What if Twilight had pushed the "Flirt" button when facing her enemies?
Twilight Sparkle, renowned scholar, The Great Purple Magus, Priced Student of Celestia Sol Invicta, has faced many struggles through her life. Facing against Mad God from Tartarus, Hostile Armies, Mad Kings and Queens, Spirits of Ancient times, but the biggest one of her life was her own social awkwardness, rendering her as an asocial madmare for a good part of her life, that was until the fateful day when her beloved teacher sent her to a little town in the outskirts of Canterlot, where she met her 5 new friends one faitful day. But what if this time Twilight hadn't been so Socially Awkward? What if instead she heard that little voice in her head more? you know, the one that tell's you "Hey, they're hot, go and talk to them" That one voice that told you, you have a type.
That was an understatement, facing against a Corrupted Goddess of the Night, in the middle of the most dangerous forest of Equestria, with only the help of 5 other mares and a bunch of useless rocks... Today was the worst night of her life!
Remebering everything from this morning in a vain attempt to see where everything went wrong, and also her mind taunting her with reviving her life before her eyes in what was sure to be her final breath, she saw the day prior:
Everything was going smooth as it could, with twilight barging into her personal library in Canterlot, failing to give her number one assistant, Spike, a concussion, and succefully murdering the stuffed bear that was supposed to be her old friend, Moondancer, birthday present. She made a mental note: if somehow she survived the encounter with the Night Mare, she was gonna to hug Spike as hard as she could, and personally travel back to Canterlot to deliver a new stuffed bear.
After that, she found information about the Elements of Harmony and how this were used to seal away the fabled Nightmare Moon, a powerful mad alicorn, and probable lost sister of Celestia.
Despite her best efforts to give warning of Her return, she was instead placed in a royal chariot destined to a small town, where she was assigned to oversee the preparation of a festival, and according to her teacher, she was also tasked with making new friends there, of course this being twilight, she promptly ignored the last parts of the letter and tried to focus all her energy into supervising the festival as fast as she could to resume her studies and oprevent a possible catastrophe, sadly destiny has a cruel sence of humor, and it made sure she had the craziest day of her whole life, until the next one arrived of course.
Twilight was not a social outcast, she was not introverted, she wasn't shy nor timid when it came to speaking with others, while she refered to herself as reserved, in reallity she just... couldn't care less about the ponies around her. The selected few that conformed her group of friends back in Canterlot had joined her on a nearly daily basis thinking she was just a grumpy filly with a bitter sence of humor, more than one time she found herself asking them why they chose to hang out with her, the answer always being "Because we are friends?", sometimes noticing the incredulity of the pony answering varied from one to another, but that was besides the point, she thought they where just nuisances that only slowed her down in her studies, at least at first she though of them like that, in the years she controlled herself enough to not offend them enough to make them hate her, she grew acostumed to their presence, and over time they grew on her, she had to admit it was nice to talk with somepony to relieve the acumulated stress of studying.
She though specially high of Moondancer, whom not only seemed to share her burning passion for studying and research, but also her more nieche enjoyment of peace and quiet times while reading, something the rest of her friends did not seemed to enjoy as much... her mind wandered off towards her again, in another time, in another place, maybe another Twilight was now with another Spike celebrating Moondancer's birthday party, but knowing her she would leave the main room of the party and retire to her personal study for some peace and quiet, and it would take the rest of the group a good few hours to take notice of this and will send Twilight to retrieve her.
She couldn't help but chuckle out loud at that thought, that silent sneaker was followed by a not so silent Snort that echoed in the whole throne room, her eyes went wide as porcelain plates, she just realized what she had done, every mare in the room turned to her, the Night Mare turining her head with a cold gaze that cut like a sharp blade through the room with ease, her mologue has just been interrupted by what she only saw as a peasant and defiant of her new eternal regime, she was not pleased by this. The other 5 mares also were observing her with varying levels of incredulity, surprise, fear and even some amusement. Oh yeah, the other five mares...
After her initial contact with a Pink Maned Menace she knew this town was bad news, that statement only got proved more and more accurate the longer she stayed and the more interacions she had with the inhabitants, from having her ribs almost crushed with a corset, drenched and dried with clouds, being force feeded until she almost exploted, the most awkward interaction with someone actually shy to finally having her temporal home turned into a nightclub; she showed the greatest ammout of self control by not throwing everything and everypony out the window in a fit of rage and surprise, but most of that came from her tiredness, and after the hot sauce incident she found a good excuse to not come out of her personal quarters until everypony else had left the building, that moment sadly didn't arrived until her precense was needed in the town hall, alongside the rest of the partygoers and her new "friends".
At that moment Twilight knew that if there was a force up high, more powerful than Celestia, it sure had a grudge against her, the satisfaction of her being right all along was short lived as the realization sink in, there truly was a Mare in the Moon, somehow the Stars did aided her scape, and she had defeated Celestia with no effort at all, and was now searching for the elements to destroy them, all of this in order to conquer the whole world and bring the night eternal.
Having everything in account and looking in retrospective, running straight into the Everfree probably wasn't the best idea she had, not since the talking book incident, but she had done it, and just like the book, she had to commit to her decitions, unfortunately she didn't took in account the five other mares who followed her silently until danger arived, she was rightfully mad at them, she was beyond mad, not only had they decided to follow her, they didnt warned her about it and now were risking their own lives with the silly pretense of "not abbandonig a friend", she was rightfully mad and no ammout of "but you also decided to enter the Everfree alone with no sence of direction either" was gonna change her mind.
Her mind changed really fast due to the fact that they saved her life multiple times, if she was alone she wouldn't have lasted a minute in this place, Night Mare was making sure their arrival was as delayed as posible or that they didn't arrived at all.
