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Dealing in Harmony

by Ckat_Myla

Chapter 1: 1. What Happened and What Didn't

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Although it had been a little over a month since she had brought them home from the Crystal Empire, Twilight had not even thought to return the books she had found in their library.

She hadn't thought about returning them mostly because – although the danger had passed – she did not feel that their job nor hers was completely done. They had managed to find a way of reversing the sinking of Cloudsdale, and had Discord not intervened it might have actually worked, but that still did not give them an explanation as to why it had happened in the first place.

Of course to some it appeared that Twilight was merely obsessing over something that was no longer an issue. Her friends had moved on, the townsponies had moved on, so why couldn't she?

That question continued to reverberate inside Twilight’s mind, even as she continued to pour over each of the books from the Crystal Library for what felt like the thousandth time. She had extracted every single piece of usable knowledge from the tomes, and yet they still could not give her what she wanted.

The 'why' of it was of much more importance than any pony else would admit. That was the difference between something like what happened with Cloudsdale never happening again, and something even more destructive coming later.

The only thing close to an explanation for the phenomena was what had happened with the seals of Tartarus. One of the seals had been slipping, leaking some of the chaotic energy that kept the prison holding the most fierce creatures in Equestrian history from breaking loose. That would be a good explanation for Twilight, had things still not seemed completely back to normal.

It was true that, after the incident a month ago, nothing like it had happened since, but that didn't mean that any residual magical energy might not still be around, floating invisibly through their plane of existence and just waiting for the opportunity to do something else.

Twilight attempted to pull the wheat bagel that Spike had left for her closer to the vicinity of her mouth with her magic while keeping her eyes on the pages she scanned so fruitlessly. She felt the bagel slip from her mental grip when it had almost made it to the end of its journey, falling to the slightly-yellowed pages and sending a few crumbs sliding into the crack between them.

The unicorn tried to ignore the fact that she had been dropping things a bit more than usual lately... a lot more than usual. Come to think of it, it was most likely her nerves and her mind being in so many places at once. There were her continued efforts to analyze the magical fields for any signs of a resurgence of whatever had caused the Cloudsdale incident, her continued efforts to look for a cause, and there was, of course her attempt to sort what had happened between herself and Discord after all of that had happened.

“Hey, Twilight,” she heard a call from Spike downstairs that broke her concentration. “Shouldn't you get going? Rarity said you were all meeting at the spa around ten.”

Her eyes and mind lifted from her tasks by his voice, Twilight wondered how long she had been sitting with her books on her bed. She moved her gaze to the clock and gave an 'eep' of realization..

Quickly sliding off the bed and heading down the stairs, she noticed Spike on her route out the door.

“Thanks for reminding me Spike, I'll see you later!”

Twilight then set off at a canter towards the spa to meet her friends, failing to acknowledge any sort of irony being in a hurry to get to a place of relaxation might have.




The desert that expanded out alongside the outskirts of Appleoosa was undergoing yet another slew of changes. From the ponies’ far off vantage point it must have looked like a series of colorful flashes, bangs, and various other odd sounds echoing from where Discord currently wracked his brain for ideas.

The draconequus had changed the scenery around him at least a dozen times within the last half hour or so, simultaneously snapping various pieces of décor into being as the old ones were poofed out of existence.

The ball pit had been replaced by the pool of candy corn, which had been replaced by a lake made up of pure liquid moonbeams (Luna wouldn’t miss them, not that she would know about it).

He froze the lake to dull its brightness slightly, for it turned out concentrated moonlight was nearly as bright as actual sunlight and if he had to shield his eyes and squint to be able to hover over it, he had to assume it would be several times worse for any pony else. Burned retinas were not really good for the setting he was trying to fabricate.

His eagle-clawed hand was getting tired from all the snapping he’d been doing. Switching to his large furry paw of a right hand, Discord surveyed his surroundings yet again.

It still wasn’t right, none of it. Well, almost none of it. The tiny school of airborne fish gliding in between his mismatched horns felt like a step in the right direction, and he still quite liked his balloon cacti even if they were considered “dangerous” and “a hazard”.

That was the thing though, he kept coming up with things that he would want, things that he found amusing… and this wasn’t about what he found amusing for once.

