Tale of the Shadow Pony

by AtomicShockwave

[Chapter Eight: Chaos Has Another Name]

"T-This is impossible! That door has been sealed with a spell that only I can break! Not even Luna has access to the Elements of Harmony! This doesn't make any sense!" The Princess said as she started to pace back and forth. As a sudden guttural laughter was heard as if from no where. But at the same time it sounded as if it was coming from every direction possible. It also seemed to echo throughout the entire hallway.

"Sense... What fun is there in making sense?" The voice said, echoing through once more while following up with a bit of it's crazed laughter.

"Discord! Show yourself!" The Princess yelled looking around for the chaotic creature. All was heard was it's laugh once more. As everypony was now looking around to try and locate Discord.

"Did you miss me Celestia...? I know I certainly missed you..." The voice said as one of the windows flashed, and the picture of Discord being a puppeteer for the ponies was now animated. He then swiftly flew between that windows and to the one in which the mane six were shown around the Elements of Harmony.

"It gets quite lonely being encased in stone. Not to mention it's sooo uncomfortable. But you wouldn't know that, now would you? No. Because I don't turn ponies into stone. I'm not that chaotic." Discord said as he knocked on the image of Fluttershy, making a sound as if it was a pickaxe connecting a hit to a rock.

"Enough! What have you done with the Elements of Harmony!?" The Princess yelled as she gave Discord a spiteful look, only causing him to smile and have a laugh.

"Well, you know. I just decided to borrow them for a teensy little while." Discord said as he snapped his fingers and the image of the Elements of Harmony within the stained glass vanished before our eyes.

"You're not going to get away with this Discord!" The Princess said as she stomped her hoof and grind'd it into the ground.

"I almost forgot how grim you can be Celestia. That makes you so boring..." Discord said with another echoing and maniacal laugh.

"Nopony insults the Princess!" Rainbow Dash said as she got ready to fly straight at the image of Discord. I quickly grabbed her and pulled her back.

"Don't even try it. That's not Discord. Not physically at least. When he laughs it echos through and when he talks it looks as if he's lip syncing. This is just a display made by Discord. So attacking a mere window is going to do nothing but injure yourself. Isn't that right Discord? You may not even be in this room, nothing but your voice is. Correct?" I said, still focused on the animation he made within the window.

"Ahh Leon, long time no see. I see that you're still perceptive as always. Although it baffles even me that she actually managed to pull off her plan..." Discord said closing his eyes and thinking to himself.

"W-what...? What do you mean!?" I said stepping forward as Applejack stopped me.

"Leon, He's jus' tryin' to get to ya." Applejack said as the image of Discord switched between windows. He appeared behind us and was now as large as the window itself, towering over us in his two-dimensional form.

"Ahh Applejack. Famed for her honesty, the Element of Harmony in which you represent." Discord said as Rarity then chimed in.

"Why are we listening to some tacky window? Leon said it himself, this is a fake. Arguing with it is going to do us no good" Rarity said as Discord chuckled.

"Ahh, the beautiful Rarity. The one who bears the Element of Generosity, if I'm not mistaken." Discord said as he gave out another crazed laugh.

"You know who we are... And you seem to know our strengths and weaknesses." Twilight said as Discord nodded.

"That right! You sure do catch on quick, Magical Twilight Sparkle. But we can't leave out your friends. We have a personal favorite. Pinkie Pie! The Element of Laughter!" Discord said as he began to juggle the Elements while balancing upon the image of Twilight. Causing Pinkie Pie to burst out in a fit of laughter.

"Of course we also have Fluttershy, the Element of Kindness and the easiest to break. Loyalty, the Element which Rainbow Dash holds." Discord said as he broke the image of a red gem, presumably representing the Element of Loyalty, into two.

"I will always be loyal to my friends and the Princess!" Rainbow Dash yelled out as Discord gave her a sly smirk.

