//------------------------------// // Chapter 38: The Secret Behind the Statue // Story: Harmony and Courage: Running Parallel // by SSJRandomMaster //------------------------------// Chapter 38: The Secret Behind The Statue ----------------------- Azure wasn't quite sure why Princess Celestia was leading him back to the statue garden. He'd only ever been there maybe once, but even then, he was way too young to remember. Perhaps Virid or Blitz could have shed some light on what was so important about the statues here...However, the princess had told him to come with her "immediately" after they talked about the current situation with those ponies, so he wasn't going to complain. If there was something important here, then he really didn't know what else to do. He followed the sun princess, noting how worried she seemed. She sure seems worried, but why? She was worried since I first showed up, and she's still worried when we're surrounded by statues... Azure thought to himself, slowing his stride, The statues aren't alive, are they? Azure met eyes with a statue of a pony with a violin. However, for a split second, he could have sworn he saw it blink. "What the--?" Azure began. "Azure, what is it?" Princess Celestia asked, turning around to him. Azure debated whether or not to tell the princess what he saw, but decided against it. "Nothing..." Azure said, "Cuts are flaring up, but I'm sure it'll go away on its own..." "I see..." Celestia didn't sound overly convinced, but she didn't press the issue, "Well, we must get moving, if you are going to understand what their likely motive was here..." Azure nodded, following after the princess. The two continued on, Azure closing his eyes. Okay...Pretty sure I just imagined that. Azure thought, Just imagine what Twilight'd say if you told her about the moving statue... Celestia came to a dead stop, and Azure looked ahead. What he saw was the crumbled remnants of a statue. He couldn't see the princess's facial expression, but she completely froze, save for that always flowing mane and tail, of course. The princess remained disturbingly silent, staring at the rocks that must have formed a statue. Azure followed the eyes downward, and saw, between the blades of grass, what looked like graham crackers, perfectly formed in the soil. What the-- "This..." she began, a very small hint of composure-brokenness leaking into her tone, but Azure couldn't pick up on any other emotion. "Was that what you wanted to show me?" Azure questioned, not quite getting it. It looked like any other statue, only broken. Looking around, though, Azure could see the statues around them were basically untouched. Only the one Princess Celestia was fretting about was the one broken. "Was the statue of somepony important?" Celestia turned around to Azure, her gaze enough to pierce stone. He could see, very clearly, lines of worry and fury etched into her features. It was such a stark difference from her usual self the pony known for courage flinched. "Azure, listen very carefully," Celestia said, "Something is wrong. Very wrong..." "What?" Azure questioned, "You think they got what they were after? You...didn't actually explain that..." "I don't have time..." Celestia said, "You're going to notice things are off soon enough, Azure...That statue contained something that was meant to be sealed for a bit longer...Those ponies with their creatures stirred up a lot of chaos..." "Wait...why would that only break this statue?" Azure responded, again questioning it. "Let's just say the statue was containing something that loves chaos...too much, as a matter of fact..." Celestia answered, gazing over Azure. He couldn't read her emotion, but it was clear there was something far worse going on than just a messy, half-destroyed town. "There's not much time, Azure. Just be careful. And if you see something that looks like it could be the cause, try not to engage it!" Azure was at a loss. "You...aren't ready yet..." She said, almost sounding regretful. Something bad must be about to happen. Even when Nightmare Moon was about to come back, from what I heard, she hardly lost her composure this bad! Azure noted, What's got her like this? "I must inform Twilight and the others to come here as soon as possible!" Princess Celestia called out, "Please, Azure, be careful...I don't know how this is going to go!" With that, the princess quickly moved, teleporting away, but to where Azure didn't see. His ears stiffened in response to a noise he heard behind him. "Typical Celestia, never explaining anything..." A masculine voice scolded from seemingly all around Azure. Immediately, Azure's horn lit up, and he looked around, trying to find the source. "Where are you?!" Azure called out. "A simple question to answer..." said the voice, "Perhaps this will answer your question, Azure Courage..." "You know who I--" Azure caught movement out of the corner of his eye, and he turned, seeing, of all things, the stone statue from earlier that blinked at him, now swinging its violin, using its hooves like those hands that one unicorn always went on about. The cyan unicorn didn't distract himself with trying to remember that mare's name, though; he was too busy avoiding the attack. The statue brought its violin down at Azure, who stared wide-eyed at the moving granite, which now stood like any other pony would. "That's it!" Though the statue was clearly that of a mare, the same voice of a male came from its moving mouth. "That's the look I want to see!" "Is this your idea of a joke!?" Azure growled, recovering from the fact the statue was now very much moving. "Hardly," the statue continued in that same baritone voice, "This, my little pony, is just a warm-up for what's to come..." This has got to be what the Princess just got done telling me about... Azure thought, just as the statue moved again, attacking again, as Azure jumped away from the club strike. The violin cracked on the ground this time. The statue looked up, wordlessly. Something's clearly wrong here... The statue, in clear