Twilight sat a good ten miles from Ponyville now as she looked over the edge of a cliff with a saddened expression. As much as she wanted to practice, the thoughts of Scootaloo and her brother plagued her mind. "What do I tell them? Its not like I can just walk up to my brother and explain to him that he knocked me up with his daughter when he has no memory of even doing such a thing." The Alicorn remarked aloud and sighed.

"And Scootaloo, How could I possibly explain why I left her? Sure I could tell that it wasn't my fault and that it was Celestia's doing but then she'd ask why princess Celestia would do such a thing to begin with… How can I explain to my own daughter that she's the product of an incestious relationship? It could shatter her very world. After all, I'm sure I wouldn't react well if I was told that my parents were brother and sister." She continued and sighed once more.

The Alicorn sat there a little longer, running the possible scenarios through her mind of how she could tell Scootaloo at the very least. "She has the right to know, besides if any evil pony found out she was my daughter, even in passing, she's royalty and it could put her in great danger." Twilight surmised.

The wind blew through her mane as she looked down towards Ponyville, despite being unable to see anything within the town, she pictured Scootaloo's smiling face which caused her to let out a happy sigh. "At least she's been well taken care of all of these years but I can't help but wonder, I was pregnant with her when I was a unicorn, both me and Shining Armor were unicorns, how could she be a Pegasus? Could it have been like the cakes? They said they had a unicorn and Pegasus in their family tree but then again, according to Scootaloo, Mr. Cake isn't the father either." Twilight pondered aloud as she gave a thoughtful glance towards the city.

Twilight then recalled the fact that despite Scootaloo's age, she still is unable to fly. This very thought put a very horrifying aspect into her mind. "Oh no, what if because me and Shining Armor are brother and sister, it caused her to have a birth defect? If that's the case, her wings may never fully grow out and she might never fly. And it would be all our fault…" Twilight surmised once again as tears of guilt threatened to stream from her eyes.

"No! I won't let that happen to her! First thing I'm going to do after all this is over, is cast a spell on her to allow her wings to grow out fully!" Twilight exclaimed out in a determined tone only to frown once again. "If only there was a spell that allowed me to do that…" She added in a depressed tone.

It was at this exact moment that her horn surged with magic at which point she suddenly found herself teleported to the front of a waterfall, on top of a charging pack of buffaloes, and then between two hard rocks. The Alicorn let out an irritated growl at her lack of control over her magic. "I swear if my magic had a voice it would crack a very bad joke right about now…" Twilight remarked irritably

A voice roared which Twilight immediately recognized due to the sisters transferring not only their magic to her but part of their memories of Tirek to her as well. "Tirek!" She exclaimed in a whisper.

Tirek's voice roared once again at which point Twilight exploded from between the rocks and soared past the Centar unintentionally, made a U-turn and skidded to a halt by slamming smack dab into Tirek's leg. The Alicorn immediately backed away from Tirek in fear as his full form stood before her.

"You're going to give me what I want!" Tirek exclaimed and began to inhale in an attempt to drain the Alicorn's magic only for Twilight to teleport away to the one place she could think of which was her library.

"Princess Twilight?" A voice asked which Twilight instantly recognized as Scootaloo's as she looked down.

She quickly looked into her telescope and saw Tirek charging up a huge magical blast and firing it at her. Maternal instinct kicked in almost immediately as the Alicorn teleported to Scootaloo and huddled over her with her body and wings to shield her daughter from the incoming blast.

With a fearsome explosion, Twilight and Scootaloo were thrust from the library and landed on the ground a short distance away. The Alicorn looked back to see her home in flames, completely destroyed and gasped in horror. She then turned her attention to Scootaloo. "Scootaloo, my little foal, are you alright?!" She asked without thinking.

For a few moments, the filly did not stir but then she let out a soft groan. "You called me 'your foal'… why?" Scootaloo asked weakly.

Twilight looked at her daughter for a short time with a warm smile. "I'll explain later, right now you're in great danger and I need you to get to safety. Can you walk?" She asked as she stood up and looked towards Tirek whom was walking towards Ponyville.

"Yeah, I think so…" Scootaloo said as she stood up weakly and gave one last look at her mother and though Twilight suspected she may know the truth now, the filly quickly galloped away leaving the Alicorn alone.

As much as Twilight didn't want to leave her daughter's side, she knew that Tirek was after her Alicorn magic and would stop at nothing to obtain it.

