I: Out of Body, Out of Mind
“At the beginning.”
“The beginning? You mean your… birth?”
“You could say that. My ‘birth’ was somewhat complicated. It all began with a dream…”
**********
Somewhere, a purple gemstone lit. It emitted a small but earnest brilliance, one that inspired the soul with the purest of charity.
**********
The dream seemed to last forever.
And why shouldn’t it?
In the dream, she found only torment. She remembered not a single event, only a swirl of colors that became shapes, never staying as one image for more than a moment. She saw ponies: friends, colleagues, family, all with that same strange look on their face. It was sadness, fear, and above all, pity. Even through all the entropy, it was enough to move her to tears. Why? She asked herself. She had not the faintest idea, but for some reason, it scared her.
“Ahahaha!”
A vicious cackle roused her from unconsciousness. The very second she awoke, she was overcome with absolute torment. Pain coursed through her in terrible waves, each worse than the last. Agony eclipsed all else, drawing her into a sensory vacuum where the only thing that existed was herself and her suffering. She lay there, convulsing and shaking in grand, tormented motions. She opened her mouth to scream, but found she lacked the air to do so.
“Do my eyes deceive me? I haven't seen one of these in years! Decades! Centuries! How delightful!”
The voice was distant, but for its distance, it was no less distinct. It had all the tone and inflection of a madpony, deep and unpredictable. She hated it, without really knowing why.
Through an incredible force of will, she struggled to open her eyes. She was able to do so, albeit in the smallest increment possible. Squinting, she could could barely make sense of what she was seeing. Fire, fire everywhere. Dust, ash, smoke, rubble… destruction. Chaos.
Madness.
“It's an impressive sorcery, no doubt. Commendable, even. But to believe it would stop me? To believe it would even help? Your efforts are in vain, I'm afraid.”
All around her, there was a horrible symphony of crackling fire and collapsing structures, permeated now and again by terrified screams. A dark storm brewed above, letting loose erratic flashes of red lightning and piercing booms of thunder. She let her eyes close.
“Demon! You are not welcome here!” somepony said. It was a mare’s voice, loud but trembling, trying to give the impression of bravery but utterly failing to do so. It sounded very near to her, coming her right. “Depart from us! Your very hoofsteps defile the earth!”
Another wild bout of laughter seemed to shake the earth.
“I'm only curious,” the madpony said, false innocence in his voice. “You can hardly blame me for being interested in your little abomination here.”
She tried to pick her head up from off of the ground, but after an inch of distance for a full ten seconds of effort, she found she lacked the strength. Her hooves were similarly earthbound. She felt her wings splayed out on the ground behind her… and mentally paused. Wings? That made no sense. Nothing made sense.
In any case, she may as well have been paralyzed.
“An abomination, I might add, that you yourselves have created,” the madpony said. Amidst the din of destruction, there was a silence that nopony broke. Again, the deranged voice spoke.
“Oh, this is too good. Too good! Here I am, thinking I was the only one in the business of creating beasts. But this! This!” The voice began to laugh uncontrollably as he continued.
“It makes me so happy to see others learn my craft! It really is…” there was a gasping pause for breath, “It really is a most interesting hobby! Though it seems you have yet to become true artisans,” he continued. “You’ve gone and killed the poor mare.” He ended his laughter with a contented sigh. “Perhaps she would make a good stuffed decoration.”
“Silence, fiend! You know not of which you speak!” a voice exclaimed to her left. It was a different mare than before, but her tone had the same fragility as the first.
“Oh, but I do. I truly do. My noble art is to bring the greatest kind of fun to this world.” The insane voice chuckled. “I know of creation,” it continued, “but what is creation without a little… destruction?!”
Though her eyes were closed, to her left, she heard a sickening snap that could be none other than the breaking of bones. A scream of agony pierced the air. There was a second snap, and a third, each followed by pained screams and cries of alarm from others around her. The fifth snap was followed by silence.
“There are a million and one ways to end a pony’s life,” the voice chuckled darkly, “but that particular method never loses its charm. Ahh, some things never get old.”
“Demon!”
“Villian!”
“Monster!”
There was an outburst of pained insults. “Yes, yes, it’s all true,” the voice said dismissively.
