To Twilight's relief, the rest of her spa visit with Rarity and Fluttershy passed by with no more talk about Discord or what Twilight should or shouldn't do about him. Her advice administered, Rarity had moved on to talk about the plans she had for her upcoming trip to Canterlot for fashion week, and Fluttershy updated them on the progress her nest of orphaned starling chicks she was raising had made. If either of them did want to press her further, they didn't show it.

The unicorn had parted from her friends cheerfully enough, and she did at least feel cleaner and more refreshed on the outside after the trip, but it wasn't exactly her outsides that were feeling so muddled in the first place.

In a way, she should feel relieved, now that she knew that at least two of her friends knew what she was feeling – or at least as much as she herself acknowledged – it should be a load off of her mind that they were so willing to be supportive. It shouldn't be making her feel even more uncertain.

Was she making things too complicated, as she tended to do? Twilight didn't think so this time, even Fluttershy had agreed with her on that point. But what about what Rarity had said, was her hesitation to actually decide what to do with these feelings being unfair to Discord?

She watched the sun set from her balcony, continuing the train of thought that had carried her home. Spike had seemed a little jumpy when she'd returned, but he told her it was nothing. She wanted to ask him about it, but he'd quickly disappeared to make himself some nachos.

Now the sky grew darker around her, and Twilight figured she should start making her way to Discord's castle. He'd said to come by around dusk, but not before then. It was an odd request, but that wasn't exactly out of character for him. She was curious about what he might be up to, but after the day she'd had – or conversations, really – Twilight wasn't as keen to be in his presence.

Discord was being patient, it was true. She was the one being unreasonable, Twilight knew. Well, maybe not unreasonable exactly, but she couldn't allow him to just stay nearby. Never to travel, as he'd mentioned wanting to do once the border spell was lifted. He was trusted now – for the most part – he shouldn't be held back from seeing everything this world had to offer. Twilight could see how she might be doing just that, whether or not she meant to. Telling him she wanted him to stay should have been easy, but it was one of the hardest 'easy' things she could think of. Almost like casting a spell. As easy as it looked, there were countless fluctuations and manipulations of the magical field at work even without the user's knowledge.

Now however, Twilight had to finally acknowledge in what capacity she wanted him to stay. Tonight, if she could. When she saw him. Just another not-at-all-difficult simple thing for her to do.

She watched the constellations begin to emerge as the sun disappeared. Now was the time, in several senses. Twilight took a deep breath of the ever-encroaching night air, letting it out slowly as her eyes turned again to the stars.

She caught sight of one as it fell, and as impractical as it might be, she thought about maybe making a wish on it, but that fleeting thought was forgotten as Twilight's eyes found another streak of light as another star fell. Then another. Pulled from her reverie, Twilight propped herself up on the railing for a better look as she scanned the sky. She watched with growing perplexity as yet another star began to fall. Swiftly she grabbed her telescope from beside her and peered through the eyepiece at the star's trajectory through the ever-darkening dusk.

All four of the stars appeared to have followed the same path, and from what Twilight could see they seemed to have come from the same place as well. Their journeys had ended beyond the horizon line, but following the line backwards lead her to a group of stars just to the right of the northernmost star. It was one of the larger constellations, the eight-legged horse Sleipnir. Now however, Twilight only counted seven.

For a brief moment, Twilight had figured Princess Luna had decided on some sort of surprise meteor shower, since those were usually announced before so that ponies could plan on seeing them, but there was no way that she would alter the look of the night sky in such a way to do that.

Twilight had been analyzing the magical fields relentlessly since the Cloudsdale incident, but this was the first real, tangible strange occurrence that Twilight had witnessed. A new resolve sprang forth within her, this had to be connected to the fluctuations she had been seeing. If she could just find a commonality between this and Cloudsdale, then Twilight might be closer than ever to finding the actual source.

Still knowing that she couldn't put off the inevitability of what she needed to do when she saw Discord, Twilight decided to take this new anomaly – and her books from the Crystal Empire – and set off for the Everfree to meet him. There was a chance that nearly all the answers that eluded her in the past weeks - and all the feelings that consumed her thoughts – could be sorted out tonight when she met with him. He would help her figure this out. One way or another.

