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Magical Mystery Oops

by BookeCypher

Chapter 14: Surrender

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It took Twilight a moment to realize that Luna was trying to say something to her.

“Huh?”

“I asked you if you were alright,” Luna repeated, looking at the fellow princess with concern, “Is something the matter?”

“Nothing,” And possibly everything, but Twilight didn't say the last part. “Just... Too much information.”

“Oh,” Luna raised an eyebrow at that, “on what?”

“Everything,” Twilight replied simply as she felt a headache coming on.

“We see,” Luna replied, nodding sagely before continuing, “If the pursuit of knowledge has left you feeling uneasy, then perhaps now is the best time to regale me with your recent exploits!”

“I...uh...sure?” Twilight replied hesitantly.

“Outstanding!” Luna exclaimed, nearly edging into 'Canterlot Voice' territory as she turned and gestured with a hoof across the crowd, “You may tell me as we pursue carnival fare!”

Twilight followed behind the blue alicorn in a daze, all but ignoring her surroundings as she tried to process what Luna had told her.

Discord had been flirting with her. For weeks. What was one supposed to say to that? Was it part of some sort of prank? But how would she prove that? Maybe she should give Discord flowers and see how he reacts? No, wait – if draconequui displayed behavioral dimorphism then her giving him flowers might be an insult! Wait – did she care? Would he care? Would-

“Twilight Sparkle?” Luna asked, snapping the purple draconequus back to reality. “Are you alright?”

“Fine!” Twilight replied just a tad too quickly. “Absolutely fine! Why do you ask?”

“Because you've been fiddling with that feline plush toy for quite some time,” Luna replied. “And I do believe you are beginning to worry the shopkeeper.”

Twilight looked to her left to see a very nervous earth stallion looking between her and the white plush cat she had apparently been petting very aggressively. She gave the stallion a sheepish smile as she fished out a few bits, “Sorry,” she said to Luna as she squirreled away the newly-bought toy, “I'm just kinda... distracted.”

“Ah,” Luna replied casually as they continued through the maze of vendors. Despite the fact that the festival didn't start until tomorrow, it looked like quite a few ponies were looking at taking advantage of the “preview” crowd Twilight had pulled in.

“We do not blame you – your research with Discord is no doubt problematic.”

Right, Twilight thought, research. For some reason though, the latter half of the statement irked her. “What do you mean by that?”

“Just that Discord will be Discord,” Luna replied simply, “As reformed as he might be, I have little doubt his trickster tendencies remain. It is no doubt troublesome to work with such a being.”

“I thought,” Twilight replied, bristling as her confusion was for the moment displaced by something else, “you were on his side.”

“Do not mistake my notions for my sister’s,” Luna replied as the walked through the stalls. Twilight, though, was no longer noticing the wares on display, “I have no misgivings on your work with him. But he is still him, is he not?”

“He is,” Twilight replied, “And he has been amazingly helpful. And not just with my research. Having him around has been nothing but enjoyable.”

It was only after the words had left her lips that she realized just how true they were.

“I see...” Luna replied after a moment as she studied the cross-looking draconequus. “we can tell that you are taking this personally. We meant no disparagement of your judgment, Twilight Sparkle.”

"It’s not me you're insulting though,” Twilight replied with a sigh. “It’s him – did you know that the only reason I figured out how to beat Tirek was due to the notes he left in our journal?”

“The same journal he gave back to you before betraying all of Equestria?” Luna asked, the doubt in her voice just enough to be obvious.

“Say that again,” Twilight replied simply.

"What?” Luna said as they stopped near a stand selling some form of fried dough, “That Discord gave you the supposed key to Tirek's defeat just before switching-” Luna paused as something clicked. “No – He's not that clever.”

“You sure about that?” Twilight replied, eyebrow raised.

