> The Return of Harmony (EQG Style)
>  by Bookpony579
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prologue
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The City of Canterlot was founded with the intention of being a place welcome to everyone, regardless of species. Vampires worked in offices alongside werewolves, mages studied alongside normies, and even dwarfs and elves laughing together and so on. 

Canterlot was proud of it's rich and diverse history. One of ways that it showed said pride was at the Canterlot Museum of Cultural History, naturally. There were exhibits and information about pretty much everything about Equestrian history from recent events to even before the dark ages along with a garden filled with statues to commemorate special events and people. The large stone building near downtown Canterlot was beautifully  built with high walls, large steps and on either side of these steps were statures of horses.

It is here on this fine day that we find a class from a particular school on a field trip.

"Alright class, stay together follow me into the statue garden!" Cheerilee called out to her class of freshman as they walked out into said garden. The students looked on in awe at the various well carved statues around them. Among the group were a trio of familiar girls who were known for causing mischief in their endless search for their talents.

"That statue over there represents 'Friendship'." Cheerilee announced as they explored. The statue was of three unidentifiable people with their arms around each other, smiling.

A girl with red hair topped with a bow stopped to look at the statue...accidentally blocking the path of two other girls behind her. They bumped into each other and stumbled, but were alright. However, they gave each other scathing looks before catching up with their class.

"This one over here is a statue of Xena: the Warrior Mage Queen. Or simply: The Warrior Queen!" Cheerilee pointed to a statue of a tall and beautiful woman wearing a crown and battle armor, wielding a sword. "She fought to protect mages and other magical creatures against persecution during the dark ages. An accomplished warrior mage and tactician, she won many battles and also advocated for widespread education and harmony amongst the differing groups in Equestria, which helped to eventually bring an end to the Dark Ages."

"Cool..." Scootaloo awed. "How awesome would it be to be victorious at nearly everything you did?"

"Maybe...if you were actually victoryful at somethin'." Apple Bloom remarked snidely. 

"That's not a word!" Sweetie Belle argued.

"What are you, a dictionary?" Scootaloo asked.

"GIRLS!" their teacher interuppted, causing them to catch up with the rest. Cheerilee had now stopped a one statue in particular. It was of a creature none of the students had ever seen before.

"Now this is a really interesting statue. What do you notice about it?" She gestured to the statue just behind her.

"It's got an eagle claw!" Apple Bloom pointed out.

"And a lion paw!" Scootaloo stepped in front of Apple Bloom.

"And a snake tail!" Sweetie Belle called out, stepping in front of Apple Bloom.

Cheerilee nodded and continued: "This creature is called a draconequus. He has the head of a pony and a body made up of all sorts of things. What do you suppose that represents?"

"Confusion!" Apple Bloom guessed.

"Evil!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed.

"Chaos!" Scootaloo shouted.

"It's not chaos, you dodo!" Sweetie argued.

"Don't call me things I don't know the meaning of! And it is too chaos!" Scootaloo fired back.

"Is not!"

"Your both wrong!" Apple Bloom joined in. 

A fight quickly broke out between the teenage girls in a ball of dust and punches. Cheerilee could only sigh at this, unaware of a soft light pulsing from the statue...

"Actually, in a way, you're all right." Cheerilee announced, causing the girls to stop fighting and look up."This statue represents "Discord", which means a lack of harmony between people. Long ago, a creature like this terrorized Equestria, causing unhappiness and chaos wherever he went making the lives of the inhabitants miserable until a past mage queen stopped him. In fact, you three have demonstrated discord so well that you're each going to write me an essay explaining it."

The other students chuckled as the trio of girls hung their heads in shame.

"Now let's go, and I don't want anymore fighting." As the group moved on, the girls glared at each other and argured out of the teacher's earshot.

"It's confusion!"

"Evil!"

"Chaos!"

As their petty argument continued, nobody noticed as the light continued to pulse within the statue. Large cracks soon began to form and spread all around the stature.

If one listened closely, they could hear a mischievous laughter....
> Chapter 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was a beautiful Saturday in Canterlot....

Rainbow Dash was practicing bouncing a soccer ball in her backyard peacefully when she heard noises. She looked left, then right, and then up in the sky where she saw two pegasi wiggling and neighing around in panic, stuck in what appeared to be a pink cloud. 

"Don't worry! Rainbow Dash is coming to get ya!" Rainbow called up to them before racing off with her super speed. She returned a second later, guitar in hand. She quickly strummed a solo, triggering her pony up transformation. She tossed the guitar aside and flew up to the cloud.

"Woah, woah! Don't worry, I'm here to help." Rainbow said, recalling the same method Fluttershy used. This caused the winged horses to calm down slightly. Within minutes Rainbow was able to get the pegasi free and they flew off to safety. It was then Rainbow noticed that this was no ordinary cloud. It was pink and very sticky. Rainbow grabbed one of the pieces that had gotten stuck to her, gave a quick sniff, and licked it.