Either way they managed, and she couldn't deny she had a soft spot for her new companions already, hardship does bring ponies togheter! Sadly they where doomed, and with them the rest of the world, the elements didn't worked, and Night Mare reduced them to pebles, all hope was lost now, and all she managed to do was interrupt the Queen of the Night with an involuntary laugh.
If it wasn't for the situation she would have addmited the lost princess was beautiful, the initial shock of her being real gave way to noting everything else about her, a hard piercing glare of amethist green, a mane that seemed to flow in the wind like it was underwater with the infinity of the universe proyected on it, dark fur that seemed to blend with the darkness of the night itself, almost swallowing all light and bending it around her, the shine of her armor and helmet and her use of the Royal Canterlot Voice, if her heart was already pounding in her chest after her initial arrival, turining from a cloud of dust and bats into the tallest pony she had ever seen, once NightMare's gaze met hers she was sure her heart was going to jump out of her chest, that feeling also probably played part in why she went straight to the forest instead of the library, but none of that mattered now.
Going back to the present, nothing had changed, everypony was still quiet, the other 5 must be thinking what is wrong in her head, Night Mare was still looking at her with scorn and the elements were still dust on the ground, she had to evoke all her will to not look away from NightMare, and silently praying to Celestia the room was dark enough to hide her growing blush.
Just then and idea formed, one voice that resonated louder than everything else, clearing her mind of the constant buzzing, the determination bloomed in her chest and she done a mask of confidense, fake it till you make it one of her professors once said, she hoped they where right.
Trying to muster all her good memories until one in particular, involving a pink menace, did the job, she laughed out loud once more, praying it was convincing enough, she took a step forward, apparently it did, because NightMare was also taking a step forward.
"What is so funny?" she asked in a manner that could have made every other pony run away and cower in fear, with a glare so fierce it could melt and freeze steel at the same time, her sharp theet crowing a smile without an ounce of humor, her wings moved a little, most likely readying a combat stance, if somepony was mad enough to dare and laugh at her, much worse, in her PRECENSE, that pony was also mad enough to try something stupid and dangerous.
Twilight on her side wasn't faced at all by this, on her many years training to avoid awkward social interactions she mastered a secret art of not flinching when faced against intimidating ponies, and most importantly, after one of her friends had told her she had a "heavy gaze" she learned to look at ponies on their forehead rather than the eyes, it made it seem like you where looking at them without sending each other into a panic attack, she smiled despite herself, taking one step after the other, she was glad.
It may be the end of her and all of Ponykind, it may be the start of an eternal night regime with all its dire consequences, hell, she may accidentally condemned the other five mares who decided to accompany her to a fate worse than dead, but at least she was not alone in this, at least she could laugh in the face of death one last time, and who knows, if this worked...
"Oh, nothing" she said while eyeing her left hoove in a casual manner, as if to inspect any damage on her hooficure "Its just humurous" -Don't laugh, its a funny word but we need to make it credible- she chastised herself, "To really think you actually have won"
Now it was turn of NightMare to frown. "What are you implying?" she said, stopping dead in her tracks, one hoof was still raised, her smile droped and her wings tensed.
"Oh, P L E A S E! you don't really believe you could just return after a thousand years on the moon and expect Celestia, The Monarch of the Sun, to not have done anything to prevent it, or at least a plan B in case you really managed to defeat her, right?" she was bluffing, she knew she was bluffing, Celestia herself, alongside every other sapient creature probably, also knew she was bluffing with this, but she always had an unspoken rule about situations like this, commitment is key, if her smile faltered even for a second the consequences were beyond even her wildest nightmares (heh) during her worst panic attacks, and secretly, she was starting to enjoy this a little.
"So its true then, You are the champion chosen by my Sister to put an end to my plans" the room was filled with gasps that the the Alicorn and Unicorn tried to ignore, it was true then, once upon a time there were two sisters, now there is only Celestia and a void impossible to fill, Twilight was now seriously hoping her ploy worked.
"She Mentioned me?" she asked, maybe a little to eager to hear just what Clestia had said about her, after clearing her throat, she resumed her calm walk towards the monarch. "I mean, yes, i am the prized student, head scholar and leavander magus of Celestia of the Sol Invicta" she was givingherself way to many titles, but maybe they would make her seem more important than the antisocial mare who decided a good idea for her birthday was to hide in her room all day and build a book fort with a talking book.
"So you must also now what this 'plan B' involves, as your new queen i demand you to speak, and make haste, we might spare your life and the charge of treason" she was looking down at twilight now, there where just inches apart, but right before they could collide with one another, Twilight kept walking to the left of NightMare, taking direction towards the small steps of the podium in the far end of the room, just where Nightmare had destroyed the elements and had to step down in order to meet Twilight.
"Hmm" she silently 'considered'. "You are asking me to betray the confidence of the Princess herself, and help you cast the whole world into an eternal night? betray the trust of the five ponies who i became to consider my friends?" she gave her back to NightMare, she allowed her face to relax and assumed a more serious tone, it was hard to maintain the facade for such a long period of time, if she ever met a pony dedicated to acting she was gonna praise their capacity to do so.
That was enough for NightMare, her smile returned with renewed vigor, she turned around and saw the figure of the levander unicorn shrouded in darkness, the small pony turned around with half lided eyes and a mouth forming a straight line, there was no indication of what she was thinking, but if NightMare couldn't make her join her, she was gonna make sure she spilled every information she might be helding, one way or another.
