After several months of being stuck in the same awkward position inside his prison of stone, Discord was finally free. However...this time he was going to have a little bit of fun with whoever had freed him.
As the cold stone which had encased his essence shimmered and transformed once again into his usual fleshy build, Discord decided just for the heck of it to immediately create a narrow second skin of rock surrounding his body, giving the appearance that he had not been freed at all.
He heard a nasally mare’s voice ask, “Did it not work? Shadow, you told me that it would work.”
A second gruff voice responded, “So it would appear…”
“AU CONTRAIRE, MY LITTLE PONIES! HEEE’S BACK!”
All of the thin slabs of rock surrounding Discord’s body immediately fell off and shattered on the ground, leaving only the overpowered draconequus wearing a large floppy sombrero and wielding a shiny trumpet in one claw. Still with his eyes closed, Discord snapped his fingers and made the illusion of a mariachi band with three ponies appear next to him, blasting out an annoyingly cheerful tune. Maybe I should do a little dance!
He then heard an explosion of magic and suddenly the sound of trumpets and guitars stopped. In a whiny, protesting voice, Discord said “But I feel like celebrating!”
“I DON’T!” screeched the nasally mare.
Geez, that voice is annoying. “Alright…” He snapped a claw and the three mariachi pony illusions disappeared.
“ALL OF IT!”
“Fine…” Sighing, he snapped his fingers one more time and his sombrero and trumpet vanished into thin air from whence they came. Now, who’s the annoying little filly who thinks she can boss me around?
Discord’s eyes shot open and immediately noticed several things. Firstly, he was surrounded by a gangly bunch of random villains from Equestria’s past: Nightmare Moon, wearing all of her old dusty armor, Chrysalis with an expression of pure boredom on her face, Shady looking adorably infuriated as usual, and oh please don’t tell me that’s Twilight Sparkle’s pet dragon.
Second, standing in the center of the ring was a pony Discord had never seen before. She wore a very odd-looking yellow and black jumpsuit, covered from head to hoof in decorations of stars and magic. The suit enveloped the pony’s face, leaving blank white spaces where her eyes should have been. It appears that somepony doesn’t want her identity revealed, mused Discord. I could fix that, if needed.
Third, all of the ponies in the group wore a bunch of black necklaces around their necks, exactly the same in shape and structure to the Elements of Harmony. Wait. There’s something about those necklaces…Discord shifted his vision up a couple of planes and peered a second time at the odd jewelry choice shared by the five miscreants. As he stared at the necklaces his sickly-yellow eyes widened; his bloodred pupils shrank. Each necklace exuded an aura of immense power, sending out waves of energy that rippled the very fabric of space and time—much like his own, yet their power was focused inward, not outward.
The necklaces still needed to be unlocked in order to reach their full potential. Once they did…they would certainly surpass his capabilities in terms of raw power.
Blinking once, Discord looked back up the black-and-yellow suited mare floating in the air. She was at his own eye level, floating far above the muddy earth. A crown sat on her head, blacker than the darkest hour of night. Nine perfectly spherical gold jewels were inlaid in its flawlessly smooth surface, sending out golden wisps of steam from the pure heat and power contained within the tiara. Atop the crown, connected by several threads of nearly invisible metal, sat a glowing yellow crystal star. Discord gaped at it for a second, simply staring at the most powerful object he had ever seen before—save only the Elements of Harmony fully unleashed on him.
Bolts of yellow lightning shot out of it in every direction, flashing and flaring; the power that was contained within its unstable source shot out of every microscopic pore in the surface. Golden beams of light shined out from every square inch of the six-pointed crystal, radiating across the clearing.
Discord glanced down at the last black necklace around his own neck, and then back to the others. I suppose this is the ‘group’ that Shady was talking about…well. I’ve waited long enough; this is getting boring. Discord cleared his throat and spoke first: “What is this, a terrible jewelry party?” He added in a forced laugh for good measure.
The golden aura of light surrounding the yellow-and-black-suited mare faded to nothingness; its master descended to the ground and advanced towards him. In her annoying but matter-of-fact voice she replied “No. You are officially a wielder of an Element of Disharmony along with the rest of us, and as such, you are under my command.”
Excuuuuuuse me? Discord took a second look at the pony. She didn’t look insane, but neither did she seem to realize exactly who she was talking to. Maybe I should show her.