"Cotton candy...?" Rainbow wondered. A shadow covered her and rainbow looked up and saw more cotton candy clouds above her. They began rainining, but it was no ordinary rain. It was brown and very sweet.

"Chocolate milk...!?" Rainbow exclaimed before landing in front of her house just before the pony up wore off. She heard footsteps and looked to see fish with legs marching down the street.

Rainbow blinked, trying to process what was happening before shouting to the skies.

"WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON!?"




At Sweet Apple Acres, things were just starting to get weird too.

Applejack was out in the field picking corn when suddenly she felt raindrops before it began pouring. She was surprised when she realized the clouds were cotton candy and the rain was chocolate milk!

"What in tarnation?!"

Just then Rainbow appeared, having rushed over the the farm.

"Rainbow Dash!? What are y'all doing here? And what is going on!?" AJ used her had to try and protect herself from the rain.

"I don't know! I came over too see if it got here too! It's all over the news! Look!" Rainbow pulled out her phone to show a live news broadcast.

"All around Equestria strange weather phenomena and other events have been happening since early this morning. It showed quick images of furniture coming to life and animals acting like people sitting, reading the paper and drinking coffee! "Even Cloudsdale is getting soaked by a major cola storm right now!" The screen now showed Cloudsdale being showed by cola as people ducked for cover, aside from one guy who was collecting as much as he can in a container. "These events have scientists and mages baffled as they are trying to locate the source of these strange events. Until then it is recommended that everyone remain inside until this is over!" Rainbow turned her phone off and gave AJ a worried look, and AJ remembered that Rainbow originally came from Cloudsdale before moving to Canterlot back in middle school.

"What in Equestria could be causing this?" AJ asked.

"I don't know! But don't worry! I'm not leaving this place until we get everything under control!"

Before they could do anything, a stalk of corn pointed at AJ and squirted popcorn at her! Then the rest of the corn began popping into popcorn! Quickly the field was covered in chocolate milk soaked popcorn.

"We've gotta stop this!" Rainbow exclaimed.

"What would you wanna stop this?!"

Rainbow and AJ turned, startled, to find none other than Pinkie Pie pop up from a pile of popcorn! She stuffed herself with a handful of popcorn before opening her mouth and guzzling down some chocolate rain.

"Ahem."

As Pinkie continued to enjoy the strange phenomena, Rainbow and AJ turned again to find Rarity approaching them with beautiful handmade purple raincoat and carrying a lovely umbrella to protect her from the rain.

"I heard about your troubles, Applejack, and I came to see if there's anything I can do without getting wet. Or dirty. Or out from under my umbrella."

AJ rolled her eyes. "Gee, thanks Rare."

As if things couldn't get any stranger, as the rain hit, the apples on a nearby apple tree grew humongous in size, causing the tree to bend over from the weight. A few animals immediately went for the apple and soon Fluttershy appeared, chasing her bunny.	

"Fluttershy! Do somethin'!" Aj cried out as the animals munched on her livelihood.

Fluttershy carefully approached Angel, who was munching his way through one of the enormous apples. "Now, Angel, you really shouldn't–" before she could say more, Angel's legs suddenly grew as long as a giraffes and he quickly trotted away.

Fluttershy mouth dropped open and she rubbed her eyes, not really believing what she was seeing until another group of long legged bunnies ran by, along with a group of flying pigs!

"Oh my..."

While everyone (except Pinkie) were confused by the chaos around them, another figure approached, carrying a spell book as her dog followed right behind her.

"Don't worry, everyone!" Twilight announced confidently. "I've learned a new spell that'll fix everything!" Twilight gathered the spell in her hands before unleashing it in an impressive purple light wave. 

When the light faded....nothing had changed. It was just as chaotic as before.

Twilight was aghast. "My fail-safe spell... failed." She couldn't believe it, this had never happened to her before! "What do we do?" She looked at Spike.

"Give up?" he suggested.

"Spike, I'm positive Twilight will come up with something." Rarity said, handing Twilight her umbrella to keep her out of the rain.

Twilight rubbed her chin and began to think for a minute. "Alright, time for plan B." He eyes brightened as a plan formed in her mind. "Rainbow, can you corral all those clouds in one corner of the sky?"

Rainbow saluted before running rapidly in place, creating a mini-tornado which gathered up all the clouds into one group.

"Applejack, I need you to bring those high-strung storm clouds down to Earth."

AJ nodded and, using her lasso and super strength, brought the clouds to the ground in a single pile. Pinkie, who had still been drinking the chocolate milk rain, looked around in confusion.

Twilight whispered to Fluttershy, who smiled and nodded.

"Oh dear. I hope none of the animals see these delicious chocolate-filled cotton candy clouds. I'd hate to have to share them." She announced.