Discord didn’t have much practice doing something like this for any pony else. Small things like the book chair he’d made her back at his castle, that wasn’t anything, it had barely required any effort at all. This… this was different somehow. He had to think about things that Twilight might like. He wanted something impressive, but did he really want it to look like he’d made that much effort?

Perhaps ‘impressed’ wasn’t the feeling Discord wanted to instill in her, but he did want it to have some sort of affect on her. Something positive.

In his struggle to find just the right décor, Discord hadn’t noticed the sheer number of things he’d been popping up around him. He was practically knee deep in yellow toy ducks and he'd somehow conjured up a few jackalopes without thinking about it, as well as a floppy-maned pony scarecrow quite like the one he'd had in his desert hideout that day... that day exactly a year ago.

An entire year had passed since this whole thing – this whole arrangement with Twilight, the princesses, and the other Element Bearers – had started. He'd gone into that confrontation with more than a mild curiosity and with no intention at all that the ponies would let him walk (or teleport) away free. He would never have considered that day that such an understanding between himself and these ponies would come to pass, that by proving to them that he was willing to cohabitate, that he would ensure his relative freedom in Equestria.

Of course it was mostly still being worked on as he continued to have to prove himself, but it was getting easier, somewhat. And if not for Twilight, he wouldn't have the opportunity to be pondering this now at all. He would not have had this year to learn about the bonds that the ponies have, and how he could actually grow to care about them... well, some of them.

If there was any pony to whom he wanted to show gratitude for his year of semi-freedom, it was Ms. Sparky. But, for all his love of randomness, none of what he came up with could truly convey that to her.

He grumbled to himself as he swiped most of them away with a wave of his paw, leaving the fish as well as the cacti in the immediate vicinity.

Discord was so involved in his various conjurings that he didn't immediately notice the loud, sporadic pops coming from a good bit farther away from himself, and it was only when they grew louder and much less sporadic that he flashed over to inspect.

Apparently his cacti creation had been more expansive than he’d realized. There was a rainbow cluster of his balloon cacti just a few kilometers away from Appleoosa, or at least much closer to the town than to him. Discord didn’t teleport over to them only because they were quite outside the border that kept him from getting too close to any populated pony area.

Since so far only the Ponyville border had been dissolved, crossing over the invisible line – even when teleporting – would cause Discord to be subjected to a quite un-invisible shock to his entire form.

He wasn’t certain why they’d cropped up so far from where he’d been; he hadn’t been aiming for anywhere near the borders. Discord wouldn’t even think about messing with those outside areas these days, but still there they were in all their colorful and needle-filled glory.

Standing at the very edge of the shock line, Discord looked quizzically towards the near-dots. He gave his tired claws a snap, thinking that should do the trick, but he didn’t see the familiar flash into oblivion that he was expecting.

Slightly annoyed now, Discord shook his clawed hand and tried again with a snap. Again, he saw no disappearing cacti.

He tried switching hands, nothing. He tried snapping his toes, nothing, his tail, nothing, shouting at them to go away, still nothing.

Discord groaned and gave a wince at the prospect of what he most likely had to do now. He couldn’t just leave them, not when he was this close to being rid of this infernal restriction completely. The princesses would have a fit. Well, at least Celestia would have a fit. He was sure she would take any excuse to accuse him of breaking his promises – even something this small. If they wouldn’t disappear from afar… he’d have to go to them and try.

In and out, just a quick pop over there, he thought. He braced himself for what he knew was going to happen, and then with the mental force of ripping off a bandage, Discord popped over to the half-exploded grouping.

Amazingly he was able to stay airborne, hovering over the cacti and trying to focus on blinking them away as his entire form seemed to sizzle and burn with an electric surge. He shook and twitched in the air, making muffled pained yelps from his zippered-shut mouth (a precaution in case some pony heard him). He attempted to focus on them several times, but after a few minutes of having all of his nerves licked by white-hot lightning bolts he had to flash back to his side of the line.

He took a few minutes to catch his breath before trying to stand again. Breathing wasn’t something he really had to do but – much like sleeping and eating – they were habits that were hard to break and he’d been doing them for too long to stop now.

It was fairly annoying that he could become winded like this, but at least it wasn’t as bad as his temporary pony form. That thing had needed to breathe nearly all the time. Going over a border though, not just touching it, that was one of the times when his chosen body felt so very close to that mortal pony form.

