A week had now passed and the Alicorn sighed at the mere memories of the last week.

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The Six mares and Spike walked along the glittering grounds of the crystal empire, passing a very large statue of Spike as they walked towards the castle. “Seems like only yesterday I was saving this place from being totally destroyed. Hey, you guys remember that?” Spike remarked proudly with a big grin.

“You only mentioned it about fifteen times on the train here.” Rainbow Dash remarked with an annoyed expression as she hovered along.

The white unicorn glanced up at the cyan blue Pegasus with a smirk “Yes, and we never hear a peep out of you about your exploits.” She remarked sarcastically as they continued to walk along the path, growing closer to the castle now.

Rainbow Dash's expression went from annoyed to sheepish as she looked back at the mare. “Heh, point taken.” She replied followed by a nervous chuckle.

“I'm glad you all wanted to come, but I don't think it's gonna be that exciting. I pretty much just have to smile and wave as the dignitaries arrive.” Twilight remarked though she didn't seem as excited about this as her friends were. In fact, she sounded a little depressed. “I thought she had summoned us here to talk to her about why she had called for Discord a few days ago. Just what is going on?” The Alicorn thought to herself curiously.

“Yes, but you get to smile and wave like a princess.” Rarity added excitedly as she made a waving motion with her hoof.

“How exactly is that different than smilin' and wavin' like not a princess?” Applejack asked with a skeptic expression as she stared at the two.

“It isn't.” The Alicorn remarked depressingly as a frown formed on her face followed by her ears flattening as she looked at the glittering crystal path they had stopped walking on for a brief time. “Am I that unimportant that she calls for Discord instead of me to handle a problem that she refers to as fragile in nature? I'd think that my status as a princess would make me a top priority pony to be told and informed of the situation yet I haven't heard anything as to why Discord was called and I wasn't.” She thought to herself depressingly.

Each of her friends exchanged worried expressions though Fluttershy was the first to express her concern. “What's wrong, Twilight?” She asked.

“Why the looooooooong face?” Pinkie Pie chimed in as she somehow managed to stretch the Alicorn's face roughly double its size before she allowed it to snap back in place seemingly unscathed. Though the action did seem to hurt as Twilight reached up a hoof and rubbed her chin with a mildly pained expression.

“I've just been feeling a little unsure about things lately. It doesn't seem that my new role as a princess equates to all that much. I mean, the princesses call for Discord regarding what they call a fragile situation but don't bother to tell me anything? You would think that as a princess, they would have told me first.” She replied honestly as she turned to look at her friends.

“That's just silly. You've got a real important role in Equestria.” Applejack replied reassuringly as she looked at Twilight with a big smile.

“Princess Celestia wouldn't have asked you to come today if she didn't think so.” Fluttershy added meekly as a smile crept onto her facial features as well.

“I guess you're right.” Twilight replied though she honestly didn't think so herself.

“Of course we are. Now hurry along! You don't want to miss having that important role diminished because you were tardy for your regal meet-and-greet.” Rarity said eagerly as she nudged the Alicorn forward with an encouraging smile.

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The event had gone off without a hitch of course but Twilight still felt as if her role as a princess didn't add up to anything. “I just don't understand what my purpose is as a princess. What in the heck am I supposed to be princess of? Waving?!” Twilight thought to herself dismally as she walked along a similar path up the Ponyville hospital. It had been a week and she could only hope that Nurse Redheart had found that birth certificate along with some conclusive test results of Discord's semen.

“Oh! There you are Twilight! I'd like to discuss something with you in private if you don't mind.” Nurse Redheart said as she noticed the Alicorn enter the building. “Hey, I'm taking my break now. Can you cover for me?” The nurse asked a fellow nurse pony.

“Sure. Enjoy your break.” The pony replied nonchalantly as she took the earth pony's position behind the counter while Nurse Redheart walked over to Twilight and motioned for her to follow the mare.

Once they were outside, Nurse Redheart spoke. “Well the test results came back on Discord's semen sample but it's a little weird.” She said with a slightly worried expression.

