//------------------------------// // Episode 1: Disharmony Is Magic (Part 1) // Story: Total Magic Pony Island // by Tailslover13 //------------------------------// Discord snoozed on top of a swaying palm tree on the beach of the island. The spirit of disharmony had a big day ahead of him, and he needed his rest to make sure he was ready. Then again, he didn’t really require sleep at all, but he thought sleeping on top of a tree made himself look cool, so he went ahead with his plan. Regardless of how much sleep he required, he was prepared for a lot of wicked fun once the day would begin. Soon, Celestia’s sun appeared over the mountains, and Discord opened his eyes. “Must Celestia always ruin my beauty sleep?” Discord grumbled, stretching and throwing a glance of irritation towards the golden sun in the far distance, “You do this on purpose to Equestria, Celestia! Don’t try to hide that fact!” A moment later, after randomly proclaiming how he’d do a much better job at controlling Equestria than the two princesses, Discord flew down from his tree and floated over towards a nearby dock. “Well, enough about me and my constant needs; the show must go on!” he smirked, checking an imaginary watch on his right wrist and pretending to look bored, “And the show should be starting at any minute, too.” The island that Discord currently inhabited was an interesting one indeed. There were gaudy mountains in the far north, overlooked by a vast forest compiled of a bunch of random trees that probably shouldn’t have been there. The foreground was compiled of several ugly-looking cabins, each one looking like they had been built upside down. The entire island itself was surrounded by calm waters that seemed to stretch off into the vast beyond. A small, littered beach stretched around the front of the island, while the rickety dock Discord was floating over seemed to be built for a small boat. Scattered around the island were trembling camera-ponies, each one having a camera attached to their heads by way of special hats that Discord fashioned up. All the ponies looked very scared, but they quickly put on fake grins of delight whenever Discord glanced at them. They had all been forced to come to the island against their will to record every single thing that went on from now until Discord’s game ended. The first part of Discord’s plan was about to come to fruition, too, as the draconequus spied a small steamboat chugging towards the dock. “Ah, and it begins,” Discord smirked, turning to the nearest camera and striking a cool pose, “For all of you Equestrians out there who are wondering in the world is going on, it shall all be explained in due time. For now, just sit back and enjoy; I know I’m going to.” “Let’s see…the first one to come is…wow, shocker,” Discord continued, rolling his eyes as the first boat pulled up next to the dock and the passenger trotted into view, “I suppose she just couldn’t be late. Being the neat freak she is, she just had to be first and on time. Hello, Twilight Sparkle.” “DISCORD?!?!” Twilight gasped, the purple unicorn freezing up in shock as she stepped off her boat and set all four hooves down on the dock, “W-w-what’s going on here?!?! What’s the meaning of this?!?!” “For such a smarty-pants, you sure can be clueless and naïve sometimes,” Discord mocked, wrapping an arm around the horrified unicorn and forcefully pulling her over towards the other side of the dock, “All shall be explained after the others arrive. In the meantime, you wait over here like a good little girl, okay?” “Unhand me, you creep!” Twilight snapped, shaking off Discord and narrowing her eyes as she pointed her horn up at him, “I don’t know what in Equestria you think you’re doing, and I don’t know how you escaped your prison a second time, but you’re going right back in!” “Oh my goodness…I’m SO scared!” Discord cried, putting his clawed hands over his eyes and feigning horror, “Twilight, PLEASE have mercy! Poor old Discord just can’t stand up to your BRILLIANT powers!” “You mock that which already defeated you once,” Twilight frowned, “I may not have all the elements of harmony with me right now, but until then…until then…what’s going on? W-why can’t I use my magic?” Twilight grunted and clenched her teeth, trying her hardest to use a spell, but her horn wouldn’t cooperate. She bucked her head forwards and backwards, as though thrusting her horn in and out of something; this seemed to highly amuse Discord as he watched her struggle, a big grin on his face. “Oh dear…poor, poor Twilight Sparkle,” Discord mockingly whimpered, reappearing behind Twilight and giving the exhausted pony a pat on the head, “It seems that your magic has gone kaput…such a pity when that happens, no?” “WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?!?!” Twilight screamed, her eyes ablaze as she glowered at Discord. She had already had her horn removed by him once, not to mention nearly having lost her friends, too. Not being able to use her magic was not sitting well with the unicorn. “I do so hate repeating myself, despite how suave my voice is, but I shall reiterate what I already told you,” Discord smirked, hovering upside down in front of the angry Twilight and poking her nose with one of his claws, “Everything will be explained after the others get here. Until then, you sit there and look pretty. Oh, and do try to keep it down; your voice is liable to give someone a migraine.” “A migraine will be the LEAST of your worries once I get through with you,” Twilight growled, but since her boat had already left and she was helpless without her friends and without her magic, she sat down on the dock and kept her eyes focused on Discord at all times. Satisfied that he had finally tamed Twilight, at least for the moment, Discord turned back around and faced the next boat that came chugging up a few minutes later. “Now remember, class, the oddly-colored postcard said that we are here as guests of honor, so I want you all to be on your best behavior,” Cheerilee stated, looking over her five students who were sitting in front of her on the boat. Those students were Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, Diamond Tiara, and Silver Spoon. “Of course, Miss Cheerilee,” Sweetie Belle said politely, “But…um…why didn’t Twist, Snips and Snails get invited? Why was it just us?” “That would be because those three little foals wouldn’t be good for ratings,” Discord said, smirking and hovering over the five classmates and teacher, “You six, however, are perfect torture candidates…um, I mean…you six are perfect torture candidates, yeah, I’ll just keep it like that. I can always edit that out later, should I need to.” “EEEK! IT’S DISCORD!” Silver Spoon screamed, hiding behind Diamond Tiara and cowering there, “Miss Cheerilee, please don’t let him rain chocolate milk on us! It’ll ruin our