He mentally cursed when he glanced back over to where he’d been, only to see that his pain had been for naught. Then when he remembered he was alone he decided to curse out loud as well. They were somehow still there.

Discord didn’t understand it, why they were there in the first place when he hadn’t consciously put them there, and then why they would not obey him and disappear when he commanded.

It was getting late though, and Twilight would be at the castle in the Everfree soon. He couldn’t spend his whole rest of the day trying to figure this out. It wasn’t even that close to the town, really, he rationalized. They would probably all pop themselves out without any pony either seeing or getting hit by their needles. In any case it wasn’t really something to concern Twilight about. Not immediately, and hiding them wouldn’t be that difficult, maybe if he brought the moonbeams back.

Ignoring it and setting his mind back on the original task should have been easy for him, but then again, his original problem was nearly as vexing. Whether he needed it or not, Discord didn't like having to admit he needed help, let alone asking for it. He felt like he should know her well enough by now to come up with something on his own that felt appropriate.

Well, at least he knew her well enough to imagine what she would do in a situation such as this; consult a book or ask one of her friends.

And Discord did know a place he could go where he could do both of those things, provided his little dragon friend could keep quiet about it.




It was a fairly easy day so far for Spike, not much excitement to be had while overseeing everything in a library. He was used to being left in charge of the library when Twilight was off, so even that responsibility had become normal. A little boring, even, especially since he knew Twilight had gone to the spa at Rarity's invitation for some 'mare time'. Spike supposed he understood, but fulfilling his responsibility just wasn't as fun when he knew his two favorite unicorns were having fun elsewhere.

Only a few ponies were even in the library at the moment, unless something cool or interesting was happening there rarely were more than four or five at a time, and today was no different.

At least it seemed like it before he felt a sharp tap on the top of his head. He crouched down slightly to evade them, turning to look for whoever had done so. He saw no pony above, beside, or anywhere near him. A couple ponies were in the reference section, and Apple Bloom was taking something off of a low shelf in the young mare section, but none were close enough to Spike to have reached him and none of them were even looking at him.

He scanned the room, not entirely sure what he was looking for, but still with a kind of unease that there was indeed something amiss. It took him a few moments, but he discovered the culprit. A seemingly-normal light blue pillow propped up on the cushy sofa, with a familiar pair of yellow/red eyes observing him.

“Discord?” he directed his question toward the pillow, and at his acknowledgment, the eyes blinked and looked away, possibly trying to look nonchalant, as if they were perfectly ordinary pillow-eyes and they were not just spying on the dragon.

“Do you really think I can’t see you?” Spike asked. “You might as well give up the act. Twilight isn’t here though.”

The eyes rolled, and, giving up the charade, the draconequus emerged from the pillow in front of Spike with less of a flourish than he was used to.

“Really Pony Boy, I’m a little disappointed in you. Do you think I don’t value our friendship enough to want to just stop by and see my little dragon pal without it being Twilight-related?”

“So this isn’t Twilight-related?” Spike questioned.

“I didn’t say that,” he answered, “I’m only saying that you really shouldn’t just assume things like that. You could always stand to visit me more often as well.”

Spike wanted to answer that he’d been busy, but he guessed Discord had a point. At least he didn't appear disappointed that Twilight wasn't there, and that was a first. When he'd popped in like this before and she hadn't been there, it had so clearly been she he had intended to see. Spike was actually pleased to see him, but he did have to wonder why he felt like going all camouflage for this visit.

The reactions of the ponies present after he made himself known however might have been a good reason, now Spike thought about it.

It wasn't as bad as the first few times Discord had popped by, when all of the ponies in the library flipped out and ran for the door, dropping all their books and materials to the floor for Spike to have to pick up and re-organize. Spike figured that it would take some time for the Ponyville residents to get used to Discord just flashing in every now and then. The regulars, like their friends, were used to him by now, but judging by how the four or five ponies' heads had snapped immediately up from what they were doing to gape wide-eyed at his arrival, they were not frequenters of the Golden Oaks.

Spike surveyed the eight or ten wide eyes of the gaping ponies, and beside him Discord gave an inconsequential wave of acknowledgement.

“Hello,” Discord greeted the staring ponies with a forced sense of enthusiasm, as if he had already seen too many of them for the day.