Farther away at Discord’s base of decorations, he had noticed the falling stars as well, although they had not filled him with the same sense of curiosity and determination that they had for Twilight. His thoughts upon seeing them were more along the lines of; ‘oh crap’.

The cactus balloons he could ignore or pass off as an accident, but it was much more than he could hope for that Twilight (or some pony else) wouldn’t notice a whole constellation falling apart. He had a fairly close seat to where one of the huge balls of light might have landed, and had he not been able to catch it in time with his magic, Appleoosa would most likely be ‘smoking crater’-loosa.

Thankfully he was still powerful enough to catch it – along with the other four (although that had been a challenge) and pull them back up to where they were supposed to be. Of course something like this had to happen now when it was nearly time for Twilight to arrive. Something always had to gum up the works, didn’t it?

Because of course he’d had to fix it, he’d had to save the town and who knows how many ponies from wherever those other stars had been heading for. If he hadn’t, he knew exactly whom the princesses would blame for it. Him. Also a lot of ponies might have died, and that would have been unfortunate.

Grumbling at this new development and the delay it caused in his arrival to greet Twilight, he finished adjusting those four errant stars back into their proper places. There, good as new. Discord just had to hope that no pony had seen it, or if they had that they wouldn’t think anything of it.

It gave him an uneasy feeling to turn his back to those stars – he was almost expecting them to start falling again when he wasn’t looking.

Brushing away the inclination to look back up at that eight-legged problem one more time, he focused his thoughts on the night ahead of him, and on giving Ms. Sparky everything she deserved.

Her special book chair had lost a good chunk out of it almost immediately upon her entrance into Discord's castle. Twilight regretted this a little, since it was special to her - and just how sad it looked leaning at such an angle like that - but it was there for her to use and deconstructing it to get the books she wanted was a sacrifice she had to make.

She had placed them in front of her in a little semi circle, but hadn't really gotten to her mission of searching through them when she heard Discord arrive.

Her head snapped up immediately from the pages when she heard that familiar pop. She stood and turned toward him in one quick, fluid movement.

“Oh good, you're here,” she greeted him, still brightened with determination. He looked a bit surprised at her greeting, which was odd to her considering that Discord had invited her.

“Did you see the--- well, of course you did. You must have.” she stumbled a little over her words but not with her hooves as she approached him. ”Earlier, when I was at home, I saw another anomaly in the sky.”

His eyes widened slightly, but his voice didn't really sound at the level of surprise nor excitement as hers. “Oh, really?”

“Yes, and even though I don't yet have a definite connection yet, there has to be one. Discord, I really feel like I'm getting close to figuring out what all of this means.”

He pulled his arms behind his back and his eyes darted away from her eager smile. Twilight supposed she shouldn't have assumed that he would find this as exciting as she did.

“I must have missed it,” he answered. “I've been busy today with things of my own to really notice any anomalies, magical or not.”

Right, Twilight thought. The secret reason of his for wanting her to arrive at this specific time, and no sooner. She was still curious about that, yet at the same time she wanted to show Discord what she was talking about, hoping that maybe sharing this new information with him might elicit a reaction from him more closely resembling hers.

“I can assume whatever you were busy with was the reason I'm here now?” she asked.

Now Discord looked a little more enthused. “As a matter of fact, it was.”

“Is it alright if you let me show you what I'm talking about, and then you can show me what you've been up to?” she asked. She didn't want to be deterred, even if this wasn't exactly what she had initially come for.

Her request must have thrown him off of his plan for how things were supposed to be going tonight, for he paused a moment before answering her in a measured way, stroking his chin while still focusing his eyes somewhere other than on her. “I can't for the life of me imagine why that wouldn't be alright.”

“Okay...” she began with some hesitation. She tried to chalk up Discord's behavior as mere impatience at the delay in his plan. “It was something with the stars, they started falling out of a constellation in a way I've never seen before. If you could take us above the treeline I could show you.”