Twilight was now the one looking down at NightMare, truly seeing her, focusing in her eyes, those emerald green that seemed to radiate a soft light, with pupils mimicking a reptilian, but just like a cat's the pupils expanded into ovals, she had her, so now its time for the last step
"Well, my Queen" she had to blink a second longer than necesary hoping she could avoid the reddeness crawl its way to her cheeks, using that word felt indicent somehow, altough she could see herself using it more often. She supressed a giggle. "I think i would be inclined to take you up on that offer". 'Please, oh please dont hate me' she repeated over and over in her head, she didnt dared to move her gaze from NightMare's, but she could feel a burn in her own skin, the five other mares now changed from trembling gazes of worry to now contemp, hurt and even more amusement, Twilight hadn't took in account THEIR reaction, but once it was over, she would aplogize profusely and explain, given they dont decide to run and attack her on the spot. No time for delays!
One levander hoof was raising, carefully and softly lifting NightMare's chin, they where now face to face, truly face to face, each pair of eyes lost in the other, the lower lip of the Monarch started to tremble slightly, jus what was she doing? daring to touch a queen! and why she didnt seemed to mind all that much?!
"If, and only IF, you take me for dinner later"
Many jaws hit the floor, everything was happening so fast around her, she was sure she heard a burst of laughs in the back of her mind, a sound echoed through the hall, and considering the loudness of it, she was sure someone just fainted, but out of all, and something that fortunately went unheard by the Night Monarch was a distinctive "WHAT?!" from someone who was not in the room, one voice that Twilight could recognize amywhere, she was gonna need to make a lot of explaining after this.
On her side Nightmare Moon, not 'Night Mare' she didnt liked to be reffered as such thank you, was dumbfounded, what had just happened? did this mare, this madmare, had actually try to court her? in front of five other strangers? just after meeting her? without the customary flowers?!
Nightmare Moon was not a stranger to the idea of courtship, many had tried, and failed, to conquer her heart before her exile, many of them, she knew, where just for political reasons, others seemed sincere enough, but those were always destined to fail, she was a very timid pony actually, her regal behavior worked away from personal confrontations but once you stepped near her, her mask would shatter instantly, always being more brusk than necesary when a nice pony offered plans for a date, she felt just like that once more, but multiplied, she had seen all kind of would be consorts, both kind and unkind, some even bordering to botherosme and malicious, but this mare right here, in front of her, cupping her chin with a soft hoof, she was different from them all, while her smile was playful and flirty and her eyes expression seemed to radiate confidense thos eyes didnt lied, she was sincere in her declaration.
Did she actually liked her? did she saw beauty on the dark sky of her night? Maybe... Maybe she could give this a try. Nightmare Moon smiled, sincerely, after what felt and actually were millenia, Tonight is was Her Night.
Twilight Sparkle was a mare of SCIENCE! She was a scholar in many solid sciences and magics known to ponykind, controll spells, telekinesis, teleportation, magical moustaches and the like, but her crave for knowledge never ceased for other kinds of topics too.
Just from the top of her head she could go in depth in matters like herbal remedies using plants native to each region of Equestria, including the Everfree Forest, care and attention for the local fauna and their diets, pegasi aerodinamics and the Wonderbolts' history, the historical fashion of the early stages of the kingdom since the Starswirl era, measurements and anatomy of the four tribes and their special necesities and conventions of fashion, propagation of apple trees, the different species that existed and their closer biological siblings (did you know that roses and apples are closely related? and strawberries are not actually berries!) and of course, Advanced Party Organization.
And that was just to name a few that piqued her interest since meeting her 5 new friends! Everypony in Ponyville seemed to know things she had never even questioned before, from time management, Mail delivery and map reading, musical theory related to mood improvement and so many more things she couldn't even count them all without ranting all day long, even when she visited local libraries in other towns she often spend the whole day and night reading, finding new connections between the things she already knew and other topics, jumping form one to the next in a frenzy... that is, if her friends or, more often than not, the librarian in charge didnt force her to leave before it was closing time.
Whatever it was, no matter how trivial it might seem at first, Twilight had a natural interest in learning, so, what happens when she finds herself face to face to a power that seems to defy basic logic, magical theory and the laws of thermodinamics? Naturally, she obseses over it, trying to form order from the chaos and discover how it acts and functions, starting, of course, from the source of it all.
Discord has just been sent free by accident, and just like with Nightmare Moon, the six holders of the Elements had to intervene, yet Twilight found herlsef hesitating a little, sure, with Nightmare Moon things turned out fine, they used the powers of the elements and their special conections as fated friends to help purge the evil spirit from Princess Luna and liberate her from that curse, but this? sure Harmony and Discordia where antonims, opposites, foils to each other, but the state Equestria has been left behind was beyond anything Twilight has ever seen, everything that this chaotic magic touches transformed and presented so many different cualities of so many different magic types that almost drove her crazy, it seemed that, wathever this Discord was, he... actually seemed rather harmless.
Of course it was an inconvinience having a cosntant change in the weather, and it was strange for pegasi to adapt to so many new objects that seemed to spawn their own gravitional field out of nowhere, but besides all of that, this seemed more like a practical joke and not a war between order and chaos, nopony was injuried and no harm done, unless you where Rarity who did not apreciated having her coat and mane covered in chocolate milk, Pinkie would beg to differ however.
The travel to Canterlot has been an eventful one, having to ride and fight a train, some buildings, the castle gardens and its statues; it had been a difficult challenge, but with their powers combined there was nothing they could not overcome! That is until they succesfully passed the last statue and found themselves in a gigantic plaza made of white tile squares forming an interlocking pattern with the grass and other types of stone, in front of them, forming a barrier betwen the six friends and the rest of the board, made from white marble with craks adorned with gold, were minimalistic depictions of ponies sporting crested helmets, a few rows in front, behind another barrier of black statues made of different parts of stone, party suplements spray painted black, and even a bunny riding a cake with crab legs using a, rather cute, horned helmet, was Discord, alone, on top a throne, casually eating away a book like it was a plate of fried hay, while reading a ketchup bottle.