“Is that so?” Discord whispered mysteriously. With a snap of his fingers he was gone, disappearing into one of many second dimensions intertwined with that of Equestria, invisible to the unaided eye. Let’s see what she does about-
Barely taking a moment to concentrate, the pony once again rose into the air, summoning the limitless power contained in her crown. A thousand golden chains of light, translucent yet shining brighter than the sun, burst forth from it and shot in every direction. Lula raised her hooves above her head and the powerful chains bent to her will, straightening and then laying limp like so many dead snakes upon the ground. In one melodramatic motion she shoved her hooves forward, as if physically pushing something out of her. Responding immediately, the chains of power lifted off of the ground as one and converged onto the point where Discord had vanished, disappearing into the invisible hole he had created.
Discord felt a tugging sensation on his leg. Frowning, he glanced down to see that one of the chains had wrapped around his hind leg and was now stretched between him and the Element of Power. With one jerk of his leg he broke the chain in two, muttering “Get off” with a sense of minor annoyance. Instead of cleanly snapping in two, the chain of raw energy violently exploded, blinding Discord with waves of light that sent chaotic ripples along the fabric of space and time.
A second chain latched onto his leg, and then a third. All of a sudden a tidal wave of golden chains descended on him, pouring out of the hole he had created and swarming towards him like a hundred-headed serpent, twisting and writhing as they washed over his body. Discord thrashed and squirmed, putting all of his strength behind his resistance, but he was unable to break a single one. The chains washed over him, swirling around his body in uncountable circles and interlocking with dozens of others as they slowly consumed him, drowning out his clashing shades of brown and grey with brilliant yellow.
Every single chain was pulled taut at once, stretching to their limits as they were forcibly pulled back into the realm of reality. In one last-ditch effort Discord fought back against the overwhelming tug, feeling his unnaturally strong muscles ripple and strain for the first time in thousands of years with the effort. Still, it was no use—the chains were simply too powerful to resist. Mortally embarrassed, Discord gave up and let himself be pulled back into the world like a dog on a leash.
Behind her mask Lula grinned, enjoying the sensation of having the most powerful being in the universe chained up, completely under her control. With one final tug on the chains Discord popped back into existence, his face barely visible through the countless interwoven chains of power. Based on what she could see, though, he was not amused in the least.
Oh, you want to play games? Fine then. Let’s play, fumed Discord, glaring at the overpowered bumblebee through a hole in his chains. With one snap of his fingers a three-ton chunk of earth beneath her disappeared and reappeared twenty feet over her head. Discord prepared himself for the satisfying thunk that would occur in about two seconds.
Faster than he would have believed possible, a tornado of raw golden power spewed out of the mare’s Element and shot into the air, catching the oversized boulder in a swath of light and whirling around it at dizzying speeds as the magic began to condense and transform the muddied earth.
As the Element finally ceased emitting the seemingly unending stream of magic, Discord looked up at the reshaped ball of dirt, curious in spite of himself as to why the magic had not just destroyed it. What is she doing…?
…Ponyfeathers.
Discord could only watch as a gargantuan three-ton hammer made of supercondensed earth slammed into his face at a hundred miles per hour, smashing his body into the ground with enough force to shatter bones—were he anything less than a god. The impact sent visible waves out in a ten-foot radius of his body, now flattened like a tiny ant. Feeling an unfamiliar sense of lightheadedness and intense vertigo, he glanced weakly to the side. Wow, that’s a big crater...!
Giggling like an idiot, Discord stretched his neck and glanced up and out of the huge hole that had been formed in the ground with him at its center.
The last thing he saw before blacking out was two ponies, a Changeling, and a dragon staring down at him and laughing their flanks off.
Once again trapped within the confines of the dream realm, Princess Celestia stared down into the glistening surface of a crimson pond.
She looked up and took in the world which surrounded her, a world as dark as it was surreal. The darkness of night had consumed it, an oppressive force that drowned out any and all light in this twisted place…yet somehow she could still see everything. Glaring eyes watched her every move from the corners of her vision, but whenever she turned to stare directly at them they would fade into the shadows. These monsters born from darkness could not bear exposure to her presence, the only light which dared shine upon this twisted land.
Glancing down once again into the bloodred pond, Celestia was startled to see a reflection of a completely different world. The glowing eyes that had watched her from the shadows had been burned by the scalding light of the sun, put in their rightful place: death. All of the beautiful scenery that was hidden by the shade of night was lit up in glorious and beautiful definition; the only shadows that had been thrown down had been obliterated by the sheer power of the sunlight.
Then Celestia turned her head straight down, looking into the eyes of her own reflection. This reflection had brought about the perfect world she saw, the utopian vision kept locked away inside this pool of blood. Yet it was not her reflection at all.
It was….
No.
No, no, NO!!!
With one blast of magic, Celestia forced herself awake from the nightmare.