He heard one mare near the back give a nervously sharp whisper to her companion. “It’s Discord.”

“Ooh, where?” Discord feigned excitement, looking over his shoulder and then down under his tail. This got a chuckle out of Spike.

Sure enough, it wasn’t long after that that most of them suddenly remembered very urgent appointments and practically scrambled outside. Discord didn't look offended by their behavior, even after he’d dropped the excitement act and rolled his eyes, turning back to Spike.

The dragon couldn't help feeling a little bad on his behalf, though. Even if he did understand why, that didn't mean that they shouldn't at least try and act normal. Things changed, he figured, even in Ponyville.

There were a few ponies left – Apple Bloom among them Spike was pleased to see – who were also slowly going back to their reading and searching and at least pretending to mind their own businesses.

“So, what’s up?” Spike asked when he was sure no pony else was actively still listening. He didn’t think they would be the type to eavesdrop, but he spoke a bit quieter anyway.

Discord leaned down and matched his volume, his tone shifting to something Spike didn’t hear much of coming from the draconequus; uncertainty.

“Might you happen to know what today is?”

“Uh, the nineteenth?” Spike tried.

“Aside from that,” he answered with a shake of his head. “Today is the day when I shall be freed from my lovely little confinement spell in its entirety.”

“Oh,” Spike nodded, but still a tad confused. “But I thought Princess Celestia said you could have it taken off already, since you’re able to come here now.”

“Here, yes.” Discord pointed down to the floor. “Apparently they only took it down for Ponyville as a way of ‘wading me in’ to your pony society or somesuch reasoning. Perhaps they thought it a fitting bookend to wait and remove the spell on the anniversary of its casting. Which is today.”

Spike blinked. “That’s today? But Twilight didn’t mention–”

“She’s had so much on her mind recently, I don’t doubt a little thing like my impending total freedom has only crossed it more than once or twice.”

“Aw come on, Discord. She’s not likely to forget that.”

“Even so, she may fail to make the connection between the two days, this year has just flown by, after all.”

“So, is that why you’re here? You wanna remind her what today is?” Spike asked, hoping that a question might get the draconequus back onto what he’d actually wanted of him.

“In a sense…” Discord answered a bit thoughtfully.

“I– well, you know I’m not good with these things, Pony Boy,” he said. “This whole asking for help business is bad enough. It’s– I wanted to do something for Twilight, and I’m having some… difficulty.”

"Oh, okay," Spike said, wondering whether he even wanted to know, considering how hard it seemed for Discord to ask. “What kinda ‘something’?

"I don't know," he exhaled with a frustration that told Spike he really did know, but was being hesitant about it. “Just something to mark the occasion, the ending of one chapter and the start of a new. But I haven’t been able to find much suitable...”

“This isn’t sounding much different from your normal visits to me,” Spike said when Discord trailed off, but after a moment it began to dawn on him that this might be at least part of his problem.

“Wait, is there any reason why this has to be special? I mean, apart from the obvious?” he asked, even though again this was a question he wasn’t sure he wanted answered. Friends they might be now, but even if he only knew the gist of what went on when Twilight paid Discord a visit, Spike had the sneaking suspicion that Discord was trying to orchestrate something more intimate than the dragon could handle hearing about.

“That you needn’t concern yourself with,” Discord said, waving the question away, at least sounding more like himself now. “But I thought since both of us knew her so well – and since we’ve become such good pals – that you might be willing to help me think of some things to incorporate into the surroundings for this special evening that might be appealing to her.”

“Uh, I guess I can help with that,” Spike said, sounding uncertain now as well. That definitely sounded like something he might not want to know about. He may not always be sure about Twilight’s side of things, but he knew how Discord felt about her, and this had ‘attempted romance’ written all over it. He and Discord weren’t yet close enough to keep Spike from feeling slightly uncomfortable about it, since well… Twilight was like a sister to him.

Spike’s honor-bound Dragon Code got the better of him in the end though. If the roles were reversed, he figured (or at least hoped) that Discord might do the same for him.

“Wonderful,” Discord said, brightening. “I have been wracking my brain for ideas, but nothing seems right.”

“Well, that’s vague,” Spike jabbed. “What do you want to do for it?”

