Believe it or not, the inside of the warehouse was even worse than Tartarus Industries. Inside the main floor, Tirek and the Reflection were with Fluttershy and the rest of the hostages. While Fluttershy was forced into her capsule, all Starlight Glimmer could do was watch from her corner all tied up.
Tirek was so distracted at victory nearly in his grasp, he didn't notice anything moving from underneath the bearskin rig on the floor. Discord had drilled a tiny hole underneath the rug and slipped through like an elastic object. As soon as he was completely through, he looked out in front of the bear suit and saw Fluttershy's capsule in front of him. He scooted himself and the rug toward the capsule when he heard Tirek's monologue.
"This is it, my partner." Tirek said. "With the powers of another world, all of Canterlot will be subject to my will."
"You... you can't do that!" Starlight protested. "You promised me you would equalize everyone! That everybody will be thinking and feeling as one!"
"I did, and they'll be thinking and feeling as I think and feel. And that's only the beginning. Once I gain complete control over the city, I'll turn it into a Tartarus Industry site to extend my research. Within days, the whole country will be one nation under Tirek. And believe it or not, none of this would've been possible if dear Sunset Shimmer wouldn't leave her world. So, the person you have to thank for all this is... Does anyone else notice the moving bear?"
"That's a weird name." the Reflection replied.
Tirek pointed his red claw to the moving bear and the Reflection followed. He reached down and pulled the bear off the floor revealing Discord laying down. He chuckled and jumped up in front of everyone.
"Discord." Fluttershy whispered in pleasure from inside her capsule.
"Thank you!" Discord cheered. "Thank you for saving me! You see..." He tried to think of something. "That bear ate me on a camping trip two years ago."
"This is a fake bear." Tirek pointed out.
"Oh, well, I guess my story makes no sense whatsoever." Discord said awkwardly.
"I'm afraid you're too late, Discord!" Tirek said. He reached into his jacket and pulled out a handheld contraption with a red button. "When I push this button, the final capsules will activate and the whole town will receive a radio signal to do what I think. Even you will be under my control."
"No!" Discord gasped. "If you push that button..."
"Which one, this?" Tirek asked quickly before pressing his thumb on the red button causing Discord to duck his head.
Discord shook his head in fear covering his head with his hands. He was preparing for the worst. When a few moments passed, nothing still happened. Even Tirek was confused. He pushed the button half-a-dozen times before growing furious.
"WHEEEEERE IS THE MAGIC?!"
"If you want some magic, I'd suggest you get a girlfriend." Discord said. "Although, I'd shave first if I were you."
"I don't know where I went wrong, but I know you had something to do with it!" Tirek shouted pointing his claw at Discord.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Discord said. "Slow your roll, crazy troll."
"Don't play dumb with me, child." Tirek threatened.
"He's not playing." the Reflection said. "He really is this dumb. Don't worry, I'll take care of this poser. At least, until sunset when he pops like a balloon."
"Bring it on, copycat!" Discord said.
As Tirek began to back to the wall, the Reflection started to chuckle and talk in a French accent pulling a fencing sword. "Bring it on, but you are slow as ze escargot."
"You call that a sword?" Discord asked. With a snap of his fingers, a blue lightsaber appeared in his hand. "That's a sword."
Without warning, the Reflection raised his sword and prepared to strike at Discord. He blocked it and expected it to burn, but it was still there in one piece like it was fighting another sword.
"Strong sword." Discord commented.
"Oui."
The two doubles clashed their sabers and swung them in every direction. With the capsules turned off, the girls started to wake up one at a time. Pinkie was the last one to wake and see the swordfight between Discord and his copy.
"So... which one do we root for?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"The one with the flower!" Fluttershy answered.
"I still have this thing?" Discord asked.
Observing his flower was a mistake. While he let his guard down, the Reflection took the opportunity and thrust the sword into Discord's chest. The original gasped as well as the six girls.
"Out with the old and in with the new." the Reflection taunted twisting the sword further in. "What do you think of that?"
Everyone expected Discord to collapse and fall to the ground, but all he did was raise his head up with a victorious smile.
"I think, if you try to waste someone, watch where you point that."
Everyone was confused until Discord opened his jacket. The sword wasn't thrust into his chest like everyone thought, it was pointing inside the handheld mirror strapped on it. By the time the Reflection knew what was going on, his hand was already being pulled into the glass. He tried to pull away, but he was no match.
"NO!" he gasped. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" He turned to run, but he lost his feet to the reflective surface. In a bright flash of light, the Reflection was back where he belongs.
"Ha, ha!" Discord taunted. "Chaos magic is funny, but nothing beats good, old-fashioned, quick-handed trickery." Those were the last words he said before he closed the mirror on his defeated foe.
"Very clever, Discord." Tirek said approaching the capsules. "But it's not clever enough. I'm still here. And if I pull a few of these switches, and these girls will be blown sky high."
"No, Tirek!" Sunset Shimmer shouted. "You wouldn't!"
"I'm confused." Applejack said. "How do you two know each other?"
"He was my crazy therapist." Sunset Shimmer said. "Now, he's just a crazy businessman trying to copy my old, crazy plan."
"Speaking of crazy." Discord said. He materialized a blowhorn and pointed it to the sky. "CA-CAW! CA-CAW!"
Suddenly, a gigantic monster-cat broke down the wall forcing Tirek to duck to the ground. Fluffy's purrs were loud at that size. Twilight and Flash jumped off Fluffy's back, and started opening Sunset's capsule. Spike stayed on the cat's head.