manes!” “Like, yeah, totally!” Diamond Tiara gasped, “I JUST got this new dye done, too! I totally cannot have my mane messed up!” “Discord, out with it! What is the meaning of this?” Cheerilee demanded, quickly putting herself between her five terrified students and the draconequus, “I thought Twilight and her friends stopped you! How did you get out? Why did you make us come here?” “All shall be explained soon, now go over there and wait next to Twilight,” Discord said, pointing towards the shocked unicorn. Twilight was curious as to who else Discord had invited, and upon seeing Cheerilee and five of her students, she was very confused and a bit scared. If Discord wanted to hurt some innocent fillies, he was eviler than she had expected. “Listen, bub, once Rainbow Dash gets here, you’re gonna wish you had never been born!” Scootaloo snapped, standing on her back legs and shaking her clenched front hooves up at Discord, “She’ll kick your butt so hard that you won’t know what hit you!” “Scootaloo, shush!” Apple Bloom whispered, quickly wrapping her tail around her friend’s big mouth and tugging her along after her teacher as they all huddled close to Twilight, “Twilight, what’s goin’ on here? Why is Discord doin’ this?” “I wish I knew, Apple Bloom, I wish I knew,” Twilight muttered, stepping next to Cheerilee as both older ponies tried blocking the five fillies from Discord. The spirit of disharmony snickered as he watched their foolish attempts to stand up to him, even though he wasn’t doing anything wrong at the moment, but he didn’t bother torturing them anymore for the time being. “Paranoid ponies, say hello to your old friend, Gilda!” Discord announced, pointing to the next boat as it came up to the dock a moment later. Stepping off was a griffon with a bored look on her face, but a deadly expression in her eyes. She took one look at the surroundings and tried to turn right back around and get back on her boat, but it had once more vanished as quickly as it had arrived. “Yo, weird floating dude, what the heck is this nonsense?” Gilda snapped, using her wings and flying up to get into Discord’s face, “I got a postcard saying that I got invited to a cool place where all the cool people go. This is completely the opposite of what the postcard said, and I ain’t putting up with it.” “Tough luck, girly,” Discord mused, grabbing Gilda idly by her neck and throwing her over his shoulder, “Now get over there and behave yourself.” A loud squawk later and Gilda landed flat on her beak in front of Twilight and the classroom ponies, all of whom didn’t seem too thrilled with seeing the griffon. Twilight already knew of Gilda’s attitude problems, and the classroom ponies just seemed rather put-off by Gilda’s appearance alone. “I’m gonna crack that idiot’s skull!” Gilda screeched, getting back onto her feet a moment later and angrily whipping her head around to look at Discord, “Yo, jerk, you’d better start shaking, ‘cause I’m about to put my fist straight through you face!” “Moving right along, everypony give a nice warm ovation to our resident shaman, Zecora!” Discord went on, completely ignoring Gilda’s angry threats and turning to the next boat. The mysterious zebra named Zecora cautiously stepped off her boat and gave Discord an emotionless expression. “What is this place that feels full of dread?” Zecora asked, turning to look at the weird surroundings, “This is not at all what my postcard said!” “No, indeed it did not, but that’s just a crying shame now, isn’t it?” Discord mocked, nudging the annoyed Zecora towards the others. Zecora gave Discord a dirty look, then trotted over to Twilight and the small group and bowed her head to them. “Twilight Sparkle, a pleasure to see you,” the zebra said politely, “Do not tell me that you were tricked, too?” “I’m afraid it looks that way, Zecora,” Twilight grumbled. Zecora already knew Apple Bloom and her Crusader friends, so she gave them a little nod of welcome, before exchanging words with Cheerilee as well. When she looked at Gilda, she looked mildly intrigued. “You are a griffon, isn’t that right?” Zecora murmured, “It looks like you have been in many a fight.” “More than you could count, zebra,” Gilda growled, making a fist and slowly flexing it in front of her face, “And if you know what’s good for you, you’ll keep your distance, or else another fight will be happening, too, and I never lose.” Zecora slowly took a step back, feeling more comfortable at Twilight’s side than near Gilda, as did most ponies or non-ponies, for that matter. Discord was grinning at Gilda’s attitude issues, obviously enjoying the waves she was making. “Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh!” Scootaloo suddenly squealed, pointing a hoof towards the water, “Look who’s coming! It’s Rainbow Dash!” “Hey, kid, don’t steal my thunder,” Discord frowned, glaring over at Scootaloo before turning to see that she was indeed right, “But…yes, it indeed is everyone’s favorite lazy flier, Rainbow Dash.” Twilight smiled when she saw her friend’s boat approaching, feeling a lot better now that one of her five other closest friends had arrived. Rainbow Dash herself could’ve easily flown to shore, but instead was showing off by leaning over the front of the boat and posing as they approached the dock. However, upon opening her eyes and the first thing she saw being Discord, she immediately flew off her boat and got straight into Discord’s face. “Discord! I should’ve known it was you!” the Pegasus growled, clenching her front hooves into fists and boxing at Discord’s face, “C’mon, put ‘em up, you coward! You broke free just to try and capture us again, didn’t you? Well, it won’t work this time! I’m gonna show you what happens when you mess with the greatest flier in all of Equestria!” “Rainbow Dash…you’re so cool...” Scootaloo sighed, watching her idol threaten Discord. However, when she got a few strange looks from Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, she gulped and quickly changed her expression from dreamy to excited. “I mean…yeah, you tell him, Rainbow! Kick his butt! You’re the best!” “Huh? Scootaloo? Is that you over there?” Rainbow Dash blinked, flying away from Discord to get a better look at who had been gathered so far, “Wow, it IS you! Hey there, Scoots! How ya doing? Wait a minute, how did you get…GILDA?!?! And Twilight, Zecora, and Cheerilee? ALL of you are here? What the hay?” “Like, WE’RE here too, you know!” Diamond Tiara frowned, waving her hoof in Rainbow’s direction, “You can’t just, like, ignore us! We’re very important, you know. Isn’t that right, Silver Spoon?” “Uh…if you say so, Diamond,” Silver Spoon muttered, clearly not thrilled with being a showoff. “Oh, right…hi, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and…you two,” Rainbow Dash muttered, clearly not that interested as she was in Scootaloo, Twilight