All the while, the sufferer’s pain began to fade. It was very limited and gradual, but in her condition, she gladly welcomed it. A weight seemed to be lifting as her paralysis began to wear off. Her convulsions relapsed into flinches, and then twitches, until finally she was able to remain still.
The voices continued to speak, but she did not hear them. She began to focus her mind on the only thing that seemed in her control, which was to overcome the pain. It was strong, but she was determined to not let it be stronger than her. She would overcome. She had to. She was born to.
She tested the movement in her legs, and found that she could move them. She slowly dragged them close to her, and rolled her body into a more upright lying position. One by one, she planted her hooves on the ground. There were four quiet taps, the sound that could only come from striking hoof to pavement. Though it was nearly inaudible, it commanded the attention of all around her, silencing the chaotic rhetoric that had been so clamorous only moments ago.
“What's this?” the lunatic voice said. “The beast awakens.”
She opened her eyes and peered at the ground, using all the mental fortitude she had to still her quaking legs. Below her was drawn a series of intricate circles, with indecipherable runes lining the edges. It was carefully scribed but completely unintelligible. She ignored it.
Slowly, she began to stand. An eruption of pain in her legs made her drop after an inch or two, but she did not give up. Gathering her strength again, she pushed. Her legs were wobbling before her, but after a half minute of painstaking balance and rigorous endurance, she drew herself to her full height. She felt wrong, though she knew not why. She could not shake a certain feeling that made her feel out of place, out of body.
She drew her head up, and blinked. Swiveling her head from left to right, she observed, but did not comprehend. Surrounding her was a group of a dozen or so ponies, all staring at her, dumbfounded. Some had expressions simply of awe, some of concern, and others of worry. Still others had inexplicable expressions of… hope? Strange, she thought. She did not know why or how she came to be there, but she had deduced enough to know that they were, all of them, in grave danger.
She also noticed a contorted and twisted body to her left, broken, bleeding, and obviously dead. She recoiled at the sight of it, and continued examining her company.
Though there was an assortment of both stallions and mares, she noticed that they were all of the Unicorn Tribe. Each had a horn, and wore a deep blue cloak that boasted a symbol she recognized as the seal of the Royal Magi. She counted only one among them who was different, an Earth Tribe stallion with a dark grey coat and a deep orange mane. He wore a simple traveling cloak and was not of the Magi, yet seemed to have the most concerned gaze of all.
She returned all of their expressions with one of distressed confusion. What had happened? What was happening right now? Why the pain? Who were they?
…Who was she?
“Milady, it is a pleasure to see you alive,” the madpony’s voice spoke. She turned to face the speaker. Standing a distance away was the source, a being composed of madness incarnate. He had the head of a pony, which is where the similarities between them ended. On his head were two mismatched horns, one being deer antlers, the other of a goat. His body was like that of a giant, furred snake, with appendages deriving from seemingly every creature under the sun.
Whatever it was, this was certainly no pony.
This did not make sense. Nothing made sense! Ignoring the creature, she took a moment to examine her surroundings. They may as well have been inside the belly of hell itself. The ground was charred or broken nearly everywhere. Every single building in sight was on fire, and if it was not on fire, it was already completely destroyed. Vast swathes of smoke rose into the air, blotting out nearly all light the already dim sky may have let through. The only reason she was not burning this very moment was the fact that they seemed to in the middle of a large cobblestone clearing. Perhaps it was a town square? Or what used to be a town square, that is.
She peered further, but could not see beyond the smoke and debris.
“Might I have the privilege of knowing milady’s name?” the creature spoke a little impatiently, regaining her attention. There was a brief pause. She was stuck, unable to move the words from her mind to her tongue. Even if she had been able to speak, she racked her brain for missing information, and found no recollection of her own name. Looking at the ground, her brow furrowed in worried concentration.
“Come now, shyness doesn't suit you. Tell us your name, it's only proper.”
She tried again, more forcefully than before, to recall her own name. Eventually, before she looked at the creature and spoke.
“I… I don't know.”
Her quiet, raspy voice seemed to hang in the air long after she spoke. The creature stared at her with an intense, unnerving gaze, his mouth slowly curling into a delirious grin. Finally, the floodgates broke loose, as the creature broke into an insane fit of laughter.
“You…! She doesn’t…! Oh, by the gods, you don't know your own name?” He fell onto the ground and rolled with his claws clutching his stomach, howling with glee.