Almost before Twilight had even finished her request, Discord had snapped his claws and they were both immediately floating above the trees of the Everfree Forest, what must have been about ten meters up above the ground.

The sudden realization of her hooves seemingly standing on nothing so high up in the air should have probably concerned her more than it did, but while this was momentarily jarring, Twilight was used to Discord doing things like this by now.

She found Discord beside her, lounging on his back and looking mildly interested out at the starscape above them.

It took only a few moments for the unicorn to find the constellation she sought, and as she pointed it out to him she called over the wind that had begun to pick up. “There, the Sleipnir formation, do you see the gap there?”

But as she made sure Discord turned to see where she was pointing, she spotted the formation for herself for the first time since leaving Ponyville. She halted, squinting at the enormous constellation in the sky above her for no other reason than disbelief at what was there. Or rather, what used to not be there.

“The stars are back,” she said quietly to herself, the disbelief growing inside her. “But, but when I left, there was a gap there.”

Discord stared over at the now perfectly intact Sleipnir, and Twilight hoped he would think she was being crazy or make some sort of snide comment to that effect. Thankfully if he had thought something like that, he didn't say it out loud. He did seem to be biting his tongue.

She looked quickly from him to the stars, trying to reason out how this could have changed in the time between her departure from home and now.

“Maybe... maybe Princess Luna noticed the anomaly too, and she went ahead and fixed it before any pony else could notice,” she said. It was the most logical conclusion. If the princess was able to do it, that is.

“Yes... That' sounds plausible,” Discord agreed, but over the wind it sounded a bit more like he was humoring her. “Let's all be thankful for Princess Luna.”

He then clapped his mismatched front limbs together, rubbing the paw and claw together expectantly. “Well, it looks like everything got solved without your having to worry. At least those stars didn't fall anywhere unfortunate, and old Sleipnir still has all his legs.”

The sound of his clapping had gotten her attention, pulling her from the fresh batch of speculation that had sprung up at this new development. It didn't sit right with her that it had evidently fixed itself, or if Princess Luna had, that she hadn't noticed her doing so.

But a large soft paw had extended towards her , and Twilight's eyes followed it to where Discord smiled with his own expectation. This detour now past, he of course was more than ready to get to the rest of the evening.

“So, if you would so kindly come with me, Ms. Sparky.”

His persistence probably should not have been as endearing as Twilight found it at that moment, and maybe on another night when they actually had something for him to accomplish, it wouldn't be. But the question in her mind pertaining to the stars dulled at his offered paw. With his playful smile returned, it seemed much more in the line of anticipation than impatience.

Whatever it was he wanted her to see, he really wanted her to see it, even more than she had wanted to show him this. Her smile grew in return, as Twilight's thoughts slipped back to wondering what exactly Discord had in mind.

She placed her hoof in his paw and as he took it, they were transported yet again. For a moment Twilight had no idea to where Discord had brought her, mostly because she barely recognized it.

Dusk had long since settled over the sandy dunes that surrounded Discord's second favorite home. The landscape turning almost blue in the fading light, while the sky gave up its last remaining colors from what was probably a spectacular sunset. This was the surrounding area of course, for in the immediate vicinity of where Discord had transported them, Twilight could see none of this.

Tiny flecks of light shimmered from the ground, hundreds of star-like beams shone upwards from beneath her hooves. A school of iridescent fish swam through the air in a fixed pattern around them, and Twilight watched their progress past a familiar-looking pony scarecrow wearing a very familiar hat. It looked exactly like the hat of StarSwirl the Bearded, bells and all.

There were a few other quite recognizable items, not the least of which a large, ornate fountain spraying twin streams of water down over its four tiered pools.

“The Fountain of Fair Fortune?” she commented in a half-question, wondering at how it looked exactly as her old story book had depicted it. But that was merely an illustration, it wasn't an actual, real thing...

Discord noticed the question in her tone, and his smile became a touch more mischievous. “I took the liberty of borrowing from some your books. Things like Starswirl's hat are easy to depict since they're the same in every illustration in every book, but for fictional stories like that pony tale about this fountain... I may have borrowed from your personal copy.”

