Cadence slammed the door to the library shut and dropped the massive, heavy iron bar inscribed with runes across it to keep it shut against any possible intruder. “I got the Elements!” she panted out, dropping the bags on the table and darting her eyes to the windows. “We’ve got to be fast, he isn’t going to be just yucking it up out there. Any word from Celestia?” Twilight shook her head at her and pointed to the sleeping and curled up Spike in his basket bed.

The curtains were drawn on all of the windows, which was probably smart. “There’s got to be something we can do to snap them out of this,” she muttered softly, turning to stare at the basement door. From behind it, sounds of arguing, bickering, and anger were seeping through the cracks. The sheer force of the animosity down there would have been enough to send most empaths into fits of tears. “Have you gotten anywhere with that book on emotion spells?”

Twilight sighed and snapped the book she was reading shut. “Nothing in here either. I just know the solution is connected to the Elements of Harmony.” She grabbed the now much worn and bookmarked Elements of Harmony book from all those months ago, and Cadence heaved a small sigh. She was sure of it too, but she was equally sure the answer wasn’t going to be found in a book. Still, if it was keeping Twilight from freaking out…

Outside the windows, the world had gone utterly mad. Only powerful magic and equally powerful protections forged between the two of them had kept the library from lifting off into the sky. Outside those windows, an ancient demon named Discord was threatening to turn the entire world into his chaotic little plaything. And all of their close friends, the Elements of Harmony, were under his sway right now, having been turned to their opposite selves and currently battling it out in the basement over a giant rock.

Cadence leaned wearily against the door as Twilight flitted from shelf to shelf, dragging down reference guides and research materials as she frantically searched for a way to restore her friends to normal. “Twilight, we’ve got to come at this from another angle. We’ve got to think about what he did to them!” She was sure it had something to do with emotion, but every time she’d tried one of her own emotionally based spells they’d just kind of… bounced off.

Twilight shook her head once. “I know, I’m trying to do that! Wait! I know I had…” Twilight turned and quickly hauled down an older, dustier tome than normal and began to carefully page through it. Cadence sighed heavily again and tugged one of the curtains shut a little harder, then… wait. What was that? She quickly looked through the windows, but there was nothing to be seen other than the usual chaos.

She frowned and closed the curtains again, “Twilight, did you…?” Before she could continue, there was an odd sound upstairs. Water? Rushing water? Twilight’s head came up, and she made a frustrated sound. Cadence nodded. “That’s the shower. I’ll handle it. How bloody childish...” she grumbled, trotting quickly up the stairs into Twilight’s rooms. Inside the bathroom, the shower was going off full blast, and Cadence relentlessly turned the dials to off, then slapped the valve into the closed position.

She glared at the showerhead until the final drips of water slowly slid out of it, then hit the floor of the tub with a plunk. “That’s better.” She turned on her hooves and did a little prancing step out into Twilight’s room… to find the door shut behind her. Something she very distinctly did not remember doing.

“I enjoy my small bits of chaos as much as the big shows,” Discord’s voice echoed inside the room, sinisterly gleeful. Cadence whipped about in place, planting her hooves firmly and calling her magic into her horn as strongly as she dared. The bathroom? No. The bookshelf? Nothing seemed out of place. None of the furniture looked strange… “Over here, dearest princess,” Discord chuckled, his voice a little less echoing but still massively annoying. “Why don’t you, oh I don’t know... think about what’s most important, hm?”

Cadence grit her teeth and turned resolutely to face a bright red framed picture sitting exactly where it always had, right on the night stand. It was the picture they’d taken with their friends after the Gala, of Twilight and Cadence in the foreground being mercilessly grinned at by the rest of her friends as they dumped rosepetals over them. Where they had gotten those petals… of course, now the petals were cupcakes, and Discord was sitting on Pinkie Pie’s head.

“Oh good show, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza!” Discord applauded from within the frame before disappearing from it in a white flash of magic and showing up in the bedroom at his full size. “I thought it would take you longer to figure it out.” He produced a teacup and an absurdly ugly chair and perched on it with an arrogant smirk. “Really, you’re not nearly as fun as Celly.”

