> The Matter Of Friendship
>  by HeartShieldFiM
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1 ~ Auntie Pinkie!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

‘Revenge is sweet…’ Discord muttered, squeezing his eyes. ‘Revenge is served ice cold…’
He grinned. ‘So revenge is…’
‘An ice cream!’ a high voice yelled.
The draconequus rolled with his eyes. ‘No, Pinkie. I wasn’t done yet.’
‘Oh,’ the pink pony sighed. Then, with new happiness coming out of nowhere, she said: ‘But was I right?’
‘Right with WHAT,’ Discord said, slightly annoyed.
‘With the riddle!’ Pinkie said. ‘Revenge is sweet, revenge is served ice cold, which means that revenge must be an ice cream!’
Discord chuckled. ‘You were right, okay?’
‘Ehm, duh,’ Pinkie replied. ‘I am ALWAYS right. By the way, you’re moody.’ With those words, she hopped away.
Discord shook his head. ‘Silly pony.’

That night, Discord couldn’t fall asleep. He was tossing and turning in bed, but the sleep didn’t want to redeem him from his thoughts. He thought about Screwball and Pinkie, the only two in Equestria who seemed to accept him. Duh, Screwball was his own wicked creation and Pinkie was just… Pinkie.
Her friends didn’t like the thought of Pinkie playing with him. Especially Twilight had her doubts about the draconequus. He understood their fear, he had locked them up in a maze without their powers to save themselves. Only Pinkie Pie and AJ didn’t have any special stuff, such as magic.
It was just… since Screwball freed him from his stone prison, he tried to become one of THEM. One of the happy, crazy ones in Ponyville. He joined bookclubs, cooking clubs, everything, just to become one of them, like he was a long time ago.
But everypony seemed to avoid him. Everypony, except Pinkie (well, not to forget about Screwball but that didn’t really count).
Pinkie didn’t even try to convince the others about Discord’s change. She wasn’t that kind of pony. She just waited for stuff to happen.
‘I’ll make stuff happen for her,’ Discord mumbled, and with those words, he finally fell asleep.

The next morning came with a bright sun, shining straight through the gap between Discord’s curtains.
‘Grmblr,’ was all he could say as the ray of light in his eyes woke him up.
‘Daddy Discord! Daddy Discord!’ Screwball knocked on his door. ‘Daddy, are you awake?’
Discord smiled and stretched his back. ‘Come in, Screwball.’
Screwball bashed through the door. ‘Hi Daddy! I missed you so badly!’
Discord shook his head. ‘You sleep in the room next to mine. How could you possibly miss me?’
Screwball didn’t answer. She jumped on his bed and bounced up and down. ‘Daddy, Daddy, are we gonna play today?’
‘Sure, my dear,’ Discord replied. ‘Let’s cause some chaos together.’
Screwball frowned, as if she was thinking (be honest, we all know she’s not). ‘I thought Celestia told you you couldn’t cause chaos in Equestria ever again!’
Discord sighed. His “daughter” was right. Celestia forced him to promise never cause chaos again. At least, not in Equestria. He told her that he would keep his promise, but then she made him do something to make sure he couldn’t possibly break it. Never. He made him do a Pinkie Promise.
‘Aunt Pinkie!’ Screwball yelled. ‘I saw Auntie Pinkie!’
At that moment, the bell rang.
‘You open the door,’ Discord said. ‘I will get up and brush my teeth.’
Screwball ran away.
‘What would Auntie Pinkie think of me if she’d smell my morning-breath?’ Discord said to himself.

Less than five minutes later, the three sat together at the dining table.
‘Could you pass me the toast, please?’ Pinkie asked.
Screwball grabbed the basket with toast and threw it at Pinkie, who caught it in mid-air.
‘Nice one,’ Discord mumbled, while chewing on some strawberries.
‘Don’t talk while your mouth is still full of food!’ Pinkie said. ‘That’s not… well, never mind, actually. I do it myself all the time!’
Screwball giggled. ‘Auntie Pinkie, what are we gonna do today?’
‘Well,’ Pinkie replied. ‘I am going to plan a party, and it would be great if you and your father would help me.’ She turned to Discord. ‘Hm?’
‘Well,’ he mumbled. ‘If you insist…’
He sounded uninterested but Pinkie knew what was going on inside his head. ‘Good,’ she said. ‘I see you in two hours at Sugar Cube Corner!’
As she stood up and gave Screwball a stroke on her mane, she smiled and said: ‘Don’t do any…’
Discord shook his head. ‘I have promised to the Princess not to cause chaos in a bad way anymore.’
Pinkie nodded. ‘Oki-doki-loki!’ Then, she walked away.

When Discord and Screwball arrived at the shop, Pinkie was already busy hanging lanterns. ‘Oh, hi there!’ she said, and glided down the ladder. ‘You are right on time!’
She gave Discord some lanterns. ‘You can fly,’ she said. ‘So hang these lanterns on the edge of the roof, please.’
‘Didn’t your friends want to help you?’ Discord replied. ‘You know, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy can fly, too.’
‘Rainbow Dash spreads the invitations,’ Pinkie said. ‘She can come everywhere, also in Cloudsdale.’
‘And Fluttershy?’ Discord asked.
‘Fluttershy is visiting her family, just out of town. She won’t be back before tomorrow.’
‘Dad!’ Screwball yelled.
Discord turned around. ‘What? Are you hurt?’
Screwball pointed at a filly. ‘Look, Daddy. He has a balloon. Could I have one too, please?’
Discord sighed in relief. Before he could say anything, Pinkie gave a huge, butterfly-shaped balloon to Screwball. ‘There you go. Balloons are my special talent, as you can see. I mean, they’re my cutie mark!’
‘Thank you, auntie Pinkie!’
Pinkie tied some balloons up to the doorknob. ‘Discord, could you please, please hang up those lanterns?’
Discord looked at the lanterns in his hand. ‘Oh, yes, these things.’
He smiled, and before you could say “Wonderbolts”, the lanterns flew up to the roof. ‘Tadaah,’ Discord said.
Pinkie frowned. ‘Ahum. Didn’t you promise not to use magic for chaos anymore?’
‘As you can see,’ Discord replied. ‘This is no chaos. This is just hanging up some lanterns.’
Pinkie shrugged. ‘Right, but please be careful, okay?’
‘Hello, Pinkie Pie!’ three voices cried in unison.
Pinkie turned around to see three little fillies. ‘Hi there, Cutie Mark Crusaders! How are you today?’
‘Awesome!’ Scootaloo replied. ‘Rainbow Dash just helped us with getting our cutie marks. Too bad it didn’t work out.’
‘Really?’ Pinkie asked. ‘Let me guess: she told you to bring around some Very Important Invitations for a party?’
Scootaloo, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle looked at each other.
‘Uhm, yes… how did you know?’ Sweetie Belle said.
Pinkie shrugged. ‘Let’s call it intuition.’
‘Hey girls!’ Screwball yelled. ‘Whaddayadoin’?’
Scootaloo sighed. ‘Oh, great. Uhm, Pinkie, I think we gotta go now. Rainbow Dash told us she got some… important stuff for us to do.’
‘Oki-doki-loki!’ Pinkie said. ‘Cheers!’
Only Discord knew what was going on. The three fillies didn’t really like him, neither did they like his daughter. Screwball was… just Screwball. And some ponies didn’t like her at all. Her eyes were too twisted, her mane was too curly and her cap was too silly. Each of the ponies had their own reason to dislike Screwball.
‘Hello-o!’
Discord snapped out of his thoughts. ‘Uhm, sorry Pinkie, what did you say?’
‘I said that your normal, non-chaotic lanterns begin to morph into birds.’ Pinkie growled.
Discord looked up. The lanterns still hung on the roof, but some of them had wings popping out. ‘Oh dear, oh dear,’ he muttered.
‘I like it, Daddy! I like the birds!’
Discord turned around. Screwball sat down on his tail and looked up at the lanterns. ‘They’re cool.’
Discord nodded. ‘They are, indeed, but not quite fitting for a party.’
He raised his claw and the lanterns gently swirled down to the ground. The wings disappeared.
‘I am terribly sorry, Pinkie Pie. I didn’t mean to cause… chaos.’ Discord looked at his feet.
‘Fine,’ Pinkie said. ‘Now please, just go sit there and be quiet.’ With a frown, she walked away.
> Chapter 2 ~ Not Like Derpy
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

‘I am really sorry, Pinkie,’ Discord said.
The pink pony shrugged. ‘Yeah, I know. You’ve apologized like a billion times already.’
‘But it wasn’t MY fault, I mean…’
Pinkie turned around. ‘So it wasn’t you, who made the lanterns turn into birds?’
‘Daddy, Daddy!’ Screwball yelled. ‘Daddy, what’s wrong?’
Discord sighed.
‘There’s nothing,’ Pinkie said. She turned back to Discord. ‘You. You should go out and find Rainbow Dash. I need her help.’
‘That’s all I have to do?’ the draconequus asked.
Pinkie nodded. ‘Tell her that I want her to come over here.’
Discord frowned, spread his wings and took off.
He flew all the way to the edge of the town, where he found the rainbow-pony lying on a small cloud-hammock. ‘She stole my idea,’ he muttered. He landed next to the pony.
‘Ahum,’ he said. ‘Excuse me?’
Rainbow Dash opened her eyes and lifted her sunglasses. ‘What?’
‘Your friend Pinkie Pie sent me to tell that she needs your help,’ Discord continued. ‘She is at the Sugar Cube Corner.’
Dash rolled her eyes. ‘Jeez, I brought all the invitations ‘round already. I’m tired!’
Discord didn’t dare to tell her about what he heard from the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
‘Why are you staring at me?’ Dash asked.
‘Hm? Oh… I am terribly sorry. I was just thinking…’
Dash didn’t let him finish his sentence. ‘Yeah, whatever,’ she said, and she got up. ‘Thanks for forwarding the message, freak.’ Dash opened her wings and in a flash, she was gone.
‘Freak…’ Discord whispered. ‘Why, thank you.’
He saw the hammock and decided to try it. It was a bit too small, but pretty comfortable. ‘Hm, not bad, not bad at all.’ Before he knew it, he fell asleep.

‘Ah, Dash, there you are. Right on time to help me with putting on these garlands.’ Pinkie pointed at the roof. ‘Since Discord broke my lanterns, I have to use garlands and Christmas lights instead.’
‘Leave it to the Dash,’ the other pony replied.
Pinkie handed Dash the garlands. ‘Thank you so much. By the way, have you seen Discord?’
‘The last time I saw him, we were at the edge of Ponyville. I think he’s still over there. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s trying my hammock,’ Dash said, and she smiled. ‘He’s a weirdo, you’re aware of that, right?’
‘Who is a weirdo?’ Screwball yelled. ‘Who? Who?’
Before Dash could tell her what she thought about Screwball’s father, Pinkie put a hoof on her mouth. ‘Nopony is a weirdo, okay? Just… just go play with your beautiful balloon.’
‘Hm,’ Screwball said, and walked away.
‘Listen,’ Pinkie continued. ‘That little filly is the daughter of Discord.’
‘It’s no filly!’ Dash yelled. ‘She’s a bucking adult pony!’
‘Nononononono,’ Pinkie said. ‘She may look like an adult, but in her head she’s just like… she is like Derpy, okay?’
Dash looked over her shoulder at the purple pony, who seemed not to care about the things around her. ‘She is?’
‘Hm-m. She’s born out of Discord and chaos, that’s why she is… who she is,’ Pinkie said. ‘She can’t help it.’
‘Right, I get it,’ Dash replied. She looked back at the roof. ‘I don’t mind Screwball living in this town, I just don’t really like her… father.’
Pinkie shrugged. ‘Oh, it’s alright. Everypony is free to have his own opinion here. But just don’t criticize him while Screwball is around, okay?’
‘Fine. Now where do you want me to put these garlands?’

Two hours later, Discord woke up. ‘What year is it..?’ he muttered. Suddenly, he realized that he fell asleep while he should help Pinkie with her party.
‘Buck!’ he yelled, as he fell out of the hammock. He crawled up and spread his wings. ‘Let’s go…’
Only a few minutes later, he landed next to Screwball, who was still playing with her balloon.
‘Daddy!’ she cried, as she saw Discord.
Discord embraced his daughter. ‘Hello, my dear.’
‘Ah. There he is.’
The draconequus turned around to see Pinkie. She looked pissed off and Discord could understand.
‘Well, well. Were you lost?’ Pinkie said. ‘Looking for Rainbow Dash took you quite long, hm?’
Discord looked at his feet. ‘I am sorry again, Pinkie. It’s just… I fell asleep in that terribly comfortable hammock of Rainbow Dash…’
‘It’s awesome, right?’ Dash said. ‘I can sleep there all day!’
Discord nodded, but before he could answer her, Pinkie said: ‘Listen, you are of no help at this party. We’re done planning and all you did was breaking my lanterns! Maybe it’s just better to… well, just go home and play baseball with your daughter. She seems to like it.’
‘B… but I…’
Pinkie squeezed her eyes. ‘Just go, okay? I don’t think we can use any of your chaos here at the moment.’
‘Daddy was just trying to help,’ a soft voice whispered from behind. Discord turned around.
‘It’s okay, Screwball. It…’ Discord didn’t know what to say. ‘It’s alright.’
‘No, it’s not!’ Screwball yelled. ‘Auntie Pinkie, Daddy was just trying to help. It’s not that he creates chaos, he IS chaos. And you can change someone’s behavior, but you can’t change who he is.’
With those words, she turned back to her balloon.
For a few seconds, the three stood in a circle, looking at each other and not knowing what to say. Pinkie was astonished by Screwball’s bright moment, even Discord looked pretty surprised.
‘Derpy, eh?’ Dash said. ‘Well, I’m done here. Gimme a call when you need me!’ She walked away.
‘What… what did your daughter just say?’ Pinkie stuttered. ‘I…’
‘What did your daughter just say?’ Discord mimicked. ‘Well, I am sure you weren’t aware of the fact that she is quite smart, right?’
Pinkie didn’t say anything…
> Chapter 3 ~ (no good title)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

‘You ask ME if I know anything about befriending a draconequus?’ Fluttershy asked. ‘Uhm… you know… Discord is the only one I have ever seen in my whole life…’
‘I think I have to take that as a no…’ Pinkie sighed. ‘How am I ever gonna make Discord befriend everypony in Ponyville?’
‘Well…’ whispered Fluttershy. ‘Maybe it’s not necessary for him to be friends with EVERYpony. You could start with the Mane Six…’
‘Then why are you still avoiding Discord?’ Pinkie asked, scratching her neck. She had a terrible rash and it wouldn’t go away. Maybe she should see Zakora , she could probably help her. ‘Don’t you like him?’ Pinkie continued.
Fluttershy shook her head.
‘Then why don’t you… why do you avoid Discord?’ Pinkie asked.
Fluttershy mumbled something, but Pinkie couldn’t understand a word.
‘What?’ she asked.
Fluttershy took a deep breath. ‘I… I am terribly afraid of him…’ she muttered.

So that was the problem, Pinkie thought while galloping back to her house. It was not that the Ponyvillagers didn’t like Discord (however, Dash didn’t seem to appreciate his presence), they were afraid of him.
Well, that was not the WHOLE problem. It was only a part. Duh, nopony liked Discord because he caused chaos and turned their world upside down. But still. Pinkie could imagine why ponies were afraid of him. He was big, approximately five times bigger than everypony else, and he was a draconequus, a creature made out of parts of other creatures.
On the way home she saw Discord, playing baseball with his daughter.
‘Hey, Auntie Pinkie! Look, Daddy!’
Discord looked over his shoulder. ‘Oh, hello, Pinkie,’ he said, in an almost toneless voice.
‘I… I know why the other ponies don’t like you,’ Pinkie said, heavily breathing. ‘It’s not because of… yeah, you know what… it’s just that they’re afraid of you. I mean, you are huge, and you’re a draconequus.’
‘What, if I may ask, is wrong with being a draconequus?’ Discord said, squeezing his eyes.
‘N-nothing,’ Pinkie stuttered. ‘It’s just that your appearance may… scare somepony.’
Discord nodded. ‘Well, thank you for calling me scary. Dash also called me a freak, what’s next?’
He turned back to his daughter and threw the baseball. She managed to hit the ball – hard – with a bat she held between her jaws. He didn’t tell Pinkie that Dash’s remark had kept him from sleeping all night. Freak. Freak. Freak. That was all he could think about.
‘Freak!?’ Pinkie shouted in disbelief. ‘Did she…’
Discord shrugged, and didn’t even turn back at Pinkie. ‘C’mon, Screwball! You can do this!’ He threw another ball at her.

‘Can you… can you believe Dash would do something like that?’ Pinkie sat on a hay bale in Applejack’s shed. AJ herself was sorting apples by color, red, green and rotten brown.
‘Nu-uh,’ she said, with a basket in her mouth. She dropped it. ‘Ah’m so sorry, honey. Ah didn’t expect her to do that, either.’
‘Should I go and talk to her? To make her apologize or something?’ Pinkie scratched her neck again.
AJ shrugged. ‘No idea, sugar cube. Ah would just leave it alone for a while, just don’t let ‘em meet too many times. But you’re the expert at makin’ friends here, right?’
Pinkie sighed. ‘Sometimes, I even doubt that myself.’
‘Catch,’ was all AJ replied, and that same moment, she threw a bright, red apple at Pinkie.
Pinkie caught it. ‘Thanks,’ she mumbled, munching the apple.

On her way back home, Pinkie got hit by something blue.
‘Oh, sorry Pinkie,’ Dash said. ‘I was looking for clouds to clear, but I accidentally bumped into you. How’s Discord?’
Pinkie frowned. ‘He’s still his old, freaky self, but you already found that out.’
She walked away, leaving Dash in confusion.

Freak. Freak. Discord was lying on the field where he and Screwball played baseball all day. Screwball went home after he told her he needed a break.
They had called him ugly, stupid, a mistake of Mother Nature, but freak was the worst. By far. He didn’t mean to be freaky. It wasn’t HIS fault that all the Ponyvillagers were afraid of him. Well, maybe a tiny little bit, but he was nice now, right?
‘Hey, whadda YOU doin’ here?’
Discord crawled up. ‘Oh, hello there, friend of the awesome Pinkie Pie.’
AJ smiled. ‘You have no idea how… worried she is, hm?’
‘Worried, you say? Well, she didn’t show that, I guess,’ Discord replied. ‘She was like “Oooh, you’re a draconequus, so you are scary”.’
‘Well, she just visited mah house and she was all “Dash called Discord a freak, ah never expected her to do that, should I fix this or…”’
Discord didn’t let her finish her sentence. ‘You’re sure she was?’
‘Ah’m sure, sugar cube. Ah don’t lie, remember?’
Discord frowned. ‘Yeah, right, you were that “always telling the truth”-pony, hm?’
AJ nodded, ignoring the sarcasm. ‘That’s me!’
Discord stared in the distance. Over the houses, he saw the top of the roof of Sugar Cube Corner. He frowned and turned back to Applejack. ‘So what should I do now?’
AJ smiled. ‘Nuffin’. Just wait. She can fix this. Just… don’t oppose her, okay?’
Discord shrugged and watched the orange pony walk away. Maybe these friends of Pinkie weren’t so bad after all.

A panicked voice woke him up. ‘Daddy? Are you alive? Daddy!!!’
Discord stretched his back. ‘What’s wrong, sugar cube? Wait… did I really say that?’
‘Daddy!’ Screwball yelled one more time, and she embraced him. ‘I thought you were dead,’ she mumbled with her face buried in his neck.
Discord smiled and stroke the back of his daughter. ‘I won’t die, you remember? I have been around for many years, and still have so many years to go, my sweet daughter.’
‘Can you make me some food? I’m hungry,’ Screwball said. ‘Come with me, Daddy, please.’
Discord got up. ‘Fine, dear. Let’s go home. I am starving as well.’
> Chapter 4 ~ Screw Loose
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

‘Daddy, who is that?’ Screwball asked, pointing at a light blue pony in a white “dress”, who was walking with two doctors. ‘She looks… familiar to me.’
Discord shook his head. ‘That? Uhm, I have no idea,’ he said. He didn’t want to tell Screwball that her mum was a crazy, barking pony. Well, Screw Loose wasn’t exactly her mum, more Discord’s inspiration. He took some of her nutty characteristics, and mixed them up with his chaos. The result was nopony less than Screwball. But after the other ponies had called her names and chased her, he didn’t want them to bully her because her mum was even crazier than she was.
Screwball shrugged. ‘Okay.’
‘Daughter of mine,’ Discord said. ‘I have a very special task for you. Could you bring these weightless-appleseeds to the Apple family? Daddy has a reputation to save.’
Discord snapped his fingers and a little red bag appeared. He gave it to Screwball. ‘You know where they live, eh?’
Screwball nodded. ‘Hm,’ she said, but Discord didn’t understand it.
‘What?’ he asked.
Screwball dropped the bag of seeds. ‘What is a reputation, exactly?’
Discord smiled. ‘It’s the way other ponies think of you, honey. And Daddy’s reputation isn’t really good, to be honest. After all the chaos I’ve caused.’
‘Why?’ Screwball asked. ‘There’s nothing wrong with a little chaos, right?’
Discord bit on his lip to stop the trembling. ‘I… I am so proud of you.’
Screwball didn’t pay much attention to his remark and put the little red bag back in her mouth.
‘Tell them that the trees grow fast… and big. Within a week, the trees will be twice as big as normal apple trees. The apples themselves are weightless, but they taste delicious.’
Screwball nodded one more time, then walked away.
Discord sighed. ‘She begins to learn it,’ he mumbled.

‘Oh, so sweet o’ your good ol’ father to give us some o’ his apple seeds!’ AJ said. ‘Tell him we are very grateful, will you do that?’
Screwball nodded. ‘And there was something I had to tell you about the seeds…’ she said. ‘But I think I forgot…’
‘It’s okay, sugar cube. We’ll find out as soon as they start growin’! Say thanks to your father, will you?’
Screwball smiled. ‘I will, Applejack!’ She hopped away.
‘She begins to act like Pinkie, eh?’ AJ asked Big Mac.
‘Eeyup.’ he replied.
‘Ah wonder how this whole thing’ll end. You too?’
Big Mac stared at the little pony, hopping away. ‘Eeyup,’ he said again.
‘Let’s go plant the apple seeds,’ AJ said. ‘Apple Bloom! We got something to do for you!’
Apple Bloom came down the stairs. ‘Cool. I’ve been bored all day. What is it?’
Applejack gave her the bag of seeds. ‘C’mon, little sis, we got some apple seeds to plant.’