“That’s the thing,” he answered. ”There are so many things I would want to include, but with my unfettered imagination come things like bean bag chairs that make ponies grow tentacles upon sitting on them. In short, my ideas for creating an appealing scene are not always in sync with Twilight’s.”

Spike saw a bit of that uncertainty return to his face, and the annoyance that he couldn’t figure things out on his own, or find the right words. Spike pondered for a moment what he would do if things really were reversed. What would he want to do for Rarity if he were planning such an evening for her?

“So you want it to be for her? Like, stuff she'd like?”

“Yes,” he said, pointing emphatically to Spike. “If there are things I can do to show I know her, and that I’ve been paying attention. Not just to the books she and I read, or the lessons that she gives me, but to her.”

Spike chuckled again, but in a different way, a knowing way. “If you’re trying to get into her mindset, I think you’ve made it. You’re overthinking this. Reading, learning, teaching others… those things are Twilight. Those are exactly the things she wants you paying attention to.”

“But those are things every pony knows about her,” he said with a frown, and Spike got it. He understood that mindset. The want to be thought of as some pony more than the rest, to stand out to them. But it wasn’t like standing out was hard for the draconequus.

“You’ve got a different perspective though,” Spike said. “I’m sure you could, um… put your own spin on things.”

He watched as Discord considered this. “Hmm, I suppose…”

“Hey uh, Spike,” came a small, twangy voice from behind the dragon. He turned to see Apple Bloom, who had apparently not only been listening in on their conversation, but had actually approached them while balancing a book on her head. Her bow was squished under the book’s hard cover, but she inclined her head and let it fall to the floor. Her bow poofed back into formation as she tapped a hoof on the book.

“Here’s a book Twilight found for me for class, if that helps y’all,” she continued with the barest amount of nervousness, probably more likely due to her qualms about eavesdropping than Discord himself. “It’s about mythological artifacts and stories about ‘um from all over the world. She said it was one she’s had forever.”

As helpful as she appeared to want to want to be, Apple Bloom still jumped a little and backed a few steps away as the book disappeared from underneath her hoof and appeared at Discord’s eye level.

The book opened by itself and the pages turned for Discord to peruse, he didn’t seem to need to stay on the words very long, for barely a minute had passed before the book had slammed itself shut in front of him. Spike watched as Discord stared for a moment at the back cover, considering its contents for merit.

Something about it must have clicked with him, for the book swiftly winked out of view and Discord nodded with more assurance than he had shown when he first popped in.

“Now this gives me an idea,” Discord remarked. “Don’t know why I didn’t think of it before. Well, of course I do. But this might be what I need to convince her.”

Spike was pretty sure Discord was just talking out loud now, for it took him a second to look back down in his and Apple Bloom’s direction.

“You’re welcome,” Apple Bloom grinned up at him, although Discord had not said thank you.

“Glad we could... help?” Spike said, although his friend probably hadn’t heard that either.

His search apparently over, Discord simply flashed back out of the library without any parting words at all, let alone acknowledgement of the friend he had actually come to ask for help.

Maybe that was still asking a bit much of him, Spike thought. He guessed there wasn’t much time to waste, after all.




Even though Twilight's body had left the library, she hadn't left her train of thought behind.

It was odd that, for once, Discord actually had not wanted Twilight to come by for a visit as soon as possible. It was actually the exact opposite. He had been adamant that she stay away until this evening, and that had her curious about what he might be up to. But then Twilight felt that familiar uncertainty and anxiousness flair up inside her, because those were just some of the things Twilight had experienced in her interactions with Discord recently.

‘Awkward’ wasn't quite the word for it, but it wasn’t far off. For the most part things felt fairly normal most of the time. It was only sometimes when Twilight could feel the awkwardness settling in.

And it wasn't lost on her friends either.

Rarity and Fluttershy had carried on a light, breezy conversation while they each got their massages, and then when they chose their perfumes and salts for their individual baths. Twilight chimed in occasionally, but any pony could see that her heart was not truly in it. Perhaps less her heart and more her conscious mind was the one wandering away with her.

It was only when the three ponies had come together in the mud room that Rarity chose to acknowledge the unicorn's behavior.

“Twilight, darling, I'm sorry I've barely allowed you any time to talk today. You've spoken even less than Fluttershy.”

Twilight had only just settled into the gooey warmth of the mud when she heard Rarity addressing her. “Oh, it's okay. I'm fine.”

