Author's Notes:

What? I have a thing for rearranged titles and backwards stuff! (Swirlstar the Dedraeb. DUH)
Sorry it took so long for this to arrive!
Wow. I just realised how long this chapter is (in comparison to the others). I'm so proud of myself
Minor spoiler: There's a little bit of fluff strewn throughout this

Twilight hadn't left the library since she returned to it.

Many of her friends had come round to attempt to comfort her, to connect with her in any way, but none prevailed.

They all eventually left, assuming Twilight either couldn't hear them or wanted some time alone.

But she could hear them, and she didn't want some time alone.

However, her constant rushing thoughts overruled her ability to respond accordingly to any of her friends' sympathy.

She was concentrating so much on her thoughts in fact that she didn't even read the letter Princess Celestia had sent her until the morning after it arrived.

"Dear Twilight,
I hope you're alright. I imagine you must be limiting yourself to your thoughts in our current situation, so here is something to take your mind off it for a while: the unfinished spell of Starswirl the Bearded.
I have moved the statue back to Canterlot, as you and your friends requested."
Yours sincerely,
Princess Celestia."

Twilight vaguely remembered her friends asking her about moving the statue away from Ponyville and she was grateful they had done it, even though she hadn't replied.

She levitated the mentioned book, read aloud the spell - noticing how it didn't even rhyme - and hurled it across the room.

Why was the Princess doing this? Did she not realise what she was going through, and how much she was hurting right now? It was obvious to anypony that she was in no state to return to her studies, yet Princess Celestia was pretty much forcing them back upon her!

Twilight gasped; she was astounded that she had thought that. She blinked and shook her head, mentally scolding herself; the Princess was just trying to help her, and she really did need to occupy her mind with something different if her trains of thought were getting this out of hoof.

She sighed, levitating some ink, a quill and paper over to her and beginning to write.

"Dear Princess Celestia,
I am very grateful for this task you have set me. I really needed to clear my head, and I look forward to completing it.
Thank you very much for moving the statue back to Canterlot.
Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle."

She teleported the now scrolled paper to Spike, who was at Rarity's for comfort. He would get the message and send it to the Princess.

She rubbed her head, as it ached from lack of fresh air.

Twilight truly did want to make a start on finishing that spell, but she needed to take a walk and properly clear her head first.

Upon opening her door, she noticed that everypony was scowling at each other and just looked downright grumpy.

This made her wonder about how her friends were doing. She really should see how they were getting along, and how they were coping with...

She shoved the oncoming thought aside and closed her eyes; she had come out here to rid her head of those dreadful thoughts, not let them wander freely about her brain.

Twilight breathed in deeply, hoping the fresh morning air would refresh her, but coughed and spluttered as she breathed in a cluster of cloud.

What?

She snapped her eyes open, and there it was: a cloud, floating approximately a meter above the ground.

And - as if that wasn't weird enough - Rarity then came out of nowhere, charging straight into it.

"Rarity, what in Equestria are you doing?" Twilight asked, because frankly she couldn't think of anything else to say.

The unicorn got up from lying askew on the floor and answered, "Oh...well...you see...everypony's been so down since...well, you know and...I thought I'd clear the sky, even though there's a large storm that's supposed to occur today."

"But...why? Why are you clearing the clouds?" Twilight asked, flabbergasted.

Rarity looked a little surprised. "I know I'm supposed to obey the weather program, but I didn't think anypony would mind. Why? Do you want it to rain today?"

The unicorn opened her mouth to answer, but was interrupted when Spike ran into view and said, "Hi Rarity! Did you get the rest of them? I can't find any others, but I also still don't get why you suddenly need to clear the clouds!"

Now, the unicorn just looked plain offended. "Okay, why is everyone overreacting? What did a little change in the weather do to hurt anyone? It's not like it'll change to world!"

"Rarity, you don't-"

"Twilight..." Spike said as he noticed something.

"Change the weather! You never-"

"Twilight." He repeated.

"Have and you never will! It's not-"

"TWILIGHT!"

"WHAT?" She shouted.

He flinched a little, but continued, "Look at her flank."

Now both unicorns were confused. "What? Why would I need to-"

"Twilight. for goodness' sake, just look at it!"

The purple unicorn rolled her eyes and did as he said.

She gasped; the cutie mark that it bore wasn't hers, but Rainbow Dash's.

"Rarity, what were you doing last night?" Twilight demanded, regretting her tone but the situation was too urgent to matter.

"Why the sudden interest? Are you feeling alright? Is-"

"Please, Rarity!"