"We'll see about that, now won't we? And finally, Leon. The Element of... Oh, That's right! You don't have one. But I know your fear. The thing that can manage to horrify even you..." Discord said as I felt a sudden chill go down my spine as I began to grit my teeth.

"Enough stalling Discord! Where are the Elements of Harmony!?" Celestia demanded as Discord let out a sigh. I wasn't sure if I should feel relieved that he didn't say what he was going to, or under suspense that I didn't know what he was going to say. I soon felt an odd chill and I looked over my shoulder behind all of us. I had the strange feeling I was being watched. I turned back to face Discord.

"Always so boring.. Fine, Fine! I'll tell you where they are, but I'll only tell you my way. To retrieve your precious Elements, Just make sense of these change of events. Twists and Turns are my master plan. Then find the Elements, back where you began." Discord said with his voice in a fading echo before returning the animated image to it's rightful place upon the window. Only for his maniacal laugh to fill the hall for one last time.

"So, what's the plan?" I asked looking at everypony. Twilight trying to decipher the riddle.

"Well what do ya reckon he meant, when he said "Twists and Turns" and us ending back where we began?" Applejack asked aloud.

"Twists and Turns... Twists and Turns..." Twilight said as she looked outside the window, noticing a large hedge maze.

"Twists and Turns! That's it! Discord must've hid the Elements within the Palace Labyrinth!" She said as she looked back at all of us.

"Great thinking Twilight. Now, My Little Ponies. Best of luck, the fate of Equestria now lies within your hooves." Princess Celestia said as the mane six bowed. I merely stood there looking at the others.

"Thanks, Princess! We won't let you down! Now let's go!" Twilight said as she lead the us out of the castle and to the hedge labyrinth right beside it.

The Labyrinth was alot more intimidating while being right in front of it. It had to be at least 15 meters tall.

"Celestia must have one insane gardener for something like this. Hell, that gardener must have one hell of a paycheck." I said looking over the enormous structure.

"This'll take months for us to scan every inch of it!" Applejack said aloud as Rainbow Dash grinned and flapped her wings.

"It's a good thing dopey Discord forgot about these babies!" Rainbow Dash said as she flew up and was higher than the top of the hedges.

"I'll just do a swift fly over and we'll have the Elements in no time!" She said as she went to start flying over the maze, but before she even made it within it's perimeter. Her wings vanished and she began to fall.

"Rainbow!" I yelled out as I quickly stretched out my own wings and flew for her. My wings soon vanished as well and I crashed face first into the ground, only for Rainbow Dash to land right on top of me.

"My wings!!" Rainbow Dash yelled out in horror as she got off of me.

"My back..." I said as I got up slowly and looked to both my sides to see my wings missing as well.

With each a flash. One by one, everyponies wings and horns we're vanishing. Fluttershy squealed in horror. As Rarity and Twilight looked at each other and screamed.

"Your horn! My horn! No!!" The two screamed out as there was a bright flash of light.

There appeared before our eyes. Discord.

He gave out another burst of his guttural maniacal laughter.

"The looks on your faces are absolutely Priceless!" Discord said as he laughed once more.

"Your bastard! Give us our wings and horns back!" I said as I charged at him. He quickly flew into the air and smiled.

"You'll get them back in due time. I simply took them to ensure that an honest game is played. No cheating, that's the first rule of this game!" Discord said as he glowed white for a couple of seconds and then teleported over to Applejack and patted her on the head. He then teleported in the same manner over to Rainbow Dash and wrapped his arm around her as he grabbed Twilight, pulled her close, and wrapped his arm around her as well.

"No Flying. And No Magic." Discord said before flying up and above us.

"What are the other rules?" Rainbow Dash said as small leaf landed on Discord when he began to glow white. He then brushed the leaf off and then successfully teleported over to her.

"The second and final rule is that everypony has to participate or I win by default! Good luck Everypony! And have fun!" Discord said before disappearing right before our eyes.

