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Chapter 93,685 words
Chapter 103,328 words
Chapter 113,157 words
Chapter 125,097 words
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Chapter 142,886 words
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Chapter 202,790 words
Chapter 2184 words

Chapter 16

"Brown? What do you... Oh no. It can't be," Twilight stammered. The realization hit her like a truck.

"You don't think–" Fluttershy tried to say.

"What else can it be? But, I don't understand. It's only been a hoofful of months! It took him much longer to get free before."

"The Elements are still in Canterlot, right?" the pegasus asked.

Twilight hopped off Matt's chair and headed to the door, Fluttershy a step behind her. "They should be. We need to get a letter to the Princess immediately and inform her he's back. Hopefully she can get the Elements here to us right away. There's simply no time for us to round up the girls and take the train up there."

Matt stood at the window mesmerized by the unusual weather activity. He always enjoyed a good thunderstorm but the rain was never brown. He saw a few ponies running away, all in the same direction, after a few minutes. He hadn't heard anything his friends had said either, being too caught up in his own thoughts.

Twilight and Fluttershy stepped outside into the coat-staining rain and headed toward the library. Fluttershy took a momentary glance at Canterlot, hoping Celestia would be prompt with her response to the situation. "Oh, I think the Princess already knows."

"Why do you say that?" Fluttershy pointed to the 'castle' in the distance. It had been turned into several gigantic ice cream cones with chocolate flowing where the waterfalls used to be. Twilight's jaw almost came unhinged. "Come on!" They galloped back to the library, even though it was visible from Matt's house.

Matt snapped out of his stupor after he saw Fluttershy and Twilight dashing away in front of his window out of the corner of his eye. He stepped outside and held his hand out. The liquid that collected in his palm didn't feel like water. It was thicker and had a strange but familiar consistency. He closely inspected it and threw caution to the wind, slurping it up. The flavor was instantly recognized. "Chocolate milk? Is Pinkie doing something crazy again?"

Almost as soon as he finished his thought, the rain disappeared and the sky went dark. He didn't have any witty comments for this. He had seen a lot of strange things in the roughly seven months since he landed in Equestria. Twilight seemed to have an entire arsenal of magic at her disposal but none of the feats she ever performed had such an element of randomness.

"Maaa-aaaatt..." A ghostly voice echoed through the air and caught his attention. He didn't answer back. "Maaa-aaaatt..." it said again, almost playfully. A faint trail of light rose out of the ground, barely visible even in the darkness of the sudden night. "Come here! I have something to show you."

He smirked at the ridiculousness of the situation and closed the door behind him. "Why do I suddenly feel like I'm going to be the first victim in a slasher flick?" he sighed. He stepped onto the trail leading from his home and the first step he took made the ground play a note. He jumped in surprise, lifting his foot up. He tapped at the same spot on the ground a few times and the same note played each time.

"It's okay," the voice whispered, "I won't bite. Just follow the light and you'll understand everything."

Matt stared into the distance that the voice seemed to trail off towards. A few other ponies ran by him screaming as he stood in front of his home. He tried to get their attention and ask what was going on but they ignored him and kept running. He groaned in frustration and figured he may as well get it over with. He walked onto the trail of faint light and the path played him a nonsensical musical number.

-----

"Spike!" Twilight shouted upon bursting down the door of the library.

The jolt startled him out of the nap he had returned to shortly after his friends left. "Ugh. What is it, Twilight?" he said, rubbing the sand from his eyes.

"Take a letter to the Princess immediately!"

The cobwebs were instantly shaken from his head when she gave the demand. He had sent plenty of letters to Celestia during their time in Ponyville, but Twilight had never sounded so dire about it, even when she went into a panic about having nothing to report to her that week so long ago. He grabbed a parchment and quill and readied himself.

'Princess Celestia,

Discord has returned. You have the Elements of Harmony in the vault at Canterlot. Please bring them to the library as soon as possible.

Signed, Twilight Sparkle'

It was the most informal and almost demanding letter she had ever had Spike write. Given the situation, the tone of the letter would probably be overlooked by her mentor. He breathed his green fire onto the paper and it was away. A few seconds later, the dragon belched up a reply and read it to them.

'Twilight Sparkle,

I've been on my way to the Elements ever since the castle turned into ice cream. I'll see you as soon as I can.