‘Did they like the present?’ Discord asked Screwball as soon as she’d returned.
Screwball nodded. ‘They are very gra… what was the word again? Grateful.’
Discord smiled. ‘Good. And did you tell them about the apple trees growing quite fast and quite big?’
‘Oh, I think I forgot that, Daddy. I’m sorry.’
‘Nah, they’ll find out in a week, I guess.’ Discord put his lion-claw on the back of his daughter. ‘Want to visit Auntie Pinkie?’
Screwball stared at her hooves.
‘What’s wrong?’ Discord asked. ‘Don’t you like visiting Auntie Pinkie?’
Screwball sighed. ‘I do like her, but she… she’s been mean to you, Daddy.’
‘And that’s exactly why we’re gonna visit her, okay? To talk about things.’
‘Did Applejack tell you that?’ Screwball asked. ‘Because that really is a thing she’d say.’
Discord shrugged. His daughter was right, but he didn’t want to admit that AJ sometimes gave great advices. ‘Come, daughter of mine. Let’s go to your aunt.’
‘Daddy, you call her Auntie Pinkie and I do too, but what exactly is an aunt?’ Screwball asked.
Sometimes, Discord was surprised by the things she said. She knew quite a lot of things for such a young and nutty creature, but easily forgot them as well. ‘An aunt is a sister of your father or mother, daughter. Pinkie isn’t exactly your aunt, but you can call her your aunt if you want.’
Screwball didn’t listen, she stopped focusing as she heard the word “mother”. ‘Who is my mother, Daddy?’
Discord rolled his eyes. ‘We’ll talk about that later, okay? First, we’ll visit your aunt.’
‘Okay, Daddy.’ Screwball started walking in the direction of Pinkie’s house, but suddenly she got hit by something. She screamed.
Discord’s eyes got big. ‘Screwball? You’re okay?’ He kneeled down next to her and Derpy, who apparently made a crash-landing on the wrong place.
Derpy crawled up. ‘Uh… I just don’t know what went wrong…’ she mumbled.
‘We know!’ Discord said, using  an angrier voice than he wanted to.
‘Uh… I’m sorry…’
‘Are you okay, Screwball?’ Discord asked. ‘Does it hurt?’
She crawled up. ‘My back hurts a bit… but I’m fine…’
‘You’re sure?’ He picked Screwball up. ‘We could visit a doctor…’
Screwball shook her head. ‘Who is that?’ she asked.
Derpy smiled. ‘Hi. I am Derpy… Hooves, I guess. I’m the mailman.’
‘You’re no man,’ Discord muttered.
‘I am Screwball, and this is my father Discord!’ Screwball said. ‘Daddy, I’m fine I said. Could I please walk myself?’
Discord wanted to refuse, but Screwball looked at him with her renown puppy-eyes and Discord gave up. ‘Fine, fine. You can walk.’
He put his daughter back on the ground, and she immediately ran to Derpy. ‘Where do you live?’
‘Uh, I live up there… somewhere…’ Derpy said.
Screwball looked up. ‘I can’t come there. I have no wings.’
‘Where do YOU live?’ Derpy asked.
‘Close to Sugar Cube Corner,’ Screwball replied. ‘When you are in front of Sugar Cube Corner, you go left and then right, and then at the end of the street left again. Then you are at my house.’
‘Yeah… that’s close to Sugar Cube Corner… indeed,’ Derpy replied. She yawned. ‘Well, I think I’ll see you again soon. Bye, eh…’
‘Screwball,’ said Screwball.
‘Bye Screwball,’ Derpy said, and flew away.
> Chapter 5 ~ Makin' Apple Pie
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

‘What the buck…’ Applejack mumbled.
Apple Bloom stood next to her. ‘Ah have no idea WHAT happened, but ah think it’s quite fun!’ she yelled. Then, she ran at one of the trees. ‘Look, big sis! Ah can walk all the way up to the top!’
AJ also enjoyed the sight of the strange trees, but she wondered how they got so big in only a couple of days. The seeds she got from Screwball did look like normal apple seeds, but after she planted them, they did strange things. They sprouted after only a minute or two, and for the next days, they only writhed around a little bit. Nothing THAT weird so far. But when AJ and Apple Bloom got out of bed this morning, they found out that the trees weren’t even close to normal apple trees. They were all… schloopy loopy… and if AJ kicked them, the apples wouldn’t fall off.
‘Look, sis!’ Apple Bloom shouted. ‘Ah picked an apple! It can fly!’
She threw the apple at her sister, but it didn’t come far. Somehow, it froze in its movement.
Apple Bloom picked another one. ‘They feel… well, they’re weightless!’ She jumped out of the tree (which was no big deal because the tree grew sideways), holding the apple in her mouth.
‘You dare to taste it, sis?’ she asked.
Applejack frowned. ‘Ah have no idea what will happen, but ah’ll try.’ She took a bite of the apple. ‘Why, this tastes great! You should try it, sugarcube.’
‘Ah don’t know…’ Apple Bloom replied. Then, she shrugged and ate the whole thing in one time. ‘Woah! You’re right! This IS delicious!’
AJ nodded. ‘Well, better say thanks to Discord.’
‘Shouldn’t we wait?’
‘Wait for what?’ AJ asked.
Apple Bloom frowned. ‘Well, maybe the apples have some dangerous side effects…’
‘Ah don’t think Discord would give us something that could be dangerous,’ Applejack said. ‘He’s tryin’ so hard to become one of the ponies in Ponyville.’
‘Discord ain’t a pony,’ Apple Bloom frowned. ‘He’s made of every creature I can think of!’
‘He’s got the head o’ a pony, so he is a pony, little sis,’ AJ said. ‘Now c’mon, those apples are awesome. We have to pick ‘em, instead of kicking ‘em out of the trees, but ah think it’s worth it!’

‘Well, hello there, Apple Bloom!’
Apple Bloom turned around and looked straight into two huge, yellow eyes with red irises. ‘Hello, mister Discord,’ she said.
‘Do you and your family like the trees?’ the draconequus asked. ‘I wonder… how big are they?’
‘They’re huge, mister Discord. But they grow sideways, is that normal?’
Discord nodded. ‘Yes, it is. Do you like the taste of the apples?’
The filly smiled. ‘Ah do, ah really love it,’ she said. ‘Thanks, from all my family, mister Discord!’
‘You’re very welcome,’ Discord replied.
‘Ah have to go now, ah’m gonna help Pinkie bakin' apple pie,’ Apple Bloom said.  ‘Bye!’
She hopped away.

‘Pinkie! Ah’m here!’
‘Oh, so great to see you! I see you brought your own apples?’ the pink pony said.
Apple Bloom nodded. ‘We got strange apple seeds from Discord. Within a week, the trees were full-grown and the apples taste delicious!’ She put the basket with apples down.
Pinkie frowned and picked up an apple from the basket. ‘Pretty… weightless.’
Apple Bloom grinned. ‘Yeah, a strange side-effect, ah think. They taste great!’
‘Hmm, I’m not sure we should use these apples,’ Pinkie said. ‘No other strange effects?’
Apple Bloom shook her head. ‘Absolutely not! AJ even ate three of ‘em and nothing happened!’
‘Okay, fine,’ Pinkie said, smiling. ‘Let’s do this.’

‘Why, what is that delicious smell coming out of Sugar Cube Corner,’ Discord said. ‘Could that be… the smell of my fantastic apples?’
‘Oh, it’s you!’ Pinkie said. ‘Come in, we just baked a couple of apple pies with your apples! Wanna taste them?’
Discord shrugged. ‘Well, why not.’
‘The pies are so delicious, mister Discord! And all because of your great apples!’ Apple Bloom shouted.
The draconequus smiled. ‘I think it’s not only the apples, dear,’ he said. ‘Maybe it’s the talent of two very skilled bakers…’ He winked at Pinkie.
‘Well, that is why we think you really should taste this!’ she said. ‘Have a seat!’
Discord sat down on one of the way too small seats and in the blink of an eye, Apple Bloom served him a plate with a piece of pie. ‘Here you go!’ she said.
With a very, very tiny fork, Discord poked the apple pie. ‘The good thing about these apples is that you can eat as much as you want, you won’t gain weight.’ He took a bite, and then he said: ‘Well, you two are right. This IS delicious.’
Pinkie and Apple Bloom grinned.
‘Ah knew you’d like it,’ Apple Bloom said. ‘Wanna take a piece home for Screwball?’
Discord smiled. ‘She’d love it, thank you.’

That night, Pinkie was the one who couldn’t fall asleep. She was happy, because although Discord didn’t want to talk about the other things that happened last week, he was nice to others and even complimented her and Apple Bloom.
Maybe this wouldn’t be so hard after all, she thought. Then, she fell asleep.
> Chapter 6 ~ Herpaderp
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

‘So your strange, dragon-like friend is finally trying to get normal?’ Rarity asked. ‘I just can’t believe it!’
Somehow, Pinkie felt quite proud of herself and Discord. It seemed that finally, he saw the advantages of friendship.
BASH! did the door. Pinkie and Rarity turned around. In the doorway stood a completely panicking Discord. ‘Screwball… she’s gone!’
Pinkie jumped up from her chair. ‘Come on, Rarity! We’re gotta look for her!’
‘B…’
Before she could say anything else than ‘B’, Pinkie grabbed her hoof. ‘No time to waste, okay?’
‘Fine,’ Rarity said. ‘I’ll look for Screwball with you.’
Discord didn’t even hear it, he headed straight to his house. After a short run, the ponies arrived as well.
‘She left this,’ Discord said. He showed them a note. On the note, somepony had drawn two fillies, one with wings and the other one without. They both had quite strange eyes…
Pinkie squeezed her eyes. ‘I recognize that pony on the left,’ she said. ‘I saw her talking with Dash yesterday.’
‘Then I think we should go to Dash to…’ Rarity said, but before she could finish her sentence, Discord and Pinkie ran away.
Rarity rolled her eyes. ‘Argh! Fine, then.’

‘That silly filly?’ Dash said. ‘You mean Derpy Hooves?’
Pinkie nodded. ‘Yes, I forgot her name.’
‘I remember a pony with that name…’ Discord said. ‘A couple of days ago, she bumped into Screwball. After that, they became friends…’
‘Then I think we should find Derpy,’ Rarity said. ‘But where the buck could she be?’ She looked up. There was Cloudsdale, the place only the Pegasus-ponies could come. ‘Could she be there?’
‘Don’t think so,’ Dash said. ‘At this time, she plays mailman. She could be everywhere in Ponyville, but not in Cloudsdale.’
‘Well, that’s a relief,’ Pinkie said. ‘You won’t have to look up there.’
Discord frowned. ‘Well, thanks for the information, betrayer,’ he said.
Dash frowned. ‘Excuse me, weirdo. What did you just call me?’
‘A betrayer,’ Discord repeated. ‘Remember the time Twilight sent you into a maze, to fine the Elements of Harmony? Weren’t YOU the one who abandoned your friends?’
Dash took a deep breath to tell Discord what she thought, and  I am glad that Pinkie Pie put her hoof on Dash’s mouth, because otherwise, this story would become quite inappropriate for children.
‘This is absolutely no time to argue!’ Rarity shouted. ‘We must find the daughter of this poor draconequus!’
‘Poor,’ Discord whispered, but nopony heard him.
‘Let’s start looking for Derpy,’ Pinkie said. ‘Do you come with us, Dash?’
The blue pony shook her head. ‘Nope. I don’t really like your friend over there.’
Rarity sighed. ‘Why, thank you, Dash,’ she growled.
‘Nononono, I was talking about…’ Dash tried, but the three already had turned around and walked away, busy talking about the other places to look for Screwball.

‘Rarity, when Dash just said she didn’t like Pinkie’s friend, you knew she was talking about ME, eh?’
Rarity nodded. ‘I was aware of that, yes.’
Discord frowned. ‘Then why did you act like she was talking about you?’
‘I didn’t want to hassle,’ the unicorn replied. ‘We have to find your daughter, remember?’
Discord didn’t say anything, he just smiled.
‘Look!’ Pinkie yelled. ‘There she is!’
And indeed, there was Derpy. All the letters fell out of her bag and now she was snatching them out of the air. She didn’t seem to notice the three ponies.
‘Hey! Derpy!’ Rariry shouted.
Derpy turned around. ‘Oh, hello, eh…’
‘Could you come down here, please?’ Pinkie asked.
Derpy crashed in front of the ponies. ‘Hello, what’s up?’ she said.
Discord helped her get up. ‘Have you seen Screwball?’
‘Screw…ball… ah, your daughter, right?’
Discord nodded. ‘Yes, she is gone and she left this on the kitchen table.’ He showed Derpy the note.
‘Yeah, I have seen her…’ Derpy said.
Discord’s eyes widened. ‘Where?’
‘Well, at your house… I was bored so I thought maybe she wanted to play with me,’ the Pegasus replied.
‘And where is she now?’ Discord asked.
Derpy scratched her head. ‘I had to deliver the mail… she went back home.’
‘You’re sure about that?’
Derpy nodded. 
‘Then let’s go to your house,’ Pinkie said. ‘We’ll see if she is there.’
Discord shook his head. ‘If we walk, we’ll go way too slow. I’m gonna fly and I’ll see you over there, okay?’
Before the ponies could answer, Discord was already gone.

‘Oh, look Daddy!’ Screwball said, and pointed at the window. ‘There’s Auntie Pinkie!’
Discord turned around. ‘Indeed, dear. Now, be a nice filly and open the door for her.’
Screwball hopped at the door, but before she could open it, Pinkie had walked in already. ‘Oh, so good to see YOU here!’ she said. ‘Daddy and I have been searching for you all day!’
‘She left us a note,’ Discord said. ‘It was my bad that I didn’t understand what it said.’
‘Oh, absolutely not,’ Pinkie replied. ‘It was nopony’s fault that we couldn’t see it was Screwball playing with Derpy.’
‘Derpy and I have been walking through Ponyville all day,’ Screwball said. ‘I was great! But then, Derpy told me she had to deliver the mail. So I went home.’
‘Oh, dear,’ a lady voice said. ‘I am so happy that you’re still alive!’
‘Hey Rarity!’ Pinkie said. ‘Good to see you here. Why don’t you introduce yourself properly to Screwball?’
Rarity smiled. ‘Well, you’ve heard my name, little filly! I am Rarity, the greatest fashion-designer of all Ponyville, and maybe even of all Equestria.’
‘I’m Screwball,’ said Screwball.
Rarity rolled her eyes. ‘She’s got quite a lot to learn about manners, good thing that she has ME to teach her!’ she said, laughing.
Discord smiled. Another pony who accepted his daughter…
> Chapter 7 ~ RAWR
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

'Well, you're the famous bear-killer Fluttershy, right?' the draconequus asked.
Fluttershy blushed.
'Just… it's okay, Fluttershy! Discord isn't that bad!' Pinkie said, and gave Discord a Manly Stomp on his Shoulder.
'Ouch,' said Discord.
Fluttershy muttered something and Pinkie tilted her head. 'What? I didn't catch that.'
'He… he is so big… and look at all those TEETH!' Fluttershy whispered.
Pinkie chuckled. 'Oh, don't be scared! He isn't dangerous, I promise!'
Discord tried to smile, but it turned out as a pretty creepy grin. Fluttershy did 'YELP!' and hid under her dining table.
Discord turned to Pinkie. 'What did I do wrong?' he asked. 'Did I…'
Pinkie nodded. 'Yup. You scared her. Again.'
The draconequus sighed. 'Well, I totally give up. If they don't want to accept me… they don't HAVE to. It's t their decision. Goodbye.'
With those words, he walked away. Pinkie stared at his back as he walked over the small bridge next to Fluttershy's house, his shoulders seemed to be stuck in a shrug.
She turned back at Fluttershy. 'C'mon, get out. He's gone already.'
Fluttershy shook her head. Pinkie stood up. 'Well, I have to get back to my draconequus, I'll see you later, okay?'
The yellow pony didn't reply.
'Angel, you'll take care of her, right?'
Angel nodded and crawled up against Fluttershy's shoulder.

'Discord! Hey, what's up!' Pinkie yelled, galloping at her friend.
Discord didn't even turn around. 'What do you THINK there's up.'
Pinkie jumped in front of Discord. 'Hey, stop. It's hard talking while you're moving, you know. 
'Says the pony who can sing, dance and synchronize everypony to her at the same time,' Discord growled. 'Don't bother trying it again, Pinkie. It's useless.'
The pony took a deep breath, and with a new and unknown anger, she yelled: 'No, it's NOT! You MAKE it useless for yourself. How dare you! How DARE you to give up! I'm doing ALL these things for you, so you can become an inhabitant of Ponyville, and YOU tell me it's USELESS?'
Discord didn't know what to say, and that's a good thing folks, because if he'd said something at that moment, Pinkie would have exploded again.
'Hey! What in the world is happening here!'
Pinkie turned around. 'Well, hello Rarity. Maybe YOU can convince my "friend" over here not to give up?'
Rarity smiled. 'And what seems to be the problem?'
'Nothing,' Discord growled, but before he could walk away again, Rarity placed her hoof on his foot. 'If there was nothing, then Pinkie wouldn't have showed so much… temperament. Right?'
Pinkie snorted.
'Well, we're going to talk this over with a nice cup of…' Rarity tried, but Discord bumped Rarity away and spread his wings. 'Forget it,' he said, as he ascended.
Rarity and Pinkie Pie watched him fade in the distance. Pinkie sighed. 'I… I NEVER get angry at somepony. What's wrong with me?'
Rarity smiled. 'It's probably because Discord isn't a pony?'
'Head of a pony, so he is a pony,' Pinkie replied and rolled her eyes. 'What do I have to do now?'
'Just give him some time, I guess,' said Rarity. 'Come over at my place, you could help me finishing a dress I'm making.'
Pinkie shrugged and followed Rarity, since she had nothing else to do.

'Hey, sis!' Sweetie Belle shouted.
Rarity and Pinkie turned around. 'Hey Sweetie Belle,' they said in unison.
'What are you making?' the filly asked. 'It looks like a dress…'
'Maybe because it IS a dress,' Rarity replied. 'Look, don't you love it?'
Sweetie Belle forced a smile. 'Uhm, it's… beautiful,' she muttered.
The dress was a strange combination of brown, gray, yellow and red, with little flacks of green on it.
'Pinkie Pie's friend inspired me to stand out of the line,' Rarity said. 'You know, for one time…'
'That Discord-guy?' asked Sweetie Belle. 'You know, the…'
'Yes, the Discord-guy,' Pinkie said, in an almost toneless voice.
Rarity whispered: 'Don't talk too much about him. He hasn't been very nice to Pinkie, you know…'
'Says the one making a dress that looks like him,' Sweetie Belle replied. 'Well, whatever. See you later!' She hopped away.
'Tss, that little, overreacting filly…' Rarity muttered.
'I heard that!'

'Uhm, hey Pinkie…'
Pinkie Pie turned around and saw Fluttershy, with Angel on her back. He pulled her hair.
'Yes, Angel, you are right… Eh, I'm here to apologize for… you know… that I was scared and stuff…'
Pinkie smiled. 'It's okay, Fluttershy. I can't force you to be friends with Discord.'
'So… you forgive me?' the yellow pony asked.
Pinkie nodded. 'Yeah, I do. I mean, why not?'
Fluttershy smiled. 'Well, eh, I have to go now… I guess… Angel's getting hungry…'
The bunny nodded and waved at Pinkie as Fluttershy walked away.
'Fine. Now what?' Pinkie said to herself. 'The whole town expects me to help Discord finding his place here…'
'Maybe you should find that weirdo first, then explain to him what's on your mind?'
Pinkie looked up and saw Rainbow Dash, lying on a soft, cuddly cloud.
'Maybe I should do that, indeed,' Pinkie sighed. 'Since everypony thinks he listens to me. '
'He does listen to you!' said Dash, and she landed next to Pinkie. 'C'mon, you know that yourself.'
But Pinkie shook her head. 'Absolutely not. He doesn't listen to me at all! And even if he did, I have no idea where he is now...'
'But that's what I'm for,' Dash replied, and gave Pinkie a stomp on her shoulder. 'You know, I'm the fastest flyer of Ponyville! I can find him for you!'
'I thought you didn't like him…' Pinkie said.
'Ha, I definitely DON'T,' Dash said. 'But I like YOU, you know. I do this for you.'
Before Pinkie could answer, Dash had already lifted off.
As she headed for the Sugar Cube Corner, Dash landed in front of her. 'Booh. I'm back again.'
'Did you find him?' Pinkie asked.
Dash nodded. 'Yup, he's closer than you think he is.'
'Where?'
Dash lifted her front leg at some point in the distance. 'He's at home. With Screwball.'
Pinkie felt pretty stupid, because she didn't even look there first. She whispered a 'Thanks,' and galloped away, heading straight for his house.
Luckily it was Screwball who opened the door, because Pinkie was pretty sure Discord would've slammed the door straight in her face.
'Hey, Auntie Pinkie, what are you doing here?' the purple pony asked. 'If you come for my Daddy… he's being sick so you can't speak to him.'
Pinkie thought for a moment and then said: 'Yeah, I know. That's what brings me here, honey. To cure your Daddy.'
Screwball squinted, not sure what to think, but then she opened the door so Pinkie could come in.
Pinkie smiled. 'Oh, thank you, sugar cube.'
She went straight to Discord's room, but she only opened the door to find it empty, the pillows lying everywhere in the room.
She sighed. 'Oh, what did happen?'
'Daddy isn't here,' Screwball said. 'He's upstairs, I have no idea why.'
Pinkie turned around, quite scared because Screwball had crept up from behind. 'Eh, why, thank you,'  she said, and forced a smile.
The thing she found upstairs was nothing like she'd expected and definitely NOTHING like the Discord she knew, fierce and strong and… big.
What sat in the room was more like a middle-sized pile of not-washed clothes, stitched together improperly and then being left behind there to die.
Pinkie couldn't help but shouted: 'Discord!'
The draconequus didn't even bother to turn around. In fact, he didn't react at all. As Pinkie came closer, he crumbled, as if she wanted to kill him or something.
But all she did was stand there, not even daring to put a hoof on his shoulder to comfort him.
Then, after quite a while, he actually did something. But again, not like anything Pinkie expected.
Discord growled.