“First the translation, and now this? I've never been so entertained! My sides are going to burst!” She did not know what to say, but looked around herself again. The stares of the ponies had turned from her toward the bellowing beast. The creature sat up, and looked at her again.
“Oh, you poor little pony. Oh, you poor, poor dear,” he said, wiping a tear from his cheek. "Do you know my name?”
“I do not,” she feebly said, her light voice raspy and dry. She felt almost ashamed at her lack of knowledge. “What is your name, and what manner of beast are you?”
“My lady!” the creature exclaimed in exaggerated tones of hurt, “I am no beast. I am a most noble draconequus.” The creature rose to its full height, which was at least four or five times her own.
“And I am known by names aplenty,” he calmly said, beginning to pace back and forth. “Many of them are more descriptions than names, I’m afraid. Purveyor of Pain, King of Chaos, Evil Incarnate…” he paused, and shot a sly grin at the mare.
“But you may know me by my true namesake… Discord!” he shouted, laughing at the heavens as the storm clouds shot lightning directly behind him. As abruptly as he started, he stopped laughing, and resumed his calm, intellectual demeanor.
“Pleased to meet you. I would shake hooves,” he said, grinning ever so slightly, “but I believe your guard would object. And what a guard they are! How do you feel, acting as the gods themselves? Toying with life at your leisure?” he all but shouted, addressing the Magi.
Discord lowered his voice to a whisper. “It feels good, doesn't it?” He quietly chuckled.
The nameless mare looked around at the Magi, all of whom were allowing a measure of troubled indignation into their angry demeanors. Why?
“Ah, look at the poor mare. I do believe she remains ignorant of your sins.” Discord turned and looked directly at her, and said, “Behold yourself. I think you shall find the state of things… interesting.”
Confused, she craned her around toward her back, where she saw a pair of unfamiliar wings sprouted, lamely deployed and dragging in the dirt beneath her. She let out a choked gasp; where did these come from? She did not remember anything, but a part of her knew she was most definitely not supposed to have wings. She tried to feel them, pick them up, and tuck them into her sides. She had all the control of a newborn foal learning to walk, but she eventually folded them in. It did not feel right.
She also raised a shaky hoof to her head, already half knowing what would be there. Sure enough, a horn grew directly from her middle of her forehead. It too felt completely alien and out of place.
“What… how…?” she stammered. “I-I don’t understand… W-what did you…?”
Discord stretched his fingers, and with the snap of his claws, a burst of green smoke appeared in front of her. She coughed and waved it away with a hoof, revealing her reflection in an ornately decorated, full sized mirror. She gazed at the image in front of her. Her coat was dirty and her mane unkempt, but that did not bother her in the slightest. What did bother her was her simple appearance. Her coat was a pure white, and her mane a pleasant shade of pink. She recoiled at the image. This was not what she looked like. This was not her. She was different. She did not know why, and she did not know how, but she was different.
Yet the pony in the mirror stared back with the same horrified expression that she knew she undoubtedly wore. There was another snap, and the mirror shattered.
“’I don’t understand,” Discord mocked, mimicking her voice. “Well, I am the patron saint of ‘not understanding,’ but the blame lies with your friends here,” he said, spitting the word ‘friends’ with as much venom as possible. He motioned to the semi-circle of ponies around her.
“And although the grey one did not participate, neither is he innocent. He is perhaps the most guilty of them all,” said Discord, regarding the one earth pony, who stared back with a mask of the utmost fury. “Perhaps you don't think so?” he pursued, pausing for a reply. He received none.
“Well, it doesn't matter. Your lives are forfeit.”
“We will stop you!” one of the stallion magi to her right shouted. He began charging a spell at the end of his horn, and in an instant, a massive fireball the size of his entire body was hurtling through the air towards the draconequus. They all had just enough time to see an expression of horror on the Discord’s face before he was enveloped by the gout of fire. It violently burned the air where their foe was, radiating heat that they could actively feel, even across the distance.
The inferno burned for a full half minute before disappearing, leaving nothing but ash and smoke. The group leaned forward, looking for any sign of life. There was none.
“Did it work?” the stallion whispered disbelievingly, quietly panting from exertion. The answer came from thin air.
“No.”
Suddenly, the stallion’s entire body burst into flame. He dropped, writhing on the ground as he was consumed. In the brief moments he had to scream before he died, there could also be heard the maniacal shrieks of Discord. The other magi tried to put the fire out with magically summoned water, but to no avail. He was dead within seconds.
