the illusion I created when he woke you up from your sleep."

Twilight looked at him. "It's ok, Discord. You just wanted to make me happy is all and I really did enjoy it."

"I'm glad you do. I was meaning to ask you something before."

Twilight smiled up happily at him. "What did you want to ask me, Discord?"

"When I am free, will you become my goddess of chaos? We can spread chaos wherever we go." he smiled.

Twilight smiled happily at him. "I will be happy to become the goddess of chaos, Dizzy." she said as she flew up to his face and kissed his cheek.

"I knew you would say yes." Discord smiled.

"Of course I would." Twilight said as she batted her purple eyes, a small ringlet of red touching her iris.
> Chapter 10
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Twilight, wake up." called Cadence voice through Twilight's room, waking up the purple alicorn. "We wanna spend a little bit of time with you while you're staying in Canterlot." she smiled.

Twilight opened her eyes completely to see both Cadence and Shining Armor in her bedroom. "But I have to study my magic, it's important that I study my magic." said Twilight.

"Twilly, you can study whatever magic you're learning later. I wanna spend time with my little sister. I didn't get to really spend it with you at the wedding or the reception." said Shining Armor. "At least spend the morning with Cadence and me. In the afternoon, you can go back to your studies. Please Twilly?"

Twilight smiled at her brother. "I guess I'll spend the morning with you and Cadence. But as soon as it's noon, I really must get back to my magic studies." she said desperately.

Twilight hopped out of bed and shook her head in an attempt to get rid of her bed mane. After shaking out the bed mane, Twilight was ready to go. She was about to walk out the door when Cadence spoke.

"Twilight, why are you so into your magic studies right now? I've never seen you so into your studies before." she said. "Is this some powerful magic or what?"

"It's just really interesting magic and I wanna learn it as quickly as possible." said Twilight. "It's really important that I do learn it."

"What exactly are you learning, Twilight." asked Cadence. "It must be some interesting magic to get you into your studies so bad like this."

Twilight gulped. "I-I'm afraid I can't say what I'm learning, Cadence. It's between me and Princess Celestia. It's some very powerful stuff we're learning here and no pony can know what kind of magic I'm learning about."

Cadence tapped the ground with one of her hoofs. "Ok then. If it's top secret then, I guess it's none of our business then."

"Glad you understand. Let's go spend the morning together, you slow ponies!" Twilight smiled as she walked out of the bedroom and her siblings followed right after her.

They arrived in the dining room where Princess Luna was already enjoying her breakfast. The three sat near the moon princess as servant ponies brought the three each some breakfast. It was some donuts, baked fresh in the castle kitchen.

"These look incredible." Shining Armor said as he licked his lips. "Don't these donuts look mouth watering, Twilly?" Twilight didn't respond to him. "Twilly, are you there?"

He glanced at Twilight, who was completely ignoring everypony around her and her horn and crown were glowing as she was causing the knife in front of her to melt like she had did with the stone yesterday.

"Twilly?" he tapped the purple alicorn. "What spell are you practicing?"

Twilight jumped in alarm as her horn and crown instantly stopped glowing. She turned around to stare into her brother's blue eyes with her purple eyes with had a small ringlet of red touching the purple iris. "Oh! I'm just testing my magic skills is all! Nothing fancy here!" she said, slightly panicked.

Shining Armor gave his little sister an unusual look. "Twilly, is this magic thing really that important that you need to practice at the table?"

"It was only a quick melting spell. Nothing powerful at all." Twilight said with a large smile when she noticed the donuts. "Oh donuts! Chocolate ones! They look yummy!" Her horn glowed as she brought a donut to her mouth and bit into it. "These are great donuts! You guys should really try them!"

"Well, I'm not gonna sit here hungry." said Cadence as she bit into the donut. "Twilight's right, these are really good. They seem better than usual. That's always a sign of improvement!" Cadence said happily.

"That's good to hear." said Shining Armor as he ate his donut. "After breakfast, why don't the three of us go into Canterlot and go shopping? I'm sure you two would love that."

"That sounds like fun!" smiled Cadence. "I need to get out of the palace every once in a while anyways!"

"That sounds fun!" Twilight smiled. "More opportunities to practice my magic." she realized what she had said and quickly changed her answer. "I mean-to spend with my two older siblings!" she said with a large grin.

"Ok." Shining Armor said as he pretended not to notice Twilight's first comment. "I'm done with breakfast and it seems you two are as well. To Canterlot!" he smiled.

"Canterlot! Canterlot!" Twilight cheered happily like a school filly.

"Well, she sure seems happy." Cadence laughed. "I've never seen her so happy to go into town before."

"That's because she's going there with us." Shining Armor said as his own horn glowed and transported the three of them from the dining room and onto a sidewalk that was in the heart of Canterlot, lined with shops and buildings. "Where should we go first? Twilly, do you have any suggestions?"

Shining Armor turned his head to his sister to see that she was once again practicing her magic. This time she was practicing melting the tiny bits of stone that was on the floor. But she wasn't simply melting the tiny bits of rock, she was also singing as well. Shining Armor tapped his sister, once again scaring her and stopping the spell she had been performing.

"Twilly, you need to stop thinking about your magic and just have fun with me and Cadence. Just forget about your magic this morning and once it's noon, then you can worry about your magic all you want. Just have fun with us this morning, ok?" Shining Armor asked his sister.

Twilight looked up at him. "I'll stop worrying about my magic and have fun with you guys." she smiled.

"Just until noon, ok?"

"You got it, BBBFF." Twilight replied with a slightly bigger smile.

"Hey you two! Look at this interesting flower arrangement in the store window here!" called Cadence, who was about two stores down.

Twilight and Shining Armor walked over to where Cadence was. She was looking at some unusual blue flowers in the window that seemed to be in a glass case.

"That's an interesting flower, isn't it?" asked Cadence. "It's says on the little name card it's called Poison Joke. That's an interesting name for a flower, isn't it?"

"Wait a minute, I've see that flower before!" Twilight said in shock. "That flower literally plays a joke on you!"

"I remember hearing about these flowers too. If you stand in them, something happens to you that is supposed to be a joke."

"I can't believe there is actually a plant like that in Equestria. I can see why they would be in a glass box." said Cadence.

"It is unusual plant, isn't it?" Twilight said with interest. "It seems so...chaotic."

"Well, let's forget about that little plant and take you ladies to a different shop. Where do you two wanna start first?" he asked.

"Let's look at the Canterlot Boutique. They always have the cutest outfits there!" smiled Cadence.

"To the Canterlot Boutique!" Twilight said as she walked to the next building, which just happened to be the Canterlot Boutique.

The three walked inside the building and instantly noticed the stunning fashions for mare and stallion alike. They looked at all the outfits that were presented before them. Twilight walked around the store abit when she noticed an outfit that made her stop dead in her tracks. It was a wedding gown, white as snow with a touch of black around the hem. The dress wasn't as...pure as any other wedding gowns she had seen before.

Twilight suddenly remembered last night when Discord had asked her to be his goddess. Was that a marriage proposal he had asked her? She hadn't thought of it like that when he asked her. She thought he had asked if she would be his forever, but not marriage. Twilight stared at the dress when Cadence walked over.

"You like that dress, Twilight?" Cadence asked.

Twilight shook her head and looked at Cadence. "I do. It sure is something, isn't it?"

"It sure is different, I'll say. Do you wanna get married someday, Twilight?"

"Perhaps. After the right stallion comes along that is." Twilight smiled.

"You'll find him." Cadence said happily.

"Are you sure about that?"

"I'm the princess of love, Twilight. I know you will. When you find him and marry him, I'll make sure that you get a dress like this one. You'll look amazing at your own wedding."

Twilight looked at the dress and blushed slightly. "I sure will, won't I?" she said with a happy smile.

Cadence saw the look on Twilight's face, knowing that she was going to start daydreaming about her future marriage. "I'll let you be then and admire that dress some more. I'll come for you in a bit then." she said as she walked away from the lovesick mare.

Twilight gazed happily at the dress and began to see the wedding in her head. It would be in the Canterlot Gardens where she had freed him with dancing buffaloes as the musical entertainment and the actual wedding area itself decorated like one large party with colorful balloons and party hats and sunglasses on the statues that surrounded the wedding area.

"Please stand for the bride is about to enter." called the pastor, whom was Discord who had split himself into two.

All heads turned as Twilight, wearing the dress she had been looking at in the store, walking down the aisle as the Cutie Mark Crusaders threw Poison Joke petals down the aisle. Twilight walked down the aisle carrying a bouquet of oddly colored flowers before she reached her two to-be husbands.

"We are here to bring together eternal chaos together and whoever doesn't like this marriage, must speak now or live in regret by not having saying anything forever." Discord laughed.

"I object to this horrible excuse of a wedding!" called out Rainbow Dash from the back row. "I can't let this marriage go through! This is a crime against all ponykind!"

"I'm with Rainbow! This isn't right and that's the honest truth!" called out Applejack.

Twilight looked at her friends and wondered why they were against her marriage to the stallion she loved, even if he was only part pony that is. More voices from her other friends and family began yelling at the outrage that was the marriage between Twilight and Discord.

"Twilight!" called a voice. "Twilight, we're leaving the shop now." It was Cadence. She looked at Twilight to see she now had tears in her eyes. "Twilight, is something the matter?" Cadence put her hoof on Twilight's shoulder, causing the alicorn to look up, tears fresh in her eyes.

"I'm sorry. I just had a bad thought come to me is all. I'm ok, really I am." Twilight said with a smile. "Let's keep shopping! I'm really having a good time!"

The rest of the morning, Twilight spent time with her two siblings going shopping and goofing around with them. The three reached the castle just as the palace clock chimed that it was now noon.

"Thanks for the great time you guys! I have to get back to my studies now! Bye!" Twilight said as she ran away from her older siblings and towards the Canterlot Gardens.

Twilight ran into the gardens and made her way immediately to the statue of Discord. She stared up at the large statue of him and smiled. This time, she was going to free him. This isn't a dream. This is reality. Now is the time for him to be free, eternally.

Twilight closed her eyes and caused her horn and the crown's gem to begin glowing slightly. She opened her eyes back up and opened her mouth instead.

"Order one way, chaos another, my voice, my song, shall set thy free, forever and protected against the Elements of Harmony. Thou will be able to begin his chaos reign once again and with me as his eternal chaos goddess." she chanted.

Twilight began singing a lullaby like melody, her horn and crown glowing now brighter than before. As her voice sang, the magic from the crown combined with that from her horn and bursted out in a blinding ray of light. The light touched the statue and began eating away at it, causing it to crackle and start falling to the pedestal as rubble.

She kept singing the lullaby like tune until she heard a sound that sounded like an explosion. Twilight stopped singing and saw a large pile of stone on the pedestal. Twilight's face soon supported the biggest grin it had in the longest time. He was free! The god of chaos and disharmony was finally free!

"Discord! Discord, where are you?" she asked aloud happily. She got no response. "Ok, no joking around, Dizzy. Where are you?" Again, she got no response.

"Twilight Sparkle?" called a voice.

Twilight let out a sad sigh, knowing it wasn't his voice, but that of Princess Luna's instead.

"Good afternoon, Princess Luna." Twilight said sadly.

Luna looked at the pile of rubble that Twilight was still staring at. Luna smiled. "I see you finally freed him! Couldn't wait a minute longer I supposed! Where is he anyways?"

"He's not here." Twilight replied sadly.

"Where did he go? To cause some chaos already?" Luna joked.

"I don't know where he went. After I turned the statue into rubble, he didn't appear at all. I tried calling his name, but he didn't show up. Not at all." Twilight said as tears formed in her eyes. "What if my magic was too powerful? What if destroyed him as well?"

"Do not cry, Twilight Sparkle. He is here somewhere, but he'll return later. He might have went out to create some chaos. He'll be back." said Luna reassuringly. "Let us head inside and get you back to your studies. That might keep your mind relaxed."

Twilight looked at Luna and then back at the pile of rubble. "I guess I should go back and study. He'll be able to find me anyways."

Luna escorted Twilight back inside the palace. Twilight walked the rest of the way to her bedroom alone as Luna simply watched the purple alicorn walk away from her. Twilight reached her bedroom and went through the doors. She walked over to her desk and pulled out a book from the shelves at random. She set the book down on her desk. When she caught glance of the book's title, she broke down instantly, the tears from before hadn't really left her eyes. The book's title read, "The Chaotic Reign."

"Dizzy, where are you? Why haven't you come back yet? Why?" she balled out in between her sobs. She stared at the ground as tears fell from her eyes and landed on the carpet below.

"Missed me, my dear?" called out a voice.

Twilight looked up in surprise to see Discord standing before her. She instantly got up and hugged him with all her might, tears still running down her cheeks, but this time they were happy tears.

"I thought you were gone! Why didn't you come back when I freed you?" she cried into his chest, her wings flapping at rapid speed, as she clunged to him.

"I had to pick up something." he said.

Twilight pulled her face away from his chest and looked up at him, her eyes still had tears in them, but they were starting to clear. "W-What did you need to pick up?" she asked.

Discord pulled the tear stained alicorn off of him. Now that Twilight had all four hooves on the ground, he snapped his eagle claw. In a burst of light appeared a gem. It wasn't an ordinary gem though. It was a purple and red mixed gem that was shaped like a heart with two small bumps on the top of it. It shined in the afternoon sun like a diamond.

"This is what I had to pick up. A chaotic jewel for a chaotic bride." he smiled.

"You mean you want to-" Twilight spoke before his lion paw covered her mouth.

"When I asked you in your dream to become my goddess, I was basically asking you to marry me." he smiled. "Is the answer still the same as before?"

Twilight looked up him happily. "Of course it is for I am your goddess of chaos." she smiled.
> Chapter 11
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I wouldn't have it be any other way too." Discord smiled at her.

"Discord, you don't know how much I've been missing you this last week. It's been driving me crazy." the purple alicorn said as her voice cracked a bit. "I'm just so glad you're finally back." Twilight flew up with her wings and hugged him once more.

Discord wrapped his arms around her and looked down at her with a smile. "I know you have, my dear. But now I'm here with you, my dear."

Twilight looked up at him and met his gaze. "I know and I wanna give you something as well." Twilight spoke as a light blush formed over her face. She gently pushed on his chest, signaling for him to let her go. He unwrapped his arms around the alicorn as she flew over to her bed. "Come here, Dizzy. I have a present for you."

"I really don't think I should." he said in a taunting voice. "Your bed might have cooties."

"Come on, Dizzy. Don't you want my present?" she asked.

"I do but I'm concerned if your bed has cooties or not. They could hiding under your covers." he joked.

"Oh Celestia." Twilight said as she got off the bed and walked to him. She used her magic that began pulling his lion paw in her direction. She walked to the bed and climbed in, his paw being dragged by her magic. She released the magic when he was on her bedside. "Now may I give you my present or are you afraid that my bed has cooties still?"

"I guess I can handle cooties if it's your present." he smiled. "What is it you wish to give me, my dear?"

Twilight flew up and kissed him. The kiss was passionate and lasted for a moment before Twilight pulled away. "That and there's plenty more where that one came from. We have to make up for the time you were gone."

He gave her a happy smile. "What about the dreams, hmm?"

"Oh, those kisses were just in our minds, so we have to make those come a reality too." she smiled at him. She put her forehoofs around his neck and fell backwards into the bed, causing him to fall on top of her as well. She raised her head upwards towards his and kissed him once more.

This kissing session went on for a good ten minutes. Twilight had really missed him and was happy that he was happy that he was finally back. The two broke apart in an attempt for air, both of them wondering a little why they didn't have to stop before. Maybe they were consumed by their longing to be with each other again perhaps? Or maybe it was that their souls didn't want to disconnect from each other.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. "Twilight? It's cadence. I wanna ask you something. Can I come in?" Cadence asked from the other side of the door.

"J-Just a moment. I-I need just a moment." shouted Twilight to Cadence before she whispered to Discord. "What do I do? What do I do?"

"Relax, my dear. I'll just have a little disappearing act and will return when she leaves." he whispered as he disappeared off of her.

Twilight looked around her room and didn't see Discord anyway. "I-I'm good now, Cadence. You can come in now." she said.

Cadence walked into the room to see Twilight's mane seemed disheveled. "What were you doing? Running around to read different books?" she asked.

Twilight smiled. "That's exactly what I was doing. Just learning as much as I possibly can while I'm here."

Cadence simply laughed at Twilight's statement. "Well, I came to ask you if you'd like to go see a Hoofway show with me tonight. I know this is rather last minute but I wanna spend some quality girl time with my little sister. I thought a show would be great idea for us since I love theater and you would like the storyline."

"I'd love to go, Cadence. What show is it again?" Twilight asked.

"It's called Past Sins. It's a really wonderful play. There's so much action in that three hour show." smiled Cadence. "It's my favorite play on Hoofway."

"Oh, I've heard of Past Sins. I've read that book before. It's a really interesting one. When is the play?"

"Well, we wanna make it to the theater around 7:30 tonight so we won't be late when the show starts at eight. Oh, Past Sins is at the Celestian Theater, the fanciest theater in Canterlot. So, we get to dress up in gowns tonight!" Cadence said happily.

"That sounds fun. At least I have a few hours to prepare. It sounds like tonight is going to be alot of fun." Twilight smiled.

"I'll get you around 7:15 ok. That'll give you at least six hours since it's going on to 1:30 now. You getting hungry, Twilight? Wanna have some lunch?" Cadence asked.

"Sure. Could I invite a colt friend of mine to lunch? He's only a teleport spell away." Twilight said with a smile.

"I see no problem with it. I'll tell Chef Pony to make an extra lunch. I can't wait to meet your friend." said Cadence. "I better go now and tell the chefs to prepare a slightly lunch for us. See you in the dining room, Twilight!" Cadence closed Twilight's door and walked down to the kitchens.

After the door closed and Cadence's hoofsteps were heard walking away from the door, Discord reappeared from wherever he had been hiding. He had overheard the entire conversation between the two mares.

"Who is this colt friend of yours?" he asked in confusion.

"Well..." she said as she looked up at him with hopeful eyes, giving him the message that he was her colt friend.

"Fine. I'll do it but only because I love you." he said with slight annoyance. He changed himself into a gray colt with a messy white mane and tail. He even kept his signature goatee. "I hope we'll be able to spend some actual alone time with each other without getting interrupted."

"I promise that tonight we can spend all the time we want together after the play tonight. We can stay up all night if you'd like." Twilight smiled. "Is that alright with you? I don't think you can come to the play with me though." she spoke sadly.

The colt gave her a smile. "Fine, it's fine but you have to keep your promise and stay up all night with me. Besides, theater is no fun. It's just so dull and so organized. Not my cup of tea, to be honest."

Twilight laughed. "Come on, let's go have lunch. Cadence or Shining Armor won't know who you really are. Princess Celestia and Luna on the other hoof, I'm not so sure about..."

"Don't worry about it, my dear. I have them under my acceptance spell, so they won't panic if they know it's me."

"Wait, is that why Celestia is actually willing to let you free and Luna too? I thought they actually thought you had changed."

The gray colt looked at the purple alicorn with his yellow and red eyes. "All my acceptance spell did to them was to accept me for who I am and not be bothered by my chaos. Celestia deciding to teaching you magic that would free me is her choice. Luna teaching you a bit of magic as well was her own choice too, not my acceptance spell's magic."

Twilight remembered a question that she had been wanting to ask him ever since he was re-imprisoned in stone again. "Dizzy, w-why did you allow yourself to get turned back by the Elements? Why did you never try to escape?"

Discord let out a long sigh. "Twilight, I'm going to be honest with you. It was apart of a plan." he walked forward as he used his hoof to motion her to come to him and follow him out of the room and begin walking to the dining room. "A plan that would make you more powerful and let me be free."

"What plan?" Twilight asked as they both turned a corner and walked down a hallway.

"Twilight, I can't tell you the details now. I will tell you everything tonight, I promise you. I will tell you everything." Discord said. "There's too much of a risk for me to tell you in the open. Tonight, I promise to tell you everything. Everything."

Twilight let out her own sigh. "Alright, tonight then after the play."

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The two had sat themselves down in the dining room when Cadence and Shining Armor filed in to see Discord as a gray colt sitting next to Twilight.

"Is this your colt friend, Twilight?" asked Cadence. "He's a very handsome young stallion."

"Thank you, Princess." said Discord.

"Cadence, Shining Armor, this is my newest friend, Dizzy." Twilight smiled. "I met him awhile back."

"It's nice to meet you, Dizzy." smiled Cadence. "It's nice to have one of Twilight's friends to join us for lunch."

"It's good to know that Twilly keeps on making more and more friends." Shining Armor smiled.

"Well, ever since I moved to Ponyville, I just devolved a love for friends, for the ones I have now and to creating new ones." Twilight smiled.

At the instant, Princess Celestia and Luna walked into the dining room. They both sat across from Discord and Twilight, sitting next to each other. Princess Celestia was the first to take notice of the gray colt.

"I see we have a visitor." smiled Princess Celestia. "Is he one of your friends, Twilight? I'm afraid I haven't met him yet."

"Yes, this is my 'new friend', Dizzy." Twilight said happily.

Celestia caught onto what Twilight meant by 'new friend.' Celestia smiled a bit bigger. "It is wonderful to meet you, Dizzy. Welcome to Canterlot Castle." Celestia gave Discord a happy look, knowing it was him as she had seen him in this form before over a thousand years ago.

"It's nice to be in the Canterlot Castle, Princess Celestia." he spoke with an underlying mock tone.

"I am Princess Luna. It's nice to meet more of Twilight Sparkle's friends." said Luna happily, knowing it was Discord as well.

"Nice to meet you as well, Princess Luna." Discord smiled.

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Twilight looked in her closet deciding what she should wear to Past Sins tonight. She wanted something that would match her crown, collar, and shoes. She glanced in the closet and saw nothing really that interested her. She didn't really have enough time to make a dress herself, she and Cadence were supposed to leave in two hours.

"What am I supposed to even wear tonight?" Twilight complained. "I have nothing good to wear!" She sounded like Rarity when she was having the exact same problem.

Discord was simply lying in his stomach watching the purple alicorn look through her closet trying to find a dress to wear. He had never thought of her as really caring about clothing like he knew Rarity did. It was a rather funny sight to him, seeing his mare in a state of annoyance just because she couldn't find the right dress to wear to the show tonight. After watching a few more minutes of Twilight to do something about it, he spoke up.

"Need help with your dress issues?" he laughed.

"Don't laugh at me. Every mare once in a while is like this. I just don't have anything that's go with my newest accessories." said Twilight. "I don't even have the time to whip anything up too. What to do, what to do?" she said as she began to pace back and forth.

"Maybe I can help you with your 'life-threatening!' dress problem." he said mockingly.

"Not funny." said Twilight as she gave him a quick glare. "What could you do to help, Dizzy?" she asked.

He gave her a look as if she were completely stupid. "You must have forgotten what I can do with my powers, it seems. Perhaps this will give you a fresh reminder." He snapped his eagle fingers and Twilight was engulfed in a burst of magic.