That explained how it appeared almost as if Discord had plucked her idea of the fountain from her own mind, it had been an illustration in a book from her fillyhood, one of the few foal's tales collections she still owned, and one of the books that had followed her from her old home in Canterlot to Celestia's school to Ponyville.

The clusters of stars lighting the ground were more concentrated near the fountain, so even in the growing darkness Twilight could see it. She took notice of all of these alterations Discord had made to the desert, but at seeing this, such a personal nod clearly meant for her, she suddenly realized that this entire setting was meant for her as well... and she didn't know what to say.

So she settled for stating the obvious.

“This is new,” she cringed at herself, but recovered when she turned from the fountain to face him again. “Is there... any particular reason you made these?”

“Do I really have a reason for everything I do?” he said, but answered her almost immediately. “In this case though, I do have one. This is just a little something to show my gratitude to you, and to celebrate a bit for the entire year I've been able to enjoy thanks to you.”

“Well, mostly enjoy, it hasn't all been a glass of chocolate milk,” he added. “But it could have been even worse without your help.”

Twilight blinked, mentally tabulating the days. Had it really been a year since she had discovered him hiding out in the Everfree, since their first actual, real conversation and his steps toward understanding? Since that little trick of his that according to Fluttershy and Rarity every single one of her closest friends knew about now?

It would be difficult – especially after her talk with her two friends at the spa – to see this picturesque scene that Discord had manipulated into being for her and fail to sense the atmosphere of it all. Of course she wondered how much of its ambiance might be lost on her if Rarity's words weren't still singing through her mind, perhaps tinting things in a slightly different way.

It very well could be that he just wanted to give her something special to thank her for all she'd done for him, to acknowledge how far they had come to become real friends... or it could be that plus something else, the implications of which Twilight felt her well-trained mind attempting to skip over.

“Oh, it wasn't all because of me, and you know it,” she managed to say without sounding awkward. She tried to enjoy the scenery for what it was, and not for what Discord may or may not want it to be.

Discord at least didn't act like he noticed her preoccupation, although Twilight assumed he was just attempting politeness.

“That is true, I suppose. It was my idea to give up a piece of my power so your friends might believe you that I wasn't there to do anything to them, or your world.”

“How hard a decision was that to make, I never asked,” Twilight said, grabbing onto the topic for something else to ponder.

“At the time, I don't think I knew the magnitude of it, but it was something that could possibly save my skin and prove you right. It seemed like a win-win. There are times when I miss it---” he caught sight of her questioning look. “But I don't regret it, and I wouldn't take it back today if you offered. Not that you'd know how to.”

As he lead her closer to the fountain, Twilight spotted a small table adorned with two place settings and a single candle. If Twilight wanted to continue under the presumption that this was a merely a thankful gesture, this was not helpful to keeping it up.

Her chair slid out for her on its own, and back in towards the table after she sat. Discord was already in his chair, his glass full of chocolate milk as usual. Twilight noticed her own glass had filled as well, and after a sniff she found it to be some sort of darkly colored punch.

From her seat now she could see another figure, a statue of a griffon wearing a crown. She had seen that once in a book as well, but that was a real and tangible thing, a relic from Griffonstone across the sea. She had a the briefest jolt of panic that that might be the *actual statue and not a replica, but Twilight calmed herself before she blurted out her question. It had to be a copy, she'd give him the benefit of the doubt.

She thought she could also spot another odd addition; tiny billywigs fluttering in and out of sight in the light provided by the stars underhoof. Their small, iridescent wings and the faint kazoo sound they made gave them away. But they could only be seen in the southernmost parts of Equestria, not here in this desert.

But that set her mind back to the Sleipnir constellation, and the subject of the anomalies that she still wanted to discuss.

“Discord, I know you didn't get a chance to see what I was talking about, but I do feel like it's more than enough proof that something funny is still happening. It hasn't been too long since then, but I figured that with Tartarus sealed, things would be completely back to normal. Although there are some anomalies in the magical fields I've been analyzing around Ponyville, do you think that's—-”

“Probably nothing to worry about,” Discord hand waved her concern with possibly a bit more assurance than was expected. “It could take some time for the magical fields and whatnot to normalize after something like that, I wouldn't concern myself with it.”