violation of pony biology, began running toward him on its hind legs, dragging the instrument behind it as it charged. Azure stood his ground, his horn lighting up as this happened. "I'm not your little pony, friend!" Azure shouted out, firing off a charged laser shot at the statue, which made no effort to dodge the attack. The cyan bolt hit its mark, causing the statue to crumble. Here, Azure could see wires extending off the rock chunks, almost like marionette strings. "Well, well..." It was the same voice, now coming from above. The source, however, was obscured save for what looked like a griffin's claw hanging off the side of a pink cloud. The claw was holding a wooden construct which the wires were attached to. "You certainly live up to your reputation, Azure: shoot first, think later, worry about injuries after the dust settles." A snake's tail extended off the edge of the pink cloud. A figure moved above it, slapping the cloud away with its tail and revealing the form of something Azure couldn't even process what it was he was looking at. Who let Dr. Mare-in-stein out of the novel...? Azure thought to himself, noting all the various parts the creature was composed of. "Allow me to introduce myself!" it declared, dropping the wood to the ground in front of Azure. The creature coiled its way down to maybe ten feet above the ground. "I am not a friend of anypony, nor do I want to be! This world is merely a playground for me! I am the harbringer of chaos, disharmony, and have been known to stir up storms of chocolate milk......My name? Discord!" "'Discord'?!" A voice called out, one that Azure knew. "Is that why an unscheduled, off-color cloud went towards Ponyville just now!?" Azure turned, immediately spotting his cousins and blind friend. Virid had been the one to make the comment. Silver couldn't see the being in front of him, but Virid and Blitz looked especially surprised. "Ah, Virid Strategem, Crimson Blitz...Azure's cousins, I presume?" Discord asked of them. "Who taught him everything he knows: magic and xenophobia?" "What?" Crimson asked, flatly, just as taken aback as Azure was about his foreknowledge. "Virid, I really must commend you for your attitude towards non-unicorns," Discord continued, "It's a crying shame that others haven't followed your example...those days were plenty chaotic..." "What are you talking about?!" Virid called out, "Azure attacked me!" "Indeed he did..." Discord said, sounding almost as though he approved of that, "It's always such a treat when family members attack one another..." "Forgetting someone?" Silver asked. "Oh, my apologies," Discord replied, sounding just as sarcastic as possible, "Who could forget about the blind pony, Silver Espada? Tell me, how is your echolocation treating you?" "Oh, it's treating me, alright," Silver responded, "It's treating me to a disgusting feel, coming directly from you...I can't even see you legitimately, but I know you're bad news..." "That's right, you can't see..." Discord took on a pitying tone. "Why don't I fix that..." Azure turned back to Discord fully. All functioning eyes were on Discord's lion's paw, which snapped two of its claws. For a moment, nothing happened. Then, Silver gave a shout. "I...I can see...?!" Silver called out. "Silver, everypony knows you can't see," Azure said flatly, "I've asked you enough times to know..." Silver didn't respond straight away, which concerned Azure. He turned, seeing Silver gazing about the world around him with wonder, through eyes that weren't pale and blind, but, surprisingly, red, and definitely able to see. "See?" Discord said from behind him, "Even I have a sense of helpfulness once in a while..." At what cost? Azure thought, noting Silver usually had his senses right when it came to creatures and ponies alike. Silver looked around, his eyes squinting. Azure assumed it was because of light; Silver had probably seen it for the first time. Azure and Silver met eyes, and Azure felt compelled to ask something. "Silver..." Azure stated, "What color am I?" Silver's eyes moved, but what he said next baffled Azure. "What?" Silver asked, sounding confused. "I asked you what color I am," Azure said, a little louder. "What??" Silver questioned, now sounding concerned. "Silver?!" Azure said, and Virid and Blitz gasped as the realization dawned on them. Blitz immediately moved in front of the formerly blind pony. "Silver, can you hear me?" Blitz asked, point-blank, in a loud and clear voice. "What?!" Silver now sounded angry, and directed his next question at Discord, taking two steps forward past Blitz. "What have you done to me!?" "I would tell you, Silver," Discord said, smugly, "But I'm afraid you wouldn't be able to hear the news..." Azure felt a lead weight settle into his stomach. His wounds from earlier didn't even matter now. He felt the familiar surge of magic enter him, as it so often did when he was well and truly furious, and his eyes began to glow a brilliant cyan. "You made Silver deaf..." Azure said, in a dangerously low voice. "It's just the trade-off you get," Discord said, "in a world of chaos..." With this, Azure snapped, "What kind of trade-off...! I don't care who you think you are, Discord, but you won't get away with this!!" "Oh?" Discord questioned, amused, "But I'm afraid I have, Azure..." Azure gave a feral shout, far past the point of caring if this was going to be a repeat of his performances against Nightmare Moon. "Azure!!" Blitz called out, in a warning tone. "Hold on, you idiot!" Virid said soon afterward, but Azure barely heard them... ----------------------- "Twilight, are you alright?" Rarity's voice brought Twilight out of her daydream. For some odd reason, she had stayed at the library long after Azure left. Neither complained, least of all Spike. "I'm just fine," Twilight responded, turning away from her book, "Why do you ask?" "Well...to begin with, darling," Rarity began, "You picked up that book nearly ten minutes ago and you haven't passed the first page yet." Twilight blinked for a moment