After the Avengers cleaned themselves up, Zoe turned them back into people again and sent them back to Midgard. Well, at least, that's where she said she sent them. But I'm not actually 100% sure, I mean, this is Zoe we're talking about.

Anyway, we were just about to take Loki back to his cell, when he reminded us that he still had two library books that he wanted to return.

So, that's basically all the boring ish that you missed. Now, we're in the library, me keeping an eye out for Moona in case she tries to freak us out again and sticking by Loki, while he and Zoe browse. I have a feeling we're in the Romance section, but I'm not entirely sure.

That is, until Zoe gives me a perverted grin.

"Hearts and Hooves Day's coming up soon, eh, Rosie? Eh, Loki? Eh? Eh?" Zoe elbows me for every 'eh'.

I roll my eyes, while Loki furrows his brow. "What is that?" He inquires, before I can stop him.

"Well," Zoe starts. I immediately facehoof. "Hearts and Hooves Day is on February 14th. It's where you give a present, more often than not a flower or a card, to your special somepony. It's just something to celebrate the day of loooove," she winks at me.

"Oh. You mean like Valentine's Day?" Loki asks.

Zoe looks at him weird. "What the hell is that?"

I ignore that, sighing, "Most of my Hearts and Hooves days are spent half the day looking for a special somepony, and the other half crying over the fact that I'll remain forever alone," I half joke.

Loki laughs a little, not entirely sure if he should or not.

"Ha! Well, normally, I would join your solo pity party. But I've got a very special somepony this year," Zoe squeaks in excitement.

"What? Who?" I ask, "I mean, whoa! You with a special somepony?"

"Uh, yeah, me!" She retorts, "And his name is Matt. You know, the guy from the Hearth's Warming party?"

Oh, yeah, him. He made fun of my wingboner. No hate, though. "Ah, that orange unicorn that I ignored for most of the night?" Loki grins.

"And I bet you two'll be busy this Hearts and Hooves Day, too, eh?" Zoe does another perverted grin.

"Um, no," I mutter, "I'll be carrying out my traditional pity party for myself. And I don't think Loki really cares, he's got an actual excuse. You know, with the whole cell and no freedom shit?"

"Freedom is life's great lie," Loki says blankly, staring off into the distance.

"Oh, come on!" Zoe cries, "Be a cute couple and do as your fandom says!"

"I have a fandom?" I say, confused.

Loki pauses for a few seconds, then speaks up, "As entertaining as your arguing isn't, I do think we're wasting time here. Also, somebody get me that book up on that top shelf." He points to one up high on the shelves.

"Zoe, it's not like I'm not happy for you," I continue, while flying up and grabbing the book Loki asked for, "It's just that... I don't wanna be alone on Hearts and Hooves Day. I mean, really alone, with nopony to complain about being single with."

"Maybe if you and Loki actually got together, you wouldn't have anything to complain about," Zoe mutters through grit teeth, before accidentally stepping on an old book on the ground. "Huh?" She raises an eyebrow at it, lifting it up with her green magic.

"What's that?" I ask, placing the book Loki wanted on his back.

"It looks old," Loki states, "Where did you find it?"

"Just here and now. There's no writing on the spine," Zoe replies, brushing a thin layer of dust off of the black, leather cover and opening to a random page. Loki and me stand on either side of her, me trying to read the book. Zoe giggles, "Hey, look! It's got all these funny words."

"And weird symbols. I know they're not English letters," I add.

"Hey, listen to this!" Zoe chuckles, "Gia ópoion diavázei af̱tí̱ ti̱ frási̱ dynatá , tha kalései to paichnídi ti̱s Éridos. Doesn't that sound so weird?"

"I didn't know you were fluent in Greek," Loki says to Zoe.

She shrugs. "That was Greek?"

"Yes," he nods, "It says; For whoever reads this sentence, shall play the game of-"

"What the fruck?!" I scream as the book starts shaking, a black glow starting from the centre of the open book and swirling around, getting bigger and bigger.

"Whoa!" Zoe exclaims, dropping the book with a small thud and backing away with the rest of us.

"What did you just do!?" Loki hisses.

