And indeed, there WAS a problem. A BIG problem. The path was just about to open up to Ponyville, but... a pony stood in their path. White fur, blue star on the chest, yellow armor. It was a member of Celestia's royal guard. The group locked eyes with the single pony. A huge group, a single enemy, this should have felt like an easy encounter: it did not. The group felt trapped, stuck, surrounded. But there was only a single pony. Laba stepped fourth.
"Good morning. Is there trouble in Ponyville?" Clearly Laba was playing it cool, quite clever actually, maybe this pony had not been told about the group yet? No such luck.
The group was suddenly under attack, from all angles! The call of a guard shouting "now" made that obvious. There was only a split second to react when there was a circle of pegasi and unicorns crowding them, the pegasi dropping nets from above and unicorns using their magic to throw nets onto them.
Discord's attack came from above, four pegasi attempting to capture him with a simple string net designed to hold a pony, but Discord wasn't a pony, was he? The net only covered his face before he grabbed it and duck, swinging the four ponies AND the guards attached with ease. Making sure to have a tight grip on Starswirl in his other arm, Discord swung the net and ponies at a group of other pegasi before they could capture Laba in a net. Laba managed to stun the pony that the group had a stand off against earlier, and now he was going to fight off the others, just as Discord was going to!
The mighty draconequus (made slightly less mighty by the fact he was carrying a foal) charged for a group of pegasi that held Friar under a net, swinging at one of the guards with a mighty uppercut of justice! I know, exciting, isn't it!?
Starswirl keeping his head close by Discord's chest the whole time, not looking, Discord spun his hand on the spot multiple times, a small fireball arising from his finger every time it returned to face an enemy and charging up it's flame while it swung away from them. The fireballs all hit their targets with minimal effort, colliding with their fur and stunning them, Discord had the ability to influence a stunning ability into his fireballs since HE conjured them. The group of pegasi guards now on the floor, Discord grabbed the net that covered Friar and within a few seconds of embers, the entire thing was burnt into nothing, Friar remaining unharmed. The pegasus got to his hooves with a helping hand from Discord (I can say that because Discord actually has hands! Yay, no hand-hoof trauma!) and he joined the fight.
Spiral Dust seemed to already be tackling the attackers, no doubt his dust-morphing ability allowed him to escape from his net with ease. Every time a pony made a tackle for him, he could evade by morphing, and the attacker would collapse onto the floor as if he was attempting to tackle the air. Spiral Dust's story told of a moment where he had to fight off two well-trained ponies by himself, that encounter would certainly be helping him out right now.
Friar proceeded to help Spiral Dust, Laba was helping Sam Blue, so... Chrysalis! The lady changeling was trapped under a net with four unicorns holding her down, her horn glowing red, which Discord recognized as a magic trapping spell, a spell that prevented it's victim from using their horn and hence prohibiting magic use. However, the down side to this spell was that it required concentration from the caster in order to remain, therefor if Discord attacked the caster, the spell would be broken.
Discord did the same trick he did earlier: swinging his fingers and casting fireballs with every successful swing. The unicorns had no time to react before they were caught off guard and flung over by searing hot yet rather small balls of flame, the red aura coating Chrysalis's horn disappearing once the flames hit.
Chrysalis's net burst in a flash of green immediately, none of this being Discord's actions, all of it was due to Chrysalis's rage. She swiftly got to her hooves and shot grim seeds of green energy at the unicorns, who were turned to nothing but bones within split seconds, Discord watching in awe. Though, he felt slightly bad for Chrysalis, she must have been embarrassed. The other members of the group had stunned or knocked out the attackers, Chrysalis... disintegrated them.
The attackers were all overpowered now, clearly they had underestimated the skill of the group. Sure, they were all bruised and cut, but the guards weren't even moving! Discord looked around to make sure no more guards were standing... but, something was off. There were supposed to be 4 ponies around Friar, he WAS attacked by four after all. There was... only three. Where had the fourth gone? It was at this moment that Discord remembered: his stun fireballs lost some of their potency since they were delivered by flames, they would lose their effects within mere seconds if they hit the mane of the pony instead of their solid body! If one of Discord's shots was shot inaccurately, and it truly only hit one of the attackers on the mane, they might have gone away by now!
"Guys, I think a guard has gotten away, we need to get to this shelter quickly!" Discord tightened the straps on his rucksack and looked down at Starswirl, who remained with his head burrowed in Discord's embrace. It's time, once again, for Laba to announce something.
"All right everypony, follow me, and do NOT lag behind!" Laba started running in the different direction you'd have expected he would. Ponyville was straight ahead, but Laba ran to the left, going around the town. Every member of the group followed, Sam Blue, Friar, Spiral Dust, Chrysalis and finally Discord.
Ponyville had many differences back then, but the only one Discord could see right now was this enormous wooden barrier surrounding it, with pointed tips topping the barrier to prevent ponies from climbing over (though a pegasus could easily fly over).
It was too late! A group of pegasi guards had tracked down the group and were now swooping in on them! It was at this moment that Discord decided: sod the rucksack! He placed Starswirl down and removed the rucksack, giving it a mighty swung before it was launched into the air and collided with a pegasus, who plummeted to the ground. The contents of the rucksack spilled open from the impact of hitting the pony and plummeting into the ground, exposing some sheets, cans and the amulet. Laba noticed this amulet and immediately used his magic to hand it over to Discord, who grabbed it, confused. Laba then spoke over the chaos of this second attack.
"I don't care how long that's been in the rucksack, who put it there, or how long it's been there! But put it on! Quickly! Discord did not question Laba's intentions, this was clearly important. he took the ribbons and wrapped them around his neck, awkwardly clipping them in place.
Discord was now wearing the amulet. And it felt good.