The Shadow stared down at the broken body of Discord, patiently waiting for his mortal enemy to wake up. It had taken only thirty seconds for the god of chaos to infuriate the one pony who could beat him, a pony the Shadow had specifically warned him not to cross.
A long time ago, he would have found that funny. Now it was just sad.
Well, he has been under for too long—if the Elements of Harmony arrive and he is unconscious we will have no chance. Time to interfere.
Reaching out to the slumbering giant’s mind, and with a slight feeling of déjà vu, the Shadow prodded the consciousness that was Discord. Wake up. Just because you have been humiliated doesn’t give you an excuse to be useless.
A loud and melodramatic groan crawled out of Discord’s mouth, and he slowly rose up from his bent position, making a point to emphasize the pain he was in at every point in the process.
“Get up. I already know that you’re not in any pain.”
Discord frowned. “Party pooper,” he muttered, then snapped his fingers and appeared right next to the Shadow, casually taking a seat at the edge of the crater. The land was regenerating already, courtesy of Lula’s powers, but it would take some time to completely re-form.
Discord glanced over and noticed the Shadow staring at him, not blinking his glowing red eyes. “May I help you?”
“I had warned you not to fight back.”
Discord burst out laughing and fell over on the ground in a cackling fit, taking a minute to roll around in mirth before responding. Turning to watch him, the Shadow patiently waited for the overpowered fool to recover.
After taking a few deep breaths to get his voice back, Discord turned back to the Shadow, who was still sitting motionless on the muddy grass. “SHE was the powerful pony you were talking about? Oh, give me a break!”
“She imprisoned your essence with chains of raw power. Does nothing impress you?”
Discord waved a claw in the air. “Pfft. You could tell by her style that she’s used to flashy, useless magic, not real power…even if she does have enough in that fancy crown of hers to tie me up. Speaking of which…” Summoning a mirror out of thin air, Discord gazed at his reflection and frowned. He snapped his fingers and a tiny yellow bow appeared on top of the pile of chains. “Ah! Much better.”
The Shadow did not laugh. “Aren’t you going to try and remove the chains?”
Shrugging, Discord said “What’s the point? She would just make more of them. Besides, I can still use most of my powers, albeit to a lesser extent.”
“You’re not going to try and overthrow the group?”
Discord stared back at the Shadow. “Not with the Elements of Harmony like they are. Can’t you feel it? The full potential of the Elements of Harmony has been realized completely, something that usually only happens for a few seconds when somepony like me is getting locked away. Imagine that much power used in whatever way those ponies want…as much as I hate to admit it, I need all of you idiots if I’m going to survive.”
With no further questions, the Shadow abruptly spun on his hooves and trotted away.
Princess Celestia slowly came to her senses in pitch darkness, the throbbing of a massive headache pounding against her skull like an ever-beating drum.
Slowly she returned to consciousness, feeling her magic come back to her, its presence flowing through her mind and out of her horn in a thin film of golden energy that gradually healed her injuries and revitalized the goddess of the Sun.
As her headache slowly faded to nothingness, the elusive memories that had flitted like tiny shadows inside of her mind, impossible to catch, returned to her conscious mind. Celestia lit up her horn, forcing bright light into this chamber of darkness that was Luna's room. The brilliant light slowly revealed all details in this large and mostly empty room, its rays gradually falling upon the shadowed corners of the room like the rays of the dawning sun.
One painful memory after another forced itself into her mind, causing the almighty goddess to shudder in desolate sorrow.
“You are an arrogant, impudent foal. You had the chance to strike me down here and prevent your own downfall, but you chose instead to stand and let me do as I wished with you.”
“You will regret this. This storm has risen up out of the depths of Equestria, and with one blow it has struck down its leader, its sun. And…”
“I want you to know that everything we do to your kingdom and everypony in it is now wholly, absolutely, and directly your fault.”
For a moment Celestia simply remained there, broken and helpless on the cold ground. A film of tears formed over her unblinking eyes, blurring her vision.
Suddenly she stood up, a sense of resolution driving the despair from her mind. “NO,” she said aloud, her voice shattering the deafening silence that had surrounded her like a dark and oppressive shroud. “I will not let Luna fall again. I must find her and defeat her, to save her from herself.”
But where could she be…? Celestia pondered this for a moment. There were almost an infinite number of locations Nightmare Moon would have gone, and if she wasn’t careful, she could run into trouble with all of the wielders of the Elements of Disharmony—a battle only Twilight and her friends could hope to win.
Then suddenly it struck her. Twilight!
Snatching a quill and a scroll off of one of Luna’s desks, Princess Celestia began to furiously scratch out a desperate note to her student, hoping against hope that it would reach her in time.