“Well, I think I should concern myself with it,” Twilight said, a little bit thankful to find something to disagree with him about. That was something she was used to permeating the spectacle and maybe-possibly romantic atmosphere. “I don't want what happened with Cloudsdale to happen anywhere else. No offense, but a bit fewer crazy things going on would be a welcome change.”

“No offense taken,” Discord answered, looking a bit preoccupied... more than a bit really, but perhaps that was his concern that she wasn't enjoying herself she was sensing.

“This is lovely though,” she affirmed, watching how the floor-stars' reflections rippled in the bottom pool of the fictional fountain. “This kind of change is fine by me.” Twilight wondered if maybe that was too far, that she was enjoying the ambiance a little too much, but Discord's genuine smile at her complimenting his work sent another sort of ripple through her that made her glad to get a little swept away.

She wanted to be cautious, but she had to admit this was nice, just the two of them, and what felt like a long stretch of silence followed where the only sounds were the trickling of the fountain.

Another billywig flitted in and out of sight near Discord's ear, and the sound of it made her able to look back up from her plate and the untouched daisy sandwich that now sat there.

Twilight smirked at how his ear twitched a bit when it flew past, for the rest of him seemed to take no notice. His focus was almost completely on her, drinking in her every reaction to their surroundings and – it appeared to Twilight – just bursting to say something but having some difficulty.

She wasn't sure what to do about that, it was a rare thing for Discord to have trouble with his words.

“Is everything alright over there?” Twilight asked after another stretch of silence, she leaned in a bit closer in an encouraging manner, and the trickle of the fountain broke through the silence in an almost deafening way.

Finally, after Twilight had finished her punch and Discord had downed five chocolate milks in that same time, he began with a clearing of his throat.

“Well Ms. Sparky, you know that I had every intention on heading out on a tour of this little plane of yours, once I was free of these restrictions.”

“I did,” Twilight answered, not mentioning that this was something she could have guessed that he might want to bring up now. She probably should have known this conversation was coming, but that didn't stop her mind from jumping to all of the possible conclusions that this conversation might be heading.

Fireflies had started to emerge and congregate near the top of the fountain,some hovered close to the table just over their heads, some were floating in and out between Discord's missmatched antlers, and all were flashing in almost perfect synchronization. Twilight couldn't help but let herself get distracted by their dance. That was yet another thing that one could only see in another part of Equestria. Another wonder of the world that Discord could so easily visit now.

All of this beauty that surrounded them, it had a theme. Not only to thank and possibly impress her, but Twilight could see another pattern. These were things that could only be seen in a few and quite far apart geographical locations.

With how he had this all lain out before her, this conversation -this special meeting – could only be leading to one of two outcomes. Either Discord was telling her he was leaving for this trip to see things things in their natural environments on his own... or he was going to offer to let her to go with him.

The realization of this dawned on her before Discord could even finish speaking, and as she thought of it she had opened her mouth to stop him from doing so. Because in all honesty she wasn't certain which outcome she would prefer. She locked eyes with him again, and a smile grew on her face in spite of her uncertainty.

He just looked so pleased with himself, but not in his usual 'oh my Ms. Sparky do I know more than you' way. He seemed almost proud, proud of what he had made here for her,and eager for something new to happen after all of this time stuck in his assigned places. It warmed her heart to see him so hopeful. She didn't want to spoil that.

So instead of halting him or answering the question she now was coming to the conclusion he was about to ask before he had even done so she asked instead; “How---how far were you planning to go?”

“As far as I am allowed to, really,” he said. “It may be that other countries might not be so accommodating as Equestria were I to venture through them, though. Despite my having the okay of the only nation run by two demigods.”

“And I suppose you aren't intending to travel alone?” she asked, allowing him a lead-in to just go ahead and ask, even though Twilight herself still did not know what her answer might be.

“If I could avoid it, I think I'd rather not, you are correct,” he answered. “I was hoping that I could persuade you to join me.”