“Are you sure? You seem worlds away,” Rarity said, and though Twilight could not see her friend for the cucumber slices covering her eyes, she could tell there was a pointed tone to her words.

“You do seem sort of distracted,” Fluttershy said after only a moment of silence. “Are you still worried about Tartarus and Cloudsdale?”

“You really must get your mind off of those books and worries, Twilight,” Rarity added. “Why, this is the entire reason for my inviting you here in the first place. You can't allow the luxury of the spa treatments to do their job if you don't allow yourself to let those anxieties go.”

“It’s difficult to just let them go when I seem to be the only pony still concerned about the implications of what happened,” Twilight said, trying not to sound defensive about her efforts and their perceived lack of merit.

“If you truly believe that there might be something still to look into, then we support you. But cloistering yourself away in your library with those books and neglecting to care for your own well-being is not the way to go about it.”

Twilight smiled at the almost maternal concern in Rarity’s tone. She knew that this obsession to analyze the magical fields and search for a real, concrete answer was most likely not healthy.

“I just can’t help it,” she said, shrugging after a long moment. It was the truth, and after the emotional roller coaster that was that fateful day, Twilight thought she had the right to pick apart every last important piece.

“Didn’t Discord end up putting Cloudsdale back?” Fluttershy asked. “Have you tried asking him for help about why it happened?”

“He never actually admitted to it, but that’s at least one explanation I don’t need to hunt for,” Twilight answered with an amused assurance. She had spoken with Discord soon after it had happened, and afterwards… afterwards he had evaded any questions Twilight had posed.

She of course had asked him for input on possible sources for what had happened, but if Discord did not wish to discuss something, he was fairly adept at avoiding it. And Twilight had allowed it, since the days of official check-ins were behind them. They could merely enjoy each other’s company, and she had just been grateful for any time spent with him – no matter how unhelpful he wanted to be – after that day. That day when she realized the extent of her desire for him to remain on this plane with her– them.

Perhaps that was why things had grown so awkward between them, at least the way Twilight perceived it.

“He hasn’t… we haven’t really… things have been different since then,” Twilight attempted to continue, not really sure how to articulate exactly how they had changed.

Twilight heard a sloppy sort of slapping sound, like a hoof meeting with a muddy pony shoulder, and then Fluttershy spoke up, “Different how?”

“Oh, good question Fluttershy,” Rarity added more pointedly than she had sounded before. “You never did give us a full account of what went on when you absconded with Discord back to his hideaway.”

“I don’t really think I ‘absconded with him’, exactly,” the unicorn tried to correct her in a way that did not convey her growing embarrassment at the idea.

“Well, in any case, you were quite adamant on giving him a talking-to in private,” Rarity said.

“Do you really want to know?” Twilight inquired, wondering just what the sudden fascination was for her friends.

“Darling, it is the only part of the last month that we haven’t heard about in detail from you, and really anything to get your mind off of your current troubles,” Rarity said, and Twilight could hear the smile in her voice.

It might be a good thing to get it off her chest, and she could at least trust her friends not to judge too harshly. If only it wasn’t just trading one cause of Twilight’s worry for another.


Skimming her hoof along the very top of the mud bath, Twilight spoke out in the general direction she knew Fluttershy and Rarity to be.


“–So… that’s what happened,” Twilight concluded with a bit less finality than she would normally end a story. She hadn’t actually thought to remove the thin slices of cucumber from her eyes while recounting what happened between Discord and her when she had forced him into a confrontation upon his return to his normal form.

Once she had removed them however, she saw that this proved to be a smart decision. Because as awkward as going through everything they had discussed and everything she had been thinking during that particular moment, it would have been at the very least quintupled by the matching jaw-dropped gazes on both Rarity’s and Fluttershy’s faces.

Fluttershy quickly recovered when she noticed Twilight had seen, poorly hiding any outward surprise by sinking lower into the mud.

The white unicorn to her left only blinked several times, closing her mouth only to stammer out an awkward question. “That’s it?” she asked, as if Twilight had left off in the middle of her story.

Rarity’s tone and increasingly incredulous expression confused Twilight almost as much as she had apparently confused her friend. She thought she’d been perfectly concise and brought her recount to the accurate conclusion.