and Gilda, “Seriously, what ARE you doing here?” “Get in line, Dash, and maybe we’ll find out,” Gilda muttered, flicking Dash on the nose and pushing her over Twilight. The griffon snickered as she watched the Pegasus yelp and toppled over the unicorn, who frowned and gave Gilda an angry look. “I see you haven’t changed since we last parted ways,” Rainbow Dash growled, getting back up onto her hooves and glaring at her former best friend, “I was honestly really hoping that you had come to see the error of your ways…so much for that.” “I was kinda hoping that you would’ve done the same, but yet it still seems you like these lame-o pony losers,” Gilda responded. “THEY ARE NOT LAME LOSERS! THEY’RE MY FRIENDS AND I LOVE THEM!” Rainbow Dash roared, sticking her face into Gilda’s. Twilight gulped and quickly scooted back, Cheerilee and Zecora making sure to keep the fillies out of the crossfire as well. “Kick her feathery butt, Rainbow!” Scootaloo cheered, who seemed to enjoy rooting for Rainbow Dash to kick anyone’s butt who happened to be annoying the Pegasus. As Gilda and Rainbow Dash stared each other down and got ready for a fight, Discord pouted when the next boat arrived. “Darn, and here I wanted to see a good fight,” he whined, turning to look at the boat. Upon seeing who was on it, his expression immediately changed from annoyed to thrilled. “Ooh, on second thought, this might just be my lucky day after all! Everyone, you all remember Trixie, right?” “That’s ‘the Great and Powerful’ Trixie, fool!” Trixie frowned, stepping off her boat and glaring up at Discord, “Get it right next time and Trixie won’t have to make you see the error of your foolish ways!” “Yes, of course…o Great and Powerful Trixie!” Discord mocked, winking down at her and chuckling as he saw that she had decided to wear her hat and cape, “I see you’re dressed for success, no?” “Trixie is ALWAYS dressed for success, and don’t you forget it,” Trixie sniffed, slowly turning her glance over to who was on the other side of the dock, “…what is this? Why are these OTHERS here? Trixie’s postcard specifically read that she was invited to perform on a resort island for a bunch of wealthy landowners. Are these simpletons perhaps going to be in the audience, too?” “Nice to see you again too, Trixie,” Twilight sighed, rolling her eyes as she heard Rainbow Dash and everyone else groaning as well, “How have you been since our last…meeting?” “How has Trixie been? How has Trixie been? Is THAT what you dared ask?” Trixie snarled, stomping over and shoving her face into Twilight’s, “For YOUR information, Twilight Sparkle, Trixie has been horrible since her humiliation in that wretched town of Ponyville! You ruined Trixie’s reputation and made her the laughingstock of all of Equestria! Did you not think Trixie would not be out for revenge?” “Er…Trixie, I didn’t TRY to humiliate you, really!” Twilight gulped, always feeling a bit nervous when dealing with Trixie, for whatever reason, “It was an accident. If I hadn’t saved the town, what would’ve happened? You had your chance, but you couldn’t do it…what was I supposed to do?” “Fool! Do not try to talk your way out of this! Trixie knows how little you think of her and how great you think you are!” Trixie snapped, “And since we are now together, Trixie can finally get her revenge!” “Over my dead body!” Rainbow Dash growled, stepping in front of Twilight and nudging Trixie away, “You lay a single hoof on her and you’re dealing with ME, Trixie.” “Ooh, the little Pegasus who got her flank handed to her by Trixie during her show,” Trixie smirked, “Back for round two? Trixie does enjoy teaching a lesson more than once, if need be.” She then tried to use her horn and humiliate Rainbow Dash like she did last time, but nothing happened. Rainbow Dash sat down on her rear and crossed her front forelegs, giving Trixie a smug look that clearly read “I’m waiting”. Trixie growled and tried again and again to cast a spell, but her horn wasn’t working. “Trixie…my horn isn’t working, either,” Twilight sighed, “Somehow, I think our magic can’t work on this island. So, save your energy; you might need it if Discord tries anything.” “WHAT?!?! RIDICULOUS! NOPONY CAN TAKE AWAY TRIXIE’S MAGIC!” Trixie screamed, reaching up and slapping her horn, “Work, darn you! Work! WORK, TRIXIE SAYS! TRIXIE ORDERS YOU TO WORK!” She screamed in frustration and started stroking her horn in such a way that once more got a perverted smirk out of Discord and a few blushes out of the females surrounding Trixie. “Hmm…what’s that sound?” Discord pondered, putting a hand to his ear and tilting his head. Trixie stopped her sensual horn-rubbing and turned around, the rest of the ponies and non-ponies doing the same. A funky beat was filling the air, sounding like a mix of electro-pop and rap, and it was getting closer by the minute. A second later, the music exploded as the next boat pulled up on the dock. “Hey, dudes, what’s up?” a unicorn laughed as she leaped off her boat, the music stopping a moment later as she did so, “Your resident DJ is in the house, ya dig? So, when’s the show starting? I’m anxious to lay down some groovy beats!” “Ah, DJ PON-3, so nice to see you!” Discord grinned, hovering down and welcoming the glasses-wearing white unicorn. “Um, dude, DJ PON-3 is my stage name,” the unicorn said, flashing her trademark grin, “If ya wouldn’t mind, could ya please call me Vinyl Scratch? That’s my real name, ya feel me?” “Okay…Vinyl…uh, please just go stand over there with the others,” Discord stated, clearly not used to the weird way that the unicorn was talking, “The ‘show’ will start very soon, but until then, please just go over there and…yeah, just go now.” “Groovy, weird flying dude,” Vinyl laughed, trotting over to join the confused others. She gave each of them a big grin that showed her teeth, tipping her head and making her crazy mane shake with each welcome. However, upon laying eyes on Twilight, she gasped and looked taken aback. “Whoa, dude! It’s you, Twilight Sparkle! Oh my Celestia, this is so freaking sweet! I’ve always wanted to meet ya!” “Er…uh…I don’t think I even KNOW you, Vinyl,” Twilight said, clearly spooked and trying to push Trixie in front of her, “You, um, probably are referring to Trixie…she’s much more famous than me after all, heh.” “Trixie thinks that she has enough popularity without…this one…thank you,” Trixie muttered, quickly re-trading spots with Twilight. The two unicorns kept trying to push the other one in front to face the grinning Vinyl Scratch, with Trixie finally winning out. “Twilight, dude, ya know me!” Vinyl smiled, lowering her glasses slightly to reveal beautiful ruby eyes on the other side, “Remember when Rarity did her fashion gig? Well, I was the DJ for that! Don’t ya remember the killer beats I laid out for it?” “Uh…oh! Wait, I think I DO remember