and looked; Rarity was definitely right. She knew she should have been further along in the book than she was, at least a sixth of the way given the book's size. "And secondly, you are holding the book upside down..." Twilight blinked a second time, turning the book back to its cover. The title was illegible, and the cover art was clearly, well, upside down. Twilight blushed lightly from the revelation. "Something on your mind, darling?" Rarity questioned. The question hit Twilight hard; she flinched and began rubbing her foreleg, looking everywhere but at Rarity, feeling embarrassed about it. She knew it was the truth, but still... "W-well, ever since Azure left for Canterlot, I've felt a bit uneasy," Twilight relented after a bit of silence, rubbing at one foreleg briefly. "Is this about what he almost said?" Rarity asked. Twilight knew where it was going; she knew Rarity loved romance novels; no doubt what she saw the two do right before he had to leave was probably straight out of one. Whatever the case, it was this in the end: Azure had left, and Twilight suddenly felt familiar pains flare up in her chest. "W-we don't know if he was going to say that for sure..." Twilight trailed off, sounding more defeated than she thought she felt; she thought she didn't feel defeated at all. "You know," Rarity said, "Let's not think about it right now. How about we go outside and enjoy the fresh air?" It wasn't an offer, it was a command. Especially since Rarity was practically pushing her to the door. "W-well," Twilight said, "It's not like I'm getting any reading done..." "I'm glad you see my point..." In a few moments, the two unicorns were outside of the library, out through the front door. Twilight gave a slight giggle. "Okay, okay, no need to shove..." Twilight turned and poked her head back through the door, "Spike, watch over the library while I'm gone," she said, with Rarity soon closing the door behind them. The two of them began to walk around town, seeing the sights and greeting the ponies busy with repairing damages from the earlier assault. "See, doesn't this feel better?" Rarity asked, to which Twilight let out a content sigh. What am I thinking... Twilight thought to herself, A pony wouldn't go through all that trouble if he didn't mean it... "Alright, Rarity," The purple unicorn spoke up, "I will admit this cleared my mind..." "See?" Rarity continued, "Just keep your mind off what may or may not been said. Even with all that happened earlier, it still is a wonderful day. Ponies are smiling and laughing, the sky is clear blue, and the clouds are speeding through the sky, colored pink..." There was an awkward pause. "Rarity...?" Twilight questioned, arching her brow, turning to the unicorn opposite her before both sets of eyes trailed upward. Immediately, Twilight stared in utter shock. "The clouds are pink!?" Twilight exclaimed, "But how...why?!" Rarity soon entered her focus again, but the white unicorn's focus was elsewhere. "What's coming out of that cloud...?" Rarity questioned, "Oh dear, Twilight, look out!" Rarity immediately jumped away from the cloud, and Twilight sidestepped, seeing a brownish liquid seeping out of the pink cloud. Her mind tried to avoid considering the worst-case implications of that, but before she could try, somepony gave a shout. "Stampede!" Twilight and Rarity turned, seeing a sight they'd only seen once before. Rabbits were running into town. However, as the figures drew closer, the two unicorns quickly realized the wildlife were off model...badly. "Are those rabbits!?" asked Twilight, totally in shock from the utter randomness of the events happening. The rabbits in question had spindly, deer-like legs, and were taller than most ponies with the aid of the four-foot-tall legs. Twilight and Rarity avoided the oncoming stampede incredibly easily, but this wasn't normal. Both unicorns looked to each other, but the white pony spoke first. "Twilight, please tell me I'm in a nightmare..." Rarity said, "One preferably caused by a fever..." "I wish I could say that, Rarity, but this is actually happening..." Twilight continued, "But why? Was it because of those ponies?" Twilight shook her head, "Figure this out later, Twilight...Come on, Rarity! I don't know what all this means, but we need to make sure the others are okay!" The two began to take off through the town, trying to put the chaotic happenings out of their minds for the time being. However, Twilight remained fixated on the situation. Why did everything get so...chaotic, all of a sudden? ----------------------- It was a shock to those that could see and understand what was happening in front of them. Which, this time, included Silver, Blitz, and Virid; Silver having been somehow granted eyesight in exchange for his hearing. From what he gathered before his hearing was shut off, Silver sensed a truly disgusting presence which he could now see with his own two eyes. Blitz and Virid, from what they understood from Princess Celestia's testimonials, knew that Discord had been sealed in a statue, and was a big deal. All of these things, however, were violated by what they were witnessing. Azure, probably the most angry he'd been in a good while, was beating about the dragonequus as though he were made of rubber. Azure would spring up, landing a good back kick into the face of the creature. He would then follow this up with a few lasers sent after him. Typically, this would result in Discord redirecting their course away from him with his own magic, but all the same, a few managed to slip past him and make contact. "Could it be that being in stone all those years weakened him?" Virid asked, looking on as his cousin continued to thrash about the self-proclaimed harbinger of havoc around. Silver said nothing, unable to hear the ongoing conversation anyway. Azure threw out a few fire spells, which caused Discord to summon more of his pink clouds to douse the fire with what looked like chocolate milk. This didn't stop Azure from being able to leap off said clouds. The clouds