If this was some sort of joke Twilight was feeling unamused, playing chess? a game dedicated solely to organization, strategy and having a very strict set of rules? it was the opposite of chaos, what was he planning?
Before she could ponder a plan of action, Pinkie decided to take the empty position of a pawn, and jumped 2 tiles in front of her, Twilight told her to stop but it was too late, Discord just ginned and snaped his clawed hand, sending a pawn to the front, Twilight on her part frantically told her to wait and she complied, then, once she was calm and collected, looked to her sides, she was standing on the position of the King, to her side, Rarity was the Queen, Rainbow took the Knight, Fluttershy a Bishop and Applejack a Rook, Pinkie was just bouncing in place, so, seeing no other alternative Twilight decided to test a theory, she shouted a direction to another pawn, the statue levitated a few inches from the ground and slided to the appropiate tile and gently lowered itself until it touched the ground with a silent thud.
Now with that out of the way she could not help but smile a little, eyeing Discord, ready for his next movement, when he just rised his gaze and motioned with his paw for them to keep going she was thrown off. This doesnt make any sence, why waste a movement doing nothing? she was about to protest but Rarity whispered to her to just comply, this was obviously a trap, but they could do nothing but trying to test the waters until the plan was revealed by itself, letting out a big sigh, she ordered Rainbow Dash to jump over the rows of pawns and to her right, once her move was over, Discord moved another pawn on the other side of the chess table, one closer to Pinkie, but not enough for them to cross paths.
After a few more movements where nothing happened Twilight was visibly nervous, all her friends were sprawled over the table, she was the only one on her original position, they had not claimed a single piece of Discord and he was still skipping movements, her breath was shallow, her legs trembled a little and a blush has extended from her cheeks to her ears, she even swore that, once or twice, Discord winked at her when he stopped reading his stupid mustard bottle, and that was not helping, but she now saw an opportunity, Pinkie was just close enough to claim a pawn, she took the chance and orderd Pinkie to advance.
Once Pinkie was on her grass tile and ready to pounce for her first victory another thing happened, a massive tower of debree landed just in front of Pinkie, making the ground tremble and sending bits of marble flying away, Pinkie quickly covered her eyes and lowered her head to the ground, the chaotic structure rised once more, hovering over Pinkie, the eyes of the six where wide open now, paralyzed by everything happening all at once, only Futtershy managed to scream the name of Pinkie before the tower lowered with a thunderous clap back on the ground.
The dust cleared and they all could see that the structure had missed Pinkie by a tile, now placed behind her, she opened one eye and patted herslef multiple times, she was fine! But before they could celebrate, and before Pinkie could send word to Twilight that she was unharmed, a cloud of confetti erupted from under her, once it all fell to the ground it revealed an empty tile, Pinkie was no longer there!
Everyone, except the draconicus, gasped in surprise, Twilight sent a venomous gaze towards him, one he responded with an amused smirk and pointing skyward with his eyes, Twilight followed the direction and her mouth hung open by the surprise, over them, made with clouds and floating trees growing downwards, was another chess table, and on the side of Discord were his missing pieces, doing quick calculations she saw that all her friends where on crossing paths with his', she lowered her eyes again, she was pale now, Discord just snorted and winked at her again, now free from her stuppor and knowing his plan she knew how to beat him, she was oh so gonna kick him in the flank!
The battle was fierce, she wrekced her brain back and forth with every movement made, but it was no use, one by one her friends were taken away, after informing her friends of the situation Dash went livid, shouting at him that he was a cheater, she could only move a few meters over the board before bing intercepted by another one of his pieces, this one composed of numerous brass trophies and royal guard armor, she also went missing, in a cloud of feathers and honking horns.
Despite her best efforst the tables were always turned on her, time and time again it seemed like Discord was 5 steps ahead and it just drove her crazy! Her friends where also nervous and begged her to calm down, but the more and more pieces she lost the worst the situation turned, her rage was cut short, however, when three of his pieces landed in front of her, looking past their looming figures she saw no one else on the battlefield, she had lost, and worst of all, she was corneded, meaning that she would have to surrender rather than being defeated in fair combat, just another little detail to rub salt on the woud.
She closed her eyes and admited defeat, there was no point in defiance and she wasn't gonna give him the satisfactions of her furstation, once she opened her eyes she found herself somewhere new, instead of the great plaza adorned with squares she was now a lush hill filled with flowers, after everything she has seen this almost felt peaceful, taking deep breaths to calm herself she inspected the flowers more closely, she deadpanned once she realized they where not in fact flowers but pasta glued and colored to LOOK like a flower, still it was a pretty scene, and the three rings that conformed a fake sun gave the whole scenery a beautiful orange glow, almost like a sunset, after a long sigh she moved in the general direction of that fake sun, she needed to find her friends, otherwise harmony would never return.
After a few minutes of a calm trot, watching the scenery and enjoying the monotny of chaos, she found something that grabed her attention, from the looks of it it was the maze of the Canterlot Royal Palace, still intact despite the roaming creatures formed by plants and household objects, she made her way towards it, hoping that it was the next part of Discord's game, but before she could arrive another thing grabed her attention.