As she ran away, through the Everfree Forest, not knowing where to go, she had only one thought. Discord had changed, and like I said, he wasn't anything like Pinkie expected, and this time, she wasn't even sure she could get him back to normal again.
> Chapter 7,5
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

'So… you wanted to know how and why Discord became so close with Pinkie, eh?' Twilight asked.
'Oh, yes!' Screwball said, and grinned. The others – AJ, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Fluttershy – sat in a circle on the kitchen floor in Discord's house. Pinkie had disappeared in the Everfree Forest, and Discord had locked himself in an empty room upstairs, so the Mane Six (well, Mane Five now) decided to take care of his daughter.
Twilight smiled. 'Well, remember the time you accidentally tripped and fell against Discord's statue?'
Screwball nodded. 'Yup. That was when he came to life again!'
'Indeed,' Twilight said. 'That was WHY he came to life again. A touch that wasn't full of hate was all he needed.'
'And then the Princess saw he was back,' Dash continued. 'So she brought him to Canterlot and locked him there. You get it so far?'
Screwball didn't reply.
'Well, then she called US. To destroy Discord once again,' said Dash. 'But when we came there…'
'Discord sat in the room, his back against the wall. He said: 'Come on, do it! Turn me into a lovely garden ornament again. Like it matters to anypony.'' AJ said. 'And we were all like "Woah, this is easy!".'
Fluttershy took a deep breath and with a trembling voice, she continued: 'But then, he started to tell us a story. A story about his youth.'
'Yeah,' Twilight said. 'He told us that nopony wanted him around, because he was different. You know that feeling, right?'
Screwball sighed. 'I do. It's terrible.'
'Well, that also happened to your father. They bullied him, they laughed at him…' Twilight stopped for a moment. '… then, he decided he should make his own friends. He created chaos, everywhere. He brainwashed ponies, he made the strangest creatures out of nowhere… and that was the moment Celestia decided it was over. She turned him into stone.'
'Well, of course we didn't expect a story like that from him. He told us that the next time he broke out, he created YOU, Screwball, by far his best creation ever.' said Rarity.
The pony blushed. 'Really? Did he say that?'
Rarity nodded. 'Yes, he did. Well, you stood by his side, you did everything for him… until the moment we turned him into stone again…'
'That's not true!' AJ yelled. 'After that, Screwball still did everything for him! She sat next to his statue and sang about how she missed him so badly and how she had to create chaos for him, now he couldn't do it himself anymore.'
Rarity rolled her eyes. 'Okay, you're right, Applejack. So… actually all he told us was that he wanted to have friends…'
'And then, Pinkie did the strangest thing…' Twilight said.
Fluttershy opened her mouth again. 'She stepped on his tail, placed her hoof on his knee…'
'She pulled herself up at his arm,' AJ continued, laughing.
Rarity chuckled. 'Yes, she climbed all the way up to his head…'
'And there…' Dash said. 'She hugged him!'
'Really?' Screwball asked. 'Did she…'
Rarity nodded. 'Yes, honey. And you know what?'
'After a short moment of astonishment,' Dash continued. 'And a small nod from Celestia, Discord wrapped his arms around the for him so tiny pony. They stood there for a moment, and then the Princess decided that Pinkie should take care of him from then on…'
> Chapter 8 ~ The Matter Of Friendship
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Left. Right. Left again.
Pinkie didn't really look where she was going. All she did was avoiding the branches and rocks, so she wouldn't get hurt.
Where would she go? She couldn't think of anything else than to just keep on running. So she did.

After a while, she found herself sitting on an old tree-trunk. She plucked a bit on her hair, which felt pretty soft for some reason. She sighed and thought of Discord, growling. Pinkie bit her lip to keep the tears inside.
Since she was helping Discord, she's been nothing like the old Pinkie Pie, only thinking of good things and bringing them to others. Now all that went on in her head was to keep the draconequus sane, not knowing she'd almost kill herself with it.
Well, at least it's pretty much better than when Discord stole the Elements, she thought. Nopony could blame her for this, she was just trying her best.
She sat there for a while, in silence, when she suddenly noticed a rainbow above her head. She looked up and saw Rainbow Dash, flying in zig-zags over the Everfree Forest, shouting: 'Nope, no sign of Pinkie here!'
'We'll look from the ground,' the voice of Rarity said, and Pinkie really didn't know if she should stay and wait or just run away from the others.
Before she could make a decision, she heard: 'Ah, so you are here!'
Pinkie looked up and saw Rarity, together with Dash and Fluttershy.
'We've been looking for you for, like… hours!' Dash said, and immediately bumped into Pinkie to hug her.
Pinkie didn't react to the hug and Dash looked confused. 'Eh…'
'Oh, dear! What's happened to your HAIR!?' Rarity shouted, saying what everypony else was thinking.
In the corners of her eyes, Pinkie saw her always so curly hair, now hanging in straight strands from her head. She shrugged, but she knew what it meant. It meant trouble.
'Come on, dear. We have to get back to Ponyville. See, it's quite late already!' Rarity turned around.
Pinkie sighed and decided it would be the best to follow her friends. Dash and Fluttershy each wrapped a wing around Pinkie's shoulders, as to console her. Sometimes, it came in handy to have wings, since walking on two legs is quite hard for ponies (and because of the flying, of course. But that doesn't really matter now).
It took a long time to get home, partly because Pinkie ran away very far and partly because she walked very slow. All that time, Dash and Fluttershy walked next to her, their wings on her back, following Rarity who led the way with her glowing horn.
'Ah, finally, there we are,' Rarity said, when they saw light in the distance. 'That's Ponyville, honey.'
'I know,' Pinkie muttered, but it didn't sound anything like the Good Old Pinkie Pie.
Since everything seemed to go wrong, Rarity decided to take the lead. 'You,' she said, pointing at Dash and Fluttershy with her still glowing horn. 'You two should go home. You really seem tired and you've done enough for today.'
Dash and Fluttershy nodded in silence and slowly backed away.
'And you,' Rarity pointed at Pinkie. '… just go with me, okay?'
'This is a day that a shrug is the answer to anything,' the pink pony replied, and followed Rarity.

At her house, Rarity dug up a lot of hair-stuff and… such. Things like curlers and blow dryers and other things I don't even know the name of, so I just have to describe them I guess.
'Sit down,' she said, and pulled out a chair. Pinkie decided to just let Rarity do whatever she wanted, however she was aware of the effects of Rarity's actions.
'You know, it won't help,' she tried, but Rarity gave her a 'Tsssshh!' and attacked her hair.
After almost two hours, Rarity gave up. Pinkie's hair didn't want to be curled again.
'I told you,' Pinkie, no, Pinkamena said. 'This is what happens after something bad happens to me.'
Rarity shook her head. 'Well, I guess we just have to fix whatever has happened, then?'
'No,' Pinkie said, and jumped off the chair. 'I'll just go now. It's close to midnight and I don't want to bother you for a minute anymore.'
As she walked home, she saw that Discord was awake. The light in the room upstairs was on and she saw his silhouette, he seemed to be talking to Screwball.
She took a deep breath, knocked on the door and was surprised to find Twilight opening the door.
'Oh, hello Pinkie… wait…'
Pinkie sighed. 'I know, my hair. Rarity tried everything to fix it.'
Rarity actually DID fix something, but it was way too small to notice. It was the small piece of hair in her tail curling again.
'Well, come on in!' Twilight said. 'We actually have been waiting for you.'
Pinkie shrugged – again – and decided it wouldn't do any harm to get in.
'Hey, Auntie!' Screwball said, happy as always. Pinkie couldn't help but smiled, as she saw the pony almost her age, but being as nuts as Derpy. She found out she really loved the crazy daughter of chaos.
What she didn't notice was the small strand of hair on the back of her head, starting to curl again.
'Daddy wants to speak to you,' Screwball continued. 'Really. He is very sorry for what he's done.'
'I'm sure he is,' Pinkie muttered, trying to sound angry. It didn't work out at all.
'Sit down,' Dash said, who seemed to be in Discord's house as well. Pinkie also saw Fluttershy and Applejack, but Rarity seemed to be at home.
Of course, she just left her.
'Dáááááddy!' Screwball yelled. 'Somepony important wants to speak to you!'
There was no response.
'Would you like… a cup of tea?' Fluttershy asked. 'Because I just made some and I thought you'd like…'
'Yes please,' Pinkie said, and now actually felt a strand of hair in her tail curl up again.
'Are you going to talk to Discord?' Twilight asked, while Pinkie sipped from her tea. Applejack was doing the washing up and Dash cleaned the windows.
Pinkie wanted to shrug again, but then she said: 'Fine. I'll try.'
'Good,' Twilight said, and smiled. Then she turned to Dash. 'Done?'
Dash nodded. 'Yup. Gonna help AJ now with the dishes.'
'Dishwasher Dash,' Applejack muttered, and both grinned as she gave Dash a towel.
After a short moment of silence, Screwball said: 'I can get Daddy here if you want.'
Pinkie shook her head. 'No, thank you. Auntie Pinkie just has to calm down a bit. But I will talk to your father.'
'Fine,' Screwball said, and grabbed a cookie from the jar that was on the table.
'Hey, Pinkie, can ah talk to you for a moment or so?'
Pinkie turned to AJ. 'Of course, go ahead.'
'In private, please.'
Pinkie followed AJ to the hallway.
'Well, ah think Discord's being allergic to order,' AJ immediately said.
'Really?' Pinkie asked. It could explain quite a lot.
AJ nodded. 'Yeah. And to be honest, ah really think you should talk all this over with him, y'know. Since that whole hugging-thing and such…'
'I should, indeed,' Pinkie said. 'But I'm afraid that he'll try to hurt me or so…'
This time, AJ seemed to be surprised. But then she smiled. 'He won't, okay? Don't worry, sugar cube. Ah know him long enough now to know he'll try to make it up to you.'
At first, Pinkie doubted it. But then she looked at her friend again and thought: she has got the Element of Honesty not for nothing.
As Pinkie forced a smile and said: 'Okay, thanks,', another strand of hair jumped up to join the others.

'Oh, sorry Pinkie!' Dash said. She made a crash-landing on the dining table and accidentally broke the empty cup in front of Pinkie.
'No problem,' she replied. 'I mean, I'm sure Discord will forgive us for breaking down his whole house.'
Dash laughed. 'Ha, I'm sure he will. By the way, you won't forget that with every problem you can count on me, right?'
When Pinkie didn't reply, Dash bumped her on her shoulder. 'Because we're friends. And I'm here for you. Now I just have to… ah!'
'Well, ehm… there's sticking a part of a teacup out of your leg,' Twilight said. Dash nodded and tried to get it out.
'Let me do this,' Pinkie said, and carefully pulled out the soft orange piece of porcelain. 'There you go. See? It doesn't even bleed.'
'Thanks,' Dash muttered. 'You're an awesome friend, just to say.'
Pinkie's tail started to curl again.
'Oh, dear! How will I fix this!?' Twilight shouted, as she found out that Fluttershy accidentally broke a vase, Applejack had clogged the drain, Dash broke a painting and Screwball was drawing on the walls.
Twilight sighed. 'Well, there I go then…'
Her horn started to glow and just in time she fixed everything, because at that very moment, Discord came down the stairs.
Pinkie froze as she saw him, however, there was one part of her still moving pretty much. The three strands of straight hair left in her tail were bouncing up and down, trying to curl up again.
For a moment, nopony said a thing. Then, AJ sent Pinkie and Discord up to Discord's new room to talk. 'And don't you DARE to come down before it's fixed!'
Pinkie was the first to speak. 'Well, you must be pretty happy now…'
'Why?' Discord asked, being really surprised.
'Since you officially seemed to have destroyed the Element of Laughter, it can't be long before the world falls back into its good old chaotic state again.'
'That definitely IS true,' the draconequus replied. 'Well, only the first part. I. Destroyed. Laughter.'
Pinkie could feel her hair getting straight again, which meant trouble. But she also felt a claw, softly pulling at her straight strands.
'Well, well… so this is what I have done,' Discord muttered. 'It looks good on you, you know. But I like the curls better.'
'I wasn't the one straightening my hair,' Pinkie shouted.
Discord shook his head. 'Look, Pinkie… I always told you you were my personal favorite. And that still is true. I…'
'Then WHY did you GROWL at me?' Pinkie asked.
Discord sighed. 'It seems I really can't stand order, you know. I'm allergic to it. I need chaos!'
'You should see my hair every morning,' Pinkie said, and immediately covered her mouth with her hoof. She made a joke. On a moment like this.
Discord smiled. 'Yup, and that's one of the reasons I like you most.'
'Well, good for you,' Pinkie muttered.
Discord sighed. 'This won't get us anywhere.'
'It won't, indeed.' So Pinkie stood up and walked to Discord. He was at least twice as tall as she was, and only lying on the floor, leaning on his elbows. She doubted the thing she had in mind, but hey, Laughter and Chaos actually combine pretty great together (and as the writer of this story, I experienced that myself!). So she stretched her front legs and wrapped them around the draconequus' neck once again. He buried his face in her almost curly mane.

As Pinkie looked in the mirror the next morning, she found something on her head that looked like cotton candy. Well, except for two or three strands at the side.
She knew it wasn't all fixed, but at least the most painful part was over. Now she just had to find a way to let Discord create chaos without causing any harm, and that couldn't be that hard. Right?
> Chapter 9 ~ Sweet Cupcakes, Sweeter Names
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pinkie thought a whole lot about a way to make chaos safe for Discord. He could go to the Everfree Forest, but whatever he created there would finally end up in Ponyville as well. The lanterns, for example. If he'd hang them up there, they would fly all over to… everywhere.
Somewhere far away was no option – Pinkie had to stay close to Discord all the time and she didn't feel like moving out of Ponyville at all.
'Hey, thought of something yet?' Dash said, as she landed in front of Pinkie.
'Nope, not yet,' she replied, and scratched her neck. 'I have no idea where I can put a huge draconequus without disturbing anypony…'
'Maybe the mountains would be a good idea,' the blue pony said, and smiled. 'Close to Canterlot.'
Pinkie squinted. 'I don't think Discord would like that,' she said. 'But at least I can try…'

'What!? WHERE do you want me to go?'
Pinkie shook her head. 'Well, I'm terribly sorry Discord… I just can't think of another place where you could create chaos…'
Discord snorted. 'Pfft, sure. You all just want me to leave, eh?'
Pinkie put her hoof on Discord's lion-claw and smiled. 'You leaving is the last thing I'd want,' she said. 'But it's dangerous for you to stay!'
'Because I could…' Discord didn't finish his sentence.
Pinkie nodded firmly. 'Indeed. Because you could.'
'And what about Screwball, then?' the draconequus continued. 'If I leave her here, she'd die of missing me… and if I took her with me, she'd be way too lonely.'
The pony squinted. 'I have no idea…'
'I won't move as long as I don't know what to do with my daughter,' Discord said. 'Really. And if you dare to…'
'I won't dare, okay?'
Discord shook his head. 'I know you won't…' he muttered. 'But there are enough ponies who want to get rid of me…'
Pinkie didn't reply. She know it was true, but why would she confirm his sadness?
The draconequus sighed. 'Why, why me…'
The pink pony giggled. 'Oh dear, don't act so… well… depressed. Good for nothing, really.' She stomped him on his shoulder, something that seemed to have become a habit. 'C'mon. Let's go find a place where you'll fit.'
Discord smiled. 'Thanks, Pinkie. I'm glad you're helping me…'
'You're really welcome!' she replied. 'Oh, I have to hurry… I have to deliver a dozen of cupcakes to my friend at the edge of town…'
'Could I come with you?' Discord asked. 'It would be nice to…'
But before he could even finish his line, Pinkie already grabbed his claw and dragged him with her.

'So… then this would be the famous Mr. Discord?' Ice Cube asked. 'How great to meet you, finally!'
Pinkie nodded. 'Yup. You have heard of him?'
'Oh, of course!' the other pony replied. 'My brother SnoCone told me!'
Ice Cube was a white unicorn with really, really blue hair. There was one strand of her hair a bit darker, she always braided that to the side of her head. She knew Pinkie from the Sugar Cube Corner.
'Somepony told me about him,' she continued. 'Your blue rainbow friend, her name was Dash?'
'Indeed,' Pinkie said. 'Well, I got you the cupcakes!'
'Cupcakes?' Ice Cube asked surprised. 'Oh, yeah, I ordered them.'
Pinkie smiled. 'I used another kind of icing this time. Look!'
The other pony opened the box and found twelve small cakes, each with a rainbow of icing on it. 'Ooh…' she said. 'They look delicious!'
'You like the colors?'
Ice Cube nodded. 'I love them!'
'Me too!' Pinkie said. 'You, Discord?'
The draconequus smiled. 'They are lovely, Pinkie. Honestly.'
'I knew you'd say that,' the pony replied. 'Ice Cube, you say hi to your brother from us, right?'
'I will!' she said. 'Bye, and thanks for the cupcakes!'

'Why was she being kind to me?' Discord asked as the two walked home. 'She didn't even know me!'
Pinkie shrugged. 'More ponies are like that. If you meet somepony for the first time and you're nice to him or her, the bigger is the chance they'll be nice to you as well.'
'I haven't been really kind to you and your friends the first time, eh?' Discord continued.
Pinkie shook her head. 'Except for the fact you told me that I am your personal favorite, not really.'
Discord thought about this for a short time. 'Hm, but why are you kind to me then?'
'Because you are kind to us as well,' Pinkie said. 'You know, what you give is what you get!'
'Never heard of that. Explain.'
'If you give love and friendship and such, you'll get that back in the end. Even if you don't really expect it, like when I tried to befriend that donkey,' the pony said. 'And if you… you know… turn somepony's world upside down, change the grass into a chessboard, and turn everypony gray…' Pinkie thought about how to continue. 'Well, then they'll change you into a statue, eventually.'
'I see, I see,' Discord muttered. 'So… you did that because you hated me?'
'Pfft, nope,' Pinkie giggled. 'I kinda liked you, I mean, I'm not really normal myself, but you made a couple o' monsters of my friends and me so… yeah, I had to help them. Like they helped me.'
'And they helped you…'
'…because they're my friends!'
Discord bit his lip. He had no idea what to say, but Pinkie didn't really seem to mind. She just walked next to him, in silence, sometimes waving at a bypassing pony.
Finally, she was the one to say something. 'So… anymore questions?'
'Well,' Discord tried, but then stopped.
Pinkie tilted her head. 'Well?'
The draconequus sighed. 'I was just wondering… how do you make friends?'
Pinkie smiled. 'That's what I have been trying to teach you all the time! Be kind, say hi, maybe you could bring a small present…'
'I see,' Discord said. Then he said with doubt, 'Pinkie… do I have any friends?'
'Counting Screwball?'
Discord shook his head. 'No, she is supposed to be my friend, so it doesn't really count.'
'Well, you got me,' Pinkie started. 'Applejack seems to like you as well, and Rarity, of course… But Fluttershy and Twilight are quite afraid of you and Dash… well, you know about Dash.'
'So, I only have one friend? Since AJ and Rarity don't really count, they ain't really my friends.'
Pinkie shrugged. 'I think so,' she said. 'Why?'
'You got so many friends, how do you do that?' the mashed up creature asked. 'I mean, nopony really likes me…'
'I do,' Pinkie said. 'And Screwball does too. But it takes time to make new friends. And the hard thing about making new friends is that you still have to give attention to your óld friends.'
'That wouldn't be a big deal,' Discord said. 'I mean, I only have one friend.'
Pinkie gave him a head-butt and said, 'Good thing. I love getting attention!'
Discord couldn't help but smiled. 'Then prepare, honey.'
'WHAT did you call me?' Pinkie said, hysteriously laughing now (is that even a word?). 'Should I call you… bunny or something?'
'Why, what a good idea, fluffy paws,' Discord replied, trying so hard not to laugh as hard as Pinkie.
'Excuse me?' the pony said. 'YOU are the fluffy paws here, my rosy cheek!'
Now Discord exploded in a laughter-attack as well. For a moment, the two couldn't say anything. They couldn't even look at each other, or it would cause another attack.
'Oh,' Pinkie said, wiping the tears from her eyes. 'I haven't had a laugh like this in days! No, weeks!'
'Me neither,' Discord said. 'You could say months! Not since I let it rain chocolate milk! By the way… something completely different… have you ever flied?'
Pinkie nodded. 'Yup, twice. In Twilight's hot-air balloon.'
'Did you like it?'
The pony shrugged. 'Nah, it was quite slow and such. I wish I could fly like Dash…'
Discord kneeled to the ground. 'Want to take a ride?'
'I can?' Pinkie asked, completely overwhelmed by this sudden action.
'Why not?' the draconequus asked. 'I mean, I have wings and such…'
'Yes PLEASE!' Pinkie shouted, and immediately jumped on Discord's back. 'Where are we going?'
'I have no bloody idea, dearest.'
The pony bit her lip to prevent another attack. 'Well, let's start flying and see where we end up!'
> Chapter 10 ~ A Special Somepony
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

'You really had to hit that tree?' Pinkie growled.
Discord looked over his shoulder. 'I'm sorry… I just didn't see it…'
The two ended up somewhere at the OTHER end of the Everfree Forest. Discord bashed into a tree and now his wing (the Pegasus one) was hurt. They had to walk home.
Pinkie sighed. 'Well, it doesn't matter. How's your wing, dear?'
'Stop that,' Discord said. 'You almost make me smile. Imagine that!'
'Shall I sing a song for you?' the pony said, but just as she opened her mouth, she tripped.
'Oh, great,' Discord said. 'Another one is hurt.'
'Yup,' Pinkie said. 'Let me sit down for a minute, okay?' She looked around to find something – a tree trunk, or a rock or something. But nothing but trees surrounded the two.
'You can sit on my tail,' the draconequus said. 'It's big enough, I guess.'
Pinkie sat down on the reptile-like tail, with something on the end that looked like the tail of a goat. 'Whose tail was this?'
Discord shrugged. 'I have no idea. I also don't know from what kind of animal it's been…'
'Well, thanks for borrowing me your tail,' the pony said, looking at her hurt leg.
The draconequus turned around and with his eagle-claw, he poked in Pinkie's ankle, who immediately cried 'Ouch!'.
'Oh,' Discord said. And again. 'Oh. I don't think you could walk with that leg.'
The pony shook her head. 'Nope. Probably not. Sometimes this happens. I trip, I hurt my ankle, and after a day, maybe one-and-a-half, it's as good as healed again.'
'Weak ankles,' the draconequus replied. 'Heard of that.'
For a while, they were quiet, just looking at a bird building his nest, two bunnies being afraid of coming closer, and an owl Pinkie accidentally woke with her cry.
'It must be pretty late now,' Discord said. The bunnies fled away.
'How's Screwball?' Pinkie asked. 'Is she… safe?'
'She has a sleepover with Derpy at the Sweet Apple Acres. Don't worry about her.'
'So, what about us, then?' the pony continued. 'Could I sit on your back, maybe?'
'You could try,' Discord muttered, but as soon as Pinkie pulled herself up, he gave a cry of pain. 'Don't, okay? Just… don't. It hurts too much.'
Pinkie smiled. 'We could stay here! In the forest! I mean, it IS dark and creepy, but with somepony like you next to me, I'm sure nothing would attack me.'
'We could,' Discord said. 'We don't have a shelter or something, but still… the weather is okay, and Screwball is safe at home.' He was quiet. Then, he asked, 'Am I a pony?'
'Ehm, why?' Pinkie asked.
'Because you just called me somepony,' the draconequus said.
Pinkie nodded. 'Well, you ARE a draconequus, but you got the head of a pony, so it counts.'
'Yeah,' Discord said. 'Sometimes, I wonder where all my parts come from.'
'Don't worry too much about that now,' Pinkie said. 'Come on, we have to look for a place to sleep.'
After ten minutes of a tiring walk, Pinkie dropped herself on a bed of moss. 'Lay down,' she said to Discord. 'It's really soft, you know.'
The two decided to go sleep right away, but as soon as they closed their eyes, drops of rain started to fall.
'Buck,' Pinkie muttered. 'What an awesome day.'
Discord smiled and curled his tail around Pinkie. Then, he spread his bat-wing, covering Pinkie from head to hooves.

