Twilight Sparkle was in her upstairs study enjoying a flower petal sandwich and a cup of tea for lunch. She had spent all morning sorting out books in the library below.

Twilight sank into her chair and relaxed, closing her eyes and sipping some tea. It was then that she heard a strange fluttering sound, like a flock of a thousand birds had been released downstairs.

Her eyes shot open as she spat out her tea, sitting bolt upright in her chair. “Spike!” she called. “Do you see anything weird down there?”

Spike got up from his basket, opened the door, and peeked downstairs. He shrugged and returned to his nap. “Everything seems to be normal… every book is placed as neatly as you left it.” Twilight relaxed a little and took a bite out of her sandwich. It must have been her imagination.

But something didn’t feel quite right. There was a growing feeling of discomfort welling up deep within her. “Are you sure everything’s normal?” she asked Spike. The dragon nodded. “Could you please check again? Just to be sure?”

Spike opened the door and headed down. “Look, Twilight, I keep telling you, there’s nothing wrong down here. Every book is… huh. Looks like one’s in the wrong spot. Whoah…”

Twilight’s feeling of unease grew as she walked over to the door. “Yes, Spike?” she asked nervously, going downstairs. Everything looked normal at a glance, but the little dragon was frozen, standing in front of a bookshelf.

She took another long look around the room. Every single book was arranged in neat rows on each shelf, but there was a great nagging feeling of discomfort, almost set to overwhelm her, growing in the back of Twilight’s mind. It was the kind of discomfort she felt when an inkwell was a centimeter out of line. Twilight’s pupils shrank to the size of marbles as she read the titles of each book. They were all on the wrong shelves. In fact, if they weren’t so neatly arranged, she would have sworn a complete stranger just came inside and shuffled the books randomly.

“Spike… would you please leave for a moment?” Twilight asked, her left eye twitching. Spike backed up nervously, retreating upstairs to the study and hiding behind Twilight’s pillow. Twilight took a deep breath and let it go, calming her mind and focusing her energies onto her horn. She entered a state of deep concentration, reading dozens, hundreds of book titles at once, and remembering them all, coordinating each one to a specific spot on each shelf. Each book flew off of the shelves one at a time, neatly sliding into place in the spot it belonged. It was truly a feat worthy of the Element of Magic.

“Okay, Spike. You can come out now,” Twilight said, beaming and breathing a little heavily. She had solved the problem. Spike came downstairs, looking around at the library.

“Wow. Great job, Twilight!” he said, impressed.

Twilight proudly walked upstairs to finish her meal as Spike hung around the library for a while. He noticed a single book lying on its side by the window and walked over to pick it up, backpedaling furiously as Discord flew out of the cover, gesturing for Spike to be quiet with a claw against his mouth.

“Discord! Did you mess up Twilight’s library?” Spike demanded, trying to whisper as threateningly as possible.

Discord looked offended. “Me? I merely gave the books the ability to organize themselves. Of course, only when Twilight’s not looking.”

“You know it really bothers her, right?” Spike asked.

“Why else would it be so much fun?” Discord grinned. Spike glared at him.

“But that’s nothing but trouble! I should tell Twilight!” Spike said, turning to go upstairs.

“Oh but don’t you enjoy watching this show? I know I do. You know what might help? I always find shows more entertaining with a nice snack,” Discord said, materializing a bucketful of rubies and handing them over to Spike. Spike stared greedily into the bucket.

“Must… tell… Twilight,” he said, but he had already begun eating. “Alright, Discord… you win this round,” he said between gulps. “I’m going to go take a little lunch break outside.” Spike got up and went out the library door, taking the bucket with him.

“This round ended a while ago… but in about five seconds the next one will begin. Let's see how many Twilight can last. Toodles!” Discord said, waving a paw and disappearing in a cloud of smoke. He reappeared just outside of the library, pressing an ear against the wall.

There was a loud fluttering sound as every single book in the library flew off the shelves, rearranging in a random, but organized, pattern. As Discord listened, the eating sounds from upstairs stopped, followed by a loud squish, presumably of a sandwich between hooves. Then came the sound of a door being slammed open, a small pony galloping downstairs, and lastly an ear-splitting shriek. “And that’s my cue to leave,” Discord smiled, fading into the shady library wall.

Next Chapter: Pinkie Pie's Pastry-repelling Mouth Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 58 Minutes