"You and me both!" Pinkie said as she approached....only to be knocked out of the way by the stampeding animals. "Hey!" She crossed her arms in frustration.

"And when y'all are done with that, feel free to have some popcorn for dessert." AJ told the animals.

"Um...are you sure it's alright for the animals to eat this carnival fare?" Rarity asked.

"They'll be fine, they both appear to be made out of magic. And if not there are spells and vets for these kinds of things." Twilight reassured her before turning to Spike. "You see, Spike? You should never give up. There's nothing we can't overcome if we all work together."

Suddenly all the girl's phones beeped.

"It's an emergency text from Celestia and Luna! They want us to meet them at the school right away!" 

"Do you think it's about all this strange stuff going on?" Fluttershy asked.

"I know it." Twilight said.

As they all piled up in AJ's family truck and headed to school, Twilight couldn't help but wonder if this was only the beginning....
> Chapter 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The girls arrived at Canterlot High to find Celestia and Luna looking worried. Celestia was also carrying a jeweled, locked box. The girls quickly rushed over to them.

"Celestia! Luna! What's going on!? Is this about the weather? And the animals' weird behavior? What's happening out there? Why isn't my magic working? Is there–"

Celestia interrupted Twilight's questioning. "Please. Just stay still." She nodded to her sister and Luna summoned her magic, creating a circle of magic around the group. A flash of light later and they found that they were no longer in front of their high school.

"Where are we?" AJ asked in amazement.

They were in a long hallway of some sort. Secure columns supported a ceiling high enough to house a giant! A red carpet with gold trim ran down the hall. Enormous windows decorated the walls. But the most peculiar part was that every other window was made of stained glass, each depicting an event or a person.

"This..." Luna announced on their arrival. "...is known as the 'Hall of History', though some call it the 'Hall of Heroes'. Each stained glass window commemorates a special event or a distinguished person from as long as Equestria has existed."

"Woah..." Rainbow awed as she gazed at some of the windows. Many showed heroes defeating legendary monsters, significant Mage Queens, depiction of the various Goddesses, while others showed historic events such as the founding of Equestria or the defeat of the Great Darkness.

"But..why are we here?" Twilight asked curiously.

Celestia led the group down the hall, talking all the while. "We've called you here for a matter of great importance. It seems an old foe of Equestria, someone we thought had defeated long ago, has returned. His name... is Discord." She gestured to one of the nearby windows, which depicted a creature made up of various animals. Fluttershy whimpered when she saw it.

Luna continued the lecture: "Discord is the mischievious spirit of disharmony, almost as ancient and powerful as the Gods themselves. A thousand years ago, before a past Mage Queen stood up to him, he ruled Equestria in an eternal state of unrest and unhappiness." She pointed to a window which showed Discord using marionette strings to torture carious creatures. "So the Mage Queen used the Elements of Harmony to rise up against him and turn him to stone."

"Alright Queenie!" Rainbow cheered.

Celestia followed on after sister: "After that, she thought the spell she cast would keep him contained forever....but much time has passed and since we- they are no longer connected to the Elements, the spell has been broken."

"No longer connected...?" Twilight wondered.

Celestia held up the box. "This box contains the Elements of Harmony. We need you to wield the Elements of Harmony once again and stop Discord before he thrusts all of Equestria into eternal chaos."

Rarity admired the case, "Can I trade my element for that case instead?"

Twilight had some concerns about this, after all they had never tackled a foe like this before! "But why us? Why don't you-"

"Look!" Pinkie shouted, interrupting Twilight, and pointing to a few windows. "We're famous!" One window showed the six of them shooting lasers and defeating Demon Sunset back at the Fall Formal. Next to it was a window showing the six of them (plus Sunset) defeating the Sirens at the Battle of the Bands.

"You six showed the full potential of the elements by harnessing the magic of your friendship to beat and reform Sunset Shimmer and take down the Sirens." Celestia looked Twilight in the eye. "It is you who now wield their power and it must be you six who defeat Discord."

Twilight thought for a moment. Celestia's right. We're the only ones who have the power to stop him again.

"Celestia, we-"

"Hold on a minute!" Pinkie interrupted. "I get that Demon Sunset and the Sirens were baddies who were out to conquer the world, but eternal chaos comes with chocolate rain you guys! Chocolate rain!"

Twilight rolled her eyes at her sugar loving friend. "Don't listen to her. We'd be honored to do it."

Celestia nodded and levitated the box towards them, "Have no fear, students. I have total confidence that you will be able to defeat Discord with these!" She opened the case...

....to reveal that it was empty.

The girls gasped and Celestia dropped the case in surprise.

The adults and most of the girls just stood there, staring at the empty elements case with wide eyes and dropped jaws. All except for Pinkie Pie who just smiled and skipped away.

"Oh well. Well I'm off to have fun in the chocolate rain! See ya!"
> Chapter 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The girls (including Pinkie Pie who was back for plot related reasons) gapped at the empty case.