The next morning, the rain had stopped, but the pony was shivering.
'You're okay?' Discord asked.
Pinkie shook her head. 'N…n…not really… it'ssssss cold…'
'Yeah,' the draconequus said. 'After years and years and years and a couple of months living as a statue,  got used to that.'
Pinkie only nodded.
'Come on. You can walk again?' Discord wrapped his arm around Pinkie.
'I guess,' Pinkie said, still shivering. 'My ankle feels b…better now… How's your wing?'
Discord looked over his shoulder. 'I have no idea…' he said. Then, as he spread it, Pinkie saw the wing was all twisted and schloopy loopy.
'It's broken!' she cried. 
Discord nodded.
'You knew that!?' the pony continued. 'Why didn't you tell me?'
'I didn't want you to worry, okay?' Discord felt pretty guilty, though.
Pinkie shook her head. 'We should see a doctor. Come on.' She walked away, acting like her ankle didn't hurt at all. Discord bent his head and sighed. 'Coming.'
While they walked in what they thought was the good direction, the rain started again. Discord forced Pinkie to his other side and flapped his wing open again.
'Yeah, thanks for that,' Pinkie said. 'Also for last night.'
'My pleasure, dear,' Discord replied.
The pony sighed. 'Stop calling me names!'
'Sorry honey.' Discord giggled. 'It's hilarious!'
'Hmm…' Pinkie frowned. 'Now I wonder, since you keep calling me honey and such… Do you have a special somepony? '
Discord looked at the ground. 'Nope. I had one, to be honest. But I'm not going to talk about that.'
'Why not?' The pony tilted her head. 'I'm curious!'
'I know,' Discord replied. 'But I don't want to bother you with it now, neither I want to think about it. I'll tell you later, okay?'
Pinkie didn't say anything.
> Chapter 10,5
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

'Discord?'
The draconequus' heart shattered as he heard a well-known voice. One that has disappeared out of his head a long time ago, but it seemed to have returned.
'Discord?' the voice asked again. 'Are you there?'
Discord hid under his pillow. 'Go away, please,' he muttered. 'Leave me alone now…'
'You know that the only one who could make me disappear, is you, right?'
The creature nodded in pain. 'I know… But I can't…'
'Discord!' another voice yelled. 'What's wrong?'
At that moment, the draconequus felt a huge thump on his back. As he turned around, he saw it was Pinkie Pie.
'What's wrong?' she asked again. 'You were talking to nopony, hiding under your pillow…' The pony squinted. 'Did you have a nightmare again?'
'Sort of,' Discord replied, not really paying attention to Pinkie. He thought about the beautiful, melodic voice he hadn't heard for such a long time.
'Hey…' Pinkie tried to enter his thoughts. She laid her hoof on his cheek. 'Something I could do for you?'
Discord wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her tight.
'Yelp,' Pinkie said, but actually she didn't mind at all. As long as she could breathe and Discord was happy.
After what felt like eternity (yeah, like Pinkie knew how that feels) Discord finally let go.
'What happened?' Pinkie asked, sitting on the edge of Discord's (draconequus-sized) bed.
Before he knew what the consequence of this all could be, he said, 'I heard her voice again.'
'Whose voice?' Pinkie dared to ask, because she saw the pain in Discord's eyes and knew he could get angry.
But Discord only looked at his knees. 'Her voice. The voice of my very special somepony.'
'Oh…' Pinkie said. And again. 'Oh… what happened? Why is that a bad thing?'
'It was a long, long time ago, Pinkie Pie…'
'You are, like, invincible, eh? Did she die?' the pony asked.
Discord shook his head. 'No, she is alive.'
'Could you tell me a bit more about you two, then? How did you get to know each other?'
The draconequus took a deep breath. 'Okay… there I go… a long, long time ago, when she and I both were two young creatures, we lived happily together in Canterlot.'
'You have lived in Canterlot?' Pinkie asked surprised.
Discord nodded. 'For a while. We were friends…' He paused. 'Say, best friends and even a bit better than that. We used to play together every day, on the swings, in the lovely gardens around there… Of course, not everypony liked me, because I am…'
'Because you're Discord?' the pony asked.
'Indeed,' Discord replied. 'Well, she liked me, I thought. And she was beautiful, as beautiful as the sun. I could watch her for hours, the sight never bored me…'
Pinkie smiled. 'Ah, that's cute. I can imagine a sweet, little Discord…' she said, stroking his head. 'Go on, please.'
'We grew older,' Discord continued. 'And closer. When she had a problem, she went to me. I'd solve everything for her, no matter what. When she cried, I made it rain chocolate. She loved it, just like you do. And whenever her world started to collapse, I was there for her. Like a friend should.' Suddenly, Discord's mood seemed to go from happy to angry, as he said, 'One day, she told me I was very, very special to her…'
'And, that was a good thing?' Pinkie asked, being pretty unsure about the rest of the story.
The draconequus shook his head. 'Oh no, not at all! You know, she said I was like a brother to her. A big brother who's always protect her, and love her. I felt honored, but I started to think about stuff. You know… then I found out that her remark hurt pretty much…'
'Because…?'
'I found out I was in love with her…'
'Hmm…' Pinkie frowned. 'I see. That must hurt indeed. I wanna hear the end of the story, please, continue!'
Discord sighed. 'Well, I tried to act like I was just being a brother, you know. Doing stuff for her, like she wanted me to do…'
'Then?'
'That was the time I messed up everything,' Discord said. 'By spreading chaos all over Equestria. She didn't want me to do it…'
'What did she do?' Pinkie asked curiously, almost bouncing up and down on the bed.
'Well, it kills you inside… being imprisoned by the pony you loved…'
> Chapter 11 ~ Books
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

'And that's why I will never have a special somepony again.'
Pinkie bit her lip. 'Awh, you shouldn't say such a thing,' she said. 'There'll be somepony for you, I promise.'
Discord only shook his head.
For a while, the two sat on the grass, in complete silence. Pinkie had decided to take Discord out for a picnic, but it didn't really seem to cheer him up.
'Eat something,' she finally said. Discord didn't react.
Pinkie bit in a blueberry muffin, although she wasn't hungry at all. But if she wanted to get Discord eating, she shouldn't refuse the food as well.
'Are you okay, honey?' she asked, hoping that the stupid nickname would make him smile.
Discord shrugged. 'Well, it's a relief that I told you about everything… but since that day she won't get out of my head.'
'I understand,' Pinkie replied. 'I totally understand.'
'I know you do,' Discord muttered. 'But when you are heartbroken, you still feel like nopony understands you…'
Pinkie smiled and laid her arm (?) on his back. She didn't say anything, mostly because she didn't have anything to say. What Discord said was true.
All of sudden, the draconequus took a deep breath. 'Pinkie, after all these years… I just have to get over her.'
Pinkie shrugged. 'Or you could try to.... hmmm!' she said, as Discord laid a paw on her mouth. 'Shh, it's of no use. She doesn't love me, and by the way, she is too busy ruling Equestria.'
'Maybe not,' the pony replied, as she pushed Discord's lion-side away. 'But hey, your choice.'
'Thanks,' Discord whispered.
'Now something completely different,' Pinkie continued. 'About your body. You know, you're stitched together and…'
'Now you want to know which part is whose?'
Pinkie nodded and smiled.
'My beard,' Discord started. 'Appears to come from a goat.'
'Like your brows?'
The draconequus shook his head. 'No, those are mine. But my hair is from a zebra, or something related to that. To be honest, I have no idea.'
Pinkie climbed on his back and looked at his wing, which almost disappeared in bandages and stuff. It was broken, but it seemed to heal well. 'Your wings are from a Pegasus and a bat, right?'
'A vampire bat, you know, the biggest bat species alive' Discord replied. 'Indeed, the other is from a Pegasus. My arms are from a lion and an eagle, you already knew that. And I have the legs of an alligator and a deer, it seems.'
Pinkie climbed down to his tail. 'And this? I think it's from a dragon… that would explain a lot.'
'It might be, I still don't know, but a dragon is the most likely,' the draconequus replied. 'Except for the plum of hair at the end. I have no idea where THAT comes from…'
'You have any ideas about the rest?' the pony asked. 'Your horns are obviously from a deer and an antelope, your head must be from a pony…'
'And that's all I know. I have no idea what my body is, but since it looks pretty much like my arm, I think it's from an eagle as well.' Then, he sighed. Pinkie was surprised, because he seemed to cheer up by telling the story. 'What's up?' she asked.
Discord shook his head. 'Sometimes, I feel like I am nopony. Well, nopony myself. So many creatures have been stitched together to create me… I can't remember a thing from the time I have been normal, you know. A pony.'
'You've been a pony?' Pinkie asked surprised.
The draconequus shrugged. 'No idea. I could have been, but I am not really sure. Maybe I am just created this way…'
'We of course could try to find it out,' the pony suggested. 'But I don't know if you think that's a good idea…'
'How would you do that?'

'I have no idea…' Twilight muttered. 'SPIIIIKE!'
The little dragon came down the stairs, yawning. 'Hm, what's up, Twi? Oh, hey guys!'
'Discord would like to know who his ancestors were,' the pony replied. 'Do we have any books about draconeqii?'
'Dra… what?' Spike said. 'Is that the correct plural of…'
'Whatever,' Twilight said. 'Do you know if we have a book about… Discord's family?'
Spike climbed on a shelf and started digging. 'I surely remember a book about mythical creatures,' he muttered. 'There!'
He held up a book with a purple cover. Twilight opened it and placed it on the floor. 'Hm, let's have a look… draconequus, drac… dragon, dwarf, nothing about a draconequus.'
'Too bad,' Discord said. 'Could you at least try to look up where my tail is from?'
Spike pointed at a picture in the book. 'Well, that isn't hard at all. It's from a dragon, of course!'
Discord turned around and wagged. 'It seems,' he said. 'Pretty obvious, now you mention it.'
'I have an idea,' Twilight said. 'In Canterlot, there's a huge library. We could take a look there, I'm sure they'll have a book about your species!'
Discord widened his eyes. 'C-Canterlot?' he muttered. 'Where the Princess lives?'
Twilight smiled proudly. 'Yup. I have free and unlimited access to the library just down the Palace.'
'Uhm, Twi… I don't think that's a good idea…' Pinkie said. 'Discord… has grown up there, and…' She quickly exchanged a look with him. 'Ehm, he doesn't like being in his old surroundings, I guess.'
Discord shook his head. 'Pinkie's right,' He winked at the pony. 'Thanks,' he whispered.
Pinkie smiled.

'So… what are we gonna do now!?' Pinkie complained.
Discord, his arms full of books about dragons, reindeers, goats, antelopes, bats, pegasii, and so on, tried to shrug but ended up dropping a book. Pinkie grabbed it. 'You're not gonna tell me we have to read all these books, eh?'
'No,' Discord replied. 'Not "we". You should go home and sleep. I'll look for anything fa…'
'Nu-uh,' Pinkie protested. 'Not at all. If you want to find out who you are, then I'm at your service.'
Discord's grumpy face lighted up a bit. 'Thanks again,' he said.
'My pleasure,' Pinkie said grinning. 'You know that I love to cheer up my friends, I mean… duh.'
'Duh indeed,' the draconequus replied. 'You're famous for that.' 
> Chapter 12 ~ More Books
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

'Thank you so much for helping us!' Pinkie yelled. 'You're a great friend!'
'Ah, you're welcome honey,' Rarity replied. 'You want me to look for history about these creatures?'
The other pony nodded and handed Rarity a book. 'If you start with the antelope, I will do the reindeer and Discord, you'll do the dragon, okay?'
Discord nodded. 'Thanks, both, for helping me,' he muttered. 'It would be hard to do this all by myself…'
The three stared at the table for a while, which was stocked with books and old scrolls about parts of Discord. Then Rarity sighed, lifted a pile of books and placed it on the floor and said, 'There. Now we at least can see each other. Let's get started.'
They all three opened the book right in front of them and started to read.

After the first three candles had burned down, Pinkie said, 'Hey, look at this!'
Discord immediately rose up behind her. 'What? Tell me!'
'The reindeer used to live around Canterlot,' the pony replied. 'But after a strange disaster in which one of them lost his horn, they all moved away…'
'Look for further information,' Rarity said, leaning over the table. 'Maybe it says something about the destination of the horn…'
'They say… that the reindeers were pretty special for the ponies living in Canterlot at the time, not that it was anything like it is now and it wasn't even called Canterlot yet, and because of that, they kept the horn…'
'They did?' Discord asked, grabbing his horn. 'So this could be…'
'The horn is still being kept in Canterlot,' Pinkie continued. Then, 'I'm sorry, Discord.'
Discord sighed. 'It's okay, Pinkie. It's not your fault…'
'Maybe I should go to sleep now,' Rarity suggested. 'I haven't slept in days!'
'Do you want to stay here overnight?' Discord asked. 'We have one spare bedroom, you know…'
The ponies smiled. 'That would be lovely,' Rarity said. 'Then we could read more tomorrow.'
'If you want to,' the draconequus sighed. 'Only if you want to.'
'I'd love to help you,' Rarity said. 'Now, where can I find the bedroom?'

'Hey, you really seem to learn,' Pinkie whispered, so she wouldn't wake up Screwball in the room next to hers.
'You think?' Discord replied. 'Because I have no idea what I am doing all the time.'
Pinkie crawled up from her mattress and put her head on Discord's bed. After some more reading, she decided to sleep in Discord's room, since she didn't want to wake up Rarity.
'You know, after you offered Rarity a room,' she said. 'That's what they call generosity.'
'Generosity is a gift… but only to others,' Discord muttered, and he sighed.
Pinkie put her hoof in his hand. 'Nope. It's not. It's a gift to yourself as well, you know… if you see somepony being happy with what you gave them…'
'Rarity has space enough in her own house,' the draconequus continued. 'So it wouldn't have made a difference if I didn't offer her the room.'
'Oh, it would. You saved her a long walk home in the dark… with all those creepy creatures like Diamond Dogs around…'
Discord sat up. 'I thought you had defeated them…'
'We did,' Pinkie said. 'But what if they'd come back for poor Rarity?'
'Spike would have saved her,' Discord replied. It was quiet for a while. Then, Pinkie gave Discord a hug and dropped herself back on her bed. 'Good night,' she whispered.
Discord didn't say anything.
Pinkie fell asleep with a smile, knowing that finding his family tree would probably would keep his thoughts from the Princess.

'Discord? Discord, what's wrong?'
The draconequus woke up with a shock, accidentally bumping his head against Pinkie's.
'Ouch,' she muttered. 'You have a hard head.'
'What was going on, dear?' Rarity asked. It took a moment for Discord to find out why she was here. Screwball was also around, looking pretty nervous.
'I had… I just had a bad dream, nothing to mind.'
'Oh, most certainly, yes!' Rarity said. 'You seemed to be pretty scared.'
'Puh,' Discord replied. 'I'm never scared.'
The ponies looked at each other for a while, and Pinkie smiled. 'It's okay, Discord,' she said. 'Everypony is scared of something, someday.'
The draconequus didn't reply.
Pinkie gave a quick stroke on his forehead, then she turned at Rarity. 'Let's go read some more books,' she said.
'Of course,' Rarity answered.
'Are you coming, Discord?' Pinkie asked.
The draconequus shook his head. 'No. Not now. And you don't have to read, okay? It's of no use and by the way, I feel bad about letting you read while I just lay in my bed.'
'That's just fine,' Rarity said. 'Not a problem at all, right, Pinkie Pie?'
The pink pony shook her head. 'Nope. We'll tell you if we find something!'

'There we go,' Pinkie said, and dropped a heavy book on Discord's bed. Discord himself was lying with his head under his pillow, refusing to do anything.
Pinkie opened the book. It was huge, heavy and pretty gray. It must've been around for quite a while.
'Wanna hear it?'
'Hmrmmrm!' Discord replied.
Pinkie sat down on his back, and while stroking his mane, she said, 'The draconequus – more information about the draconequus can be found in the Big Encyclopedia of Historical Creatures of Equestria.' She paused. Then, 'I have looked for that book in Twi's library, but she also had no idea where to find it. Then Spike discovered a scribble on the back of the last page. It says: "The Big Encyclopedia of Historical Creatures of Equestria is property of the Canterlot Library." I guess we have to visit your birthplace again…' 
> Chapter 13 ~ Pissing off a Friend
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

'No, no, NO! Most definitely NOT,' Discord shouted. 'I am NOT going to visit Canterlot again.'
'But Discord,' Rarity tried. 'Then you can find out where you're from…'
Discord snorted. 'No. I don't want to be there again. Too many memories.'
Pinkie grabbed his claw. 'Ah, pleeeeeease?' she begged.
But Discord still refused.

'What should we do now?' Rarity asked, honestly worried.
'I have no idea,' Pinkie answered. 'Oh, hey Fluttershy!'
The yellow pony looked up 'Uhm, oh, hello, what a wonderful day, isn't it?'
Pinkie nodded. 'Eh, yes. I have a question. How do you make a draconequus visit his birthplace again?'
'Just ask, I guess?'
'That didn't work out,' Rarity continued. 'He refused. He has some bad memories of the place.'
Fluttershy looked surprised. 'Discord is scared?'
Pinkie shrugged. 'Well, thanks for your help,' she said. 'I guess we've gotta ask Twilight.'

'Discord doesn't want to go back to Canterlot, because…?'
Pinkie looked at the floor. 'I… I'm not sure if I can tell that…'
Twilight smiled. 'C'mon, you know me, I can keep a secret. And Rarity too, right?'
The other unicorn just nodded.
'Fine,' Pinkie said, squinting. 'Pinkie promise that this is OUR secret.'
'Pinkie promise,' Rarity said immediately.
Twilight hesitated. 'Is it that necessary?'
'PINKIE PROMISE!' the other two shouted.
'Fine, fine, Pinkie promise,' Twilight muttered. 'Come on, now.'
Pinkie took a deep breath, then she said, 'Discord used to be in love with Celestia.'
As she dared to open her eyes again, the two ponies were just staring at her. Rarity looked puzzled, and Twilight looked as if she'd seen a ghost.
'Discord… can fall in love?' Rarity asked.
'Of course he can!' Pinkie shouted. 'He is a pony, just like we are! See, I never should've told you.'
With those words, she stormed away.

'Here, Screwball. Daddy's made something for you.' Discord held up a small parcel.
Screwball grinned. 'Oh, thank you Daddy!'
She unwrapped it, and a tiny puppet appeared. It was a perfect remake of herself, but now with strings and two small crossed pieces of wood.
'Hm? Do you like it?' the draconequus asked his daughter.
Screwball was astonished. 'I… oh, it's just perfect!' she cried.

'What's wrong, Pinkie?' Dash asked, a bit too softly.
Pinkie didn't care. 'Puh. Rarity asked if Discord was able to feel love.'
'He is, I guess…' Dash replied. 'Right?'
'Of course he is!' Pinkie growled. 'He's like any other pony.'
'Well, not exactly, but I get the point. Something I can do for you?'
The pink pony shook her head. 'No. But thanks.'