stretched a bit as he did so. "What are those clouds made out of?" Blitz questioned aloud, "They aren't like the regular clouds across Equestria..." "If I had to guess," Virid said, "I'd say...cotton candy? Something sugary that would stretch like that. Azure's making liberal use of his magic here..." "Not that he has a choice..." Blitz responded. "Weakened or not, in order to keep up with it...from what I see, he's gotta keep it up." "I can't hear anything you guys are saying," Silver cut in to break up the round of observations, "But shouldn't we help him?" "From my viewpoint, Silver," Virid said, forgetting Silver's hearing was wiped out for the time being, "Azure's got it under control." When no response came, Virid continued, "Hey, did you hear me?" "Virid, he's deaf!" Crimson reminded him, "Remember?" Virid shook his head, "Right. I'm so used to his sight being null and his hearing being strong it's hard to adjust..." ----------------------- Azure dispensed his rage, getting close to Discord and landing just about as many hits as he could to that creature's smug face while he could see it. His horn was pretty much alight through the whole deal, casting gravity spells left and right to escape Discord's tricks; gummy clouds and redirected lasers be unexcused. The pony landed another fierce cross after leaping up again, causing the dragonequus to stumble back. Azure landed on the ground, panting. "Why don't you just go back into your statue!?" Azure called out, "You're not wanted around these parts anyway!" "It doesn't matter to me," Discord responded, sounding as if he were in pain from Azure's assault, "whether you ponies want me around here or not," He coughed, "I'm here to stay..." "Doesn't look like it to me..." The cyan unicorn responded, charging a laser on the tip of his horn, "Now, you have two options: the easy way, where you be a good monster and go back into your statue, or the hard way, where I send you back anyway!" "Like you could do such a thing!" Discord called out, spiraling towards Azure. "Only one way to know for sure!" The unicorn in question responded, letting out a max power laser shot at the general direction of the dragonequus. The shot made contact right in between Discord's eyes, but when it made contact, the laser instead sent a shockwave down his body, causing him to shatter into pieces like a porcelain teapot. The others gasped at what they saw. Even Azure didn't expect what happened, his eyes ceasing to glow. "What the--" Azure said, "That wasn't..." "Azure...!?" Silver asked, "I know he was a jerk and all, but...I think that's pushing it a little..." "Wow..." Virid finally spoke up, after a hefty silence, "Didn't think I'd see a threat neutralized in such a brutal way..." Azure turned to Virid, and nervously said, "Jeez, you think I'll get in trouble?" "You're already in trouble..." Discord's disembodied mouth spoke up, directly next to Azure's left rear hoof. The four colts gasped in unison, and began looking at the scattered parts of the spirit of chaos: they were all moving on their own. "Gotcha!" "You...!?" Blitz questioned. "You really thought he had me all under control?" Discord's various chunks began to float, "Hah! Only harmonic magic can possibly contain me! With that pesky Knight out of the picture, and the Bearers still a good city away from here, I still have some free reign!" Discord's chunks began to hover together ominously. The disembodied lion's limb reached up towards the head. "Hm, speaking of which, I'm afraid I'm just about out of time..." Discord said, "Sorry, my fine gentlecolts, but I really must be going..." The griffin's claw floated away from the body at this moment, heading straight for Crimson, who braced himself for an attack. "What are you flinching for?" Discord mocked openly, "I don't usually kill my opponents..." The griffin's claw hovered centimeters from the bridge of Crimson's nose, "But I've no time to play games with each of you...So why don't I just cut to the chase?" The claw tapped Crimson, and Crimson's eyes began to alter into weird colors as he went into a sort of trance. "Crimson!?" Silver called out. "What the heck?!" Virid said soon afterward. "His color...!?" Azure pointed out. It was true: every bit of color on Crimson's body, his fur, what little color in his tail and mane, even his eyes, when they stopped rapidly changing color, and his armor, lost their color, replaced by a sickly gray hue. Crimson came out of the trance, sighting Azure, "Yo, Blue, still having those paranoid fits over everything!?" It was so unlike Crimson to say something like that, and everypony knew it. "That's better..." Discord said. "You little--!" Virid said, his horn lighting up in amber light as he prepared to blast the still chunked-up griffin's claw. "Ah, ah, ah," The pieced-up chaos creature said, "I'm in control now, Virid!" The griffin's claw beelined between Virid's eyes, and the same thing happened; Virid lost his color, horntip to tailtip, armor and fur and eyes. When he recovered, he began to speak up, in a manner that wasn't him at all. In fact, it was actually worse than usual from him. "Ah, jeez! What wastes of magical talent am I looking at?!" Virid announced, taking a step back as though disgusted. "I can't stand the look of you!" "The feeling is mutual, Green Booger!" The obviously-also-incorrect Blitz shouted back, taking a step toward Virid, who took a step back. "Go away!" Virid called out, "I don't wish to be around wasted magic!" "Too bad," Crimson said, "Fight me, right now, you little..." "I don't have time!" Virid grunted, stamping off with Crimson chasing him, horn flared in white as opposed to purple, "I must go tell that idiot captain of ours he doesn't know anything about magic! He must know the waste of talent that plagues us all!" As his cousins disappeared in the distance, Azure felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. It was obvious that Discord had done something to them with his touch, and said touch was about to be mimicked on Silver's forehead