A Mutual Offense

"I will give you my magic in exchange for my friends."

Twilight felt a knot form in her stomach as she spoke those words. This could be the end of the world as she knew it. She was giving up. How could she give up on Equestria? But there was nothing else she could do. She had fought Tirek, she had given it everything she had, but neither of them had been able to gain an advantage over the other.

But if nothing else, at least she could free her friends. They meant everything to her. And...there was always the off chance that somehow, together, they'd find a way to defeat Tirek. Her friends had helped each other out of more than one situation that she had thought impossible to get out of before, after all.

"As you wish," Tirek responded. He snapped his fingers, and and the bubbles that encased Twilight Sparkle's friends popped, and each of them fell to the ground. Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rarity lay coughing in the dust, shaken but unhurt.

Twilight couldn't help sighing in relief. Now, all of them were free.

Well...almost all of them. Twilight nervously eyed the draconequus still floating in his own bubble above their heads. Tirek hadn't released him, which meant Twilight had to make a choice: speak up and insist that Discord was released as well, or leave Discord with Tirek.

Gosh, how she wanted to leave him behind. She felt anger churning inside her as she thought about his betrayal.

Surely you saw this coming. They really should have. They should have seen it coming from miles away. He was Discord, the spirit of chaos! He lived to torment others and make their lives miserable. The second they weren't looking, he was back to his old self.

She recalled when she and her friends had been looking for the Tree of Harmony and she had turned back to stay safe, knowing that Equestria couldn't risk losing her. Luna and Celestia had been missing; if anything happened to Twilight, Equestria would have been left with no ruler. But somehow, Discord had cajoled her into going back into the Everfree Forest, knowing full well how much danger she would be in. He had probably been hoping something would happen to her.

But then again...she had actually ended up being very glad that she went back. Her friends had needed her, and she couldn't have lived with herself if she had abandoned them to keep herself safe. Discord...had been right.

An almost unthinkable possibility entered her mind: maybe Discord had been trying to help. Maybe he had been giving her advice, in his own weird way.

Twilight shook her head. No. That was ridiculous. Him being right had been a mere fluke. He lived only to laugh at others' pain. That's all he had been doing. Just toying with her mind.

And when he had intruded on Cadence's visit to Ponyville? He had been beyond obnoxious. Heck, he had faked illness in some stupid bid for attention. He was so self-centered, making her go to the ends of Equestria to find a cure he didn't really need! And then he had gone on and on about how he just wanted to be sure that they were friends. Of all the ridiculous, selfish, stupid-

Suddenly, Twilight felt her throat constrict. At the time, it had seemed like Discord was just trying to get under her skin, but looking back on it, she couldn't deny that it was possible that the reason he had done what he had done was because he was lonely.

After all, sometimes ponies-and other creatures-acted out when they were lonely, didn't they?

Sweetie Belle had sabotaged a headdress Rarity had made for a famous singer once when she had felt under-appreciated. Her actions could very well have ruined Rarity's career if Sweetie hadn't realized her mistake and fixed it. Yes, Rarity had been quite angry, but she had forgiven her sister in the long run.

And Luna...she had messed up big time when she felt she hadn't been getting enough attention. But they had all forgiven her.

They had never really forgiven Discord, though. Yes, they called him their "friend", but it didn't take a genius to know they were lying.

Friends didn't groan and roll their eyes every time they saw you.

Friends didn't glare at you every time you spoke.

And friends definitely did not strive to keep you from being yourself.

Twilight cringed as she realized that that was essentially what she and the others were asking Discord to do. Asking the Lord of Chaos to refrain from causing any chaos would be like asking Twilight to never read another book again. It would be taking away part of who she was.

Who could blame him for turning on such lousy excuses for friends?

Perhaps Fluttershy had been the exception, but even her friendship had been tainted: she had been their means of controlling Discord; threatening to stop being his friend if he put a toe out of line. Honestly, they may as well have put a leash on him and pulled him around like a dog.

Twilight hated to admit it, but she was starting to...understand Discord.

He hadn't meant to betray them, she realized. Not at first, at least. She remembered this morning when he had spoken to them. He had looked through their friendship journal and marked passages that had helped them figure out what the keys to the Tree of Harmony's chest were. Well...most of them-Twilight hadn't gotten hers yet, but she was sure she would soon. The point was, Discord had helped them-there was no denying it. He had helped them. Even after how they treated him, he had still been trying.

Maybe this whole fiasco was just a horrid misunderstanding between them and Discord. Maybe he had genuinely been trying to befriend them, but he went about it in such strange ways that they misinterpreted it.

Twilight sighed as she looked up at him, floating above them in his little bubble. His whole body was drooping, his eyes glistened, and his mouth was pulled into an uncharacteristic frown. He was pathetic.

Yes, he had wronged them, and Twilight certainly expected an apology from him. But they had treated him poorly and done a pretty lousy job of showing him friendship. She owed him an apology as well.

Twilight snapped out of her thoughts and looked at Tirek squarely, suddenly coming to a decision.

"Let all of my friends go, Tirek."

As Tirek balked at her decision to call Discord her friend, Twilight felt herself waver a bit. Discord had given them no reason to trust him. He had told them he had reformed once and turned his back on them; what was to stop him from doing it again?

But she knew they could not expect Discord to truly be a friend to them if they didn't properly show him how friends treated each other. She would have to take a leap of faith for now. She would have to lead by example, and hope that he would follow.

And judging by how completely mournful he looked right now, that hope was not unfounded.

This time, she would show Discord what friendship really was. This time, she would get it right.

"Release him!"