Surrounded by powerful allies, Spike had never felt so alone.
For the first time in his life, he had been truly abandoned. Twilight had been so worried about getting to the Elements of Harmony and her real friends that she had completely forgotten about him—that is, assuming she actually cared about him enough in the first place to want him to come along. More likely she had remembered him, but didn’t think him important enough to take with her.
As always, he was a useless hindrance. She was probably better off without him.
Well, now he was finally important to the grand schemes of the powerful—which Twilight had always been a key player in. Finally he could play a role beyond a simple messenger, victim, or assistant. Finally he could show Twilight and show all of them that he was important.
He could already imagine her face…imagine all of their faces. Twilight and Fluttershy’s with denial and confusion, Rainbow, Pinkie and Applejack’s all scrunched up in anger at his betrayal, Rarity’s face…
Rarity…
Even imagining Rarity’s beautiful face so twisted in shock and in sorrow shattered Spike’s thin façade of bitter jealousy, broke his blackened heart in two. He tried to force the image of her beautiful eyes stretched wide and shimmering with tears from his mind, but it would not leave, hanging over him like a thick, depressing fog. Frustrated, Spike opened his eyes and looked up for anything possible to distract him from such depressing thoughts.
What he didn’t expect was to see the pearly white body of Rarity standing directly in front of him, her deep azure eyes staring directly at him with an expression of amusement.
“RARITY! Oh, um…hi!” Spike nervously stroked his spines, feeling a wave of cold shock run down his back. “Wait, what are you doing here?”
Suddenly Rarity burst out laughing, and in a flash of green flame transformed back into Queen Chrysalis. Spike’s expression hardened into anger. “Not funny.”
Before the Changeling queen could respond, Spike felt the familiar sensation of a scroll from the Princess building up in his throat. Forcing it out as he had done so many times for Twilight, Spike burped and in a flash of similar green fire coughed up a small leathery scroll.
He reached out a claw to catch it, but the scroll was quickly snatched away by Chrysalis, who floated it in front of her face and unrolled it, her grin growing until it stretched all the way across her face. “Hey, Nightmare, take a look at this.”
A cloud of indigo smoke wafted over next to the slender Queen and solidified into the pitch-black body of Nightmare Moon, her lidded eyes betraying a complete lack of interest. She snatched the scroll and her eyes skimmed across the page, her expression changing from apathy to incredulous disgust. “That conceited, arrogant, self-righteous FOAL!” screamed the Night Princess, her eyes glowing with livid frustration. Chrysalis snatched the scroll back before Nightmare Moon could crumple it into a ball and destroy it in a fit of rage.
“Hey, give that back!” yelled Spike, feeling a growing sense of discomfort at the others all reading a message clearly meant for Twilight. The Element of Greed’s warmth against his chest slowly began to heat up, changing from the sensation of lulling warmth to the unbearable agony of a hot coal pressed against his body. His vision narrowed, focusing in on the one and only object of desire in sight: the scroll that had been forcibly taken from him by the arrogant Changeling Queen.
Chrysalis, instead of heeding the young dragon’s instructions, snatched up the scroll and waved it tauntingly in the air. “Make me.”
An unstoppable cascade of energy flowed into Spike from the Element of Greed, filling his veins with the fire of anger, dissolving the logical sections of his mind into only the most basic of instincts. His body doubled, tripled, quadrupled in size, once again assuming the form of the most deadly dragons that walked Equestria, furious and powerful. With one mighty stomp he trapped Chrysalis under his foot; he bent down and curled his sharp claws into a fist, glaring at the Queen with unrestrained fury.
Suddenly the scroll floated up in front of him, levitating on a cloud of golden magic. He grabbed it out of the air, feeling his claws shrink back to normal as he gripped the message from the Princess and carefully unrolled it. The message was indeed for Twilight, but about Princess Luna.
Spike hardly noticed that his body had once again shrunk down to normal size when he glanced over at Nightmare Moon, who was seething and glaring at the scroll in Spike’s claws. No wonder she’s so angry, he realized, after reading that.
Her patience gone, Nightmare Moon shot a beam of magic and vaporized the scroll, not waiting for Spike to finish reading. He nearly jumped out of his skin as the beam blew up in his face. So much for that.
Suddenly a blinding light exploded out from inside of the city of Canterlot, flooding out of the city like a tidal wave and bursting out into the night, filling the empty darkness with brilliant white. Shielding his eyes, Spike asked “What was that?!”
He glanced over at Lula, who was staring into the light and smiling beneath her mask. “The Elements of Harmony are finally ready.”