as well. Silver backed away, unable to hear anything and still unused to sight. "Silver! Watch out!" Azure forgot in his haste Silver couldn't hear him. As soon as he recalled that, he tried to run forward, only to be caught by the hind leg by the fully-reformed lion's paw of Discord. "It's too late..." he sneered, most of his body already back together as well. His griffin's limb had also reformed fully, but was still over by Silver, landing that poke between the eyes. Like with Azure's own cousins, Silver's colors melted away, as he bowed his head, his eyes now obscured by the white mane. For a second, Azure said nothing, sure he couldn't hear him. "Don't worry," Discord said in a mocking tone, "He'll hear you this time...But he won't be able to see what I will..." "Silver...?" Azure asked, tentatively. He'd already seen this twice before and he wasn't sure what the color-drained Silver would be like, "Silver? Can you hear me?" "I'm done..." Silver said quietly, almost robotically, like all the life had been sucked out of him. "What?" Azure questioned. This wasn't like Silver at all either... "I'm done, Azure!" Silver's head snapped up. His eyes were clearly milky again, and it was clear Silver had heard him this time. There was nothing but hatred in those blind eyes, not at all the Silver he knew, "I'm done helping you when you're in trouble! I came here with your idiot family members, to help, and all I saw was an idiot colt that never thinks about anything he's done! That's all you are, Azure! You never think things through and you never stop to think about who you might hurt until after the fact! By then it's too late!" Azure was caught completely off-guard. Behind him, the reassembled Discord sneered, completely amused by what he was seeing. If Azure wasn't so focused on the gutpunch he'd just received, and had seen the smile, there was no telling how furious he would be. "If I could have heard what you'd said during all that, I'm sure it'd be the same: a self-righteous foal that knows nothing, nothing at all about how the world works and relies on other ponies to help him do it!" Silver said. "You won't be getting that help from me, anymore..." Silver turned his back. Azure was crushed. This was his foalhood friend, turned into an absolute...jerk wouldn't even begin to describe it. For the first time that day, Azure hung his head, his own eyes now obscured by his mane. "Never talk to me again, Azure. You've done enough damage as it is..." Silver began to casually trot away. Azure's ear twitched as he registered the sound of unapologetic maniacal laughter behind him. "Oh, I bet that stung!" Discord said, putting a limb on Azure while making it abundantly clear he loved the sight of what had just happened, "Did it sting? Tell me, Azure...how does it feel to have your family turn away from you? How does it feel, Azure, to have your foalhood friend turn his back on you? I bet it must have felt absolutely terrible..." Azure shot Discord the nastiest death glare he'd ever given in his life, rage completely settling in. He wasn't stupid, he knew Discord did something to them... "Oh, don't give me that look," Discord said, floating back again, "You've brought this upon yourself through your actions!" Azure shot a charged laser spell before he even knew he was charging it. He was beyond enraged, his eyes glowing brilliantly cyan. The spell made contact with a smug Discord, his body popping open like a party ball with confetti shooting out everywhere. "You were the one who did that to them!" Azure yelled, looking around as a fog began to settle in the statue garden. "This is your fault, not mine!" "The first stage is denial..." Discord stated, once more sounding like he was all around Azure, "Naive ponies like yourself tend to live in this stage...You can't see it, can you? The consequences of your actions...and how they affected those close to you?" "I'm getting really tired of hearing your voice..." Azure groaned. "You don't believe me? Well, that's true. Anypony who keeps secrets tends to never owe up to them..." the invisible enemy continued. Azure heard the rustle of paper and turned straight ahead. In front of him, an impossibly huge scroll of paper unfurled in front him, but it was blank. "Let me show you..." Azure was shocked at what he was seeing projected onto the blank canvas. "That's..." "That, Azure, is the day you left for Ponyville. You met five of six mares that would become your charges--excuse me--your friends, the Elements of Harmony...If I recall correctly, you didn't want to have anything to do with them..." As Discord continued to talk, images of Azure's first meeting with each of the then-future Bearers began to play in front of him. "With Twilight, the feeling was certainly mutual. Neither of you had any idea you were each other's foalhood crush until recently...As poetic as Romeo and Juliet..." "What...?" Azure seethed through his teeth, unable to come up with a response. "A tragic romance..." He could almost hear the sneer; Azure reached his limit, incinerating the paper with a fire spell. "What are you trying to say, Discord!?" "Oh, so impatient!" Discord scolded from nowhere, "Just the same...Fine, I'll get to the point. You may think yourself to be this all important 'protector' of the elements, but in reality, you're nothing more than a double-edged sword." The fog reached its maximum thickness, obscuring any and all light. "All your actions and approaches have been, as Silver put it, idiotic..." Discord taunted around, "You merely 'shoot first, think later'... You never once considered the consequences of what you were doing. And when the consequences came back to haunt you, you couldn't even figure out what to do next on your own. Or perhaps, you didn't want to..." Azure heard movement out of one ear, firing a laser in that direction. He didn't hear it make contact with anything, and gritted his teeth. "If I hesitate, you're just gonna hurt more innocent ponies!" Azure called out into the darkness. "Oh, like you haven't hurt