"Alright, alright! Fine! I was...I...was...actually, come to think of it, I cant really remember." The unicorn replied uncertainly. "Sorry." She added, as Twilight groaned.

"Okay then; what is Rainbow's cutie mark?" She questioned.

"Why, three butterflies of course."

"Pinkie's?"

"Three apples."

"Applejack's?"

"Three diamonds."

"No, Rarity; that's your cutie-" Her speech ceased when her friend looked at her as if she were crazy. Sighing, she continued her mini interrogation. When she realised the only pony left to ask about, she gulped before speaking again. "Fluttershy's?"

"Three balloons."

Twilight couldn't hide the expression of surprise on her face, for Rarity looked dead serious about her answers.

"Spike?"

The dragon looked at her.

"Come."

Without another word, she galloped off. Before following, Spike hugged Rarity, then let go after a few seconds in case she found it awkward.

Only she didn't find it awkward, but he failed to notice the small blush that appeared on her cheeks.

Fluttershy sat up straight as she awoke from her sleep.

Her suddenly cold body was shaking, breathing heavily. Clutching her thin sheets to her chest to provide some warmth, she closed her eyes and shook her head, trying to recall her dream.

No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't remember anything about it, only that she didn't want to return there ever again.

It confused her, as she couldn't fathom a reason why. She felt so scared, so alone, but still didn't have an answer to why; there was nothing to be afraid of, except maybe the draconequus who was doing Celestia knows what on the other side of the room, which also meant she most certainly wasn't alone.

The pegasus massaged her forehead. It was just a dream; nothing more nothing less.

She laid her head back onto her pillow, grateful for the fact she wasn't as tired as she had previously been. It made it a lot easier to think clearly.

Glancing at Discord for a second, she considered trying to make him laugh again. The memories of the times she had tried and failed to successfully do it seemed oddly distant to her now.

Sighing, she took off her Element and looked at the blue balloon-shaped gemstone embedded in it. Why bother? Just because she was the Element of Laughter didn't mean that she constantly had to try to spread cheer.

Element of Laughter indeed. All she ever seemed to be able to do was making herself a laughing stock, not make others happy as she intended to. Still, was it worth a go? She was going to be confined here for a ridiculous amount of time, and the only other pony - draconequus - was trapped there with her.

It was her special talent, to make everyone smile. Her destiny.

If she didn't do that, then she had no apparent purpose in the world. Now that was a negative way of looking at it. So what if she couldn't make him laugh for the right reason? Her Element of Harmony shouldn't define her, and he seemed alright with entertaining himself. Why should she want to anyway? It wasn't as if he deserved it, after taking her away from her friends and all that she held dear...

She put a hoof to her cheek; it was wet.

Fluttershy hadn't even realised she had been crying, but was now completely aware of the fat tears rolling from her eyes.

It was so quiet in the cell - too quiet. Curious as to why, she looked around and saw Discord, eyebrows furrowed, mumbling to himself and studying her flank.

"Discord?" She said.

He was so engrossed in whatever he was thinking about that he didn't answer.

She cleared her throat and tried again. "D-Discord? W-why are you staring at m-my...my flank?"

He didn't answer her, just continued to mumble to himself. "Very strange..." He grinned suddenly. "And so chaotic! I love it!"

Fluttershy became slightly curious about what he was talking about, but was so confused and terrified that she only managed to utter, "What...?"

Still not looking up at her, he explained. "Your cutie mark's changed." He stated flatly, still grinning.

Alarmed, the pegasus looked at her cutie mark. She breathed out a sigh of relief; it was still three balloons: one yellow, two blue.

"No, it hasn't." She replied, wondering whether it was just a prank.

Finally, he made eye contact with her, bearing the confusion she had possessed earlier. "Yes, it has. It was three butterflies before, and now it's three balloons. Entirely different."

What was he on about? Her cutie mark had always been three balloons.

He must've changed it. He was just putting on this act so he could humiliate her later on. Again.

She noticed Discord was peering at her again and, mere seconds later, she was centimeters away from him, holding her element with his paw. Her hooves weren't that far away from touching the floor but she didn't like hanging in this way as it made her afraid of his intentions.

He gawked at something and dropped her. Fluttershy rubbed the back of her neck where her Element's clasp had dug into her coat.

Discord smiled like a goofy idiot. "Your Element's been changed too!"

Now Fluttershy was genuinely scared. He was so excited by this, so convincingly happy about this that it rang true. That her Element and cutie mark had changed. That he wasn't faking this...

But, then again, those were the exact same thoughts she had when she first called him a friend.