"I don't know!" Zoe shrieks back as the blackish purple magic rises above the shelves, forming a bubble, making a loud, ripping noise and pulling up loose papers.

We back up even more hurriedly, our butts suddenly running straight into a wall. I wrap my arms around Loki, burying my head in his neck, while Zoe has her hooves looped over his back, her eyes squeezed shut and shaking. Loki himself puts a hoof on one of my arms and stares wide eyed at the weirdness.

The bubble floats down to the ground in front of us. We push ourselves even harder into the wall, trying to stay as far away from this as possible. I mean, what the heck is this weird magic ish? I blame Zoe.

Suddenly, the bubble pops innocently, to reveal the weirdest creature I have ever seen. It has a donkey's head, a dragon's tail, a normal pegasus wing, a bat's wing... it's pretty much made up of all kinds of things. It's yellow eyes gleam at us and it smiles, it's sharp tooth poking out of its' mouth.

It chuckles, "Finally, somepony's decided to play!"

"AAAAH!" Zoe screams a high pitched scream, "WHAT IS THAT!?"

"I... think it's a draconeques!" I squint at the creature, pulling away from Loki and half blushing.

"It's utter discord!" Loki exclaims.

"Correct! Points to the green princess!" The draconeques snaps his chicken's claw for a left arm, pointing his lions' paw for a right arm at Loki.

He scowls, "I am not a princess!"

"Whatever," it rolls its' yellow eyes with sass, "Now, on to introductions! My name... is Discord," it bows sarcastically, "And you are?"

"Um... stranger danger?" I squeak.

This Discord thing chuckles again, "But I am no stranger now, am I? And I only want to play a little game. Besides, you did read the spell," he looks directly at Zoe, "And you did summon me. So it's only fair if you play the game." He folds his arms.

"What kind of game, creature?" Loki demands.

Discord puts his 'hands' up in surrender, "No need to get cocky, princess."

"I am not a princess!" Loki growls.

"Okay, the game goes like this," Discord continues, ignoring him, "Six gems are hidden around Canterlot. Your task is simple; find the gems."

"Huh. Sounds easy enough," Zoe says with relief.

"But!" Discord puts a claw over Zoe's mouth to shut her up, "There are some rules. Rule number one! No magic." With that, he snaps his chicken claw, and there is a big *poof* for Loki, Zoe, and me.

I wince, expecting some sort of weird spell, or no wings or something. I open one eye and look around. Hey... did the room just get really big? And... and why am I so close to the ground?

I look over to Zoe and squeak in shock, jumping back and bumping into Loki. I squeak again when I don't have to look so far up to see his face. What is happening?

I mean, for one, Zoe's face looks more plain. Probably because she's not wearing makeup. Both of their faces look like them... only sort of not them. More immature. Loki's nose is smaller, more rounded, and his hair is shorter. Wait, are we...

"Kids?" I breathe, instantly putting a hoof on my mouth at how high my voice sounds.

"Wow, Rosie, your mane is really messy," Zoe states, trying to smooth my wild fringe down.

"Why did you turn us into infants?" Loki asks Discord. Oh my gods, his voice is soooooo cute! It's so innocent and freaking adorable, complete with big, ocean blue eyes and tiny, buzzy wings

"Easy. Fillies and colts can't fly or do magic. You can all go back to moody seventeen year olds if you find the gems by sunset," Discord replies, "But in the mean time... you three look soooo cute!" He pulls lightly on my cheek.

"Lay off!" Loki growls, slapping Discord's paw away from me. I'm just glad he didn't accidentally slap my face instead. And it's also cute because now Loki pronounces his 'i's like 'oi' and his 'o's like 'aw'."

Discord rubs his paw, then glances at Loki. "Now, now, little boy," he pats Loki on the head, who's glaring up at him, "Didn't your mother ever teach you manners?"

Loki purses his lips, almost looking like he's about to cry. I notice this and speak up, "So... how are we supposed to find these gems if we don't even know where they are?"

"I'll give you the first clue if you tell me your names," Discord flaps his wings, stroking his beard.