“Maybe we should go find my Aunt then, and she can sort you out.” Cadence was glad that Twilight was downstairs right now. Whatever else this creature had done, he hadn’t shown the ability to be in two places at once. Maybe she could buy Twilight enough time… “Or you know, I suppose I could just do it myself. I imagine you’d look cute knitting up valentines for some lucky filly.” She put on her best confident grin, glaring him dead in the eye. She wasn’t about to give ground to this absurd creature.

“You know, I might just do that.” Discord appeared genuinely intrigued before a flash of his unidentifiable magic once again changed everything around him. He reappeared in the clothes of an old Canterlot mare, rocking in a chair and knitting little hearts and surround by plush toys the size of actual fillies and colts. “Nothing you can come up with matches what I can, Cadenza,” he sneered, enunciating that name she hated so much before flashing back to his usual self. “But as much as it pains my soul…” there was a horrible crunching sound from inside where she assumed his gut was, “I want to have a serious talk with you.”

“What do you mean, serious?” She pitched her voice low, the sound of rumbling books downstairs causing her to grit her teeth. She wasn’t going to give this thing the satisfaction of seeing her worried about anything. “I didn’t think you could do serious without hacking up a lungfish.” She just had to keep him occupied, so she returned his slight sneer, not letting go of her magic for one second. She didn’t imagine she could hurt him, but she might need to protect herself.

“I like pulling more interesting things out my mouth, thank you,” Discord replied, beginning to pace back and forth. “Which, I’ll have you know, is something I do when I just want to tell something something. I’m actually asking a question right now. I really have been trying to figure out why you’re here at all. Care to elaborate, because I’m just baffled.”

She stared at him, wondering where in the name of Celestia’s flank that question had come from. “What in… What do you mean ‘why am I here’?! I’m here because the filly I love is here, and I’m not about to be separated from her.” She almost spat at his… something. Talons? Hooves? “Not an emotion I’d expect you to be familiar with, to be honest.”

“Ugh,” he answered in a nasally voice and shivered like he was water being rippled over. “I’ve never liked that emotion since well, since a long time ago, but I must say, you could’ve fooled me. No wedding certificates, no hoof holding. I really can’t say I’ve seen anything about you that tells me you love anypony at all.” He suddenly turned, and frowned at her like a disapproving teacher. “But that still does not explain why you are here. Go on. Try again, little princess. I’ll give you two more chances.”

That was enough to snap a little something inside Cadence. “You don’t know a damn thing, you foul creature!” Auntie Luna was apparently rubbing off on her, because she felt her voice turn into a thunderous sound. Maybe it would warn Twilight that things were going to get nasty… or she hoped it would. She called her magic, deeply seated in the power of her Love, and brandished it at him. “You want to find out just how in Love I really am? Let me give you a little taste!”

“Hrm, hrm, hrm,” Discord laughed in his chest. An ominous sound. “Yes... but first, why don’t we turn that frown upside down.” And before she could retaliate, he had, somehow, lifted the magic glowing on her horn off of it, turned it the other way and slid it back on. And Cadance felt the oddest sensation flooding through her body. “There, gray suits you well, Princess.”

She stared into space for a moment, as the magic backlashed through her body like nothing else had ever done before. Whatever thoughts or fears she might have had were obliterated in its wake, and she staggered back a step as she desperately tried to figure out what was going on. Then, as if all at once, everything became clear. The world became simple, and pure, and easy to understand. What was really important, indeed.

She felt her mouth stretch into a rictus like grin. Yes, it did suit her well. All the better to portray the glory of her Love to the world. “I suppose you’re right…” she half-purred, half-rasped... and called all of that lovely power back into her horn. Really, he had been so kind in putting the world in its rightful perspective. She decided she wouldn’t destroy him for that. But really, he couldn’t be allowed to keep bothering her Love. All that stress wasn’t good for her! “Let me show you my… appreciation.” Her hooves ground into the wooden floor, and as if from nowhere, jagged black crystals shot up out of the ground, shattering the floor and looming ominously to either side of her.

“Oh, you’re too kind, Cadenza,” Discord laughed, but it was a nervous chuckle this time. “But you know me, I always make my own gifts. I think I’ll go change some sunflowers into tiny suns to burn up the bugs when they come around. Ciao.” A spark of his magic later, and Discord was holding onto an important-looking suitcase and wearing quite the… appealing suit. How could she let such a handsome creature go so early?