“Yes.” Twilight nodded with an uncertain tilt of her head. “I suggested that we should head back to town, and he brought us back. Then I saw all of you.” There was a beat of silence in which Rarity’s expression turned a bit more towards disappointment.

Twilight glanced toward Fluttershy on her other side, who returned it, only to become very interested in re-arranging the towel keeping her mane up and out of the bath.

“Well, it– it didn’t quite end the way we were expecting,” Rarity answered, smiling a bit too widely.

“Why? What were you expecting?”

At that, the pegasus took a deep breath and held it, actively avoiding Twilight’s eyes with her hooves still frozen on her head.

Rarity did the opposite, exhaling swiftly with shallow, nervous laughs and growing her smile to a near-disturbingly wide size.

As Twilight’s question hung there like the steam floating over the pools of the spa, her two friends looked back and forth at each other. Their expressions betraying a silent argument between them, one that Rarity evidently lost. She rolled her eyes when Fluttershy continued to mutely refuse to be the one to ask.

“Oh for Celestia’s sake, fine–” Rarity sighed, losing her painful-looking smile to frown at the yellow pony. “I suppose we shan’t tiptoe around it because you won’t be telling us until we ask… and I suppose if it must be one of us it should be me.”

The other unicorn shifted her weight in the mud, turning herself completely towards Twilight, holding one hoof out for the answer to her question.

“Why didn’t you kiss?”

Now it was Twilight’s turn to stare, over-blink, and stumble over her words in an attempt to say something to diffuse the awkwardness that was now thicker than the mud they were sitting in.

“I mean, it isn’t as if you hadn’t done so before,” Rarity said, still sounding confused and disappointed. “If you even want to count that, really.” It was the disappointment that bothered Twilight more. Were her friends expecting her to ‘spill’ or ‘dish the dirt’ or whatever it was that gossip contained?

Then something about the question clicked. ‘Hadn’t done so before?’

“Wait,” Twilight said. “You know about– but I never told anypony except–” Her head whipped to Fluttershy, aghast and slightly hurt at the thought that her shyest friend had divulged something told to her in confidence.

“You told?”

At this Fluttershy leaped up and shook her head with just as much surprise.

“No, no, of course not. I would never. I promised,” she said with a firm reassurance.

“Then, how do you–” Twilight started as she looked again to Rarity.

“During the empathic link, when you were trying to convince us to trust him, we all saw it,” Rarity interrupted. “You tried to omit that part, but it was quite strongly connected to your argument and feelings at the time. It isn’t as if we wanted to see it, but we did.”

“So every pony knows?” Twilight whined, embarrassment seeping into her every recollection of every encounter she’d had with her friends in the last year. They had all known for that long and they hadn’t said anything?

Rarity and Fluttershy nodded with some reluctance, and the white pony continued speaking for the both of them.

“I can’t really speak for the others, but I feel that none of us wanted to ask you about it… unless you brought it up. Even if he had been tricking you at the time, it isn’t exactly something one just asks their friend about. Especially as we saw it without your permission.”

“Rarity and I didn’t want to say anything because it seemed like you really didn’t want us to know,” Fluttershy was able to chime in. “We haven’t heard anything from Pinkie about it, and we think Applejack and Rainbow probably just want to avoid thinking about it.”

Twilight had opened her mouth to speak several times throughout their explanation, but her mind seemed to keep re-arranging her words on her, uncertain of how to express how she was absorbing– or failing to absorb – this brand new information.

“If it makes you feel better, I don’t think it’s gone past the six of us,” Fluttershy said. Then after a moment adding, “Oh, and I think Spike knows too.”

“Well, that’s just great,” Twilight grumbled.

“Sorry, darling, I assumed you already knew that we knew– but in any case, the question is why you did not think to try it again when you had him alone on the day you were telling us about?”

Twilight realized in the back of her mind that Rarity was probably trying to get her mind off the fact that apparently every pony knew that Discord had given Twilight her first kiss, and that it had been a trick to block her magic. It wasn’t exactly an easy thing to get past… but Twilight supposed she could come back to freaking out about it later.

“– I don’t know,” she answered lamely, deflating still from just how much her friends knew. “It… didn’t seem like the right time.”

“It was the PERFECT time!” Rarity shouted, almost whining outright. After a brief, awkward pause, the unicorn ahem'd politely and composed herself a bit, then continued: “I mean– it is incredibly strange on one hoof to feel so adamantly about it, but Twilight… you clearly wanted to do it.”