'Maybe I have been a bit too rude,' Rarity said. 'I mean, after Discord offered me a room and such… We have a history, a bad history, but everything can be forgiven, right?'
'You have been a bit… honest,' Twilight replied.
The two sat together on Twilight's floor. She was re-ordering a pile of scrolls, and Spike was staring at Rarity and drooled.
'Everything can be fixed,' Twilight finally said. 'This too. If you forgive him for what he's done to Ponyville,  I am sure he'll forgive you for this as well.'
'Oh, it's not only Discord I'm worried about,' Rarity said. 'I highly doubt it if Pinkie's even gonna tell him… It's just… I pissed off a friend, and I hate myself for doing that.' 
> Chapter 14 ~ just chapter 14
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

'Look what Daddy made for me!' Screwball mumbled, holding the puppet in her mouth.
'Show me,' Pinkie said. 'Oh, that's great indeed! How did he do that?'
'A little bit of magic,' a deep voice said. Pinkie turned around, looking straight into Discord's glowing red eyes. 'Nothing wrong with that, right?'
'As long as you won't create chaos with it,' the pony replied. 'Then  it's okay, I guess.'
Discord took a bow. 'Well, I am the King of Chaos, so I don't know if I can keep this order up for long…'
'Oh, yes,' Pinkie said. 'I was still looking for a place where it'd be safe for you to… use your imagination. I haven't thought of anything yet.'
Discord stared in the distance. 'Well… it was hard not to make that puppet come alive… Maybe the mountains would be a good idea indeed…' he said with a pretty sad facial expression.
'No!' Pinkie yelled, and grabbed his leg. 'No,' she said again. 'I won't let you live there alone. If you'd go, I'll go with you. And that would be a problem, because Gummy should come with us and Screwball of course and maybe my friends or at least Madame LeFlour and it would be overcrowded and…'
'Breathe,' Discord said, putting a hand on her mouth. Pinkie calmed down a bit.
'Well,' she concluded. 'Nopony is gonna move, okay?'
'It seems,' Discord replied. 'Not that you'd even let me move.'
'Nu-uh,' Pinkie said. 'I ain't gonna drop my friends somewhere in the mountains! Oh, I really have to go. I promised Rarity to help her in the boutique.'
Discord squinted. 'Want me to come with you? I mean, Rarity has done so much for me…'
Pinkie thought about the proposition, and about Rarity's remark. Then, she said, 'Fine. But if Rarity acts strange to you, just ignore it, okay?'
'Why would she…'
But before Discord had finished his sentence, Pinkie already had hopped away. Without really knowing what he was doing, he hopped after her.
Pinkie looked behind her when she felt the ground shaking. She tripped over a rock, but Discord caught her just before her cheek would hit the ground.
'Sorry, did I scare you?' he said.
Pinkie grinned, laying in Discord's arms in some sort of dance position. 'Not at all. Thanks.'
'If we fly, we'll be much faster,' Discord said. 'Wanna try it again?'
'Your wing is healed yet?' Pinkie asked surprised.
Discord smiled shyly. 'Ehm, not entirely, no… but I can fly short distances…'
'Then don't mind it,' Pinkie said. 'Rarity will understand it, I guess.'

'You're late.'
Pinkie rolled her eyes. 'Yeah, like three minutes or so! By the way, you owe Discord ánd me an apology!'
'A…apology?' Rarity muttered. 'I have no idea what you're talking about. Come on in, I made some tea.'
'What is she talking about?' Discord whispered.
'Nuffin' really,' Pinkie replied.
'Hey, Pinkie Pie,' Rarity called from the kitchen. 'Have you heard already about the new residents?'
Pinkie grinned. 'New… friends! Where do they live?'
'I heard they live just downtown,' Rarity replied. 'Near Ice Cube. They share that empty cottage. I think they are a couple…'
Pinkie bit her lip. 'Oh, I'm… I'm just SO exited! I can't wait to meet them! But I promised to help you first.'
'Oh, yes,' Rarity said. She walked out of the kitchen, being followed by a teapot. 'And what brings our friend Discord here?'
'After you helped him reading all those books, he wanted to do something back for you,' Pinkie replied.
Rarity smiled. 'That's so kind of you,' she said. 'The thing is… I need my buttons sorted and all by myself it's gonna be a huge job.'
'Good thing you have us,' Discord said. 'How hard can it be?'
'Eh… well, here it is…' Rarity opened a door and in the room stood six or seven barrels, filled to the top with all colors of buttons.
'Oh dear,' Pinkie muttered.
Discord grinned. 'Well, everything for a friend… right, Pinkie Pie?'
The pink pony nodded
'It shouldn't be that hard…' Discord said spontaneously.
'What do you mean?' Pinkie asked.
Discord grinned. 'I can make the buttons sort THEMSELVES,' he said.
Before Pinkie or Rarity could protest, the tiny buttons were actually climbing out of the barrels. Pinkie saw they had tiny legs and arms. Buttons with the same color held each other's hands and looked for more of their kind.
Rarity squeaked. 'Eek! Make it stop!'
'Just… wait… a few more seconds…' Then, Discord snapped his fingers and the movement stopped immediately. 'Tadah. Saved you a lot of work, see?'
The ponies were astonished. The buttons were sorted in six piles: green, yellow, red, purple, blue and orange.
'That's just… wonderful…' Rarity muttered. 'And most certainly one of the scariest things I've ever seen, but still… You sorted my buttons!'
She couldn't help it and gave Discord a kiss on his cheek.
'Heh,' he said. 'Spike's waiting for that since he met you!'
But Rarity didn't hear it. She was too busy putting the buttons back in the barrels. 
> Chapter 15 ~ New Friends, Dangerous Things
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

'Have you met our new neighbours?' SnoCone asked Pinkie Pie.
Pinkie nodded. 'Yesterday, Discord and I visited them and helped Derpy Hooves moving their stuff,' she said. 'She almost dropped their piano.'
'I heard Discord caught it?' Ice Cube said.
Pinkie nodded again and took a sip of her tea.
It was quiet for a while, then Ice Cube said, 'So... who wants some delicious cupcakes?'
'Oh, I do!' Pinkie shouted. 'Yummy! Did you bake them?'
Ice Cube shrugged. 'Sorta. SnoCone actually did, I just decorated them.'
As they ate the cupcakes, lovely decorated with icing and glittery stuff and other... stuff I don't know the name of, suddenly a huge shadow darkened the yard.
They all three looked up and saw the draconequus, crashing into the oak tree in the yard of SnoCone and Ice Cube.
He fell down and didn't move, he just laid there on the lawn.
'Discord!' Pinkie yelled as she ran across the lawn. She poked the draconequus to see if he'd react, but nothing happened.
'Oh goodness!' Ice Cube cried. 'I... I got this!'
She grabbed a bucket and ran to the kitchen. SnoCone joined Pinkie poking Discord and hoping he'd wake up. 'Discord?' he said, but - of course - no reply.
'Move aside!' Ice Cube yelled and emptied the bucket of icy cold water on Discord's head. It seemed to help.
'Whut?' the draconequus mumbled as he opened his eyes. 'What has happened?'
'Oh, Discord!' Pinkie shouted and embraced the creature. 'I don't know! You... just hit that tree...'
'Again,' Discord muttered. 'Seems I'm not that good at flying.'
'You can levitate!' Pinkie said.
'But flying is so much fun!' Discord replied, stretching his wings.
His blue wing was twisted and looked broken - again. Ice Cube pushed on the wing. 'Does this hurt?'
The draconequus bit his lip and squinted. 'A little bit...' he squeeked.
'It does,' Pinkie said. 'Come on, we have to get you to the hospital.'
Discord widened his eyes. 'What?' he said. 'The last time, Fluttershy fixed me!'
'She can't heal this, Discord,' Pinkie said. 'It's too... well, it's worse than last time. Your wing seems to be broken again (!) and I since you landed on your head, you should stay in bed and stuff.'

'What!? How... you are not allowed to refuse somepony!' Pinkie shouted.
The doctor shrugged. 'Well, it doesn't appear to be a pony,' he said. 'And this is a pony hospital.'
Pinkie frowned. 'Discord is no "it". It's a pony, just like I am.'
'Hah,' the doctor laughed sarcastically. 'It seems the draconequus hypnotized you?'
The pink pony snorted, but before she could burst, Discord put his claw over her mouth and said 'Shh, it's okay Pinkie. I don't like the hospital in the first place, so... I guess we have to... ask Fluttershy again?'

'How did this happen again?' Fluttershy asked surprised. 'I mean... eh... well...'
'It seems my wing had not completely healed yet,' Discord replied.
Fluttershy frowned. 'Oh, dit you take the bandage off?'
'Of course I did!' Discord grunted. 'I couldn't fly with that thing on!'
The yellow pony rolled her eyes. 'You were not meant to fly, you know that.'
'But he could fly!' Pinkie said. 'He saved Cloud's piano.'
'Hm...' Fluttershy said. Then, she put her hoof on Discord's hand and looked him straight into his eyes, saying, 'Be honest... eh... Discord... did it hurt? When you caught that piano?'
Discord looked at his feet. 'Hm-m,' he said. 'A... little bit, maybe...'
'Then WHY did you do it!?' Pinkie shouted. 'I thought...'
'It's alright, Pinkie Pie,' Fluttershy said. 'It was not your fault...'
'Sorry Fluttershy,' Discord muttered.
The pony shook her head. 'Oh, no. I should have told you not to take the bandage off, you know... eh... I think... your wing is broken again, you know. I think... I think you're not able to fly for, like... five, maybe six months...'
'What!?' Discord yelled, and jumped up. He immediately sat down again, because he got dizzy.
Fluttershy frowned. 'And you also seem to have eh... a concussion, you know.'
'Oh, great,' Discord growled.

'Sorry Pinkie Pie, I can't fix Discord's wing with... magic.'
Pinkie sighed. 'It's... it's okay, Twilight. Thanks.'
'It's just too dangerous,' Twilight continued. 'I mean, with all those tiny bones...'
Discord shook his head. 'It doesn't matter. I... guess I have to wait.'
'What a nonsense.'
The three ponies turned around and saw Rarity in the doorway. 'Of course I can fix this.'
'Uh, but...' Twilight tried, but it was too late. Rarity bing-bang-zammed (yush, I don't know a better word for her action) and Discord's wing glowed. The bandage fell off and twirled to the ground.
'Aah!' Discord shouted. 'It hurts!'
'Just... five... more... seconds...' Rarity groaned. 'Almost done...'
Suddenly, whole Discord's body started to glow for a second, then Rarity collapsed.
'Done,' she groaned.
Discord spread his wing. 'Oh my goodness! I... I can move it again!'
'How did you do that?' Twilight asked Rarity, but the white pony only sighed.
'I don't know how, but it worked!' Discord said grinning. 'Thank you so much, lady Rarity.'
'Hmrmmm,' the pony replied.
'I... thought... but...'
'You thought it was impossible?' Pinkie Pie asked. 'Or didn't you want to do Discord a favor?'
Twilight backed up and shook her head. 'Er... no, I mean, yes, it's that... so... dangerous...'
'Meh, not thát dangerous,' Rarity muttered. Discord offered her a hand and pulled her up. 'It's only very, véry tiring,' she continued. 'But I'll get over it, I am very glad that I could help my friend Discord. See you later!'
They watched Rarity leave in silence. Then, Pinkie growled, 'Well, Discord, I think we should go too.'
'Eh, fine,' Discord said. 'Bye, Twilight.'

'Here, have a muffin.' Pinkie Pie handed Discord one of the freshly baked muffins.
He observed it. 'Is it going to eat me?'
Pinkie nodded. 'Tee hee, it is!'
'Fine then,' the draconequus replied, and ate the whole thing in once. 'This is delicious!' he tried to say, but because of all the muffincrumbles and blueberries filling up his mouth, it more sounded like 'Fhif if dewifiouf!'
'Fwah ya,' the pony replied, eating a muffin herself. 'Couw haw bwm a wiwwle mow phaweful wiph phofe bwuebewwief.'
'Awe wou kibbin'? Phey awe awepfome!' Discord replied, as he took another one.
Pinkie Pie swallowed her muffin. 'You like them? You really really like them?'
Discord squished Pinkie's cheek. 'I love 'em, Pinkie,' he replied. He then looked up and said, 'Why did Twilight not want to heal my wing?'
Pinkie shrugged. 'Oh, I don't know. Guess you have to ask Twi 'bout that.'
'Hm, thank Celestia that good lady Rarity came by,' Discord said.
Pinkie took another muffin and said, 'I think you found yourself a new friend.' 
> Chapter 16 ~ The Big Encyclopedia of Historical Creatures of Equestria
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

'Twilight,' Spike said, covered in books and quilts and other interesting Twilight-stuff. 'Twilight! Why didn't you help Discord?'
The purple pony did not reply, she just ran around and packed and unpacked bags with stuff.
'Seriously,' the dragon muttered.
After a while, Twilight finally paused and said, 'Because Discord would have been completely fine without me. It was not nessecary to help him, you saw it.'
'Would have saved Rarity a lot of time and effort,' he replied. 'I heard she's still at home, barely able to walk and that Fluttershy is taking care of her, just because she is so tired.'
'So you want ME to be exhausted and unable to do my studies?' Twilight yelled.
Spike crawled up and frowned. 'No, I just wanna let you know that YOU have the most powerful magic here and you could have done it in no time, and that the same spell really tires Rarity. But it was worth it, she told me. That's friendship, Twilight.'
The pony did not reply to Spike.

At the same moment, Pinkie and Discord were having lunch with Applejack at Sweet Apple Acres. 
'Still as curious about y'er history, Mr. Discord?' Applejack asked. 'Because ah would love to figure out where you're from.'
'You have heard about it from Rarity, I guess?' Discord asked.
Applejack nodded. 'She told me about one big and special book, located in the Canterlot Library, right?'
Discord and Pinkie looked at each other for a moment. Pinkie then said, 'Discord, listen. There's no use for you to stay here. WE can't get it for you, since ponies are not allowed to take those books out of the library. Draconiqii neither.'
'Can't you just write down all the interesting things you find in there?' Discord asked nervously.
Pinkie Pie shook her head. 'Nope, that'd be WAY too much. You are not allowed to copy things either, by the way.'
Discord sighed. 'Pinkie, could we... talk for a moment? You know, just the two of us?'
Applejack laughed. 'Ah have to do the dishes anyways, you can stay here.'
She stood up and walked to the kitchen.
'Listen,' the draconequus whispered. 'I can't go back to Canterlot.'
'Why not?' Pinkie said. 'It's just... it's just Canterlot.'
Discor shook his head and said, 'No, not at all! It's the housing of the Princess. And I can not, not now or whenever, face her another time.'
Pinkie Pie sighed. 'C'mon, how long was that ago? A gazillion years?'
'You really think I am thát old?' Discord growled. 'It's only seventeenhundredandfortytwo years ago!'
'Yeah, ONLY.' Pinkie said sarcastically. 'That's about a billion times my age.'
'That is slightly impossible,' Discord said. 'But who cares. The point is, when I go back to Canterlot, I would have to face Celestia. And that's what I have avoided in all those years I was a statue...'
'Are you afraid she'll lapidify you again?' the pony asked. 'Or... you know... I wonder...'
'You wonder what?' Discord said.
Pinkie took a deep breath. 'You know, the last time you got lapidified, it was for sixteen-point-six-six-six-six-six-six-six-six-six-six-seven percent MY fault. Are you afraid that WE will do it again?'
Discord sighed. 'A bit,' he said. 'Twilight and Rainbow Dash already don't like me, and Fluttershy is dead scared whenever she sees me. Which results in fifty percent of the Elements against me.'
'Ahem.' Pinkie coughed to correct him. 'And, fifty percent of the Elements of Harmony will thwart your doom and make sure you will stay all... furry and fleshy forever.'
Discord laughed, partly because he was very, very nervous. He then said, 'You really want me to go, eh?'
Pinkie Pie grinned and nodded.
'I guess I have to, if I want to find out who I am and where I come from...'
'So you agree!?' Pinkie shouted. Discord tried to interrupt her, but before he could, AJ walked into the room and said, 'Oh glorious goodness, Discord is going to Canterlot?'
Pinkie turned around in shock. 'You know what's going on?'
'Nah,' she replied. 'But ah dó know Discord doesn't really like dem' Princess...'
'You do?' Discord said. 'But...'
'Ah hear stuff, you know. From ponies. You don't wanna go to Canterlot?'
Discord sadly shook his head.
AJ stomped him on his shoulder. 'Then Pinkie and ah will join you, okay?'
Discord grinned. 'You will?'
'Oh YES we will,' Pinkie said. 'And... maybe we could ask the others...'
'No,' the draconequus said. 'Definitely NOT.'
'Ah won't let you go with just the two of us. It's all or nuffin'.' AJ said. 'If you don't wanna let all of us go, we won't.'
'Well, then we won't!' Discord shouted. He stood up and walked out of the living room. The moment Pinkie got outside, Discord had already left.

'Twiiiiiliiiiight, is there really no other way than to take him to Canterlot?' Pinkie asked.
Twilight frowned.
'You have to do something for Discord after...' Spike tried, but Twi interrupted him with an 'I know, let me just think, okay? Spike, pen and paper please!'
'I'm all set,' the dragon replied.
Twilight quoted, 'Dear Princess Celestia. A couple of months ago, you have sent Discord to Ponyville. Unlike many ponies, Discord does not have parents or any known relatives, except for Screwball of course. He would like to know where he comes from, since he is built from so many different things. Now, my question is if me and my friends could come to the Canterlot Library to borrow your Big Encyclopedia of Historical Creatures of Equestria. We promise we will be very, very careful with it. It's just for Discord. Yours faithful, Twilight Sparkle.'
'... Twilight Sparkle,' Spike repeated. 'Okay, done!'
'Good, now send it.'
Spike blew on the letter and it disappeared in a green curl of smoke. 'Done as well.'
'Happy, Pinkie?' Twilight said.
Pinkie nodded. 'Oh, thank you SO much, Twilight!' she said, and hugged her friend. 'Thank you thank you thank you thank you tha...'
Twilight put a hoof on Pinkie's mouth. 'It's okay. I... I think Discord deserves it to be treated kindly, at least once.'
Spike burped. 'I think you got your reply...'
Twilight opened the scroll and read it. She then said, 'The Princess gives me, as her special student, permission to visit Canterlot with you five, and borrow the book for the time span of a week!'
Pinkie cheered. 'Yay! When can we come?'
Twilight continued reading. 'She said, "as soon as possible"...' 
> Chapter 17 ~ Twisted Secrets
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

'You are actually going to Canterlot... for me?' Discord said surprised.
Pinkie clapped her hooves and bounced up and down. 'Oh, most certainly! I'd LOVE to!'
'We'll take the train, next week. We will stay there for a day and a night and then we'll come back, WITH the book,' Twilight said. She had planned the whole trip already.
'And all six of you guys will go?' the draconequus continued.
Dash nodded. 'Yup. It's one heavy book, you know.'
'How far would it be to fly?' Fluttershy asked.
Dash shrugged, though Discord knew the answer. 'With my speed, it'll cost an hour or four.'
'I could fly that,' Rainbow Dash said.
'Oh, by the way,' Pinkie interrupted. 'Discord, we have another surprise for you. Since you were planning on staying in Ponyville... wait, you were, right?'
The draconequus nodded.
'Well,' the pony continued. 'Applejack and I have found a very nice cave, close to the edge of the Everfree Forest. It's between here and Canterlot - which would make traveling a lot easier - and it's safe for you to practise your magic!'
Discord seemed to be a bit concerned. 'But what about Screwball?' he asked.
'The cave has different rooms, we all wil help with decorating and furniture and stuff.'
Discord grinned. 'You... have found a safe home for me and Screwball?'
Pinkie nodded in agreement.
The draconequus couldn't speak for a moment, so he didn't.
'Good,' Twilight finally said. 'Now that's out of the way, let's continue with planning our trip.'
'I thought you had planned it all out 'ready,' Applejack replied. 'Ah mean, we go to Canterlot, we visit the Library, we take the book, we sleep somewhere, we go back home. Right?'
'Right,' Twilight muttered. 'That was indeed practically the whole plan.'

'Oh my goodness, this is lovely!' Discord said as he and Pinkie entered the cave. 'Oh look, that'll be my bedroom!'
'I know, it's awesome!' Pinkie replied. She bounced up and down all 'round the cave and said, 'Look, Screwball sleeps there.'
Discord grinned and hugged the pony. 'This is great, Pinkie Pie. Thank you so much.'
'Don't worry about it,' she replied. 'As long as I can come and visit whenever I want!'
The draconequus smiled. 'Anytime.'