She turned away, tears welling up in her eyes again.

Loosing his interest, Discord poised his claws to teleport her back onto her bed, when he noticed something.

"It's glowing."

Fluttershy tilted her head at him, before a white glare of light caught her eye. Looking down, she saw that her Element gem was, as he said, glowing.

She started to involuntarily lift off the ground, a light pink aura surrounding her.

She looked at Discord, and stuttered, "W-what's h-h-happening? Are y-you d-d-doing this? H-how...oh my..." She put a hoof to her head, before loosing consciousness.

Discord, who had been watching all this with great interest, could easily she was about to slam painfully into the ground.

Absentmindedly thinking on his feet - even though he wasn't actually standing up - he snapped his fingers to make her bed slide beneath her, just in time to end her fall safely.

Had he really just done something...constructive with his magic?

This made him gag. Lord of Chaos indeed: a Lord of Chaos who had just done something completely NOT chaotic.

Fluttershy opened her eyes, not remembering anything that had happened since she woke up, just feeling an empty space in her memory. "What did he do to me this time...?...I don't remember..." She murmured grimly to herself, but Discord heard nonetheless.

He put a paw to his chest, as if offended, batting his eyes for emphasis. "I can't believe you would accuse me of doing something as treacherous as cast a spell on you!" He chuckled and looked at her. "That was your friends' doing, I'll have you know." As much as he would've loved to take all the credit for the spell - which, he had to admit, was brilliantly chaotic - he could hear hoofsteps and Twilight Annoying-Pants' voice getting quieter as she walked away. There would be no point to it, supposing she could hear them too.

"Why do you do that?" She asked, firmly yet with a clear hint of the oncoming sadness.

"Do what?" He said with an innocent pout, because he really had absolutely no idea what she was talking about.

She glared at him, teal eyes full of tears. "Is this some kind of sick joke to you?" She said, louder than intended.

Discord didn't have a clue how to answer. He found it hilarious when he rendered others confused and dumbstruck by answering their rhetorical questions, but he couldn't fathom a single clever or sarcastic way to answer hers. It actually wasn't the first time he had been struck momentarily speechless; the first time was when she had...

He cut off his train of thought before it got even crazier and looked up at the pegasus. She continued. "W-why do you just...I mean...I don't remember anything since I woke up, so you obviously cast some sort of spell on me that made me forget everything up until now. I know you brought me here as your own personal chaos toy," She spat those three words out with anger bubbling within, but calmed down as she continued to speak, "But you always blame everything on my friends, just to make me feel upset." She looked up at the ceiling, wiped the tears from one eye and sniffed. "Do you like making everyone else upset? I mean, that's all you ever do: make others' lives a misery while you turn the world that they love upside down." She drew a deep, deep breath in, then turned to face him, voice shaky. "Look, I g-get you're The Lord of Chaos and th-that's what you do...y-you create chaos in everypony's lives, and...I get that you wanted to continue d-d-doing so, even when your in stone and not supposed to, and that that's why you brought me here...I get that, I don't know why you do want to make everypony live in a senseless world of disharmony, but I understand, in a way..." Her growing anger and sadness rose in her voice, her efforts to keep calm no longer being that effective, "But what I don't get is why you blame it all on somepony else. I mean, y-you do something that blatantly has your name written all over it, then you inexplicably point at someone else. I don't...just...why?" She asked, though she knew she would never get an actual answer. She hung her head and let her tears flow freely, accompanied by some sniffs and sobs.

It became apparent to him now that she obviously hasn't heard the voice or hoofsteps, so he slapped himself for not trying to take advantage of the possibility.

Discord bit his lip. He knew he should do something, for he felt oddly uncomfortable as a result of her tears. Funny, they didn't affect him before. But her sobs, for a reason unbeknownst to even himself, had an awkward impact on him, so he felt compelled to stop them falling in some way.

He considered muting her again, but what good would that do? She would be completely silent and completely boring and, to be completely frank, it wouldn't prevent her from crying. Henceforth, he discarded the idea.

He could just make them disappear with a snap of his fingers, but then again tears were kind of renewable.

Becoming impatient for a good idea, Discord looked at Fluttershy herself for inspiration. Nothing really came to mind, but as he continued to stare at her, he felt an alien urge just to brush them away.

He slapped himself in the forehead. Of course! Why hadn't he thought of that sooner?

Leaning forward, he lifted her chin up with a claw so that he could see her face properly. Using his free paw, he wiped her tears away, careful not to accidentally harm her closed eyes in any way.