"You destroyed my home…" Twilight said aloud, the anger within building up as she watched Tirek continue to approach Ponyville. "Threatened my daughter's life…" She continued, the anger within her nearing its breaking point. "And you expect me to sit back and let you drain my magic?!" Twilight roared as she erupted from the ground and charged at Tirek full throttle

Almost immediately the Alicorn charged up a beam of magic and fired it Tirek whom conjured a magical shield to defend himself. The sheer magnitude and force of blast forcing him to dig up dirt and stone as it pushed the Centar back. A massive explosion erupted behind Tirek whom could still feel the backdraft of the blast as he stared at Twilight in suprise.

"Now I understand what the princesses have done" He remarked as Twilight landed a short distance from him, her horn sparking with magic as she glared at him. small pebbles around the Alicorn began to rise as the Alicorn charged up her magic, erupted from the ground and charged at Tirek whom charged up his own magical blast and fired it at the Alicorn whom was forced to conjure a shield of her own to protect herself from the blast.

"He's strong!" Twilight thought to herself as she used every ounce of magic she had to maintain the shield. She then thrust her head forward, the look of determination and rage in her eyes clear as day as she glared at him. "But I can't let him win! Not only is Scootaloo depending on me but everypony in Equestria!" She thought to herself dramatically as she teleported to the ground and fired a beam of magic at the Centar who let out a growl of pain as the blast hit him dead on.

Tirek then levitated the Alicorn the thrust her into a nearby mountain which caused Twilight to let out a horrified cry as she flew into the mountain but it was clear that the Centar wasn't finished yet as he charged forward at her, impacting with her and the mountain and through it!

Twilight immediately teleported above him and quickly charged a beam of magic which she fired directly downward which impacted with Tirek with such force and strength that if the Centar were not as powerful as he was, would have crushed every bone in his body as it was literally crushed flat under the sheer pressure of the Alicorn's blast and sent flying to the ground with a loud crash.

Twilight however wasn't done as she fired yet another powerful beam of magic at the temporarily incapacitated villain which resulted in a violent explosion of debris, dust and earth that buried Tirek into the ground. Twilight landed on the ground and barely had time to take a breath when Tirek began to blast a beam of magic around the Alicorn, lifted the slab of earth up, and chucked it with Twilight still standing on it away.

With quick thinking, Twilight quickly ejected herself off the surface of the slab of earth and took for the skies towards Tirek though the Centar seemed to be prepared for this as he slammed both fists into the ground with such force that pieces of the earth were erupted out of the ground which barred the Alicorn's way.

This however didn't halt Twilight's advance in the slightest as she blasted each fragment of earth in her way as she passed it.

Once the Alicorn was clear of the obstacles, she charged up her strongest beam of magic she could muster as did Tirek at the same time.

Both great powers impacted at once, creating such an explosion of sheer magical power that if anypony were standing in the middle would have felt nothing and been incinerated instantly.

The impact however had managed to bury Tirek in ruble which he shoved away as Twilight approached him.

"It seems we are at an impasse…" Tirek said as she stared down at the Alicorn. "How about a trade, Princess Twilight?" He offered as he snapped his finger which caused Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Spike, and Discord to appear in floating bubbles behind him. "Their release for all the Alicorn magic in Equestria!"

"Where's Fluttershy?!" Twilight immediately demanded as she noticed the Pegasus was missing.

"Teh! Don't ask me! Discord teleported her away before I drained his magic." Tirek replied casually. "So, do we have a deal?"

Almost immediately, everypony began to speak up on protest.

"Don't do it, Twilight!" Rainbow Dash shouted though her voice was muffled by the bubble of magic that held her.

"We're not worth it!" Rarity added quickly.

"Enough! I want an answer and I want now or they die!" Tirek roared as he glared at the Alicorn.

Twilight gasped softly and immediately gave a thoughtful glance for a short time before she spoke. "I will give you my magic, in exchange for my friends." She said finally much to the shock and horror of her friends whom gasped upon hearing this.

"As you wish." Tirek replied as he snapped his fingers which caused the four mares plus dragon to be lowered to the ground and the magical bubbles which held them pop as they landed.
"All my friends!" Twilight exclaimed sternly.

"After the way he has betrayed you, you still call him a 'friend'?" Tirek exclaimed in surprise. Though he knew Discord never truly betrayed them, he thought it surprising that Twilight would still ask for his release since she did not know this.

"Release him!" Twilight demanded fiercely.

"If that's what you want." The centar replied as he snapped his finger which caused the bubble holding Discord to pop.

"Thank you, Twilight." Discord said weakly.

"Your turn." Tirek said maliciously as he opened his mouth and began to inhale which began to drain the Alicorn's magic.

Twilight let out a cry out agony as she felt her magic drained from her until none remained and she fell to the ground.