"That bastard... I guess I have my own official business in this now. So let's go." I said before looking back at everypony.

"Don't worry everypony, as long as we have each other. We've already won!" Twilight said as everypony got a sense of hope within them.

"Twilight is right! We can overcome anything as long as we stick together!" Rainbow Dash said as we lined up as one. We walked towards the labyrinth entrance and looked at eachother.

"Alright everypony, Let's do this! Together!" Everypony but myself said in unison. I rolled my eyes as we took a step in, only for us to be separated one by one by walls of hedges that emerged from the ground instantly. Everypony screamed and nearly panicked.

"Everypony! Keep it together! We all should head to the middle and regroup there!" I yelled out to them past the walls of shrubbery.

"Leon's right! Everypony stay calm!" Twilight said as I already began to make my way towards the middle.

Behind my I heard their cheers and also heard the rushing hooves through the hedges.

"Now what was that fail-proof maze thing...? Keep left or... Maybe it was Keep right..." I said as I was riding the right wall to hopefully find my way to the middle.

I decided to pick up the pace as seconds later I heard what sounded like Applejack scream. I ran in the direction of it and I soon ran into Twilight, literally. We both fell back and began to rub our heads. We soon got up and out of the daze and looked at each other.

"Leon! I'm so glad to see you!" Twilight said as a wall opened up next to us, revealing Applejack in a corner talking to herself. Her fur was gray and she was shaking. I soon had a horrid flashback of the fake Applejack within the Silent Realm.

"Applejack! Good, we have three of us ponies together so far." Twilight said as she headed over and as I snapped back into reality.

"Twilight wait!" I said before Twilight nudged Applejack.

"Are you alright? Who are you talking to Applejack?" Twilight asked as Applejack turned around. Her eyes we're normal. I gave out a sigh of relief as Applejack snapped at Twilight.

"Nopony! I'm talking to nopony what so ever! We best be on our way!" Applejack said before darting her eyes around and heading towards a turn in the maze.

"Applejack.... Leon, do you think...?" Twilight said giving me a concerned look.

"I'm not sure... We need to find the others. Quickly." I said as I rushed after Applejack, Twilight making sure to follow close behind.

We followed close behind Applejack, and moments later we heard what sounded like arguing and hoof fighting.

We followed the sounds and soon we came across Rarity and Pinkie Pie hoof fighting as Fluttershy was egging them on. Everypony had that mysterious gray tone to their fur.

I stepped between the two and separated them apart.

"What the hell is going on here?" I yelled as I had to push Rarity back a bit more.

"This bitch was looking at my diamond!" Rarity yelled out, obviously talking about Pinkie Pie.

"It's just a stupid rock!" Pinkie Pie said as she started to laugh at Rarity. But not a normal happy laugh, it was more of a mocking laugh.

"Enough! What the hell has gotten into you two?!" I yelled out as Fluttershy stepped to me.

"Just let them go, it's fun to see them hurt each other..." Fluttershy said with a disturbing grin.

"What the-"

"Fucking Rainbow Dash! That two timing rat is flying away!" Applejack said cutting me off as Twilight laughed.

"Now that is undoubtedly a lie." Twilight said before we all turned around and looked up to see Rainbow Dash flying away.

"No... This can't be! Rainbow!!" Twilight yelled out as the walls of hedges around us began to submerge into the ground. Thunder began to roar around us as soon we we're in nothing but a barren crater where the labyrinth once stood.

Discord then appeared before us and began to laugh maniacally.

"That's it My Little Ponies! You've lost and I have won! All because you're 'loyal' friend decided to break the no wings no magic rule!" Discord said before snapping his fingers, returning all of our wings and horns to us respectively.

"You bastard! You've done this! This is all your fault!" I said stepping forward towards Discord.

"Obviously, I mean I am the winner. And the winner calls for a good ol' storm of chaos!" Discord said with a crazed laugh as he pulled an umbrella out from thin air and opened it up.