“Now, now, that was too fast. What fun is there in that?”
The voice was coming from directly above them. Looking up, they saw Discord floating above them. He gracefully glided back down to his original spot.
“Although, your deeds are commendable, protecting one’s comrades in arms.” He tapped his claws together thoughtfully.
“Consider this: I'll make you a deal. Run from this place as swiftly as your legs little can carry you, and I shall do you no harm. But!” he said, the last word thundering, “You must leave your precious abomination. She will belong to me.” Discord smiled as he saw some of the magi look contemplative. “It is preferable for all, and so much more civil. You ponies are all about civility, no? I would gladly spare your lives for a mere parting gift. I’m sure you can just make a new one anyways.
“The only alternative, I’m afraid, is for me to kill you. The choice is yours!”
Discord smiled. His offer hung in the air like a poison. Of course, they would still die, but he promised that he would not harm them. He failed to mention the hordes of Manticores and other beasts waiting just out of sight, ready for their prey. He leaned in, eager for a reaction. They talked amongst themselves in hushed, agitated tones. There was a great debate, but Discord could tell which way it was going. The “abomination”, as he had called it, viewed the group with panic, but could not say a word to save herself.
Discord took a savage pleasure in group dynamics, especially when the group was in peril. Anger, bitterness, cowardice, betrayal; he had seen it all, and enjoyed it every time. It was all the breakdown of society in miniature form. He was a master of making things happen his way, which was usually the bloodiest way, which was always the fun way. What happened next, Discord did not expect.
“Enough!” a lone voice shouted. The group of ponies parted at the suddenness of the cry.
“What are you? All of you! Cowards, or ponies?” It was the grey Earth Tribe pony. “Will you retreat at the first sight of danger? Or will you stand? As the Royal Magi of Equestria?”
His voice was full of anger, but also conviction and the kind of zeal that only youth could afford. “I learned foalhood stories, stories of the Magi. How they never quit, how they never ran, how they never once bowed to tyrants like this!” he said, pointing an angry hoof at Discord, who seemed to be indifferent to it all. “The Magi give aid to those in need!”
There was a silence, before one of the Magi mares spoke up. “We have no other choice-” she began, pointing at the stranger, but was cut off.
“There's always a choice! You always have a choice! You, Midnight Shimmer. And you, Frostcloak. And you, and you, and you,” he replied, pointing to the Magi standing immediately next to him. "Choose to be brave!"
A few seconds passed. The mare let her gaze drop, her expression playing through a whole range of emotions, all of them fearful. Eventually, she looked back up at him. His gaze was locked intensely on her own, fiery and expectant. Another shadow of fear played across the magi's features.
Then she nodded. Taking one step closer to the stranger, she turned towards Discord, the fear on her face now mixed with a measure of determination.
After a moment's hesitation, two other magi followed suit. Then three, then four. Soon, the stranger was loosely surrounded by all fourteen unicorns, plus the one earth pony.
A grim smile briefly appeared on the earth tribe's face, and he gave a short nod of approval. After, he turned toward Discord, who regarded him impersonally.
“May your lies languish unheard. We are of sacred Equestria, and we do not negotiate with madness,” he snarled. He spat upon the ground in Discord’s direction.
All while the earth pony had been speaking, the distressed, unnamed stranger had been edging closer and closer to him. With his last outburst, she darted over to the earth tribe to stand as close to him as he possibly could, ducking behind his comparatively bulky frame, whimpering as she grasped one of his legs for dear life. He looked down at her, with a mixed expression of pity and sorrow, and perhaps a hint of contempt.
Discord contemplated what had just happened. As a god of chaos, he had no reason to be angry; indeed, the fact that all did not go according to plan did not bother him. It could not. Plans led astray were in themselves chaos. Chaos was the end goal. Chaos was everything. Not until every last particle of every last piece of every last object had been shaken apart could he rest. Chaos made him happy.
And yet, Discord found himself irritated at this pathetic foal that had dared to challenge him.
“Spoken like a true patriot. You’ll find that bravery impresses me, my little pony,” Discord responded coolly. “Stupidity, however, does not. It is your wish to die for your nation? Very well. I will provide.”