The magic formed around Twilight's body and took the shape of a poofy ballgown. The magic made a tiny 'poof' noise and faded away and in it's place it left a stunning green dress, the same green as the jewel on her crown and collar. It had no sleeves to it, the top had a bow on the back of it, and the dress part itself was very poofy and seemed to have light spots of blue like her shoes on certain places.

The magic had also touched her eyes and made the same tiny 'poof' sound as well. In it's place, it left green eyeshadow in the same green as her dress. The magic had even fixed her hair into a loose bun with a few strands of hair falling on the sides of her face.

Twilight caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. She turned to see herself completely in the mirror. Her mouth dropped slightly, shocked that this was her. She looked absolutely stunning, elemental colors definitely complimented her well. She turned to face Discord and gave him a warm smile.

"Oh, thank you so much, Discord. This was so kind of you to do this for me."

"I know, I know. You have to come straight back to your room when you come back from that play like you promised, ok?" he said.

Twilight laughed. "I will. After all-" she spoke as she batted her eyes with green eyeshadow. "-who am I to break a promise to the god of chaos?" she finished her sentence with a giggle.

He turned his glaze away from her, not wanting to admit anything to her about what she said or how she had said it. He looked back at her and smirked. "It wouldn't be pretty if you broke a promise you made to me."

"What would happen if I did break my promise?" Twilight asked with curiosity.

"Let's just say you would come up to a room filled with sticky cheese everywhere, including your books, making them too disgusting for you to use." Discord laughed.

"Note to self: don't break promises with Discord." she said with a laugh.

Twilight suddenly remembered something that would involve her promise to him. "Discord, I just remembered Cadence and I were gonna grab a midnight snack right after the show. I'll try to keep it short with her, but I won't be here directly after the show. I completely forgot. I'm sorry that I broke the promise." she apologized.

He simply laughed in response. "Twilight, the wait for you may seem like an eternity but then again, we'll have all eternity to spend with each other as the god and goddess of chaos. Just spend some time with Princess Cadence and have some fun. I'll still be here. Don't stay out too late, ok?"

"Ok. New promise: I'll be home before at least one. Sound fair to you?" she laughed.

"Fine. Not back at one and your room just might end up getting the nacho cheese treatment." he smirked.

"Don't you even dare." she spoke with a glare.

"Be home before one and you won't have to find out now, will you?" he replied with a slightly bigger smirk.

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Twilight and Cadence had arrived at the Celestian Theater around 7:35pm that evening, both dressed in their lovely dresses for the show that night. Twilight was in her green dress and Cadence sported a elegant purple dress to match the tints on her wings.

"It seems like a full house tonight." said Cadence. "Want to grab a snack for during the show, Twilight?"

Twilight smiled happily at Cadence. "Sure thing. I think the concession stand is right there."

Cadence and Twilight walked over to the food stand, which was an apple food stand ran by one of Applejack's cousins, Apple Dumpling.

"Good evening Princess Cadence and company." said Apple Dumpling with a bow. "May I interest you in any apple treats this evening before the performance tonight?"

"Yes please. Two caramel apples please and two apple fritters." said Cadence.

Apple Dumpling pulled out the treats, already made and ready to go. They smelled like they had been freshly dipped and baked, which was always a positive sign. "That'll be eight bits, Princess." Apple Dumpling said with a smile.

Cadence levitated the money from a small bag that was on her back hoof. She levitated the money onto the table as she used her magic to grab the treats. Twilight used her magic to grab her two treats.

"Thank you for your business, Princess. It really helps out the Apple family." said Apple Dumpling before going onto another customer.

"Thanks for buying these, Cadence." smiled Twilight.

"It's no problem, Twilight. Just trying to be a good big sister. It's not like the royal family is going to run out of bits!" Cadence said with a laugh. "I hear these are the best apple treats in Canterlot! Let's give them a try."

Twilight brought the apple fritter to her mouth and took a bite. It tasted really sweet. Twilight kept chewing when she realized that it wasn't apple sweet, but rather peach sweet. Twilight looked at the inside of the fritter she had bit out of. It had golden apples crammed inside it, no peach inside the dough. She took another bite, this time the flavor was apples. That was weird, why did the first bite taste like peaches? Twilight shaked it off and kept slowly eating the fritter.

Past Sins was over for the evening. All the ponies filed into the main room and began chatting away about how amazing the play had been and the great characters and storyline.

"That was such a good play, wasn't it, Twilight?" Cadence said happily.

"That was pretty good. The book is better though but the actor ponies did a great job, especially the actress, Sawyer, playing Nyx/Nightmare Moon. She gave a very convincing role, very close to the real Nightmare Moon."

"She was pretty convincing, I will admit. I just need to use the restroom and we'll go get our midnight snack, ok?" said Cadence.

"Sounds good to me." said Twilight as Cadence headed in the direction of the restroom.

Twilight walked towards a couch that was nearby the restrooms. She sat down when a stallion approached her.

"Madam, did you enjoy the play this evening?" he asked.

"I did. It was such a wonderful play. Wonderful storyline." Twilight smiled.

"I noticed you in the theater area and must say, you looked ravishing." he smiled as a two more stallions approached. "Didn't this young mare look ravishing this evening, men?"

"You looked stunning." said one.

"Absolutely wonderful." said the other stallion.

"Thank you for the compliments but I already have a boyfriend, gentlecolts." Twilight said politely.

"Is he here with you tonight?" the head stallion asked.

"Well, no. I'm here with my sister. We were just about to leave and get back home." said Twilight.

"Why don't you hang out with me for awhile, beautiful mare? I'm sure your boyfriend won't mind waiting." said the head stallion.

"I promised him I would be back after I was done spending time with my sister. Could you stallions kindly leave me alone?" Twilight asked politely. "I'm not that interested in your offer."

"Come on, madam. You have no idea what you're missing." said the head stallion.

"He's a really nice stallion." said one of the follower stallions.

"Please go away, gentlecolts." Twilight said, her anger starting to rise and her horn starting to glow faintly. "I am not interested in you at all. None of you."

"Oh, am I-" said the head stallion before being interrupted by a medium size flower pot came crashing down onto his head. "Hey, what the hay was that?"

The pot was now laid on the couch next to stallion, but away from Twilight. The pot had broke when it had came into contact with the stallion's head, but that wasn't as unusual as what had been inside the pot. In a pile of dirt, laid several blue flowers, two of them still on the stallion.

"Oh Celestia! That's Poison Joke!" panicked one of the lackey stallions. "That plant messes with you and makes you like a joke the next day!"

"Oh Celestia! Let's get out of here!" yelled the head stallion as they ran away just as Cadence came back from the restroom.

"Woah! What happened here?" Cadence asked, pointing to the Poison Joke and shattered flower pot.

"Some stallions were hitting on me and I told them to stop, but they wouldn't. I was going to use my magic on them, but this flower pot filled with Poison Joke came crashing onto one of the stallion's head. I didn't cast any spells so I have no idea where the flower pot came from." Twilight explained.

"That's odd. Maybe another unicorn saw what happened and decided to give those stallions what they deserved." said Cadence.

"Well, whoever did it, it was very kind of them." laughed Twilight. "When that stallion wakes up tomorrow, it'll be chaotic that's for sure!" she laughed harder.

------------------------------------------

Cadence and Twilight were at The Golden Apple, a fancy restaurant that was about a five minute walk from the theater. They were seated in the back of the restaurant as they didn't want any unwanted attention from the other ponies in the place. They had just placed their order when Cadence began to speak to Twilight about a serious matter.

"Twilight, I need to ask you something." said Cadence.

"What is it?" asked Twilight.

"Why have you been so secretive about your magic practice lately? Does this have anything to do with your weird sleep cycle?" Cadence asked with a raised brow.

"My magic has nothing to do with my weird sleep cycle, which I am actually over now." said Twilight.

"But why have you been so secretive then, Twilight? I'm worried about you. Is something bothering you, at all?" Cadence asked.

"Nothing is bothering me, Cadence. To be honest, I couldn't be more happier today. I got to see a really great show with my really great sister!" Twilight replied with a large smile.

Cadence blushed slightly at the compliment. "Are you sure nothing is bothering you, Twilight? I just want to help you is something is bothering you."

"I'm fine, really. Nothing is bothering me, Cadence."

"Twilight, do you love somepony?" Cadence asked.

"What?" Twilight almost yelled just as their food arrived, which apple themed. Twilight lifted the slice of apple pie and took a bite from it, trying to relieve the shock from Cadence's question.

"Twilight, could that be why you're practicing your magic and were sleeping so much? Because you can't have a certain stallion and you want to impress him with your strong new magical power?"

"That isn't true, Cadence. I was just sleeping alot because I missed our family more than anything and learning new spells to help me gain more knowledge. That's all there is to the story." said Twilight.

Cadence swallowed the piece of apple cake she had been eating. "Hey, do you want to see your parents tomorrow? I'm sure they'd like to spend some real quality time with you without anypony else there to bother you."

Twilight swallowed her piece of apple pie. "Tomorrow afternoon would be wonderful. I'm gonna be up late tonight learning a couple new spells and I don't know when I'm going to turn in."

"I'll call them for you tomorrow morning then." smiled Cadence. "They'll be happy to hear you wanna spend more time with them."

"It sure will. It sure will." smiled Twilight with an undertone of doubt in her voice.

-----------------------------------

Twilight arrived back at the castle shortly after midnight and made her way back to her room. Before she even opening the door, she knocked to see if he was still there.

"Yes?" came her own voice from behind the door. "Who is it?"

Twilight laughed at his impression of her voice. "Dizzy, it's me. Can I come in?" she giggled.

"Come on in." he said, still in the false voice.

Twilight opened the door to her bedroom and walked in, closing the door behind her. When she closed the door and looked at the room, she had to cover her open mouth with her hoof to prevent herself from having panic attack. The room had been completely redecorated from when she had left.

The room itself had an obvious romantic atmosphere since the whole room had been turned red, including the sheets on Twilight's bed were red and her pillows were in the shape of hearts. But the most interesting feature with the entire room redecoration was in the middle of the room stood a chocolate fountain, big enough for Discord and her together to swim in.

"D-Discord, w-where are you?" she asked in now very happy voice.

There was a bright burst of light from behind Twilight, causing her to flip around and come face to face with the most beautiful red rose she had seen. Even the roses in the gardens didn't look this good.

Discord was holding out the rose, offering it to her. "For the most beautiful mare I've ever seen in my thousands of years." he stated happily. "I thought you would like this. You do deserve it since you did free me yet again."

Twilight took the rose from his hand using her magic before looking at him teary eyed. "Oh, Discord. This was so sweet of you. Thank you so much for putting this all together for me."

"Not for you, but for us." Discord smiled before walking over to the chocolate fountain. "Care to put that rose in a vase and swim with me in chocolate?" he asked as he conquered up a vase for the rose, it was just as lovely as the rose too.

Twilight walked over to him and placed the rose in the picturesque vase and levitated it to her nightstand. "I'd love to join you in this chocolate fountain." she said with a smile.

"Glad you want to join me. Cannonball!" He shouted as he jumped into the chocolate fountain, causing a large splash, some of the chocolate getting on Twilight.

Twilight walked to the edge of the fountain. "Cannonball!" she shouted as well and jumped into the fountain, causing a smaller splash but still getting chocolate on Discord. She pointed a hoof at him and laughed. "I got chocolate all over you!"

"Oh, so you did?" he smirked as he smacked his lion paw into the chocolate, causing it to splash and hit Twilight. "Now I got chocolate all over you!" he laughed.

"I think there's about to be a chocolate splash war in about 3,2-" Twilight said before getting splashed by chocolate again.

"You were saying something about a chocolate splash war?" he smirked.

"Oh, you're on." said Twilight with a smirk of her own.

With that statement began the Chocolate Splashing War. Chocolate flew everywhere but oddly didn't land anywhere outside the fountain for Discord had put a repellent on the fountain to prevent chocolate from getting everywhere for he had a feeling something like this was bound to happen.

Twenty minutes passed and so did the Great Chocolate Splashing War. No pony had one since the both of them were completely covered in chocolate, the only part of them that didn't have chocolate on it was their nose, ears, and eyes. Besides that, every other part of their body was covered with chocolate. They both laughed at each other and began licking themselves clean of the chocolate. Why use magic to clean it off when you can eat it off yourself?

After reaching all the decent places she could (she refused to go to there), she used a spell that removed the rest of the chocolate from herself and also levitated herself out of the fountain and onto her bed, which she discovered the bed sheets to be satin, one of the softest fabrics in Equestria. She stood up and then back down again, her legs now tucked comfortably underneath her. Discord joined her on the bed as well, and since he was a much bigger size than she was, he was able to curl around the purple pony, his entire body surrounded her almost protective like.

"Liked my chocolate fountain, my dear?" he asked as he rested his head on his eagle claw.

"It was wonderful, Dizzy!" smiled Twilight. "How else could we have had the Chocolate Splashing War?"

He laughed in response. "We could have used chocolate rain in here, but that wouldn't have been as fun."

"Discord...I was wondering something." said Twilight in slight confusion.

"What is it?" he asked.

"At the theater, a stallion got hit by a flower pot with Poison Joke after he kept trying to flirt with me and I told him to leave me alone, but he kept on flirting until he got hit with the flower pot. Was that your doing?" she asked.

He smiled. "I just wanted to make sure you were having a good time with Cadence. I also affected your first bite of the apple fritter."

"That would explain why the first bite tasted like peaches instead of apples. At least I have a fiancee who cares about my well-being."

"Also, no one hits on my mare without facing my wrath. I'm sure the Poison Joke will serve my wrath enough as I did create them."

Twilight laughed. "I'm not surprised you created them. They are annoying for the pony that comes into contact with them."

Discord smirked. "Exactly."

Twilight smiled and looked at him. He still towered over her, even if he was lying down on his stomach, he was still taller than she was. "I still can't believe your freed and I'm engaged to you." A thought came to Twilight's mind when she spoke the word engaged. "W-What will everypony think of me marrying you Dizzy?"

"I know they're your family and friends, but you shouldn't care too much if they don't like the idea of you marrying me. If your heart says it's right, then you should listen to it, shouldn't you?" Discord said, giving her some useful advice.

"I should listen to my heart and I will listen to it. But I still fear what everyone will think. They're not going to take it lightly of me wanting to marry you. Rainbow Dash is gonna have a heart attack, that's for sure."

Discord laughed at the part of Rainbow Dash. "I bet she's not the only one who's gonna have a panic attack. But I know at least one of them will accept us."

"Who is that?" Twilight asked in confusion.

"Pinkie Pie, the Element of Laughter." Discord smiled. "Didn't you tell me once that she was the only one that accepted us together?"

"I do remember now. When we visited by parents in my dreams, she was the only one being her and the others were my own interruptions of what I thought they would be like if they accepted our relationship. Speaking of my parents, I'm going to see them tomorrow afternoon. I'm going to tell them about us. It's not like we can hide forever."

"Are you ready for that, my dear?" Discord asked in concern. "Are you ready for everypony's opinion about us?" he asked.

"I am afraid that everypony may not be too happy about us but one thing I don't have to worry about is having the Elements being used on you. They won't have any affect on you." Twilight smiled. "Dizzy, will you come with me to my parents tomorrow so it won't be so hard for me to tell my parents about us? I can tell my friends about us when I go back home to Ponyville."

"Of course I'll go." he smiled.

"You should come as the colt you were this afternoon so I can prepare them for the shock of a lifetime. Will you do that for me?" Twilight asked whine-like.

"Yes, yes. I will be a colt for you tomorrow. Just stop whining about it, ok?" Discord said in slight annoyance.

Twilight giggled. "Ok then. Are we gonna spend the rest of the night together just relaxing on the bed or are we going to have some romantic fun?" she smiled at him happily.

"What would you like to do now?" he asked.

"A mock date?" Twilight suggested.

"As you wish, my dear." Discord said as he snapped his fingers, a table with a lit candle appearing. There was also a rose in a vase (it was the one he had given to her earlier) on the table, along with plates and silverware, all lined up neat and clean.

"Did this mare want a mock candlelit dinner for two?" he asked in a false proper voice.

"If there is no actual dinner and it's just dessert, I'd love to join you in a candlelit dessert for two." Twilight smiled at him.

"Of course, my lady. Anything you wish." Discord said, still in his false proper voice.

Twilight sat at right side of the table and Discord sat just across from her. She quickly took notice of the chair she was sitting in. It was rather soft and very cushion, just the way she loved her chairs when she studied.

"What is for dessert tonight?" asked Twilight.

"Tonight my dear, we have chocolate chip and M&M cookies with a glass of either chocolate or regular milk." he continued in the false voice.

"Well, as much as I want it to be a bit chaotic, regular milk would go much better with these cookies than chocolate milk would." Twilight laughed. "So, when will our order arrive, oh god of chaos?"

"In 3,2,1." he spoke as he snapped his lion paw and several cookies appeared on each plate, and a glass of regular milk for her and chocolate milk for him. "Care for anything else, my dear?"

"A cherry?" Twilight suggested.

Discord thought of an idea just as she suggested the cherry. "I only have one cherry left, if you don't mind."

Twilight knew Discord was planning something now. "That is fine with me, oh god of chaos."

Discord snapped his fingers again and a single red cherry appeared in his eagle claw. "Do you want this cherry, my dear?" he asked, now resuming his normal voice.

"I do. May I have it please?" she asked.

"Maybe." he smirked. "Maybe not."

"What do you want?" she asked non-chanty.

"Another kiss from the most beautiful mare I know." he answered with a single smirk.

"Oh, alright. But no tricks." she warned as she walked around the table to where he was sitting.

"Pucker up, my dear." he said as she obeyed his command. He kissed her directly back, not pulling any tricks on her like he had done when they were in Appleloosa in Twilight's dream. They held the kiss for a few moments before pulling away and smiling at each other.

"Can I have my cherry now?" Twilight asked.

"I don't know. Can you?" he mocked.

"Discord! Please give me the cherry!" she said in annoyance.

"Alright. Alright. Here's the cherry you want so much." he said as he handed it to her, which she ate in an instant, with a smile on her face present while she ate it.

"Thank you so much, Discord." Twilight spoke happily. "How about we eat these cookies, hmm?"

"Let's my dear." Discord said happily as twilight returned to her side of the table and began munching on her cookies as Discord did the same with his.

"These cookies are delicious, Dizzy. Your magic is sure one heck of a chef!" Twilight said happily, eating her cookies because they were one of the best cookies she had in a long time. Discord ate just as fast as Twilight as he had the same opinion about the cookies that she did.

After they finished their cookies, they spent the rest of night having fun with each other and enjoying the other's company. He had even explained why he had allowed himself to be turned into stone as apart of a plan he created with Celestia shortly before it happened. They were up until the sun was rose by Celestia, at then decided they should probably sleep before they both went to Twilight's parents and break the shocking news to them.

Before going to sleep, Discord turned himself as the colt he was that early afternoon just in case anypony decided to enter without knocking, they wouldn't be into too much shock. He had also returned the room back to normal as well.

They were only one sleep away before the two would change their lives and the ponies Twilight knew for a lifetime.
> Chapter 12
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight opened her eyes to have the sun greet her face. She glanced at a nearby clock to see it was around one in the afternoon. She then realized she felt someone draped over her body. She turned her head to see a gray colt body halfway over the top of her own, fast asleep.

She sat there, looking at the sleeping gray colt. How in Equestria did they go from enemies to forbidden lovers? She thought about the time he first broke out of his stone imprisonment. She and her friends first discovered that cotton cloud cloud and giant apples he had created on Applejack's farm. He even turned the corn into popcorn! She remembered rushing to Celestia after getting an urgent letter from her about Discord.

She then remembered how shortly after he had been re-imprisoned in stone, she began to having these dreams about them being involved romantically. It had scared her at first, but slowly, she began to realize that he was a nice pony and could be a very romantic stallion once you got passed his chaotic powers and appearance.

She glanced over at her nightstand, where the jewel Discord had given her last night laid comfortably on the top. Their engagement had been offical when he gave her that stone. They were now engaged to be married. How strange they went from enemies to now almost marriage. It's weird how destiny works for you. She couldn't wait to get married to him and have all of Equestria watching.

Suddenly, the horrible daydream she had before flashed in her mind. What if they tried to stop the wedding, saying that something was mentally wrong with her and that they shouldn't be together? She was going to introduce Discord to her parents and her whole family today, what are they going to think of him? What if they don't give them their blessing, or worse, they disown her?

A yawn was then heard in the room and Twilight turned her head to see the gray colt that had been sleeping on top of her had finally awaken.

"Good afternoon, Dizzy. You finally decided to wake up, have you?" she smiled happily.

The gray colt climbed off of her and returned to his original form. "Hey, I need my beauty sleep like any other pony in the palace."

Twilight laughed. "Oh sure you do." she spoke with sarcasm. She hopped out of bed and began looking in her closet. "What should I wear to my parents? It has to be just right for the occasion. This isn't just any normal visit to my parents." she spoke in slight panic.

Discord simply smirked at the purple alicorn as she dug through her closet, trying to find a nice outfit to wear. "My dear, if they panic at all, I can simply use an acceptance spell on them like I did with Celestia and Luna." he assured her.

Twilight came out of her closet with a sun hat on her head. "Dizzy, I can't do that to them. I understand with Celestia and Luna since they would put you back into stone if they thought you hadn't change. But I want my parents and family to actually accept us for who we are and not just cheat them into believing we should be together. Also, this way I would know that the blessing they could give us would be genuine. I would prefer them to actually like you then you to just use some acceptance spell on them."

"Fine, I'll be nice and do things your way. No acceptance spells." he stated in slight annoyance.

"I'm glad you understand. Now, I have a plan on how I'll introduce and eventually tell everypony the big announcement."

"Go on." he said with great interest.

"I'll introduce you as my colt friend that I had met during one of my trips through Equestria and hopefully my parents can absorb your presence as a simple colt. If they like you as a colt, then I can reveal you to the family in your true form and announce that we're getting married sometime soon. Will you do it for me, please? Just to warm them up at least and I can explain everything to them."

"Aren't we being a bit deceptive?"

"I know I am being deceptive but I just want to see how you being around my parent plays out and see if they like you as a colt. Hopefully, my siblings will like you as well."

"You mean Shining Armor and Princess Cadence?"

"Yes. Shining Armor is very protective of me and if he likes you, then my parents and Cadence will surely love you. We just have to play this safe until the big reveal, ok?"

"I guess we can go with your little plan. After all, I do love being in disguise." he said as he turned himself back into the gray colt.

Then there was a knock on the door. "Twilight Sparkle, may I have a word with you in your room? It's about your colt friend." It was Princess Luna's voice.

"Come on in, Luna. It's alright." Twilight said happily.

The door handle glowed a faint blue as Luna had used her magic to push open the door. She walked into the room and closed the door directly behind her. Luna quickly took notice of Discord in his colt form.

"I see he has spent the night as well." Luna said with a slightly nervous smile. "Any friend of Twilight is a friend of Luna's."

"Luna, are you alright? You sound nervous, like something is bothering you." asked Twilight.

Luna cleared her throat. "Twilight, I need to talk to you about your supposed colt friend. I know he's Discord hiding himself from suspecting pony eyes."