He expected her to flinch. He expected her to immediately bat his hands away. He expected her to be terrified.

She did none of those things. Without really meaning to, she leaned against his paw, opening her eyes gently to look up at him.
He stared back, all the awkward tension he had previously felt sliding away.

Looking into her eyes, he was reminded of the look she had given him a couple of days ago. That look was similar to this one, except the pleading had been replaced with content.

He couldn't help but smile as he remembered when she had tried to use her 'Stare' on him. He had thought it silly that she thought a single look could intimidate him, yet here he was: locked in her gaze.

She smiled too: the soft, caring smile she wore around he friends.

With her tears gone, Discord could clearly see her large teal eyes. They were so adorable. No, no...more than that, they were...oh, what was that word he had heard other ponies use to describe something they found aesthetically or visually pleasing...

He racked his brain, and soon found the word he was looking for: beautiful. It defined them perfectly, though he had never though to use the word before, let alone use it in this context, describing a mare, in a positive way at that.

It felt odd. It felt weird. It felt alien.

It didn't make sense.

But, then again; where's the fun in making sense?

Discord repeated the motion he had used when moving her tears away, caressing her cheek softly.

Maybe this action alarmed her. Maybe it was that she suddenly came to her senses. But, whatever the reason, Fluttershy suddenly snapped out of her daze.

Blinking, she shook her head and her breath quickened. Her pupils dilated and looked at his paw. In a sudden spur of fear, she pushed it away and turned around.

Discord retracted his paw and looked down, drawing a sharp breath in through his teeth and mentally kicked himself for doing that, albeit kind of unintentionally. He crossed his arms, pushed her bed back against the wall with his foot and sat down on his own, scowling.

Fluttershy felt the sudden jolt of her bed, and saw it was next to the wall once more. Why had it even been in the middle of the stone floor anyway? Probably happened in the space of time she couldn't remember. Resting her head, she breathed against her hooves and thought about what had just happened.

It was as if, for just a few idiotic seconds, she had forgotten who he was, what he had done.

She hadn't meant to relax into his paw. She hadn't wanted to let hope flutter into her heart once more.

She had thought, after she let her optimistic wish of still being able to befriend him fly away, that that would've been the end of it. She hadn't thought she would be internally fighting to keep it that way, just as she was now.

In the end, Fluttershy halted her efforts to stop herself from strangely wanting to be his friend. She couldn't deny that it was true; somewhere in her heart, she did.

It was as simple as that.

Just an silly little wish. A completely hopeless minor desire.

She couldn't help but feel the tiniest bit sad that it was something never to be fulfilled, but managed to convince herself that she didn't care.
Because, really, she didn't.

Twilight stood outside Canterlot Castle.

She took a deep breath as she made her way through the main doors, catching the feathers of her new wings on the handle as she did so.
Walking through the large halls, she looked at the stained glass windows. The night sky outside provided little light besides the glare of the moon, but she could still easily make out the commemorated feats of her and each of her friends from the magenta glow of her horn.

The unicorn turned alicorn deliberately avoided looking at the one which held the memory of them all defeating Discord. She didn't need any more tears welling up in her eyes that day, for it had been hard enough to change her stone friend back to the Element of Kindness.

It confused her as to why Starswirl's spell had even affected the statue, so she added that to her mental list of things she would ask Princess Celestia - once she found her.

She wanted to ask why, of all the possible times to choose, the Princess had chosen now to turn her into an alicorn.

She wanted to ask how she had inexplicably come to the conclusion that they should attempt to reform Discord.

She wanted to talk about a lot of topics, some of which she found hard to talk about, but wanted to discuss nonetheless.

Twilight was so lost in thought that it took the sound of two familiar voices to bring her to her senses.

She had stumbled upon a room in the castle she had never explored before. It was smaller than most, with a warm fire providing the only light.

She could see both Princess Luna and Princess Celestia talking in the middle of the room, and decided to keep silent until they finished.

Twilight knew very well that it's rude to eavesdrop, but found it hard not to listen in as she waited patiently in the doorway.

"Luna, are you sure of what you saw in your vision?" Princess Celestia said.

Luna replied quickly, "Quite. Are you saying that I lied to you?!"

"No, of course not. I'm just saying that it could be a possibility that you may have not remembered it correctly, or it may have been wrong..."

What were they talking about? What vision?

"I'm sure! I swear, that's what I saw!" The Princess of the Night retorted, with just a hint of sadness and despair.

"Would you be so kind as to remind me of what it was you did see, exactly?" Celestia answered, not raising her voice to match her sister's.
Twilight's ears perked up at this, curiosity growing inside of her.