“Oh, no no no no no no nooooooo…” Cadence sweetly said. Or at least, it was supposed to be sweet. Her magic lashed out and a spray of black crystal blocked out the light coming through the window behind him. “No, I think you should stay right here. Where I can keep an EYE on you.” Her magic lashed out again right at his feet, and a magnificent cage of black crystals bloomed up and around him in a beautiful display of colors before they set as solid as iron.

“This is ridiculous!” Discord growled, seriously irritated now. He snapped his talon and the cage of crystals pomfed into a shower of colored daisies. “I said I was going, and so I am. I’m done here with what I came to do.’

She felt her voice bubbled up into a bright, demented giggle. No. Not demented. Cute! Sexy! Sultry! Very sultry. Just like Twilight liked it. “Oh, I don’t think so.” She swished her tail and flank at him quite sassily, her smile stretching wide again. “You’re going to stay right there, like a good little gentlecolt, until I can get around to dealing with your bad manners.” She giggled softly, her magic pulsing out down into the floor and the treehouse itself…

“Whatever, go have your fun with that infernal brat downstairs. It’ll lower her concentration anyway,” Discord grumbled, and when he took a step forward, promptly squashed his face into what was unmistakably an invisible wall. After peeling off the surface like a sticker, he shook a talon at Cadence. “Obsession. By my beard, I ought to have seen that coming.” He shook his head ruefully, still grinning. “But you won’t be able to stop me. Now that all of you have gone bonkers like me, it’s only a matter of time before Sun Butt’s student goes on her own. Who are you going have to ‘love’ when she has no friends?”

She wiggled her flank at him as she pranced toward the door, laughing throatily. “Oh, Discord. You really don’t get it.” She arched her neck in a very sexy manner, eyeballing him smokily. “Who said my beloved needed anypony else but me? And when she’s ready, we’ll come up here and wrap you in such chains of Love that you’ll put everything back exactly the way she wants it…” She felt her grin turn sinister and found she kind of liked it. “Who knows. You might even enjoy it once I’ve…. whipped you into shape.” Then she slammed the door shut behind her and smiled brightly at Twilight, who was staring up at her at the top of the steps with more than a little concern.

Dear, dear. She really had to make that worry go away, and she knew just the cure.

Twilight felt a lump settle into her throat. The thundering sounds above her head had turned into an eerie, frightening silence, and Cadence had swept out of her bedroom looking washed out and wild eyed. She slammed the door to the bedroom behind her with a satisfied smirk. “Don’t worry so much, my Love,” she purred out in her huskiest, sexiest voice. It was a voice that never failed to make Twilight’s mind sit up and take notice, and she felt a little shiver down her spine. “I’ve locked up our little problem upstairs. He really doesn’t understand the power of my love for you…” she cooed out, slowly descending the stairs in a hip swaying motion.

Twilight felt some of the tension seep out of her chest and fell back against one of the tables, pressing her hooves into it and sighing softly. No wonder she looked so grayed out. It had to have taken a massive burst of power to contain a being like Discord, even for an Alicorn like Cadence was. Now they would have all the time they needed to find a way to help her friends. “You’re absolutely amazing, Cadence,” she said with a small smile.

Cadence was already on the main floor of the library, and was still moving with a blatantly sexual slant to her body language. “Oh, goddess, no Love…” she whispered out, her eyes narrowing faintly, a slow smile on her face. “I’m nothing in comparison to you…” She lifted a hoof and ran it through Twilight’s mane, her voice oddly raspy. “Your brilliant mind. Your…” She licked her lips, hungrily… “Luscious body. Everything about you, so utterly perfect.”

That…. That was very strange. Actually, it was kind of scary. Twilight cleared her throat, giving a little false cough before speaking. “Um… Thanks, but we really ought to get back to figuring out how to help Applejack and everypony else.” She turned away, trying to slip from her closeness to Cadence… only to find Cadence had slipped around her in perfect match to her movements. She felt startled, jumping back toward the table in surprise only for a pillow to neatly interdict her impact.

“Oh, no, Darling. You’ve been working far too hard.” Cadence cooed at her, gently brushing at Twilight’s shoulders with sensual hooves. “Come now, beloved. You need to take a little break.” Cadence was pressing herself up against her now, her breath hot on her neck. “Relax. Let me take care of everything you’ll ever need…” Her voice was all wrong, no matter how hot and sexy. There was a wild light in her eye, and Twilight’s every nerve was afire with fear.