Discord walked next to Twilight's side and gave Luna a smirk. "I see you know my tricks anywhere, my little Luna." he teased. "It has been awhile since I've seen you simply as Luna and not Nightmare Moon."

Luna instantly fell to the ground and covered her ears with her two forehoofs. "Don't bring that up! Do not bring that up! I'm still trying to forget those horrible memories!" she screamed in the Royal Canterlot voice.

Twilight rushed to Luna's side. "Luna, what's the matter? Why is his comment bothering you so much?"

"I can't say it. It'll make me relive those awful memories once more." Luna said with tears in her eyes.

"Luna, perhaps I can make you forget those memories. I know memory spells that could make you forget those awful times."

"It is of no use, Twilight Sparkle. Other ponies have tried to rid these memories from me. The spells they casted only worked for a short time before they returned, more vivid then they had been before."

"I am sorry, Luna. I'm sure Discord didn't mean to recall those painful memories. Right, Discord?" she said in a stern voice as she gave him a glare.

"I'm sorry." he said. "I didn't know it had that much of a negative effect on you, little Luna."

Luna stood back up on her hoofs. "I-It's ok. You said you were sorry, so it's ok now." she cleared her throat. "Now that I know you don't mind me knowing it's Discord, Twilight, Cadence has informed me that you will all be visiting your parents within the next hour."

"That's right, princess. I have a big announcement for everypony. I'm sure you can easily guess what it is."

"You're going to reveal Discord to them? That's very brave of you, Twilight Sparkle, to say he is now your friend now and has changed. I'm sure it won't be easy to tell them." said Luna.

"It won't be, princess, but I have everything all planned out."

"That's wonderful. Celestia and I will be stopping by after a few hours. Perhaps you can introduce him then, but you don't have too. He is your friend now and you can do whatever you'd like."

"I'm so glad we have Luna's permission of when I'm going to be introduced." said Discord in annoyance.

"Discord! She's just trying to be considerate!" yelled Twilight.

"Twilight Sparkle, if anything is to happen and you need our help, just light up the sky with the shape of a crescent moon and we'll rush to your aid immediately." said Luna. "I must leave now for I don't want to keep you from your parents, Twilight Sparkle. Good day to you and see you later this evening."

"Good day, Luna." Twilight said as Luna opened the door and walked out of the bedroom. She looked at the gray colt standing next to her. "Ready to meet my parents, Dizzy?"

"I was born ready." he joked.

-------------------------------------------------

The two were walking to Twilight's parents' house that was a fifteen minute walk from the Canterlot Castle. They were walking along when a gray pegasus came up to them.

"Hi there, Twilight!" she said happily.

"Oh, hello there, Derpy. Delivering some mail around Canterlot today?" asked Twilight.

"You bet! After I'm done, I'm gonna sample some of the Canterlot muffins! I really wanna try the royal muffin. It sounds really good." Derpy smiled when she noticed Discord. "Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't see you there. My name is Derpy Hooves!"

"Dizzy." he said flatly.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Dizzy! Maybe I'll bring your mail to you someday! Please excuse me now, I have some mail to deliver and muffins to sample!" Derpy said as she trotted away.

Discord looked at Twilight. "Who the hay was that?" he asked.

"That was Derpy. She's a mail carrier that goes all throughout Equestria. I'm sure you also noticed her eyes easily."

"I sure did. How can she even see with her eyes in two different places?"

"Discord, that's rude! She can see just fine like any other pony! Don't make fun of a pony who is different than you!"

"I was only asking an innocent question. No need to send the royal guard on me, my dear. Calm down."

Twilight let out a small sigh. They walked a few more minutes when they came upon a familiar sight to Twilight. It was her parent's house. It was now to put her plan into action and hope they accept him so she can reveal him as he truly is.

"Ready to meet my parents officially, Dizzy?" she asked.

"Like I said, I was born ready." he joked.

Twilight knocked on the door with her forehoof. A moment later, her mother answered the door. Her mother smiled happily when she saw her daughter. She gave Twilight a hug and when she pulled away, she noticed Discord the colt.

"Who is your friend, Twilight?" she asked.

"This is my friend, Dizzy. I met him on one of my trips around Equestria." smiled Twilight.

"He seems like a nice pony." Mrs. Sparkle tapped her forehead in stupidity. "Where are my manners today? Come on in you two! We have another guest over at the moment as well! I'm sure you'll remember him, Twilight!"

Twilight and Discord walked in the door and turned the corner to see Mr. Sparkle talking to a yellow unicorn with purple mane and tail happily.

"Twilight! You're finally here! Remember Starshine?" he asked.

"Oh, hi there Starshine. It's been awhile." Twilight said. "Dad, I want you to meet one of my friends."

"And who might this colt be?" Mr. Sparkle asked.

"This is my FRIEND, Dizzy. I met him on one of my trips traveling through Equestria."

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Sparkle." Discord said in proper-like voice.

"Glad Twilight is making so many new friends now that she's in Ponyville. She never really had much luck when we dated."

It felt like a chord had been ripped inside of him. This unicorn had dated his Twilight? When and how the hay long?

"I remember when you two dated. You two were the cutest couple ever! I still can't believe Twilight still managed to form a crush on such a sweet stallion like you!"

Starshine laughed. "I was surprised to. Never thought a bookworm such as Twilight would ever form a crush on any colt, especially me."

"Mom! Starshine! You guys are embarrassing me!" Twilight said as a light blush formed over her cheeks.

"Oh, how cute!" Mrs. Sparkle said happily.

An hour had gone by and Discord had been pretty much silent the whole time the family had gotten together. Even Cadence and Shining Armor had arrived and noticed that he wasn't going to talk. Everypony was enjoying themselves when Discord noticed that he hadn't seen Twilight for the last few minutes. Where the hay was she anyways?

Discord turned around and walked around a corner to see Starshine whispering something to Twilight.

"Really? You really will get me one?" Twilight asked excitedly.

"Anything for a number one fan." Starshine said with a smile as Twilight squealed and pulled him in for an affectionate hug.

Discord stared at the two for a moment. When he couldn't look at the two any longer, he slipped out the back door when no pony was noticing.

He walked outside into the large garden that was in the back of the house. Many different plants grew everywhere and some were even tall enough to hide him if he were in his normal form. He walked abit into the garden and took notice of some hedges that were shaped almost like a box, expect the fourth wall was missing. He quickly ran into the open box and turned himself back into his original form and hid away in case anypony decided they wanted to come into the garden.

He leaned back against the hedge and looked up at the blue sky. Maybe it would have been better if he were just like Starshine and perhaps less chaotic, Twilight's parents might like him just as much as Starshine. Her parents did like Discord, but they didn't show it as much as they had showed it to Starshine. Maybe if he were less chaotic, things would be better. He knew Twilight's personality of organization kept his chaos in check, but maybe if he were less chaotic, it wouldn't be such a big burden of Twilight's part.

"Dizzy? Dizzy, where are you?" Twilight called as she had walked outside, worried about where he had disappeared to. She kept calling out his name when she found him in the open hedge box. "Dizzy, what are you doing out in the open hedge box all alone for?"

"Twilight, do you like that Starshine colt in there?" he asked, ignoring her question.

"Well, sure I like him. He was a really good friend when I was younger." she smiled.

"Oh...I see." he said flatly.

Twilight caught onto his tone. "If you're thinking if I still have any feelings for him still, they don't exist anymore."

"But your mother said you two made the cutest couple..."

"We were a couple when we went on a few days, but I ended it since it was interfering with my studies. I thought I liked him like a crush, but after we went on a second date, there wasn't anything really there. No spark at all. He completely understood and we just remained as simple friends."

"But, I saw you and him just a few minutes ago and you were hugging him. What was that about?"

"Oh, that!" Twilight said happily. "Starshine has a girlfriend by the name Pen Writer and she's one of the best new authors in Equestria! He told me she had a book on the way and would get me one of the first copies! I love getting books as soon as they're out!"

"Oh, was that all?" he said in relief.

"Discord, were you jealous of him that something might happen between the two of us?" Twilight asked him in a teasing matter. He remained silent. "Well, no matter what Discord, I will always love you and no other pony. I honestly never would have thought I would develop feelings like this since I was so adsorbed in my own studies. I thought I didn't really need love, until you began sending me those dreams. Then I knew I couldn't live without your love."

Discord gave Twilight a smile as tears began forming in her eyes. "And this may sound rather cheesy coming from me, but even though we nor married, I already feel like we're husband and wife and have been so in love for so long."

The moment was just too precious for him. Discord stared into her purple eyes that were now shining since tears had just filled them. After a few minutes, he just couldn't take just staring at her anymore. he caught Twilight by surprise by grabbing her by the waist and pinning her against the hedge, before giving her a kiss like the one she had given him as a 'gift' to him.

After a moment, he pulled away and pulled her hoofs above her head. "Now has your colt friend ever done anything like THIS?" he whispered into her ear.

"I could only imagine. I doubt romance novels can become reality." she spoke with a slight giggle.

He simply looked at her as a smirk formed over his face. He stroke Twilight's cheek with his lion paw, making her blush in the process and whispered back to her, "Who says they can't?" he spoke as he caught her in another kiss.

"Twilly, Dizzy, where did you go? Where are you two?" Shining Armor called out.

The couple looked at each other in alarm as the kiss had been cut short by her brother's shouting. Before they could do anything, Shining Armor saw them in the open hedge box. Twilight was still pinned against the hedge so Shining Armor instantly thought that Discord was trying to hurt his little sister. He instantly went into protective big brother mode and lunged himself at Discord, pushing him off of Twilight.

"Leave her alone, you monster!" Shining Armor shouted.

"A monster, am I?" he said as he snapped his fingers. His magic levitated Shining Armor off of him and bounded his hoofs together like he had been tied by a lasso. "Could any monster have done that?"

Just as Twilight thought it was bad that her brother thought Discord was a monster, her entire family had come outside when they had heard Shining Armor shout at him. Her family looked at Discord and then Shining Armor in horror.

"Stay away from my sister, you monster!" Shining Armor shouted.

"Leave our daughter alone, you vile creature!" her father shouted.

"Wait, he's not a bad pony! He wasn't hurting me!" Twilight protested.

Not hearing Twilight's protests, her family kept yelling insults at the mismatched creature. Twilight looked at the scene in horror, she knew this kind of thing was going to happen. What was she going to do?

"We have to use our magic together to make them forget." whispered a voice in Twilight's ear.

Twilight turned to see Discord had turned himself into a butterfly, leaving the family in confusion on where he had disappeared too. "You're right. They can't remember what happened here. I just couldn't handle all the interrogating they might do to me and I can't have them wanting to hurt you."

With that statement finished, Twilight's horn and crown glowed as Discord's butterfly wings glowed as well. The couple's magic came together as a ray of dark purple magic as it zapped her entire family, wiping the entire encounter out of their minds, so they could no longer recall it.

"I have to go back to the castle." he whispered to her. "Stay with your family. I'll be waiting for you when you come back tonight." he then disappeared in a burst of light.

Twilight went on the rest of the night with her family without Discord and felt heartbroken. If her brother couldn't see past Discord's exterior, she doubt that anypony else in the family would too. She even explained what had happened to the princesses in secret and they didn't know what they could do for her case.

What was she going to do if nopony accepted her and Discord together?
> Chapter 13
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Good night, everypony." Twilight said as she was leaving her parents.

"Good night, dear!" Mrs. Sparkle said happily.

"Good night, Twilly." Shining Armor said happily.

"Night, Shining Armor." Twilight spoke in a bitter voice to him as she left. Shining Armor turned to Cadence in confusion. "Did I do something to make her mad this evening?"

"You haven't done anything this evening. How are your hooves feeling now?" asked Cadence.

"Fine now. It feels like I got into a fight of some kind and got hog tied like a pig with a lasso, but that never happened. So weird..." Shining Armor said as he rubbed his temple.

------------------------------------------------

Twilight returned to her bedroom as she slammed the down behind her using her magic. "Stupid Shining Armor...he should've let me explained everything and maybe none of this wouldn't have happened."

Twilight looked up to see Discord was lying on her bed, giving her a apologetic smile. She walked over and climbed into the bed as he wrapped his mismatched arms around her neck.

"Discord, I'm so sorry you had to go through all of that tonight. Perhaps you should have used an acceptance spell on them, at least then none of this wouldn't have happened then."

"My dear, it wasn't your fault. I thought you wanted them to actually like me and give us a real blessing?"

"I did until Shining Armor found us in the open hedge box, now I wished we hadn't visit my parents at all."

He ran his eagle claw through her mane as his lion paw gently tapped her forehead once. "It wasn't your fault, my dear. Your brother's reaction was completely typical for that situation."

"But he just attacked you and didn't even give a chance to explain what you were doing with me against the hedge!"

"It's ok now my dear. Perhaps we shouldn't get married after all." he suggested.

"What?" she asked in confusion.

"You seem so worried about your family and friends accepting us as a couple, perhaps we should be what is called 'secret lovers' and not have to worry about anypony accepting us. We could be together and not have to worry about what anypony thinks of us."

Twilight looked at him with the look of utter horror. "I know you just want to protect us from everypony who might disapprove of us Dizzy but we shouldn't let my family or anypony get in the way of us getting married. I don't care how long it'll take for us to get married, we will be husband and wife, we just need to figure out how. I would love to have somepony attend our wedding."

"And how would-" Twilight quickly pounced on top of him, her hoofs against his chest, pinning him down. She wasn't applying a lot of force onto her hoofs, so Discord could have easily lifted the purple alicorn off of him, but he decided to let her have her way.

She quickly lowered her head to his and kissed him once more, with all the hope, assure, comfort, and love she had within her body and soul. "Discord, I love you. No matter what. We will get married, even if has to be a secret marriage. I don't want to have to be that way, but if it must, I'll do it."

"You're willing to marry me behind me behind your family and friends' back? You must really love me then."

Twilight's eyes slowly began to tear up. "Of course I do. I do care about my friends and family, but I deserve to be happy as well. I've never felt happier ever since you began giving me those dreams a few months back."

"Really now?" he smirked.

"Of course, Discord. You're actually the most fun of I've had in the longest time. You made my life actually more exciting than it's been in a long, long time." she said as she let out a yawn. "I guess I've been so worried about us the entire night, it took up all my energy."

Discord lifted the alicorn off of him and sat her down next to him. "Then you should go to sleep then. You need all your strength for tomorrow if you want to face the day."

Twilight let out another yawn. "I have to face the music about us soon, but until then, I'll just sleep it off..." she said as she closed her eyes and laid down on the bed, fast asleep.

The mismatched creature simply smiled at the sleeping alicorn and knew that she was right, they would eventually have to face some ponies about their relationship. Who that would even be, was a complete mystery.

--------------------------------------------------

Twilight opened her eyes the next morning and quickly took notice that her head was resting on Discord's chest. She smiled when she felt something press against her cheek. She turned her head and came face to face with the god of chaos.

"Sleep well, have we?" he asked with a smirk.

"I did in-" Twilight was interrupted by a knock on her door.

"Twilight, can I come in?" asked Cadence from the other side of the door.

Discord didn't want to leave Twilight alone again, even if she was just talking to Cadence. He knew he couldn't be seen either, so he turned himself into a painting on Twilight's ceiling.

"S-Sure thing, Cadence." said Twilight.

Cadence walked into the bedroom. "I just wanted to say that I had such a fun time last night! Who knew Dad-in-law could eat so many apples!"

"Dad sure can eat a lot of apples. He's always been able to eat a lot. Like he boasted yesterday, he won the apple eating contest three years in a row..."

"That sounded like it was a fun memory. You know, speaking of memory, I could swear that it felt like my mind had been wiped last night."

Twilight looked at her in worry. "W-What do you mean?" she stuttered.

"Well, don't you remember when we all went into the garden for no reason? Everyone was so confused on why they had come out to the garden for no reason."

"Oh, that. Maybe we all wanted to enjoy nature's decorations, perhaps?"

Cadence laughed. "Oh! I wanted to invite you to something after breakfast with me today!"

"What is it?"

"I want to invite you to another show on Hoofway this morning. The play is called Discordant Feelings. It's supposed to be about a young mare who had just defeated an evil villain and entrap him once again in stone. She realizes shortly afterwards that she misses him dearly and wishes he could come back and maybe this time be taught how to make friends and be a friend."

As soon as Cadence had spoken the title, it instantly struck a chord with Twilight. The play's title even had Discord's name in it after all and it sounded so familiar to her, like she had been in a situation like that before. Twilight quickly shook her head to rid herself of that thought and spoke.

"The stone thing...it sounds like when my friends and I defeated Discord and trapped him again in stone."

"The play was actually inspired by that event actually." explained Cadence. "The playwriter heard about it and was struck with inspiration to write the play out. I heard she didn't sleep at all for the next three days in order to write the whole thing."

"It must have been that inspiring to her then. The actual play is roughly over four hours. Those Hoofway writers just love writing long plays. I can't believe how Playwright is able to make such masterpieces. So, do you wanna come with?"

Twilight glanced up at Discord, who was still a decoration on the ceiling. He gave her a wink and smile, signaling that he didn't mind if she went to the show with Cadence. It might be good for Twilight anyways since it could keep her mind off of last night.

"Well, do you wanna come, Twilight?" Cadence asked again.

"I'd love to come! Another play sounds wonderful. Which theater is this one at?"

"At the Lunarian Theater, Discordant Feelings' new home. It's sales have already been through the roof and it's been getting many positive reviews!"

"That sounds wonderful. Do I need to dress up like last time?"

"Not for this one. It's a causal theater. We'll leave right after breakfast, which should be served within half an hour or so." smiled Cadence.

"See you at breakfast then." smiled Twilight at her.

"See you then." Cadence said as she walked out the door.

As soon as Cadence left and closed the door behind her, Discord reappeared behind Twilight. "Another show with Cadence again?"

Twilight simply nodded. "Would you like to come? You could watch from the shadows since I think Cadence only has two tickets. The show is also sold out from what I was told."

"To protect my dear Twilight if something were to happen?"

"Exactly." Twilight smiled.

"And if that same stallion from your previous theater outing returns, he'll have to deal with more than just a simple flower pot filled with Poison Joke come crashing onto him."

"I highly doubt that jerk will return." Twilight laughed. "I'm gonna start heading down to breakfast. You can officially become my 'guardian chaos' if you will."

Discord laughed. "And I know the perfect way to be your 'guardian chaos.'" he laughed as he disappeared before her eyes before his voice filled the room. "I'll be watching you now." he said with an evil-like laugh.

----------------------------------------

Cadence and Twilight arrived at the Lunarian theater where many ponies were chatting excitedly away about how great the show was going to be and how Playwright outdid herself this time. They walked to the refreshment stand where Twilight noticed two familiar ponies running the stand.

"Welcome to the Flim Flam Theater Cinder Stand!" said Flim.

"Can we interest you in some delicious and hearty promise cider?" smiled Flam.

"Weren't you the two saleponies in Ponyville who sold that vile apple cider with that unusual machine of yours?" Twilight asked as she lowered her eyes slightly.

"We've improved our machine so that our cider is always fresh!" said Flim.

"We only use the freshest ingredients now and take our time!" said Flam.

"Only the best cider for Canterlot!" they said in unison.

"Oh, alright. I'll buy one cup." said Twilight.

Flim filled the cup up quickly with cider they had just made a few minutes ago. "That'll be two bits please."

Twilight hoofed over the bits and grabbed the cup of cider with her magic. She took a sip of the cider and realized that the two brothers hadn't been lying, they really had improved their cider ever since they ran out of Ponyville.

"I see you two aren't lying about improving the quality of your cider. It's really delicious." smiled Twilight.

"I'm glad you enjoy it. We've gotten very picky about our cider more than ever." said Flim.

"I'm so glad you're finally im- EEK!" Twilight screamed as she felt something as if had grabbed her flank.

"What's wrong, madam?" asked Flam in concern.

Twilight looked behind her. No pony was there and she glanced around the room to see nopony looked like they had been running away from her. "I guess I was imagining something brushing against me. Active imagination turning on me."

"I hate when that happens. Horrible thing it can be." said Flam. "You're alright now, madam. Go and enjoy the show. It's supposed to be really good!"

"I will." Twilight said as she walked next to Cadence who gave her a puzzled look.

"You ok? You screamed and I rushed to help you, but you seemed fine when I got closer to you." said Cadence.

"I thought I felt something grab my flank, but I must have been imagining things."

"Maybe, but keep your guard up just in case." Cadence said with suspicion. "It might be that horrible stallion from the last time. You never know."

---------------------------------------------

It was intermission between the first and second act. The play so far had been fantastic so far. The mare who had been playing Moon Dancer (the mare who felt guilty for Dance Shoes, the stallion who had been supposedly trapped in stone) 'was one of Twilight's friends that she had seen in Past Sins just the other day. It said in the PlayBill that she had only been a one day replacement and this was her offical show.

"How are you enjoying the show so far?" asked Cadence.

"It's wonderful! Sawyer is doing such an excellent job as Moon Dancer. I knew she was destined for greatness after that whole Stage Fright ordeal."

"Didn't she take over for a short while?" asked Cadence.

"A week or two but she had a change of heart. I still don't know what caused her to turn into Stage Fright though."

"Did I overhear the voice of Twilight Sparkle?" asked a voice happily.

Twilight turned around to see Sawyer, the main actress in the show. "Sawyer! I thought you need to get ready!" she said as she hugged her old friend.

"My character doesn't change her clothes until a bit later into the second act. I saw you in the audience and I had to say hi to you!" Sawyer smiled. "And thank you once again for getting me to the Canterlot theater world!"

"Anything for a friend, Sawyer. You did have the talent for acting and after the whole Stage Fright ordeal, you deserved it." smiled Twilight when she felt something touch her flank. She turned around and saw no pony behind her again. "Why the hay does that keep on happening?"

"What keeps happening?" asked Sawyer in concern.

"I keep feeling something or somepony touching my flank, but I haven't seen anything suspicious." said Twilight.

"I still think a certain stallion might be here and doing it, but I haven't seen him here this morning." said Cadence with a slight glare.

"Oh my. If you do find out who or what it is, you give them a good round of Twilight magic and tell them you are not a pony to be messed with!" said Sawyer as an announcement came over the intercoms. "I have to get backstage now. Show is gonna resume in five minutes. It was nice seeing you again, Twilight!" Sawyer hugged Twilight once more.

"It was nice to see you too, Sawyer." smiled Twilight as she pulled away from the hug.

"It was nice to see you, Princess Cadence as well." Sawyer bowed slightly.

"Always glad to meet Twilight's friends." smiled Cadence.

"Well, good bye and hope you catch that meanie head!" Sawyer said as she walked back towards the stage.

The show ended and it had been what all the other ponies before the show had said it would have been. The ponies accepted Dance Shoes had changed and become one of their friends with Moon Dancer as his true best friend.

"I'll be right back, Twilight. I have to use the restroom. Keep your guard up though." Cadence spoke in a warning-like voice.

As Cadence headed to the restroom, Twilight couldn't help but think of Discord. She didn't know if he was hiding in the shadows watching over her or was back in her room, waiting for her. He had to be lonely without her to talk to or do anything with. It wasn't like he could talk to Princess Celestia or Luna without causing any of the servant ponies or royal guards there any panic.