Signed, Princess Celestia'

"We need to wait for the others. They're probably on their way here if things are going nuts for them too."

-----

Applejack was working out in the orchard when several of the trees suddenly uprooted themselves and began running around, throwing the apples on their branches at each other like snowballs. The moon popped out in place of the sun and the pigs in their pen were suddenly sitting in a bunch of upper crust chairs by a fireplace, monocles on their snouts and top hats on their heads. They appeared to be reading the Manehattan Times and snacking on crumpets.

"Oh no," Applejack mumbled. She ran to the house and came across Big Mac, who had the same idea upon seeing what was going on. "Big Mac, I gotta go! It's Discord again!"

"Eeyup."

She instinctively headed toward the library. 'How's he back again so soon?' she pondered. The reasons ultimately didn't matter and she focused on getting to her destination.

-----

Pinkie was bouncing around the kitchen in Sugarcube Corner putting some goods together for any customers they may get later in the day. She pulled a fresh, hot tray of cupcakes from the oven and spread some frosting on top of them. She had to resist the urge to devour a few of them like she typically does. The Cakes were getting a little upset with her doing so lately and she didn't want to risk losing her job.

She picked one up and admired her work with hungry eyes. She brought it closer to her snout, almost daring herself to take a bite. The cupcake suddenly opened a mouth it didn't have a second ago and took a snap at Pinkie's nose. She barely jumped away in time before it bit down. The other treats popped out of their cups and started picking pieces off their tops and eating them while others arranged their frosting into various 'hair' styles.

The rest of the shop fared no better. There were appliances floating in midair upside down, counter tops turning into icing and the staircase leading upstairs turned into a water slide complete with a chocolate milk cascade flowing forth and soaking the floor.

The pink pony darted her attention around, twirling her head into a corkscrew as she tried to survey everything going on around her. When her neck had enough, her body spun around and straightened her out again. She hovered in the air for a second before plopping onto her stomach. The bright sunshine pouring in from the windows suddenly went dark.

"Uh oh." Pinkie sped out the door in a pink blur and raced to the library.

-----

Rarity was humming away in her inspiration room trying to come up with the next big fashion trend. She took some fabric and started feeding it through her sewing machine, a few potential ideas going through her head. After she finished, she spread out the fabric to examine her work and see if everything looked in order. The thread she just stitched into the cloth looked bizarre however. It was thick and looked strangely sticky. She took a close look and an odd scent tickled her nose.

"Licorice? What in...?"

Singing appeared out of nowhere behind her. She spun around and her ponyquinns were dancing together in a chorus line, standing on their hind legs and kicking like they were part of a Bridleway musical. They reached their finale and burst into an explosion of marshmallows. Through the windows, the sun turned itself off.

Rarity ran shrieking down the stairs. She stopped short when she came across her gem collection floating around the store. They popped and turned into stones and fell to the floor. She picked one up and stared at what used to be a ruby, her eyes starting to water.

"My gems! My precious, wonderful, beautiful gems! Ruined! They're...wait a minute," she said as she noticed something peculiar about them. They all had the same shape. A familiar shape. "They all look like–" she squinted angrily, "–Tom!"

The door to the boutique slammed open with a light blue glow and Rarity galloped out, heading to Twilight's.

-----

Rainbow Dash was lazily sleeping on a random cloud over Ponyville. She rolled over and felt a squish on her foreleg, startling her awake. She didn't remember falling asleep on a raincloud. She sat up and looked at her airborne mattress. It was pink and seemed to bleed brown.

"Uh, what's going on?" Almost in response to her question, it began to rain. Upwards. She swatted at the backwards weather as it flew up her snout and almost gagged her. The sun winked out of sight, replaced by the moon. The sudden darkness made her jump off the cotton candy cloud.

Below, Ponyville was in complete disarray. Buildings were floating on small islands in midair, the arms of the clock tower in the distance were spinning backwards, and she did a double-take when she saw what happened to Canterlot. Most of the townsponies had already gotten out of the city, but the few brave enough to stay as long as they had were seen dashing out of town as fast as they could from Rainbow's vantage point.

"Discord!" she snarled, glaring at the mention of his name. She started heading for the library when a certain white unicorn caught her eye on the ground. She swung down to meet her. "Rarity!"