He made a brief motion with his claw. In an instant, a horde of beasts appeared before them, surrounding them on all sides. Manticores were the main infantry of the beast hordes, but in the true spirit of chaos, no one horde was exactly alike. They tended to be mixed and comprised of many different creatures. The only similarity they shared was their intimidation and absolute deadliness.
This one was no exception.
The whole of the front line boasted bared claws and gnashing fangs of beasts many times their size. Behind them, a hundred more pushed and shoved, eager to sate their primal bloodlust.
“I grow tired of this game. My soldiers will do a fine enough job, I’m sure.” He began to walk away, parting a line in the roaring crowd.
“It saddens me to see it end this way.” No, it didn't. He looked forward to returning, seeing how many pieces of the sorry group he could find. Discord vanished into the smoke.
The snarls of the horde became louder and louder.
“W-what do we do?” the stranger whimpered, partially directing the question towards the earth pony, whose leg she was still desperately wrapped around. He looked at her with a hard scowl on his face, but did not respond. The remaining Magi forgotten, his gaze locked with hers. They were blue, she realized. His eyes were blue.
A distant howl pierced the bedlam. The horde rumbled forward.
His expression cracked ever so slightly. A shadow of fear passed over it, along with what could only be regret.
“I'm sorry.”
The horde broke into a full charge.
She could not help but scream, and bury her face into his neck. He returned the embrace with equal force. They cringed as their inevitable death approached them, hungry and eager. She wished she were anywhere but here.
The thought echoed in her mind. Anywhere but here. Anywhere but here. Anywhere but here!
Her closed eyes were filled with a painful magenta light. Around her, she felt heat, so oppressive and stifling that she could scarcely breathe. A tingling, pinching pain seemed to zap her evenly across her whole body. Was this what dying felt like? There was an intense pressure and then… nothing.
It was all soon replaced by darkness, and she drifted off into the peace only oblivion could offer.
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Please enjoy The Stranger and Her Friend!
You sure this is your first story? I really liked it, I look forward to reading the rest of the story!
445722
Shhhhhh... nobody knows that.
Edit: Fix'd. It doesn't make a big difference to the story, but thanks for pointing that out.
446005
Hey, thanks!
Hmm. It's really interesting to see this going in an apparently very different direction from the traditional origin stories, since right now, it seems you're taking it down a path where Discord is directly involved with the "creation" of the Celestia we know. Of course it could also go the other way, this just being an in-media-res opening with flashbacks and stuff coming later. I'm intrigued. This promises to be very original.
There were a number of things that I think could benefit from improvement. I sometimes felt that there was not enough description about the characters and their surroundings to provide a satisfactory mental image. The characterisations might also benefit from some work, I think, especially Discord's, which seems very slightly cliché here with inconsistent speech patterns and the chaos theme expounded a bit too bluntly in telly exposé, for my taste. But I'm curious to see how this evolves and is refined over the course of the story. There were also, in my opinion, some imprecise or gratuitous metaphors here and there (like "his offer hung in the air like a poison").
Apart from that, this is a very interesting beginning and kicks off the story with a bang. I'm looking forward to reading the rest!
445107 It'd be easier to imagine you as such a vehicle if you had not feelings. Criticism is fuel sure, but in my experience it is also painful. Comments come in two varieties the feel good useless kind and the useful but ow-my-eye kind. You do well to thank and encourage your critics and I try to do likewise. Yet I am curious, is your first thought upon criticism sometimes more to the effect of "Well your just a stupid dummy head cause my child... I mean fic is awesome?" Further I am curious if the more criticism one receives the easier it gets.
Anyway to comment on your fic. First for the useless sugar. It is great! Seriously, I really enjoy reading this, and really isn't that the whole point? So in that sense mission accomplished, good job. Why exactly I enjoy it requires some speculation but I'll hazard a guess. For one thing origin stories when not written terribly are usually enjoyable. Second, your portrayal of the state of the world due to Discord's actions as far more violent and morbid, instead of silly is far more interesting. Somehow I"d never thought of the misery Discord caused in times past as a war. Further the characters are believable and interesting. And there are probably some other things too.