And there it was. The question that all of this had been leading up to. Twilight didn't know what to say, how to answer, because her first impule was to hesitate, and hesitation was not going to force an answer that he wanted to hear.

She eventually concluded with asking her own question.

"Would... would you still go without me, if I chose not to?"

Nope, not what he had been wanting to hear at all. She could see him falter, and then rush to recover.

“I admit, I might have to reconsider. Traveling alone wouldn't be half as fun.”

She wasn't really doing this again, was she? She wasn't telling him to stay again with her.

No, she really wasn't. Twilight didn't want to hold him back, to stop him from leaving because she knew that was what he wanted, and whether or not she wanted to go – or felt she could go – that shouldn't matter. That shouldn't stop Discord from leaving. Why was she so evidently crucial to his decision making process? He was a being far older than her, far more powerful than her, and who had seen far more things than Twilight ever had. Or ever would... and yet Discord continued to consider her opinion so important, he held her word in such high regard. She had so much sway over him – this ancient, powerful, frustratingly fascinating creature that he was – and yet she could affect him so profoundly, why?

Silly question, Twilight remarked to herself. She knew why, or rather she thought she did. This bond that they had, her connection to him, it came with so much responsibility, an exorbitant amount. It was almost too much responsibility... Twilight wasn't sure she could handle such power. She didn't want to hurt him with it. Like she feared she might have to now.

“I... I don't think you should limit yourself now just because you might have to go by yourself, not when you're at the threshold of getting everything you have ever wanted since making this whole agreement,” she added with even more hesitation. How Twilight wished that she could better articulate her feelings about this. In a way that didn't sound as if she didn't want him around. Because she did, she had come to count on it, honestly.

“I think the list of everything I have ever wanted since the start of all this has been altered quite significantly, Ms. Sparky.”

“But Discord, this is a wonderful chance for you to expand your horizons even further, but possibly reach a level of understanding with the ponies of this world like never before.”

“And wouldn't that be just so fascinating to see unfold with your own eyes?” he asked, trying again to persuade her. “Admit it, it could be the trip of a lifetime, for both of us. If you don't go with me, who will reprimand me for being culturally insensitive for insulting some pony's weirdly shaped headwear or eating the food they left their dead ancestors?”

“You wouldn't actually do that, would you?”

“Well it's not like their ancestors would actually be able to eat it, would they? They wouldn't need it.”

“Neither would you,” Twilight said.

“See? This is exactly the kind of fun back and forth we might have if you came along with me,” The grin he had been sporting so playfully finally began to falter. “But of course, if you truly do not wish to, I suppose I understand.”

Twilight could tell he was playing at being hurt to cover up that he actually was. To what extent he really wanted her to go, Twilight couldn't tell, but she figured it was much more than he was letting on.

“Discord, it isn't a matter of wanting to go---” she began, not entirely sure how to end that sentence. The unicorn thought she saw a flicker of that hope in his eyes again for a moment, and it caused her an ache that she might have to snuff it out again. Because it wasn't a matter of that, a very large part of her wanted to go. There was a prominent and very loud voice in her head screaming in agreement of his words that this would indeed be a very unique opportunity. To travel the world – or at least all of Equestria – escorting and helping a being who had never been there before around new territories, areas that would be alien to the both of them. Something new that they could experience together, just the two of them.

But the other, more practical side of Twilight was louder still, and it was caught in a shouting match with her other part. She couldn't go, she couldn't leave Ponyville for so long, not when she felt she was so close to a breakthrough in those anomalies... that was of the utmost importance. And her friends... she couldn't leave her friends for such a long, undetermined amount of time. For traveling the country if not the world would surely take months... and then there were her feelings for him. Feelings that needed to be sorted out, figured out before she could make a decision like this. For she had to be certain she wanted the power of being so important to some pony... to be a part of that 'everything' that he might want. If indeed she was, which it was being made more and more clear to her that she was.

And that was what might have scared her the most. Did Twilight really want to be some pony's everything? Was she ready to be what Discord wanted of her, and what she was hesitant to admit she might want of him?