the innocent before..." "I haven't!" "Have you forgotten?" Discord questioned, "How callous, forgetting how easily you toyed with both the hearts of Applejack and Twilight?" Azure took in a deep gasp. "No consideration at all...they were like putty in your hooves....You enjoyed it, didn't you? They were waiting for your choice...How long did it take? To them, it must have felt like centuries..." Does he really understand what went on there...? "Shut up!" With more rage than he had ever felt before, Azure let off laser after laser into the darkness, "Shut up! SHUT UP!! I didn't realize what I was doing until it was too late!!" After about ten lasers into the darkness, Azure stopped, hearing nothing more than more of the same unapologetic laughter around him, sweat running down his face. "In the end, Azure," His voice was right next to his ear, taunting him, "Even your final decision on that whole matter was a heat of the moment thing..." "No...it wasn't..." Was it, though...? Was I wrong...? "So if Applejack was the one to be taken, would your decision have stayed the same?" Azure was completely unaware there was a stain of gray forming over his heart. I... "As I thought...In the end, you ended up stealing one mare's heart, and destroying another's...Applejack may have told you everything was okay, that there were no hard feelings...But did you believe that was the case?" The fog began to lift. Azure looked up, feeling himself grow more and more confused as doubt began to glide into his mind. "To have the colt she had grown feelings for, choose another mare, to have to see them together time and time again, I can only imagine how that stung..." Discord continued, "But what do you care? In the end, you got what you wanted..." I... Azure gasped when the fog fully lifted. He could see it, all around him, broken statues, no doubt a result of the lasers he fired into the fog. Dozens of them were around him, all of them ponies he loved or cared about. All of them were shattered to the point it took Azure a few seconds to realize which one it was. However, right in front of him, were Twilight and Applejack, the most beyond repair out of all of them. I...I'm a monster... The stain spreading rapidly over his body, just as it had with his friends, Azure began to fade; or rather, the Azure that the other ponies knew. "Who cares about the collateral?" Discord asked. Azure felt himself reject the impulse to turn around, as though doing such a simple thing was the decision of a lifetime, but he forced himself with all of his remaining will. For some reason, Azure didn't remember Discord being so tall... I...I...I'm...scared...!!! ----------------------- Discord could only feel satisfaction at what he'd accomplished, watching the color drain from the pony that was once Azure Courage. His eyes flashed multiple colors as his colors finished draining, but Discord snatched the headband away, before that too could lose its color, and flipped the headband inside. "Courage..." Discord mused, "That's not you anymore..." Discord released it to an errant wind. He didn't quite care where the band ended up. Azure didn't resist. The swirls left his eyes; his coat, mane and eyes down to grayscale. While Discord hadn't performed a riddle in a while, he'd figured he'd brush up on the art before going to the main course. "The protection you offer is not commendable. Your protector status shows you find them expendable. Your decisions have wrought them nothing but pain, all for your own selfish gain. Your going to Ponyville was naught but a huge mistake. So tell me, Azure, what path will you take?" Azure looked up, clearly terrified of the closest wind current, never mind him. Discord had never enjoyed breaking a pony so much, and he was only warming up. "I...I have to leave..." Azure responded, sounding both sad and scared. The pony once known for courage bolted. Discord laughed as he watched the grayed-out protector recede away from the statue garden. He looked to the nearby hedgemaze, and grinned. He knew what he'd do to the actual Bearers, but first thing was first, he needed to get the Elements. A snap of talons later, Discord had warped himself behind what he knew Celestia called a "sealed door". He knew he didn't have much time, so he quickly went to the box, and flicked the lid, causing it to spring open like a cash register. The six Elements were there. "It couldn't hurt to try..." Discord said to himself, reaching down towards the Element of Kindness at random. "Perhaps since they're dormant, I can just infect the Elements with chaos, and be done with it...even if they should somehow emerge unbroken, it'd be nice to have a contingency pl--" His magic surged to his talontip as he mused over his plan, dead-set on infecting the elements themselves. However, a countersurge of magic came out of the otherwise dormant element, and Discord felt pain surge up through his griffin's limb. "Ow!" To him, it was like a mousetrap had just closed on his finger, but it was definitely enough. He sighed aggressively. "The six things I have not mastered..." He laid a talon on the tiara of the Element of Magic, finding just touching it alone did not hurt him. He then set the still-open box down where he got it, and with a nonaggressive application of his magic, began to float the elements themselves, closing the box behind him. "Even if I cannot corrupt these directly and ensure they have no chance of fighting back, I can still send them through some twists and turns...By the end of it...all hope in Equestria will be broken...and I can not wait to see the look on Princess Celestia's face when she sees all her subjects lying in mental ruin..." ----------------------- Azure had put at least a good two miles between himself and that strange being before he stopped. He had no idea where he was, but he knew what he needed to do. He needed to move back in with his mother as soon as possible. There was nothing else he could do, utterly convinced of his failure in protecting the Elements from himself. Twilight