that!” Twilight said, finally returning Vinyl’s smile, although not in the same creepy way, “Well, it’s nice to formally meet you, Vinyl Scratch. I’m, uh, Twilight Sparkle.” “Believe me, I KNOW who you here!” Vinyl whispered, slowly moving a bit closer to Twilight, “I’ve been waiting for so long to finally get the chance to talk to you. Twilight Sparkle…I need you!” “W-w-w-what?!?! Excuse me?!?!” Twilight gulped, her face turning pink as she once more tried to trade places with Trixie, but her hooves were too sweaty to grab the irritated azure unicorn. “Yeah, totally! I need your voice, Twilight!” Vinyl went on, “You have the most BEAUTIFUL voice in all of Equestria, and I want ya to sing for me on my newest album, ya dig? I would be eternally grateful if ya decided to do it, after we’re off this island, of course.” “Oh…that’s what you meant…heh, right, I totally knew that that’s what you meant!” Twilight laughed, receiving several sets of looks from those surrounding her that made her embarrassed. Still, her face was still flushed from the way that Vinyl had just spoken. “While this is SO interesting, I’m afraid we must move on,” Discord interrupted, having watched everything while eating some popcorn, “The next boat is about to arrive, and I think we all might need to help this one.” “Help? I don’t help any stupid ponies,” Gilda sniffed, crossing her arms and putting her beak in the air. “You are a very rude young lady,” Cheerilee frowned, looking at Gilda with distain, “What did we ever do to you? You have no right to treat ponies so rudely just because you had a fight with Rainbow Dash.” “Sorry, I don’t talk to lame-o ponies like you,” Gilda responded. This caused Cheerilee to look shocked, then hurt. When her students saw that their teacher had been hurt by Gilda’s comments, they were about to scream at her, but Rainbow Dash quickly gave them an expression that warned them not to. “Everyone, say hello to your good friend…Fluttershy!” Discord yelled out, probably on purpose, as the next boat pulled up. Fluttershy was already timidly curled up in a corner in the middle of the boat, but as she nimbly walked towards the dock, Discord’s booming voice scared her to death. She tried to fly away, but Discord immediately caught her and carried her back to the island. “Get your grubby paws off her, right now!” Rainbow Dash yelled, about to fly up and attack Discord. However, Discord didn’t do anything to harm Fluttershy, instead carrying the frightened Pegasus over to the group and setting her down in front of her fellow rainbow friend. “R-R-R-Rainbow Dash! T-T-T-Twilight! W-w-w-w-what’s g-g-g-going on?” Fluttershy cried, quickly running between both of her friends and cowering there as she stared out at Discord with terrified eyes, “W-w-w-why is D-D-Discord out of his p-p-prison? A-a-a-are we g-g-g-gonna get hurt?” “Not if we can help it, Fluttershy,” Twilight said softly, gently stroking her friend’s back with a hoof and trying to calm her, while Rainbow Dash did the same thing. “You’re just as lame as the last time I saw you!” Gilda groaned, looking down at Fluttershy with a frown, “Seriously, Dash, you picked HER over ME?” “And I’d do it a million times over, Gilda!” Rainbow Dash snapped, “And if you keep insulting my friends, you’re gonna wish you had NEVER met me! Apologize to Fluttershy, Gilda, and I mean right now; you just made her shake even worse!” Indeed, Fluttershy was now even more terrified, since Gilda hadn’t been too kind to her during the one and only time they met. “Fine…I’m sorry you’re so pathetic, Lame-O-Shy!” Gilda mocked, cackling in amusement a moment later. “THAT’S IT!” Rainbow Dash screamed, stretching her wings and violently tackling Gilda, “YOU’RE IN FOR IT NOW, GILDA! I’VE HAD IT WITH YOU!” “Girls, wait, please don’t fight!” Cheerilee cried out, wincing as she watched the Pegasus and griffon brutally go at each other, “You could hurt somepony besides yourselves, and you’re scaring my students! Please, stop it! Twilight, can’t you do something?” “I…I can’t,” Twilight sighed, “Without my magic, I’m pretty much…useless.” “Indeed you are,” Trixie agreed. “Your horn cannot use its magic, too,” Zecora said, glaring at Trixie, “Do not call out others for something that you also cannot do.” Trixie muttered to herself, but didn’t say another word. Since magic couldn’t be used and no one was really brave enough to try and stop the fight, everyone watched in dismay as Rainbow Dash and Gilda violently fought each other, using kicks, punches, bites, pecks (in Gilda’s case), and every other trick in the book. It didn’t seem that either one had a real edge. Scootaloo really wanted to help Rainbow Dash, but Cheerilee wouldn’t let her. Discord had gone back to relaxing in his invisible hammock in the sky and eating popcorn in amusement while watching the action. Thankfully, the next boat was soon pulling up, and it was carrying the perfect person to perhaps break up the fight. “Ah, perfect timing!” Discord laughed, floating down as he randomly tossed his bag of popcorn and had it land on Trixie’s hat, “Applejack, a pleasure to see you again.” “Discord?!?! What in tarnation are YOU doin’ here?” Applejack snapped, narrowing her eyes and instantly leaping off her boat and onto the dock, “Ah should’a known that ah would never have been lucky enough to win a free trip to an apple festival on a tropical island. Ya slimy varmint, this was all yer doin’, wasn’t it?” “Save your insults for later; I think you might want to help out with THAT,” Discord said, yawning in a bored way and pointing towards the fight that was still going on. “Whoa, what the dilly? That’s Rainbow Dash! Dang it, and that’s that ruffian of a griffon!” Applejack gasped, lowering her hat and pawing at the dock as she glared at the fight, “Well, that just tears it! That griffon is gettin’ a poundin’, courtesy of Applejack! No one hurts Rainbow Dash!” With that, Applejack charged straight towards the two girls fighting without a care in the world other than rescuing her best friend from the rotten griffon. “GO, BIG SIS, GO!” Apple Bloom cheered, clopping her hooves together as she watched her sister dive courageously straight into the fight. Applejack quickly separated Rainbow Dash from Gilda’s talons, then got the griffon in a tight headlock, using her back legs to pin the griffon’s wings to her sides so she couldn’t use them to fly or buck her off. “Ah got ya now, you ornery fiend!” Applejack growled, nearly choking Gilda by how badly she was holding her neck, “How dare ya try and harm Rainbow Dash! Don’t ya ever learn? If ya lay one more talon on any of mah friends, ah won’t be responsible for whatever may happen to ya.” “Get…off…me…you…stupid…pony!” Gilda gasped, thrashing and trying to get the powerful cowgirl pony off her, “I’m…gonna…kill you!” “Applejack…let her go,” Rainbow Dash