This wasn’t right, no matter how much Twilight kinda wished it was. Her magic felt wrong in a way that made her want to scream in fear. She had heard Discord up there, but now there was no sound or stirrings, and the chaos outside had seemingly stilled itself. What had Cadence done up there?

“Don’t get distracted dearest,” Cadance said, whipping Twilight’s attention back to her. “I’ve taken care of everything. Ponyville is fine. You don’t have to work on that anymore. We can finally have some time… alone.” Twilight had been with Cadence long enough to know her looks. And Cadence grinned a lot, especially when things got hot between the two of them. But the grin she had now was as far from pleasurable as the sun was from the moon. It was downright… perverted.

“Cadence, could… could you let me up for just a sec?” she stuttered, hoping that would get the chance she need to see what had gone wrong upstairs. “Close my books, you know…”

“Hows that?” she asked, her magic flowing over her horn and snapping the books shut and making Twilight flinch. She really was out of options now, and she didn’t want to think about how this Cadence would react if she completely turned her head away from those ever close lips. She tried to push herself out from underneath Cadence, but it wasn’t fast enough and a hoof against her forehead stopped her from going very far.

“Twilight, why would you want to go? You’ve never wanted to go,” Cadence said, her voice lilting in all the wrong places. She was so distracted by the many nuances that had turned dark in her marefriend that it was only after its shocking cold touch gripped at her hooves that Twilight gasped at the sight of black crystals wrapping themselves around her. They were hard and strong as diamond, and they began to spread her legs wide at Cadence’s will. “I don’t ever want you to go. I’m always going to be with you, so you can never get into any trouble I can’t take care of first. Of course, that doesn’t mean we can’t have a little trouble of our own.” She giggled, a touch of madness seeping through in her voice. “And I’m jussst fine with that.”

Twilight was hyperventilating now. She had a dreading feeling she knew what was coming, the way Cadence was hovering over her. An ethereal brush of magic teased at her marehood, and she had to tense her mouth shut to keep from making any sound. “No?” Cadence asked in mock surprise. “How about something more… real?” A tubular shape began to shimmer in magic between Cadence’s legs, and she began to ease it down toward Twilight’s nethers. “I know you’ve always wanted this…” Cadence purred, and Twilight felt something very distinctly not magical pressing up against her.

Her mind paralyzed between two feelings. One was an astonishment at the casting of a spell she had never been sure was even possible, followed instantly by a dark and instinct fueled desire to see just how functional it was. The other feeling was one of pure fear, that she knew exactly to what end Cadence intended to direct that particular new piece of her. Fear spurred her power into action, and thus into strength. Her horn blazed with power, and she warped the very fabric of space around her…

Only to crash snout first into one of her reading chairs, sending it, her, and a nearby pile of books into a tumble as she teleported out of the bonds. That produced a delighted yet utterly insane giggle from Cadence, and Twilight grabbed at the power mid-tumble, trying to ignore the pain in her nose and direct herself a little more precisely. The next thing she knew, she was… in the basement.

There was another crash as she landed flank first onto a pile of well placed pillows, but fortunately it was a quiet one. She gripped at her snout for a moment, and carefully rubbed it to assess the damage. Nothing serious just… just a little blood. Blood that was fairly easily wiped away with the edge of one of the pillow cases and held back with the barest touch of magic. Her five friends could be seen from where she had landed, but none of them paid her much mind. They’d apparently worn themselves out arguing or competing with one another and had separated to five corners of the room to grouse quietly.

She stared at them in silence, feeling some of her hopes and enthusiasm drain out of her. Discord might be oddly absent, but now she had to contend with somepony far, far worse. A Cadence apparently determined to chain her up and pour her special brand of ‘love’ all over her until she drowned in it. She was out of time and resources to find a solution, and now she had a bloody nose. She wiped at it carefully, taking deep breaths and looking up. She could not help but stare at the small exterior window in the basement, now completely blocked off by glittering black crystals.

Cadence had to be behind it. Those crystals would likely soon envelop the whole tree, and with it all her research materials and her five friends. There was no telling what Cadence might do to them in order to make her co-operate with her if she ran, and so… so… what could she do? There had to be something. There had to be someway to snap her out of this!

