A bright white flash heralded the two new arrivals to the burnt out and largely abandoned town of Ponyville. All was quiet, the only other life being a few random EUP soldiers and contractors figuring out where to start on the rebuilding efforts, along with some crows, ravens and other such scavenger birds searching for any leftover remains to get a snack out of. The town had suffered greatly during the war against Empress Immortalis, leaving it but a ghost town.

So why Queen Twilight Sparkle thought it was a good idea to subject it to the Lord of Chaos would be a subject for historians to decide.

“Well, here we are,” Twilight said with a note of sadness in her voice. “Ponyville, or what’s left of it.”

“My my Twilight, I see you’ve redecorated,” Discord noted casually, floating besides the Changeling Queen while filing down his talon. “I don’t like it.”

“Yeah, me neither,” Twilight agreed, trotting forwards towards the burnt out golden oak sitting directly down the street. “It’s all like a bad dream, what happened here. The Empress’ control was so strong…”

“Bah, she was a wannabe,” Discord dismissed, clearly unimpressed by what he had heard about Immortalis. “No flair. No style! Boring, that’s the word. I’m actually glad you got her to taste the rainbow.”

“You and me both. Still, that’s in the past. And you owe me for missing out again!” Twilight pointed out while throwing Discord an irritated glance. “You never said why you weren’t here.”

“Blame the Smooze, he throws parties that would make that ridiculous pink pet of yours do a double take,” Discord explained, showing a couple of previously non-existent photographs of him hanging out with a green blob in some strange unfathomable expanse. “But don’t tell Pinkie Pie I said that, I have a bad feeling the mare would somehow track me down.”

That got Twilight to chuckle. “Probably. She can get pretty competitive with parties sometimes.”

“Indeed,” Discord said, an overly large shiver running down his entire body. “Now, what was this about a library? You’re sure you don’t want a giant crystal tree instead? I bet it would make for excellent toy sales.”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “No, Discord. I just want the Golden Oaks Library. Good as new.”

“Good as new, eh?” Discord grinned widely. “Oh, I think I can manage that.” he lifted his claws and snapped. There was a bright flash of light. When it faded, the tree was restored, looking almost identical to how it had been before.

Almost.

Twilight wasn’t quite sure what was different yet, though. It just felt a little off to her. For the moment she shrugged it off as mere residual anxiety from the struggle with Immortalis and being chained up in the hive mind.

“Well, I do hope it’s too your liking, even though you don’t live here anymore.” Discord said with a playful glint in his eyes. “Can I go now?”

“Yeah, in a moment,” Twilight replied. “I’m wondering, how did you manage to restore it to how it was anyway? I mean, you’re powerful but…”

Discord smiled and shrugged. “Oh Twilight, it was a simple matter of loading a previous save state and then adding the finishing touches.”

“Save state?”

“Oh, uh, imagine a miniscule version of time travel. Reversing something to its previous state as it was in a different time frame.”

“Oh, so that’s how it works?”

“Not at all, but at least you can imagine or comprehend that explanation.”

“Try me.”

“I would, but I really can’t be bothered with the exposition,” Discord dismissed. “Too much chaos to spread, realities to see. And little book bugs to annoy.”

With one last definitely-not-evil smirk, Discord vanished in another white flash. Twilight was left staring at where her friend/enemy/annoyance had just been standing, before shaking it off and looking back towards the rejuvenated tree. A small smile spread across her face as she was hit with a wave of nostalgia. She hadn’t lived in the old tree for such a long time, but it was always a part of her. Her final days as a regular old unicorn, and the days she had spent with her friends, however short a time it had been.

Twilight let out a breath she just realised she’d been holding, deciding that it would be better to see if Discord had arranged the books properly. Knowing him, he put all the smutty romance novels in the educational section. So with that in mind, and a brand new sorting scheme in mind the likes she hadn’t devised since before the Canterlot Wedding, Twilight took her first step into the library.

She paused in the threshold of the door and glanced up when something dripped onto the tip of her nose. “...Teeth,” she said flatly. “This door has teeth.”

The teeth wiggled at her as if in greeting. They weren’t sharp, but blunt like an herbivore’s. They were dripping with a very small amount of drool. Another drop hit Twilight on the back, drawing her eyes into a deadpan glare. “...Of course.” she breathed out in resignation.

The door’s mouth wiggled, either trying to give Twilight its best smile or worst snarl.

“Yeah, mine’s better!” Twilight rebutted, hissing at the door while showing her own carnivorous fangs, something that the metamorphosis had not changed about her appearance.

Then the door whimpered like a poor sad puppy, and Twilight suddenly felt more like a Crudelis than a Chrysalis.

Then she realised she was feeling sorry for a door.

“Gah! Discord!” Twilight snarled in indignation.

“My Queen?” Façade, the latest addition to the hive, felt her distress over the distance between them.