"Rainbow Dash! Discord's returned!"

"Yeah, I figured. I don't get it. He hasn't been gone that long."

"I don't understand it either. I was heading to Twilight's. She's probably already gotten in touch with the Princess."

"I was, too. Hop on," Rainbow said, landing beside Rarity, "it'll be faster if I carry you. The library's a pretty long run from your shop."

After debating herself for a moment, she climbed onto Rainbow's back and wrapped her hooves around her neck. "I won't be too heavy?"

"Can't worry about that now. Hold on!" She spread her wings and raced off.

-----

Matt was following the path of faint light down a few back streets near the center of town. He was all alone but kept his wits about him. The ground hadn't played for him in a while, but in place of music, he got checkerboards as he continued. They didn't light up more than the trail he was following or play notes; they just looked weird. Matt figured with the way things were at the moment, a simple checkerboard could be considered normal. Some of the buildings he walked by floated overhead, some right side up and others not. Other houses were made out of cards. He could have sworn he saw pigs flying overhead and fruit running by him.

"That's it, Matt. Just a little farther ahead." The voice chuckled in the wind, annoying Matt to no end. Chasing ghosts through a maze of insanity wasn't exactly on his repertoire that day, especially after getting past the fight he had a couple hours ago. The sun appeared and relit the sky, causing Matt to shield his eyes for a moment. He continued onward and came across a clearing in the middle of Town Square. The normally majestic, motionless stone statue at the fountain in the center had a hat on its head, cane in its hooves, and was tap dancing. Bubbling soda had replaced the water.

Matt stopped dead in his tracks and called out whatever it was luring him around. "Where the hell are you?!"

"I'm right here," it said, right before a flash of light burst forth in front of him. Discord finally appeared, laughing at his anger. "Hello, Matt. A pleasure to finally make your acquaintance."

Matt stared stoically at Discord's unique form, silently baffled. He thought the cockatrice from earlier looked weird but this guy took the cake. "And you are?"

"I'm Discord, spirit of chaos and disharmony, and the most beautiful thing in all of Equestria! Your friends are familiar with my work, which you see all around you," he explained, extending an arm with pride at the state of the town. "Do you like it?"

He ran his view slowly across the chaotic square, taking in every detail he could. "This is ridiculous."

Discord leaned over and draped his lion's arm around Matt's shoulders. "I know! Isn't it great?!"

Matt backhanded him away. "Don't touch me."

The chaos god was humorously taken aback by Matt's gall. "Oh my! You're a feisty one, aren't you?" Discord hunched over to look down at the human. "You really have absolutely no idea how happy you've made me," he said, grinning mischievously.

He grabbed Discord's elastic beard and pulled down on it forcefully. "I barely know you and I can already tell I hate you," Matt said, snapping the beard from his grip and sending the draconequus reeling. Discord laughed at Matt again and laid on his side.

"Oh, I simply can't wait to tell your friends!"

"What?"

"Everything."

-----

The sun had been shining in through the windows at the library for a short time. Books started flying around a few minutes ago and the girls tried to coral them with little success. The door suddenly flew open and a blinding light grabbed everypony's attention. Princess Celestia formed out of it, carrying the chest that contained the Elements of Harmony.

"Princess! Thank goodness you're here!"

The regal alicorn nodded and set the chest on the floor in front of the group of friends. She opened it and there sat the magical devices used to stop Discord in the past. Twilight set the Elements on her friends' necks and the tiara on her head.

"You know what to do. Be careful, my little ponies."

They nodded at their princess and smiled victoriously at each other.

-----

Discord paced impatiently as he waited for the girls to arrive. Matt stood with his arms folded, barely moving. Neither had said much since Discord had mentioned wanting the Elements to show up. He paused to look around for any signs of them and spotted Rainbow Dash overhead, likely scouting for him. He grinned an evil grin.

"Ah, wonderful! They'll be here soon, and then the fun can really begin!" Discord zipped over, nose to nose with Matt. "You're going to love this, trust me," he said as he dragged a finger along Matt's cheeks before being slapped away again.

A few minutes passed and the girls galloped onto the scene. Matt's never separated his glare from Discord but still heard them show up. "There you are!"

"Ah, Twilight Sparkle, so good to see you and your friends again! How I've missed you! Oh, I've got such a huge surprise for you!"