"The Elements!" Twilight gasped. "They're gone!"

"I don't understand!" Luna exclaimed. "The Elements were protected with a powerfult spell that only Celestia or I could break! This doesn't make sense!"

Suddenly an echoing laugh filled the chamber, followed by a voice: "Make sense? Oh, what fun is there in making sense?"

Celestia's eyes widened with fear. "Discord..." 

This made the girls gasp in unison. They began looking around rapidly and nervously, trying to find where the voice had come from. Fluttershy whimpered and his behind AJ. Rainbow tried to hid her fear by preparing for a fight. Twilight was glad she had sent Spike home before meeting Luna and Celestia.

Celestia shook her head and put on an angry face. "Show yourself!"

"Oh I must say, it is an honor to meet you two...." Everyone looked around until their eyes landed on the window of Discord hurting the people. The glass image of Discord looked up and began to move. "....Guardians of the Sun and Moon!"

Luna paled. "H-how!?" It surprised her that he could knew. Guardians were chosen by a certain Goddess to have access to their power and other special abilities. They were like the Goddesses' agents on Earth. The Gods were very particular about their guardians and very rarely choose one, each picking only one or two every few centuries or so. The fact that there were two in this life time, siblings no less, had caused quite a stir when the sisters were born. But the fact that Discord had learned of it so quickly surprised her.

"Oh please...I could sense Sola and Luna's power radiating from you two from the other side of planet!" He paused, grinned, and pointed to Luna. "In fact, I'm guessing you were even named after her too?"

Luna summoned up her courage and just glared at him.

"Not talking? Fine then." The image of Discord snapped his fingers and moved on to another window, this one depicting the girls around the Elements.

"I must say, Equestria has grown far more entertaining than when I was last out!"

Celestia stepped forward, "Enough! What have you done with the Elements of Harmony?"

"Oh, I just borrowed them for a teensy little while." Discord was in the circle that had previously shown Twilight.

It was Luna's turn to speak. "You'll never get away with this, Discord!"

Discord rolled his eyes from his position in the center of the window, replacing the Elements. "Yeesh. I should've known Sol and Lulu would pick stick in the muds as their guardians. How positively boring."

"Hey!" Rainbow shouted, marching up to the window. "Nobody insults our teachers and gets away with it!"

"Besides you?" AJ gave her a flat look.

"You know what I mean!"

Discords eyes widened with delight. " Oh, you must be Rainbow Dash, famed for her super speed and loyalty, the Element of Harmony you represent."

Rainbow puffed out her chest proudly. "That's right! I'll always be loyal to my friends!" She declared.

"We'll se about that." Discord smirked before snapping his fingers and vanishing.

"I can't believe we're wasting our time talking to a tacky window." Rarity said.

Discord appeared in the window she was standing next to. "The beautiful Rarity, representing the element of generosity, and capable of jewel shield, if I'm not mistaken?"

"So you know who we are and what are powers are, big deal." AJ said, trying to shrug off her own nerves.

"Oh, I know much more than that, honest and strong Applejack." Discord replied. "Along with Fluttershy's kindness with animals and Pinkie's is my personal favorite: Laughter and blowing things up! Izzy certainly got creative with this one!" He chuckled at this.

Pinkie struggled to hide her own laughter at Discord's antics. "Pinkie!" Twilight scolded when she noticed.

Pinkie finally burst with laughter. "B-but he dancing on your head! Hahaha!" Indeed Discord was dancing on Twilight's image in the window.

"What do you want Discord?" Twilight asked boldly. 

He looked closely at Twilight. "And last and not least, Twilight Sparkle, and yours is the most powerful and elusive element, magic. Along with....psychic abilities if I'm right. How interesting....."

"Stop stalling, Discord! What have you done with the Elements of Harmony?" Celestia demanded.

Discord groaned. "Oh, so boring, Celestia. Really? Fine. And I'll even give you a hint. They are somewhere in your city. See you later!" And with that, the glass Discord returned to it's original spot and ceased to move again.

"Does this mean we can go home now?" Fluttershy asked softly.

"Somewhere in Canterlot? What does that mean!?" Rainbow asked.

"I don't know. But our first step is obviously going back." Twilight stated.

Celestia and Luna nodded and once everyone was gathered again, teleported them again.




The appeared right where they had left last time: right in front of Canterlot High.

The first thing they heard was the sound of an engine approaching. The group looked and saw a figure on a red/orange and black motorcycle drive up to the statue before stopping. The driver then removed their helmet, revealing....

"There you guys are! I've been looking all over for you!" Sunset asked worriedly.

"Woah..." Rainbow awed.

"Sunset Shimmer! We told you to stay home!" Luna scolded.

"Oh come on! You expect to just sit around when all these weird things are happening everywhere? It's all over the news. I tried to call you guys but you weren't picking up."