Also, how were they going to be able to get married anyways? They could always get married in secret, but then again, what pony would marry them together? He could turn into colt form easily, but she wanted to marry him in his true form, his real self. Her family and friends would find out later that she was married anyways, it would be pretty hard to hide something like being married from them all. She hoped that they could keep their engagement intact for that long in case anything were to happen and they had to run away together.

Twilight suddenly felt something touch her flank once again. But this time, something had actually slapped her flank. She turned around instantly and finally caught who had been doing it the entire time: it was the same stallion from before.

"You show her whose boss, Passion Heart!" said one of his friends.

Passion Heart was his name. She finally knew his name in case she ever had to track him down and give him a piece of her mind (and magic perhaps) if something were to happen. But she didn't need to track him down and use her magic on him then since he was right here in front of her.

"Hey doll, miss me?" Passion Heart smirked.

Twilight's horn glew brightly. "Get away from me this instant!" she yelled, not caring who heard her. "This is the last time I'm going to deal with your nonsense!"

As if on cue, another flower pot fell on him. But that wasn't all that fell on Passion Heart's head. A black anvil fell on him as well. As if a grand finale, a large piano came crashing down on the stallion.

"Oh my goodness! Is anypony down there hurt?" came a panicked voice from upstairs.

Upstairs were some unicorns who had been using their magic to move some props around for the show, when two of them lost control of their magic and caused the three items to come crashing down on Passion Heart's head.

"I think you might have dropped something on this unicorn here." Twilight said as she pointed to Passion Heart, whose eyes were spinning in their place.

"I want some applesauce, Mama..." Passion Heart spoke in confusion as a result of the items crashing upon his head.

The two unicorns who had lost control of their magic immediately came downstairs and helped Passion Heart.

"Is he alright?" one asked. "Does he have any injuries on his head or body at all?"

"I don't see anything on him, though that Poison Joke in the flower pot might affect him later. We better get him to the hospital seeing this was our fault." said the other unicorn.

"Right, we better carry him on our backs so we don't have another magic episode again and have him even more injured."

Cadence walked out of the restroom as the two unicorns walked past her with Passion Heart securely on their backs. She knew he had been the colt from before and walked over to Twilight. "Apparently something interesting happened while I was in the restroom, I assume?"

"Indeed. The colt from before was the one who had been touching my flank!" said Twilight.

"I thought so." said Cadence. "So, what happened that two unicorns had to carry him out for?"

"I was about to teach him a lesson when two unicorns upstairs were moving some props around when they lost control of their magic and caused a flower pot filled with Poison Joke, an anvil, and a piano to come crashing onto the stallion's head."

"Perhaps that was fate's way of teaching him to stay away from you or he'll keep having things fall on his head." Cadence laughed. "Though, I will admit it seemed abit much to have that much come crashing down on him. I don't think he needed to have a piano come slam down on his head."

"Perhaps that will tell him to stay away from me from now on!" Twilight said in anger.

"Perhaps." Cadence smiled. "Hey, you want lunch? It's getting close to one."

"Sure thing." Twilight said as she and Cadence walked out of the Lunarian Theater.

-------------------------------------------

The two had walked over to Olive Garden, which was not too far from the Lunarian Theater as alot of the good restaurants were not far from Hoofway theaters. The two were sitting at a booth and were talking after a waiter pony had come by and taken their meal orders.

"Twilight, were you happy that your old friend Starshine visited yesterday?" Cadence asked with a smile.

"It was wonderful seeing him yesterday." said Twilight with a large smile. "I never knew his girlfriend was an author! He says he's gonna get me her newest book before any other pony can get it!" she spoke excitedly.

"I never knew he had a girlfriend! That's wonderful. Twilight, I've noticed you don't have anypony special. Perhaps I could help you with that, after all, my magic specialty is love after all."

"Oh no, Cadence! I'm fine just the way I am! I don't need anypony right now!" Twilight quickly protested.

"But a beautiful mare as yourself should have somepony by her side. Are you sure you don't want me to find you somepony? I could find you a good match as they are plenty of handsome stallions that would love you and are not like that awful stallion back at the theater. They would probably just ask marry you to marry them on the spot because of your lovely appearance."

Twilight blushed. "Cadence, I really don't need anypony at the moment. I'm perfectly fine of how I am now. Besides, I want to find the right pony on my own anyways. It'll make the journey more fun that way." she replied with a small smile as their lunches arrived on were set in front of them. The two thanked the waiter pony as she walked away to help another table.

"You are right though. It is more fun to find that special somepony on your own." she said as she placed some pasta into her mouth. Just then, an idea struck Cadence as she swallowed her pasta. "Twilight, maybe I could teach you some love spells!"

"Love spells?" Twilight repeated as she swallowed her angel hair pasta. "But I just told you that I don't need no pony right now."

"I know but perhaps if I teach you a few simple ones, you can use it to find out if any stallion you meet in the future actually likes you or not. Wouldn't you like to know before hand just to save yourself some pain in case he might not actually like you. And it would give you something new to add to your vast knowledge of magic spells." smiled Cadence.

"Well...I do like learning to spells." Twilight smiled. "I guess I can give some love spells a try."

"Perfect and i know the perfect one to start with. I call it the 'Love Mending' spell. It makes couples stop arguing about whatever they're arguing about and remember their love for each other, making them both romantic towards the other." Cadence finished when she took notice of a couple.

It was two mares who seemed to be arguing about how they were going to be able to pay for the wedding coming up within the next couple months. Cadence knew they were an actual couple even if they weren't arguing about a wedding for she could easily recognize any couple when most ponies wouldn't know if it was a couple or just friends out to lunch.

"You can try the Love Mending spell on them. They really could use it." smiled Cadence. "The actual spell itself is easy. All you have to do is think of something that brings you the feeling of love and how you want a couple to feel that exact same feeling of love that you're feeling. You magic should then form two heart halves that come between the bickering couple and make them feel love. It'll make them forget whatever they were arguing about."

"O-Ok, I'll try." Twilight said as she thought of the one pony that made her feel true love. Discord. Her magic began to form a little heart out of the top of her horn and split into two halves.

"We cannot afford Hoofington! It's too many bits!" one mare said.

"But it was agreed that we would get married in our dream city, no matter what the cost, Bon-Bon!" the other one said back.

"Lyra, we cannot afford-" Twilight's heart halves came between the two mares, causing them to forget their argument instantly. "You know what Lyra, we can get married in Hoofington. It doesn't matter what it costs because nothing is too good for my musical mare." smiled Bon-Bon.

"And nothing is ever enough for my Bon-Bon." smiled Lyra.

"I can't wait to tell everypony that we're engaged. They going to be so happy for us." said Bon-Bon.

Twilight felt said when Bon-Bon said the word engagement and how everyone was going to be happy for them. That's what she wanted her family and friends to be. Happy for her. Happy that she had found love with somepony.

"Our family is already happy about it. I can't wait to tell our friends, my little Bon-Bon." said Lyra lovey dovey.

-----------------------------------------------------

That evening, Twilight was walking around Canterlot that night with Shining Armor. She hesitated at first because of the memory of last night, but she quickly agreed to go because she knew that he didn't remember anything that happened between him and Discord and neither did her family.

She was happy to be with her big brother tonight, but she still didn't know if she should be mad at him for what he did yesterday, though he had no recollection of the event in question.

"Twilly, are you ok?" Shining Armor asked her in concern. "You seem to be a bit bitter tonight. Something bothering you?"

"I'm fine, really." she replied bitterly. "I've just been overdoing my studies lately and the frequent studying is starting to get to me."

The two kept on walking when Twilight took notice of Passion Heart, who had been touching her flank earlier that day was down under the full effect of the Poison Joke.

"Serves him right for what he did." Twilight said aloud.

"Serves who right, Twilly?" asked Shining Armor.

Twilight pointed at Passion Heart. "That stallion over there harassed me at the theater today when I went with Cadence. It touched my flank several times before I found out that it had been him doing it."

Shining Armor face started to get angry. "He did what to you now?"

"He touched my flank. But he got a suitable punishment. A flower pot, an anvil, and a piano came crashing down on him. That flower pot was also filled with Poison Joke as well, so he still is being punished."

"Well, I don't think he's suffered enough. No pony touches my little sister like she's some toy! I'm gonna teach that colt a lesson!" he said in anger.

"Shining Armor, wait!" Twilight said as she trotted in front of him. "He's already suffered enough. I'm sure he got the message after all those props fell onto his head. He's even suffering from the Poison Joke as well! Look at the horrible mane is a chaotic mess and-" she realized there was a horrible scent in the air. "-and I think his mane might causing the horrible smell!" she said as she held her nose.

Shining Armor looked at his little sister and relaxed. "I guess you're right, Twilly. He sure has suffered." he spoke with a laugh. "I'm just trying to make sure my little sister is safe and if anypony did anything mean to her, they're going to have to deal with the Captain of the Royal Guard!" he said proudly. "Besides, I don' want anything to happen to you, Twilly."

Twilight then realized why he had fought Discord. He was only trying to protect her from him because he thought Discord might have been hurting hurt. He didn't know that she and Discord were a couple, so he acted like any protective big brother would in the situation, by trying to hurt the pony supposedly trying to hurt his sister.

"I know you don't, BBBFF." Twilight said happily, the bitterness finally gone from her being, now having forgive her brother for the entire fight with Discord.

--------------------------------------------------

Twilight returned back to her room that night and found Discord once again lying on her bed.

"I saw you had an interesting time today with your sister and brother." said Discord.

"I did. The play was wonderful. Also, did you cause those two unicorns to lose control of their magic in the theater?" she asked.

"He deserved it and you know it. He. touched. you." he spoke in anger. "And no pony touches my Twilight like that without suffering my wrath!"

Twilight laughed. "I'm glad to know I really do mean that much to you."

Discord smiled at her. "Of course you do, my dear."

Twilight let out a loud yawn. "Another day in Canterlot has drained me. Come on, let's get some rest. All that spying must have worn you out to."

Discord faked a yawn. "I guess you're right. We should definitely get to sleep." he smiled. "Care to sleep the same way like last night?"

Twilight giggled as she flew up and landed against his chest, her hoofs pressing against him and her crown on her head gently pushing into him. "Of course." she said bubbly.

Discord used his magic to turn off the lights in the bedroom as he and Twilight fell fast asleep. Twilight began dreaming about her and Discord's wedding and seeing everypony she knew happy for her and him. She felt like she was the happiest bride in the room.

Suddenly, the dream quickly shifted when her brother in the front front immediately objected the union of the couple and quickly pounced on Discord, saying that he had his little sister under a spell and demanded that he break the seal off of her.

Twilight fidgeted in her sleep and began whimpering, as the dream seemed so real. It became so real that she began to crying in her sleep.
> Chapter 14
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight kept crying in her sleep as she also made pleads in her sleep begging him to stop hurting Discord and let her to be able to explain everything. She also also fidgeting in her sleep as she was panicking in her dream as well.

With all of her movement, she wake up the sleeping mismatched creature whose arms she was in. He quickly took notice of all the sobbing noise that she was making and realized that she was crying. Her tears were also falling on his chest as well.

"Twilight?" he called out, gently nudging her awake.

Twilight opened her eyes with her tears still fresh and hugged Discord with all of her might. "I can't lose you, Discord! I can't lose you!" she cried out.

"Why are you thinking of a ridiculous thing like that?" he asked.

"I had a dream about what our wedding would be like and Shining Armor protested and began fighting with you! It was awful! You were getting hurt and I couldn't seem to move in my dream, no matter how much I struggled..." she sniffled.

Discord simply laughed as he grabbed Twilight from the waist and picked up like a young child. "You forgot one major detail in your dream, my dear. I am the god of chaos and disharmony. No mere unicorn cannot possibly beat me when I have my magic at my disposal."

"But...what if the nightmare comes true?" Twilight spoke in panic.

Discord laughed even harder. "My dear, that nightmare is absolutely untrue. If your loved ones didn't like us, why would they bother coming to the wedding?"

"To see me be happy." she replied sadly.

"True, but it doesn't matter who objects to us because there is nopony that is going to stop me from making you my wife and the future goddess of chaos." he spoke as he nuzzled the side of her head.

Twilight gave him a slight smile. "You're right. You are more powerful than any ponies I know, even-" she let out a sigh. "more than Princess Celestia."

"That's right." he spoke as he set the purple alicorn back onto the bed. "And being under my acceptance spell as well as Luna, we don't have to worry about them stopping us now." he laughed.

"But, what if something were to happen and the spell got broken? They are still very powerful." Twilight spoke in panic.

Discord simply laughed in response. "They can't break themselves free of the acceptance spell I put them both under, my dear. My magic is quite powerful and will keep them under it for all eternity."

Twilight let out a sigh. "I guess it is for the best they're under the acceptance spell. That spell did get you free and hopefully will protect you against the Elements should they come a knocking our way." she stated. "Though, I still worry that the ballad's magic might not have been as powerful as Celestia told me it was. I still worry about your safety and even mine..."

"There is no need to worry, my dear. If something were to happen, I'll simply disappear from view. Not how I usually like to do things, but I'll do it for you since you seemed to be so worried about me. Though, this is only the second time somepony was worried about my safety..." he said.

"The second time? Was the first time Princess Celestia and when you two were together over a thousand years ago?" Twilight asked curiously.

"Yes but let's not worry about that. We need to head back to sleep unless you wanna cause some chaos at 2am?" he smiled.

Twilight yawned. "Maybe another night. For now, I wanna head back to my dreams. Hopefully, I won't have anymore nightmares tonight." she said as she curled up right next to him. "No more nightmares tonight..." she mumbled as she fell asleep.

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Princess Luna was wide awake playing some games on her game of system. She was the princess of the night and was usually awake at night and slept during the day for at least six hours or so. Since there was hardly any duties she could perform at night(expect checking on the guards to make sure they were performing their jobs correctly-which she hardly ever checked unless she was bored out of her mind)

Luna was playing Equestria's newest and hottest game, Skyrim. She had just got it tonight and was in the very beginnings of the game.

"Come on, Luna! You have to escape from the dragon!" she stated to herself. "You don't want to be dragon chow, now!"

She used her magic to control the controller as she finally escaped the cavern that she was in and now could explore the game more fully. Luna smiled when she finally got out of the beginner town.

"Finally! No more dragon for awhile! Like my character needs to be turned into a flaming pony!" she giggled when a thought struck her, hitting her like it had just been recovered at that moment. "Burning ponies that suddenly disappeared and never were actually burning. Why am I remembering such a horrible event like that? But, what caused it?" Luna asked herself.

Luna paused her game and stepped outside onto her balcony to look out over Equestria that was blanketed in her night. She let out a sigh. "Why did I suddenly remember ponies burning but just disappeared and not actually burn? Why would I suddenly remember something like that?"

Then, another thought hit her. It was worse than the thought she had before. It was Nightmare Moon, a part of her life that she never remembered, but it did indeed flashed into her head. "It was Discord. He turned me into Nightmare Moon." she said as she cried and then suddenly remembered the past few days events. "Celestia and I...oh no. By teaching Twilight that ancient magic, he's protected from the Elements! He must be resealed before he does something!" Then she remembered when they had helped Twilight free Discord in the first place. "But...they seem to love each other and separating two ponies is wrong, no matter how bad they are. Oh, what should we do?"

Luna paced around her balcony when she heard her bedroom door open from inside. She turned around to see Princess Celestia walk in and come out towards the balcony.

"Hello, Luna. I need to discuss something with you." she stated in a serious tone.

"What is it, sister? Has something happened?" she said worried.

"It has already happened. What we showed Twilight a few days ago. I'm having second thoughts about the entire thing..."

"About freeing Discord, Tia?"

"Yes. At first I thought it was right since I wanted my prized pupil to have the pony she loved by her...but now, it doesn't seem right. I still feel like he shouldn't be allowed to roam free. I fear he might cause the chaos he did over a thousand years ago or even worse if Twilight is by his side."

"I understand how you feel, Tia. But, you remember the rule we made over a thousand years ago? We can't separate two ponies that love each other, no matter how chaotic they are or what harm they have caused us. We would either have to encase both of them in stone together or strip Discord of his powers so he can no longer cause any chaos."

"I wish it were as easy of stripping him of his powers, but it isn't. He wasn't created like me or you, little sister. He was created by another force, more powerful than us. Even if you and I, plus the Elements linked our magical energies together, it wouldn't be enough to erase his powers."

"And we vowed to never turn any pony into stone either, no matter what they did to Equestria." Luna stated.

"I would love to have my dear student be able to experience the love I had experienced with Discord once before, but, I worry about Equestria's safety and well being than just my student's. I want her to be happy, but not if the rest of my subjects have to suffer."

"What are we going to do, Tia?"

"I don't know, Luna. At the moment, I don't know what we can do but somehow imprison him somewhere he can't cause any harm to anypony else."

"Perhaps we must send him someplace else away from Equestria?" Luna suggested.

"That's not enough, Luna. That simply isn't enough." Celestia spoke as she opened up her wings. "Luna, fly with me. We both need to see something."

Luna opened up her own wings as well and flew after Celestia off the balcony. The two didn't fly that far, it was a window on the castle that was only about 100 feet away from Luna's. The window in question was the one connected to Twilight's bedroom.

"Luna, look inside. What do you see?" she asked.

Luna peered into the bedroom window. She caught sight of both Twilight and Discord, both fast asleep with small smiles on each of their faces. "I see a loving couple asleep with each other." Luna stated.

"Exactly. I can't separate a couple that loves each other so much and cause my student pain. But I don't want Equestria to suffer in the chaos either.

"Oh Tia. What are we going to do?"

"Like I said before, I just don't know. I need to think it over and I'll further discuss things with you when something comes to mind. For now, just go back to playing your Skyrim game and try to forget about this for tonight. Until the sun shines again in the morning, just forget and play your game, little sister."

The two flew back to Luna's balcony. "This isn't that easy to forget, sister. It's a decision that will effect Equestria for the rest of eternity."

"I know it isn't, Luna. But just try to forget until we can discuss this further when my sun is in the sky. Good night, my sister." Celestia said as she walked out of the room.

"Sister, wait!" Luna called out.

"What is it?" Celestia asked.

"What about Cadence and Shining Armor? They've seen that gray colt that Discord has been disguising himself as. What will happen if they find out?"

Celestia let out a sigh. "Cadence and Twilight are both going out again for breakfast. Shining Armor should be alone at that time. I'll explain this to him as I need to have the guards to be wary just in case something happens. I know Twilight doesn't want something like this, but this is for just in case something should happen."

"But, will the guards just attack him on the spot, Tia? I don't think it would be good to reveal your motives to Twilight Sparkle just yet."

"You are absolutely right, Luna." said Celestia. "I have just formed a plan on how to discuss everything with the guards. Now, go back to your game and forget about this for tonight. Now, good night, Luna."

"Good night, Tia." Luna stated as she went back into her room and played Skyrim and Celestia left Luna's room for her own.

---------------------------------------

Twilight awoke the next morning snuggled happily against Discord. After she had fallen asleep the second time, she had nothing but positive dreams about her and Discord already being married.

Twilight smiled as she lifted her head up and saw the sleeping creature. She nuzzled her head against his cheek, causing him to wake up.

"Good morning, oh god of chaos." she smiled.

"Good morning, my dear." he said as he sat himself upwards. "So, what are your plans today?"

"Another play with Cadence tonight and this morning, I'm going out to breakfast with her and do some shopping with her We may end up going to park since she says the flowers there seem to be lovely at this time of year." Twilight sighed with a smile.

"How many plays are in Canterlot anyways?" he asked.

"On Hoofway alone, there are at least 30. But there's more off of it as well."

"Cadence sure likes spending time with you. I hardly get to be with you at all."

"I know, but when we leave Canterlot in two days, we can spend plenty of time together."

"You're right. We do have all eternity together. Cadence may spend only a few days here and there, but I get to keep you for all of eternity!" he cheered happily as he grabbed the alicorn.

Twilight giggled. "That's right...you can have me for all of eternity!" she smiled as there was a knock on her door.

Discord instantly changed himself into a decoration on Twilight's ceiling. "Who is it?" Twilight called out.

"It's me." said Cadence from the other side of the door. "Are you ready to head out to breakfast?"

"I'm ready. Just let me finish something and I'll be out in a moment." Twilight replied as she looked up at Discord. "See you later. Love you." she whispered as she headed out the door.

----------------------------------------------

Princess Celestia watched out of her window as Cadence and Twilight headed out to breakfast. Now that she knew that they were both gone, she could speak with the guards in her secret gathering place not even Discord knew about so he wouldn't infer with her speaking to the guards.

Celestia teleported herself there using her magic where most of the guards and Luna were waiting for her. A few more guards filed in as she walked past them to where her sister was standing.

"What is going to be discussed here is not to be told to anypony, especially not to my pupil, Twilight Sparkle." spoke Celestia with authority.

"Princess, has something happened?" asked Shining Armor.

"No, it's what could happen if we don't keep a close eye on him." said Celestia.

"A close eye on whom, Princess?"

"Discord. He has been freed again." A wave of panic immediately struck over the royal guards before Celestia spoke again. "But, there is no need to panic quite yet, my guards! For now, he is under control by somepony."

"Who is this pony? How did he get freed?" asked a guard.

"The pony is keeping him under control is who I don't want to find out what was discussed here and that would be Twilight. She was the one who freed him."

"Why would my sister free the god of Chaos?" Shining Armor yelled. "He must have her under a spell of some kind!"

"Captain, before reaching that conclusion, let me point out that your theory isn't true at all. He did however have Luna and I under what I think might be a very powerful acceptance spell. He must have casted upon us before he was imprisoned in stone for a third time."

"Wait, he got freed once before, even after the Elements locked him away?" a guard asked in confusion.

"Yes, and Twilight broke him free that time and she wasn't under a spell then either." said Celestia.

"But why would my sister break him free? It makes absolutely no sense. She's not the type who wants Equestria thrown into a state of eternal chaos..." said Shining Armor in absolute confusion.

"The reason she freed him because...she loves him." Celestia stated.

"WHAT?" the entire royal guard panicked.

"Yes, it is true that she has fallen in love with him. He came to her in her dreams and slowly was able to win her heart."

"Wait a minute...could all that sleeping have to do with him?" asked Shining Armor. "That week she had been constantly sleeping...was that involving Discord?"

"Yes, Captain. It is."

"But how could she have fallen in love with that monster?" yelled another guard.

"Love comes in all forms and as much as I don't like it truly, we cannot separate them and have Twilight have her heart broken. This is why I called you all here. I want you to pay special close attention if you see a gray colt walk around the palace at all. You must not attack him unless he is threatening Equestria's safety. If it is only a small bit of chaos for himself, let it go."

"You want us to keep a close eye on him, Princess?" asked Shining Armor. "But not attack him unless we absolutely have too?"

"Yes, Captain. You must not do anything to him. I also need you to inform Cadence of this matter as well and make sure she keeps it quiet. I can't have Twilight or Discord to find out that the acceptance spell has worn off Luna and I. I don't know what might happen if either of them found out about this. There would be a rebellion, most defineltly."