“What's weird?” Twilight asked her expression becoming worried upon hearing this.

“Well, according to the test results, he is fertile to mares but...” The earth pony replied trailing off and let out another sigh. “It's hard to explain.” she finished.

“What's hard to explain?” The Alicorn asked, still not getting the full picture. She figured that if the test results showed that he was fertile it would be easy to leave it at that.

“Let me put it in a way that you can understand.” The mare started and sighed once more before she continued. “It said he's fertile to mares but at the same time it said he wasn't. The results were a bit all over the place. I literally ran twenty tests and they all came back saying the same thing.” She continued but paused to let the Alicorn take this information in.

“You're not making sense. Is he fertile to mares or not?” Twilight asked her expression bewildered as she stared at the earth pony.

“How to put it in a way that you can understand...” Nurse Redheart replied as if she was talking to herself more than Twilight at the moment. “He's like a stallion whose been fixed.” She said finally though this still didn't make much sense to the mare. Realizing this, she attempted to explain farther. “In other words, he can make a mare pregnant but the chances of it happening are literally two-thousand to one. Just like a stallion whose been fixed, there's a chance he can still impregnate a mare but the chances of it happening are less than one percent. That's the best way I can explain it even though this doesn't come even close to what the results actually read. Like I said, they were all over the bucking place.” The nurse finished and sighed heavily.

“So saying for a minute that Fluttershy is actually pregnant with his foal. What will the outcome of the foal be?” Twilight asked curiously.

“Well, if he managed to beat those overwhelming odds, the foal will be born a normal filly or colt. His semen while causing the test results to be random as buck, did clearly state that his semen was equine in nature. Though that's not even including the possibility that his powers could be passed onto the filly or colt, even if their born an earth pony or Pegasus.” Nurse Redheart said in a matter-of-fact tone.

“So I guess the next course of action would be to bring Fluttershy in for a pregnancy test.” Twilight replied to which the nurse nodded silently. “Say, did you manage to find Scootaloo's birth certificate?” She added after a few brief moments of silence.

“I'm sorry Twilight but I looked and looked. I even lost a few night's sleep looking for that filly's birth certificate. Are you sure she was actually born in Ponyville? She could have been born in Canterlot or another town before coming here. Have you thought of asking Scootaloo's parents themselves? If anypony has a copy of her birth certificate it's them.” Nurse Redheart replied suggested though her expression was saddened just the same.

“I guess I could ask them. I wanted to avoid involving them in this matter for Scootaloo's sake but I guess there's no avoiding it now.” The Alicorn remarked followed by a dejected sigh.

Twilight! There you are!

Both mare's heard a familiar voice that could belong to none other than the Alicorn's number one assistant as he ran up to the two of them as fast as he legs could carry him, stopped, heaved for a few moments to catch his breath, and presented Twilight with a letter.

Twilight read over the contents of the letter before she snapped her head up with a shocked expression. “The princesses want me to see them in the Crystal Empire at once!” She exclaimed in a panicked tone before she made a take off position and erupted off the ground before Spike or Nurse Redheart could utter another word.

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The pages of an all too familiar book whisked before the Alicorn's eyes before stopping on a specific page and Princess Celestia spoke. “Tirek and his brother Scorpan came here from a distant land, intent on stealing Equestrian magic. But Scorpan soon came to appreciate the ways of Equestria, even befriending a young unicorn wizard.” The multi-color maned Alicorn said, stopping briefly to allow Twilight to take in this information though Princess Luna spoke now as she continued to tell the tale her sister had started.

“Scorpan urged his brother to abandon their plans. When Tirek refused, Scorpan alerted us to Tirek's intentions.” Luna said and paused like Celestia had to allow the princess to once again take in this information before continuing again.

“Scorpan returned to his own land, and Tirek was sent to Tartarus for his crimes. But it appears he has found a way to escape.” Celestia finished before closing the book and looking at Twilight now.