Just before she could get to what looked like a safe entrance point, a thunder shook the earth, darkening the sky momentarily, to her left an errand pink cloud was being chased by a grey and yellow blur, faster than what was possible, the pink blur zig and zagged, each time avoiding the grey pegasus, the chase was intense but surprisingly she was keeping her pace with the chaotic form of sugar, that was until they started to make a donut in the air, the velocity enough to pluck some of the pasta flowers fron the ground and make everything smell like tomato sauce, the grey pegasus stoped dead in her tracks, emiting a screeching noise and sendind some sparks flying from under her hoves, one of which she nonchalantly lifted, and not a second after, the cloud impacted with it, deflating instantly and staying place.
As Twilight made her way towards the spectacle another roll of thunder made its presence, but this time it was the Pegasus, Bubble Breeze, if she recalled correctly, now was jumping up and down on the cloud, making it rain chocolate, a more denser pastel rainbow substance oozed from it and sending chunks of pink cotton flying away, the cloud wasn't amused by this because between each jump it sounded like it was growling, and Twilight could distinguish what looked to be a frown made by the swirls of its chaotic figure. After the demonstration of control over the unnatural forces of weather, Breeze reached inside the cloud with a gigantic cone of icecream and later came out with choclate covered in rainbow syrup, then proceded to take a seat and enjoy her triumphant dessert, to which the cloud responded by electrocuting her.
Rushing to aid the poor pegasus who just plumped down to a bush Twilight found herself surprised when said pegasus poped her head from the shrubbery, now wearing the cone as an improvised horn and having her mane colored in a similar manner to the Princess, after about... 4 seconds of silence and unblinking stares, Twilight gave in and started to giggle, that giggle later transformed in a full laughter attack, she was rolling on the ground in front of a stunned Bubble Breeze, then the gray pony looked up to see a strand of her new mane color and her prosthetic horn, she also joinded the laugh orchesta, falling backwards and off the bush.
Once the laughter had subsided a little and Twilight could go back to her 4 hooves she cleaned a stray tear and looked back at Derpy, 'curious nickname' she thought, Derpy's laughter also stoped, now only a few snorts here and there, when her good eye could focus entirely back on the librarian she gasped, she blinked a few times watching the increasingly curious Twilight, it was like she just recognized her, making haste, not wanting to waste any moment, she dived back into the bush, there were many sounds going on before she came out of it, including bells, whistles and the sound of a rubber chiken being tortured, but once the Pegasus mare did, she had changed into what appeared to be the Bell Pony uniform used in hotels.
Derpy made a bow motion and immeadetly turned around towards the Maze, Twilight followed without much question, once on the entrance, Derpy used her wing to take one side of a velvet stanchion rope, one that wasn't there before, and indicated for her to enter with a hoof.
Words could not describe the inside of the maze, it was amazing! While the outer walls could not let one to see what awaited inside, unless that one was airborne, the inside was filled with twisted nature froming a grand cathedral, the tree roots forming an interwoven ground floor of wood, and the trunks reached to form a high ceiling forming gothic archways with its branches, the windows to the exterior were high on the vine covered walls, adorned with multitude of lush flowers, letting inside natural light, iluminating the long hallway and the floating particles that shined like gold dust, but what REALLY took her attention was that, in the middle of each chamber, posed over a collum, were different objects being shown.
Twilight couldn't help but gawk at the first object, at first it looked like a chunk of crystal and mineral, some sort of geode with spikes of quartz portruing from the inside, it was floating in mid air with other crystaline formations orbiting around it, when she brought her hoof up to touch it, the object reacted before contact, now it transformed to some sort of golden sphere that twisted and turned until it turned outside in, changing to a purple sphere that repeated the process over and over again, the change made Twilight gasp, without loosing sight of the new object and without thinking, she reached around the ground, shed finally found something and began to write on another thing she found casually, taking rapid notes of the newfound object until it changed once more, this time to a statue of an impossible object, usually those are optical ilussion printed in paper, but this one was solid, rotating peacefuly negating the laws of physics like it was nothing!
Looking at the tridimentional impossible object made Twilight feel dizzy, but it was a worthwile experience since she now had so many notes! she decided to check them and looked down at the thing she picked up from the ground to write with. Her Notebook was a bouque of flowers and her quill was a fish. To emphasize the point of her not knowing how to react, the fake sun hid itself, allowing a wheel of cheese to roll over the sky dome quickly and let another fake sun take place in the middle of the sky, Twilight resumed her stroll isnide the museum without much words after that.
The stupor was interrupted because once she took sight of another of those chaotic objects she could not stop herself, circling around it like a predator stalks it quarry, one time even climbing up to a window to have a bettwer view of a crown with a wormhole inside its curvature, allowing her to see a place much similar to Equestria, she ran as fast as she could after accidentally dropping her Quill Fish and hearing somepony shout angrily "who did that?"
To be honest, Twilight was having fun, and that was bothering her, again her mind drifted towards the patchwork dragon responsable for all of this, now she was in a museum almost tailored to her desire to research the chaos magic, in the few hours she has been pacing between rooms nothing bad had happened! there were no traps, no monsters, it was a peaceful place where she could spent all day admiring and taking notes on the multitude of objects that inhabited this place, all of them fascinating as much as they were impossible! but why? Why would Discrod cater to her hunger for knowledge? what was his plan? where were her friends right now? Twilight could only hope they were alright, maybe they where having as much fun as she was right now. Shaking those thoughts away Twilight continued her way, again, her doubts returned by tenfold, but they could not stop her, again, this all felt like a game, or a large play, there were no real threats behind the curtains, just mildy inconviniences and somewhat funny events, it felt staged somehow, like every piece was fullfiling a role in a pop up children's book, whatever the case, she was going to the bottom of all of this.