“Don’t ask,” Twilight replied with a huff, before adding: “But if you see Discord, have the entire hive jump on him. I would be forever in your debt…”

She could feel his blush from Ponyville. “Er… sure thing, Twilight…”

The connection was cut, though Twilight’s smug grin quickly transformed into a horrified look. “Did I just… Oh, what is coming over me around that stupid drone!?”

Twilight shook her head, removing stupid attractive Façade from her mind and moving back to the immediate issue. Namely, the grinning doorframe.

It’s teeth wiggled again before the door itself swung open a bit more, inviting Twilight to come inside and have a look around. She wasn’t sure, but she thought it was purring in a friendly, if a little anxious, welcome.

“Well, that’s easily fixable…” she muttered to herself, sighing. “It can’t get any worse, at least.”

She just had to say that.

Stepping the rest of the way into the first room of the library, Twilight glanced around. For a moment, she felt herself relaxing, despite the door mat wiggling like a tongue as she walked over it. She took a deep breath, just letting the nostalgia relax her.

Then she looked at the nearest bookshelf.

“Oh I am going to punt him into the nearest black hole,” she groaned in frustration when she realized something.

The bookshelf had no organization to it whatsoever. There was a romance novel sitting right next to the complete history of pots, which itself was sitting next to a satirical book about magic written purely to make fun of some of it’s weirder aspects. This book was, in turn, next to the pony-latin version of the Hearth’s Warming Eve play in novel form.

No order. No organization. No logic.

And then there was the fact that some of the bookshelves were floating.

Twilight wasn’t sure why she expected anything else from a being that was the literal antithesis of such things.

“I should have brought Fluttershy with us after the initial guilt-tripping,” Twilight muttered to herself, groaning towards her lack of foresight.

“Mayu san peetch wassa!” a weird voice shouted from the direction of the bathroom. Twilight froze as she felt her eye twitch.

“What did he do to the bathroom?” she muttered while anxiously heading in that direction to have a look. On the way she had to pass through a kitchen, where the forks were dancing merrily on the table in a weird waltz. Ignoring that oddity for the moment, she opened the door to the restroom and looked inside.

“Ay! Shea nu takka dam dur!” the toilet screamed at her. “Ah urvay teeka shite, aar!”

Twilight slammed the door. “...No. Just no...” she turned and returned to the main room, and then shook her head. “Ugh… this is going to take forever to sort…” she reached out with her magic to pluck the history of pots from the shelf.

She then froze.

The book on pots was gone. In its place was ‘Fifty Shades of Hay’, which Twilight noted as being authored by a changeling to try and harvest love from its readers, with mixed results. Looking over, Twilight noticed that another book suddenly shrunk back into the shelf along with another one of the other side of the room. They then re-appeared in the other’s places.

Twilight reached out with her magic, and tried to move some books on science to the science sections. They stayed there for a moment, but then floated out and moved away again. She saw ‘The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide’ move to the science fiction shelf.

“Screw this, I’m going up stairs.” Twilight sighed, heading for the bedroom.

She was thinking about having a good nap in her old bed, forget her chaotic troubles until a few hours later where she could tackle the problem with a fresh mind. And she needed it, she was feeling more like that clueless magic student from yonder year rather than a powerful Changeling Queen with the second largest hive in existence.

“I’ve slayed dragons and evil Changeling Queens with even bigger egos, this will not beat me!” she hissed, her eye twitching as a little bit of her mother poked through for a moment. “I just need some rest, and then I can fix all of this no problem.”

She reached the top of the stairs, ignoring the book on relationship advice that seemed to be homing in on her. She batted the tome away, opening the door and then quickly slamming it shut behind her.

She slumped against the door, trying to still her racing mind. She had just about managed to do so, when she finally caught sight of the bed.

There were two pictures hung up on either side of the double bed, and the faces of both herself and Façade stared back at her with rather… sultry expressions. The bed was also littered with small rose petals, and sexy jazz music was emerging from the nearby phonograph.

The picture of Façade winked at her.

And then the entire bed went flying out of the window.

The phonograph fell to the floor, continuing to play its music before a lavender hoof smashed it into its base parts. Queen Twilight stared down spitefully, albeit while heavily blushing, at the device before her gaze moved to the window.

“It’s not like that!” she shouted to the spirit she knew was listening in. “I just met the guy, we’re friends! Who cares if he’s the first stallion to ever call me beautiful!? And so what if his lack of disguise magic is actually really cute and endearing!? It’s… we’re just friends!”

“Clearly you care that he called you beautiful. If you didn’t why would you be bringing it up with such a fury? Such a passion?” Discord’s voice entered the room, full of mirth and snorts as the disembodied voice attempted to stifle it’s boisterous laughter.

Twilight’s blush deepened, still quite the feat given that her body was comprised of armoured chitin. “There’s no fury! It’s just something that happened!”

“And the flirting? Is that just ‘something that happened’ too?”

“Shining said I should get to know him.”

“And, my dear, you are most certainly doing that.”