“Even from how much you were trying not to mention,” Fluttershy added.

“Especially because of that,” Rarity said. “You could have done it, yet you stopped yourself. Why?”

They were right about Twilight attempting to hold back on certain parts; to downplay her description of how she had been feeling during their discussion. Apparently she was more transparent than she wanted to be. The thing was, though– Twilight didn’t have a good answer. She still felt awkward expressing that a considerable part of her had wanted to, but she had held herself back.

“I guess I just… wanted to take things on my own terms.”

“But it isn’t as if you haven’t had opportunities since then,” Rarity inquired. “You mentioned that he was intending to travel, but I haven’t heard anything come of that.”

That hadn’t been Discord’s choice. It had been decided that he should hold off on that particular adventure until he had shown himself to be sufficiently acclimated to Ponyville. Twilight had found this unfair, but she could not overrule the princesses. It was only a month or so more before the spell had been in effect for a year. Twilight supposed she could see the symmetry of it, even if silently she felt Discord had proven himself enough times already.

“I think that might be coming soon,” she answered Rarity without acknowledging what her friend had actually suggested. Because honestly, there may have been just as ample opportunities during the intervening weeks that Twilight either missed or ignored. Perhaps not actually do anything, but at least to talk with him about the Cerberus-sized elephant in the room.

“Well then, I really do think that you should have this sorted out before he leaves,” Rarity nodded matter of factly.

“But, Rarity, it is a big decision, I can understand why Twilight might be waiting,” Fluttershy said, turning to Twilight. “And he’s been so patient waiting for you to decide what exactly you’re ready for.”

“Yes, but in my experience stallions can only wait for so long before they decide to move on,” Rarity added. “She’s already convinced him to not leave with only her words once. I’m not sure words by themselves would be enough if he wants to leave a second time.”

“Well, he isn’t exactly a normal stallion, and this isn’t a normal situation.” Fluttershy turned back to Rarity. “There’s more to worry about with them – it’s something that could have an affect on all of us. All of Equestria even, maybe.”

Twilight listened to her friends trade their opinions back and forth, wondering if they still felt like they were helping, since hearing the same uncertainties and insecurities come from their mouths just made them all the more real to her. And what Rarity had said… Twilight hadn’t even thought that she might be holding him back in that regard.

There was a certain absurdity to the conversation, to the very idea that she and Discord… that they... and especially that two of her friends not only accepted him, but that they were actually encouraging her to pursue this. Whatever this was.

As inexperienced in such things as she was, Twilight wasn't completely ignorant. She could sense a shift in their interactions, in the dynamic of their conversations. She knew what the rise of endorphin levels that coursed through her body were capable of.

The shiver down her spine when he brushed up against her, the dryness in her mouth when he whispered so very close to her ear, the near-electric tension that built up between them whenever their gazes locked for too long – Twilight knew there was a chemical, physical explanation.

The rest of it though – the other aspects of romantic love – were something she had always believed in... yet never fully believed was something that would actually happen to her.

She believed in romance as much as she believed in other concepts or ideas; friendship after all was merely a platonic version of that type of emotion.

Platonic however, was no longer what was between them, Twilight was coming to realize. No, they had left the shores of the platonic a while back, if they had ever really visited in the first place.

But just because Twilight knew what these feelings meant, it didn't mean she had to act on them, did it?

Whenever things began to feel overwhelming and she felt that her emotions might just carry her away, Twilight always managed to pull back. She always managed to rationalize it to herself afterwards, but her reasonings were most of the time flawed. In truth, they were mostly connected to her uncertainty. Not about Discord's trustworthiness as had once held her back, but of what giving in to these feelings might mean in the long run.

Discord - at least as far as Twilight could tell - held no such misgivings. His endorphins did not appear to cause him any hangups at all. It might have been because making her uncomfortable with his provocatively persistent closeness and snark-tinged velvety voice had been his style from the start, and he would hide any such nerves or anxiousness from her.

Twilight was not as adept at this.

Author's Notes:

Once it's up, here will be the author's notes.

Next Chapter: 2. What Happened and What Didn't pt. 2 Estimated time remaining: 5 Hours, 10 Minutes
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