“With Discord?” Luna said with a sigh, “I am sure of nothing – something we should keep in mind more often, it seems. Forgive us,” The princess bowed her head to surprised Twilight. “Despite the grief we have given our sister, we had fallen into the same habit.”

“It's, uh, fine,” Twilight stammered quickly at the repentant demigoddess as her ire quickly vanished. “Just – stop doing that. It's weird.”

“Is it not appropriate for a pony to show their repentance?” Luna asked as she brought her gaze back to Twilight's.

“I blasted you with a magic rainbow beam and probably tore off part of your soul,” Twilight replied. “I think you've repented enough for a lifetime.”

“Or perhaps just a millennium or so,” Luna said back with a smirk as she turned. “Come then – We have spent enough time browsing the fine wares here – let us see this research!”

Still processing way, way too many new pieces of data, Twilight let Luna lead her to her own castle. She paid Luna's comments about Canterlot nobility, and Flash's attempts to get her attention, little mind until the older Alicorn suddenly came to a stop. “Twilight Sparkle?”

“Huh?” Twilight looked up and was surprised to find that they had at some point reached her castle. She chuckled nervously as the dark blue alicorn raised an eyebrow. “Heh, sorry – could you say that again?”

“I was asking if such sounds from inside your castle are normal,” Luna replied. Sure enough, a low and somewhat unsettling series of rumbles and crashes were coming from inside the giant crystal tree. “Also,” Luna continued as she nodded at something behind Twilight, “your pegasus seems to be trying to catch your attention.”

“Your highness,” Flash Sentry quickly started, “Discord has wandered off, the Mayor wanted me to pass on that nopony can figure out how to turn the Silverodeon back on and what do you want me to do with this plushie?”

“Uh...” Twilight said, “For the last – anywhere inside. I'll get back to you on the rest.”

Flash nodded and started toward the door. It took Twilight a moment to remember the other issue Luna had pointed out, “No! Wait a-”

But her words were too late – Flash Sentry pulled open the door, and a split second later was sent careening backward as a book bounced off his face with enough force to rebound back into the library. There was a brief moment of silence – from both inside and outside the castle – before a familiar voice from inside said “Oh – just orange boy. As you were,” And then the sounds of... whatever was happening returned.

Carefully, Twilight stepped over the groaning form of the pegasus guard and into her castle.

Books were flying back and forth across the room, whole stacks shifting themselves around her entry hall. It rather reminded her of the day the first shipment of books for the library had arrived. Propped up against one of the few walls that was supposed to have books was a ladder on top of which Discord was hanging off of as he rapidly worked his way through the rows of texts, scanning each one quickly before tossing it over his shoulder. “Seriously,” he muttered as he continued rummaging through books, “All I want is one history book. Is that so much to ask?”

“Hey, you were the one who turned everything topsy-turvy way-back-when,” Spike replied as he flipped through a book of his own before adding it to a stack with more care than Discord.

“What are you two doing?”

Both dragon and draconequus looked up in surprise, a dozen books dropping out of the air mid-levitation as their controller's attention suddenly shifted. “Okay, admit it,” Discord finally said, “This isn't the worst thing you've caught me doing.”

Twilight stared at him levelly, “That's not an answer,” she turned to her assistant, “Spike?”

“Well, it’s kinda funny actually...” Spike chuckled nervously before scooping up a stack of books, “Ibetterputthesebackseeyoulater!”

“Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!” Discord shouted at the fleeing dragon as Spike bolted up the stairs, presumably toward the main library.

“Discord,” Twilight said. She most certainly did not growl, since growling would be unbecoming of a princess.

“Twilight!” Discord said, fake grin plastered on his face as he spun back to face the purple draconequus. “I thought you were doing that thing with your sister-in-law's foal?”

Twilight blinked, “What foal?”

“Sorry, wrong season,” Discord pulled out a rolodex, flipping through it before stopping at a chard with a small 'aha!', and then tossing the rolodex away as he turned back to Twilight. “I thought you were doing that thing with your sister-in-law's train line?”