"Discord! You're not playing fair!" Twilight said and even I couldn't help seeing as if she was acting like a girl in grade school.

"Fair? Excuse me but maybe we haven't met. I am Discord, the God of Chaos and Disharmony. Nice to make your acquaintance!" Discord said with a small chuckle.

"Well how do you expect us to find the elements when you've made the entire maze disappear!" Twilight said as Discord turned his head and began to laugh hysterically.

"Do you really think that they we're in the maze? You're such a laugh Twilight!" Discord said before Pinkie Pie got in his face.

"What's so funny, huh? You better not be laughing around the Pink-E Pie!" She yelled as Fluttershy went over and began to laugh at her. Causing the two to burst into a hoof fight.

"I'll recite it one more time for you as... collateral for the maze." Discord said as he snapped his fingers, bringing me and Twilight back to where he said his riddle, we we're looking at ourselves in that exact moment. At the moment I looked over my should, directly at myself and Twilight in the current time.

"What the..." I said confused as Discord said his riddle.

"Twists and Turns are my master plan. You'll find your elements back where you began..." Discord said as there was a bright flash and we we're back in the large crater where every other pony was arguing.

"I never said that they we're within the labyrinth, now did I?" Discord said with a chuckle.

"But..." Twilight said as Discord began to walk off.

"Keep trying, Twilight! Maybe the magic of 'friendship' will help you" Discord said with another laugh.

"Now, if you don't mind. I have some chaos to wreak! Ta ta!" Discord said before snapping his fingers.

"Not so fast!" I said picking up a small branch and whipping it at Discord, hitting him not a moment too late.

"Hey, now what was that for?" Discord said crossing his arms.

"Our game isn't over." I said I went over and whispered to Twilight.

"Take the others and find the Elements, I'll stall Discord." I told Twilight as I stood in front of Discord. Picking up a pile of rocks and placing them in my bag.

"You have a delay before you teleport. And to prevent harmful fusing of worldly items with your body, Teleportation is canceled if something or somepony connects to you." I said with a smirk as I head one rock in my hoof and tossed it up and caught it.

"Clever... Like I said, you've always been perceptive... But I've always been quicker!" Discord said as he flew to me, making it right in front of me in a split second.

"You know, I guess I can spare some time to play with you... Seven Minutes. Seven minutes is all the time we have to play together." Discord said with a snap of his finger, creating a large countdown time with seven minutes on it.

"So, what do you want? Is it fame? Fortune? Or is it what you always wanted... acceptance?" Discord said as I grit my teeth and rammed my head into him.

"Enough!" I stood, ready to strike once more as Discord grinned.

"Thought so... Now me and you Leon... We had sooo much. But was I not enough?" He said, and of course I let this get to me as I was caught off guard. He quickly struck me down with a swift swing of his tail.

"You see with those girls, they're easy to manipulate. All I need is a little psychological warfare and I've defeated them. As for you, it takes both. Getting into your head, and brute force." Discord said as he swung down. I quickly rolled out of the way and got up as his tail crashed into the ground. His body glowed for a second and I quickly wailed a rock at him, preventing him from going anywhere.

"You know, you're just a puppet. Arklida is tugging at those strings right now because she can. Because she is your puppeteer, but it was different with us..." Discord said as he snapped his fingers. And I was quickly enveloped in something large and sticky. I popped my head out and it was one of those mysterious bubblegum clouds.

"You weren't necessarily in control... But you weren't controlled either. Here, take a look for yourself." Discord said as he pressed a finger against the top of my head. Soon flashing images of me standing by Discord and causing havoc for the ponies of the world filled my head.

"No... No! These are just more of your lies!" I said as I began to struggling. The images faded and I heard Discord's crazy laugh as he teleported away. Presumably to where the others were. I was sitting there in this sticky cloud, and I began to over think everything. Soon I was teleported out of the cloud and was perfectly clean. I turned around to see Princess Celestia standing before me.