Tirek's size immediately began to increase as the freshly acquired Alicorn magic surged through his being, giving victorious cries as he grew and grew until with a mighty bellowing "Yes!" He grew to his full size and seemingly ignored the group as he trampled off.

Spike and the rest of the group ran up to him. "Twilight, what were you thinking?!" Spike exclaimed as he looked at her.

Discord then approached the Alicorn who glared at him. "I only commanded your release for Fluttershy's sake. The fact you spared her the fate of me and my friends at the very least says you still love her despite betraying the rest of Equestria." Twilight remarked only for the others to immediately come to the draconequus's defense much to Twilight's surprise.

"But he didn't betray us!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed.

"Yeah! He was only doing what he was told to do by Princess Celestia!" Rainbow Dash added quickly.

"Saying I believe this, why would he betray our trust just for Celestia? I thought our friendship meant more to him than that." Twilight asked as she glared at the draconequus.

"It was for the very reason that your friendship means so much to me that I did. When I say that it pained me more than anything to betray you all, I mean it." Discord replied as he approached Twilight. "When Tirek gave this medallion to me, he claimed it was a sign of his loyalty and friendship but it was a lie and even though I knew this, I continued to play my part for you Twilight. But when I give this to you, I am saying that you all are the best friends I have ever had, maybe even family." He said as he placed the medallion around the Alicorn's neck.

As Twilight looked upon the medallion, her eyes lit up in a flurry of rainbow colors and at once had realized what she was holding. "This is it, one of the keys to the chest but this is the only one we have so far…" Twilight remarked as she looked over at Tirek whom was going on a destructive rampage.

It was then that Discord's expression became mildly confused. "Wait, you mean to say that you never found the keys despite me giving you the one thing that would point you straight to discovering them?!" The draconequus exclaimed incredulously.

"We've kind of been busy with our own problems…" Rainbow Dash remarked as she glanced to Applejack with a worried look as did the farm mare back while at the same moment, Rarity gave a guilty glance at Spike who frowned at her.

"Oh for goodness sake!" Discord exclaimed as he facepalmed so hard that the sound of his lion's paw impacting with his face made a very loud slapping sound and sighed aloud. "Quickly, to the castle of the two sisters!" Discord exclaimed as he ushered the group forward.

"Why the castle the of the two sisters?" Twilight asked.

"For starters, that's where I teleported Fluttershy and I'm worried about her, for another thing, that's where you left the journal, am I right?" Discord replied.

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Fluttershy's eyes lit up as she saw Discord the her friends enter the castle library. "Oh, I was so worried about you all!" Fluttershy exclaimed as she rushed up to her friends and hugged each one of them until she came to Discord.

"I'm so sorry, Fluttershy. I know that I must have hurt you greatly." Discord said in a soft tone as he placed his lion's paw on her mane and stroked it gently.

"I understand why you did it. You were only following Celestia's orders, after all." Fluttershy replied softly as she leaned her head against Discord's lion's paw and stroked it gently with her right hoof.

Discord hit his lower lip and sighed as he sat down. "Not at first…" He remarked softly which was met with gasps from everypony in the room.

"What do you mean?" Fluttershy asked as she placed a hoof against the draconequus's cheek as a tear streaked down it.
"Up until the moment I found out I was going to be a father…" Discord said only to trail off at first. "I was seriously considering joining Tirek for real." Discord finished which was met with another round of gasps from everypony except Fluttershy. "You see, that conniving low-life had managed to shake the very foundation of my love for you by filling my mind with lies. For a time, I actually thought you were merely using me as a toy for your own pleasure." Discord continued and sighed as another tear dripped down his cheek.

"Oh Discord, I would never…" Fluttershy said softly as she huggled him tightly.

"I know that now." Discord replied as he hugged her back. "But from now on… can we keep the intimacy between us alone?" The draconequus asked meekly.

"Of course, anything for you." Fluttershy replied softly as tears shed from her eyes as well.

"As touchin' as this is, we kind of have a huge problem going on a raging rampage just outside of Ponyville!" Applejack exclaimed in a huff which prompted Discord to look at the farm pony, let go of Fluttershy, and stand.

"Get the journal." He said simply.

"Can't you just tell us what the keys are?" Rainbow Dash asked with an annoyed look.

"No, I can't. You must discover the key's meaning on your own or their value means nothing." Discord explained simply.

Upon hearing this, Twilight quickly shuffled through the books, found the journal, and began to read the passages that Discord had marked...

Author's Notes:

You all know what's coming next and trust me when I say that I'm going to rush that part against my better judgement to get back to the main story. I didn't care for the "BUY OUR TOYS!!!" moment myself very much.