"Luna decided she wanted to see my research,” Twilight replied as she stepped closer, eying the stacks of books, “So... research project of yours?”

Discord blinked, “So... you aren't mad?”

“Oh, ponies are a very forgiving race,” Twilight replies with a serene smile.

“Oh,” Discord said as he relaxed, “Well, that's good...”

Twilight leaned closer, still smiling even as she came within a hair's breadth of Discord, leaving the draconequus looking at her slightly cross-eyed, “But I'm not a pony right now, am I?”

Discord hesitated before answering carefully, “...no?”

He didn't get a chance to say anything else as Twilight grabbed him and started shaking him like a rag doll. “I leave you alone for five minutes and not only do you trash my castle, you corrupt my assistant! What the hay do I have to do to get you to behave yourself!?”

“Perhaps if you stopped shaking him he may answer you,” Luna suggested.

“...oh,” Twilight replied, slowly letting go. Discord's head bounced back and forth for a few moments, his eyes bounding in counter-balance. His eyes finally bounded back into his head, spinning around until stopping one after the other with audible ‘clink, clink’ sounds before stopping. Twilight had just enough time to notice that his pupils had been replaced with cherries before gum started spewing from his ears.

“So,” Twilight said as the stream of candy tapered off, “explain, now.”

“Just some light reading,” Discord mumbled, eyes still spinning before he managed to collect himself and grin at Twilight as he rested a claw on one of the claws holding him by the scruff. “And here I thought you just wanted to get touchy with your books.”

Twilight's anger chose that moment to dissipate just long enough for her to remember her earlier discussion with Luna.

And now she was nose-to-nose with Discord.

Right.

Twilight quickly released Discord as she backed up a couple of paces. “You, uh... start cleaning up in here – I need to go talk to Spike.”

With that, Twilight calmly turned and headed up the stairs. She most certainly did not speed-walk up them to put more distance between herself and Discord. Nope. Not at all, “Spike?”

A door slowly cracked open before the young drake sheepishly stuck his head out. “O-Oh, hey Twilight – Everything okay?”

“Did you guys get into our research notes?” Twilight asked quickly.

“Uh...” Spike said, confused. “No – Discord seemed more interested in history stuff than-”

“You're with me,” Twilight ordered, quickly cutting him off as she continued down the hall. “Princess Luna? This way.”

Spike let out a sigh of relief at dodging any sort of punitive action as he fell into step next to the purple draconequus, Luna following a step or two behind as Twilight led them down the hall. And then another hall. And then down a flight of stairs. And another hall. After the second set of stairs, Princess Luna was starting to look unsure of her decision, “Twilight Sparkle, is there a reason your lab lies so deep within the castle?”

Twilight glanced back at the lunar demigoddess with a quirked eyebrow, “Not a single 'thee' or 'thou' – I'm kinda disappointed.”

Luna gave a small snort as the hall around them shifted into the darker crystal of the basement, “We have been here for quite some time, Twilight Sparkle – Our vernacular has had more than adequate time to update itself.”

“But that was part of your charm,” Twilight replied with a mock-pout, “It made you endearing.”

“Are you flirting with her!?” Both princesses jumped as a nearby sconce unwrapped itself from the wall and transfigured into Discord. “I mean, really? Have you no shame? I'm just upstairs, you know! I can still hear you.”

Twilight backpedalled a few steps at the sudden appearance of the draconequus. “I...what? I was joking...”

“Well, good,” Discord replied with a little huff as he stood a little straighter. “Your brother already took your family's 'scoring an alicorn' quota anyhow.”

“What are you talking about?” Twilight asked, her brain flat-out refusing to even try to deal with Discord at the moment – it still seemed to be preoccupied with the whole flower thing and oh Celestia she was still wearing one wasn't she?

“Well,” Discord said, slowly, “Is your brother a healthy male?”