He was the spirit of chaos, a being far more powerful than she, from another plane of existence entirely. And she had been his first friend, that in and of itself was a daunting thing to be, but to also be his first love? For her to hold that much sway over him was just more than Twilight could consider. Like the wild, chaotic magic he had given her, that prospect was something she had no idea what to do with or if she could handle it and she wasn't sure she wanted the responsibility.

No, it wasn't fair to him. If she still wasn't certain,then she had no right to hold him back. For some reason though,she couldn't bring herself to tell him that. All that she could form into actual, audible words were excuses. Ones she thought -or hoped -might be less painful than the truth of her own turbulent emotions.

“I---I can't, Discord. I'm just so close to figuring out what has been going on with these anomalies and the magical field. I should really stay in Ponyville to keep up the analysis.”

“But you needn't, I told you that they were noting to worry about, or don't you believe me?”

“It's not about believing you,Discord. I just feel like it is my duty to keep track of this activity and tell the princesses if I think they could become a problem.”

“But is isn't as if they asked you to do so,” Discord commented

“They didn't have to. This is important to me, Discord. I feel like I need to do it.”

“Well, forgive me for thinking that I might have grown to become important to you as well.”

Twilight could feel the blow from those words deep inside her. “That's not fair, Discord. This could be for the benefit of all of pony kind. I thought you understood that.”

“Everything is always for the good of pony kind, isn't it?” he fired back. “Is it really for the good of all ponies that you won't go? What is it you want, Ms. Sparky, forget all of pony kind for a moment and think about what you want.”

“I have, Discord,” she answered, even more hurt now at the idea that he thought she didn't want to go, that she didn't really care for him, when it was just the opposite. “And this isn't about me, or you.”

“But what if it was?” he blurted out, then looked momentarily surprised with himself for some reason.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“What if--- you know what, never mind. You have already made up your mind about this. You enjoyed the evening, I hope? But you won't go with me, fine. I suppose I shouldn't stick around to impede your work.” he rose from his seat determinedly. “I suppose I will just have to go it alone for my trip. Which is fine, it isn't as if I haven't had practice at being alone.”

“Discord, don't be like that,” Twilight tried to reconcile now, hoping to calm him before one of them said more things they might regret later. She especially didn't want the evening he spent so much effort on to be tainted by this.

“No, no, It's fine, Twilight. Again, I do sincerely hope you have enjoyed this evening, for if I leave tomorrow this might be the last you will see of me for quite some time,Twilight..”

“Tomorrow?” she said, taken aback.

“No time like the present,” he said,although a little wooden. “I have enjoyed your company, Twilight. But I do think it is getting late and I feel like I should get an early start tomorrow.”

And with that, they were back in his darkened castle hall.

“I shall bid you goodnight and farewell,” he said, giving a slight and stilted bow.

“Discord...” Twilight began her apology, but wasn't certain what she could say that might fix the situation, that might get him to see that -while she did care about him possibly more than she let on – that this was something she simply had to do, not t mention her uncertainties about what being so important to him in return could mean.

He didn't respond, he kept his pose as if waiting for her to leave to move again. Her hurt and confusion turned to indignation. Fine, if he was going to be that way.

She turned away from him and marched back out of the door without another word to him. She tried to dispel her blurry vision as tears began to form. She would remain strong. This would all blow over. He wouldn't really leave tomorrow without at least saying goodbye, right? He wouldn't want t leave things like this, would he? He wouldn't want these to be their last moments together.

Trying to comfort herself with these assurances, Twilight made for home with a swift teleportation spell.

It wasn't terribly long after Twilight had arrived back at the library looking very upset but refusing to let Spike in on whatever had happened with Discord that Spike was again visited by the draconequus.

Spike had only followed her upstairs to make sure that she was alright, but even though she assured him that was the case, her mutterings about needing space to think and her continued refusal to divulge any information told him otherwise.

She had rushed off to bed with barely a goodnight, and the dragon tried not to take it personally as he prepared himself for sleep as well. That was until Discord popped in again, this time with no tricks, but also no fanfare.