and Applejack had been hurt bad, and he was now filled with confusion and doubt, not just over that, but over all of his decisions up until now. He knew, however, that moving back to Canterlot was for the best. He looked around himself, the world all appearing completely gray. He saw ponies being chased by popcorn machines gone mad, light gray clouds raining chocolate milk indiscriminately on ponies. Azure didn't care. He was too focused on his inner turmoil, his fear. With an aggressively mournful sigh, Azure closed his eyes and began trotting back to Ponyville, only to get his belongings and get out. "What am I gonna tell them...?" Azure thought to himself, his voice dry and devoid of any emotion, "I can't say anything to them, but I have to choose something to say to explain what I'm doing..." He wasn't paying any attention to where he was going... ----------------------- Meanwhile, a blue band soared through the chaos, pushed by the wind. It bore the stitching "Courage", as well as an arch-shaped stitch of repair. The band sailed through the air, fluttering through the air like a injured bird. The winds shifted direction, blowing the band towards Ponyville, or rather, the place where its owner lived. The window had been left open, and a little chocolate milk had gotten through it; the sticky brown spots on the wood nearby proof of that. By mere chance, the band blew through the window... ----------------------- After the chaos in Ponyville, Applejack wasn't sure what to think. Now, however, she knew who was to blame for it all. She and the others (except Spike, who remained behind, and Azure, who was still in Canterlot somewhere, she knew) had been summoned by Princess Celestia not too long after Azure left regarding the unexplainable incidents. As it turned out, the cloaked ponies were far more trouble than they were worth, not only did they cause a still not-calculated amount of damage to Ponyville and Canterlot with their summons, the chaos they'd stirred up had released an old enemy of the princesses', Discord. He'd also stolen the Elements away, and in order to get them back, they had to solve his riddle. "To retrieve your missing elements, just make sense of this change of events. Twists and turns are my master plan. Then find the elements back where you began..." This riddle was the only clue he'd given. Twilight had deciphered that Discord hid them in the statue garden's maze. However, before they could go through the maze, Discord removed the horns--the magic--of the unicorns of the group, and the wings--the flight--of the pegasi. After the walls came up to separate the six mares, Applejack had become convinced this game was no more than a farce, but nonetheless began the maze with the goal to reach the center, where the others were supposed to meet up, as Twilight suggested. However, the maze seemed to either be rearranging itself constantly, or she'd just had a bad sense of direction. "Dead end again!" Applejack groaned, having ended up in yet another dead end. "I swear if I see just one more..." With a huff, she cut off her rant, preparing to find another way. She turned around, dead-set on doing so, when she heard movement. From personal experience, she knew sudden movement in a space like this wasn't exactly good, so she turned back around. "What in tarnation...?!" The wall blocking her way was sliding down into the ground like a door. As it slid away from her vision to reveal what was behind it, Applejack was understandably stunned. Right in front of her, behind the once-dead end, was a pony with his back turned to her. Spiky, green mane and tail, cyan fur. "Az!?" Applejack called out, relief flooding into her, smiling. Azure turned around to face her, and a smile spread across his face. "It is you!" Throwing caution to the wind, Applejack quickly trotted up to Azure, not expecting to see him here; he wasn't there to start, which would explain why he still had his horn. "So glad to see you..." Applejack said, closing her eyes, "How'd you--" Something grabbed hold of her. Her eyes shot open, and she saw Azure's head at her side, eyes closed, forelegs around her in a very tight hug... "I'm so glad you're okay..." Azure said, "I don't know what I'd do if you got hurt..." Maybe it was the way he said it, maybe she still did hold on to some feelings deep down, but whatever the case, she blushed heavily. E-everypony knows what you'd do...Az... "I-I'm okay, A-Az, really..." Applejack stuttered out. She didn't realize it yet, but her forelegs were slowly moving to close around Azure, as though guided against her will. N-no! This ain't right...You've moved on, he's with Twilight now...! Applejack put her hooves down. "W-we need to find the others..." She stuttered out, quickly pushing Azure back and trotting a few steps away from him. She didn't want to look back, lest he see the look on her face. But... "Applejack, I'm starting to think I may have made a mistake..." Applejack stopped midstep, caught completely off guard by this admission. Applejack slowly circled around, and found herself looking into the face of Azure, eyes closed, smiling apologetically, like he'd done something wrong and was feeling bad about it. Is...There still hope? Casting aside the faint voice in her head, Applejack stuttered out another question, "W-what d-do you mean?" "I mean...that I may have made the wrong choice..." Applejack stopped moving. What had gotten into Azure today? She knew he was being honest, her intuition wasn't lying to her. Yet... "I've had a lot of time to think and a lot of time to wonder if I had done the right thing back then." Azure stepped forward as he spoke up, his eyes still closed. Applejack felt her heart betray her, beating faster and faster. Am I...dreamin'...? Am I lyin' to myself that I'm over him? Still... "And it wasn't until now..." Azure stopped a few steps from Applejack, inches from her face. This is wrong...I should...! But...! Almost as though hypnotized, Applejack began to draw closer to Azure's face, lips parted, eyes