She stared at each of her five friends, this time trying to find the connection. Rarity, obsessing over that rock she insisted was a diamond. Rainbow Dash, utterly uncaring about what was going on. Applejack unable to speak anything that was true. Fluttershy, suddenly turned… “Mean,” she breathed softly, running a hoof through her mane. “Opposites. Polar opposites. But then what…” She shook her head slowly. “Obsession. Love, turned wrong. No wonder she’s… but how could I…”

Thoughts raced through her head, chasing one another down the road of her mind over and over again. The thoughts made sense, isolated, but that wasn’t going to help her if she was going to help Cadence. She needed a concrete plan. She needed evidence, she needed- “Love,” she whispered, and a power surged through her. It was a crazy idea, but with the Elements fundamentally out of commission, it was worth a try.

She quickly ran hooves through her mane, trying to focus on the tiny nebulous thought that her moment of stress had spawned. It would be incredibly dangerous, especially if it didn’t work. She knew, more than anypony else alive, exactly what Cadence could do with her magic if she was so inclined. And now, with the state she was in, all of the moral and personal restrictions upon that magic would mean nothing. Twilight was literally going to have to walk up to the manticore and stick her head inside it’s jaws, while it was hungry. It was insane. Suicidal even.

It was the only idea she had.

So she did what any sane pony would do. She wrote a few quick notes, stashing them in her secret compartments down here in her lab. She looked to each one of her friends and summoned up the image of them in their happiest prime. With all the courage she could then muster, she sucked in a deep breath and began to march up the steps, one by one. She had to be strong for Cadence, for Applejack and Pinkie Pie and for all the rest of them.

But most importantly of all, because she wasn’t going to give up her Love without a fight.

The main room of the library was terrifyingly beautiful. Every shelf and surface glittered with a glorious latticework of black crystals. Dark chains of the stuff hung from the ceiling and Twilight swallowed at the sight of sinister looking furniture that she had only glimpsed in some of the most daring clubs in Canterlot. She had only the faintest idea of what they would be used for, but she knew that pain was one of the primary reasons. The entire place looked like some kind of fetish art piece, and it sent a chill down her spine.

But no matter how chilled she got, she knew what she had to do here. “Cadence?” she whispered into the almost eerie silence. “Where did you-” She was cut off by a sudden burst of bright, sensual music and nearly teleported herself right through the roof of the tree. Once she settled though, she cocked an ear at the music. It was really quite smooth and soothing, even if she couldn’t put her hoof on the artist.

“Right here, beloved,” came Cadence’s whisper soft voice, as she slipped around one of the bookshelves and Twilight’s jaw nearly unhinged. Somehow, in the bare few minutes that Twilight had been downstairs, she’d completely done herself up in dusky purple makeup and bright red lip gloss. She wore a set of lacy, fine mesh stockings and a sleek robe of glittery black silk that Twilight was certain she had never seen before. She swayed in time with the music, her eyes smouldering coals of desire, and all of the stiffness gone from her limbs. “I’m sorry I got a little antsy with you, dearheart. Could you ever forgive me?” Her words oozed sincerity, and Twilight didn’t believe it for a minute.

But then, believing her had very little to do with her plan. “Of course, love. I’m sorry I took fright so easily,” she simpered back, putting on her best playful voice and trotting slowly over to where Cadence stood by the middle of the room. There, where once the horse-head carving had stood, now a glittering spire of black crystal arched into the ceiling. The very presence of the stuff sent a stab of fear into her heart, but she swallowed it hard. “I know you were only trying to soothe me.” Twilight’s guts twisted at the lie, but…

Cadence clapped her hooves together happily, her eyes brightening a touch. “Oh, goodness. I’m so relieved you understand…” Her smile twisted a little, and it was all Twilight could do at first not to wince away from her, but she held her smile firm. That bastard thinks he can make her break me… but I’m going to show Discord exactly how strong what I have with her is. “I just want to keep you safe,” she whispered, all too quietly. That was the emotion laying at the core of Cadence right now, and Twilight intended to stroke it like a greedy cat.