"Your friends need you." She said to me with a serious stare.

"Right..." I nodded and rushed in the direction of Ponyville. I found a nearby cliff and jumped off and opened up my wings and began to flew in the direction of Ponyville. Within minutes I managed to get there and I began to scan over the entire town. Soon I spotted him, Discord. He was sitting on a throne in the center of Ponyville. Or at least, what was formerly Ponyville. It was changed to his own chaotic design. Houses floating upside-down and morphed animals rampaging the roads.

Now was my time to strike. I dived down at Discord and he quickly moved out of his throne for me to only crash into it. I picked up the entire thrown and threw it at him, only for him to dodge it and laugh at me.

"So after all that you still don't dare to tug at the puppet strings?" Discord said with a sly smirk. This creature has caused nothing but hatred and chaos between my... friends. Twilight's given me a place to stay and Arklida has turned me into a pegasus. I guess my loyalty has an odd price.

"No matter what you show me, whether it be true and lies you created, You've pissed me off way too much, and it pisses me off even more that you've been doing it on purpose. So, I'm putting an end to you myself!" I said as I flew at him, grabbing him and crashing into the ground with him. I swung swiftly and hit him in the face and his head was knocked off clean.

"What the hell??" I said in confusion and mild horror as he quickly struck me off of him. I looked up to see him pick up his head and screw it back onto himself.

"Now that I have my head screwed on straight, maybe you need to do the same?" Discord said with a chuckle as he stepped towards me. I quickly got up as I heard familiar voices behind me.

"It's time to finish this Discord!" Twilight said as she had the other five of her friends around her. They we're all wearing what could only be the Elements of Harmony. A red lightning bolt on Rainbow Dash. A orange Apple on Applejack...

"Why is the Apple orange...?" I said looking at the Element with a confused look.

"Is now really the time for that?" Twilight said looking at me as the others we're looking at Applejack's Element.

"He's right, I didn't notice that the first time." Rainbow Dash said looking at it.

"That's an atrocity of a mistake right there. I wonder if the Princess would condone me fixing that.." Rarity said looking at it.

"I bet that's such a thing! Apples that taste like oranges! Or... Maybe oranges that taste like apples!" Pinkie Pie said with a cheer.

"Hello!? Are you all forgetting about something? God of Chaos here! Literally turning your hometown upside down!" Discord said as we we're all examining Applejack's element.

"Yeah... That's really strange, isn't it..?" Fluttershy said looking it over.

"That's certainly gonna irk me.. I've never seen an orange apple in all of my work on the farm." Applejack said now baffled herself about the Element's color.

"That's it!!" Discord yelled out as he grabbed my by the leg and threw me in the opposite direction. I managed to land on my feet and I charged for him. I head butting him in the back as he swiftly swung his tail and knocked me down.

"Twilight! Hurry!" I said as Discord went to charge at the mane six. I quickly got up and grabbed his tail and pulled him towards me and hit him down.

As I was striking Discord, Twilight and her friends began to glow and float into the air. And soon a bright orb surrounded them as I took a quick step back from Discord. A bright flash of light blinded us all for a second as a large rainbow beam erupted from the mane six. Going high into the air and coming down at an arc towards Discord. But before I could even react, the beam split. Hitting both Discord and myself. I was blinded and a horrible burning pain filled me. As if my bones we're being broken one by one. I flew back from the hit and landed on the ground. I was groaning in horrible pain. Everything was white, I couldn't even see the effect it had against Discord.

Everypony was cheering for the first moment, but then there was a scream.

"Leon!!" I heard Rainbow Dash yell as she flew over to me.

"Leon! Stay with me! What happened?!" Rainbow Dash said as she picked me up a bit, only causing more pain. I could barely speak but my groans of pain were enough for her to put me back down.

"W-why..." Was all I could manage to say before everything went black.

[End Of Chapter]

Author's Note:

I tried my hand at making longer chapters. I hope you don't mind :3