"As you wish, Princess Celestia. I will inform Cadence after she arrives back before heading to the play."

"No." spoke Luna. "It would be wiser to inform Cadence after the play is over and no longer with Twilight. That way, there is less of a risk."

"Of course, Princess Luna. Tonight, after the play, I will inform Cadence and have her sworn to be ever silent until you give us further orders."

"We do not know what we are going to do with him quite yet. When we figure out a plan, we will have you all meet back here immediately." spoke Luna.

"Until that time, you must keep a close eye on Discord, may he ever leave Twilight's room. You must also keep an eye on Twilight, just in case. Besides that, you all must act like you heard none of this. Especially you, Shining Armor. You must not let Twilight know you know of her relationship with Discord. You must carry on like you have no clue." said Celestia.

"I am sworn to silence, Princess Celestia. But Princess, what about the newest recruits that are supposed to be coming in tonight?" he asked.

"Do not speak a word pf this to them. They are still recruits and we don't know if they can keep this secret. Until we all meet up again, do not speak of this to anypony, only to each other if you have too." Celestia finished.

"You are now allowed to return to your posts until we can call for you all with further information." said Luna.

"Stallions, back to your posts!" called Shining Armor as they all left the room.

"Sister, will we figure out something to prevent chaos from being spread throughout Equestria and not break Twilight Sparkle's heart in the process?" asked Luna.

"I'll figure out a way or Equestria may once again plunge into eternal chaos just like over a thousand years ago. At least we won't have to worry about it raining hot tea again." Celestia said with a small laugh.

--------------------------------------------------

Cadence and Twilight were at breakfast at a small diner, eating some flapjacks and eggs. They were talking happily about different things.

"Did you know it takes 3.5 minutes to cook the perfect pancake?" smiled Twilight.

"What book did you learn that one from?" Cadence said happily.

"A book back in the library. I forget the title." when Twilight suddenly thought up a question. "Cadence?"

"Hmm?" she looked up.

"What would you think if I said that I were engaged to somepony?"

"That's a surprising question. Where did that come from?"

"Well...I've been reading this book I found on my bookshelf that had to do with love and marriage and it made me curious to what you would think if I possibly got engaged?"

"Well...I would definitely be excited for you, that's for sure!" Cadence smiled.

The two finished their breakfast and left the restaurant. They walked for a few minutes and came to a dress shop. They ended inside to see what was being offered. Cadence immediately went through a few dresses that caught her eye as Twilight took notice of another bickering couple. Using what she learned last time, her magic conjured up two heart halves and came between the couple, making them forget what they had been arguing about.

"I can't wait to be married in Manehattan, dear! It's going to be wonderful with all our friends and family there and being happy for the two of us." spoke the mare.

Twilight's ears drooped down, making her think of Discord and how she wanted to tell everypony that she was engaged, but she couldn't in fear of her friends and family's reactions. Cadence returned as the dresses held no interest in her. They both left the store and went to the park where Cadence showed Twilight the flowers that were blooming.

"What lovely flowers. So many different colors." said Twilight.

"They are. They sure are." Cadence stated as she let out a yawn. "I'm getting abit tired. You wanna take a rest in the park with me? It's such a beautiful day out too."

Twilight yawned as well, always seeming to be tired whenever the pony she was with was. "Sure thing."

The two fell fast asleep under a tree that was near the flowers. Twilight began to dream the same nightmare she had last night, but this time, it became worse. She couldn't move like before, but this time Rainbow Dash even attacked Discord, fighting him along with Shining Armor and even calling him a monster to all of Equestria. Just like last night, she cried in her sleep once more.

> Chapter 15
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight was awaken when Cadence shook her after they had fallen asleep for an hour.

"Twilly, are you alright? You must have had a nightmare because you were crying in your sleep." stated Cadence.

"I was?" Twilight questioned.

"You kept calling out please don't hurt him! as well. Something troubling you, Twilight?" asked Cadence.

"No, I'm fine. It was just a nightmare is all." Twilight spoke. "Let's head back to the castle. We have to get ready for the opera at the Magic Theater, right?"

Cadence stood on her hooves. "I guess you're right. We should best head back to the castle."

-------------------------------------------

It was later in the day and Twilight was all ready for the opera that night. She walked outside to where her brother was training the newest recruits to the royal guard.

"Now, what would you do if the castle came under attack?" shouted Shining Armor.

"Protect the princesses!" the recruits shouted back.

"Right! Now, you fillies are gonna run around this castle! Now!" he shouted as the recruits left. "That ought to keep them busy for awhile." he laughed.

"Hey, Shining Armor!" shouted Twilight.

He turned around and smiled at his little sister. "Hey there, Twilly! Haven't seen you all day today! Hanging out with Cadence today?"

Twilight smiled. "We just went to breakfast, did some shopping, and spent a little time in the park. We're gonna head out to the opera in just a little while. I just wanted to see what you were up to is all."

"Just training the newest recruits. What opera are you seeing with Cadence?" he asked.

"Wicked. It's my favorite!" smiled Twilight eagerly.

"I know that." he laughed. "You have talked about it aplenty before."

"It's wonderful. Even Elfie has a forbidden romance with Fieryro, it's so romantic. Shining, what do you think about forbidden romances?" asked Twilight.

"What are you asking such an odd question? Are you in one?" Shining Armor asked.

"What? Oh no! I was just asking what you thought of the plot device of forbidden romances like the one in Wicked."

Shining Armor wanted to say he knew about Discord, but he promised Princess Celestia that he wouldn't say anything about it to Twilight. "Oh. I was worried for a moment you might be going out with some stallion that may be worse than that Passion Heart!"

Twilight flared her hooves in protest. "Oh no, no, no! I've also re-read Wicked again and was just curious about what you thought is all. I'm not with any pony that is anything like that jerk Passion Heart! I'm still single, BBBFF!" Twilight smiled though she wished she didn't want to lie to her own brother.

Shining Armor faked a breath of relief. "I'm glad to hear that, Twilly." he smiled lightly as he saw Cadence come walking up. "Hey there, dear!"

"Hi dear. Do you like my outfit for the opera?" Cadence asked as she showed off the simple purple dress she was wearing.

"You look fantastic. A very simple contrast." he smiled. "I need to discuss something with you when you get back, Cadence."

Cadence looked at him in worry. "Oh no. Has something happened?"

"It's not too big of a deal. Just a simple matter that we need to talk about is all." Shining Armor said, sounding as confident as he could.

"What's wrong, Shining?" asked Twilight.

"It's nothing, Twilly. Just some husband and wife matters is all. No big deal." he stated.

"I'm glad it's just a simple matter, is all." Twilight said when a voice was heard behind her.

"Shining Armor, may I have a word with you?" asked Princess Celestia when she spotted Cadence and Twilight. "You two look wonderful for the showing of Wicked tonight! You two will have a most wonderful time!"

"Thank you, Tia." smiled Cadence.

"If you both will excuse me, I need to speak with Shining Armor in private about a very important matter." Celestia smiled.

"Come along Twilight, let's grab a snack before we head out to Wicked." Cadence said as Twilight followed her to the kitchens, leaving Celestia and Shining Armor.

"Have you told Cadence yet about the matter at hoof?" she asked.

"Not yet, your majesty. You told me not to say anything until after Twilly and her went to the opera." said Shining Armor.

"Good because I must tell you what I have finally thought of how to purge Discord from us and not break Twilight's heart."

"How so, Princess?"

"They both must be put under a sleeping spell."

Shining Armor panicked. "But, Princess, you can't do that to her! She hasn't done anything wrong!"

Celestia sighed. "I know she hasn't but I also don't want her to suffer a broken heart when I thought of a way to stop Discord from causing any potential problems for us. This was the only situation to the problem at hoof without hurting either of them."

"B-But what about me, my family, and her friends, Princess?"

Celestia's eyes began to tear as she spoke her next sentences. "I wish I didn't have to do something like this, but it is the only way that Equestria won't be any under any chaotic harm and she is not unhappy. I know it'll have a devastating toll on you and everypony else, but this is the only way I could do it."

"She'll be asleep with him forever then."

"That is where you are wrong, Captain. I plan to only put the couple under the spell for a few years only so I may in that time change the public's thinking on Discord and have them also have no problem with their relationship when they awake again. I couldn't let them sleep forever."

"H-How long exactly, Princess?"

"I was thinking a three year span. It would be enough time for Luna and I to change the public's opinion in that time. I wish I could shorten the time span, but any shorter would not give us enough time in case there may be any setbacks during then."

Shining Armor sighed. "Are you sure this is the only way, Princess?"

A tear dropped from Celestia's eye. "I'm afraid so. I will inform your family and Twilight's friends tonight of the grave news and have them come to the castle after Twilight goes to bed tonight. I will perform the spell tonight with Luna's help."

Shining Armor spoke in protest. "W-Why tonight?"

"I don't want it to be tonight either but it has to be so that Equestria won't get harmed any sooner. Captain, I want you to go to Wicked with Cadence and Twilight. They haven't left yet. Spend time with Twilight before she has to leave the waking world."

"B-But what about the recruits, Princess?"

"I will have second in command train them for tonight. You must spend time with Twilight. You need to also tell Cadence of what is to happen as well."

Shining Armor looked at the ground sadly. "I wish she wasn't in love with that creature and none of this would have to happen. But, Equestria's safety is more important than my own feelings on the matter."

"I know it hurts, Shining Armor, but this fate had a silver lining. Twilight will come back and she'll be the same as she was today. She shall not age nor will anypony but time will still pass as it still does. It's not as bad as it seems even though it does hurt. Everything will be ok, Captain. I can promise you this. Now, go join Cadence and Twilight for one last time."

Shining Armor gave Celestia a sad smile. "Thank you, Princess for caring about my sister. It does mean alot to me."

"I care for all my subjects, Shining Armor. She will return on this day in three years time. Now go, before they leave and you must inform Cadence on this matter. I will inform your family and friends while you three are out. Now go!" Celestia said as Shining Armor ran past her as Cadence and Twilight walked out.

"To Wicked!" Twilight said eagerly.

"Cadence! Twilight! Wait!" he shouted.

"What is it, dear?" Cadence asked.

"I want to come with you lovely mares to the opera tonight. Spend some time with my favorite mares." Shining Armor said with a heavy heart.

"I thought you had to train the new recruits, dear?" said Cadence.

"Celestia informed me that she was going to have second in command do it for me. She wanted me to come with you both. When does the play begin?" he asked.

"An hour and half. I like getting to places a little early." Twilight smiled.

"Oh, it seems we have a little time then. Cadence, I need to talk to you in private. Right now." he said sadly.

"What's the matter?" asked Cadence as she and Shining Armor walked to a corner, away from Twilight and out of her earshot. "Shining Armor, what's the matter? You look like somepony told you lost somepony."

"We are losing, somepony. We're losing Twilight." he said.

"What do you mean we're losing, twilight? I know she's heading back home to Ponyville tomorrow but we can visit her whenever we want to."

"It's not that. You remember Discord or his invasion? Well, he's been freed."

"What?" Cadence panicked. "We have to tell Twilight and Celestia immediately!"

"Cadence! They both already know."

"If Discord's been freed, why haven't we seen any traces of his magic or even heard about it?"

"That's because Twilight has been containing him in her bedroom. Celestia informed why she was sleeping that entire week as well."

"Why so?"

"It's because Discord had been visiting Twilight in her dreams. He still was able to send a small portion of his magic to her through her dreams. In those dreams, he...he..." Shining Armor stuttered.

"He what?" asked Cadence in slight panic. "What did Discord do?"

"He was able to make Twilight fall in love with him without the use of his magic. Just simple romantic techniques."

Cadence gasped in shock. "I was feeling an odd love feeling coming from her but I didn't think it was for him! I thought she was just crushing on a special pony that she was just to just to say something about."

Shining Armor sniffled. "But, Celestia is worried that he may recreate chaos with Twilight by his side and has informed me that she must put Twilight and him under a sleeping spell so that Twilight won't have her heart broken in the process and Equestria can be safe from possible chaos."

Cadence began to tear up at the thought of losing her new baby sister. "B-But, Tia can't do that do her! She hasn't done anything yet!"

"I know it hurts Cadence but Celestia told me that she is only making the spell last for only three years. In addition to that, she's also casting an anti-aging spell on all ponies in Equestria until she reawakens once more."

"What about her friends? Our family?" she asked as tears fell down her cheeks.

"Celestia is going to explain it to all of them while we are out. You must dry your tears Cadence and try to pretend I said none of this to you. Just have a good time with Twilly and don't think about this. I know it's hard but Celestia doesn't want Twilight to know. She doesn't want Twilight to worry."

Cadence wiped her eyes with one of her hooves. "I'll be strong, dear. I'll be strong."

"I'll be strong as well because after tonight, I don't know what will happen." said Shining Armor.

They turned around to see that Twilight was on her back, laughing her head off about something.

"S-Stop that! I'll get caught like this!" she laughed aloud.

"Twilly?" Shining Armor spoke with all his strength.

Twilight looked at him in surprise. "T-There was a bug on the ground and it began crawling all over me. It's nothing." she spoke quickly.

"How about we get going? We don't want to miss any second of Wicked, do we?" she smiled.

"Let's go!" Twilight said happily as the three began walking to a carriage.

The three arrived at the Magic Theater where Wicked was housed and was playing within the hour. Twilight walked over to the concession stand and grabbed three apples for the three of them. She walked back and hoofed over the two apples to Shining Armor and Cadence.

"Thanks, Twilly." said Shining Armor.

"Thanks a lot." smiled Cadence.

"No problem. An apple before any show is always great!" Twilight smiled as she bit into the apple. "Mmm! Juicy!"

"Excuse me, I need to use the restroom before we take our seats." said Cadence as she walked towards the restrooms.

Twilight walked to throw her apple core away when she walked head first into somepony's chest. "I-I'm so sorry, I didn't see you there!"

She looked up to see had crashed into Flam! "Hello there, Miss Twilight. I thought I might find you here tonight."

"Hello there, Flam. Apple cider still doing ok?" she asked.

"Still as great as ever!" he said as he touched his moustache.

"That's wonderful. I'm glad you and your brother have become honset workers now and are no longer scamming saleponies."

"We learned our lesson after we tried in Manehattan. Wasn't a pretty scene either."

"I'm sure it wasn't." Twilight laughed when she felt a presence at the touching the bottom of her hooves. It had to be Discord; he probably wanted to make sure nothing happened to Twilight like the last two times. She noticed the presence also seemed to be on her mane, as if it were stroking her head in an affectionate way. She could sense his presence was relaxed, but just a tad jealous by the way it was wrapped around her hooves.

"Twilight, ever since that day you came to the Lunarian theater, I realized something after you bought some of our cider."

"What's that?" she spoke as she felt his presence seemed to move from her hooves to her shoulders. It laid on her shoulders like an arm would, protective-like. She could tell he was becoming jealous as she had a feeling what Flam just might say next.

"I realized that you are the nicest mare I met in a long time. I think I like you Miss Sparkle." he smiled.

"That's really kind but I really already like somepony else." she spoke when she felt his presence. It was off of her but she could still feel it as it traveled up. She glanced upwards as she saw something like a pot starting to form in the air. Uh-oh. She better do something quick! "Flam, look out!" she yelled.

She pushed him out if the way when a flower pot "mysteriously" fell from above. She glanced over and saw the pot was filled with Poison Joke. Discord did have some jealously issues, that was definte. She was now on top of him, her hooves on his chest, his moustache now tickling her nose that she was so close to him.

Cadence returned when she caught sight of Flam and Twilight. She also took notice of the flower pot away from them, Poison Joke lying in the mess. Discord must have sent the flower pot, it would make sense. Not wanting to let Twilight to know she knew about them, she faked a happy smile.

"Twilight, I didn't know you liked somepony!" she said as she faked a happy squeal, sounding like an authentic squeal.

Shining Armor immediately took Cadence's approach. "He seems like a nice stallion."

Twilight got off of Flam and blushed. "Oh no no no! I saw a pony from upstairs with a flower pot when she fell and dropped it over the railing. He would have been hit had I not done anything." she smiled.

"Oh, you don't like this young stallion?" asked Shining Armor.

"He's a friend of mine, yes, but I don't need somepony at this moment." she lied.

"Oh." Cadence said with a smile. "I didn't notice the mess of flowerpot right there at first."

"It's ok." said Twilight as she looked at Flam. "No hard feelings, Flam. You'll find the right mare for you."

"I'm glad you were at least understanding, Miss Twilight. Perhaps I'll see you around Canterlot?"

"When I return again from Ponyville." she smiled before she turned to her siblings. "Let's take our seats, shall we?" she said as she walked towards the seating area.

"Let's." said Shining Armor. 'If she ever even leaves Canterlot, that is.' he thought to himself as the three walked to their seats.
> Chapter 16
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wicked was over for the night and the three walked out happily, well Twilight was happy that she had just got to see her one of her favorite operas. She may have been a bookworm, but she did admire the art of theater.

"That was a great opera!" Twilight smiled as she felt Discord's presence run itself over the top of her body. 'I have some lecturing to do with the great god of chaos.' she thought to herself.

"It was a great opera." smiled Cadence.

"Excuse me, I need to step to the side just for a moment." said Twilight. "I won't be long." she said as she went to a corner where no pony was when she began speaking to the wall. "Discord, we need to talk about the flower pot."

"What about it, my dear?" his voice was heard.

Cadence and Shining Armor were not too far from Twilight and the invisible presence of Discord. They were behind a wall that was conveniently placed so that could spy on Twilight when they heard Discord's voice. They knew it had to be him, she wouldn't be arguing with anypony else about a falling flower pot.

"Why did you cause that flower pot filled with Poison Joke to almost hit Flam? He wasn't doing anything like that stupid Passion Heart did!" she yelled in a quiet tone.

"He might have tried to pull something on you, so I made sure he wouldn't be able too." he said.

"Or you're just simply jealous."

"Jealous? Me?"

"Why else would you do something like that? You do get easily jealous whenever another stallion talks to me, the only exception being my brother, really."

"I was not jealous, I was looking out for your well being."

"I know you are, but that is still no reason to hit stallions with flower pots filled with Poison Joke for no potential good reason! If the reason is you are simply jealous, it isn't a very logical reason."

"Caring about your well being isn't a good reason?"

"Can't you just admit that you were just simply jealous and wanted Flam to not get to close to me because I'm your mare?"

"Well, you are my mare and no other stallion should be flirting with you at all."

Twilight laughed. "I'll take that as an answer that you were jealous."

"Perhaps I do get jealous when another stallion tries to flirt with you. Though, I can't blame them for wanting to flirt with a beautiful and chaotic looking mare."

Twilight blushed. "Discord, you're making me blush. Stop it." she spoke with embarrassment.

As Cadence and Shining Armor kept peering from behind the wall, they both took notice that Twilight had her eyes closed and a light blush on her face, signaling that she was being kissed by the invisible Discord. They both looked at Twilight and looked at themselves in confusion.

"He doesn't seem to be that bad. He cares about Twilight." spoke Cadence.

"I don't like to admit it but he does treat her right." spoke Shining Armor.

"Perhaps Celestia is wrong about him wanting to create chaos across Equestria. He could have easily started by now. Nothing was holding him back after he was freed."

"Expect Twilight, that is."

"True, but I don't think he wants to create a bunch of chaos this time. I think he simply wants to be with Twilly, is all."

"Perhaps his intentions aren't what we thought originally what we all thought they were."

"I'm going to go to dinner with my siblings now. Don't cause any more flower pots to fall on anymore stallions tonight? Ok?" spoke Twilight to the invisible Discord whose arms she could feel wrapped around her neck.

"As you wish, my dear." he spoke.

Twilight walked over to the wall where Cadence and Shining Armor had been spying on her from. The two had quickly made it look like they had been talking to each other, Twilight believing it without any question.

"Ready to grab some dinner? Olive Garden from the other day sounds like a good choice right now." smiled Twilight.

"That sounds great. Some pasta does sound good right at the moment." Shining Armor smiled. "Let's get going before yet another flower pot decides to fall on some stallion here tonight."

The three Canterlot ponies left the Magic Theater and began to walk the few blocks to Olive Garden. On their way there, the only thought on Shining Armor's mind was how he could possibly prevent Twilight from having to go under Celestia's spell and perhaps, even though it did bother him quite a bit, how to prevent Discord from going under that spell as well. He didn't exactly like the god of chaos, but he didn't want to have his sister have her heart broken, either.

Shining Armor then remembered the old fairy tale of Sleeping Beauty where the entire kingdom was put to sleep when the young mare had pricked her hoof on a spinning wheel. The entire kingdom in the story was trapped in a sleep state for the next hundred years. He couldn't help but wonder would Celestia put them all under a sleeping spell with Twilight so that her subjects couldn't feel the pain upon hearing about what she had done to Twilight? No, it can't end this way. There had to be another way. When he saw Discord (well, he heard his voice that is) arguing with Twilight, he hadn't done anything to her but calmly speak to her. It even sounded like he was even joking half of that time, too.

Discord didn't seem to have any intentions to hurt his little sister at all. It was instead that he was simply jealous of the other stallions hitting on his marefriend. He had to think of a way to prevent his little sister and her lover from being placed under a sleeping spell. But how?

The three reached the restaurant shortly after Shining Armor's thought of how to prevent his little sister from going under that sleeping spell fell into the back of his mind. They all grab a seat in the back of the restaurant nearby the restrooms. A waiter pony came by as soon as they all sat down and took their order straight away since they all knew what they wanted to eat before they walked into the restaurant.

"Excuse me you two, I have to use the restroom." Cadence spoke with a lump in her throat as she quickly left the table for the restroom.

"Is she ok? She sounded like she was about to cry." Twilight spoke in concern.

"She'll be ok. Maybe she just has an upset stomach or something like that." Shining Armor reassured his LSBBF.

"That is a horrible aliment to have fall upon you." said Twilight. "I'm glad you were able to come see Wicked with Cadence and I last minute."

Shining Armor smiled. "I'm glad I did too. I need to spend a little more quality time with my little sister before she heads back to Ponyville in the morning."

"It's definitely been great to spend time with you, big brother. Unlike the last time I was here in Canterlot, there's been no big attack or any unusual event that's happened."

"The changeling queen trying to ruin the wedding. I'm glad she's out of Equestria for a long time. Twilly, I never told you how grateful I was the day you saved the wedding and Cadence. If it weren't for you, I would have married the changeling queen and have lost Cadence forever. Thank you for saving the wedding."

"No problem, Shining. I can't have my big brother marry some brat now, right?" she laughed.

"Twilly, you really don't know how much it meant to me. I'm so glad that you're my little sister and one of the Elements. Only you could have saved the wedding. For that, I love you more than you'll ever know, little sis."

Twilight gave him a look of slight confusion, but mostly a look of admiration, showing how touched she was at her brother's comment. She leaned in closer to her brother and wrapped her hooves around his neck in a hug. "I love you too, big bro. More than you'll ever know, too."

-------------------------------------------------

In the restroom, Cadence was in the very last stall, crying her heart out over the possibility of losing her newly acquired little sister. She didn't want to lose her little sister, she had just barely began to getting to know her again.

