Ch.4: Situation About a Cure

A short while later, in Princess Celestia's room, Twilight, Rarity, and Spike told their friends and the Princesses about the Golden Arrow of Eros that Twilight had perfected and planned to give to the Princess before it hit Discord. When they were done with their story, their audience was it shock.

"Whoa, Nelly…" Applejack said in awe. "I sure didn't see that one comin'."

"Yes," Fluttershy concurred, "it certainly is…unexpected."

"Oh, wow!" Pinkie Pie cried, being her usual too-much-caffeine self. "An arrow that makes others fall in love. That is so neat! I bet it would come in handy in the matchmaking business!"

"Uh, Pinkie," Rainbow said matter-of-factly, "in case you forgot…OUR BIGGEST ENEMY IS NOW IN LOVE WITH THE PRINCESS!" Princess Luna sighed sadly as she sunk into her star-patterned cushions.

"As if Discord turning me into Nightmare Moon was not bad enough," she fretted out loud. "Now he is immune to becoming stone again by the Elements of Harmony and is threatening to taketh away Celestia like he is Prince Charming or something." Seeing how upset her younger sister is, Celestia lied down beside her and wrapped a comforting wing around Luna's shoulders.

"Do not worry, little sister," he assured her softly. "I am not going anywhere. I promise."

"Sister, how could thou sayeth that?" Luna cried, looking up at her with tears forming in her teal eyes. "Now that Discord is obsessed with thee, he probably plans to kidnap thee find some way to make thee marry him! And if thou does, he will rule over Equestria once more, and…Oh, I do not even wisheth to think about it!" She then buried her face into Celestia's neck and sobbed.

"Shhh…" Celestia said to her soothingly. "Now, now, Luna…it will be alright…Shhh…" Twilight, nervous about how the High Princess feels about the whole Golden Arrow scenario, approached her slowly.

"Princess Celestia," she said to her with a lump in her throat, "I'm am so sorry about getting you involved in all of this. If I had just remembered the Arrow, I would have left it with Spike so that it wouldn't hit Discord. Oh, this is all my fault!" Celestia simply looked up at her with a comforting smile.

"Do not be so hard on yourself, my faithful student," she said to her comfortingly. "You were just so focused on the disaster and our safety. Anyone who would have known about the Arrow would have forgotten about it tucked away in your pack for my sake."

"Speaking of the Arrow," Rarity asked Twilight, "does the book you've found the spell in say anything about a cure, darling?" Twilight then thought about it.

"I think so," she answered. "I never got to that part because I was more focused on creating the Arrow. Besides, I've a feeling that it can't be anything pretty."

"I agree," Rarity said after a bit of thought. "If the Golden Love Arrow is beautiful, then its opposite has to be hideous."

"Maybe, Sugar Cube," Applejack replied, "but what have we to loose?"

"I have to agree with Applejack," Fluttershy stated. "Unless we cure Discord, he might do something drastic like Princess Luna said."

"HOLD IT!" Pinkie Pie cried, shooting her front hoof into the air like an enthusiastic student wanting to answer her teacher's question.

"No, Pinkie," Twilight groaned. "We are not keeping Discord around so that you can have the chocolate rain."

"That's not what I was objecting about," the pink Pony stated quickly. "I was going to say that if the Golden Arrow has made Discord fall in love with the Princess, then he won't have a reason to destroy her. Think, girls. If he's in love with the Princess, he'd turn good so that she'd love him back. And if he turns good, then he'll cause chaos to Equestria less often! Except for the cotton candy clouds raining chocolate milk, of course.

"However, if we cure Discord, he'll be back to his old self and try to destroy the Princess. And that would be too sad, even for the Princess herself. That cure to the Love Arrow could even be a Hate Arrow!"

"Whoa, whoa, WHOA! Time out and back up!" Rainbow Dash said quickly. "Are you saying we should let Discord stay in love with the Princess? That's the craziest thing I've ever heard in my entire life."

"I don't know, Rainbow," Twilight said to her after some thought. "I think Pinkie might be on to something about that Hate Arrow part."

"Yup," Applejack concurred over a bit of thought as well. "Big Macintosh even told me before I got my Cutie Mark, 'Lil' Sister, thar's a fine line between love 'n' hate'."

"Pinkie Pie certainly has a point," Princess Celestia stated. "If the opposite of the Love Arrow is indeed a Hate Arrow, the results of Discord getting hit from it will be disastrous."

"But what are we to do?" Rainbow Dash protested. "You're not suggesting that we keep Discord in love with you, are you, Princess?"

"I think the first thing we should do is to bring the book here and look into it," the Alicorn answered calmly. "If the book does have a cure, we will then decide whether or not we should use it."

"Good idea, Princess," Twilight said. "Last time I saw the book, I left it on my desk back in the Ponyville Library. I think we should go get it from there because I forgot the title."

"Then let's go already," Rainbow yelled, getting impatient from the whole Discord-in-love-with-Celestia situation.

Unknown to the Ponies, however, Discord, Kaa, and Hiss were listening in on their conversation, disguised as vines wrapping around the open bedroom window. When they have heard all they needed to hear, they slithered underneath the window to talk, staying in their vine guises.

"What do you think, Massster?" asked Kaa quietly. "Should we cure you?"

"Are you kidding?" the Draconequus answered with a glare. "Falling in love with Princess Celestia is the best thing that has ever happened to me since breaking free from my stone prison."

"Ssso you are sssaying we should get to the book first before they do?" asked Hiss.

"Of course," their boss answered with a knowing smile. "And if Twilight got that Golden Arrow from that book, I can make a Golden Arrow of my own and use it on Celestia."

"But then…" Kaa replied, "she will fall in love with you."

"Exactly," the demon stated. "It will make courting, wooing, and marrying her all the better for me."

"Looksss like you really are in love," Kaa replied.

"Never mind that," his superior hissed. "Let's just get that book." And with the snap of his fingers, they teleported out of their hiding spot.