slowing closing, him doing the same. "I realized..." Azure's voice shifted suddenly. Applejack's eyes shot open. Azure had stopped leaning in for the kiss, but they were still close. "That toying with others," His voice was deeper, cynical, and not Azure. Azure's eyes opened, revealing yellow eyeballs and red irides, not at all pony eyes. "Is just too much fun!" Applejack could only watch in horror as "Azure" began to contort, sprouting two different wings, his horn becoming replaced with two very familiar horns, and generally, morphed into the visage of the villain himself, and he was shooting her a very innocent-looking smile on top of it all. "Discord!?" Applejack felt her relief turn to anger as Discord shifted to unapologetic laughter at her expense. But like every other joke he'd played on a pony, the humor was only his to enjoy; Applejack was no exception, quickly picking up a nearby rock and kicking it at him. Discord avoided it easily, still very smugly staring down the opposition. "What in tarnation are you trying to pull?!" "Oh, Applejack, I was merely trying to prove a point..." "What point?" "Your heart still belongs to Azure Courage..." Discord said, flatly, "Even after all this time you still have feelings for him, don't you?" He floated around Applejack calmly, sneering all the while. "N-no..." Applejack stated, "He's made his choice...I've moved on!" She turned to Discord, aiming to give him a glare. But instead, her eyes widely opened. "I don't think you have..." Discord said. In his lion's paw, he held on to a picture. It was from moment's ago, when Applejack thought "Azure" was about to kiss her. She was clearly not trying to pack down, "Would a mare who's 'moved on' attempt to kiss the coltfriend of her best friend?" The picture fell to the ground. "N-no...it's not like that..." Applejack defended, feeling absolutely horrible as she stared down at the photograph of what she had almost done. "I would never do that to Twilight!" "Do what?" Discord asked, "Take back what you deserve?" Applejack couldn't respond for some reason. "Think about it, all your life you've always put other ponies first. Whenever somepony needs help you're the first to volunteer, and you do so without turning them down. You've done the right thing countless times, never once asking for anything in return. But when the time came that you truly wanted something, it was taken away from you...by a mare that has never learned loss!" I...I... Applejack couldn't respond. His words hit hard...because somewhere inside her, Celestia-knows-where, she did hold on to feelings for him. "Twilight has had it all her whole life!" Discord continued matter-of-factly, his eyes changing to multi-colored swirls that Applejack felt herself be caught in. The eyes bored deep into her core, and try as she might they were pulling out her very essence, replacing it with something cold and nasty. And there was nothing she could do but look on, almost slack-jawed. "Upper class in Canterlot, school for gifted unicorns, and need I remind you she's Celestia's personal protege? I suppose the next thing she's gonna have is a princess promotion!" Discord blew a raspberry at the thought. "She already has everything! She hasn't lost a thing!" "What have you lost, Applejack? Your parents...your crush..." Discord continued, "You don't have a whole lot! So tell me, who deserved him more?" "Her?" Discord materialized a large parchment in front of the hypnotized gaze of the mare. It was a picture of Azure and Twilight together, sitting comfortably on the sofa. Azure was holding Twilight warmly as she read a book. They looked as happy as possible. Applejack felt ice stab straight into her, as patches of gray began to manifest all over her body and hat. "Or you?" The picture changed. It was at the orchard, Azure leaning up against a tree, eyes closed, content smile. Instead of Twilight there, it was her, equally content o be in his hooves. Applejack raised her hoof towards the picture, as though trying to see it up close. Before she could get any closer, it disappeared in a puff of smoke. That was it. That city girl don't deserve no more than she's got... "Will you continue to lie to yourself? After all, Azure could still be lying too...maybe he's scared of what'll happen to him if he doesn't..." Discord chuckled, not that Applejack caught that. "I..." "Go on..." "I..." "Yes..." "I deserve to have him!" Applejack vocalized as the last of her fell away, leaving her a grayed-out husk of her former self. Even her hat lost its color. "Not her!" Discord had vanished, laughing maniacally about what he'd accomplished, bridging the neighboring path... ---------- "Applejack?" The now-earth pony Twilight Sparkle approached Applejack as the hedge fell away. Applejack looked...different, for some reason, but she just couldn't put her hoof on it. However, Twilight was happy to see one of her best friends in the maze. Applejack, however, didn't look too thrilled to see her. "Thank goodness," Twilight continued, "I thought I heard voices over here..." Twilight looked around, seeing no other ponies around. "Who were you talking to?" Applejack had trotted past Twilight without a word, which was unusual for her. However, when the two faced each other again, Applejack looked elsewhere for a brief instant as her face scrunched up. "Nopony!" She quickly said, but then she made eye contact with Twilight immediately afterward, only to look away the other way. "Not that it's any of your business." Applejack sounded unusually angry. Twilight was unsure of what happened, but she just didn't know what it is. Perhaps the stress of the day was beginning to get to her, too... "A-are you okay, Applejack?" "I'm fine!" Applejack quickly turned away, pointing her nose straight up into the air and speedtrotting off. "Let's hurry and get the elements!" What's gotten into her...? Twilight thought, but she was unable to name the cause. She proceeded with her weirdly decolored friend, wondering what exactly had happened. Azure...Where are you...?