“I know,” Twilight responded quietly, snuggling up against Cadence’s chest and taking some small comfort in the fact that the mare in front of her was still, at her core, the mare she loved. “You’ve always been there, and always kept me safe. I should know better than to doubt that you would keep doing so.” Another twist in her gut, because what came next was going to be the biggest gamble in her life. Bonne Chance, Twilight. She put on her best gentle smile and kissed lightly at Cadence’s cheek. “Besides, you did intrigue me a little with that offer of yours…”

Cadence giggled, once again full of a vague madness that sent shivers down her spine. Again came the feeling of cold magic, but this time she would not show that magic any fear. It was part of Cadence, and she was not afraid of her, so she would not be afraid of it. Beautiful shackles encircled her hooves, delicate yet strong as steel. “Oh, I know… I could sense your desire,” Cadence cooed. Twilight felt her throat contract as a sleek collar in the same delicate, lacy style of her hoof-bindings wrapped around it. She would not be afraid, no matter how much she might want to be. “I could sense your raw need to be my beautiful little broodmare.” Her voice was laced thick with the promise of that statement, a hard appendage pressing up against Twilight’s thigh.

Twilight sucked in a short, final breath and closed her eyes. She hoped Cadence would interpret that an entirely different way, because now… Now I’ve got to put on the biggest show of my life. She suppressed her fears, suppressed her mind, and focused on the core of sensuality that Cadence had given her. Focused on the love that she felt for this mare and for everything they’d shared together. She felt the smile bloom on her face slowly and stretched out her four chained limbs, only to wrap them sinuously around Cadence’s body. “I can’t imagine a better way to spend eternity than with you,” she whispered sensually into Cadence’s ear, and felt the mare shiver in response to it. She had to keep pouring it on. “And I’ve always wanted foals.” That wasn’t precisely true… but it wasn’t a lie either.

Even so, just saying it seemed to send a wave of heat through Cadence’s body. “Oh, goodness… Yes, that does sound nice.” There were warm cracks in her voice, as though even her cursed condition could not conceal her desire for that outcome. That thick, warm shaft pressed up against her marehood, and it did not take much for Twilight to push herself back against it, trying to draw it in deeper into her body. Her crystal chains clinked with her movement, brushing with an odd warmth against her body. “Mm… Such a pretty mare. My pretty mare, forever and ever...” Cadence cooed darkly into her ear, and Twilight once again had to suppress a shiver.

Cadence’s hips pistoned in, without a word of warning, and Twilight felt herself split upon the thick pony-cock. It was thicker than anything she’d taken before, and oh-so-deliciously real. It was hot and pulsed inside her, and for a moment she did not have to fake her passion with a sweet moan that sang into the air and reverberated off the crystals all over the room. The reverberations turned her moans ghostly and strange, wailing them across the room. The sound made all of her hair stand up on end, but…

Goddess, it was like her lust shot through the roof at the mere sound. It was hard to concentrate on her plan, between the big thing between her legs and that strange magic coursing through her, she could barely think. But ‘barely’ was still thinking, so she kept pushing on. “Yes… Your’s forever,” she hissed back, grasping Cadence’s body more tightly to her. “Perfectly safe and sound in your hooves, rutting against one another naughtily.” She giggled softly, not even having to force it.

Cadence’s laugh was almost normal in return, yet still there was that hard edge beneath it. She needed more. Twilight wrapped her hind legs a little tighter and arched her back up fetchingly. Cadence responded quickly, pressing herself in tightly to Twilight. “Mmf… More,” she growled into Twilight’s ear, and her hips began to pump back and forth into her. It was a glorious sensation, a warmth and fullness that drew sweet moans from her throat. However strange or frightening her surroundings, she knew the mare atop her loved her… and she was going to draw that love out, one way or another.

So she squeezed her inner muscles tightly around the phallus inside her, digging the edges of her hooves into Cadence’s back and writhing in place upon the book-table she now laid upon. Remember what she told you… “You can have it all…” she whispered heatedly, feeling the weight of Cadence’s body pressing into hers. “It all belongs to you already. Safe in your hooves, forever.”

Cadence’s voice was ragged as she ploughed into Twilight, and Twilight bit back her own cries of pleasure so she could hear. “Yes… safe… Mine…” She seethed with power, her magic pouring out into the world with reckless abandon and being sucked up into the black crystalline structures that surrounded them. But some of that magic, that raw power poured onto Twilight and set her to shivering.

