Dr. Bonesaw whistled to himself as he wiped the blood off his bone saw. His day was certainly...eventful. But now that Wonderbolts were properly taken care of, he could rest easy. After storing his bone saw in a drawer, he started for the door. But as he reached for the door, he heard the front door creak open.
"Hm? Zat's strange...I'm not expecting anyone, especially not zis late at night."
Dr. Bonesaw opened the drawer and retrieved his bone saw. Maybe he had missed one. He opened his door and made his way down the hall. As he approached he heard hoofsteps coming from the front desk. Somepony was definitely here, and they seem to be looking for something. That information alone was enough for Dr. Bonesaw to dispose of this intruder.
When he was close enough, Dr. Bonesaw leaped from hiding and pointed his weapon. "Vat do you sink you're..."
The color drained from Bonesaw's face as he gawked at the sight of a startled Princess Celestia. "Ah Dr. Bonesaw," she greeted. "I didn't see you there. I hope you didn't mind me not knocking. The door was partially open."
Dr. Bonesaw dropped his saw on the floor and tried to play off his mistake. "Not at all!" He replied with a smile. "You're a princess, you do vatever suits you."
Celestia's eyes fell on the bone saw. "Why were-"
"Sharpening ze pencils!" Dr. Bonesaw blurted out. "I vas using it to sharpen ze pencils. You see, I'm not very wealthy since I don't get many patients...."
Celestia smiled. "I can see that."
Dr. Bonesaw sighed as he lowered his head. "My apologies, your highness, I did not mean to frighten you."
"Do not worry. I'm not upset."
"I hope you don't mind me asking," Dr. Bonesaw said, raising his head. "But why are you here? You already visited your sister zis morning."
"I received word from one of my subordinates that you were housing the Wonderbolts."
Just as I suspected, Dr. Bonesaw thought. "You have?"
Celestia nodded. "I was hoping I could be able to talk to them. Are they in any condition to speak?"
"Vell, I suppose.... Most of zem are asleep, but I'm sure Spitfire is avake." Dr. Bonesaw said, averting his gaze. "But I can assure you, zey don't have ze creature vith zem."
"Yes, I assumed as much. But I'd still like to ask them about their fight. Perhaps we could learn something from it."
Dr. Bonesaw shrugged. "Alright. Follow me."
Celestia followed Dr. Bonesaw to a large room full of beds. In each of the beds were the members of the Wonderbolts. They all suffered from broken bones, but it wasn't too serious. At least, that's what Celestia hoped.
"Zey're trying to rest zeir injuries off," Dr. Bonesaw said. "Lucky for you, Spitfire had recently voken up."
Celestia looked around and spotted Spitfire lying in her bed. She gazed at the ceiling, deep in thought. But when she realized she was in the princess's presence, she jerked up and attempted to salute. But as she did, pain shot from her wing, causing her to wince in agony.
"Please lie down, you must rest," Celestia said.
"Yes, your highness," Spitfire said before slowly laying her head back into her pillow.
"If you're feeling any better, I would like to question you about your battle."
"B-battle?"
"Yes, the battle you fought this morning."
Spitfire looked even more confused. "I'm not sure what you mean."
Celestia was unsure about what was going on as well. "Don't you remember the request I gave you involving the creature and its house?"
"No, your highness. In fact, I don't even know why I'm here."
Dr. Bonesaw slapped his forehead. "Ah yes! Now I remember! Spitfire and her crew are in a state of amnesia. Unfortunately, zey can't remember anysing past a few days ago."
Celestia stood motionlessly, mouth agape. "A-all of them?"
Dr. Bonesaw nodded. "Every one of zem."
Celestia fought to keep a calm demeanor. "How could this happen?"
Dr. Bonesaw silently slid a syringe off a table and into a garbage bin. "I have no idea."
Words couldn't even begin to describe Celestia's frustration.
"I-I'm sorry your majesty," Spitfire said. "The most I could remember was running away from a horrible pony as-"
"Ahem, yes very nice," Dr. Bonesaw interrupted. "Princess, let's allow Spitfire to go back to sleep. Maybe a good nap could clear her memory- er mind."
Celestia let out a tired sigh and nodded.
Dr. Bonesaw escorted Celestia back to the front desk. "Don't be so upset, your highness. At least zey're all still alive."
Celestia managed to smile. "Yes, you’re absolutely right."
"Besides, I have anozer great battle strategy you could use. In fact, it's so good, you won't need ze Vonderbolt's information."
Celestia chuckled slightly. "Oh? And what's that?"
"Send your guards into battle...completely unarmed! You see, ze plants vill be so shocked and confused, zey von't attack for a few minutes. Zat vill buy your guards enough time to rush inside and snatch ze creature."
Celestia dwelled on the doctor's plan. "Hmm, interesting…. I might want to try that. But I already have an idea."
"You do?"
"Yes. And I can assure you, this one won't fail."