"Well...I didn't see much, but I'm sure it meant something...I just...I just know. I don't know how, I don't know why, but I just know, for sure, that the Element of Kindness was meant to reform Discord."

So that's where Celestia got the idea to set Fluttershy that fateful task Twilight thought.

"You can use their proper names, you know." Celestia joked, attempting to lighten the mood.

"Does it matter? She is suffering from the same horrid fate as Discord, regardless what title or name I use." Luna replied, anger and sorrow simultaneously raising her voice.

"Now, now. There's no need to raise your voice."

The navy alicorn sniffed. "I-I know..." She said guiltily. "And I'm sorry. Th-this was all my fault."

Celestia laughed. "Now I know that's not true, for it was I who suggested to release Discord from stone in the first place. You must remember that nothing is only ever your fault, and that not everything you see is true."
"I guess..." Luna admitted. "But...it just felt...so...so real, that's all."

Twilight had only once before heard Princess Luna this upset, this...informal. It felt a little strange, to be honest, for she had grown used to her impressionable and royal figure.

"Do not be disappointed. Now, I'm going to go to bed, alright?"

Luna murmured a 'goodnight' before Twilight heard hoofsteps retreating up a staircase. She chose then as the time to enter.

The Princess of the Night did not acknowledge her presence by hearing her hoofsteps, so Twilight cleared her throat. Luna turned around and Twilight could see the remains of tears in her eyes, wearing a saddened expression upon her face - which reverted back to the one she usually bore, with an aspect of forced happiness.

"Hello Twilight. Or Princess Twilight, as you now are. What brings you here?" She asked.

Twilight opened her mouth to answer, but then reassessed her words. She didn't think it wise to admit she was eavesdropping on her conversation, so she chose to use her original motives that brought her here. "I just wanted to ask how Princess Celestia came up with the idea to set Fluttershy the task of reforming Discord."

Now it was Luna's turn to pause before speaking. "I can understand why you would want to know that, and I have to be honest with you; the idea was originally mine, and for that I apologise."

"I-it's fine. And how did you...come to that conclusion, exactly?" The lavender unicorn asked, trying not to sound too inquisitive.

"I-I had a vision." She replied, slightly sheepishly.

"Of...?" Twilight pressed.

"Of the Element of Kindness and Discord...on a picnic together."

"Is that all?"

"It is, I'm afraid."

Twilight groaned.

"I'm sorry. I just thought Discord-"

"Why do you keep saying that?"

"Pardon?"

"Why do you keep using his name as if you know him...you know, personally? Do you know him personally?"

"Well...sort of. I mean, back before he was in control of Equestria, I accidentally entered his dreams. I spoke to him, and he seemed...normal, all things considered. I was astounded when I found out he was responsible for Equestria's state of chaos that occured a few years afterwards. When I saw that vision, I really thought...I mean, I just hoped..." She looked away, obviously embarrased about her slightly childish behaviour.

Twilight was unsure of what to do. Only once in the past had Luna acted this way, and that was when she had blatantly been extremely sad. Memories of that particular Nightmare Night flooded back to Twilight and she instantly felt an incompressible urge to comfort Luna. She decided to pull the alicorn into a hug, that she returned gratefully.

When they broke the embrace, Luna smiled and said, "Was there anything else you wanted to ask?"

She was about to shake her head when something new came to mind. It was pretty much pointless asking, but if there was any chance, Twilight would take it. She took a deep breath. "Can the effects of the Elements be undone by anything beside the Elements themselves?"

Luna thought for a while before replying. "Yes."

Twilight's eyes widened and shone as a large grin spread across her face. "Really?!" She said, making no effort to contain her happiness.

Luna yawned. "I seem to remember reading about it in a spellbook...I think it was at me and my sister's castle, in the Everfree Forest."

Twilight smiled and batted her eyelashes, "Princess Luna, would you mind...comingwithmetolookforthisspell?" She asked, trying to maintain a calm-ish voice but in the end spilling he words out like Pinkie Pie would.

The aforementioned mare nodded. "Tomorrow."

Twilight glanced at the wall-clock, then back at Luna. "As in tomorrow tomorrow, or tomorrow as in today?" When the Princess didn't catch on, she added, "It's already past midnight."

"The latter. But I must get some sleep first, and you too. It's been a long day, for you especially."

As if her words had set off some sort of sleep-trigger in her brain, Twilight yawned as coincidental evidence for Luna's point.

"Alright then. Tomorrow midday?"

"Of course."