"We were kinda busy..." Twilight said nervously, feeling slightly guilty about worrying her friend.

"Well? What is it!? Do you know who's causing all of this?"

"His name is Discord, an ancient and powerful spirit of chaos and disharmony. He stole the Elements and hid them somewhere around Canterlot!"

Sunset gasped. "What are we going to do?"

"Twilight and the others will search around for the Elements." Celestia stepped forward. "You on the other hand, will be waiting at home while Luna and I help with damage control."

"But-"

"No buts Sunset. And be careful on that thing! Especially now! The only reason I let you keep that death trap was because you promised to drive carefully. Not  when theirs an evil spirit on the loose who can turn the wheels into cheese if he feels like it."

Sunset sighed. "Fine. Just call me if you need anything." Twilight and the girls nodded and Sunset put her helmet back on and rode off.

Celestia sighed and rubbed her temples. "Why did I let her keep that thing?" She uttered under her breath.

"Because she begged and gave you a pair of her big ol' puppy dog eyes and you caved." Luna said bluntly, earning her a glare from her sister and giggles from the girls.

"Let's just go help the others and see what we can do. Are you girls going to be alright?" Celestia asked.

"Don't worry, we've got this!" Rainbow said.

"We won't let you down!" Twilight reassured her.

Celestia nodded reluctantly at this. "Alright then. Good luck girls. The fate of Equestria is in your hands." With that, she and Luna teleported away.

"Alright...now what?" AJ asked. 

"Canterlot's not quite as large as Manehattan, but there is a lot of ground to cover." Rarity pointed out.

"That's easy. I have a simple locating spell that should find them in a giffy!" Twilight said, preparing to cast the spell.

Pink sparks came from her hands but nothing else happened.

Twilight tried again.....to no success. 

"I-I don't understand!" Twilight began to panic and look over her hands. "My magic....it's not working!"

"Neither is mine!" Pinkie shouted, waving her hands around wildly in the vain attempt to summon her magic. The others tried with no success either.

"It's like out magic's just....vanished!" Fluttershy gasped.

"I don't understand! What could be causing this!?"

As if to answer Twilight's question, a familiar laugh echoed around them. A flash of light appeared in front of them, leaving behind a familiar creature.

There, standing and laughing in front of the teenagers, was the spirit of chaos himself: Discord.
> Chapter 4
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Discord continued to laugh in front of the shocked and frightened girls.

"You–You should see the looks on your faces. Priceless!"

Twilight stepped forward, scowling. "What did you do to our magic!?"

"You'll get them back in good time. I simply took them to ensure there's no cheating. This is the first rule of the game...." He leaned down and lifted Twilight's chin with his lion paw so their eyes met."...no magic. Super powers included."

"The first rule?" Rainbow asked.

Discord then teleported behind Rainbow, startling her. "Why yes. Every game has rules, otherwise they would be too easy! The second is no 'pony ups' as you like to call them. Third: no using those 'calling boxes' I've seen people use to contact each other." Indeed immediately after he said this the girls checked their phones and saw they were all out of order.

"The final rule is simple: everybody has to play, or I win!" He grinned mischievously. 

"What exactly is this 'game' you want us to play?" AJ asked.

"I'm glad you asked my country bumpkin friend! You see, I've put together a sort off scavenger hunt. I've scattered the Elements all across the city. If you find them all and use them to defeat me, you win! Otherwise, you lose! Good luck everybody!" And with one final laugh, Discord vanished in the blink of an eye.

"Great...now what?" Rainbow asked. "Without my super speed it's gonna take a while to look around the whole city."

"Not to mention what Discord has in store." Rarity pointed out.

"I know." Twilight said as she though for a moment. "I think we should split up. That way we'll be able to cover more ground."

"But splitting up the party is one of the biggest mistake horror movie characters traditionally make." Rarity commented in an understandably scared tone.

"This stinks! He makes us go all over town to find things that belong to us and he won't even let us use our powers to get them." Rainbow fumed. 

"I don't like it any more than you do, Rainbow, but we're going to HAVE TO play his sick game for the time being to have ANY chance of stopping him." Twilight admitted. "Let's go find a map."

"Gotcha covered!" Pinkie said as she reached into her hair and pulled out a map of Canterlot along with some markers.

"Perfect! Thanks Pinkie." Twilight set the map on the ground and began to mark off six section. "We'll each take on a different section of the city to see if we can find any clues about where the Elements are. We'll meet up back in about...two hours?" The others nodded and Twilight gave them directions for where each of them should go.

"Alright girls we can do this! As friends!"

"As friends!" The other girls cheered before they went on their own searches.



Meanwhile, at the Canterlot museum of natural history.....

Civilians were screaming in panic as they ran down the halls. Chasing them were two herrerasaurus skeletons brought to life. They both let out a loud screech-roar and raced even faster. Before they could catch up, two blasts of blue and gold magic hit them and they fell to pieces.