There was that eye twitch again. “COME OUT BEFORE I DRAIN YOU OF SO MUCH LOVE YOU’RE LEFT BUT A WITHERED HUSK!”

A bright flash appeared, and then Discord appeared with a microphone in his claw that was attached to a nearby megaphone, one that certainly was loud enough for all the outside ponies to hear.

“My my, you certainly have developed your mother’s temper,” Discord said with a tut. “Perhaps I should start calling you Chryssi the Second?”

Twilight looked ashen. “You… transmitted that?”

“But of course! But then again I’m sure it’s not too much of a surprise, Changeling Queens are known to be quite volatile.”

Twilight huffed. “I’m not volatile…”

“COME OUT BEFORE I DRAIN YOU OF SO MUCH LOVE YOU’RE LEFT BUT A WITHERED HUSK!” the megaphone randomly repeated, once again startling the ponies outside.

“...Most of the time.”

Discord chuckled. “Honestly, though, why are you so upset? You did ask me to restore the library good as new.” he winked.

Twilight froze while her brain caught up. “I... “

“You know; fresh out of the box, unopened, all the snazzy newest gadgets and additions and featured and all that,” Discord continued, one of the dancing forks from earlier appearing on the palm of his paw as he held it open.

Twilight grit her teeth. “...Put it back as it was. Before I blew it up.”

“Awww, but it’s soo much more entertaining like this,” Discord said as he pouted, crossing his arms. The fork screamed in a tiny voice as it fell to the floor. “Honestly, you’re no fun.”

“Discord, put it back before I-”

“-DRAIN YOU OF SO MUCH LOVE YOU’RE LEFT BUT A WITHERED HUSK!” the recorded voice of the Queen blared one last time.

Discord smirked. “Oh, very well. You’ve scared me into submission!” He chortled to himself before snapping his talons. The library was engulfed in a bright white light. Once said light faded, Twilight found herself back on the ground floor in the central room.

She frantically ran up to the first shelf and looked it over. “Not my organization style, but… it works. Organized by the mare who lived here last, I think...” she thought out loud before slumping with her back against the wall.

“Ugh, I need a break…” Twilight muttered to herself, closing her eyes. “I thought I was done with his craziness. I should have known better, being a Changeling Queen is no protection.”

She sighed to herself, opening her eyes and viewing the now normal library around her. A few tears came to her eyes, a smile gracing her face.

“I do miss it though, just sometimes,” she admitted to herself. “No responsibilities beyond an occasional report to Celestia. Just me and my friends, hanging out. No royal title, no hive to run, no wars to fight.”

“Yes, your life does seem a bit darker than it used to be,” Discord casually commented, not yet gone and just laying atop the shelves above Twilight. “Aren't you glad I can provide that little bit of simple, fun chaos every now and then?”

Despite herself, Twilight didn’t retort to the Spirit of Chaos’ statement. “Hmph, I suppose you’re not wrong, Discord. Don’t get too comfortable, though.”

Discord rolled his eyes. “Please. Twilight is way more fun than Queen Twilight.”

“I’m both, you know,” Twilight responded dryly.

“For now, yes,” Discord replied, his voice a little bit more serious than Twilight was used to. “But you are very different to the Twilight who Celestia sent to Ponyville ten years ago. And remember, your mother was once like that little unicorn, nerdy and cheerful.”

“I could still see a bit of that, on occasion.”

“On occasion, but never in full form. You, even now, when was the last time before today you wished to organise a library for the fun of it?”

Twilight didn’t respond, simply closing her eyes again.

“You’re changing, Twilight. Slowly but surely, and have been ever since Queen Chrysalis bit the dust. Every passing day you are that little bit more of a Changeling Queen, and less a unicorn.”

“I’m of two worlds. That will never change.”

“No,” he agreed. “But you will. You DO have your mother's temper, and that’s not all you’ve inherited.”

Twilight sighed. “Then what would you suggest?”

“You already know to keep your friends close, so I won’t repeat that,” Discord replied. “But also, every now and then, reorganise that library just because you can. Have fun, and remember that the crown doesn’t define you.”

Twilight opened her eyes, looking up at the draconequus. “That was surprisingly heartfelt coming from you.”

“We don't need a changeling Nightmare Moon running around one day,” Discord stated. “Or another Crudelis, I’m just trying to be a friend. Fluttershy would agree.”

“Yeah, I guess she would.”

“Hm. But I do have one last piece of advice, before I return to Canterlot and see what’s happening up there.”

“Oh?” Twilight enquired, interested what he had to say after his sentimental outburst. “What is it?”

“Go see Façade,” he replied with his usual mischievous smirk returning. “Because you really need to get laid.”

“DISCORD!”

Author's Notes:

Bonus chapter, fully canon (unlike the April Fools Chapter) and co-written by Skijaramaz.

This commenter gave rise to this chapter:

While all these theories of a Discorded library are quite funny, and might make for a comedic side-story,
-G33kySt3v3