said, coughing a bit and expelling one of Gilda’s feathers from her throat, “She’s not worth it…I kinda picked the fight with her in the first place. She was being rude to everyone here, including Fluttershy, so I guess I finally snapped. Please don’t get yourself in trouble just for me, alright?” “That right? Well…regardless, no one messes with mah friends and gets away unscathed,” Applejack frowned, releasing Gilda’s neck and leaping off her backside to join the rest of her friends, “Ya better watch yerself, griffon; anymore rudeness outta ya and you’ll be pushing up daises!” “We’ll see about that, psycho pony,” Gilda snarled, rubbing her neck and giving Applejack a death glare, “And don’t think this is over, Dash; I’ll have it out with you yet, once we’re alone and without annoying distractions to hold us back!” Thankfully, before Rainbow Dash or Applejack could yell at Gilda for her insulting remarks again, Discord announced the arrival of the next boat. “Ah, Rarity, how nice to see you…” Discord began, but couldn’t complete his sentence as the white unicorn on the next boat immediately screamed, but not because of seeing her former nemesis. “First I’m forced to ride on a dingy piece of garbage that is called a boat, and now I have to walk onto a filthy dock?” Rarity cried, clearly distressed by this, “This is NOT what my postcard said AT ALL! What is the meaning of this? This is not a resort for fashion models in the slightest!” “Thanks for pointing that out, Miss Obvious,” Discord said sarcastically, poking Rarity on the top of her head to finally get her attention, “But, if you don’t mind, you’re kinda holding up the boat. Please get off right now and…” “DISCORD! YOU FIEND!” Rarity interrupted again, glaring up at the draconequus but still refusing to get onto the dock, “I should’ve KNOWN that this was your doing! Only someone as evil and twisted as you would torture a poor lady by giving her a dirty boat to ride on!” “Oh, believe me, Rarity, I haven’t even gotten started,” Discord smirked, “Now, please get off the boat and stop being a drama queen; you’re wasting time.” “Rarity, don’t bother wasting your breath,” Twilight called out from the group over on the opposite side of the dock, “The boat isn’t taking you back, and you can’t use magic on this island, for some reason. Just come over here before Discord tries anything with you.” “T-Twilight?!?! W-w-what are you talking about?!?!” Rarity gasped, still not coming off the boat, “You cannot expect me to walk on this disgusting dock; it’s dirtier than Applejack after a day of her work!” “Wow, thanks for that, Rarity,” Applejack frowned, obviously not amused. Finally losing his patience, Discord forcefully picked Rarity up and carried the screaming and pouting unicorn over to the group of ponies and two non-ponies. Even though Discord set Rarity down gently, the unicorn continued shrieking as though she was in deep pain. “EW, EW, EW, EW, EW! I CANNOT STAY ON SUCH A PLACE!” Rarity pouted, “TAKE ME HOME AT ONCE!” “How about you shut up or I’m letting Gilda use you as a punching bag?” Discord snapped, showing his angry side for once as he glared down at the pouty Rarity. The unicorn looked over at Gilda, who was grinning and cracking her knuckles in anticipation if Rarity should continue her nonsense. “Um…now that I’ve been given a choice…I think I’d rather suffer on this filthy island and dock instead of having my body mutilated, thank you,” Rarity sniffed, timidly sitting her tush down on the dock and behaving herself, although visibly wincing as she apparently felt her butt getting dirty from simply sitting. “That’s my sister alright,” Sweetie Belle chuckled, walking over and giving her pained sister a little hug. As Rarity tried calming down and thus realizing just who was surrounding her, the next boat pulled up almost just as quickly as the last one had left. The reason for this was most likely due to the person riding the second boat. “Where you find Rarity, Spike is not far behind,” Discord announced, pointing to the little dragon who quickly leaped off the next boat, “Welcome to the island, little dragon.” “Shut it, Discord!” Spike snapped, standing on his tiptoes and trying to get as tall as he could as he shook his tiny fist up at the spirit of disharmony, “I can hear Rarity’s cries from miles away! You’re gonna pay dearly if you did ANYTHING to her!” “Oh, how lovely, Rarity’s knight in shining armor has arrived,” Discord yawned, paying Spike’s threats no mind at all as he slapped the dragon with his tail and sent him flying over to the group of onlookers, “As amused as I am, Rarity’s shrieking has given me a headache, so I don’t feel like dealing with you now.” “HEY!” Spike screamed, smashing down hard on his face in front of Rarity a moment later, groaning in pain and weakly sitting up, “You’ll pay for that, Discord! You can’t just pick on…huh?” He had begun rubbing his nose and dusting himself off, but upon seeing Rarity sitting in front of him, he immediately bowed to her and started throwing out random and silly compliments to the pony. “Is this dude for real?” Gilda asked, looking at Spike as though she was staring at the most pathetic thing in the entire universe. “Indeed he is, Gilda, and I’d appreciate it if you didn’t insult him,” Twilight growled, “Spike is my own personal assistant, and he’s a darn good one. Not to mention he’s a lot nicer and courteous than YOU ever could be!” “Twilight is correct,” Rarity sniffed, lifting up her butt and smiling sweetly at Spike, “Spike, sweetie, would you mind if I used you as my seat? This dock is awfully filthy and I really don’t like…” “With pleasure, my dear!” Spike interrupted, instantly running behind Rarity and laying down on his stomach under her rump. With a little giggle, Rarity gently sat down on his back, making sure to avoid any spikes or rough parts on the dragon’s backside. “Ah, MUCH better!” Rarity purred, wiggling her tush on Spike’s backside to get comfy, “Alright, I feel a lot better now.” “There is so much wrong with what I’m seeing that I’m not even going to go into,” Discord chuckled, turning away from the weirdness and turning back to the dock, “Only four more ponies to go, and here comes the next one…uh-oh, heads up!” “What’s wrong?” Twilight spoke up, before seeing for herself that the next boat was racing straight towards the dock with an intense amount of speed, “Whoa, what the heck? Take cover!” “Take cover WHERE?” Vinyl asked, glancing at Twilight and then looking around the dock, “There’s nowhere to really run…besides, it’s heading towards Discord, not us.” Indeed, the boat was zooming straight at Discord, but the rotten draconequus quickly snapped his fingers and vanished just before it made contact with the dock. Smashing straight into the wooden planks, the boat sent its lone passenger flying off the bow and far into