"Stuff it, loudmouth!" Rainbow commanded.

"And it doesn't look like any of you have changed a bit," he said, his voice bleeding disappointment. "How boring. Oh well. After today, you'll be nothing but a memory, I can promise you that."

"You know you can't win when we have the Elements, Discord!" Twilight snarled. "Matt, back away. I don't want to risk you getting hurt." He followed her suggestion and fell in behind them.

He twirled his clawed talon nonchalantly. "Right, right, that. Oh, by the way, I'm much more powerful than the last time we faced each other. Just so you know," he asserted. Knowing Discord, the girls figured he was likely just blowing smoke like he always did.

"We'll see about that. Hit it, girls!" The Elements activated and lifted the six into the air, shining brightly from the gems. Their eyes opened and a familiar blinding light came forth. The unstoppable rainbow lifted high and hit its zenith.

"Okay, this is pretty fucking cool," Matt mumbled to himself.

Discord was watching their display in silent anticipation. As the cascade of color started to barrel down on him, he lifted his paw and spun it around as if he had no joints in his wrist. A black whirlwind firing terrible lightning emerged and swallowed up the rainbow before it came crashing down. After the last of the rainbow came, Discord lifted the whirlwind into the air and popped it out of existence.

The ritual completed and lowered the girls back to the ground. They were horrified to see Discord standing there, unharmed, with a wicked, toothy smile across his evil face. "Told you."

"But..but that's impossible! How's he still standin'?!"

"What were they supposed to do?" Matt asked. They had never told him exactly what they did when the subject was brought up. All he knew was that they were always able to take down any evil that challenged them.

"They've always turned him to stone before," Rarity explained, "but Applejack's right. He should have been defeated!"

Discord floated up and laughed as they became more frantic trying to figure out what may have gone wrong. "This is wonderful! The Elements are useless against me, just as I had always dreamed, and now I can spread chaos to all of Equestria forever!"

Matt snorted when he heard that word. "What, this? This is what you call chaos? This looks more like a four-year-old's fantasy land. Some 'spirit of chaos'," he mocked with quotation marks.

"You watch your tone, you little gnat. I was doing this sort of thing before you and your whole pathetic species were even a thought, before those Princesses of theirs trapped me in stone!" Discord's impish tone suddenly turned malevolent.

"All that time and you're still this terrible at it? Wow, I'd hate to see you trying to do something you thought you sucked at."

Twilight cried out, trying to stop his sarcasm, "Matt, what are you doing?! Don't antagonize him!"

He ignored his friend's pleas. "I can't believe you think this freak is so scary and dangerous. The guy's a damn joke. His jokes are damn jokes! He wouldn't know real chaos if it punched him in the face!" Matt yelled. His anger at Discord's clownish ways was become more obvious by the second.

He slapped his paw against his chest, pretending to act insulted. "I'm sorry, freak? I'm a masterpiece! Look at you–" he poked at Matt's chest, "–you don't have a tail, you don't have a horn or wings, you have no fur or scales or feathers or whatever, you're so dull! But please, tell me how you really feel. You think you know what real chaos is all about?"

"You have absolutely no idea what my 'pathetic species' is capable of." His friends couldn't believe what they heard. Discord slowly smiled from ear to ear.

"Prove it."

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junkers1337

junkers1337 #1 · Aug 9th, 2012 · 3 · ·

"Prove it." Oh man, Matt's about to unleash utter hell on Equestia isn't he? Ah well, its about time these ponies see what the other side of the coin looks like.

theepicartists

theepicartists #2 · Aug 9th, 2012 · · ·

this be geting good need more...

Ivellios

Ivellios #3 · Aug 9th, 2012 · 1 · ·

Matt is about to unleash the biggest shitstorm in Equestrian history.

Skyler Walker

Skyler Walker #4 · Aug 9th, 2012 · 1 · ·

Humanity can be down right terrifying in it's own right. Just look at 4chan.

Gilgamesh King of Heroes

Gilgamesh King of Heroes #5 · Aug 9th, 2012 · 1 · ·

Dear Celestia what has Matt just done we humans can be downright evil to each other I shudder of the implications of what we would do to another scpecies escpecially when we are so immature as a species.

Kurohitsugi