'What color do you want the walls?' Rarity asked.
Discord shrugged. 'I don't know. I guess I like the stone walls here, though I think Screwball would like to have her walls and ceiling painted.'
'Oh yes Daddy, I'd love to!' Screwball yelped. 'Oh, Rarity, can you paint small stars all over my wall?'
Rarity smiled. 'I think we can do that, dear,' she said.
After Screwball had gone out to walk around a bit in her new living space, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie and Discord sat down at a table the Apple family made him. The chairs also came from them, by the way.
'Oh, isn't she a cute little pony,' Rarity sighed.
Discord looked proud. 'She surely is, Rarity.'
'Was it hard for you to raise her?' she continued.
Now, Discord's look changed from proud to slightly hurt. 'Only days after she was... you know, 'born', Celestia and Luna turned me into stone. I haven't seen her for so long...'
'Wait,' Pinkie said, and squinted. 'Before the Mane Six did beat you, you already had been a statue for... what is it? Hundreds of years! Then WHY is she still so young?'
Discord, happy that Pinkie had slightly changed the subject, said, 'What a good question. Moments before I got trapped in my stone prison, I managed to put one more spell on Screwball. Some sort of anti-aging spell. As long as I would be a statue, she would not age as well.'
'That's genius!' Pinkie cried. 'And... what happened to her, then?'
'Well...' the draconequus continued. 'I... I actually have no idea. I mean, I was a statue... a garden ornament. I couldn't even move! I could see, though. And feel stuff. It was terribly cold in the Canterlot Gardens. I have missed a great lot of important things, you know. Though I saw the Princess, almost every day. And despite the fact that she imprisoned me, that was practically the only think keeping me sane...' Discord sighed. 'I was at the wedding, though. Not entirely, but I could see the drama. Chrysalis and her changelings, and Pinkie Pie pulling out an emergency DJ...'
Pinkie rolled her eyes. 'Oh, yeah. She's epic. 
'You saw Chrysalis and the changelings attacking Canterlot?' Twilight asked surprised. 'And THAT chaos was NOT enough to let you escape and... you know, save us, for a change?'
Applejack opened her mouth for the first time. 'Ah don't wanna make our big friend feel uncomfortable, but indeed, why could mah sister and her friends cause your outbreak, though an evil queen and her army could not?'
Discord smiled. 'Good question and no, I do not feel uncomfortable at all. Let's make one thing clear: it was not the Cutie Mark Crusaders' fault that I broke out. I actually wás breaking out already, which caused the disharmony between your sister and her two friends. And that disharmony, again, helped me with my outbreak. It's like a chain reaction.'
'Ah get it,' Applejack replied. 'Sounds legit to me...'
'Yup, same here,' Rarity said, but Pinkie still looked puzzled.
At that moment, Screwball came back in and was completely soaked. She shook her head, causing the muddy water to fly all over the room.
'Goodness, sweetie, now we have to clean this all up!' Discord said.
Screwball looked at him with her derped eyes, causing Discord and the rest to 'awwww' and nopony could really be angry at the little mare who was actually older than almost all of them.
'By the way, Discord,' Pinkie said while Rarity used her magic to clean the room (Yes, I was surprised as well). 'Does your daughter know about that spell?'
'I do,' the purple pony said. 'Most ponies do not expect that from me, since most things I say don't really make sense... but what fun is there in making sense, actually?'
Pinkie saw tears welling up in the draconequus' eyes.
'You probably are smarter than most ponies think you are,' Rarity said. 'Though you really have to clean yourself up a bit.'
Screwball pointed at somewhere outside. 'I found a nice stream with clear water over there,' she said, and ran off.
'Screwball!' the four other ponies yelled, but it was too late. They heard a loud splash and this time an even more soaked Screwball entered the 'house'.
'Better?' she asked.
Rarity dried her mane with a towel. 'Eh, better than mud, at least.' 
> Chapter 18 ~ Here Comes Trouble
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight stomped her hoof on the ground. 'Pinkie! Focus!'
'Sorry Twi, but I had the wéirdest dream tonight!' Pinkie continued talking to Applejack, who seemed to be very interested. '...and then, there was this weird sort of "painting", with moving things... And on that painting, I actually saw us! Can you believe it? And there were all sorts of almost hairless, monkey-like creatures watching us, and acting like they were us... It was really, really weird. We were some kind of celebrity there.'
'Okay, that dóes sound strange,' Applejack replied.
'Uhu, I have weird dreams all the time but this one was the craziest!'
Twilight sighed. 'Gu-huys!'
'Sorry Twilight!' the other five said in unison, and immediately shut up.
Twilight marched around in the room. 'Does everypony have packed their stuff?' she asked.
The others only nodded.
'Good,' Twilight continued. 'I guess we'll have to go to the station now.'
'I heard Celestia has an appartment for us where we can stay?' Fluttershy asked.
'We can stay in a tower near the library,' Twilight replied.
Fluttershy smiled. 'That is so kind of her.'

'Pinkie Pie! Wait!'
Pinkie turned around to see Discord and Screwball running towards her.
'Hurry up, the train is about to leave!' Rainbow Dash said.
'I... Screwball... wanted to say goodbye to you,' Discord muttered while catching his breath.
Pinkie grinned. 'Sure. But seriously, I'll be back tomorrow!'
'Yeah, but after what you've done for me... Screwball.... US, we could not let you just go without saying goodbye.'
Pinkie hugged the two. 'Well, bye then! We'll be back tomorrow, okay?'
'Okay,' Discord replied. 'Good luck, you six!'
Pinkie got on the train and waved. 'Bye, everypony!'

'I simply can not believe they are doing this for me,' Discord said to Screwball.
She shrugged. 'Me neither, actually. I mean, I don't know why but they did not seem to appreciate the chaos you have caused earlier. And now... this!'
'Three of them are still mad at me,' the draconequus replied. 'Dash, Fluttershy and not to forget about Twilight.'
'Three of them really seem to like you,' Screwball said. 'It's better than nothing.'
'You are right, oh daughter of mine.' Discord patted her on her head.
Apple Bloom passed by and looked surprised by Screwball's language.
'She has her bright moments,' Discord explained as he saw the look on the filly's face. 'And she is older, by the way.'
Apple Bloom stopped. 'But... ah thought she did not age?'
Screwball explained the spell to Apple Bloom. 'Get it?' she said after she finished the story.
The filly nodded. 'Ah do, though it still seems kinda strange to me.'
'We should get you glasses,' Discord said to his daughter. 'Maybe your eyes would go look different. Though I actually like them this way.'
'Me too!' Apple Bloom said. 'They're all like twisty and swirly.'
Screwball grinned. 'You do like my eyes? I always thought everypony found them weird.'
'Ah dó find them weird,' the other pony replied. 'But I like them. Maybe because they are different.'

'What's that force field around Canterlot?' Twilight said. 'I mean, it's like the time my brother got married.'
Rainbow Dash shrugged. 'Can't be anything we can't handle,' she replied.
Fluttershy had already hid herself under the train seat. 'Oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh I hope everypony is okay...' she muttered, nearly hyperventilating.
Pinkie pulled out a paper bag from an emergency paper bag spot for paper bag emergencies (She hides them everywhere!) and gave it to Fluttershy. 'Calm down, it can't be THAT bad.'
'Maybe they did it for us,' Rarity said, though she knew it was not true.
As soon as everypony had left the train, Princess Luna landed on the train station. 'Oh, how good to have you here. A place near ponyville is under attack, but nopony knows by what yet.'
'Discord?' Twilight said, and immediately got a shoulderbump from Pinkie.
'I dare you to say that again, Twilight Sparkle,' she said in a deadly serious voice.
'No, it is certainly NOT Discord,' Luna continued. 'It is way stronger than he was. Is.'
Pinkie chuckled. 'Good that he is not here to hear you say that.'
Luna smiled. 'You can follow me to your appartment,' she said. 'It is not far from here.'
The six walked after Luna to a wonderful, very high white tower.
'My goodness,' Rarity said. 'Are we going to sleep here!?'
Luna nodded. 'You are. And by the way, the library is over there.' She pointed out a tower which was bigger than the ones surrounding it.
'Is THAT the library?' Pinkie asked surprised. 'How are we ever ever éver gonna find that book?'
The Princess smiled. 'You will find it. It's sorted on alphabetical order, don't worry.'
'Wow, that tower is huge...' Fluttershy whispered. 'Almost intimidating...'
'Oh, sweetie, if it'd depend on you, éverything would be intimidating,' Rarity said.
Fluttershy nodded and smiled. 'Yeah, I guess so...'
'I'd love to jump out of that window,' Rainbow Dash muttered under her breath.
'Dash!' Applejack shouted shocked. 'You... what!?'
Rainbow Dash laughed and rolled her eyes. 'To make speed, silly. It would be way easier for me to make a sonic rainboom if I could jump down from something.'
Applejack sighed. 'Thank the Princess for that. Ah almost thought you would want to... ya know...'
'I know, but calm down. I absolutely do not have any reason to do that,' the Pegasus replied, and laughed. 'The lone thought of it...' she said to herself. 'Ridiculous.'
'What are you waiting for?' Twilight said to the two. 'The others are 'ready inside. After we have unpacked our bags, we'll visit the library.'
'Why are we gonna stay here for a day and a night, actually?' Pinkie asked.
Twilight smiled. 'Because if we don't find the book the first day, we will have another day to look for it.'

'Oh my... this room looks fantastic!' Rarity muttered. She was the only pony with a room for herself, ánd a private bathroom. The room was about twice as big as her bedroom at home, and it had a kingsize bed with an awful lot of pillows stacked on the end.
Twilight and Fluttershy shared a room, and Pinkie wanted to share one with Rainbow and Applejack. 'Since you are the two most likely wanting to have a pillow fight,' she explained.
'Be warned, Pinkie Pie,' AJ had replied. 'Ah am terribly good at pillow fights.'
After they all had made their beds, they gathered in Twilight's room for a quick meeting. They then headed down to the library. The moment they entered, they all were astonished by the thousands and thousands of books surrounding him. The shelves were stacking up to the ceiling, which was very very far away from the ground.
'Good day,' the library-assistant said. 'Are you looking for a book?'
Twilight sighed and felt the urge to say 'no', but said, 'Yes, we are looking for the Big Encyclopedia of...'
'Oh, I know who you are and which book you need,' the pony said. 'As soon as we heard from you, we have put the book ap...aaaah!'
'What was that!?' Pinkie shouted. The floor seemed to shake, the books fell of the shelves and the walls cracked.
Dash sprinted outside to take a look. 'Great glory,' she said. What she saw was frightening, even for her. Anóther Rainbow Dash stood right in front of her and grinned. Dash knew what this meant and kicked the changeling's flank. 'Take that, you little bucker!' she shouted.
The others came out of the library as well, and soon being mirrored by changelings.
'Holy cow, not again,' AJ sighed.
Fluttershy hyperventilated again and Pinkie gave her another bag, which she blew up immediately.
'We have done this before,' Dash said. 'We can do it again, now.'
They suddenly heard an evil and spine-chilling laugh. 'You think?' a voice said.
'Chrysalis,' Twilight muttered. 'Show yourself, or are you afraid or something?'
'I will,' the voice continued.
Twilight looked around and suddenly saw Princess Celestia. She ran towards her to hug her, yelling, 'Princess! I am so glad you are okay!'
But the Princess' eyes turned green and she fired a beam at Twilight. 'Be quiet, fool!'
'I have the feeling that is not the Princess we think she is,' Rarity said.
'My army has been defeated by you and your royal couple,' Chrysalis continued. 'But now we are back. We are with more than ever, we are stronger than ever, and with your brother and his wife visiting Rocksville, nopony will stop me from taking the throne!'
With those words, she took off and headed towards the castle.
'Celestia!' Twilight yelled. 'Come on, guys! We have to warn either sáve the Princess!'
Dash also spread her wings. 'I'll go first,' she said, and she was gone.
'Excuse me,' Rainbow Dash said.
Pinkie looked confused.
'She's a bucking changeling!' the real Dash yelled, and started chasing her imitator. 'See ya later!'
'We have to warn the Princess!' Twilight said again, and the other five started running towards the castle.
'Oh, if we just make it in time!' Pinkie said while running.
Twilight frowned. 'All we can do is hope for the best...' 
> Chapter 19 ~ Canterlot Adventures
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

'Oh, you are right on time!' Celestia said when the ponies entered her throne room. Dash already had arrived, and sat next to the Princess on the floor.
Twilights horn glowed. 'Watch out, guys, this might not be the real Celestia.'
'Twilight Sparkle, don't worry please. I ám the real Celesti..aaaaah!'
Suddenly, another Celestia appreared, but with flashe green eyes.
'Twilight Sparkle, don't worry please,' she mimicked. 'You learn fast, my little pony.'
Twilight fired a beam at her, but it missed. 'There is nothing you can do now,' Chrysalis said.
'Oh no?' Dash bashed into her, but it did not seem to hurt.
'You foolish little Pegasus,' Chrysalis said. A ring of green flames appeared around the pony. Twilight knew what this meant. 'Dash!' she yelled, but it was too late. Rainbow Dash had been sent to the caves where Twilight had been held as well, together with the real Princess Cadence.
'This is what you get when you spy on me,' Chrysalis shouted. 'And for you, Celestia...' she said. 'For you, I have special plans...'
Celestia backed up and said, 'Don't you dare to touch my student or one of her friends.'
Chrysalis only let out a brief laugh and then, the green flames started burning around Celestia as well.
'There you go, little Princess,' she said. She then turned around, looked at the five remaining ponies and muttered, 'Oh, Twilight Sparkle, my faithful student. Your favourite princess just got wiped off her throne.'
Twilight Sparkle was stunned. 'You... you can't do that!' she muttered. 'Celestia!'
'Twilight!' the Princess cried, and then disappeared.
AJ snorted. 'Give us our real Princess back!'
Chrysalis laughed. 'How about... no. From now on, I will rule this kingdom!'
'Eh... miss Chrysalis...' Fluttershy stuttered. 'If I may ask...'
'Speak, fool!' the queen of changelings shouted.
Fluttershy cringed. 'Eh... well, you... are... you do need love to... grow stronger, right? Where are you going to find that... that love?'
Chrysalis grinned. 'What a question. I will keep the form of the Princess. My subjects will feed me with love, and I will become the greatest and most powerful being in Equestria!'
The last words, she nearly yelled. Fluttershy was still hiding behind Pinkie Pie.
Chrysalis turned around and walked to the open window. Beneath her, a lot of Canterlot ponies had gathered to ask the Princess what was going on. As soon as they saw her, they started cheering.
Chrysalis waved and shouted, 'Oh, my beloved subjects. Overflood me with your love and affection!'
The crowd went quiet for a moment. A pony in the middle said, 'This is certainly not the way our Princess would talk to us.'
Another one replied with, 'She'd never, éver call us her... her subjects...'
Within moments, the whole crowd was shouting and screaming. 'Give us our princess back, imposter!' 'What have you done to Celestia!?' 'I know who you are! You're Chrysalis!'
Chrysalis turned around to the remaining five. 'Oh, my subjects do not seem to appreciate my appearance. Maybe I should change to... THIS!'
All the ponies looked scared at the queen, remembering the time Pinkie made a crazy face. But all she did was changing back to her Chrysalis-form.
The five sighed in relief, though Chrysalis still appeared to be very scary.
'Good, you five. You will be my... my personal PA's.'
Twilight coughed. 'The 'P' in 'PA' stands for Personal. In fact, you are saying that we are your pe...'
'Shut up, you fool!' the queen shouted.
Twilight squeaked.
'We won't let you take over Equestria!' Applejack shouted. 'Give us our Princess back!'
Chrysalis fired a beam at the pony. 'Hah, you really think you can beat me?'
'We do!' AJ continued, though half of her mane was burnt.
Rarity opened her mouth as well. 'We have beaten you before, lady!'
The queen only laughed once more and turned back at the window. 'You, my subjects. You are not longer free ponies. You are my property now!'
The crowd shouted and yelled at the queen, but she only smiled and waved. 
The changelings who had guarded the doors, now changed into Royal Guards and walked down the stairs.
Twilight now looked out of the window as well, seeing the guards first calming down the crowd but then arrest them, one by one.
'What are you gonna do?' Twilight shouted at Chrysalis.
She laughed again. 'Like I said, they are my property now. I can do whatever I want with them.'
'I remember something like this...' Pinkie Pie whispered. 'Oh, yes! That Somber-guy. He also did this. Sorry lady, you're not unique.' She winked.
'Guards!' a very pissed-off Chrysalis yelled. 'Take these five with the other ponies.'
A guard tried to arrest Applejack, but she kicked his flank and ran off. 'Can't catch me!'
The guard chased her down the room, and got her stuck in a corner. Right on time, Pinkie jumped on his back. 'Oh, Applejack! You are right, rodeo's ARE awesome!'
The guard tried to kick Pinkie off, but it didn't work. It was Applejack who knocked him down. She high-fived Pinkie. 'One down, a whole lot more to go!'
She was right. In front of the two, a whole army of guards had united. They were all exact copies of each other, white coat, golden armour.
'Oh goodness,' AJ mumbled.
But all of sudden, one guard blinked and kicked two down. 'I'm a real one!' he yelled.
The same happened with two others. 'Run, ponies!' the first one shouted. 'Run!'
Applejack and Pinkie Pie ran back to the others, who just stood there in astonishment. The all looked at the pile of wrestling guards and changelings, who desperately tried to keep their disguise.
Twilight grinned and kicked Pinkie Pie in her side. 'Ow!' Pinkie yelled. 'Twi, why'd you do that!?'
'Pinkie!'
The pink pony turned around to see anóther Twilight being held by two guards. The same with Fluttershy and Rarity.
'We're in this alone, ah guess,' Applejack said. 'C'mon, Pinkie Pie. We can do this!'
Pinkie grinned and kicked Fluttershy. 'This feels so weird!' she yelled.
"Fluttershy" punched back and Pinkie got knocked down. 'AJ!' she cried. 'Help me!'
Applejack immediately turned around and pinned Fluttershy against a wall. She got unconsious and immediately changed back into a changeling. 'Better,' AJ whispered.
After a fight taking about five or six minutes, Applejack and Pinkie Pie finally had eliminated the three copies of their friends. Sadly, there had appeared a whole lot more in the meantime.
'We can't do this on our own,' AJ whispered. 'Ah think we have to free 'em to help us...'
Pinkie gave her a brief nod and without even thinking, she ran towards the guards holding her friends.
'Pinkie!' AJ yelled, but it was too late... 
> Chapter 20 ~ An Unexpected Helper
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

'Who... who are you?' Rainbow Dash whispered. She looked up to see a colt, brown coat, black mane with shiny blue stripes.
He helped her to get up. 'Who I am doesn't matter now, you need to find your way out.'
'You sound like that zebra,' Dash said, and grinned.
The pony, who was about two feet taller than Dash, said, 'Oh, I'm sorry, that was an accident.'
Dash stretched her wings. 'No, seriously, whó are you?' she asked. She saw the pony was also a Pegasus, his wings were brown and with a tone of blue. Though he looked a bit intimidating, she immediately liked him .
'No, no, that is not important. C'mon, Rainbow Dash, I know a way out of here. You have to find your friends and help them defeat the Changeling Army.'
'How do you know my name?' the blue pony asked surprised.
The Pegasus smiled. 'You're famous enough for those Sonic Rainbooms.'
Dash álmost blushed. 'Alright,' she then said. 'Let's go.'
'Follow me,' the colt replied.
They ran for about fifteen minutes non-stop. Dash got a bit tired, though she didn't show it.
Suddenly, the brown pony stopped. 'Okay, here it is,' he said, and pointed at the "ceiling" of the cave.
Dash looked up. She saw a hole in the rocks, just small enough for her to get out, though the other pony won't fit through.
'It's too small for you,' she said. 'How will you get out?'
The colt shook his head. 'I will stay here, looking for the Princess and helping out other ponies that got sent here.'
'You sure?' Dash asked.
The colt only nodded. Rainbow Dash sighed and spead her wings. 'Thanks!' she yelled, as se crawled through the opening.
The other pony smiled.

'Pinkie!'
The pink pony didn't turn around. She strategically avoided the beams being fired at her by Chrysalis and the "guards", and when she got there, she literally bumped face-first into the queen.
This had, how surprising, no effect at all.
Pinkie thought.
Too bad, Chrysalis got distracted. 'What... oh, you fool!' She put her leg on Pinkie's tail so she couldn't escape and let out an evil and scaring laugh. Since she wasn't paying any attention to the other ponies anymore, Twilight saw her chance to break free. She immediately enchanted the two guards and made them change back to their "normal" changeling forms.
Pinkie, still being held by the queen, yelled and crawled on the floor in a desperate attempt to escape. Rarity, who had been in certain situations before, knew what she should do.
There were quite a lot of armoury things in the hall. Shields, maces, and swords, for example.
She carefully dragged one of the swords hanging on the wall towards her. Pinkie saw what she did and calmed down. In one move, Rarity cut Pinkie's tail off so she could escape.
The pink pony galloped to her friends AJ and Twilight, who were waiting for her.
'That was very reckless of ya', Pinkie,' Applejack said. 'But very brave as well.'
Pinkie smiled. 'Ah, what could have gone wrong?'
'Okay, girls. We can do this. There's three of us and only one billion of them...' Twiligt said.
A blue flash passed by. 'Hold on a sec',' the ponies heard, and in front of them, Rainbow Dash landed. 'Okay, we're with four now.' She looked around. 'We're gonna lose, aren't we?'
'Rainbow Dash!' the free ponies cried in unison, and hugged their friend.
'Ah, I can feel your love, little ponies,' Chrysalis suddenly shouted. The three stepped aside.
'Act like you don't love us,' Pinkie whispered.
Rainbow Dash shrugged. 'Sure. By the way, what's happened to your tail?'
Pinkie wagged her now terribly short tail and said, 'Oh, Rarity just saved my life. That's all.'
'I like it,' Dash said.
Chrysalis sighed. 'Can we pléase continue with this battle. Your dialogues always take so terribly long.'
'That's not our fault!' Pinkie yelled. 'It's the writer's!'
'Sure,' the queen replied. 'Who cares. Come on!'
Rainbow Dash lifted off and bashed into the queen. She avoided those creepy green beams and pinned Chrysalis to the ground. 'Gotcha.'
She immediately got dragged away by two óther Rainbow Dashes, and as she fought to get free, Twilight, Applejack and Pinkie ran towards the queen.
'If we can defeat hér, the army will not know what to do and vanish,' Twilight yelled.
Pinkie and AJ nodded. 'Hm.'
Chrysalis only laughed at the sight of three small ponies, two without magic and the third with magic so weak in comparison to hers, running towards her in an attempt to defeat her.
Twilight suddenly casted a teleport spell and the three ponies all appeared on different spots - AJ on Chrysalis' right, Pinkie Pie on her left and Twilight right behind her. Chrysalis, in confusion, lost sight of what was happening (Seriously, you can't even handle a student pony!? What kind of alicorn are you... *sighs*) and called for het guards.
Pinkie Pie got caught and put with the others, who were still wrestling to escape. Applejack and Twilight both avoided the changelings. Applejack kicked Chrysalis' front legs, while Twilight locked all of her limbs in some sort of magic lock.
The spell she used for that costed a lot of energy, and she looked at Rarity for help. Applejack suddenly appeared behind the guards holding the other unicorn, and she knocked both of 'em unconsious.
'Run, Rarity, run!' she yelled.
Rarity ran to Twilight and kneeled down. 'What do you want me to do?'
'Just... ugh, just give the lock some more power, will you?' Twilight replied groaning.
Rarity's horn started glowing and she beamed at the lock. The lock turned from purple to a nice shade of pink, since Rarity's magic was blue.
Twilight sighed in relief, she didn't have to use so much power anymore.
Applejack saw her chance to free Rainbow Dash as well. She asked Twilight for instructions.
'Keep on freeing everypony,' she moaned. 'We just have to defeat her... then the others will be defeated so much easier...'
'We can't do this on our own!' Pinkie said, after she was freed of the guard's grip.
Twilight shrugged. 'Just... just keep the changelings away from Rarity and me. The rest will handle itself...'
'Hey! Where does Fluttershy go?' Pinkie asked. The other ponies just saw a yellow and pink flash leaving the room through the open windows.
Rainbow Dash wanted to follow, but AJ blocked her way. 'No, Dash. We can miss her, but if you go too, the battle will be lost...'
Dash growled. 'Fine. But I have officially unfriended her.'
'Oh... I feel... a great lack of love right now...' the queen mumbled. She tried to escape once more, but the lock was too strong, and especially now Fluttershy had left.
'Yeah, who cares,' Twilight muttered and shut the queen's mouth.
With only three ponies left who were able to keep the changelings away, it got harder and harder to do.
'I... I think I cannot handle this anymore!' Dash yelled. 'There's too many of them!'
'Ah know,' Applejack said calmingly. 'But just wait for Twilight to figure out a spell that can take the "queen" down forever.'
Chrysalis, hearing this, panicked. She struggled to fond her way out of the magic locks and finally, she broke out. The shock made Twilight and Rarity fly away and Twilight hit a stone pillar, while Rarity just back-shoved the floor.
'Now I am free again, I can continue with my fairly small and simple plan to take over Equestria,' Chrysalis said.
'Oh no you won't!' Rainbow Dash bashed into the queen again, though it didn't have any effect. Almost immediately, the guards took her away.
'Give Dashie back!' Pinkie Pie shouted, and stomped on the floor. 'Chrysalis! I want Dashie back!' she whined.
'Well, too bad for you,' the queen replied. 'Guards! Take those ponies away! It seems that one pony has escaped the caves, maybe the others are able too. Guard all the entrances!'
The guards, however, most of them were just changelings now, each grabbed one of the ponies and dragged them away. They had no idea where they were going, though they were too tired to even try to escape. No, wait, that's not true. They all heard Rainbow Dash fighting to get free, punching guards and biting them. They heard a couple of changelings scream in terror, and Twilight couldn't help but smile. She wondered who "the others" were.
They all were left in a for-Canterlot-small room with only two windows and one door. The five sat together, back to back, and tried to think of a way out, not minding the guards who were standing beside the door.
'Right, girls, I know we can get out,' Twilight said.
Applejack nodded, but asked, 'How?' then.
Twilight looked up at the windows. They were glass-stained windows, with pictures of completely randomly picked ponies in it.
'Dash,' she then said. 'Do you think you can break that window?'
Dash frowned. 'Not with my bare hooves, Twilight. But maybe... if we just find something...'
'The guards,' Pinkie Pie whispered. 'They both have a sword. We could use that...'
'Pinkie, for the first time in my entire life, I consider agreeing with you,' Dash muttered back.
Pinkie smiled and jumped up. 'Twitchy tail! Twitchy tail!'
The others looked surprised, but didn't know how to respond. Pinkie hopped and danced towards the guards, who had bursted in laughter, not even thínking about making her stop.
She then suddenly kicked one sword from the guard towards her friends. 'Catch it, Dashie!' she yelled.
Dash caught the sword in mid-air and immediately lifted off, heading to the window.
With the sword, it wasn't hard to break the glass. She scraped the sharp edges out of the window frame. 'I gotta go, ladies. I'm gonna look for help.'
'I wonder how she got out of those creepy, dark caves in the first place,' Rarity whispered.
Suddenly, they heard a buzzing noise. The two guards flew through the window, trying to catch Rainbow Dash.
The four were left alone.
'Oh, do you think they will catch Rainbow Dash?' Rarity muttered.
'Nah, don't worry,' Pinkie replied. 'She's way too fast for them.'
'Where were we?' Twilight asked. 'We were planning an escape... weren't we?'
Pinkie walked out the door. 'Door's open. Stupid guards.' 
> Chapter 21 ~ FlutterOutgoing
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