the island itself. Twilight and the rest of the group watched, and then winced, as the Pegasus pony failed to open her wings in time and ended up smashing face-first into a tree. “Ooh…THAT had to hurt,” Rainbow Dash laughed, but after getting glared at by Applejack, she gulped and quickly changed her tone, “Yes…looks very painful…I hope she’s alright.” “Believe me, she’s just fine,” Discord said, reappearing right under Fluttershy a moment later, causing the Pegasus to scream and instantly leap on top of Twilight’s back, as though she was a lass jumping on top of a table away from a mouse. “STOP scaring Fluttershy!” Twilight ordered, glaring at Discord and trying to calm down the shaking Pegasus on her back. Meanwhile, the bluish-grey Pegasus that had been violently expelled from the crashed boat and smashed into the tree had dislodged herself and was flapping over to the group as though nothing was wrong with her. “Hi!” she cried happily, waving both of her front hooves down at the group of 16. The group, including Discord, stared back up at the grinning Pegasus. No one seemed to really know who she was, despite all of them thinking they had seen her somewhere before. The cute little Pegasus had yellow eyes that fused into orange, but what was creepiest about her eyes was that they were unaligned. She wasn’t cross-eyed; it was more like she was derp-eyed. “Uh…oh my Celestia…are you alright?” Twilight gasped, horrified as she looked at the Pegasus. “Yep, I’m just fine, thanks!” the Pegasus smiled, floating down to the ground and standing in front of the unnerved group, “Why do you ask?” “Well…um, your eyes are…um…are you sure you’re alright?” Fluttershy asked meekly, always showing concern for others who might be hurt, not just wild animals. “Oh, my eyes? Don’t worry, that’s just my condition,” the Pegasus laughed, “I’m Derpy Hooves! I’ve seen all of you before, too! I’m a mail-mare, you see.” “Uh…okay then…um, pleasure to meet you…Derpy,” Cheerilee said, smiling and breaking the ice, being used to strange situations from all her years of teaching, “It’s a pleasure that you could come here…but I’m guessing you got a postcard that tricked you to come, right?” “Actually, I HAVE a postcard to deliver to this very island!” Derpy explained, reaching into her mane and pulling out a small postcard with the island’s location on it, “It’s for you, Mr. Discord!” She handed it over to the spirit of chaos, who took it and eyed it with amusement. “Uh-huh…ooh, goody, I get five bits off one of Applejack’s apple fritters,” Discord mused, glancing towards the cowgirl pony with a raised eyebrow, “This must be my lucky day, no?” “How ya got one of mah postcards, ah’ll never know,” Applejack frowned, “But ah ain’t sellin’ ya anythin’, even if mah life depended on it!” “Shame, and here I was just craving one of your apple fritters,” Discord whined, pulling a handkerchief out of thin air and mockingly wiping his dry eyes. Applejack grit her teeth and pawed at the dock, as though getting ready to charge, but she thankfully composed herself before trying to pick a fight. “Not amused? Well, here’s something that’s sure to cheer you all up!” Discord went on, putting a hand over his eyes and peering at the next boat arriving, “All of you take a look at the two second-to-last ponies that are GRACING us with their presence.” “No…he wouldn’t…” Twilight gasped, widening her eyes in horror as she looked at the oncoming boat. “Yes…he would…and did!” Rarity cried out, “It’s…it’s THEM!” As the second-to-last boat pulled up at the dock, nearly all of the current island inhabitants were stunned at seeing who had just showed up. “Sister…it was just as you suspected!” Luna cried, pointing up at Discord in horror, “Discord is back!” “I knew it was you, Discord!” Celestia snapped, narrowing her eyes and standing rigid and ready to fight, “I could see right through your tricks! Unhand my subjects and prepare to be sent right back to your prison, and this time, you won’t be coming out!” “Oh, Celestia, must you always be such a nuisance?” Discord sighed, “I thought that maybe you had softened up over the years, but apparently I was wrong; one of the few times I’ve been wrong.” “Discord, you’ve gone too far!” Twilight yelled out, rushing over and quickly leaping to Celestia and Luna’s sides, “Tricking all of us to come here is one thing, but how DARE you trick Princess Celestia and Princess Luna? You’ve got a lot of nerve making them come all the way out here, and in such a horrible vessel, too! Have you no shame?” “I thought they’d be honored,” Discord responded, not looking at all scared or sorry, “They were two of the 20 contestants I wanted to participate in my game, after all. I was hoping for a bit more glee than anger, but I suppose this IS Celestia I’m dealing with here.” “Watch your tone when you speak about the princess!” Twilight snarled. “Twilight, my faithful student, it’s alright,” Celestia said calmly, patting her student on the back, “I can handle this. It’s too late to get the elements now, but I can still show him a thing or two with my magic. Ready, Luna?” “Ready, sister!” Luna nodded, pointing her horn up at Discord, “Prepare to be punished, Discord!” “Oh boy, THIS is gonna be fun,” Discord cackled, putting on his favorite black sunglasses and posing for both princesses, “Take your best shot, ladies!” Almost before Discord was done talking, both Celestia and Luna concentrated hard and prepared a very powerful spell to cast at Discord. Twilight was confident that Discord’s tricks would no longer work, since there was no way he could prevent the rulers of Equestria from using magic, too. However, when a whole minute passed and nothing happened, Twilight realized that she was wrong. “W-w-what is this?!?!” Celestia cried, completely stunned as her magic failed, “T-t-this is an outrage! Why are my powers not working? Discord, you villain, what have you done to me?!?!” “Make that ‘what have you done to US’, since my powers are also not working!” Luna added. “Twilight, care to tell your idols what the situation is?” Discord smirked, looking down at the scared purple unicorn. Twilight gulped at hearing this, since it was very unusual for her to be explaining something to Celestia that she already did not know, and not in reverse. “Um…Princess Celestia? Princess Luna?” Twilight said meekly, looking up at both of them, “I can’t really say for sure, but…I think being on this island makes it so we can’t use our magic. Believe me, I’ve tried, as has Trixie, Rarity, and the rest of us with horns. I’m sorry to say, but I fear that, despite being the rulers of Equestria, this island won’t let you use your powers, either.” “What? Ridiculous!” Celestia cried, being way out of her element due to her feeling of helplessness, “My dear student, I fear that you must be mistaken; there is no way an island