"I'm Zoe," Zoe squeaks, her voice uncontrollably breaking. When I snicker, she says to me, "What!? My voice got deeper before the other fillies!"

"I know, I was there," I giggle, "It's even funnier when I forgot what you sounded like back then."

Zoe rolls her eyes, "Anyway, she's Rosie, and that's Loki."

"Go the 'eee' ending names!" Discord cheers, waving a small flag from nowhere, "Rosie, Loki, Zoe, fate's a poet and you didn't even know it!

"So you know our names," Loki scowls, "Now give us the clue!"

"Okay, okay!" He sighs, "This first clue is an easy one.
It's in your home, where you had the most fun."

"Seriously? We're speaking in rhyme now?" I raise an eyebrow up at him. Discord ignores me and continues.

"Books and glass, pudding and gold,
this is the place for the prisoner we hold."

And then *BOOM*, he disappears.

The three of us stand there for a minute, taking it in. "Ah... pudding," Loki smiles dreamily.

"Shut up, Loki," Zoe says, before staring up at the ceiling as if it would give her the answer, "The most fun?"

"Maybe that's just a diversion... gold and glass... the walls and floor of Loki's room are gold," I state. Zoe's young eyes brighten up.

"Yeah and that's where our prisoner is supposed to be held!" She squeals, "The first gem must be in Loki's room!"

"Come on, then!" I cry, speeding off, but I accidentally trip over my own nubby hooves, falling on my face.

Loki trots up to me and helps me up. "Ooooh," Zoe grins.

"It's sad how politeness is so rare these days that it can often be mistaken for flirting," Loki sighs.

"Whoa," I gawk, "That sounds weird when baby Loki says it."

"Ehehehe," he 'eheheh's.

And so, we run down the hallway and burst into Loki's room. "It's gotta be in here, somewhere," I think aloud, pressing the green button on the control box to open the cell doors.

Zoe picks up a book on the ground and flicks through it, while I peek behind the control box and Loki looks under the bench. After flicking through the second book, Zoe sighs, "The only other place I can think of other than in these books is-"

"I see it!" I exclaim, my muzzle poked through the small gap between the fat control box and the glass wall for the cell. "I... just... can't... reach it..."
I stick a short hoof through the gap, reaching out to grab the small, round, red gemstone, but it's too nubby and underdeveloped. "Dangit," I curse, stomping on the ground in frustration.

Zoe puts her hooves to her cheeks. "Aaaw! You are so adorable!" she squees.

"Could somepony please help?" I squeak, my voice involuntarily breaking. I forgot how annoying that can be.

"Wait, let me try," Loki speaks up, kneeling down a little and threading his hoof through the gap, reaching out for the gem, but again, his hoof is too short. He growls, "I can't reach it, either."

"Wait!" Zoe cries. Loki and me pause.

There's an awkward silence as we both stare at each other, with Zoe's hoof outstretched towards us.

"So... are you gonna say something, or...?" I trail off.

"Ssssh!" Zoe shushes me. There is another awkward, long silence.

"Uh..." Loki starts, but Zoe interrupts again with a-

"SSSSHH!"

"What is it!?" I cry.

"Come closer," she beckons in a hushed tone. We inch closer, leaning forward. "Closer." We step closer until we're right in front of her. "Closerrrr." We crane our necks forward, so all of our faces are literally centimetres apart.

"Yeah?" I inquire in suspense.

She gulps, looks around quickly and whispers; "You two should kiss."

Loki and me both sigh, turning away from Zoe and back to our just-out-of-reach gem situation. "If we were our normal pre-adults, we could probably reach that gem no probs," I say to Loki.

"Wait, isn't Loki like... a thousand years old are something?" Zoe questions, flicking through the books once more.

"Well, aren't you?" I grin.

"Touché," Zoe points at me.

"And you do realise that Loki's legit just going through a rebellious teenage phase, right?" I add, trying to reach out for the gem again.

"Um... why do you sound like a school nurse all of a sudden?" She raises an eyebrow.

"I read it on Tumblr," I answer.

"Tumblr?" Loki echoes.

"Never mind," I say, "How're we supposed to get this stupid thing? Our hooves are too short, this is rigged!"