Twilight blinked owlishly, “...Yes?”

“Have you seen your sister-in-law?” Discord asked as he leaned closer.

“Yes!” Twilight replied quickly as she backed up another step.

Discord nodded sagely as he crossed his arms and leaned back. “I rest my case.”

“Just go clean up the library!” Twilight managed to blurt out. “...please?”

“Well, since you asked nicely...” Discord said as he faded though the floor. A moment later, there was a thump from somewhere upstairs and Twilight let out a sigh of relief.

“Are you alright, Twilight Sparkle?” Luna asked, leaning closer. “You seem unwell.”

“Yeah,” Spike said, nodding in agreement. “You usually deal with Discord a lot better than that.”

“I've just...” Twilight thought of the little nugget of information Luna had dropped on her, “...Just had a lot to think about.”

“Understandable,” Luna nodded sagely. “You have been through much in recent days. Now – let us see what you have uncovered!”

The rest of the walk to the lab was uneventful and without further interrupt. The lab itself was a windowless affair, tucked somewhere down among the tree-castle's root system. They'd operated out of a lovely upper-level workshop up until one of their experiments had blown out the windows and rocked the entire town – at three in the morning.

After a few hundred noise complaints, Twilight decided that better containment was prudent. Discord had wondered why a princess cared about noise complaints.

A small burst of magic unlocked the door and let the quartet – she kept forgetting Flash was with them – into the low-ceilinged room. Roots of the castle twisted and arched overhead in vaults, creating columns that would be nearly impossible for a pony to carve. The amount of equipment and furniture currently squeezed into the space made appreciating the columns difficult though. Tables were laden with notebooks, scrolls and various samples both crystalline and otherwise while the far wall was dominated by a mosaic of notes and diagrams all linked together in a spiderweb of yarn. “An interesting space,” Luna said as she gently nudged a crystal on the table where it sat in a brass stand. “But what does all of this have to do with your research?”

Twilight took a deep breath before launching into an overview of everything her and Discord had discovered so far. She had tried once or twice to explain to some of her friends but none of them had the right background to even understand the basic version she tried to give them. With Princess Luna, she finally had a chance to give a detailed explanation of their work.

Discussions of lines of probability and nascent 'string' theory gave way to comparative arcane field dynamics as she transitioned from explaining chaos magic to explaining their work into what happened in the forest. Luna nodded occasionally as she spoke, only interjecting to ask for context or clarification one a hoof-ful of points. Twilight hadn't even realized how long they had been talking until Spike gave her a nudge, drawing her attention to the tea tray he was carrying. Twilight couldn't help but smile – Spike's timing was as perfect as always.

“I think that about covers everything,” Twilight said as she carefully levitated a pair of cups from the tray and served herself and Luna tea. “Despite our best efforts, we can't replicate the behavior we saw in the forest – my magic always acts exactly like Discord's, and as far as our readings are concerned, they're fundamentally the same.”

“An intriguing enigma,” Luna said with a nod as she accepted the tea. “I imagine it has been quite a while since you had such a mystery to solve.”

Twilight nodded as she took a sip of her tea. “Not since your, uh... interesting return to Equestria.”

Luna chuckled at that. “I imagine not. Since I still have time, Perhaps we-” Her sentence was interrupted by a heavy thump above them. “Hrm – that sounded expensive.”

“It probably was,” Twilight said with sigh as she rose from her seat.

“Excuse me while I deal with... whatever Discord is doing.”

“Allow me to accompany you,” Luna said as she rose as well. “A chance to stretch my legs would be nice anyhow.”

The two headed back upstairs to the main library, and on entering Twilight noticed two things. One, the sun was already setting outside. And two, there was a bookfort in the middle of the room. “Discord,” Twilight said with a sigh as she brought a claw to her face. “You were supposed to put the books away...”