could make that happen.” “Indeed, Twilight Sparkle, it must be one of Discord’s tricks!” Luna agreed, “If we can just defeat him without our powers, I’m sure everything will be alright.” “And just how do you plan on doing that without your almighty magic, hmm?” Discord mocked, floating before both angry princesses and looking very happy, “What are you gonna do? Poke me with your horns? Bat at me with your hooves? Slap me with your wings? Yell at me? Troll me? Nice try, ladies, but I’m afraid I’m in control here and there’s nothing that you can do about it.” “Discord, you have messed with the royal family for far too long!” Celestia bellowed, stretching her majestic wings and ascending to glare straight into Discord’s eyes, “Not only that, but you have also caused pain and suffering to my loyal subjects!” “…how am I a loyal subject when I’m not even a pony?” Gilda muttered to herself. “…Discord hasn’t really HURT us…just annoyed and scared us,” Rainbow Dash whispered as well. “Your crimes against Equestria have gone too far, and your bill must be paid!” Celestia continued, pointing her horn straight at Discord’s face, “Prepare for your inevitable defeat! Luna, join my side!” “At once, sister!” Luna cried, stretching her own wings and flying up to join her older sister, “Any last words, Discord?” “Yes…I was just thinking that your sister might hold too much of an advantage in her current state,” Discord said, tapping his chin and not showing any worry about both princesses basically issuing him his death sentence, “To even the odds with your fellow competitors, I think I’m gonna have to adjust Celestia’s body. Please hold still while I do.” “Uh…what did he just say?” Apple Bloom said, turning and looking at her fellow Crusaders. “I think he said something sexual and thus we should do what Miss Cheerilee told us one time and just pretend we didn’t hear it,” Sweetie Belle explained. “Romance is gross!” Scootaloo added, before turning to look at Rainbow Dash and blushing, “For the most part, anyway.” “Enough is enough!” Celestia roared, reading her horn like a sword, “Say goodbye to…HEY!” Not allowing Celestia any time to do whatever she had been planning, Discord had lunged forward and quickly grabbed the princess by that same horn. He began casting some of his own magic, which apparently was allowed, and Celestia screamed as her body began shining. She tried wrenching her horn out of Discord’s grasp, but the draconequus held on tightly and didn’t let go. Luna was too stunned to really do anything, and Twilight was basically locked in a frozen, horrified stance as she watched her princess be dominated. Princess Celestia’s entire body was soon enveloped in a blinding white light, forcing everyone except Discord to shield their eyes. Celestia’s screaming continued, but her voice seemed to get a bit squeakier and lighter as it did. Discord had an evil grin on his face as he continued to hold onto Celestia’s horn and cast his unknown magic on her. Minutes passed by and Celestia kept screaming and her voice kept getting lighter, not to mention the light surrounding her body was getting smaller, too. Eventually, the light began diminishing, and Discord let go of Celestia’s horn. The ball of light that was Celestia slowly floated down to the dock, where it went limp and Twilight instantly ran over to it. “PRINCESS!” Twilight screamed as the light finally went away, “WHAT DID HE DO TO…you?” When Princess Celestia was finally revealed, Twilight’s eyes rose as wide as dinner plates and her mouth dropped all the way down to the dock. The rest of the ponies, including Gilda, Zecora and Spike, all had basically the same reaction as Twilight as they stared at Celestia. Luna glanced down at her from where she was currently flying, and couldn’t help but laugh. “Oh…my…goodness!” Luna laughed, descending and joining her sister’s side, “This…this is…hilarious! Sister, open your eyes…you HAVE to see this!” “Yes…I must see…I must see what he did to me!” Celestia squeaked, opening her eyes a moment later. The first thing she noticed was that she was now looking UP at Twilight instead of down at her. However, that was just because she was laying on her back. As she weakly got to her hooves, she then gasped when she found herself staring eye-to-eye with her prized student. Twilight Sparkle and Princess Celestia were both the same size…and age. “Sister…Discord turned you back into a little mare, like Twilight Sparkle and her friends!” Luna laughed, falling onto her backside and laughing her head off, “Oh my…this is…this is…how you say…rich! I was scared and worried for you at first, but…this is so funny!” “Luna…THIS IS BEYOND FUNNY!” Celestia screamed, now finding herself basically looking up at Luna slightly, since Luna was slightly taller than Twilight and her friends and thus she was now taller than Celestia, “Ugh…just listen to my VOICE…this is humiliating! Discord, you despicable…you evil…you horrible…you MONSTER!” “Oh, Celestia, how I LOVE your rants,” Discord laughed, floating down and mockingly patting the mare on the head, “You’re now the LITTLE sister between you and Luna, not to mention you are now the same age and height as your student, Twilight. That evens out the odds, wouldn’t you say? I kept Luna the way she is, since she tends to act like one of the crowd anyway.” “I’ll take that as a compliment,” Luna mused. “Now, please go and join the others, mini-Celestia,” Discord went on, smirking at the angry tiny princess, “Twilight, won’t you show your princess to the other side of the dock?” “Discord…out of all the things you’ve done…this is by far the worst…possible…thing!” Twilight said slowly, still in complete shock at the current circumstances. “Hey, that’s MY line!” Rarity complained, “But…yes, I have to agree with you there, darling.” “Fine…Luna, would YOU please show your LITTLE sister AND Twilight the way to the other side of the dock?” Discord sighed, “I still have one more boat to welcome, and I can’t waste my time babysitting two dumbstruck mares.” “…I don’t know what this is all about, but I suppose I don’t have much of a choice,” Luna grumbled, trotting between Twilight and Celestia and gently forcing them to move towards the others, “C’mon, you two, this way.” Celestia moved slowly and angrily, looking beyond humiliated and enraged at what had just befallen her. Never in all her years of ruling Equestria had she suffered such a horrible drawback. Her mighty horn was now roughly the same size as Twilight’s, possibly a centimeter or two longer. Her big, flowing mane and tail were still flowing, but were now as short as Twilight’s. The large sun cutie mark she had on both of her flanks was now more like a small sun tattoo. If Celestia and Luna were to ask anypony who was who, the pony they asked would most easily guess that Luna was the older sister. “Hello…my