"What we need is something long to at least slide the gem towards us," Loki says, putting a hoof to his chin.

Zoe does a perverted grin, "Hey, Loki, how about your-"

"Tail!" I exclaim, waving my ass in the air, making my tail swoop around, "We can use my tail!"

"You little genius, you," Zoe says half sarcastically, trotting out of the cell and next to us.

"Worth a try," Loki shrugs.

"Okay," I puff my cheeks out, letting out a long breath. I turn my butt to the gap in the control box, swing it up so my tail touches the top of my head and my back hooves are off the ground, then slam my ass onto the ground, closest to the gap as possible. I turn my head back to try and see if my tail actually landed on the gem. "Did it work?" I inquire.

Loki gives Zoe a boost to climb up onto the control box. She gets her front hooves on it, her back legs dangling. She 'accidentally' kicks Loki's head lightly to haul herself up, and when she does, she steps on all the buttons, making the doors open and close, open and close. And malfunction. But she ignores that.

She peeks down into the gap and nods. "Yep! You got it. Only just, though," she calls.

I use my tail muscle to press down as hard as I can, slowly shoving myself forward like a dog with worms. "How dignifying," Loki comments. I send a glare at him, but keep pulling myself forward until my whole tail is out of that gross gap.

"We did it!" Zoe squeals in delight, jumping down from the box. She scoops the dark red gem up in her hooves.

Suddenly, a red stream of liquid snakes up out of the centre of the gem like a hypnotised cobra, making Zoe scream and nearly dropping it.

Out of the liquid pops a miniature Discord, making me sort of relieved that it wasn't blood or anything. "So, you found the first gem," he cackles. His voice is very hard to take seriously, because he is so small, his voice is even more high pitched than ours, "You're not as foolish as I first thought," he continues.

~

"Alright... we've retrieved the gem... now turn us back!" Loki demands.

Abruptly, Discord enlarges to his original size with a blank face. "I don't think you heard me correctly," he says, "The rules are that your find all the gems. Besides, I made the first one easy. But now I'm not going to be as soft. Just because you look like children doesn't mean you really are. So... do you want the next clue or what?"

"I want it! I want it!" I squeak as adorably as I can, trying to make him like us more so he'll be nice.

He chuckles, "Well, of course, m'dear," he tips an imaginary hat at me, then says in a sly voice;

"Flora and fauna, all in bloom,
a moat and a castle, you'll find number two.
Red as blood, the flower of fame,
just remember... it's all in the nickname."

And yet again, *BOOM*! He disappears.

"What in the hay does that mean?" I whine at the spot where Discord once was.

"Red... Flower..." Loki mutters, glancing at me, "... nickname... Rose!"

"Yeah?"

"No, not you, Rose. I mean the rose, Rose," Loki tries to explain.

"I still don't follow," I reply, "I'm stupid."

Zoe groans, "We're supposed to find a rose. That's probably where we'll find the next gem."

"Ohhhhh," I smile, finally getting it. Loki facehoofs.

"But where? A castle and a moat?" Zoe asks herself, staring up at the ceiling as if it would give her the answer. But it was really me who gave her the answer.

"Hello? Winter Wrap Up happened like, three days ago!" I throw my hooves up in the air, "We were in the front garden in front of the palace last month, but it was snowing then, so there were no flowers. But now that winter is wrapped up, all the flowers will be in bloom. The garden around the castle's moat is always surrounded by rose bushes, (extra security, because roses have thorns, ya know?) I'm sure that's where the next gem is!"

"That's... not such a stupid idea!" Zoe says, "Come on! What're we waiting for? Let's go!"

🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

Hey there, people reading!

..DGSAKAIWHWOSKDNSJNDKSJS I AM SO SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING ON HEARTS AND HOOVES DAY OK I HAD TO MAKE THIS CHAP A TWO PARTER AND THEN ADD THE HEARTS AND HOOVES DAY ONE AFTER THAT SO TRIPLE UPDATE LOVE ME FOVEREVER

Ahem...

anywho...

The pic should be up soon.

Thanks for reading!

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Stay happy.

~Amazing_Burrito_Mare