Cadence’s love magic was a powerful aphrodisiac, but this… this was obsession. Raw, pure, total adoration that bordered on the psychotic, and all of it was for her. The feeling of the sex intensified a hundredfold, and Twilight nearly lost her senses in that sea of worship of her and her very being. Her mind flooded with images of Cadence and her, spending every waking hour of eternity together… locked up in a tower of black crystal that sang with the sounds of their mutual pleasure cascading up to the sky.

But it was a cold dream. A dream unworthy of Cadence, and of her.

Twilight gripped at Cadence’s body and pushed her head up, pressing the tip of her horn to Cadence’s and letting loose a torrent of her own power into it. The pleasure crested between them and her magic surged, her eyes going milky white with power. She screamed wordlessly, trying to express how she felt… trying to express years upon years of patience, of hope and of love. Trying desperately to show the mare atop her what her love meant to her, and what it always would…

Cadence’s scream joined hers, and a feeling of warmth surged into Twilight’s belly. Their horn tips felt fused together by coruscating magics that twisted and writhed against one another with an unquenchable passion. Over and over, their combined magics twisted together into a thick column of colors and sound and life…

And the world exploded in light.

For a few long, silent moments, Twilight could not see nor hear anything. But she could feel something, something warm and soft pressed against her. She could feel a presence, like magic itself, sitting just out of reach but always willing to come closer. It was a gentle sort of spirit, fragile in many ways, but stronger than the hardest rock in others. That spirit wept and clung to her relentlessly, whispering words she could not understand.

But she didn’t need to understand it, she realized. She just needed to hold on to it, to protect it, and indeed to nourish it with every fiber of her being. “It’s okay…” she whispered, though they were not words. “I’m not going to leave you,” she tried to assure the spirit, comforting it and holding it close.

“But… but I am broken,” it whispered back to her. “Worthless. Weak. How can I possibly protect you?” The voice was Cadence’s, and the world was slowly seeping back from the endless white. Her eyes were squeezed shut and tears flowed freely from them.

Twilight lifted a hoof, the power slowly melting away from them. “You are stronger than you think, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza.” Twilight spoke in the firmest, most Celestia-like tones that she possibly could.

Cadence cracked open a brilliant violet eye and smiled ruefully, the gray slowly washing away from her. “You know how much I hate that name, Twilight Sparkle.” Her voice was mock serious, and there was a mischievous twinkle in her eye. “I should leave you chained up like this for that.”

Twilight felt the tension slowly drain out of her and laughed faintly. “Funny how you make that sound like so much fun.” She shook her head slowly, lifting her hooves to stare at the strange, cold black crystals. “Not with these though. What is this stuff?” She shook it, and the sound it made was unlike anything she’d heard before.

Cadence shook her head. “I don’t know, but…” She paused, midword, then swallowed. “Twilight, why does it feel like I’ve got a raging stiffy stuffed inside you?” She licked her lips and looked awfully nervous… so nervous that Twilight couldn’t help but let off a bubbling laugh. “Oh goddess…” Cadence sighed, shifting her hips in such a way that made Twilight moan sweetly.

Truth was, it still felt wonderful, even if it had been summoned in a less than pleasant manner. “I thought you said you couldn’t cast that spell,” she huffed at Cadence and smacked her shoulder. “Now, get me out of these things. We need to go downstairs and help our friends wake up.” Then she paused, and very begrudgingly continued, “And I suppose you’d better get rid of the cock too, just for now.”

Cadence sighed. “Look, I don’t know if I can… Ngh… get you pregnant like this.” She tugged her hips back and there was a soft slurping sound and a feel of faint emptiness… then an oozing feeling down her thigh, and Cadence sighed dramatically. “Which we might just find out now.” Twilight felt a flush of warmth, and wondered why that sounded like not such a bad idea…

Cadence huffed and her horn lit up. “Gods, I hope I can remember the counter-spell. I haven’t summoned this thing since I was….” She paused, her cheeks bright red. “Um, maybe I shouldn’t talk about that. Heh.”

Twilight stared at her, then shook her head slowly. “You are so lucky I love you.”

Twilight shivered a little as she entered her own room, the entirety of it bathed from ceiling to floor in black crystalline structures, and there in the middle stood a spookily serious Discord. “This isn’t the way things are supposed to happen, you know.” He wasn’t fooling around, nor was he laughing. His eyes were stone cold yellow orbs, madness lurking behind them. “Not any of this. She was never supposed to be here.” His talon extended sinisterly toward Cadence.