Dr. Bonesaw began to look concerned. "What is it?"
Celestia smirked. "Not 'what', but 'who'."
"Okay, zombies! Get ready to pea defeated!"
Sunflower's smile dropped at Repeater's lousy pun. "Sorry, but Peashooter already beat you to that one."
Repeater smirked. "Sunflower, Sunflower..., don't you know? I'm the Repeater!"
Threepeater chuckled. "He's got you there, Sunflower."
Sunflower rolled her eyes, but none can be upset at a good pun for too long.
Once again, Barry's house was surrounded by another bed of war plants. In terms of firepower, this army was his strongest yet. In front of the Sunflowers were two rows of Threepeaters. Followed by two rows of Repeaters and two rows of Split Peas. On top of that, the lawn was peppered with Fire Peashooters. They were there to keep it the plants warm in case of "spontaneous blizzards". To serve as a defense, Pea-nuts circled the complete army.
"I know what you said Sunflower," Fire Peashooter said, "but I still don't understand. Blizzards aren't spontaneous, especially not in this weather. Why am I here?"
"Aren't you like a better version of Repeater?" Pea-nut said.
"What!?" Repeater yelled. "Pea-nut, you'd better get this through your thick shell. Fire-peashooter is definitely, most certainly, not better than me! Do I have to repeat myself!?"
"You usually do," Split Pea remarked.
At this, the other split peas went wild. "OOOHHHH!"
"Okay, calm down plants," Sunflower said, waving her leaves. "Fire Peashooter asked a good question, and it deserves an answer. But first, I think it's only fair to explain our situation first."
"Situation? What situation?" Threepeater asked.
Sunflower paused. "You know...this. The lawn and the forest!"
The plants finally started to take in their bearings. "Huh, neat," Threepeater said.
"Are you guys telling me you didn't notice this at all? That the thought didn't even cross your minds?"
The plants shook their heads.
"Actually, I did," Pea-nut stated.
"Quiet Pea-nut, you didn't notice anything," Split Pea said.
"The things I gotta put up with...," Sunflower mumbled under her breath. "Anyways, Barry along with his house was carried by a magical tornado into this unknown world. While he was here, he was attacked by colorful ponies who now want to capture him for their bidding."
Silence filled the lawn as everyone simply stared at Sunflower. Finally, a loud yell broke the silence. "Yeah right!"
"No, I'm serious. These ponies are smart, so if we want to defend Barry, we need to fight strategically."
The plants bellowed with laughter. "Fight strategically? Now you've really lost it, Sunflower!" Split Pea said between laughs.
Sunflower fumed. "There's nothing funny about it! If we don't focus, we'll be ambushed!"
"Oh no! Ponies are going to attack!" Repeater mocked. "We're doomed! Everybody run!"
The plants laughed even louder, making Sunflower feel pretty silly.
"Don't worry, Sunflower, I believe you," Pea-nut assured.
"Way to rub salt in the wound, Pea-nut...." Sunflower growled.
Fire Peashooter noticed the embarrassment on Sunflower's face. "Sunflower, don't be upset. Your story is just a bit hard to swallow."
"It's not a story!" Sunflower insisted.
"Well it sure sounds like one," Split Pea said. "Wizard of Oz, anyone?"
"I'll prove it," Sunflower said. "The ponies will attack today. If they don't, I'll...I'll pluck my own petals!"
The plants gasped. What she threatened to do was not only painful but extremely humiliating. Only a fool would dare make a bet like this. But Sunflower was determined.
"Alright, you're on," Split Pea said.
"No, wait, you don't have to do that Sunflower!" Threepeater said.
"Would you believe me any other way?" Sunflower asked.
"She has a point, Threepeater," Split Pea said. He turned and stared down Sunflower. "Besides, I want to see how far she'll go with this."
Sunflower glared at Split Pea. "As far as it takes."
The two were locked in a deadly staring contest. A fire had most certainly sparked between them.
"Any way we could put all this behind us?" Fire Peashooter asked.
"Nope!"
"Um, I hate to alarm anyone," Threepeater said. "But I think someone's on our roof."
Confused heads turned to see what Threepeater had found. Sunflower had seen many things in the past few days. That included unicorns, pegasi, timberwolves, bat ponies, an alicorn, and even a drunk pony. But this...thing...words couldn't even begin to describe it.
To add to everyone's bewilderment, there was popcorn scattered all over the roof. For some reason, the creature was stuffing handfuls of popcorn in its mouth. "No no," It muffled, trying to swallow its popcorn. "Keep going. It's starting to get good."
The plants continued to stare mindlessly, still trying to process what was going on. Was that abomination lying there this whole time? And they hadn't noticed? Finally, the plants acted in the only way they knew how. "Kill it! Kill it!" Repeater cried.
At that eloquent choice of words, the plants began firing madly. Suddenly, there was a sharp clap and all the peas froze in midair.