"There must be another way. I can't lose Twilight!" she cried aloud.

Luckily, no pony was in the restroom at that time to hear her mournful tears. But there was an invisible force who was listening to the sobbing pony's pain filled words. It had followed Cadence into the restroom out of curiosity after he had been watching over Twilight and the loving couple. Shining Armor and Cadence were giving Twilight alot of positive attention and were trying their hardest to not start crying by the way their voices sounded when they were both speaking to Twilight, faking happiness towards her when they obviously seemed saddened by something.

"Why does Tia have to be so unfair to put Twilight under that sleeping spell after tonight?" Cadence cried out. "He's changed though. Twilight must have changed Discord somehow. He hasn't caused any chaos at all."

The presence overheard Cadence's words and started to panic. Celestia was going to put Twilight under a sleeping spell? It quickly came to the conclusion he would be put under the same spell as well as he knew that Celestia would never separate a pair of lovers as she could never handle knowing that she was the cause of the pain in a lover's heart.

"I wish I could just confront Tia and tell her to not do this, but I can't. I respect her to much to disobey her. Maybe there could be a way to at least delay Celestia before she could do anything to poor Twilight?" Cadence spoke aloud, tears were simply just falling down her cheeks. "What am I thinking? How could Shining and I slow her down? Tia says this spell is the only way Equestria can be safe, but there has to be a way to just Tia that he's changed for the better. There has to be."

He knew he couldn't tell Twilight what he had overheard Cadence crying about. He knew she most likely would start panicking and plead to the princess to not anything about it. Then a thought struck him. His acceptance spell on Celestia and Luna must have broke. There would be no way Celestia would even be thinking of this if she were still under his spell. How did she even break free in the first place? He would have to figure that out later, he had to protect himself and more importantly, Twilight, from being placed under a powerful sleeping spell.

He quickly departed from the restroom and kept his presence on Twilight's shoulders, wrapped around her protectively. Cadence was able to clear the tears from her cheeks and walk out of the restroom. She came back to the table and spotted the two siblings hugging each other.

"Did I miss something?" asked Cadence, faking a smile.

"Nothing much. Just telling Twilly here how grateful I am for saving you and our wedding from the changelings." said Shining Armor.

"I'm glad Twilight was able to see past the changeling queen's facade and tell that she wasn't actually me. I'm more than grateful as well that she saved our wedding and me from the horrible gem mine. If the queen hadn't drain my magic, I would have freed myself. Thank goodness Twilight here is so powerful and got me out of that place." smiled Cadence.

Twilight gave Cadence a warm smile. "I couldn't let my brother marry a brat like her. I wanted him to marry a kind pony like I know you are. And here we are today, having this wonderful conversation."

Cadence gave Twilight a warm look with her eyes. "Yes, here we are. One happy family eating a meal together after the opera."

They finished their meal and left Olive Garden. Twilight was going to get their carriage to head back to the castle, but Shining Armor made a suggestion.

"Twilly, how about we sleep at Mom and Dad's tonight? I'm sure they would love to spend some more time with you before you head home back to Ponyville." he offered.

"I would love too but what about my stuff I brought? It's all over at the castle. Shouldn't we go back and get that first?" she asked.

"Don't worry about it. I'll take care of it for you, Twilly." smiled Cadence. "I'll take a taxi and meet you both up at our parents'. Sound fair?"

"Cadence, I can't let you do that. You're a princess, not a valet service. I should go and get it. It's my stuff, after all."

Cadence put up a single hoof in protest. "No, Twilight. I need to talk to Celestia about something anyways. Since I'll already be there, I'll just pick up your bags for you. I don't want you to argue with me about this matter either. I want you to go with Shining Armor in the carriage over to our parents' place and I'll be there a bit later. I want you to spend a few more hours of quality time with your family. It is very important that you do. It would make everypony happy to see you one more time before you head back to Ponyville."

"Well, alright then, Cadence. I'll see you abit later then?" Twilight asked as the carriage arrived.

"I'll be there within an hour from now. I'll take a taxi like I said so don't be shocked when one pulls in front of the house." smiled Cadence.

"Alright dear. I'll see you when you return." Shining Armor said as he gave his wife a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Come on, Shining. I'd like to see Mom and Dad ASAP! I just remembered that Dad wanted to show me something before I left for Ponyville!" Twilight said with her head poking out the carriage window.

Shining Armor got inside the carriage and stuck his head out the window and looked at Cadence. "I'll make sure they won't get to her just in case. I won't let them get her."

"I know you will. I'll be there soon. I love you." Cadence said as she hailed a taxi to her. "As I love Twilly too."

"I know." Shining Armor said as he pulled his head back into the carriage as it rode off towards their parents' house.

After about a fifteen minute ride, the carriage arrived at Twilight's parents' house. The two siblings got off the carriage and walked right into the house, as it usually was unlocked when their parents were at home. Their parents were at the table, playing a game of poker. Their mother was the first to take notice of them.

"Twilight! Shining! It's good to see you two!" smiled Mrs. Sparkle.

"You two, Mom. Could we spend the night here tonight, Mom? Cadence is coming by later with Twilight's luggage. I thought it would be good for Twilight to spend time with her family before she left for Ponyville." said Shining Armor.

"Well of course you three can spend the night! We would never say no to our three favorite ponies!" smiled their father. "Besides, perhaps Twilight could beat her old stallion at a game of poker?"

"I haven't played a game of poker in quite a while. I think I may be a bit rusty." Twilight confessed.

"You rusty? I think not, Twilight!" laughed her father. "You are one of the best poker players I know. I should know because I AM your father. I don't want to hear that you're rusty. We can start a new game right now since I know this hand most likely beat your mother's." he spoke as he laid down his hand.

"Horsefeathers!" shouted her mother. "I should have known he had that darn hand!"

"I guess I'll play since I know I can beat you and Mom no problem." smiled Twilight. "Are you gonna play, Shining Armor?"

"Sure thing." he smiled as he grabbed a seat next to his little sister.

--------------------------------------------------

Cadence arrived exactly an hour later, her magic levitating Twilight's bags as well as her and Shining's overnight bags. She set them down in the hallway and walked into the kitchen, seeing the Sparkle family was deeply into a game of poker. She had played a few games of poker with Twilight before and could tell the game was about to come to an end.

"Read it and weep!" Twilight said proudly, lying down her hand.

"Horsefeathers!" shouted her brother and parents in happy disappointment.

"Beaten by my own daughter! I've taught her well!" laughed Mr. Sparkle when he spotted Cadence. "Hello there, Cadence! I was wondering when you were gonna show up."

"Hi Dad." Cadence smiled, already used calling her in-laws Mom and Dad if they were her own actual parents. "I brought over our bags. Shall I just take them to our rooms?"

"Oh no. You already were kind enough to bring Twilight's bags along with your own over here. Dad and I will take care of it for you, my dear." Mrs. Sparkle said when she heard her oven go off. "Goodie! My brownies are done cooling!"

Mrs. Sparkle walked over to the tray of now cool brownies that were sitting atop the counter. She used her magic and cut the brownies into six equal pieces. She levitated each of her children and husband a piece of brownie.

"You three stay out here and enjoy my freshly made brownies. Dad is going to put down his brownie and help me with your luggage. You three can split the last brownie piece however you would all like. It's all yours. Dear, help me with their luggage now, please."

Mr. Sparkle set his brownie down on the napkin he had been using. "I'm coming, dear. I'm coming."

The two parents left their three children alone with their brownies to devour. They ate the brownies pretty quickly as they all loved Mrs. Sparkle's homemade brownies. After devouring their brownies, there was a single brownie left on the tray.

"Who gets the last brownie?" asked Twilight curiously.

Cadence and Shining Armor looked at each other for a moment, both knowing who would get the last brownie.

"You have it, Twilly." said Cadence. "It's your last night here in Canterlot for awhile and your last brownie from Mom."

"Are you both sure?" she asked.

"It's yours, Twilly." smiled Shining Armor.

"Thanks!" Twilight said as she levitated the brownie towards her and took a bite from it. While chewing, she began wondering where Discord had gone when she left the restaurant. His presence quickly rushed off shortly after her brother had said that they were going to their parents' house instead of back to the castle. Perhaps he went to cause a tad bit of chaos? She laughed softly at the idea.

It was around 11pm when Twilight decided that she had to go to bed after having such a wonderful time with her family. All that poker playing had really taken alot of energy from her.

"I'm going to head to bed now." Twilight announced.

"Here, let me help to bed." offered Cadence. "Might as well say good night to you as well."

"I'll help you, Cadence." said Shining Armor.

"Well, good night, Twilight. We'll see you soon sometime soon." said Mr. Sparkle.

"Good night, dear." smiled Mrs. Sparkle at her sleepy daughter.

Shining Armor and Cadence walked Twilight to her old bedroom and tucked in the tired mare. They exchanged good nights and like that, Twilight was out like a light. The married couple looked at their sleeping sister, noticing how peaceful she was as a smile was on her face. Her peaceful sleeping state sent the married couple into a state of tears, knowing this is how their sister would sleep for the next several years if they couldn't stop Celestia from casting her spell.

"Shining, what are we going to do? We can't let Celestia cast her spell over Twilight and Discord. I'm still unsure how I feel about their relationship, but I don't want things to end like this." sobbed Cadence.

"I don't know, Cadence. Celestia will be here in the morning, definitely. All we can do is hope that a miracle comes along." said Shining Armor.

-----------------------------------------------------

Two hours later, it seemed like Shining Armor's asking for a miracle come true when there was a loud knocking on the door. It was about 1am at the moment, so it scared him awake when the loud knocking started. He climbed out of bed with Cadence following him as the knocking woke her as well.

Shining Armor opened the door to reveal Derpy carrying a telegram in her mouth. She pulled it from her mouth and held it in her hooves.

"Urgent telegram to the Sparkle family!" she stated.

"What is it?" asked Shining Armor.

Derpy opened the telegram and began to read it aloud. "To the Sparkle family. I am sorry to send out this telegram in the middle of the night, but we need Twilight back in Ponyville immediately. Pinkie Pie is starting to go into a sadden state and trust me, you don't want to be around her when she gets sad, it becomes rather creepy. Could you send Twilight as soon as you get this telegram? We'll pay for any late night charges you may have to face, but we need her back ASAP for Pinkie Pie. Thanks for understanding! From, Rainbow Dash."

"Thank you for the telegram, miss." he said giving the mare a muffin as a tip from their parents' kitchen.

"Have a wonderful evening!" Derpy said as she took to the skies, eating her newly acquired muffin.

"We have to wake Twilight immediately and get her to Ponyville now." whispered Shining Armor.

"I'll pack up her things and call a cab for her. You get her up." replied Cadence.

The two went to Twilight's room and Cadence immediately began packing up Twilight's stuff. It only took her a few moments with her magic before she went out of the room to call a cab for Twilight.

Shining Armor stood over his sister and shook the sleeping alicorn. "Twilly, wake up. You have to go."

Twilight opened her eyes sleepily. "Go? Go where?"

"You need to head back to Ponyville. A late night telegram from your friend Rainbow Dash said that Pinkie Pie was going into a saddened state because of your absence."

"Can't we wait until morning?" asked Twilight, now more awake.

"The longer they have to wait, the more your pink pony friend will be disheartened. You don't want that,do you?" he asked.

"I guess not..."

"Good. Cadence packed up your stuff already and has called you a cab. It should be here any moment. We don't want to keep them waiting." he said.

"I'm up. I'm up." Twilight mumbled as she heard a noise come from outside. It was the cab that was for her.

Shining Armor helped his little outside where the stallion pulling the taxi was waiting her her. Her parents are already outside, already been told by Cadence when the knock on the door awoke them as well. Hugs and kisses were given to the purple alicorn wishing her a good trip back home. Out of the hugs, Cadence and Shining Armor hug their sister the longest and the tightest, the couple thinking that nothing will separate their little sister from them.

They pulled away from Twilight finally when the stallion said that he needed to get going. They both had tears in their eyes as they helped Twilight into the taxi and Cadence lifted the bags into the back of the taxi. Shining Armor walked over to the stallion and used his magic to levitate a good amount of bits that would be more than enough to pay for the trip to Ponyville.

"I want you to get to Ponyville as quick as your hooves can carry you." said Shining Armor. "She really needs to get back to her friends immediately. Drop her off at Sugarcube Corner."

"I will do that, Captain." said the stallion, recognizing Shining Armor as Captain of the Royal Guard.

"Good bye, Twilly." said Shining Armor as he levitated a blanket over his little sister. "Just sleep until you get back home. We'll see you soon, ok?"

"See you both soon." Twilight said as she laid down in the taxi, blanket over her, and fell back asleep as the stallion running the taxi took off running in the direction towards Ponyville.

As Cadence and Shining Armor watched their little sister take off towards Ponyville, they looked at each other with determination in each of their eyes.

"We must distract Celestia for as long as we can." said Cadence. "The longer we do, the longer Twilight will be awake and happy."

"I may be the Captain of her guard, but I must stand up for what is right, even it means I must disagree with Celestia. We must and will distract the princess for as long as we can. She'll be here tomorrow morning."

"Until then, we need to go back to bed and hope for a better morning." said Cadence as she took herself back inside as Shining Armor followed her in as well as their parents.

---------------------------------------

The stallion got to Ponyville in just three hours, not feeling too exhausted as he was trained for these kind of journeys. He stopped in front of Sugarcube Corner like he was told and woke up the sleeping mare.

"Madam, we've arrived at your stop." he stated.

Twilight sat up, feeling more awake now that she gained a few more hours of sleep. "Thank you for the ride." she said as she used her magic to lift her luggage in the air.

"Twilight!" said a happy voice from inside Sugarcube Corner as a light came on from inside. "You're back! You're back! You're back!"

It was Pinkie Pie, who rushed outside and grabbed some of Twilight's luggage. "I knew you'd come as soon as Dashie sent the telegram with Derpy! Come inside, come inside! You are going to stay here to rest of the morning!"

Twilight walked inside with the rest of her stuff she was carrying using her magic and sat it down in the corner near a table. "Thanks for being so kind, Pinkie. How long were you waiting up for me?"

"All night with the others silly! We were having a slumber party upstairs! Now you're here, we can have a Twilight-is-back cupcake early morning party! I'll whip up the cupcakes!" Pinkie Pie said eagerly as she went to the kitchen.

Twilight turned her head when she heard the stairs that lead to upstairs creek. It was the rest of her friends, obviously hearing Pinkie Pie's happy comment from outside. They all smiled when they saw Twilight.

"Twilight! You're back from Canterlot!" smiled Rarity.

"Good to have you back, sugarcube." smiled Applejack.

"What's Pinkie Pie doing in the kitchen?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"Making cupcakes for a Twilight-is-back early morning party." Twilight laughed.

"At 4am? Isn't it a bit early in the morning for a party?" asked Rarity.

"It's never too early for a party!" shouted Pinkie Pie from the kitchen.

"I guess not." Fluttershy laughed quietly.

"Almost done with the cupcakes!" Pinkie Pie called from the kitchen.

"Since we're having an early morning party, we might as well party, right?" smiled Rainbow Dash when a thought striked her. "Hey egghead. You wanna join me in Cloudsdale for awhile?"

"What for?" she asked.

"Cupcakes are done!" Pinkie said as she carried a tray of them on top of her head and set them on the table. "They're covered with rainbow frosting!"

Rainbow Dash took a cupcake and bit into it. "Well, ever since you gained wings from the whole Discord thing, we never had a chance to truly test those purple babies out! We could catch so much air and I could teach you some awesome tricks that I know you could pull off."

"Well, it does sound fun and there is going to be a Wonderbolts show there in two days. I'd like to see that." Twilight said as she took another bite of her cupcake.

"You just wanna see Soarin again, don't you?" Rainbow teased. "I know you have a thing for him."

Discord, whose presence was now wrapped around Twilight's shoulders after returning to her during her taxi ride back to Ponyville, felt his jealously grow a bit by Rainbow's comment.

"Rainbow!" Twilight said as her face turned red. "I do not 'have a thing' for Soarin! He just happens to be my favorite Wonderbolt and that's all! Just like Spitfire is your favorite Wonderbolt!"

Discord relaxed abit after Twilight defended herself against Rainbow. He still was jealous no matter what, afraid that Rainbow could be right and Twilight did have a crush on Soarin'.

"Right." Rainbow spoke sarcastically. "Just like I simply like the Wonderbolts for their ground work, Twilight."

"Whatever. How long would we be in Cloudsdale?"

"A week or two. Maybe longer."

"Why so long, Rainbow?"

"With all the new tricks I'm gonna show you, our flying, and our hanging out we're gonna do, it's gonna take up some time! Besides, I'm off weather duty for awhile anyways. It's just clear skies for Ponyville for the next few weeks."

"I want to go but what about everypony else?"

"They're still affected from your cloud walking spell, remember? You said it was permanent, remember?"

Twilight remembered that she did indeed say the spell was permanent on Earth ponies. "I remember now."

"They can come and visit us in a few days then." said Rainbow. "So, you coming or not. I really want you to be there. It's always cool to teach a newbie some awesome stuff that only I could show them." she spoke happily though it wasn't the true reason that Rainbow wanted Twilight to come with her to Cloudsdale.

"I'll come with you then, Rainbow." smiled Twilight.

"Awesome!" Rainbow cheered as she finished her cupcake and let out a yawn. "I almost forgot that it's past 4 in the morning. I'm still more tired than I thought."

The others let out a series of yawns, them too forgetting that it was rather early in the morning. "I guess the cupcake party turning back into a Twilight-is-back slumber party! Let's get the slumber started!" Pinkie Pie joked.

The mane 6 headed upstairs and got into their sleeping bags, Pinkie Pie already prepared a place for Twilight to sleep between her and Rainbow Dash. Rarity clicked off the lights and everypony went back to sleep.

------------------------------------------------

The next day, everypony was awake and were about to see Rainbow Dash and Twilight fly off to Cloudsdale. Twilight had a saddlebag on her as Rainbow told her she wouldn't need much as they would mostly be flying and hanging out around Cloudsdale.

"You have everything you need, dear?" asked Rarity.

"Yup. I have a few books for my downtime." smiled Twilight.

"Good. Make sure to keep a good hold to that crown on your head. You wouldn't want to lose such a beautiful accessory." smiled Rarity.

"I will. It's pretty much glued on anyways." Twilight joked.

"Come on. I wanna get to Cloudsdale today please." Rainbow said impatiently.

"Relax, Rainbow. She's all yours now." smiled Rarity. "See you in a couple days!"

"See you both soon!" the others chanted to them as the two flew off the ground and towards the direction of Cloudsdale.

The four ponies that were grounded felt abit sad to see Twilight leave again so quickly, but they smiled at the thought that they would be able to spend some quality friend time when they visited Cloudsdale in three days.

As they were flying, Discord's presence made sure to keep itself on Twilight at all time. He was looking from behind her, feeling relieved that Rainbow took the message he gave her in her dream seriously and was taking Twilight somewhere else besides Ponyville. He also felt he must keep himself on high alert, just in case Celestia and Luna managed to come to Cloudsdale looking for the two lovers.
> Chapter 17
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next morning, the Sparkle family awoke and gathered all around the dining room table. They all knew what was going to happen that morning after Shining Armor and Cadence had explained to their parents what Celestia was going to do to Twilight and Discord.

Mrs. Sparkle knew that the princesses were going to be here any second and couldn't control her tears. "Why Celestia, why! Why does she have to take my daughter away from me? Just because she loves the spirit of disharmony?" she cried out.

Mr. Sparkle wrapped a hoof around his wife and brought her to his side. He was just as upset as his wife, but had more strength to hold back his tears that desperately wanted to come flowing out of his eyes. "She's doing for the safety of Equestria. The country comes before her own feelings, dear."

"I don't care! I don't want to lose my daughter just because she loves some monster! I can't lose her!" Mrs. Sparkle cried out again.

"Mom, we have a plan so that Twilly won't be put under a spell. Remember?" asked Shining Armor.

"But, what if she sees through it? I may never see my dearest daughter again!" Mrs. Sparkle cried.

"It will work, Mom. Even if it doesn't, she won't be gone forever, she will return in three years time as Celestia told me herself." said Shining Armor.

"I don't care! It feels like I'm losing my daughter forever!"

"Everything is going to be ok, Mom." said Cadence. "You can trust me on this one. Everything is and will be ok."

Then, there was a knock on the door. "Remember, let Cadence and I speak and try to keep your emotions under control as much as you can, Mother." whispered Shining Armor as he used his magic to open the doors to reveal Princess Celestia and Luna with two guards by their sides. "Good morning, Princesses!"

"Good morning, Captain. Luna and I have dropped by to see where Twilight is since neither you or her returned to the castle last night." said Celestia.

Cadence immediately stepped forward with a painful look in her eyes. "Twilight had to go on an important trip out of Canterlot last night. It was completely unexpected, but she said she had to go immediately."

Shining Armor quickly followed Cadence's approach. "She said she was heading to Manehattan about trying to find some new spells and that she had to find them urgently."

"I see." said Celestia in a serious tone before the tone was replaced by a sympathetic one. "I also understand why you didn't wish to bring her back to the castle last night. You simply wanted to spend as much time with you sister and I understand that. My spell can wait as I have not had any reports come to me or Luna last night."

"I'm sorry we obeyed you, Auntie Tia, but we just really wanted to spend as much time with Twilight, like you said. Then she said she had to head to Manehattan so suddenly to find this spell she had heard about, she left in the middle of the night." said Cadence.

"We understand, Cadence. We don't blame you or the Captain. Luna and I will be heading to Manehattan then. May love help us all through these tough times. Good day." said Celestia.

"Good day." said Luna as she followed her sister to the royal carriage that was driven by the two guard pegasi.

As the Sparkle family watched the royal carriage leave their doorstep, Mrs. Sparkle cried the tears she was holding in when Celestia was still in the house. "Please, for the love of all ponykind, please let my daughter and her lover be safe from Celestia's spell. Let them be hidden from her detection, please!" she cried out, though, it was unknown whom she was praying to.

----------------------------------

Shortly after arriving in Cloudsdale, Rainbow Dash and Twilight look residence in a cloud hotel that wasn't too far from the weather factory and the flying practice courts. They were able to stay free of charge as Rainbow Dash had saved the Wonderbolts lives at the Young Flyers' show and they were in her debt, so they gave her and Twilight a free suite at Cloudsdale most posh hotel.

The suite had two separate bedrooms for the two ponies and also a living room and a kitchen. Rainbow Dash was currently peeking at all the cool stuff that was in the room while Twilight was happily lying in her bedroom suite on the cloud bed.

"I've never laid on anything so soft in all my life. I never knew clouds were actually this soft. I could just fall asleep right here and now." Twilight said in a relaxed state.

A bright light flashed next to Twilight. She turned her head to see Discord lying next to her, his head being propped up by his eagle claw. "Oh, now you'd rather have the softness of the clouds then over myself?" he said slightly annoyed.

Twilight smiled at him. "Well, of course not. I'd pick you over the clouds any day. I can't believe you're getting jealous over some clouds. You are just an easily jealous sweetie."

"Oh, I am now? I wonder how easily it would take to make you jealous, my dear..." he said with a smirk, intending for a little payback.