The notes where now few and far between, she was walking a little bit faster now, it turned out that the objetcs changed places at random, she just had to wait long enough in the same spot until they started to circle the same she saw upon entering, sighing she made her way to a nearby wall, and like the maze itself knew what she wanted, the tall window lowered to her height, allowing her to see the outside world once more, and just like before, it was a chekered board with yellow skies and pink clouds, the only think that broke her bored gaze was watching Derpy herding clouds, to later have the tables turn and see clouds herding a very panicked Derpy with an electrified mane, she chuckled at the sight, she had to hang out more with the grey pegasus after this was over.
Dwelling on this thoughts was interrupted when a sound reached her ears, something else was here, she turned as fast as she could and tried to pin down where the sound had came from, at first everything seemed fine, but once she could scan the area more cautiously she saw that something in the room had changed, that bush wasn't there before, she wheighted the options, her heartbeat was definetly faster now, more oxigen going towards the lungs and heart, it made her head feel lighter, but also more concentrated, there was no movement, another prank mayhaps? it was possible, but still, you never know, this needed to be researched now.
Before her hoof could even be lifted from the ground the instrusive bush sprang to life and ran with the velocity of photosintesis down the hall, Twilight gave no second thought and started to chase down the rouge plant, maybe she could chastise it for reveling agaisnt the instrinsic nature of vegetation or it could give her an answer.
Whatever the case, she was gaining ground upon the green blur, a sharp turn here and there almost made her loose it, but little by little it seemed like she was going to win this race. She could feel the ache on her muscles, like a burning sensation running through her whole body, her heartbeat in a frantic rythm, her lungs expanding and contracting, she give one last push with her rear legs, sprinting faster and faster, the plant creature seems to be stoping in front of one archway that leads to the exterior, Twilight could see her opportunity.
The Gren Escapist stoped, its cuadruped body tilting over its front legs in an effort to stop right in front of the exit, Twilight zoomed past it and leaped over the ledge screaming "I WON!" before falling through a pink cloud and into a pool of grape juice, emerging a few second later to point her hoof to the green critter and laughing loudly towards it, despite not having a face, the Walking Bush seemed very confused, corncerned and insulted.
Casually floating on the grape juice taking the ocassional sip Twilight enjoyed her victory, she sure was faster than running shrubrery! her adrenaline was starting to wear off and she thanked for the cool place to rest, sipping a little bit more of the juice from a golden helmet she was still thinking and savoring her succes, but before it could dawn on her, she heard the vegetation to her side move, craking open an eye she saw the most adorable little bunny, colored cream with what appeared to be multicoroed stars on its fur and with a pair of antlers on top of its head, the little critter was also drinking from the pool, but once it locked eyes with Twilight it ran and quickly hid near the trunk of a tree.
Twilight quickly sumerged her muzzle on the juice and carefully made her way towards the edge, emerging from the liquid carefully, inching little by little towards the bunny, the air was cool on her still wet coat but somehow she managed to not shiver as she crouched and made her way slowly towards the cowering creature, controling her breath and avoiding eye contact, since it could be seen as a form of threat, just mere inches away from the adorabble furball Twilight reached carefully with her right hoof, keeping a respectful distance from the bunny, waiting for them to make a move.
The horned creature eyed Twilight carefully, curious but still wary, it emerged from its improvised hiding spot and took temptative hops towards the mare, always keeping its eyes on her form, waiting for a pounce or any other notion of danger to run away, but it seemed safe for now, inspecting closer the hoof the bunny smelled the mare, yup that was definetly grape juice, the bunny decided then to allow the mare to pet him, pressing his forehead against the hoof, careful to avoid any contact with the horns, and closing its eyes.
Twilight felt like she was one with universe and nature right now, her eyes literally sparkling and some tears threatening to escape the corners of her eyes, from there on the bunny climbed on her back and decided to acompany her through this journey, and of course, she saw no possible objection against it, now deeper into the maze, in a place where glowing pumpkings iluminated a forest of cherry blossoms, Twilight started to recount how she ended up here, and the bunny listened, or at least it looked to do so, giving a nod or shake in response to some topics Twilight threw its way.
Now it was time for the hard topics, she tried, like many times before, to keep calm and try to come up with logical explanations, but in this case it seemed futile, Discord followed no aparent logic besides what seemed to make him laught at any given moment, at that was the start of the conversation with the quiet horned creature, eager to listen, how this Mad God, the Spirit and Embodyment of Chaos Itself, seemed to be doing nothing more than janking the chains of ponies instead of actively trying to do harm, to bring true chaos and diparity between them, she went in depth with her reasoning about this behavior and even began theorising out loud and inside her head about motives and what drove Celestia to turn him to stone in the first place.
The conversation had changed to a more cheery topic over time, with the leavender mare talking about her friends and how she would love for the bunny to meet Fluttershy specially, sadly that moment had to wait and this conversation had to end because, with a swirl of wind mixed with leaves and cake batter, Chaos decided to graze us with its presence, Discord teleported to Twilight, now wearing a tweet jacked in brown with a green waistcoat, a bowler hat and round lenses, casually sitting on a lounge couch, his eyes opened and his mouth turned upwards to a broad smile, showing his teeth and drawing attention to the missing fang on it.
"Enjoying your little stroll through my wonderful creation?" he asked, tilting his whole form, couch and all, hovering over Twilight, for her part she turned with her eyes closed and a little pout adorning her muzzle, she wasn't gonna give him a proper response, too bad that the bunny decided that was the perfect time to jump from her back into a glowing pumpkin and nuzzle her cheek, the contact almost made her giggle, but she controlled her face muscles perfectly, retreatring a little from the cute critter and giving him a stoic glance, proving to both her espectators that she wasn't gonna admit defeat again, the bunny proved her wrong by puffing their cheeks in an angry put and crossing its arms.