The plants looked to see the creature holding a clapperboard. A wry smile spread across its face as it spoke once again. "Cut, cut! I'm sorry but that was just plain rude. –" It flung the clapper aside "– Let's try this again, shall we?" It snapped its fingers before allowing the peas to float upward and pop like bubbles.
"What are you...." Threepeater uttered.
"Well, I'm glad you asked!" The creature suddenly warped in front of them. Its height alone shadowed the poor plants as they gaped at the towering beast. "I am Discord, the Spirit of Chaos, the former ruler of Equestria, and ultimately the end of everything you fight for. Delighted to make your acquaintance!"
You could cut the tension with a knife. For a minute, no one made a sound. "Well, since he's not a pony, I still win," Split Pea said, slightly grinning.
"Really, Split Pea? You're doing this now?" Fire Peashooter questioned.
"Just making sure everyone knows I won."
"Technically," Pea-nut started, "he's part pony...I think. So you both won."
"Pea-nut, no one was talking to you," Threepeater said. "Keep your opinions to yourself."
Discord's smile faded as the plants continued bickering. "Are...are you guys serious? I'm literally threatening everything you protect. Yet, you're still carrying on about that silly bet? Wow. I'm honestly going to regret doing this now. You plants are something else!"
Sunflower still didn't know how to react. So many questions flooded her mind. How are we able to understand this Discord and vice-versa? How did it manage to sneak up on us? But all that didn't matter. All she knew was that this creature was a danger to Barry and needed to be eliminated. "Plants! Shut up and shoot the thing!"
The plants immediately stopped arguing and obeyed Sunflower's orders.
"This again?" Discord said. He lifted a claw, causing a portal to open in front of him. The peas disappeared on the other end before Discord sealed it. "Someone ought to teach you some manners. I guess little old me has to do."
He stretched out his arm and snapped. What followed can only be summarized by one word: chaos. The ground ripped up from under the plants and floated aimlessly. Pieces of the sky above dropped and shattered on the ground. The trees around them began laughing madly. And worse still, Barry's house had become a huge gingerbread house.
"Well, it's not that bad," Repeater said. "At least, not for Barry."
The plants gasped. "Did Repeater just say something positive and not self-centered?" Threepeater said.
"Discord, what did you did to Repeater?!" Sunflower yelled.
Repeater wasn't amused. "Very funny, guys. Very funny."
"Don't worry, plants," Discord said. "I'm just getting started."
The plants once again attempted to overwhelm Discord with more projectiles. But to their surprise instead of firing peas, they fired rolled-up socks. "What happened to our ammunition!?"
"Hold on, I can fix that," Discord said. As soon as Discord snapped his fingers, the socks had become water balloons. On top of that, the fire peashooter began releasing cold air. The sunflowers, instead of producing suns, started producing moons. The pea-nuts suddenly sprouted wings and flew away. And the threepeaters' heads were magically tangled into a knot.
"Wait, I might have made it worse.... Oh well."
Suddenly, a jalapeno seed flew from the window. Discord watched in curiosity as the jalapeno grew and began to explode.
"NNNNNGGGGG!!!!!!!!" Jalapeno yelled, knowing that his whole life has been leading up to this moment.
Discord spawned a fire extinguisher and doused the hot plant with whipped cream. Unable to make the fire necessary, Jalapeno's dreams of a glorious explosion were crushed.
Nearly half an hour passed and still, Discord showed no signs of losing. Many plants were cast at Discord's feet, but each of them could do nothing against him. The plants were soon beginning to realize that it was hopeless. Nothing they did could dismay the creature in the slightest. No, in fact, he was enjoying it.
"It's been too long since I had this kind of fun!" he laughed. "I thank you plants, really I do. You've revived a feeling I thought I could never have again. But alas, all good things must come to an end."
The plants didn't even have the will to answer back. The feeling of being totally useless completely crushed them. They could only look down in shame.
Discord simpered at the sight. He'd finally done it, he'd destroyed their confidence. And boy did it feel good. "Aww, don't look so down. At least you tried your best." Discord quickly clapped his hands, causing everything to return to normal. "Maybe next time."
Discord raised his paw to finish them off. But from the house, shot one final seed.
"Oh?" Discord said. "It's been a while since you tried something, creature."
The plant's eyes lit up as they saw the seed grow into a sleeping hypno-shroom. A devious grin spread across Sunflower's face.
"A sleeping mushroom?" Discord scoffed. "You think that will be enough to defeat me? You wound me, creature, you really do."
Discord spawned a tiny whistle and softly blew into it. Let's just say, the noise was comparable to a volcano erupting.
"Huh, what happened?!" Hypno-shroom exclaimed. "Where am I!?"
"Oh, did I wake you from your nap?" Discord cooed, reaching out to pat his cap. "I'm so sor-"
As soon as Discord touched him, he absorbed the hypno-shroom.