"Well that takes care of that." Celestia said, carefully stepping through the bones. "Though I am NOT looking forward to getting the bill for the damage we're probably going to have to do. I just hope the Mage council will understand."

Luna turned to the crowd. "Everyone please try to find a safe to place to hide until this is all over! There are several restrooms, closets and the curator has opened up the basement for people unable to make it home!"

Soon the crowd scattered, leaving Celestia and Luna alone.

"Well that takes care of the two walking fossils. Now all we need to do is deal with the stuffed animals and hope the magic hasn't reached the cavemen or mummy exhibits yet." Celestia summed up. "I hope the girls are doing better than we are."

"They will be fine. I'm sure of it."

Suddenly a loud roar echoed throughout the building. Celestia and Luna rushed to the source and found, standing in the middle of the jurassic exhibit, the T-rex model moving and looking at them hungrily.

"Yup. I'm almost certain they're having a better time than we are." Luna reiterated as she and Celestia combined their magic to generate a force field strong enough to withstand the T-Rex's jaws, claws and tail.




Applejack explored her orchard. She had been given her farm and the nearby woods since she knew the area so well.

"Now where can they be....?" AJ looked around to all the normal hiding spots she could think of, in trees, bushed and she even searched the CMC's clubhouse! But there were no signs of any Elements.

Just when she was ready to leave and search a different section, she heard laughter. 

She turned about and found an apple settles on the ground. It was followed by another and another, forming a trail.

"Ok...I know that wasn't there before." Seeing as she had no other leads, she followed it through the orchard before coming upon a pond.

"Alright, trail ends here, now what?" AJ began to look around, hoping to find her Element.

Then a bunch of apples fell from the trees at one and began to form in groups based on color. The groups circled AJ, laughing mockingly as faces formed on the piles!

"What in tarnation!? What the heck are ya!?"

The red apples spoke first, then the light red ones, before finishing off with the green ones before circling around again. "The keepers of the grove of truth. You may ask us..."

"...one question..."

"...past, future or present." 

Now Applejack wasn't a prodigy like Twilight, but she was smart enough to be skeptical. "Now hang on a minute! Ah've been here hundreds of times and ah've never heard of any 'keepers of the grove of truth'."

"We were summoned..."

"...by the magic of the Elements..."

"....to help you on your quest."

"We are here to show..."

"....the truth to..."

"....the Element of that nature."

"But be warned..."

"...that the truth..."

"...may not always be pleasant."

Still hesitant but desperate for answers she nodded. "All right then. I don't trust this place worth a hill of beans, but I've got a really bad feelin' about this feller Discord. What's gonna come of this mission we're on?"

"For the answer you seek..."

"...go ahead, take a peek." 

The piles of apples nudged AJ until she was at the ponds' edge. She looked in and the waves ripples, revealing an image.

The six of them were together as usual, only this time they were glaring at each other.

"You guys are the worst!" Pinkie shouted.

"Your the worst friends anybody could ask for!" Fluttershy snarled.

"You girls are simply the most uncouth people I've ever met!" Rarity turned her nose up.

"I hope I never see you losers again!" Rainbow declared.

"Fine!" Pinkie agreed.

"It's settled then." Twilight said firmly.

The image faded, leaving the reflection of a wide-eyed and jaw-dropped Applejack.

"No! Our friendship? Over?!" AJ was horrified. How could their friendship turn into the debacle she just saw? It was too terrifying for words. What she didn't notice however, was Discord, floating high above her, chuckling and using marionette strings to manipulate the apple piles.

"T-that just can't be the truth..." AJ muttered to herself for comfort.

"When all the truth does..."

"...is make your heart ache..."

" ...sometimes a lie is easier to take."

As Applejack looked into the red apple piles eyes as they said the last line, a vision of Discord's face appeared in front of it, eyes swirled. Applejack's eyes swirled the same as the color seemed to drain out of her, leaving her looking a little grey.

The apples rolled away and disappeared as the Element of Honesty fell from a nearby apple tree.

"Applejack? That you girl?"

AJ blinked, returning to the present as her Grandmother approached. 

"There ya are! I was checkin' out the trees for any of that weirdness that's been goin' on when I thought I heard voices over here. Who were ya talking to?"

AJ became all fidgety and looked away. "I was talking to... uh... nobody! Nobody whatsoever!" She then went over and grabbed her Element. "I...uh...gotta go! No need to worry! Ah've got this covered!" She then rushed off as far from Granny Smith as she could.

Granny Smith blinked and scratched her head in confusion. "Did Applejack just...?"

She shook the idea out of her head. "Oh come on ya old gal, this is Applejack we're talkin' 'bout here! She wouldn't lie to anybody, 'specially family!"

Granny Smith then went home, sure that the crisis affecting Equestria would be over soon.
> Chapter 5
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pinkie Pie skipped with her usual joy as she approached the amphitheater, seemingly unaware of the dire situation Equestria was in.