'Does anypony actually know where we're going?' Twilight asked. 'Because I do not have an idea.'
Pinkie, in front of the four, pointed vaguely in some direction and said, 'Well, I think it's that way.'
'WHAT is that way?' Twilight continued.
The pink pony shrugged.

'Oh, come on!' Dash yelled. 'Just... ah! Just go away!'
The changelings, of course, did not stop chasing the pony, and the buzzing got louder and louder as they came closer and closer.
Rainbow Dash stopped in mid-air to kick the buck out of the changelings. She hit two straight on their cheeks, but then got pulled down by a third one coming from behind.
As she struggled to get free, she felt two hooves on her shoulders, pulling her out of the grip of the buzzing changeling.
She looked behind and saw the face of the colt who had helped her escape the caves not so long ago. He kicked in the stomach of the changeling and the poor thing crashed on the royal grounds.
'You saved me again,' Rainbow Dash said. 'Thanks...'
The colt grinned. 'No problem.'
'How do you keep finding me?' Dash continued. 'And by the way, shouldn't you be in the caves, saving the Princess?'
The colt shrugged and sadly shook his head. 'She isn't there...'
Dash startled. 'What do you mean?' she muttered.
'I mean that the Princess is not in the caves,' the colt repeated slowly.
Dash rolled her eyes. 'I got so far, yes. But... if she's not there, where is she then?'
The colt and Dash landed on the ground, and immediately, changelings appeared out of nowhere. As they fought to get free, the brown pony explained Dash that there was another place Chrysalis sent her prisoners, to make sure they wouldn't escape.
'Why didn't she send me there?' Rainbow asked.
'She clearly underestimated you,' the colt replied.
Dash smiled. 'Us. She underestimated us.'
'You're right,' the brown pony said. 'Watch out!'
Dash turned around, right in time to kick the flanks of two changelings at the same time. 'I went out to get help for my friends,' she yelled. 'They're locked in the castle!'
'How did you escape?'
'I broke a window and flew out,' Rainbow Dash said. 'But the rest is all either an earth pony or a unicorn,' she continued.
'Hm, well that sucks,' the colt said. Dash now saw that his eyes had practically the same color as hers, a liiiiittle bit more red, maybe.
She nodded. 'It does, but will you help us?'
'I will, Rainbow Dash,' he replied.

'Pinkieeeee,' Rarity sighed. 'I'm tiiiiired.'
Pinkie Pie, not paying attention to the whining unicorn next to her, said, 'Twi, where do you think Fluttershy went?'
'I think she's back in her cottage, hiding under the table or something,' the unicorn replied.
Applejack bit her lip. 'Ah... ah never thought she'd leave us like this,' she muttered.
'Me neither,' Rarity replied.
Good, Pinkie thought, and shook her head. 'I thought she loved us...'
'Well, appearently she didn't,' Applejack said and kicked the wall.
Nopony said anything for a while.

'Look girls, there's a door!' Twilight shouted.
Indeed, about thirty feet in front of them, there was a beautiful door placed in the cold stone wall of the unfinished part of the castle.
Pinkie ran towards it, and Twilight yelled, 'Pinkie! Don't do that!'
Too late. As Pinkie opened the door, everypony got a vision.
Pinkie Pie went mad. 'Girls... where are you?' she yelled, as her hair straightened again. 'Girls? I'm sorry!'
Twilight saw the Princess, locked in a rather small and dark room. 'You have failed me, Twilight Sparkle,' she said, and vanished.
The lavender pony screamed and tears welled up in her eyes. 'Celestia... please...'
'Opalescence, Sweetie Belle?' Rarity whispered. 'What has happened he...AAaaah!'
The sound of Rarity screaming woke Twilight up from her vision. 'Girls! Girls, hold it! It's not real! NOT real!'
Pinkie Pie shook her head and her hair boinged up. 'Oh, well, I knew that.'
Rarity also snapped out of it, and said, 'Oh, Twilight, it was horrible...'
'What did you see?' Twilight asked.
Rarity shook her head and a tear ran over her cheek. 'I... I don't think I want to tell...' Twilight hugged her in an attempt to console the pony.
Only Applejack was still staring at the door and whispered. 'Oh, ah will miss you so much... now Big Mac and ah will have to run the farm... Granny Smith...'
Twilight poked her on her shoulder. 'Applejack, wake up!'
AJ blinked and panicked. 'Oh, girls... Granny Smith... why weren't you attending her funeral!?'
'Is she dead?' Pinkie asked.
Applejack was quiet for a while. 'Eh, no... well, ah don't think so... it wasn't real, eh?'
Twilight and Pinkie shook their heads, though Rarity was still muttering and crying. Applejack walked to her friend and wrapped her front leg around her shoulder. 'Shh, it's okay sweetie.'
'Sweetie Belle,' Rarity whispered as reply. 'She... was...'
'Don't tell, please,' Applejack said. 'Since ah do have nightmares quickly.'
The unicorn shook her head. 'It's... it was just a dream, I'm fine,' she said to Applejack and the others. 'Good, where were we?'
'I think we may pass now,' Twilight said, more to herself than to her friends. 'Look, the door is open.'
Indeed, the door now showed the outside of the castle. The ponies were relieved that they finally could escape the castle, but the sight of Canterlot being attacked by changelings was not something they liked to see, either.
'Let's do this,' Applejack said, and together with the other three, she stepped outside and looked around.
Suddenly, a whole cloud of changelings had surrounded hem, their buzzing sounds completely melting the ponies' brains.
'Remember what Fluttershy did?' Pinkie Pie whispered.
Rarity shrugged. 'I don't really care about that, now,' she replied.
But Pinkie frowned and pointed somewhere in the distance. Without showing any fear, she walked through the circle of Changelings, and surprisingly, they followed her.
The other three ponies looked at each other for a moment and then followed Pinkie.
The changelings quickly took their form, and followed the... the Mane Four.
'Now what?' Pinkie Pie whispered.
Rarity shrugged. 'You knew what to do,' she said.
Pinkie shook her head, though she kept on walking.
Twilight pointed at a group of Rarity-shaped changelings, sending the ones following them to the group.
Pinkie pointed in the distance again, and the group ran off.
'Pinkie Pie, I never expected finding myself éver saying this but... you might have just saved us,' Rarity said.
The pink pony grinned. 'Could be,' she replied.
'Holy cow, that's Dash!' Applejack shouted. 'Look!'
Her friends all looked in the direction she pointed.
'Sweetie, I know they LOOK like Dash bit those are changelings,' Rarity whispered.
Applejack nodded. 'Ah see that, since there's about thirty of them, you know.'
Twilight squinted. 'But the changelings only take form of what they see...' she said.
'Which means Rainbow must be close!' Applejack finished her sentence. 'C'mon, girls, let's look for our friend!'
'Look angry!' Pinkie whispered, and all the ponies frowned and showed their teeth to the others. No changeling attacked them, since they didn't know those ponies were real.
'How do we know we've found her?' Rarity whispered. 'They all look like Dash!'
Pinkie Pie looked around. 'Now you mention it...'
The white unicorn sighed. 'Oh, we'll néver find our friend in this terrible mess,' she said. 'This could be her...' She grabbed one by her wings. It just raised its eyebrow and flew away. '...or this one...' she pointed at another, who actually did nothing. '...maybe even THIS one!' She pulled at another ones hair. The pony turned around. 'Rarity! Seriously? I was just gaining their trust and now you have completely ruined my cover!'
'Dash!' the other ponies shouted, and embraced their friend.
The Pegasus rolled her eyes. 'Yeah, now we're busted, we could go fight as well, I think. By the way, is that stupid Fluttershy still hiding in her cottage?'
'I am afraid so,' Twilight said, though before she could say anything else, a Pinkie-shaped Changeling jumped on her back. This one seemed to be sort of stuck in the change between creepy cheeseleg and Pinkie Pie, because it still had its fangs and its wings.
'Wow,' Pinkie muttered. 'I can fly...'
'Don't... don't just stand there!' Twilight yelled, but the others were also under attack.
'Sorry!' was all AJ replied, since two changelings were holding her front legs on her back. 'But this hurts a little.'
'Pinkie Pie to the rescue!' Pinkie yelled, and hit the changeling, which was actually shaped like a changeling, for a change.
It backed off, though it was still glancing at Pinkie and Applejack. Before Applejack could thank the other earth mane, two others had grabbed her.
'Oh, buck this!' she yelled. 'We can't do this!'
Twilight and Rarity were beaming all sorts of spells at the buzzing cheeselegs, while Applejack and Rainbow Dash were busy kicking their flanks. Only Pinkie Pie ran around, confused and hysterically screaming.
'Would you just STOP that for a moment?' Twilight shouted.
'Sorry,' Pinkie whispered.
She had no time to calm herself down a bit, because another swarm of changelings passed by and saw the battlefield. Of course, they didn't hesitate to join.
It was hard, fighting with five against five hundred, though the friends managed it to keep it up long enough. Because suddenly, another pony arrived.
'Hay, come over here!' Rainbow Dash yelled. 'We really could use your help now!'
The Pegasus landed. 'Hay Rainbow, oh, you must be her friends, right?'
The four others didn't react, they were too busy fighting the changelings. They didn't even shapeshift anymore, but were just attacking the ponies as fast as they could.
The mysterious colt freed Applejack. 'You got some really nice kickin', dear,' he said, and grinned. 'Now let's go slaughter some changelings.'
'Yeah!' Pinkie said, and grinned. The colt looked at her and raised an eyebrow. 'You are weird.'
'Hay!' Dash protested, but then said, 'You're right.'
'With six, we're much stronger,' the colt said, while now all the ponies were beating the changelings' flanks. 'You should add somepony to your team, you know.'
'We have,' Twilight said. 'Though that coward fled away.'
'She's a Pegasus, just like you,' Rainbow Dash explained. 'But she's easily scared. She lives in a cottage near a river, and though she's not afraid of a bear, a buffalo and or a manticore, her pet rabbit's bossing her all over.'
The colt laughed. 'Heh heh, really? Sounds cute.'
'Angel is everything but cute,' Dash continued.
'Is that the pony?' the colt asked.
Rainbow grinned. 'Nope. It's the rabbit.'

'Hello? Could somepony at least tell me where I am?' the Princess cried.
A cloud of green smoke appeared in front of her and Princess Luna appeared. 'Well, hello there, Princess,' she said. 'I heard thou were asking for my help?'
Celestia rolled her eyes. 'C'mon, Chrysalis, I won't fall for that,' she said. 'You've pulled that prank on me before, you know.'
Luna sighed and changed back into Chrysalis. 'Please, pléase, could you just play along for óne time?'
'Fine,' Celestia muttered. 'But then I want you to tell me where I am.'
Chrysalis shape-shifted again and Luna appeared. 'Oh, Tia, thou art afraid of of where the queen of changelings has taken you, aren't thou?'
'I am,' Celestia muttered. 'I am terribly afraid now and I wish somepony would tell me where I am.'
Luna grinned and Chrysalis appeared again. 'Yes, thank you! That was awesome!'
'A deal's a deal,' Celestia replied. 'Tell me where I am, cheeseleg.'
The queen laughed. 'What a language for a princess,' she said. 'You are right, a deal is a deal. I have taken you to the inside of the mountains Canterlot is build on.'
The Princess frowned. 'Oh, really? I didn't know they were hollow.'
'They weren't, in the first place,' Chrysalis replied. 'But I made this nice cave just for you. Look around, do you see the beauty?'
'I actually don't,' Princess Celestia replied. 'How far am I from the closest surface?'
The queen laughed. 'Oh, miles and miles, Celestia. There's nothing surrounding you but miles of stone.'
She vanished into green smoke again.
'Well, that's great,' Celestia muttered sarcastically. 'I might actually make it as nice as possible here, since I'll be staying in this cave for a while.'
She poofed a couch, a carpet, a lighted candle and some books. She settled down on the couch and started to read. 'Hm, not so bad, actually.'

'How long will this take?' the colt asked. 'There's so bucking many of 'em!'
Dash shrugged. 'No idea, we've been fighting for hours now,' she replied.
'You must be very tired then.'
Rarity sighed, beaming another spell at a changeling. 'Oh, if you only knew,' she said. 'I can't feel my horn anymore!'
Pinkie, usually the most energetic, crashed down on the floor. 'Sorry girls, I can't move anymore.'
'You have to!' Twilight said. 'We can't protect ourselves ánd you!'
'There's Fluttershy!' Applejack suddenly shouted.
Indeed, there was Fluttershy, fresh, full of energy and she was not alone...
> Chapter 22 ~ The Return of Chaos
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

'This is not so bad, actually,' Celestia mumbled as she took another sip of her steaming coffee. Chrysalis had put a magic lock on the Princess' horn, so she couldn't poof herself out, though her magic was still working for smaller things like creating stuff. She poofed a blanket and dug herself in it. 'I hope Twilight Sparkle will save us... again,' she whispered to herself. 'And by the way, where's Luna?'
Poof, there was the green cloud of smoke again. Luna appeared, and Celestia sighed. 'Chrysalis, stop it. Take me out of here or leave me alone, okay?'
'I'm not Chrysalis, sister,' Luna says.
The Princess of the sun squinted. 'Cheeseleg, show yourself!' she shouted.
'Fine,' a voice out of nowhere said, and next to Luna, Chrysalis appeared. 'There I am. This is your sister, Celestia. Say hay to her.'
'Tia, it's me!' Luna cried out, and hugged her sister.
Celestia smiled, despite the situation she and her sister were in. 'What brings you here?' she asked.
'THAT,' Luna replied, and pointed at Chrysalis.
'Excuse me?' the queen said surprised. 'Since when am I a "that"?'
The Princesses did not react on the queen and kept on hugging and snuggling.
'Argh,' Chrysalis roared. 'I'm gone.' She poofed away.
'Why did Chrysalis send you here?' Celestia asked still surprised.
Luna shrugged. 'Guess she did not like me.'
'Well, I think you will be stuck with me here for a while,' the Princess replied. 'So why not make our stay here as nice as possible?'
She poofed another couch and a cup of hot tea for her sister. 'Go and relax,' she said.

'Fluttershy!' all of the remaining Mane Six cried out.
Pinkie Pie was the only one saying something after that. 'Discord!'
It was true. Not only Fluttershy had come back, she was ríding Discord.
He landed in front of the ponies, the Mane Six saw that Fluttershy didn't actually look fresh, she looked very exhausted.
'I see I'm right on time,' he muttered, and helped Fluttershy getting off his back.
The ponies couldn't help but embrace their friend Fluttershy, and Discord got a bit jealous.
'So... you are..?' the mysterious colt asked.
Discord shook his hoof. 'My name is Discord, Bringer of Chaos, former ruler of Equestria,' he said.
The colt laughed. 'Sure, and Rainbow Dash is a Wonderbolt?'
'She actually ís,' the draconequus replied, and the colt shut his mouth.
Pinkie had gotten new energy after she'd seen her friend and was busy bucking the changelings.
'You're right, Pinkie,' Dash said. 'There's no time to waste.'
The ponies, including Fluttershy and the very mysterious colt, resumed their battle against the swarm of so insect-like ponies.
Discord laughed. 'Oh, so much effort,' he said, and swung his tail. He immediately knocked out a pack of about ten cheeselegs, and he then snapped his fingers. Two others changed into actual cheese.
Pinkie looked around and saw what Discord was doing. She climbed in his neck, whispering, 'Discord, it's dangerous to do that on the Royal Grounds!'
Discord rolled his eyes. 'Eh, do you want Celestia to be saved or not?'
'I do,' the pony replied. 'Though I don't want any more trouble...'
The draconequus smiled. 'It's okay, Pinkie Pie. I know what I am doing. And you know, it feels good to do these things again.' He poofed a tiny copy of himself. 'Look, it's me!' the two Discords said.
The changelings, who were terribly frightened by Discord's size, now saw a smaller version of him and got an idea. Suddenly, Discord and Pinkie Pie were surrounded by at leats a hundred Discords, though these were buzzing and had blue eyes, instead of red.
'You really had to do that?' Pinkie said in an annoyed voice. She sighed.
Discord smiled shyly. 'Eheh, I didn't know they would to that,' he said.
'They're bucking changelings!' Applejack yelled, still fighting. 'Of course they do that!'
Discord looked around. 'Hm, which one would be the real one? Oh, of course, it's the one that has made a miniature duplication of himself.'
Indeed, one of the small Discords had made an even smáller Discord, which was about the size of a very young filly.
Discord immediately poofed the others away. 'Look,' he said. 'They're gone.'
Only the réal two tiny Discords were standing in front of the Pinkie now.
'Hey,' she said. 'Can you do that with me too? Maybe we could fight as a...'
But before she could say 'team', the sky turned gray and smokey green clouds appeared everywhere. The changelings stopped fighting, as if this was a sign. Their heads all turned at one point - a bigger green cloud, in which suddenly somepony appeared the Mane Six had not expected to see.

'What's that green smoke?' Cloud asked surprised.
Heart Shield shrugged. 'Don't know, don't care,' she replied.
But the unicorn kept worrying about what the green smoke and the suddenly appearing clouds could mean. 'Do you think it's dangerous?' he asked his manefriend.
She didn't reply, but just kept staring at the smoke as well.
Cloud Breaker shook her out of her daze. 'Hey, wake up,' he whispered.
'Oh...' Heart Shield had snapped out of it. 'What did you just ask?'
'I asked if you thought this was dangerous,' Cloud Breaker repeated.
The Pegasus nodded. 'I think it is,' she whispered. 'Get out of here.'

Discord was startled and pretty much petrified when he saw who had appeared in front of him.
Pinkie saw what was happening, though she was too late. Discord stared deeply into the glowing green eyes of the beautiful alicorn in front of him and she reached out her hoof. 'Come here, Discord,' she whispered. 'You know that the only one who could make me dissapear...'
Suddenly, she poofed away and appeared behind the draconequus.
'...is you, right?'
Discord turned around. 'C... Celestia,' he whispered.
'Oh buck,' Applejack said.

'Are you okay up there?' Cloud Breaker yelled.
Heart Shield was flying just above him. 'Uhu,' she replied. 'You down there?'
'I am,' the unicorn said.
The two were running through and flying above the Everfree Forest. They did not really trust the situation in Ponyville, so they decided to flee.
Heart Shield landed. 'Oh man, my wings are tired.'
'My legs as well,' Cloud complained, and sat down on a fallen tree.
Heart Shield just back-dropped on the damp grass and closed her eyes, heavily breathing. 'Holy cow,' she whispered.
'I completely agree on that,' was Cloud's reply. 'What do you think is happening up there?'
'Without doubt, something magical,' she muttered. 'Can't you... dunno, sense it?'
Cloud closed his eyes and his horn began to glow. Heart Shield saw he was concentrating very much, and breathlessly watched him catching the signal of Canterlot.
He suddenly opened his blue eyes again, his pupils were so small Heart Shield was scared.
'That's not good,' Cloud Breaker said. 'Something terrible is going on there, together with a lot of anarchy.'