"Are you addressing me?” Discord asked as he stood up behind a barricade of thesauruses, “Because your authority is not recognized in” - He spread his arms wide - “Fort Kickass."
,
Twilight considered the fort and its builder for a moment before turning and walking away. “I'm going to bed.”
“A wise decision,” Luna said with a nod, ignoring the annoyed 'hey' from the draconequus. “I believe I shall depart as well – my sister would no doubt like to turn over things to me.”

“Of course,” Twilight replied before turning to the side. “Flash Sentry! Please see Princess Luna out the door.”

“Of course, Ma'am,” the orange pegasus gave a salute before turning to Luna and bowing,

“Please, this way your highness...” Twilight left the two to their own devices and headed upstairs, passing Spike on the way.

“So,” the young drake asked as Twilight walked past, “now what?”

“You make sure Discord actually cleans up,” Twilight replied as she continued toward her room, “Or at least doesn't cause more damage. I'm going to bed.”

“Long day, huh?” Spike asked.

Twilight thought back over her first conversation with Luna. The one about the flowers. “A very long day.”

Twilight didn't wait for any reply as she headed towards her room. One perk of having a giant magic tree for a castle, Twilight thought as she stepped into her room and dropped onto her over-sized four-poster, was the digs. She was fairly certain her bed was the second-most comfortable in town. Based on Rainbow Dash's sleep-patterns, she was forced to conclude that the trees in Sweet Apple Acres were the best beds on the planet. Still, she thought as she drifted off to sleep, this had to be a very close second.

Despite some very strange dreams involving chlorfiends and castles made of books, Twilight's sleep was thankfully uneventful.

At least, until she woke up.

Her first sign that something was up should have been when she noticed that her bed was warm. Not too hot, not too cold – but right in that perfect sweet spot that made one want to spend all day in bed with a nice book.

What did catch her attention was that whatever was warm was also pleasantly warm. Curiosity quickly won out over the desire to just draw closer and sleep some more and she opened her eyes.

It was around that moment that Discord let out a snore that could have doubled as a fog horn as Twilight stared at him.

Okay, she thought, so Discord is in my bed – again. And very, very close to her. Not the first time this had happened. Except before she hadn't had the insight from Luna that she had now.

So, uh... oh boy. Twilight felt herself stiffen as Discord rolled over, almost snout-to-snout with her. The most annoying part about this, Twilight realized, is that Discord was just doing it to mess with her more likely than... hrm.

Twilight felt herself relax a little as the seed of an idea formed. If Discord wanted to mess with her, fine. But turnabout is fair play.

Twilight took a deep breath before pulling herself closer as nestled herself against his chest with his chin resting just on top of her head. She couldn’t resist the content sigh that slipped from her - Chaos lord or not, Twilight thought as she felt herself drifting back to sleep, Discord made a really comfortable pillow.

Above her, Discord gave a snort, stirring slightly before she felt him tense. “Uh...Twilight?”

“Hrm?” Twilight murmured back as nestled closer.

Twilight swore she could hear him blushing as he stammered, “W-What are you doing?”

“Warm,” Twilight said by way of response, nuzzling against his chest for good measure, “Nice.”

“I...uh...Nope.” Discord managed before popping out of existence and reappearing next to the bed, “Twilight, dear, are you feeling alright?”

“I'm fine,” Twilight replied sleepily, pulling a blanket around her before giving him a sleepy smile. “Why don't you come back to bed – it's cold by myself.”

“By...you...” Discord stammered before suddenly shouting, “Smoke bomb!” and dashing out of the room.

“That only works if you actually have a smoke bomb, you know!” Twilight shouted after him before flopping back onto the bed with a giggle. “I can see why he does it – that was fun!”

A short while later, a fully awake and properly groomed Twilight headed downstairs for breakfast, half expecting to find her library converted into a ball pit or something. What she found instead was, well, perfection.