Before he could do anything about it, there was a knock on the door. "Twilight, are you done unpacking in there? I wanna show you the cool things you can do in Cloudsdale now that you're part pegasus!" said Rainbow from behind the door.

"Almost done, Rainbow. Just one more moment." replied Twilight.

"Ok then but come on! I wanna show you all the awesomeness that is Cloudsdale!" Rainbow said happily.

Twilight looked at Discord. "Why can't we seem to spend time together like an actual couple?" Twilight whispered. "I haven't spent real quality time with you expect that night we stayed all through it, that is."

"Like I've told you before, we'll have all eternity to be together and create chaos together. You can spend time with the Element of Loyalty. I'll still be with you anyways. My presence will never actually be leaving your side." he whispered back to her.

"I guess you are right but when we'll we be able to spend actual time together?"

"Soon, my dear. Very soon." he smiled. "Now go. I don't think Rainbow Dash has that much patience in her anyways."

Twilight giggled at his comment. "You're right. I guess I'm off down to explore Cloudsdale. You'll be with me, correct?"

"Of course, my dear. My presence shall not leave your side." he whispered as he disappeared from Twilight's view and had turned himself into an invisible presence that rested itself on her shoulders.

"Are you done now, Twilight?" asked Rainbow impatiently from the other side of the door.

"I'm done now." Twilight said as she walked outside the door. "Ready to head out whenever."

"Great! Let's grab a bite to eat! I haven't had any of Cloudsdale's food in forever!" Rainbow said as she and Twilight flew out of the hotel room.

---------------------------------------------

They arrived at a diner that was not too far from the hotel. They ordered some cloud cake (Rainbow insisted that Twilight should try some of it since she said it was one of the best deserts ever) and were waiting for it to be delivered to their table.

"Our time in Cloudsdale is going to be so awesome! We really need to travel outside of Ponyville more often." Rainbow smiled.

"It's not like we're the Wonderbolts who get to travel all over Equestria, Rainbow. We don't have the bits for all the train fare and it would kill out even your wings to fly all over Equestria." Twilight informed her.

"It would be cool if we could go everywhere like the Wonderbolts. Then you can watch Soarin all you'd like." Rainbow teased.

"Rainbow!" Twilight said as she gave her a glare.

"What? I know you like Soarin! You've told me he was your favorite Wonderbolt and I remember the blush you had over your face when you said it too." Rainbow teased some more.

"Oh shut up." Twilight said in annoyance. 'Sometimes I have to deal with two that are like little fillies!' she thought in reference to Rainbow Dash and Discord.

"I have two cloud cake slices for the two young mares." smiled the waitress as she set down the cloud slices in front of each of them. As she set the cloud cake in front of Twilight, she quickly took notice of her wings. "Miss, you have such beautiful wings! I've never seen anything like them!" she said in amazement.

"Oh these?" Twilight looked at her wings. They were the same as every other's pegasus wings. "There just a pair of pegasus wings. Nothing special."

"But there's something about them that's rather intriguing. An unseen quality that can be only be sensed though the heart or something like that. They really are a lovely pair of wings. If you excuse me, I have to clear table 2." the waitress said as she left them.

"That was an interesting conversation." Rainbow said as she looked at Twilight's wings. "But the waitress did have a point. Your wings do seem to be giving off this unique vibe. You can't exactly see it, but they do seem different then any other pair of pegasus wings."

"Really? I never really noticed them giving off any sort of vibe." Twilight spoke when she felt Discord's presence leave her. She looked around the restaurant to see if he had turned into something else, but she saw nothing odd.

"Twi, you looking for something?" Rainbow asked when she spotted a pony. "Oh Celestia! It's Photogenic!" Rainbow said in excitement.

"Photogenic? Where?" said an excited voice from behind their table.

In Rainbow Dash's ray of vision stood a dark blue pegasus with a blank mane with a white strip running down the middle of it. Her mane was in the style of a flip in the front and the rest falling behind her. Her tail was the same color pattern and curled up at the end so it hovered just above the ground.

"Oh, it seems I have fans here in Cloudsdale as well." Photogenic said with a smile as a camera flash went off. It was her camera mare, a unicorn named Photoshoot. Shoot, which was her nickname, was always snapping photos of Gen, Photogenic's nickname, wherever they went and uploading them to her website , which obviously was of Gen.

"Why not, my dear? You are so photogenic, hence your name!" smiled Shoot as she kept snapping away photos when she noticed Rainbow and Twilight. "Hey, isn't that Twilight and Rainbow Dash?"

Gen looked over to see it was. "It is." she smiled. Gen began walking over to them when she caught the sight of a gray pegasus stallion sitting at the counter drinking a milkshake. She instantly forgot about Twilight and Rainbow and walked over to the stallion, as if in some type of trance.

"Who are you?" Gen spoke in a trance-like voice. "You're so handsome..." she also had a lovesick smile on her face.

Twilight, Shoot, and Rainbow all glanced at the gray stallion that Gen seemed so interested in. There were also a few more mares around him giving him the same compliments on how handsome and gorgeous he was. Twilight quickly noticed he looked oddly familiar to her, but she couldn't tell why.

"Will you go out with me?" asked a mare in the same trance-like voice.

"Perhaps. I have to consult my schedule." the stallion spoke with a smirk ringing clear in his voice.

Then she heard it. Discord's voice. He was the stallion! The mares had to be under some spell as they didn't sound that natural, even if they were lovesick over some stallion. Twilight got up and walked over to Discord with Shoot directly behind her, deciding that this was enough of her mare flirting with some pathetic stallion.

"Excuse me, 'sir'" Twilight spoke to him, she obviously jealous of him. "But why are these mares sounding around you for? It doesn't seem natural."

"Do I have another admirer now?" Discord said as he wrapped his hoof around Twilight's neck and pulled her in. "A tad jealous that I haven't noticed a mare like you yet, my dear?"

"Gen, what are you doing with flirting with that pathetic stallion? Trying to make me jealous now?" Shoot asked to Gen in annoyance.

"But, he's so dreamy, Shooty..." Gen spoke in the trance-like voice.

"Gen, what is with you?" Shoot asked in confusion.

"Discord, what are you doing?" Twilight whispered as quietly as she could. "What's with getting a bunch of mares to flirt with you?" she whispered in annoyance.

"Are we jealous now, my dear?" he whispered back to her.

"No pony should be flirting with you! I thought I was the goddess of chaos!" she whispered back.

"So you are jealous." he whispered as he tapped his hoof on the floor, causing all the mares he had under his spell to be released. "Only giving you a taste of how I feel when stallions hit on you."

"You meanie." she spoke in annoyance.

"What happened?" said Gen as she brought a hoof to her forehead. "I feel so dizzy..."

"You were flirting with some pathetic stallion is what you were doing!" Shoot said in annoyance.

"I'm sorry Shoot. I didn't mean too. It was an accident, really it was." Gen said as she batted her eyes.

"Can't...resist...urge..." Shoot said as she snapped a photo of Gen's current look. "So cute! Ok, I forgive you only because you're so cute." Shoot said with a happy smile.

"What the hay is going on?" asked Rainbow from the booth.

"It seems I'm interrupting something, my dear." said Discord. "I'll be back to bother you later." he said as he simply reverted back into the invisible presence he had been before and rested once again on Twilight's shoulders.

Twilight walked back to the booth where Rainbow was as Shoot and Gen joined them as well.

"That stallion must have a unicorn make him an 'Irresistible Stallion' cologne. Makes mares go under a trance and want to be with him. It can also work vice-versa." explained Twilight.

"That sickens me. Ponies using potions for love. It's absolutely pathetic!" said Rainbow in disgust as she turned to Gen. "I haven't seen you in forever, Photogenic! What are you doing here in Cloudsdale?"

"Shoot wanted to have a photoshoot outside of Ponyville and thought why not try a pegasus natural environment. Here we are now before you." Gen smiled.

"I always want fresh photos of the star of my website." Shoot smiled as she snapped another photo of Gen.

"Well, since you guys are here in town, you wanna hang with us? We were about to tour the weather factory and then practice some flight maneuvers. Shoot could get so many photos of Photogenic in the factory and on the courts too." Rainbow suggested. "It would be more interesting with you guys."

Twilight smiled at the idea. "It would be nice to hang out with you two since you always seem to be busy with photoshoots that you never seem to have any fun."

"We'd love too!" said Shoot eagerly. "I could always use some photos of Gen in the weather factory!"

"Awesome!" said Rainbow as she paid for their slices of cloud cake.

------------------------------------------

A bit later, the four ponies were in weather factory uniforms and were going through the rainbow section. There were several ponies mixing the rainbows so that their colors were just right.

"Hey, it's Rainbow Dash!" called one of the workers.

"Oh, hey boys." Rainbow smiled.

"We haven't seen you since the Best Young Flyers Competition! I heard you performed a Sonic Rainboom at the Royal Wedding!" he said eagerly.

"It's all true. I did perform a Sonic Rainboom at the Royal Wedding." Rainbow Dash said proudly.

"Awesome!" he smiled.

"Oh my goodness! Your wings are beautiful miss!" smiled a pink pegasus.

"They're so lovely." said another.

"Oh, thank you so much." Twilight smiled.

Then, the three jocks from Rainbow's past, walked into the factory and instantly took notice of Twilight.

"Wow! You're wings are awesome!" one of them said.

"You should totally go out with me!" said another.

"No, she should go out with me!" said the last.

"No, she should go out with me!" said the first.

"I'm sorry colts but I'm-" Twilight tried to speak when an explosion was heard from the rainbow pool of color.

"The rainbow color is heating up! We need to cool it now!" called a panicked pony.

All the workers returned to their stations and were able to get the rainbow mixture back to it's proper temperature.

"That was close. Let's get out of here before something does happen." said Rainbow Dash.

"Just let me snap a few more photos of Gen." Shoot said as a few more clicks were heard. "Ok, we're good."

"Let's head to the practice courts. I've got to show Twilight some new moves and I'm sure Photogenic could try them for herself too." smiled Rainbow.

-----------------------------------

An hour later, they arrived on the courts after having to stop a few times so Shoot could captures some shots of Gen, causing Rainbow to complain that they would never be able to practice their flying.

"I thought we'd never get to practice some new moves!" Rainbow said when they finally arrived on the courts.

"I needed those shots of Gen! I'm so selling this shots as an exclusive pack! We'll be rolling in even more bits!" said Shoot excitedly.

"We could always use more bits for the costumes anyways." smiled Gen. "So, what moves are we gonna be practicing today anyways?"

"Well, I was gonna teach Twilight the barrel cloud move. It's simple and it looks wicked awesome too!" Rainbow said excitedly.

"Sounds interesting. Where do we start?" asked Twilight.

Rainbow went into the sky and performed the stunt for Twilight. She did it more slower than she would have originally done it so Twilight could see how it was performed.

"Ready to give it a shot, egghead?" asked Rainbow.

"Sure thing, Rain-" Twilight said when she heard a pair of pegasus on another court arguing.

Twilight could overhear that they were arguing about their relationship, so with a sigh, she casted the love spell that Cadence taught her a few days ago and quickly stopped the couple from arguing with each other. It pained her a heal an arguing couple as she wished she could heal whatever negative thoughts her friends and family would think about her and Discord together.
> Chapter 18
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Back at his post in Canterlot, Shining Armor was walking around the palace grounds to make sure everything was in it's proper place and that nothing was amiss. He was wearing all his necessary armor when he passed one of the guards.

"Have you heard any word on Twilight Sparkle?" Shining asked.

"Nay, sir. Celestia has gone to Manehattan looking for her. She has not been recovered yet." the guard replied with a hoof up in salute.

"At ease, solider. If you or ANY other officer hear ANY change at all, I must know immediately." he said.

"Of course, Captain. You'll be the first to know." the guard said in another salute.

"You may now go back to your duties, solider." Shining said as he walked past him before letting out a sigh. He was worried that Celestia actually was going to be able to find Twilight and put her under the sleeping spell.

Without realizing it, Shining Armor wondered into the Canterlot Gardens where many statues of famous ponies rested among the many flowers that grew here as well. This is where Discord used to be kept, until Twilight had broke him out, of course. Shining walked over to the pedestal where Discord's statue used to be. What laid on the pedestal was still a bunch of rubble in which the cleaning crew hadn't seemed to got to yet.

He walked over to the pedestal and shoved off some of the debris off. Making a clear spot, he sat himself on the pedestal and looked out over the garden. The garden seemed rather peaceful at the the moment, the plants just blowing peacefully in the breeze. Shining Armor took the moment to relax and think about his baby sister.

How was she doing right now? Was she in Ponyville or perhaps her friends found out about Celestia's plan and took her away from Ponyville? Maybe Appleloosa or perhaps Cloudsdale? Twilight could fly now after all. Would she be able to stay under Celestia's radar so she isn't put to sleep permanently? The last thing Shining Armor wanted was his little sister to become the living Sleeping Beauty.

Would Discord keep her protected from Celestia if she did find them? Is he even a good pony for her? How devoted was he to Twilight? Would he help her if she were in any life threatening danger or would he simply abandon her? Shining Armor shivered at the thought, but he couldn't help but wonder just truly how much the spirit of disharmony had changed.

-------------------------------------------------

Celestia and Luna arrived in Manehattan with several of their guards with them. They landed right in the middle of Neigh Square, many ponies walking past each other in a hurry to get to their destination. Many ponies quickly took notice of the princesses but the guards quickly went to work saying that the princesses were on important business and could not speak to anypony at the current moment.

"Sister, where could Twilight Sparkle be? This city is so big, we'll never find her! Perhaps you know of a tracking spell of some kind?" Luna suggested.

"I know of one, but it only works so far, Luna." Celestia replied.

"Can it scan, Manehattan at least?" asked Luna.

"It can, but it does take alot of magic." Celestia warned.

"If it wears on you, dear sister, I'll perform the spell myself. I'm sure I could easily figure it out since I am almost as powerful as you."

---------------------------------------------------------

"I know you are, Luna. Come now, we need to go and find Twilight and Discord. We need to protect Equestria's safety." said Celestia.

After practicing some moves at the practice courts, Photogenic and Photoshoot had to leave for another photoshoot that was going to take place in Winterwood Woods. They said their goodbyes and walked away from Rainbow and Twilight, leaving them alone.

"Now what? That's all the moves I can think to show you today." Rainbow said.

"How about we visit Cloudsdale library? I could always use a good read." Twilight said happily.

"The library? We come to Cloudsdale, the greatest city in the sky, and you want to visit the library. Even though I like reading now, that's not exactly what I planned on us doing when we came here." Rainbow complained.

"We're going to be here at least a week, right?" asked Twilight.

"Yeah..." said Rainbow in slight annoyance.

"Why not spend some time in the library then? It's good to exercise the mind just like it is the body, Rainbow."

"I know but I didn't exactly plan on going to the library, Twi."

"Come on, it'll be fun. You could find some Daring Do books to read." Twilight smiled at her.

"I guess." Rainbow said with a groan, but unknown to her, Discord let out a groan as well.

After a quick flight, they reached Cloudsdale library. It was a rather good size and made completely out of clouds, naturally. They walked into the front doors and immediately made their own ways through the library. They had agreed to meet each other in the front in an hour since they were going to attend an earlier Wonderbolts show then they had originally planned.

Twilight made her way to the History part of the library. She began walking down the aisle that contained the Equestrian history from just before Luna was transformed into Nightmare Moon. Twilight kept looking at the books, deciding which part of history she wanted to learn a little more about. Unicorns and Pegasi Relations...not that one...Nightmare Moon's Transformation...not that one either...Chaos Reign.

Twilight stopped instantly when she saw the title of the book. Chaos Reign. It must have been about Discord when he ruled over Equestria over a thousand years ago. Celestia had told her that he was much more cruel back then then he was now, it still made her wonder just exactly how he was when he and Celestia were dating one another. Using her magic, Twilight pulled down the book and found a slightly dark seating area and opened up the book to begin reading it's contents.

The reign of Discord was a terrible time for all breeds of ponies. Pegasi, unicorns, and earth ponies all suffered under his rule. He made each of the pony races make pay terrible taxes by making them give him their items, only leaving them just enough to live on so they could continue to pay his terrible taxes. If anypony refused to pay the tax, the punishment was quite severe and every pony had to suffer.

An example of these punishments was that if an earth pony refused to pay the food tax that was enforced, he would have the crops destroyed by swarms of bugs and have the land then go rotten so more couldn't be planted. The only way this could be reserved is that the earth pony that refused had to give up their freedom (they had little freedoms to begin with) and become his slave, in which he would work the poor pony in horrible conditions, which usually led them to their deaths only a few weeks later.

Twilight gasped in horror at what the book stated. She closed the book and looked at the author. It read Boomworm Mare. Twilight was familiar with Bookworm. Her work was always true since Bookworm always wanted to make sure her work was accurate. She knew Discord had been horrible in the past, but she didn't know he had been so cruel. She was glad that he changed so much from that sadistic monster to a child-like prankster. Twilight opened the book back open and flipped the pages until she reached a page that's header read 'Ways That The Ponies Suffered.'

Discord did not only impose these horrible taxes on ponykind and dish out terrible punishments for those who didn't pay them, but he also enjoyed making the ponies just suffer, even if they had obeyed his laws and paid the high taxes. He often would make it rain boiling hot tea, causing any ponies that had to be caught in it great pain. Any ponies that were able to avoid these hot tea showers by going indoors or by flying above the storm were not safe either. Any ponies that got caught indoors during these hot tea storms would have some of the storm be teleported inside the building and start training on the ponies inside. There was no hope of getting out of it since the storm was outside as well.

For the ponies that were able to fly above it, they were able to avoid hot tea, but they still suffered just as much as the ponies in the hot tea storms. For the ponies that were above it, a special surprise awaited them. The clouds that were holding the hot tea weren't just made of hot tea themselves, they also shot lightening upwards towards space as well. The lightening was let off at least around every few seconds, and with so many clouds, lightening was always being shot off, zapping the poor pegasi that were flying above the clouds. If the pegasi tried to land on the clouds, their hooves would be burned since the clouds were made of hot tea as well.

If these hot tea storms weren't bad enough, he also sometimes would wipe out ponies' crops for his own amusement. A full harvest could be happening and instantly, it could be wiped out instantly, not a seed left for replanting. He would return the crops for a price that a few ponies become his personal slaves for his amusement. Most ponies would give themselves just so that their families could eat again and live on.

Twilight closed the book again, but this time permanently as she couldn't continue reading the book. Celestia had told her that he had been quite a sadistic ruler, but Twilight couldn't believe just how evil he truly was over a thousand years ago. Twilight got up from the seat she was sitting in and levitated the book back in it's proper place. After placing the book in it's place, she could feel Discord's presence wrap himself around her neck in comforting matter. She quickly took notice and sported a small smile on her face. She knew he had changed his ways and would never hurt another pony like that ever again.

Twilight walked to the front of the library where Rainbow Dash was sitting in a chair that was just a little bit off to the side. Rainbow lit up when she spotted Twilight.

"Let's get out of here. All the Daring Do books they had anyways are the ones I've already read. We cannot be late for the Wonderbolts show!" Rainbow said happily.

"It doesn't start for another hour and a half and we'll be there in ten minutes. Relax, Rainbow." Twilight giggled.

"But this is the Wonderbolts! There could be a special pre-show or something! Let's go!" Rainbow said as she and Twilight walked through the doors and took to the skies towards the Cloudsdale Stadium.

---------------------------------------------

The Wonderbolts show was at intermission and both Rainbow and Twilight were admiring all the great stunts that the Wonderbolts had been doing.

"I can't believe Spitfire left a trail of fire right behind her! That's so awesome!" Rainbow said excitedly.

"I know! Want to get some snacks? There's a five minute intermission right now." said Twilight.

"Sure. Gotta keep my energy up when I cheer even harder for the Wonderbolts!"

Twilight smiled as both she and Rainbow left their seats and headed down towards the concession stands. They were half way there when Twilight spotted a young baby pegasus flying towards the open arena with no pony going after him.

"Rainbow! We gotta stop that baby before he hurts himself!" Twilight panicked as she opened her wings and flew immediately after the baby. Rainbow quickly followed suit, quickly forgetting about the snacks.

The two ponies flew after the baby, who managed to fly himself onto the open obstacle course. The crowd quickly took notice of the two chasing the baby and began to mutter began themselves how in Equestria that a baby was able to get on the obstacle course. The baby did indeed know he was being chased by Twilight and Rainbow, but he thought they were playing with him, so the baby flew through the obstacle course with the two flying ponies directly behind him, somehow he was a flying master.

They kept on chasing the baby, even when the Wonderbolts returned to keep on performing their show! The Wonderbolts didn't take notice as they were too focused on their show to pay attention. Twilight made her wings flap abit harder and she was able to grab the flying baby, but not too long afterwards did she crash into Soarin, whose part of the show was to complete the obstacle course.

"What in Equestria?" Soarin asked confused. "What is a non-Wonderbolt doing on the obstacle course?"

"I'm sorry. This baby managed to get on the course and Rainbow Dash and I had to stop him and we apparently became a part of your show as well." Twilight apologized.

"You saved that baby? Totally rad!" Soarin smiled before turning to the crowd. "She saved a baby through the obstacle course! Cheers!"

The crowd cheered loudly as Twilight blushed. "It was nothing. I had to stop him before he got hurt."

"I guess Soarin doesn't have to do his trick anymore since somepony else did it for him!" joked Spitfire from above as she just finished performing her move. "I know you. You're Rainbow Dash's friend, right? She helped you save the baby, right?"

Rainbow instantly appeared behind Twilight, shocking the two Wonderbolts as they had no idea where she came from. "I did indeed, Spitfire. All in a day's work." she spoke admirably.

"That's cool. Well, our show is over since the whole baby thing. We can reschedule next week anyways. You guys wanna hang with us since you're baby savers and all?" offered Spitfire.

"OMMGOMGOMOMGOMGOMGOMG!" Rainbow said excitedly.

"I guess that'll be a yes." Spitfire laughed. "Come on, just follow me. I can get you into the dressing room."
> Chapter 19
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spitfire and Soarin lead Rainbow and Twilight to their dressing room after having to explain that Spitfire had witnessed them save a young baby (they found his parents before heading on over) and that they needed to hang out to the security guards. They all arrived in the dressing room and closed the door behind them.

"So, this is where we get prepared for Cloudsdale shows. The room will always be ours." smiled Spitfire.

"OMG!" Rainbow Dash spoke excitedly as she went to almost very object, big and small, in the room and squeed how the Wonderbolts had actually touched these things.

"She sure is an energetic one." Spitfire laughed to herself.

Twilight was admiring the room as well when she spotted a single Wonderbolts costume lying on the clothing rack. She walked over and glanced at the outfit, admiring how well the seams were on the outfit and were perfect for the stunts the Wonderbolts did. She did learn about sewing seams from a book she read before, of course.

While Twilight was admiring the single suit, she didn't hear Soarin walk up behind her in an interest to see what she was doing.

"Like that outfit?" he asked, catching her attention.

"Oh, Soarin!" Twilight spoke in surprise. "I do. These seams are quite amazing. They look like they can handle hundreds of the shows you must do every year."