Every second it became harder and harder for Twilight to control her face muscles, now contorning the line that formed her mouth from one side to another in a vain attempt to not let any sound scape, the bunny blew a raspberry at her and she had to give "Well, for your infromation I have found my journey pretty endearing, i would not deny that" she said matter of factly, hoping her voice didn't betray her and casually petting the bunny without looking at it, they where gonna have a conversation later, when they both where out of earshot of the chaotic draco-whatever it is called.
"I could tell, i saw you jump from a 3 stories tall window into a pool of grape juice, say Twilight, i never took for the type to take such... chaotic decitions" he commented, now with his couch horizontaly floating besides her, she didnt bat an eye at this, but no ammount of self control over your expresion could prevent the ponies, or dragons, around you to see the blush darkening your lavender coat.
"Ha! That only means you don't understand me quite yet, i never back off from a challenge, and no errand bush could outrun me" Now that she said that out loud it sounded sillier than what she had hoped, but it was impressive nontheless to see how she managed to say it without stuttering or snorting.
"Oh is that right? Say, then, why don't we make this stroll a little more Interesting" he reached towards one of the cherry tree trunks and moved it aside as it were a curtain, revealing a plane of grass with a dirt path in the middle, from her position she could a see a tall structure in the background, but she couldnt tell just what it was
"first one to the giant Obelisk wins?" Discord continued, one eyebrow impossibly high on his forehead while the other wliggled a little, the bet was on, she just need to add the I and he would catch this one.
Twilight was now looking at him, his clothes had changed once more, now with a tracksuit made of an iridicent material and replacing the bowler with a cotton headband, she didn't knew how but she just knew he had made a terrible analogy of fishing, it wasnt even gramatically correct! "Oh youre ON!" she shouted "wait, what is that?" she pointed to her side, and when Discord took Her bait, she took the bunny in her magic and sprinted as fast as she could inside the racetrack, smiling broadly and focusing on the fastest way towards the finishing line.
Not a moment later Discord was running in an exagerated manner without actually thouching the ground. "Hey, im not an expert, but i think That was cheating" he said between huffs, also exagerated, with a pleased smile.
"A lady... never cheats... she just uses every... possible advantage!" she said almost out of breath, but energetic enough to keep her pace.
It was hard to keep up with the pair as they made their way along the obstacle curse, they almost flew through it, Twilight had never ran this fast before, and while a voice told her to maintain a good pace instead of rushing because she could end up exausted, another told her to simply let go a little, that voice sounded.. for lack of a better term, it had the distinticve ring of a rainbow, whatever that meant.
Now finally on the last obstacle before the finishing line Twilight actually stopped, while the other ones consisted of common activities, albeit a little more challenging due to them being influenced by chaotic magic, like climbing walls or stepping through doughnuts, this one was an eyeful, above her, floating within jumping distance were rocks and patches of dirt and water, miniature islands rising ever upwards, but this was no time for doubs, steeling her nerves she retreated a few paces to have a good running start and sprinted towards the first one, jumping with all her might and making it perfectly squared in the middle of the floating platform, but momentum still had a hold on her, so without much options she sprang back and jumped once more, landing in a little sphere of water with just enough sand to place one hoof, but it was all she needed for her next jump.
It was a challenge to be sure, but Twilight adored challenges, she was inclined more towards intelectual ones, but every jump required quick calculations of distance and force, so it counted in her book, now running on the lenght of a palm tree and hopping to a giant plushie of an octopus she saw her objective, now closer than ever, the last platform lay before her, it was a very long jump and it was very low, close to the ground, but if she believed enough...
Without thinking Twilight leaped once more, her hoover pointing to the sky before slowly curving towards the final platforms, time seemd to slow down, now her fall in slow motion, like watching molases dripping from a spoon, but that was not the case here, her heasrtbeat sounded as fast as it was before, maybe even faster, no, she was not falling, she was actually floating, gliding in the sky moving ever so closely to her objective, it felt like flying, the wind on her ears, gently guiding her towards the finishing line now in eyeshot and the feeling of pressure around her neck from a panicking bunny holding for dear life to her... what, what?
The bliss of her faux fly was interrupted when she noticed the bunny on her back, how could has she forgotten, poor thing must be scared of hights! looking back on it she saw its eyes opening more and more, releasing one paw to cover them moments later, Twilight also looked and found herself opening her eyes in panic too, the ground was aproaching quicker now, she was about to crash!
Cloding her eyes and bracing for impact hugging the little bunny with all her might to protect it from the ground she waited, and waited, and then waited so more, then she craked open an eye when she heard a breathy laugh near her, more accurately, above her. Discord was holding her, and she was holding the bunny, but then again, Discord Was Holding Her! carrying her and laughing under his breath, he looked calm but in this position Twilight could hear that his heart was racing, was he exsausted from the race too or...
Before she could ponder further the implications of Discord possibly having multiple hearts, she was twirled from one hoof and released in the general direction of the Obelisk, neatly landing just a few metter from a white picked fence that surrounded the structure. Discord made his way towards the staggered mare and the terrified bunny who refused to let go of her hoof and sat alongside them, taking a watermelon from behind a bush, opening it like a basquet and producing a tea set in green, white and red.
Twilight accepted the lovely teacup and was met with the delicious aroma of tropical fruits and honey, but before she could take a sip she asked "H-how did you arrived so quickly to the finishing line? Dont get me wrong, im grateful for that save, but don't tell me you cheated to get there first?" her voice betrayed her features, stuttering a little as she made her question, her eyebrows knitted close togheter, why not watch her tumble, she hadn't catched enought speed to get harmed seriously.