“Discord, what the hay happened tonight?” Spike asked, whispering but still accusatory. “I don't know what has Twilight so upset but whatever it is it must have been something to do with your surprise. Did she not like it, did you guys have a fight?”

Discord raised a hand to silence him, glancing around the room and then upwards toward the second floor. He matched Spike's tone as he spoke.

“That's not really why I'm here, and I don't exactly have the biggest want to get into it right now, Spike. But where is Twilight at the moment?”

“She's upstairs in bed, but I dunno if she's asleep yet.”

In a moment, a shimmering force field bubble sprung up around the two of them, filling nearly the entire bottom floor.

“There now, she won't be able to hear anything,” Discord spoke in his normal volume.”

“What exactly do you not want her to hear, and why am I not surprised that you want her to not hear something after you two had a fight.”

”We didn't have a fight,” Discord corrected him, though a bit too forcefully. “Just a--- a disagreement brought on by something that is evidently out of my control.”

“And I guess you don't want to talk about it with me, either?” Spike crossed his arms, thinking about Twilight's brush-off. “You know I'm here if you need to talk. Maybe a little guy talk could help, and I am your only guy friend. Just... promise not to go into too much detail. Twilight is like my sister after all.”

Discord sighed and gave a short but grateful smile. “Were things different, I’d very much enjoy a little friendly fraternal bonding with you, and perhaps if things--- but never mind. I’ll cut to the chase; although I do admit knowing that Twilight made it home safely is comforting, there is an ulterior motive for my being here.”

Spike figured that ulterior were some of the more natural types of motives for Discord to have, but he guessed that he’d give his friend the benefit of the doubt. The guy was new at this and all.

“Yours is the main form of correspondence between the princesses and Twilight, is it not?” Discord asked, and right off the bat Spike did not like where this was going.

“Uh, yeah…”

Discord continued despite Spike’s hesitant response. “Might I rightly assume that there have not been any letters for Twilight from Celestia today?”

“Not that I know of,” Spike answered. “Why?”

“Oh, no reason,” he said with a nonchalance that did not convince Spike in the slightest. “Just wondering. That’s an important part of your job, isn’t it? And it’s normal for friends to take an interest in their friends’ work.”

“I guess so,” Spike said, but more in a way that he wanted to convey to Discord to just get to his point.

“And you know I do consider you a friend, Pony Boy---”

“Yeah, and it’s a big honor,” Spike stopped Discord so he could get them to the point of his visit just a bit faster. “You know I count you as a friend too, but I also know that you’re obviously here to ask for something - which by the way isn’t the main point of friendship but I’ll let it slide - so if it’s okay with you go ahead and just ask me.”

Discord looked a little miffed that he wasn’t able to make it to his question at his own circular pace, but he appeared to take his acknowledgement of their friendship into account and accommodate him.

“Alright, you’re right. There is something I wanted to ask of you,” he said, now only stalling it seemed to find the right words.

“There might come a time in the near future when you receive a letter from Celestia for Twilight, maybe even more than one,” Discord had brought his tail up to one side and was just barely stroking the end with his claw. “Is there any way that those letters might… get lost on their way?”

Spike arched an eyebrow. “You mean could I make sure they get lost, like on purpose?” he actually felt insulted at the idea. “Nuh uh, sorry Discord. No way. That would go against my Dragon Code, and plus that would be a betrayal to both the princess and to Twilight.”

Discord had looked questioningly at him when he’d mentioned his dragon code, but other than that Discord acted like this hadn’t been anything of real importance to him, which he really should have known wouldn’t work. Why would he be here if this wasn’t important to him?

“Well, I suppose that was expected,” he said. “Your loyalty to them would trump any camaraderie we’ve formed. I just thought I’d ask.” He glanced back over to Spike from where he still stood, his eyes not really looking at him until now.

“I’ll see you around then, Spike,” he gave a nod to the dragon with a masking smile. “It should go without saying, but I would ask you not to mention this to Twilight, if you would.”

And without being able to ask him anything else, Discord vanished.

Author's Notes:

Unedited or proofread by another person at the time of posting.