When she got there, she saw the entire place was set up for a party! Even better: it was filled with balloons! The balloons bore smiling faces and laughed among each other. It was the most amazing thing she's ever seen!

"Oh! This is the greatest balloon party I've ever seen!" She remarked as she skipped and laughed among the balloons. "Well, it's the first balloon party I've ever seen, but still! I don't even care that their somehow sentient and capable of laughter in the first place!"

Suddenly her foot got caught in one of the balloons strings and fell flat on her face. The balloons continued to laugh, but now it was more menacing and directed at Pinkie.

"Hey! That's not nice!" She protested.

"What's the matter, Pinkie Pie? I thought you appreciated a good laugh?" Discord appeared and asked her.

"Well when it's laughing with people, not at them! Then it's being mean!"

"What do you mean? Your friends laugh at you all the time!" Discords head then proceeded to turn into a balloon, leaving behind his headless body.

"No they don't!"

"Oh Really?" The Discord balloon proceeded to quickly circle around her, laughing all the while. Pinkie tried to run, but everywhere she was blocked by hordes of maniacally laughing balloons. She even saw five balloons who resembled her friend's....and they were laughing right at her!

Pinkie Pie had never felt so hopeless and overwhelmed. "No! Stop it!" She begged, lying on the ground and covering her face in a vain attempt to hide from the mocking balloons.

"Stop laughing at me!" She pleaded.

"Oh, poor Pinkie Pie." The Discord balloon said with fake sympathy as he approached her. She uncovered her face and looked into two spiraling eyes. " And here I thought laughter made you happy." Pinkie looked into the spirals and felt herself pulled in.

Then the color drained from Pinkie as glared. "Happy? I don't think so." She said gravelly. 

The balloons all quickly popped away, with the Element of Laughter falling out from one of them. Pinkie picked it up and was about to leave when...

"Pinkie Pie!"

Pinkie looked to see Lyra and BonBon running towards her.

"What's going on!?" Lyra asked. "We were having a picnic nearby when suddenly it started raining chocolate milk! Which is awesome, of course." Bonbon rolled her eyes at this. "But then we were attacked by ants the sized of elephants! They even took our lunch!" Lyra's eyes began to tear up at this.

Bonbon ignored her girlfriend and continued. "Do you know what's happening?"

Pinkie continued to glare. "Certainly nothing that you can laugh about!"

Lyra and Bonbon stepped back. "What?"

"You two just want us to fix this so you can go back to you're smiling and being happy! Well, I don't think so!" Pinkie finished her rampage and grumpily walked back to school, glaring at everyone along the way.

Lyra and Bonbon looked at each other.

"That was weird even for Pinkie Pie." Lyra said.

"Definitely." 




Meanwhile...

Sunset was riding her motorcycle, almost home when she heard scream. Immediately stopping and looking around she saw that a set of electric poles had come to life! They were waving their electrified power lines around like massive whips. People were running around in a frenzy, only barley avoiding the electric wires.

"And I was complaining about getting left out of the action." Sunset muttered to herself as she parked her bike and was about to help when she head a voice call her name. She turned and saw a familiar guitar player running towards her.

"Sunset! What's going on!?" Flash asked when he saw the live poles. He had been going to pick up his sister and her friends when he saw the commotion.

There wasn't much time to explain, so she summarized as best as she could. "Discord. Ancient spirit of chaos. Twilight and the girls are dealing with it. Now help me!" Sunset and Flash worked on getting as many innocent bystanders to safety as possible.

While Flash was working on crowd control, Sunset telekinetically wrapped the brought-to-life electric poles' power line whips around the poles themselves; leaving the poles too securely tied up to threaten any more innocents for the time being.

"That's six power line poles down, but I have a bad feeling that this will get worse before it gets better." Sunset admits

"And Twilight and the others are probably having an even worse time of this right now." Flash agreed, his concern for Twilight insultingly obvious.

*RAAAAAAWR*

The two teens turned and saw people running out of the nearby Burger Queen. They ran in and saw a soda machine monster spraying cola everywhere.

"On second thought.....maybe they're faring better than we are."  




Rarity strutted through the community garden like she was on the runway at a fashion show.

"I must admit, there are certainly worse places to search." Rarity noted as she admired all the greenery and colorful flowers that remained untouched by the chaos outside.

As she walked, something sparkly caught her eye. She wandered over to the rock garden portion and noticed three perfect, sparkling diamonds in the ground.

"Oh my..." she gasped. She had never seen jewels this beautiful before!

A familiar laugh caught her attention and an even more familiar figure's reflection appeared in each of the diamonds. "Welcome to your lucky day, Rarity. You've found the one thing in Equestria that could rival my face for sheer beauty. What do you think? You like?"