“We believe it happened when Cerberus left his post at the gates.” Princess Luna added and went silent to allow Twilight to speak freely now.

“But that was a long time ago. Why is he just now starting to steal magic?” Twilight asked curiously though her expression was just as worried as the other three princesses were as she spoke now.

“His time in Tartarus left him very weak. He has just now gained enough strength to use his dark powers.” Princess Celestia answered wisely.

“But with each passing moment, he grows stronger still.” Princess Luna added, her voice becoming even more concerned with each word she spoke now as she looked at Twilight.

“And I know just the princess who can stop him.” Princess Cadance chimed in with a proud smile at her sister-in-law.

“Yes. I'll find him and–“

“No, Twilight. I'm afraid I must call in another to stop Tirek.” Princess Celestia said cutting off the Alicorn and paused briefly before she spoke again. “Discord.”

All three Alicorn's gasped in shock at this revelation by the eldest sister.

“So that's why you sent that letter to Fluttershy a week ago?” Twilight asked curiously.

“Yes. I needed to see if Discord was capable of sensing imbalances of magic throughout Canterlot first and thankfully my theory on him having this ability was correct.” Celestia replied as she looked at Twilight.

“Why did you wait till now to tell me this? Does my role as a princess mean so little that you didn't see fit to tell me about this dire situation till now?” Twilight asked, the pain in her voice clearly heard as she spoke.

“Do not mistake my reluctance to alert you to the situation as a lack of importance, Twilight. I simply did not wish to worry you with unfounded suspicions before we knew exactly what was going on.” Celestia replied as she placed a hoof on her shoulder and smiled warmly.

“But sister, you did know that these were more than merely suspicions. Even before you called on Discord. The vision you had almost a week ago is proof of this.” Princess Luna spoke up now with a curious glance at her elder sister.

“Why did you tell us first and not Twilight until now?” Princess Cadance chimed in with a suspicious glance of her own.

“We were still unsure until a few days ago Luna and I did not wish to cause Twilight any unnecessary concern until we were.” Celestia replied as she lowered her hoof from Twilight's shoulder and looked at her younger sister.

“This concerns us all, sister. At the very least, you could have told her that you were concerned that something was going on yet you did not.” Luna countered her expression becoming a mild glare.

“And tell her what may I ask? That I suspect an old foe of ours has managed to beat impossible odds and escape Tartarus but not to worry about it?!” Celestia snapped at her younger sister, her expression becoming quite pissed off as her temper rose.

“It would have been better than saying nothing at all!” Luna snapped back as her glare intensified towards her older sister.

“No, she did tell me. Fluttershy told me about the letter when I came to visit her the next day. You expected me to learn about this from Fluttershy, didn't you?” Twilight asked her expression becoming just as pissed off now as Luna's was.

The regal sister simply closed her eyes and sighed. “I had hopped it would have taken longer than a day for you to learn of the situation. Please understand, Twilight. I simply didn't want to overburden you.” The Alicorn lamented and sighed once again.

“Overburden me with what?! The only kind of princessly duties I've had over the past year were that catastrophe that Rarity caused and sending you my weekly friendship reports! I've hardly been worked as it stands! I'd take raising the sun for a week if it meant doing more than smiling and waving!” Twilight roared at her mentor, huffing and puffing as she continued to glare at her.

Princess Celestia sighed once more before her expression became firm. “Regardless of this, Discord is the only one who has the ability to track down and capture Tirek. What did you intend to do if you were the one tasked with finding him? Teleport over half of Canterlot to search for him?” She asked sternly as she looked at Twilight with the look that the mare knew all too well.

The look didn't deter the Alicorn's anger in the slightest however as she snapped back. “It would have been better than sitting on my flank doing nothing!”

“Tirek would have ambushed you and stolen your Alicorn magic before you could so much as conjure a spell. Use that keen mind I have always admired about you Twilight Sparkle! Do you honestly think I would have tasked Discord with this assignment if he wasn't the only one capable of doing so with the least risk of losing his magic along with the ability to detect imbalances in magic?!” Princess Celestia exclaimed fiercely.