"Nobody move!" Spike declared. "I got a monster-cat here and I'm not afraid to use it! I'M A PUPPY ON THE EDGE!"
"Thank you, Twilight." Sunset congratulated jumping from her capsule. "You're just like the other you; loyal and sticking to your friends. I wonder what the other you did to earn her friends."
Hearing that, Tirek widened his eyes and whispered to himself. "That's it! That's the variable I've been missing! Sunset's from another world, so she wouldn't be compatible. But if this Twilight shares as strong of a bond with her friends as the other one..."
Tirek took the opportunity and ran toward Twilight.
"Look out!" Flash shouted.
But it was too late. By the time Twilight looked, Tirek pushed her to where Sunset used to be. Before anyone reacted, Tirek closed the case and pushed the button in his hand. The capsules started to glow a rainbow and the girls started to scream. In anger, Discord grabbed Tirek and pushed him to the machines.
"Shut it down, tomato-face!" Discord threatened.
"Even if I wanted to, I couldn't." Tirek answered in a grin. "I never installed a kill-switch. In a few moments, you and all of Canterlot will be a subject of..."
Tirek was interrupted by a handful of colorful fluid falling on his face. Discord stepped back in shock while Tirek screamed in discontent.
"WHAT IS THIS GUNK?!" he shouted. "IT TASTES SWEET! I HATE SWEET!"
"What is that?" Flash Sentry asked.
"It looked like the Equestrian magic Tirek's harvesting." Sunset Shimmer said. "Discord, you must have cut a link during your little swordfight."
"Then I got an idea!" Discord declared. He sprung behind the leaking pipe and pointed the rupture toward Tirek, who was wiping the colors off his face. Meanwhile, the machines started to calm down and the girls stopped screaming.
"Hey, Tirek!" Discord declared catching the therapist's attention. "Time to show my true... colors!"
"Seriously?" everyone commented simultaneously.
Before Tirek could speak out, Discord squeezed the pipe and a blast of colors splattered out and hit Tirek. He was flown right through a window and was launched over the horizon. There was still some colors dripping out, but Discord didn't care as he released the rest of the girls. Everyone cheered. Before Tirek could do anything, Fluttershy jumped to him and pressed her lips against his. Everyone paused at the sight of it.
"Oh!" Fluttershy gasped in embarrassment as soon as she realized what she was doing. "Sorry. I thought you were pretty amazing with..."
"Hey, it's all right." Discord interrupted giving a kiss back.
"Do you know what's weird?" Flash asked. "They look kinda cute together."
Tied up in her corner, Starlight Glimmer watched at how everybody is happy around Discord. She then thought to herself, "After seeing Tirek's brand of equality and how similar it was to what I almost did, I'm starting to think that I misjudged Discord. Maybe he's just what we need."
Suddenly, the sunset sky shook from a frightening roar that rattled the whole town. Everyone was both confused and frightened. Everyone looked out the broken window and saw a large, red figure glowing and growing. It was Tirek who grew with his clothes, but his arms became so muscular, his sleeves were ripped to shreds. He was now as big as any skyscraper, but looked twice as mean as ever.
"I was wrong." Starlight told herself in panic. "Discord's a human train-wreck."
"What happened to him?!" Rarity gasped.
"The Equestrian magic!" Sunset shouted. "It must have mutated him!"
"Discord, you have powers!" Twilight shouted. "Can't you stop him?!"
"I make jokes happen on convenient times." Discord replied. "I don't shoot giant gorillas off the Empire State Building."
"Well, here's an idea!" Rainbow Dash said. "Let's go all Equestrian rainbow blast on him like before!"
"We can't!" Sunset Shimmer shouted. "Those capsules harvested too much of our energy. And beside, even if we did have it back, I'm not sure if it'll be enough since Tirek's a mix of our magic and his rage!"
While everyone was debating, Flash Sentry saw the leaking pipe from the capsules and rubbed his chin. Suddenly, he had a brainstorm.
"Hold on, everyone! I got it! Maybe neither Discord nor your magic can beat Tirek, but what if they were to be combined just like he did?"
"We don't know what it'll do to us!" Sunset Shimmer answered. "And besides, knowing Discord, he'll probably give us some lame theme."
"Hey!" Discord protested. "Superheroes are not lame! Oops. Spoiler alert."
"I trust it will work out." Fluttershy said.
"I'm with her!" Rainbow Dash agreed.
"Count me in!" Applejack cheered.
"It's our only chance." Rarity said.
"I've always wanted superpowers." Pinkie Pie cheered.
Sunset sighed before saying, "Okay, I'll give it a shot."
"Hold it!" Twilight shouted. "Don't count me out. I want in on the action too."
"What?" Discord asked.
"You heard me. I'm as much involved as you are. At least now, we'll have him overpowered."
"We probably won't make it." Sunset said.
"Well, I would rather miss out on my brother's lectures." Twilight returned.
"All right." Discord agreed. With a zap of his fingers, he shot multiple rays of light and connected them between himself and the girls. They turned and Flash was holding the pipe. "Flash, fire at will."
"Who's Will?" Pinkie Pie asked.
Ignoring Pinkie's question, Flash squeezed the pipe and a colorful blast burst out like a volcano. It hit the group, but nobody noticed Starlight Glimmer jumping out of her spot. She scoot herself toward them and joined them in their super transformation.