“And just what is that supposed to mean, Discord?” Cadence demanded quietly. Behind them, one by one, Twilight’s friends filed into the room in silence. Each of them restored to their own glorious colors, and each bearing their Element of Harmony.

Discord sneered, but it was not full of malice. Only a grim sort of humor. “Someone changed things. Turned them around, switched them about. I’ve got to admire the kind of chaos it causes, of course, but it’s really not fair to the rest of us.” He huffed, sticking his feet up with a snap of his claws, reclining on a massive and ugly red chair. “You don’t seem to get it, but how could you? Seeing through the realms of space and time is part of the reason I’m so delightfully mad.”

Twilight felt a lump in her throat, but forced the words past her lips anyway. “Quit being so bloody vague! Who changed what? And who do you mean by ‘the rest of us’?!” She stomped her hoof, her crown perched firmly upon her head and practically vibrating with the power of Harmony.

He smirked faintly at her, ticking off his talons. “Myself, the showpony, the ex-student, the shadow king, just to name a few. Oh, there are so very many of us, you know. Each lined up like a bowling pin by your dear Princess Celestia, to see if you’re worthy of that little trinket upon your head.” His words singsonged as little light illusions played upon the air, one of which was almost shaped like an Alicorn… and he snapped it out of the air. “And of course, there’s her. The one with the audacity to actually play with History. That’s MY schtick!” he spat, and a globule of screaming acid hit the side of his crystal cage and sizzled against it.

He glared daggers at her, his claws grasping the black crystal firmly. “I will be very disappointed in you if you don’t show up Sunbutt’s little plans like I know you will.” His smirk curled into a nasty little smile. “Not that she realizes that yet, oh no.” Then he dissolved into fits of giggles, throwing himself back onto the chair and clutching at his sides. “Oh, what a tangled web we weave, dearest Celestia!” he crowed at the top of his lungs.

“Twilight…” That was Applejack, her hoof gentle on her shoulder. “This ain’t gettin us nowhere. Let’s deal with ‘im.” Twilight took in a slow, deep breath and nodded. Right now was not the time to think of the accusations she’d just heard… or the possibilities the mad rantings of this fiend had opened up.

Instead, now was the time to restore Ponyville to the way it was supposed to be. She felt the power of the elements surge through her, and a bright light filled up the room as Discord continued to laugh like a true madpony, right up to the point where he was once again turned to stone.

The citizens of Ponyville were celebrating.

Cheers rose into the air and mugs of foaming cider were knocked against one another vigorously. Princess Celestia smiled faintly down upon the celebrations, even as the Royal Guard and physicians from Canterlot Royal Hospital tended to those in need. For many, it would be some time before they fully recovered from the psychological effects of what Discord had done to them. For others, it would take little more than a few shots of whiskey and a frisky mare or stallion to drive off the memories.

For herself, though, there were other concerns.

Her eyes turned to the Golden Oaks Library, where jagged shards of black crystal hung from the tree limbs like cruel Hearth’s Warming decorations. The very sight of those crystals had sent paroxysms of fear through her heart, but the Elements of Harmony had assured her Cadence and Twilight were both hale and hearty… and had demanded her presence inside at her earliest convenience. Alone.

Even so, she was not afraid. Discord’s statue had been dragged from the treehouse some hours earlier, and now was being transported under the heaviest guard back to Canterlot. The old demon had served his purpose and would now remain imprisoned for as long as was necessary to complete her task.

So she picked up her hooves and strode past the perimeter around the treehouse. Disposing of those crystals would be a difficult process, but she had hopes that Cadence would be amenable to a discussion on the subject. Within the treehouse, the entire interior looked as though it had been redecorated to the tastes of…. she dared not even think his name, for fear that it might summon him out of the ether. Too much had now happened far ahead of schedule for her to take any chances. She shivered at the cold, ruthless quality to the magically made furniture and the sight of shackles and chains.

“Princess Celestia.” The voice was soft, but unmistakably that of Twilight Sparkle, and she turned with a sigh of pure relief. Cadence and she were both as normal looking as they had ever been, without so much as a trace of the dark magics of… him. But the looks on their faces were grim and set, and neither looked very joyful. She felt a chill enter her heart then, as Twilight said in a gentle but firm voice, “We need to talk.”