The one problem she'd always had with her new home was that, while pretty, vast swaths of blue crystal were not what she would call “homey”. Her friends had done an exemplary job of alleviating such issues in the map room, and a few other rooms had followed suit, but she just didn't have time to redecorate everything.

The library, though, had apparently missed that memo. Plush wingback chairs in shades of reds and blues and purples were spread around along with couches and tables, creating cozy little nooks to curl up with a book. Underhoof, rugs in warm, earthy tones criss-crossed the room.

Each nook had its own rug, and more were laid between them. Overhead and scattered around, crystals and candles lit everything with a warmer glow than the castle's usual cold luminescence.

Twilight slowly walked through the room as she took it all in, running a claw gently over a table stacked with a few books. The room didn't feel like somepony had just redecorated – it felt lived in, broken in.

It felt like home.

“Like it?”

Twilight turned around at the voice to see Spike staring at her from the doorway across the room, “I love it – who...”

“Discord,” Spike replied with a shrug, “Apparently, he took your order to clean the place up very seriously – also, coffee's almost done brewing.”

Contemplation of her resident headache's amazing taste in decoration was momentarily forgotten at the promise of the elixir vitae.

Said thoughts returned a short moment later as she stepped into the kitchen and spotted Discord at her table. The Draconequus sheepishly watched her over the rim of his teacup as she poured herself a mug of lovely, sanity-preserving coffee and took a seat at the table. She took a long sip of her coffee, letting out a content sigh before saying, “Spike – what's on the schedule today?”

“Finishing that initial report for Cadence,” Spike replied between bites of gemstones and cereal, “Also – Luna's in town again; wants to know if she could come over to help with your research.”

“Her exact phrasing,” Discord said as he cut in, “was that she 'wished to be present as you unraveled the mysteries of the arcane and pierced the veil of the cosmos'.”

“Please send word to Princess Luna that she is more than welcome to help with my research,” Twilight said, pointedly ignoring Discord. “And I should be able to send the report out with Flash Sentry by this evening – where is he, anyway?”

Her question was answered as the orange pegasus dashed through the kitchen, a quartet of toothy airborne books in pursuit, “This is not what I had in mind when I asked for an exciting book!”

“It builds character!” Discord shouted after him. He turned to Twilight as he noticed the frown she was aiming at him, “What? I'm not a trained librarian. It's not my fault he asked me for a book.”

Twilight's frown slowly morphed into a smirk as she leaned across the table, her serpentine form stretching out across the table in an eye-catching curve as she drew close to Discord, “Well, we could always go back to my room for some... personal training if you want...”

Discord froze before his coat suddenly fluffed out, “...bwah?”

“Very eloquent,” Twilight replied sarcastically, her smirk vanishing as she snapped her fingers. A small 'pop' echoed from down the hall, followed by a relieved ‘thank you’ from Flash Sentry. “Now,” Twilight continued as she drew herself back into her seat and returned to her coffee, “while we're on the topic of the library – what caused that thump last evening?”

“A bookcase,” Discord replied absently, “But you... just now... you were... you were all...”

“You were like a scene from one of Rarity's romance novels,” Spike finished for him, before pointing his spoon at Discord, “Your face was hilarious, by the way.”

Twilight felt herself smirking again, “It really was.”

Discord quickly began straightening himself out as he glared at Twilight, “This is payback for this morning, isn't it?”

Twilight's smirk grew a little wider, “Maybe.”

“Gah – I liked you better when you were adorkable,” Discord complained. “What happened to the proper lady I knew?!”

“She met you. That's what happened.” Twilight replied simply as she finished her coffee and rose from her seat, “Spike, please send Flash to meet me in the main study when you see him; I'm going to-”

“Nope.”

Twilight and Spike both turned to Discord at his sudden statement, “What?” Twilight asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I said 'Nope',” Discord repeated. “I am invoking the power of veto – you lost a bet, as I recall, and I'm cashing in today.”