"Oh my dear Sparkle, you offend me" he answered in a high pitch tone, bringing his paw to his chest and turning up his nose in indignation "To think you would even Consider I would cheat on my own game!" his hair poofed and curled, the resemblance to Rarity's hairstyle was uncanny and left Twilight in stciches, careful to not drop her tea
"Okay, okay, im sorry, i wan't implying that, and thank you again" she decided to cut the discution for the sake of peace and instead allowed herself to take a sip from the lovely smelling tea.
Hours passed without them noticing, jumping from one topic to another, Twilight sharing stories from her time in Canterlot and the many (mis)adventrures she lived in Ponyville, and in turn Discord shared his life experienses as the spirit of chaos, speaking about how he saw the history of Equestria unfold in front of his very eyes, and making some remarks about the Alicorn sisters that Twilight found hilarious to say the least. The tea never seemed to run out, much like the topics they discussed, and the sun decided to once again let the Cheese Roll to emphasize that point.
Once the sun had made its third round upon the sky Twilight started to notice something, it was subtle at first, but now it was clear as day, Discord seemed distant, now limiting his responses to silent nods or brief commentary, his expression also changed, eyebrows lowered and a more subdued smile, still showing his fang as he spoke. Twilight stopped her story and instead reached for the clawed hand of Discord, placing her hoof over it, Discord was surprised at first, but didnt retreated, he also kept silent and decided to enjoy the moment, silence could also be as comfortable as friendly conversation.
...
"It was about time" Discord though as he twsited the last stem of the paper flowers filled with Twilight's notes, braiding it to the rest and placing a crown slightly tilted on her head, Twilight just hummed, her eyes closed and the sun on her coat, this was nice. What was not nice was the Glares the other mares were giving him, yes, in front of him, with an array of discordian expressions were 5 mares, each one of a different colors, all of them desaturated and grey. There was angry, annoyed, sad, livid and blank, one of them was even being carried by another, likely too sad to even walk, Discord's look wasnt any better, his mouth now a thin line, with a deep breath he braced for this, but before he could even open his mouth to speak he heard a massive gasp.
Twilight was 5 feet in the air, gasping more than her lung capaccity would allow, imediatly landing perfectly on 4 hooves and rushing to meet the 5 mares, while Discord saw them as greyed ponies with very negative emotions boiling underneath their eyes Twilight just saw her friends, she was happier than ever, finally able to reunite with them, she didn't, or couldn't see the state they were in right now, just like she ignored the changes she also went throug.
Finally in front of her friends she hugged them all, lifting them from the ground and shaking them in her embrace "GIRLS, OH IM SO SO SO SO HAPPY TO SEE YOU AGAIN!" she repeted multiple times, this time sheding a tear or two from the emotion. The other ponies were shoked to say the least, Twilight was never a big fan of showing her more extreme emotions, not unless you saw her having a panic attack, but this time she was euphoric! This little show of affection, enought to surprise even a stone statue was followed by an event who's only concious witness was Discord.
The once grey mares now started to recover little by little their respective colors, Manes and Coats going back to a vibrant palette, while the excess of color in Twilight drained, now a more subdued hue, still vibrant and filled with life, but now with less sparkles and stars around her coat and eyes. She lowered them and opened her eyes, finally back to her old self, but still smiling and eyeing them for some sort of answer on their part, but it was another being who answered her silence.
"Well, i guess this is it" Discord said while streching his arms and back, producing a sound similar to buble warp going through a pasta roller. "At least i had my 15 minutes of fun and made the best out of them, hmmm, maybe if I get one of those every thousand years or so i could make a deal with the Solar Flank" he snaped his fingers and the world went back to its normal state, the sun glowing brightly as just one yellow circle on the sky, no more moving living statues and bushes, the sky once more light blue, no more pink clouds chasing grey pegasus, everything was in its place once more. discord drew a target in his chest and extended his paws to each side. "Do what you must now, don't hesitate and enjoy your temporal victory while you can" he said, sniffing loudly and blowing his nose in an ascot tie.
This was unnexped, him giving up so easly, of course 5 ponies were not buying a single word he said, and now noticing the elements in their new form around their necks and on top of Twilight head, alongside paper flowers with something scribbled on them, they silently decided to go on with the program and finish this act for good while they could.
What was more unexpected however was Twilight bursting into a laughing fit, flailing her head back and almost nocking a poor bunny from her back, she saw the looks her friends were giving her and tried to stiffle her laughs with a hoof, apologizing for her behavior, then she made her way towards the dumbstruck patchwork dragon
"Come on Discord, would you believe I would send you back to being a statue? I though we already knew each other well!" she said with a cocky smirk, then she extended her hoof towards him "I'll talk with Celestia to come up with a way for you to stay with us, maybe i wil even convince her to give you a place to practice more of your tricks and magic!" she said, completely ignoring the glances her friends and even Discord himself gave her.
Discord looked at the others, then at Twilight, then to the mares again, then once more at the Leavender unicorn, still with her hoof extended towards him, slowly he reached with his paw, and before he could shake it, the hoof quickly shot upwards "SIKE!" Twilight snorted, Discord laughed too and they exchanged knowing glanced towards the other, their faces close. "I'll promise to talk to her if, and only IF, you primise us not to sink Equestria into a chotic wasteland again, okay? Otheriwse we sill send you to the moon as a statue." She extended her hoof outr once more, smiling smugly This time when Discord reached for her she didnt retreated.
"you're a very curious little pony, Sparkles, I wouldn't have it any other way!" He gave a good hoofshake, one only shared between good friends. He could work with this.