"Yep." Soarin smiled. "I've had this suit for the last two years and it has only ripped once."

"Amazing. They must be really comfortable too, I bet."

"They indeed are. I could stay all day in this, but our manager won't let us. Too bad really."

"You don't want to be wearing them all day after sweating in those things without cleaning them. It's disgusting. But still, I can't help but wonder what it would be to wear one..."

"You would look totally great in it, I bet." Soarin smiled.

The comment was enough to cause both Twilight and Soarin to blush lightly.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean for it to come out like that." Soarin apologized.

"It's ok." Twilight smiled when she felt a certain presence becoming tense, indicating jealousy was arising in him.

"So, I must ask, how did you get those amazing wings of yours? I amuse you've never had wings before recently?" asked Soarin.

"Well, I've had my wings for a couple weeks now. I know a friend who is very powerful with magic and he created them for me after I did him a huge favor."

"Wow, he must have had to read quite a few spellbooks to create pegasus wings. Most ponies don't know, but I like to read spellbooks. I may not be able to perform it, but a good spellbook can be great after a long day performing." Soarin smiled.

Twilight's mouth opened in shock. "You read? I wouldn't have ever pegged you as the reading type."

"It's shocking, I know, but a good book after a long day is quite relaxing. Do you read?"

"Do I! I read literally all the time."

"Really? What kind of books do you like to read?"

"All sorts of books, but I've been reading spellbooks and flying manuals lately. I would like to learn how to fly not enough to be a showoff, but enough to at least amaze myself."

"With all those books, your days must be filled."

"They usually are. Until before I left for Canterlot a week ago and then came here, I would read so late that it would be early morning before I knew!" Twilight laughed.

"How many books a night is that then?"

"Maybe 2 or 3 as I am quite a fast reader."

"You must be pretty lonely then. With all those books, it must keep your loneliness at bay." Soarin said with an embarrassed blush.

Twilight blushed at the comment. "I'm not that lonely." she smiled.

She suddenly felt Discord's presence tense up really tightly and quickly left her shoulders. She could feel him move towards a coatrack holding a few of the Wonderbolts jackets that Soarin was standing near. The coatrack began to shake, telling her to protect Soarin.

"Look out, Soarin!" Twilight screamed as she flew at him, knocking him out of the way as the coatrack tumbled over to where Soarin was originally standing.

Soarin looked at her in surprise as she now laid next to him on the ground. He quickly saw the coatrack on the ground and realized that Twilight had saved him from a possible concession.

"You saved me from that falling coatrack!" Soarin said in shock.

"I guess you owe Twilight now." spoke Rainbow Dash as she had witnessed the whole thing.

"I don't know what to say to you, Twilight but thanks for saving me though!" Soarin smiled.

"First you save a baby then you save Soarin. You are on a roll today with saving ponies, aren't you, Twilight?" asked Spitfire. "Perhaps we could hang out tonight. We have no show until tomorrow afternoon."

"That sounds awesome!" Soarin exclaimed. "It's the least I could do after you saved me from that evil coatrack!"

"I'd love to join you tonight. Rainbow would be so mad if I said no." Twilight laughed.

"OMG! We're hanging with the Wonderbolts tonight!" Rainbow said excitedly, almost ready to take off at the speed of light she was so happy.

"How about we head over to C-Hall?" Spitfire suggested. "It has the best dancing and music in Cloudsdale."

"It sounds wonderful." Twilight smiled.

"And best of all, there's no dress code!" Spitfire smiled. "Soarin, we should get out of our suits. You know how Phil will get on our cast about it if we don't."

"Alright." Soarin said.

Spitfire and Soarin both used their wings to get themselves out of their uniforms. Rainbow couldn't help but watch happily as she watched her idols (especially Spitfire) turning from Wonderbolt to regular pony. They quickly finished removing their outfits and were now regular looking ponies.

"Come on, let's head out. Phil already knows we were heading out tonight anyways." Spitfire smiled as she trotted out of the room.

As the others began to walk out of the dressing room, Twilight turned towards the fallen coatrack and glared at it since Discord's presence was technically still there. She would make sure to give him a good lecture before they headed to sleep tonight.

"Twilight! You comin' or stayin'?" Soarin called out.

"Coming!" Twilight said as she trotted out of the room, Discord's presence staying close to her.

----------------------------------------------------

"Did the spell work, Tia?" Luna asked her sister as she had just finished her tracking spell.

"The spell did work indeed. Neither Twilight or Discord are anyway in Manehattan." Celestia informed. "That means Shining Armor and Cadence lied directly to my face."

"But, where could they be, sister? We can't go all over Equestria just to find them!" explained Luna. "But with Shining Armor and Cadence, you probably understand why they lied to you."

"They were just trying to protect Twilight from my spell. I'm not going to punish either of them for lying to me since they were only trying to protect their younger sister. As for the search, I can use the tracking spell but it'll be much more powerful then the first one, so it'll take alot more magic this time." Celestia explained.

"Perhaps I should help you sister. So you're not worn out afterwards."

"I was just going to ask for your help anyways. I still need my magic in order-" Celestia said with a lump in her throat. "-to perform the sleeping spell when we do find them."

"Tia, before we do this, I have a suggestion. Perhaps before you have to-" Luna spoke with a lump in her throat as well. "-perform that spell, that her friends and family could be there one last time to at least say goodbye."

Celestia's eyes began to water. "That would be a good idea, Luna. Everypony deserves a chance to at least say goodbye. Now, please help me with this tracking spell."

"Of course, sister." Luna spoke as she caused her horn to fill with magic as Celestia's horn did the same.

"Just follow my lead, sister."

Celestia and Luna's horns began glowing with magic as they both performed the tracking spell, more powerful then the one Celestia had used earlier. The magic quickly left their horns and quickly spreaded all throughout Equestria in an attempt to locate Discord and Twilight. As the magic reached Cloudsdale, it quickly picked up Twilight and Discord's presence walking with Rainbow and the Wonderbolts to someplace. The magic quickly retreated from Cloudsdale and rushed back to the princesses.

The magic returning made Celestia's eyes open in surprise before they returned to normal, water almost ready to fall out of them. "I-I've found them." she spoke sadly. "They're in Cloudsdale. Guards."

"Yes, princess?" a guard asked who was with them at the time.

"I want you to get to Ponyville and tell Twilight's friend to go to Cloudsdale and see twilight before I arrive there tonight with Luna. I also wish you to inform an associate in Canterlot for Twilight's family to get to Cloudsdale tonight as well as they may say good bye one last time."

"Yes, princess." replied the guard.

"Also, make sure a unicorn guard performs a cloud walking spell on Twilight's family as well. I will not allow anypony in the Sparkle family to be hurt physically. I cannot prevent the emotional pain though."

"Yes princess. I shall leave right away. Shall I get another guard to teleport here to take you back to Canterlot?"

"No, Luna and I will fly home. We will be fine, so don't worry about us. Now go!" Celestia yelled with a hoof towards the sky.

"Right away!" the guard saluted before taking off towards the sky, flying as fast as he could towards Ponyville.

"Come along, Luna. We need to head back home and need you to help how to do this spell the easiest way possible." Celestia said with tears running down her face.

Luna walked over to her sister and put a wing around her in an attempt to comfort her. "I know this is going to be painful, sister, and it's hurting me as well, but you must take care of your country first before your own feelings. It's painful but you're doing the right thing. I know you are."

Celestia sniffled. "I hope so, Luna. At least during the time they're asleep, we can eliminate Discord's past reputation and sway the ponies into believing he's changed."

"We shall and we will, sister." Luna said with a sad smile.

--------------------------------------------

Twilight, Rainbow, and the two Wonderbolts arrived at C-Hall, a highly popular nightclub that was usually had famous pegasi celebs inside and a really tight security. The four of them arrived at the front door to be greeted by the bouncer.

"Hey there, Guardian. What's up?" smiled Spitfire at the bouncer. "Soarin and our two friends here would like to get inside. Care to let us in?"

"Well, the sky obviously." laughed the bouncer. "Sure thing. You and your friends just head inside."

"Thanks, Guardian. Try to keep the crazy fans out for me, ok?" she flirted.

"Sure thing, Spitfire." the bouncer smiled at her as he let the four of them pass him before roping off the entrance after the last of them went inside.

Inside the C-Hall was bouncing. They were so many different pegasi here it was like a rainbow! Most of them were on the dance floor dancing while a few of them were at some tables, drinking drinks and chatting away.

"Flirting with Guardian works everytime. Too bad I'm not into the guy, so he can't have this!" Spitfire joked. "You three wanna immediately get out on the dance floor?"

"Heck yeah!" Rainbow said excitedly.

"Let's dance!" Soarin said as he flew onto the dance floor and began showing C-Hall his moves, causing both Spitfire and Twilight to laugh.

As Twilight watched Soarin dance, Rainbow Dash quickly whispered something to her. "Hey, Twi. Isn't that the colt from the diner this morning over there?" Rainbow whispered as she pointed a hoof at a colt.

Looking closely, Twilight realized that indeed it was the colt from the diner that morning! How in Equestria was Discord able to change himself back into his pegasus form and not have her to be able to sense it? Maybe he was more powerful than she thought.

Twilight walked over to the pegasus and gave a smile. "Hey, aren't you that colt from the diner this morning?"

Discord smiled at her. "Perhaps I am, my dear. Who wants to know?" he finished with a smirk.

"I do."

"You do now, huh? Perhaps we can figure this out after a dance? After all, you're wearing such a lovely dress that deserves to be shown off." he smiled.

"Dress?" Twilight questioned before looking down to see she was wearing a light blue dress that was lose on her so she could dance in it. The dress itself was strapless and a low cut and covered her back hooves and tail completely. On her feet were black shoes that seemed to compliment her newly acquired dress.

"But where did this dress...?" Twilight questioned.

"Perhaps it was created by magic." he hinted. "Care to join me on the floor? We could make all the mares and stallions jealous."

Rainbow Dash, who was not too far and could overhear the conversation, yelled out, "Dance, egghead! You never dance like ever!"

Twilight blushed as several pegasi turned in response to Rainbow's shouting. "Now that Rainbow has gone and embarrassed me, I might as well dance with you." she said before whispering, "-and you and I have some discussing to do when we get back to the hotel."

"Until then, let's dance." he whispered to her before using his left wing to drape over her and lead her onto the dance floor. "Ready to show these ponies what real dancing is like?"

"And what in Equestria are we dancing to?"

"This." he smirked as his left wing moved off of Twilight and flicked itself in the direction of the music booth, quickly ending whatever song that had been playing and causing a voice to come over the intercom.

"Sorry to cut things short, everypony, but we have a special dance act here tonight! They're going to show you all to have the time of your lives! Give it up for Twilight Sparkle and Dizzy!" the voice said as a spotlight appeared on them and a soft song began to play.

Discord and Twilight began to dance to the beginning of the song. "A soft song? I didn't think it was your style."

"It's not. Just wait and see and follow my lead." he smirked at her.

"Ok..." Twilight said in slight confusion.

The music quickly turned into a slightly faster beat, but it still was the same song. Discord quickly got Twilight onto her back hooves and got her to stand upright as she and him began to lean in to each other as fast as the beat was going.

After a few seconds of that, Discord twirled Twilight softly in a circle before pulling her back and danced her once more as the beat become slightly faster.

"You're the one thing I can't get enough of. So I'll tell you something...this could be love because I've had the time of my life!" the song played through the nightclub.

As the words 'this could be love!' played, the music turned quite energetic and at the moment, Discord twirled Twilight really quickly, causing her dress to literally become shorter as the bottom portion of the dress turned into magical energy butterflies and flew up through the ceiling of the club. Twilight also changed in the twirl as her hair was no longer in simply lying against her head, it grew somehow and flying through the air as she danced with Discord. The dress was now barely past her flank, barely covering up her cutie mark. The dress also flared out much more and was apparent as Discord spun her as it opened up in the air.

The watching dance goers were stunned by the magical effect that happened with Twilight. They all cheered on the dancing couple as they danced quite energetically as Discord spun Twilight around him, to and from him, and in all different types of ways.

As the musical intermission of the song came up, he pulled away from Twilight and softly danced about ten feet away from.

"Yes I swear it's true and I owe it all to you!" the song sung softly before the music turned energetic once more.

Shortly after the words were sung, Twilight suddenly felt herself run towards Discord, who was already prepared for this part of the dance, quickly caught her and lifted her into the air and himself as well, twirling her using the strength of his hooves. The crowd cheered in amazement at the part during the dance. He returned Twilight back to eye level and they continued to spin and dance while floating in the air.

The song came to an end and the entire club cheered in amazement. They had never seen a dance quite like the one that was just performed. It had been so magical and energetic, many of the pegasi had recorded the dance and would most likely put in on YouTube.

Twilight looked at Discord in amazement. "I never knew I could dance like that!"

"With me, you can dance any style with ease." he smiled. "Now, didn't you say I was that colt from the diner?"

"You definitely aren't. These dance moves are just too good for any ordinary stallion." she smiled.

-------------------------------------------

After hanging out with the Wonderbolts that night, Rainbow waved goodbye to them as they flew back to their hotel.

"That dance was amazing, Twilight!" Rainbow exclaimed for the thousandth time that night.

"I know...I know..." Twilight said as they reached their hotel room and opened it up.

"Surprise!" came an excited voice from inside, causing Rainbow and Twilight to jump.

It was Pinkie Pie and the others in the room. They had come from Ponyville after one of Celestia's guards to go to Cloudsdale to spend time with Twilight by order of the princess. They were more then happy to head to Cloudsdale, though it did confuse them to a degree to why Celestia wanted them to spend time with Twilight anyways.

"Pinkie Pie? Girls? What are you all doing here?" asked Twilight in confusion.

"We came to see you silly! A guard told us to come and visit you by order of Celestia, which is really weird since she's never told us to actually be with you before..." Pinkie said before going on about something completely different.

"Interesting. Well since you're all here...I guess we can have some fun..." smiled Twilight.

---------------------------------------

After an hour and a half of basically partying with her friends, they all decided that they had to go to sleep as Pinkie said she was gonna throw a huge party for Cloudsdale tomorrow just for the heck of it and invite all the pegasi to it.

The hotel room that Rainbow and Twilight were staying in (since the Wonderbolts just gave them the room to use) was rather large, so there was plenty of room for the four unexpected guests. After everypony had settled in and closed their eyes to head to the land of slumber, Twilight peeked her head from her room to make sure that indeed everypony was asleep before she lectured Discord at what had happened in the Wonderbolts dressing room.

She took notice that the living room was dark and could hear two ponies snoring, signaling that they were fast asleep. Twilight smiled and closed the door. She turned around to face an empty bed with Discord's presence around her as he had turned back right after his dance with her.

"Discord..." she began. "We need to talk. NOW."

He quickly reappeared on the bed with his head resting on his lion paw, a smirk (like always) visible on his face. "What's with you? It's like you just received horrible news or something."

"No, but what you almost did to Soarin was inexcusable! You need to learn to control your jealously when I'm talking to other stallions! It's not like I'm going to cheat on you or anything of the sort!"

"I know but I need to tell the other stallions that you're mine."

"Or make them think I'm cursed somehow! If I want to talk to other ponies, I will!"

Discord let out a sigh of slight annoyance. "It seems your acceptance spell is starting to fade abit..."

"Spell? What spell?" Twilight asked in confusion.

"Exactly." he smiled as he walked over to her and met his eyes with hers. "Perhaps my jealously is a good thing, my dear. It might protect from any stallions that try to hurt you." he smiled as his eyes began to produce hypnotic swirls as Twilight's eyes did the same.

After a few seconds of hypnotic swirls in her eyes, Twilight shook her head, the red in her eyes now glowing more brightly than ever. "I guess you're right. Your jealously is protecting me, but still, let me talk to a stallion abit before becoming jealous, ok?"

"As you wish, my dear." he said with a simple smile. "How about we head to sleep? After all that dancing, you must be tried."

Twilight let out a yawn. "I should head to sleep." Twilight climbed onto the bed and laid herself comfortably as Discord surrounded her body with his own. The lights were turned off magically as the two lovebirds fell asleep.

But just two hours later, around 1am, there was a loud knock on the main hotel room door.
> Chapter 20
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Now who in Equestria is knocking on the door at this late hour?" Rarity grumbled as she used her magic to open the door. It was the Sparkle family at the door. "Twilight's family? What in Equestria are you doing here at this hour?"

"We need to get Twilight out of Cloudsdale before the princesses can get here!" informed Shining Armor.

"Why in Equestria for?" Rarity asked, confused.

"May we come inside so we can explain?" asked Cadence. Rarity moved out of the way as the four family members shuffled into the hotel room.

"Whose at the door, Rarity?" asked the quiet voice of Fluttershy when she noticed Twilight's family. "Twilight's family?"

Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash also came to the living room to see who had knocked on the hotel door so late at night. They were all just as surprised when they saw it was Twilight's family.

"What is going on here?" Rainbow asked.

"We need to get Twilight out of Cloudsdale and to Las Pegasus. The princesses won't look for her there." explained Shining Armor.

"Why in Equestria for?" Applejack asked.

"If we don't, the princesses are going to place her and Discord under a powerful sleeping spell and no one here is going to be able to wake them up!" Cadence explained in a panic.

"Discord? But he's a stone statue in the Canterlot Gardens." Rainbow explained.

Shining Armor sighed. "He should still be here. They're most likely sleeping together. Where is Twilight sleeping?"

"The second door on the left, but I don't see how Discord could have been-" Rainbow said before Cadence put a hoof to her mouth.

"Just follow us and we'll prove that she is with Discord at the moment." Cadence said as she used her magic to quietly twist the knob to the room Twilight was in.

Everypony was gathered around Cadence to see if she was indeed right about Discord. The door opened without a sound and there laid Twilight, fast asleep and she slept in the center of the semi-circle that Discord's body had created when he curled around her to sleep. The five friends gasped in silent shock to see that Cadence was indeed correct and Discord was free.

"What do we do? What do we do?" panicked Rainbow Dash.

"Take these two out of Cloudsdale and get them to Las Pegasus." Cadence.

"But why do the princesses want to place them under a sleeping spell? It doesn't make any sense..." Rarity asked.

"Because they're worried that Discord will cause more chaos once again. As for Twilight, Tia told me she can't separate two lovers..." said Cadence as she used her magic to surround the couple. "Please help! We can move them without waking them up!"

Rarity and Shining Armor used their magic in combination with Cadence as Rarity spoke up. "T-They're lovers? F-For how long?" she asked as the others were to in shock to ask themselves.

"They've been together since Twilight had the week-long sleeping episode. He was the cause of it. After you all sealed him again, she missed him terribly." Cadence said as the sleeping couple were now coming to the bedroom door. "Now, carefully get them through the door."

The three unicorns managed to get the sleeping couple through the narrow bedroom door without any troubles.

"Now, we need to get through the main door and we can get to Las Pegasus through our hot air balloon!" Cadence explained as they made their way towards the door, until there was another knock. Oddly, being in the magic field prevented the sleeping couple from even stirring.

"Oh no. They're already here." Shining Armor panicked.

The door quickly opened by magic as two guards opened it and Luna and Celestia walked in to see the sleeping couple being levitated by the three unicorns.

"Set them down. I guess you all know why I am here this early morning." Celestia said with a sad tone.

The three unicorns obeyed and set them softly on the ground. Celestia's horn quickly glowed with magic and surrounded the sleeping couple.

"It is only a sound blocking spell so I may at least explain what is about to happen." Celestia spoke sadly. "As you know, I am here to place my student and Discord under a powerful sleeping spell."

"B-But why, princess?" asked Pinkie Pie sadly.

"It's because I must think of Equestria's safety because I do not know if Discord has be truly changed as Twilight once told me when she was back in Canterlot. I don't want her to suffer as well, so this is why she and him must be placed under the spell, so her heart won't break and Discord won't have a chance to wreck havoc on Equestria once more. It'll also give me time to convice Equestria he perhaps has changed during the time they are asleep." replied Celestia.

"But Princess, there must be another way! Can't you take his powers away or something?" asked Applejack.

Twilight began to stir, but everypony was too worried about the sleeping spell to take notice of her. The sound blocking spell Celestia had casted broke as once Twilight began awaking, she unknowingly used her magic to repel the magic casted by the sun princess.

"I've considered it but it cannot be done. He is more powerful than I and can simply reverse it on myself and Luna."

"B-But there has to be another way!" cried out Pinkie Pie, who was now crying so hard rivers of water were coming out her eyes.

"I'm so sorry but I just don't know if Discord's truly changed like Twilight's said. I trust her, but I cannot completely trust Discord after he broke from his stone prison the first time." Celestia spoke sadly. "I wish I didn't have to perform this spell but I have no other choice. It's for Equestria's safety and well being."

"He's changed I tell you!" Twilight yelled in outburst, scaring everyone in the room as none of them noticed her waking up. Twilight's yelling was enough to startle Discord awake as well, but kept low to overhear what was happening.

Twilight stood on her hooves and shot daggers at Princess Celestia. "He's changed I tell you! I know I'm your faithful student, but how can you think he hasn't changed after I told you myself that he has! Discord hasn't done a single chaotic deed to affect Equestria!" Twilight yelled. "And now you're going to place us both under a sleeping spell? How dare you, Princess! How can you do such a thing?"

Celestia's eyes teared up. "I wish I didn't have to Twilight! I do trust you but it's Discord who I don't have complete trust in! After the events of his rule over a thousand years ago and the events after he broke free of his stone prison, I cannot trust him!"

Twilight's eyes were just as teared up as Celestia's, but they were tears of anger. "But he's changed since those events! He's changed I tell you! But how could you even think of using a spell on him, and especially me! I thought I was your number one student."

"You are my number one student." Celestia cried. "But if I just put him under the sleep spell, then your heart would break and I couldn't bare that. If you're asleep together, then you could be together in your dreams and neither of you would be hurt!"

"Oh, Celestia cares about her student's feelings? This is interesting." Discord spoke finally.

"I don' want to break her heart, Discord! She doesn't deserve it!" Celestia cried out harder.

"Celestia caring about her student. I am surprised." Discord smirked.

"This isn't funny, Discord! This is serious!" Celestia yelled.

"ENOUGH!" Twilight yelled out in anger. "Princess, I can't believe you didn't believe me when I said he's changed. Your experiences with him may have not be the best, but with me, I can tell that he has changed for the better!"

"Twilight, I-" Celestia began, but got cut off by Twilight.

"If you don't believe my word that he's changed, then you don't believe me as a pony."

"That isn't true, Twilight! I do believe you!"

"If you do, then believe this, good luck trying to find us!" Twilight yelled as her horn began to glow and the magic engulfing Discord and her. Twilight looked at her family and friends, most especially Cadence and Shining Armor, who all had tears running down their cheeks. "Thank you for trying to protect us. We'll be safe and please take care of Spike for me. I love you all." she said a sad smile as tears ran down her cheek.

With that said, Twilight's magic completely engulfed her and Discord, causing them to disappear from the room. The second the left, the second Cadence broke down.

"Please be safe, Twilight, and please protect her, Discord." she cried.