'Discord!' Pinkie cried out. 'Don't do it, it's not Celestia!'
The draconequus frowned. 'I see she is,' he replied. 'What do you know? You're only... dunno, you're young.'
"Celestia" grinned and grabbed Discord's claw. She gently stroked his arm, then his back and Pinkie watched Discord close his eyes and actually start purring.
'Ah've never heard him make that sound,' Applejack whispered.
'Me neither!' Pinkie Pie repied. 'Though he seems to like it very much, we have to stop this.' She climbed on his back and shook his shoulders. 'C'mon, draconequus! Snap out of it!'
Celestia let out a brief laugh. 'Oh, my little pony, he will not snap out of it. I make sure he won't.'

'That must be Discord!' Heart Shield cried out.
The unicorn nodded. 'It is,' he said. 'And that cheeseleg - what was her name again? Christian or something?'
Heart rolled her eyes. 'Chrysalis. What did she do?'
'It could not have been her, it was Celestia who was... dunno, kind of teasing Discord...' Cloud Breaker frowned. 'I don't know.'
'She's a bucking changeling!' Heart yelled. 'She takes forms, remember?"
Her coltfriend only shut his eyes again, and Heart shut her mouth. Cloud Breaker was back in Canterlot, and she'd better not make him snap out of it for the sake of Discord and whole Equestria.
'Celestia is being kept inside of a cave,' Cloud Breaker suddenly said, his eyes still closed. 'Look.'
In front of the two, in a small rainpool, the sight of Celestia appeared. She was surrounded by stone walls, two couches, a bookcase, a cup of coffee and Princess Luna.
'That's odd,' the Pegasus muttered. 'Which means Discord is now...'
'...here,' Cloud finished her sentence. The image in the pool changed from the cave into the sight of Discord and the óther Celestia, though this one had fluorescent green eyes.
'Yeah, must be Chrysalis,' Heart Shield said. 'And there's Pinkie Pie with her friends!'
'I see... what are they say...oh great glory.'
Heart Shield startled. 'What's wrong?' she asked panicking.
'Christian is gaining the love of Discord so she can take over Equestria,' Cloud replied. Heart didn't have the heart to tell him the name was Chrysalis, not Christian, and she kept listening to her coltfriend.
'...Pinkie and her friends cannot convince the draconequus this is not the réal Celestia,' he continued. 'Holy cow, now what?'
'Can you do a... dunno, teleportation spell?' Heart Shield asked.
Cloud shook his head, but then squinted. 'I don't know, actually.'
'Try it!' Heart cried out. 'Come on!'
Cloud Breakers horn glowed again. Heart backed up and stared at her coltfriend, pretty much glowing as well. For two or three minutes, nothing happened. Then, suddenly, Cloud Breaker dissapeared...

'Oh! I'm SO done with this!' Rainbow Dash bit Discord in his ear. 'Wake up, kitty cat!'
Discord didn't react. He was still purring while "Celestia" stroke his neck and back. 'Like this?' she asked.
Discord nodded.
The changelings had not moved since the arrival of Chrysalis, and Twilight considered them harmless now. She loaded her horn with energy and beamed at Chrysalis, who easily avoided the ray of light. Instead of her, it hit Discord's ear.
'Oh my,' Twilight said. 'Discord, I'm so sorry...'
Chrysalis laughed. 'Hah, you missed! You're wasting your energy, Twilight.'
What she did not know was that Discord had gotten out of his unconsiousness, because of the pain and his bleeding ear.
'What was that?' he said in a sleepy voice.
Pinkie grinned and hugged her friend. 'Discord! You're back!'
'Well of course I am,' the draconequus replied. 'I've never been away from you. But what is that with my ear?'
'I can fix that,' Rarity said. 'I'm great with needle and thread, if I can sew fabric together, an ear can't be a problem.'
Discord's eyes widened. 'I need stitches?'
'You do,' Rarity continued. 'But don't worry, you won't feel a thaaah!'
I have no idea what a thaaah is, but the moment Rarity said it, she got hit by one of Chrysalis' beams.
Discord was confused. How could Celestia shoot her very beloved students? He was about to ask what had just happened, but then Twilight beamed back at Chrysalis.
'Hah!' the queen yelled. 'You can not beam me to death!'
Twilight grinned. 'I know I'm not able to. But I at least could take Discord away from you...'
Discord stared in shock at the sudden change. Celestia's body glowed a green light and she shifted back into the form of Chrysalis again.
'What is this!?' Discord cried out.
Rainbow Dash sighed. 'That's Chrysalis. She's...'
Discord looked at Dash. 'I know who she is,' he said. 'I've been with her in kindergarten. But what does she do HERE?'
Rainbow facepalmed herself. 'C'mon, can ANYPONY explain Discord what we've been trying to say the whole bucking time?'
Pinkie Pie took a deep breath and while Twilight held Chrysalis under control, she said, 'We were here to look at a book about you and suddenly a crowd of changelings appeared and Chrysalis poofed Celestia away and we don't know where she is and Dash got kept in a cave but a Pegasus helped her escape and now she's shifting into Celestia to confuse you and gain love so she can take over Equestria...'
She breathed heavily. 'That was one long sentence...'
Discord rose up to his full length - more than two times higher than Chrysalis - and looked at her. 'So... this is what you've become? A cheeselegged "queen", abusing love in all the wrong ways - not that there's any GOOD way to abuse -? I am very dissapointed in you.'
Before Chrysalis could reply, a blue unicorn suddenly appeared in front of her. He looked around, then said, 'Oh god, I forgot her...' and poofed away again.
'What the actual buck was that?' Discord asked.
Chrysalis shrugged. 'Probably somepony fet the writer wine or something, she's clearly drunk.'
'Could be,' the draconequus replied. 'But okay, where were we?'
Chrysalis grinned. 'Hah, you will never ever see your beloved Princess Celestia again! She will have to spend the rest of her life in...'
Again, before she could finish her sentence, the blue unicorn was back and with company - a green Pegasus.
'Holy cow, that's Chrysalis,' the Pegasus said.
Pinkie Pie squinted. 'I know you... you! Heart Shield! Clour Breaker!'
The two turned around. 'Pinkie Pie!'
Discord swiped them away. 'This is a very dangerous place, ponies,' he said. 'I think you have to...'
'..we can use any help now,' Twilight said. 'Hey, you two! Go stand over here!'
Suddenly, Chrysalis beamed at Discord, blowing one of his horns off. He bend over to grab it, and got hit again.
Not only his reindeer horn had broken off, his bat wing also was very badly burned.
'I am SO done with this,' Dash yelled, and Heart lifted off, now hanging in the air next to her.
'What are you gonna do!?' she asked panicking.
Dash squinted. 'You'll see.'
She bashed into the queen, who was seemingly very surprised by her attack. Heart Shield grinned and did the same. 'Take that!' she yelled, and bro-winged Dash.
The queen, who was distracted now, did not see the attack of miniature Discords coming. Not only the real Discord was hurt, the smaller ones were as well. While they were pulling Chrysalis' hair - I must say, they are really similar to my little brothers... - Cloud Breaker had put a spell on Discord's wing to take the pain away.
'Better?' he asked.
The draconequus only nodded, and stared at his horn.
'I can't fix that,' Cloud continued. 'Though I think Celestia can.'
Discord squinted. 'Celestia is gone now. Don't mention her again.'
Pinkie walked across the duo and saw what was happening here. She smiled and said, 'Better not talk about her now, it's very painful for him.'
Cloud nodded, and continued cooling the wing.
While still fingting and protecting themselves from the queen, Rainbow Dash asked the colt, 'By the way, since we're... you know, saving the world together, could you please tell us your name?'
The colt, keeping Chrysalis as good as he could away from Discord, said, 'My name is Haywing, I'm from...'
'...I know you!' Heart Shield yelled. 'We went to school together!'
Haywing grinned. 'True, I remember you too! Always stayed small, eh?'
The other Pegasus only nodded.
'I remember your coltfriend as well,' Haywing continued. 'He went to our school too, right?'
'Uhu, that's what I know him from.'

'I'm getting bored of these board games,' Luna sighed.
Celestia laughed briefly.
'What's so funny!?' Luna shouted.
'It's just, bored and board sound the same,' the other princess replied.
Luna smiled.
> Chapter 23 ~ Magic Milkshake
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Discord stretched his back once again and growled horribly loud. He then landed on four legs and crawled quickly towards Chrysalis, who was completely stunned and petrified.
He hissed and his neck hairs all stood straight up. His tail swooped over the ground as he walked and every step he took was a loud stomp.
'Don't come closer, you... you mishmash of misfortune! You failed experiment!' Chrysalis shouted. 'You... you...'
Cloud Breaker coughed. 'Magic milkshake?'
'YOU MAGIC MILKSHAKE!' Chrysalis continued.
But Discord's pupils got smaller and he flapped his wings open. His lion nails stuck out of his fingers and his sole tooth shone in the light of the late sun. The horn that was left pointed out dangerously to the alicorn and he prepared his body for a direct attack.
The Mane Six plus three just stood there in silence, not able to move a muscle or warn Discord about the dangers of going alone. Well, all of them, except Pinkie Pie.
'HAY!' she shouted, distracting both the alicorn and the draconequus for a moment.
'Go back!' she continued. 'It's too dangerous for you, Discord!'
Twilight rolled her eyes. 'Tell him,' she said.
Discord only squinted as he whispered, 'I don't care. I'm ready for a finale.'
Pinkie tried to say, 'This is not supposed to be a finale at all!' but Twilight had put her hoof over her mouth.

All of sudden, Discord bended backwards and jumped shoulder-first into Chrysalis. Pinkie stood there in utter shock and Cloud walked up to her to calm her down a bit.
The alicorn didn't even protect herself. Instead of that, she made her horn glow and suddenly, there were changelings everywhere.
Discord was distracted, trying to find out what the actual buck was happening, but Pinkie shouted, 'Keep on fighting the queen! We'll fix this!'
She then turned to Cloud. 'Is there a possibility that we'll survive this?'
'Well,' the unicorn replied. 'You're the creative mind here. Ideas?'
Pinkie started jumping. 'Ooh, I've always wanted to bounce around in a giant hamster ball!'
'At your service,' Cloud said, and two enormous, shiny blue hamster balls appeared around the two ponies. Pinkie was the first to stabilize. 'I'm off!' she yelled.
Cloud Breaker bounced to the other side, where Twilight and her friends were still fighting. 'This was not MY idea,' he said, and then turned around to follow Pinkie.
Twilight rised an eyebrow. 'Oh, well. That was strange,' she said.
She then had to protect herself from a pack of Pinkie Pies, so she stopped paying attention to the two ponies running off in their giant hamster toys.
'What are those two doing?' Heart Shield asked Rainbow, while they both were trying to protect Haywing who was fighting against ten - if not more - changelings who looked exactly like him.
'I have no bucking idea, but I don't really want to think about it at the moment. You mind?' Dash replied, and pulled a nomming changeling off Haywing's back.
Heart didn't reply, just watched the two bouncing balls disappear in the sea of changelings. She worried about her coltfriend, but Pinkie was with him so it was fine. She'd make sure he would be safe.
'He'll be.. ugh, he'll be fine!' Haywing shouted out of nothing, as if he was reading his mind.
Heart snapped out of her dooze and kicked two changelings directly in their stomachs.
She then browinged Dash and Haywing and ducked down in the mass of angry ponies.
'Need help here?' she asked Twilight.
The unicorn didn't reply, just pointed at a pack of cheeselegs attacking Fluttershy at once.
Applejack squinted. 'No. Pony. Hurts. Fluttershy.' she said, and snorted.
Heart Shield accompanied her in her clash against the changelings, both were trying to save the banana pink pony who had been so brave.
Finally, they freed Fluttershy, who had ducked down on the ground and was shivering.
Heart Shield wrapped her wing around Flutter's shoulder, and Applejack helped her standing up while keeping the changelings away.
'Get up there,' Heart said, and pointed at Haywing. 'He's cool. You'll be safe up there.'
Fluttershy looked at the colt. 'Who is he?' she squeaked. 'Can we trust him?'
'You bet we can trust him,' AJ replied. 'The colt saved Dash!'
Fluttershy stood up. 'Fine,' she said, and lifted off.
Heart and Applejack were back to back in a very confusing fight between them and themselves, trying to keep each other safe.

'Oh Cloud, this is awesome!' Pinkie shouted, squishing the copycats.
Cloud didn't reply, he was having way too much fun bumping against everything and all the changelings. He saw Heart in the distance, and he was worried for a moment, but Applejack was with her so she should be safe.
'C'mon, go faster!' Pinkie yelled, and bumped down a small hill.
Cloud followed. 'Watch out!' he cried out, but it was too late. Pinkie fell over the edge of the mountain.
'Clooooooooooooud!' he heard her yell, then it was quiet.
Out of sudden, he saw two flashing beams in the sky, one was a rainbow, the other one the familiar moss-green and yellow.
He watched the two dive over the edge of Canterlot - he thought they should really place a fence over there - and then it became quiet. Creepily quiet.
He poofed himself out of his giant plastic ball and walked to the edge. He ducked right on time because suddenly, the two Pegasi came back up, carrying a very scared Pinkie inside a giant blue ball.
'WHOSE idea was this!?' Heart Shield yelled, and put Pinkie back on the ground.
'Mine, sorry,' the pink pony replied.
Heart turned to Cloud Breaker. 'You just... you... ugh.'
'He knows it was reckless,' Dash tried. 'You do, right?'
Cloud Breaker nodded quietly.
Dash stretched her leg and pointed out in the distance. 'And they ran over a lot of changelings, who won't be able to eat solid food for at least a month now!'
She laughed and Heart Shield could not do anything but agree with her. 'Come,' she said to her coltfriend. 'Let's go see if we can help the others.'

'Why isn't he using magic?' Twilight asked astonished. 'He has the most powerful power in whole Equestria, next to...'
She was quiet for a moment, as the wave of changelings had paused. Applejack could read her thoughts.
'The Princess has prohibited any of his magic, Twi,' the earth pony replied, and bit a changeling looking just like her. It also wore a hat. 'Ah'm gonna keep it for Apple Bloom,' Applejack continued.
A blast of light shone over the fields, blinding the changelings and the nine ponies so bravely fighting for their beloved princess.
After the light had dimmed, eighteen eyes were planted on the middle of the battlefield. The alicorn queen held Discord pinned on to the ground, making every move impossible. He was not only held by Chrysalis, but also by a magic lock similar to Twilight's, not so long ago.
The fifteen feet creature was struggling to come free, but it was useless.
'Sorry, Princess,' he whispered, and then passed out...
> Chapter 24 ~ Did The Right Thing
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

'Discoooord!' Pinkie cried, but the draconequus didn't react. Chrysalis was on top of him, one hoof pushed against his chin, and she laughed. She had the most evil laugh the ponies had ever heard, and I think Discord would truly be jealous.
Rainbow Dash looked at the ground and whispered, 'We've lost... I can't believe we...'
She didn't finish her sentence.
The changelings had stopped bullying the ponies, though they still were pretty creepy. They were just hanging in the air, buzzing and staring.

If it wasn't for a certain Pegasus, the ponies would have given up on their Princesses.
Haywing would never let that happen.
As he spread his wings to bump Chrysalis away, he felt a hoof on his shoulder.
He looked down to see Cloud Breaker, accompanied by his Pegasus marefriend. Cloud's horn shone brightly yellow and Heart Shield also had spread her wings.
'You can't do this alone, silly,' he said.
Haywing squinted. 'I hate it when there's nothing I can do. Maybe we can't win, but at least we can fight.
'And fight we will,' Heart whispered, and she launched herself towards the cheeseleg queen. Haywing quickly followed, and (probably because Haywing's wing span is actually much larger) they both crashed into the queen at the same time.
Cloud hurried towards them and tried to break the lock.
'Give me some more time!' he shouted, and Haywing obediently pinned down Chrysalis. Heart Shield kept her horn against the ground, though it burned like a dragon's swimming pool.
The breaking of the lock actually made a small -click- sound, and the light of Chrysalis' horn faded.
Discord, however, was still in some sort of coma. Cloud Breaker tried to wake him with magic, but Twilight and Rarity took that over when they saw how tired he was. The rest of the ponies held Chrysalis down. She was struggling to get free, and her beams were shooting everywhere. They carefully dodged them.

'What's that?' Celestia asked.
Luna looked up from her book. 'Is what?'  she replied.
The cave started shaking again.
Celestia sighed. 'That.'
Her sister looked up. 'Meh, I guess it's just an earthquake.'
Celestia shook her head. 'It isn't...' she said. 'This has something to do with the cheeselegs...'

Discord's eyes fluttered open. Rarity let out a 'Squee!' as she saw the draconequus looking around, utterly confused but at least awake.
Pinkie left Chrysalis to the others and crashed into her big friend's arms. Discord smiled as he recognized the strange smell of aquarium and cotton candy.
'No time for this,' Twilight said. 'Discord, you have two princesses to save.'
The draconequus got himself up and yawned. 'Where do we start?' he asked.

Celestia kept firing her bright yellow lasers at the wall, and suddenly the whole grotto collapsed.
Luna and Celestia both were kind of immune for direct, physical attacks, and when the whole cave had been demolished, the two still were firmly standing on their posts.
Far away from where the real things happened.

Chrysalis' eyes suddenly opened, her pupils small in the green of her iris, and she gasped. 'I feel... a lot of love coming this way,' she said, close to hyperventilating. 'Celestia broke out!'
She started kicking the ponies away, but it was too late for her. The ponies all grinned and bro-hooved, but Discord was pale.
'What's wrong?' Heart Shield asked, while sitting on his shoulder . 'Hay, why would that be bad news?'
Discord sighed. 'I have had a giant crush on the Princess for a ridiculously long time,' he admitted. 'I am not certain what will happen when I see her again.'
The Pegasus hugged him and then said, 'Look!'
Everypony looked (peer pressure, or whatever it's called).
In the distance, two shiny alicorns appeared. It didn't take long for everypony to realize it was Celestia, accompanied by her sister Luna.
Discord looked down and both Haywing and Heart Shield tried to calm him down a bit, but it didn't work out. He was heavily breathing and couldn't keep his eyes on one point.
Heart got an idea. 'Do you want to finish this?' she asked. 'Or do you want a love story like Twi's brother and... wait, she was called Cadance, right?'
Discord growled. 'I want to finish this,' he said. 'Princess or not!'
The ponies expected a giant boom or something, but Discord only snapped his fingers.
'Eh... what's this!?' Chrysalis asked panicking.
The draconequus grinned in terror and guilt. 'I should strike a nice pose, lady,' he said. 'Because I'm turning you into stone.'
> Chapter 25 ~ The Last Chapter
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chrysalis didn't listen to Discord, and was made a statue in a terribly awkward pose.
As the Princess landed, the first pony she went to was Discord.
She smiled and said, 'Discord, my best friend since I was just a filly, you have saved my life and my kingdom.'
Luna coughed, but nopony listened.
'I have to do something back for you,' she continued. 'Oh, Discord, how would you like it to... you know, come to Canterlot, how about a hi tea together one day?'
Discord blushed, as far as you could see that under his fur, but kept looking in the wonderful, bright eyes of the Princess he loved. He took a breath to calm himself down.
'No,' he said.

'I don't... why did you reject her?' Pinkie Pie asked.
Discord shrugged. 'She's too old for me, I guess,' he said.
The pink pony squinted. 'How many years is between you, then?' she asked.
Discord counted on his fingers. 'About one and a half thousand,' he said. 'I... I started my life far after she was born.'
Twilight approached them, a book magically levitating behind her. 'Discord!' she yelled.
As she reached the two, puffing from tthe long run, she said, 'Why did you leave so soon?'
Discord had left the fields right after he rejected a certain alicorn, with Pinkie Pie and Cloud on his back, being followed by Heart and Haywing. The rest of the ponies went by train.
The draconequus shrugged again and said, 'Why wouldn't I? I had nothing to stay for.'
'This!' Twi replied, and the book fell on the ground in front of them. 'The Princesses gave it to me right after you left.'
The book was the book they were looking for. Inside the book, all Discord's mysteries were revealed and free to read.
Discord looked at the book for a moment.
'Nah, thanks,' he said. 'I wish to spend my days here in Ponyville, together with Pinkie Pie and her amazing friends.'
Pinkie squee'd and embraced Discord's left hind leg.
The draconequus stroke her mane carefully, so his nails wouldn't get stuck in her curls. 'I am sorry, Twilight. Not only for rejecting the Princess ánd the book, but also for all the things I've caused after I broke free.'
'You must be very brave to apologize,' Twilight replied.
Pinkie smiled. 'Doesn't matter, had chocolate rain.'
Discord turned to Pinkie. 'My ponyfriend, the first to see I had another side - even before I saw it - would you mind if I'd stay your friend forever?'
The pony opened her mouth widely. 'FOR EVEEEEEEER!'

Twilight Sparkle sat alone in the throne room at Canterlot. She was waiting for the princess to come by, who was just getting some tea.
As she walked through the doors, her fur whiter, her mane wavier, Twilight snapped out of her thoughts.
'What were you thinking?' Celestia asked, and put the tray with tea and cookies down on the tiny table.
Twilight hesitated, but then said, 'Aren't you mad Discord eventually rejected you, your highness?'
The Princess smiled. 'Love isn't a thing you can force, Twilight Sparkle. Neither is friendship. I knew I could never love him the way he loved me.'
'Do you think I have forced my friendship with Discord?' the purple unicorn asked then.
Celestia shook her head. 'After you stood up for him so bravely? I am certain you don't force any friendships, Twilight. You're too smart for that.'
Twilight silently took a sip of her tea.

'Thank you so much, Pinkie Pie,' the draconequus said. 'And all of you, thank you.'
Not only the Mane Six sat around the fireplace in Discord's new house - a cozy cave not far from Ponyville, where Discord could do all the random stuff he'd want -, two Pegasi and a unicorn had joined them.
'You're welcome,' Pinkie said, and Rarity poured Discord some more tea.
He smiled. 'Because of you, I know the matter of friendship,' he said. 'And that's the greatest gift somepony ever gave me.'