Twilight blinked owlishly for a moment before bringing a claw to her face with a groan. She'd completely forgotten about that, what with Luna telling her... what with everything that had been going on. “Okay, then – what am I doing today?”

Discord drew himself up to his full height, and Twilight noticed that he was... impressively tall when he wasn't slouching. He actually looked... “Twilight Sparkle,” Discord said dramatically, cutting off Twilight's train of thought, “I hereby declare that thou shall spend the entirety of the next twenty-four hours with me.”

Twilight fought the urge to swallow nervously as she tried to keep her expression neutral.

“Wait a minute,” Spike said, cutting in and drawing Discord attentions away from Twilight – much to her relief. “Didn't you have the autobiography stuff to work on today?”

“Research can wait,” Discord replied, jabbing a finger at Twilight. “Some draconequus needs to be punished.”

Faced with a uppity Discord, Twilight resorted to her strategy from earlier in the morning. “Oh,” she said with another smirk, “I'm sure we can come up with a punishment both of us will be more than satisfied with.”

Discord blinked for a moment, but then just grinned back as he leaned closer, “Oh, my dear – I promise you this will be a day to remember.”

Twilight's grin faltered when faced with the relaxed self-assurance of the lord of chaos. She managed to get her surprise under control after a moment and frowned, “This is punishment for this morning, isn't it?”

Discord's grin just widened, “Maybe.”

“You're paying for everything,” Twilight stated flatly. Not that she figured Discord cared about money, but blatant robbery would have been something she could work with.

“Well then it's a good thing I've been trading in Fluttershy memorabilia,” Discord replied with a shrug.

Now Twilight was really confused. “Trading in what now?”

Discord leaned back, holding a hand out for a familiar magazine to materialize in it, “Despite her brief fame, my dear Fluttershy retains quite the fan base. They'll buy anything that's connected to her – pictures, knickknacks, bunnies...”

“You sold Angel to somepony?” Twilight asked incredulously.

“No, I sold him to several someponies,” Discord corrected her, “Little blighter kept coming back. Surprised?”

“Only that you got somepony to buy him,” Twilight replied with a shrug. That white little fuzzball was a regular pain in quite a few flanks; if anypony other then Fluttershy cared for him, she imagined he'd be on the moon. “So,” Twilight continued, eyebrow raised, “No funny business?”

Discord's face comforted into a painful expression. “I'm hurt,” he gasped, swooning back as he clutched at his chest, “Can a draconequus not coerce a friend into some quality time together?”

“If that was supposed to make it sound better,” Twilight said as she started out of the kitchen again, “It's not working. But fine – give me a few minutes to set everything in order and then we can-”

She was cut off as Discord bounded across the room, grabbing her around the waist and pulling her along, “Spike!” he shouted back as he guided them rapidly down the hall, “Take a memo – Library is all yours for the next twenty-four hours. Feel free to tell everybody where we are. Loudly. Get Luna to use her Royal Canterlot Voice.”

Twilight finally managed to yank the draconequus to a stop, giving him a short glare before turning back to her number one assistant. “Spike?”

“I'll get the report collated by the end of the day,” Spike said as he gave her a jaunty little salute, “Go have fun – you haven't been getting out much anyway.”

“Also,” Discord replied, “you finish that project for me and there's a gemstone the size of my head in it for you.”

Twilight didn't have time to belay the offer before the young Drake gave a woop and charged off toward the library, nearly bowling over Flash Sentry in the process, “What the-” the pegasus guard managed as he sidestepped the dragon before turning to Twilight, “Everything alright ma'am? I heard shouting.”

“Nothing major,” Discord replied with a smirk, “Just taking her royal adorkableness out for a day on the town. Now, if you'll excuse us-”

And with that, the pair vanished in a puff of confetti and cherry blossoms, leaving Flash Sentry standing alone in the hallway.

“...What?”

Next Chapter: Carnival Games Estimated time remaining: 2 Hours, 58 Minutes
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