Now for the medicine. Yes I am a meanie as I am offering criticism to a fic far better than any of mine. Sometimes the story does drag a little. Right now the only example I can think of is when Clover and Lucky are discussing Celestia. I understand that that was a very important and interesting dialog, yet to me it feels longer than it needed to be. Second, some of the symbolism does feel a bit forced. Maybe its just me, but that whole thing with Lucky and the flowers just felt contrived. I know its a depiction of his loss but eh, seen it before I guess.
Really that's all I got. If I had a keener eye I'd probably be able to spot more, but sadly it is not so. Admittedly I'm only through IX (or was it X?) so far. Speaking of which is there anyway to reply to a comment on an earlier chapter but have it show up on a latter one? Oh well.
Instinct is useful - in this case the instinct to teleport when threatened.
We also see one of Discord's personality flaws that was also exposed in Return of Harmony, Part 2. He's arrogant and has a tendency to discount possible threats after he defeats their initial efforts. Additionally, he strikes me as somewhat absent-minded and even a little whimsical. He clearly has a lot of difficulty focussing on a threat for too long because he gets bored so easily. He is chaos and if there is one thing that chaos is, it is ever-changing and never focussed.
It's just better when you play the reversed Song of Healing, or the BEN song, if you will. Considering how effective that scene already was in establishing Discord as a threat, it can only become even more super-effective. Hyper-effective!
Heyheyoyoyo!
I noticed a few typos you might wanna correct. (I'm not saying I got them all...)
the sound that could only from striking (word missing)
it [was?] carefully scribed but
Still[,] others had inexplicable
Or what use[d] to be a townsquare
Eventually, before she looked ['...' might be in order]
which [w]as at least for or five
All [the] while the earth pony
This is the first fic I read about Celestia's origins (are there others?), it's stylish! To tell the truth, I would've thought she was older than that, but I might be missing some actual facts from S02E01-2.... I hope the rest is as good as this!
1976150
Thank you. I have selectively fixed the typos.
This chapter was written before The Urban Moose had editors, so it's more likely to have the occasional error than later chapters.
(btw, this is not The Urban Moose typing, this is Cheesedork, one of his editors)
And while we do put a lot of thought into the timeline of this story, there is a lot of info about the MLP universe that can easily be missed.
We do try to make The Stranger and Her Friend fit into canon, but every new episode stands a chance of debunking the whole thing
The rest of the story only gets better, methinks
I've been trying to guess the relationship between Tia and the earth pony (before her transformation, of course). I'm thinking they were siblings, mainly based on how he looked at her with a bit of contempt when she was hiding behind him.
Am I correct?
This is just marvelous!U,sir,r my FAVORITE author!Along with Pen Stroke!
This chapter makes Discord seem more evil than chaotic...
To nitpick: Entropy is NOT Chaos. It is a word describing the process of universal equalisation of energy. Because there is not enough substrate matter to equalise with, it tries to 'fill' the void, which results in the loss of that energy. (Oversimplification.) As an orderly, predictable, and apparently inevitable process, it SHOULD be associated with ORDER. Incidentily, if entropy is Order, then the theoretical counter process by which energy is generated at a net gain would be the very foundation of chaos and refusal of the natural order.
Meaning in the end, Discord could prevent the heat death of the universe just by existing.
7035040
Very interesting. The fact that there is a difference between entropy and chaos never even occurred to me. Certainly I would've written this differently had I known.
In the context of the show, I wonder if that concept has anything to do with why Celestia is okay with Discord being a free entity in Equestria.
When you first described the "distressed, unnamed stranger", I was a little confused as to whom you were referring. I thought to myself, aren't they all unnamed at this point? Then I realized it was the same character that had been narrating their experiences thus far. Otherwise the chapter held my attention every step of the way.
This is one of the darker interpretations of Discord I've seen, with him being fire and death. Most fics seem to follow the logic that chaos requires life, therefore ending a life ends all of the potential chaos that life would create early, with is antithetical to Discord. I don't think that invalidates your Discord though, if anything it's a refreshing new perspective.
So, we see presumably Celestia's "birth" or more accurately rebirth. She retains enough memories from whatever she was prior to being Celestia to know she isn't supposed to be white with pink hair, and that she isn't supposed to have wings, so we can safely assume she was some other creature that was artificially changed into an alicorn. Most likely a pony, possibly related to the earth pony or a member of the royal magi herself; she seemed familiar with them. Sounds like some sort of desperate gambit to stop Discord. Also guessing she just teleported herself and the earth pony away. Onto the next chapter!