subjects,” Celestia said calmly, trying to keep herself composed as she faced the other 16 who had watched the whole thing, “It is…nice…to see all of you. I wish that I had gotten to spend time with you under less stressful and angering circumstances…but, alas, these things cannot be helped.” “Um…hello to you as well, Princess,” Fluttershy gulped, quickly bowing her head, and everyone else quickly doing the same, save for Gilda, who either didn’t care or didn’t want to bow to a pony. “Er…how are you…feeling?” Rainbow Dash asked politely, honestly struggling to not laugh at how she and Celestia were now basically the same size. “Rainbow Dash, out of fear of venting on you, I would rather not let my emotions be known at this point,” Celestia said, giving Rainbow Dash a look that instantly got the Pegasus cowering. “All of you please make sure to help my sister with her current…condition,” Luna said, still wearing the same amused grin that she had upon seeing her sister’s predicament, “I’m sure if you all can be understanding, it’ll make her life a lot easier.” “P-P-Princess…I-I-I’m so sorry…I-I-I should’ve done something to stop him!” Twilight cried, bowing at Celestia’s hooves and sobbing, “Please…please find it in your heart to forgive me for my idiocy!” “Twilight, my dear student, please don’t blame yourself,” Celestia sighed, “This was no one’s fault but my own for not coming better prepared…I promise you that Discord will not get away with this. Whatever this twisted game of his may be, I promise that he will pay and you all will be unharmed by any of his evil antics.” “She’s just like Twilight!” Apple Bloom whispered to Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, “It’s actually rather cute, don’t ya think?” “Yeah, totally!” Scootaloo giggled, whispering back, “They’re almost like twins when the princess is in this new form, except for their different colors.” “It almost looks like Luna is the big sister to BOTH Twilight and Princess Celestia!” Sweetie Belle grinned, accidentally forgetting to whisper. Almost instantly, everyone else slowly turned to look at Sweetie Belle, who quickly hid her face and tried to look small. This caused Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon to both snicker in amusement. “Like, those blank flanks can be SO stupid,” Diamond Tiara scoffed. “Yeah, really!” Silver Spoon added, probably just for the sake of trying to keep up with her best friend. “Ponies that aren’t Gilda, Spike or Zecora, please welcome the final player in my little game!” Discord announced, pointing to the final boat as it pulled up next to the dock, “I think you all know this little hyper pink ball of fuzz, right?” Out of the boat bounced a very familiar pony, wearing a huge grin on her face and looking very excited. “Hi, everypony!” Pinkie cried out, bouncing up and down happily as she saw all her friends, “Oh, oh, this is so awesome! You all got invited to the annual cupcake festival, too? Yay!” “Um, sugar cube, take a good look around, ‘cause this ain’t no cupcake festival or anythin’ like that,” Applejack said, “And…Discord is here, in case ya haven’t noticed.” “Oh, silly filly, I knew that Discord was here since last night!” Pinkie giggled, waving a hoof up at the smirking draconequus, “I thought I was just dreaming, because he was plotting dastardly deeds near Twilight’s house, so I was all like ‘wow, I’m dreaming, because Discord is frozen in stone’, but then I went out to see if he was really there, and he started talking about cotton candy and chocolate rain, and I was all like ‘oh, yay, chocolate rain, I love chocolate rain’, and I asked him about it, but he said that he wasn’t doing anything with that, so he sent me back to bed and I got myself a warm cup of milk and told Gummy a bedtime story when I got back home, since he woke up and couldn’t get back to sleep, the poor little guy.” “…so, basically, you KNEW that Discord was here but you told nopony about it?” Rarity frowned, raising an eyebrow at Pinkie. “Well, I wanted to tell somepony, but when I woke up the next morning, I totally forgot!” Pinkie smiled, “Warm milk usually makes me have weird dreams, so I had a weird dream about flying with Dashy over a mountain, and then when I woke up, I was very sad, and I had forgotten all about Discord!” “…can I PLEASE hurt her without being attacked, Dash?” Gilda asked, looking at Rainbow Dash, “You KNOW she deserves it, that annoying pink rat!” “No, Gilda, I already told you what’ll happen if you touch ANY of my friends!” Rainbow Dash frowned, “That’s just Pinkie being Pinkie; if you can’t learn to accept others for who they are, then you’re no better than Discord.” “I resent that remark,” Discord frowned, floating over and snapping his fingers, causing a bucket of water to magically appear over Rainbow’s head, “Just for that, I think I need to punish you!” However, just for fun, he moved the bucket a few inches and ended up dumping the icy water on Celestia’s head instead, absolutely drenching the horrified tiny princess. “DISCORD, YOU JUST SOAKED PRINCESS CELESTIA!” Twilight screamed, nearly pulling out her hair as she was once more losing her mind, “YOU MONSTER! LOOK WHAT YOU’VE DONE!” “Twilight…getting mad won’t help matters…remember, this is Discord we’re dealing with…” Celestia said coolly, shivering slightly as her entire small body felt the cold wetness spreading down her, “But, rest assured, my wrath won’t be pretty once this is all over…I guarantee you that.” “Ooh, big words coming from such a puny princess,” Discord cackled, picking up the empty bucket and slamming it down over the top of Celestia’s head, “Maybe we should call you Princess Bucket-Head instead, hmm? What do you all think?” “MONSTER!” Applejack screamed. “FIEND!” Rarity bellowed. “JERK!” Rainbow Dash roared. “YOU ATTACKED THE PRINCESS AGAIN!” Twilight shrieked. “That was very mean,” Fluttershy squeaked. “CUPCAKES!” Pinkie cried. “Alright, I’ll put the Princess Bucket-Head nickname aside for now and save it for later,” Discord chuckled, watching Celestia’s body start to tremble with silent rage while she didn’t even bother removing the bucket from her head, “But, now that all 20 of you are here, the game can finally begin.” “Better hope it’s a good one, Discord, because it’ll be your last,” Spike growled up at Discord, still being used as Rarity’s seat after all this time. “Indeed, Trixie is not amused, and Trixie plans on extracting vengeance for this nonsense once this game is over and she wins it,” Trixie snapped. “I believe that this will be a lot more than just a game,” Zecora whispered, closing her eyes and shaking her head, “We all are in a lot of trouble, ponies and non-ponies the same.” Discord smirked and rubbed his hands together as the first part of his plan was coming together. Now, it was time to put the plan into full motion and start the fun.