The statement by her mentor caused the lavender mare's anger to finally melt away as she looked into her eyes and realized something. “You don't fully trust him, do you?” She asked softly to which the princess let out a long-winded sigh.

“That matters not. What matters now is capturing Tirek before he can acquire enough magic to become an even greater threat than he already is.” Celestia replied after a few moments of silence.

Twilight hesitated for a few moments before she smiled and spoke. “Fluttershy believes in him. So, I think we should all believe in him. After all, the reason you tasked Fluttershy with reforming him was so he could discover the magic of friendship. What friends would we be if we didn't trust in him?”

“Well Spoken, Twilight Sparkle.” Princess Luna said as she walked up and stood along side of Twilight along with Cadance. “We must trust in Discord. For if we do not, we will be rejecting the very lessons you have taught Princess Twilight.” Luna remarked wisely as she looked at her sister.

Princess Celestia allowed a smile to wash over her facial features and nodded silently. “You are correct, sister.” She said then turned to look at Twilight. “Please forgive me, Princess Twilight. It seems that my affection for you as my former pupil has affected my judgment in regards to alerting you of the situation properly.” She said as she bowed deeply towards the Alicorn.

Twilight gave a lighthearted laugh before she walked up to her mentor and placed a hoof on her shoulder. “Don't worry about it princess. And, I appreciate your concern for me.” Twilight replied softly at which point the Alicorn looked up at her with a mildly shocked expression that Twilight could have sworn had tears threatening to burst from for a moment until she smiled back at her warmly.

“I appreciate your understanding Princess Twilight and I humbly ask that you return to Ponyville for now.” Princess Celestia said only to raise a hoof once she noticed that Twilight was going to object. “Do not worry. I will make sure you are alerted to any and all developments regarding this situation as they arise. Besides, I'm sure you can't wait to get back to spend time with your friends.” She added with a smile.

It was then that a thought occurred to the Alicorn. “Thank you but I would like to do a little research in the Canterlot archives if you don't mind.” Twilight asked to which Celestia gave her a curiously look.

“If you aim to do research on Tirek, I'm afraid there aren't many records regarding him that will be of much help.” Celestia replied as she looked at her.

“Actually, this has nothing to do with Tirek.” Twilight replid and began to explain to her mentor the situation regarding Scootaloo and her birth certificate not being present in the Ponyville Hospital records.

After hearing the full explanation, the Alicorn's expression became concerned much to Twilight's confusion. “Is something the matter princess?” She asked curiously.

Celestia was silent for a few moments before she closed her eyes and seemingly erased all concern from her facial features. “No, it is nothing at all. Feel free to search for the filly's birth certificate but I wouldn't get your hopes up.” Celestia said softly as she turned around and began to walk away.

“Why do you say that?” Twilight asked curiously.

“I simply mean to say that the Canterlot archives are massive and finding a single document of such minor importance is going to be a hard feat to accomplish even for you.” Celestia replied.

A frown appeared on Twilight's face upon hearing these words and sighed. “I guess you're right. Besides, I could always just ask her parents. They surely will have a copy of it, right?” She replied as her frown turned into a confident smile.

“R-Right.” Celestia replied and though she stuttered in her reply, Twilight hadn't seem to caught it nor noticed the worry in her voice as she spoke.

“Well, I'll be heading back to Ponyville now. Though I think I'll take the train home. Flying here was more work than I would have liked it to be.” Twilight replied with a smile before she gave Cadance a hug and took off out the window of the castle and towards the train station.

Though Twilight hadn't noticed, Luna had and once Cadance had left the room spoke. “Sister, is something troubling you?” She asked curiously as she walked up next to her sister whom watched Twilight from afar as she boarded the train to Ponyville.

Celestia was silent for a time and seemed to hesitate in to reply and waited for Twilight to vanish into the train.

Author's Notes:

Hmm...I don't know about you but I think Celestia knows something...