Rarity was completely entranced by the rocks."Yes... I like very much..." She felt herself drawn closer to them as her eyes took on a familiar swirl...

"NO!" She suddenly pulled away and stepped back dramatically. " Must find....element....to save....Equestria..."

She managed to drag herself a few feet before hightailing back and sinking her hands into the dirt.

"IT"S MINE!" She cried as she took on a greyish tone. She dug for several minutes until she had her prize. She had her Element, of course, much more importantly she had found an enormous diamond! 

"Well, Rarity. It took forever, but it was worth it. Who knew three little gemstones would turn out to be this handsome hunk of a diamond? Now to get you home." She struggled but managed to lift it and her element off the ground and begin to carry them back to school.

"Look! It's Rarity!" 

Rarity turned her head and saw two familiar students from her school. Sandalwood and Micro Chips? Run up to her.

"Rarity! It's good to see...." Micro's voice faded and he gave her a questioning look. "....Why are carrying that giant rock?"

Indeed, while it looked like an enormous diamond to Rarity, in reality....it was nothing more than a big rock roughly the size of a soccer ball that had been buried in the garden. It was neither as big nor as glamorous as Rarity imagined it, but still quite heavy.

Rarity gasped in disbelief. "What are you talking about? This big beautiful bedazzling rock is a diamond!" Suddenly she was glaring at the two boys. "And it's all mine. Keep your envious little eyes off it! I found it and it's mine fair and square!" She grunted as she carried her treasure away.

"Ooookay..." Sandalwood said as she left. When she was out of earshot, he turned to his friend. "That was weird right?"

"Very weird." Micro agreed, nodding his head.
> Chapter 6
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fluttershy walked through the park, looking around nervously. It appeared deserted, probably due to the fact that people were hiding from Discord's chaos. Even the animals were either hiding or scamping around jittery. The lack of people, combined with the storm clouds brewing, gave the area a very chilling atmosphere. 

It was obvious that Fluttershy was terrified, but she kept pushing forward. "Okay, I can do this." she muttered to herself for courage. With each instance, she did feel a little bit braver. "I can...." 

Suddenly something came into her field of vision. She screamed and hid in a nearby bush. When she looked back, she saw it was just a trio of pink butterflies.

"Oh, wait a minute... Butterflies? Oh what a relief!" She walked back up to them, more relaxed now.

"Fluttershy, looks like you've been left behind by your so-called friends, huh?" The butterflies said. On closer inspection, she noticed that they all had mismatched horns and a snaggletooth hanging out.

Used to conversing with animals and figuring this was just due of Discords magic, she surprisingly remained calm and even smiled! "Oh no, we all agreed to split up because it's the fastest way we'll help Equestria."

The butterflies paused, confused, before continuing." Well, it must be so upsetting to know how weak and helpless they think you are." They said, flying around her.

Fluttershy simply continued to smile. "Not at all. I am weak and helpless and I appreciate their understanding."

The butterflies were getting frustrated now. "Yes... Well, surely it burns you up... I mean, that they're always pointing out your flaws, right?" They said, starting to sound a little desperate.

But Fluttershy merely shook her head. "Not really. In fact, I think I'm awfully lucky to have friends who want me to be the best I can be." She said proudly.

Discord had had enough, and the butterflies disappeared as he took on his usual form, only this time with a furious face. "Oh, for goodness sake!" Then he just sighed and looked defeated. "Well, looks like I'm beaten." As small flash of light and the Element of Kindness was in his paw. "Go ahead. Just take it and end this misery."

FLuttershy was confused but still took it. "Thank you very-"He then poked her on the top of her head, causing her eyes to go swirly and the color to drain from her. "You've been kind for far too long, my dear. Time to be cruel." He put his face up to hers. "Arrivederci!" He then vanished.

Fluttershy blinked, still holding her Element and was about to leave when she noticed some squirrels peaking out at her cautiously.

She scowled at them. "What are you looking at!?" She hissed and they scampered away, frightened.

She than went on her way, deliberately knocking over a trash can along the way.



Meanwhile....

At a local Burger Queen, three teenage girls were eating in silence, still thinking about their debacle yesterday.

" Ah don't get it. I mean, yeah, we had our squabbles in the past, but NEVER that bad. NEVER to the point of ACTUAL physical violence against each other." Apple Bloom said, twirling a fry in her hand.

"I know. It was like there was some unseen force amplifying our worst traits and twisting them into a real mess of chaos." Sweetie Belle theorized before sipping her soda.

"You don't suppose that statue of Discord was the real thing, do you?" Scootaloo wondered after taking a bit from her burger.

The three Crusaders wondered this for a minute before generating a collective: "NAAH!"

Suddenly they heard a rumble and everyone in the restaurant looked at the soda machine. It shook around for a bit before growing mechanical eyes, arms and legs. It gave a loud roar before spraying soda everywhere.

The Crusaders looked at each other, nodded, and the only thing they could think of

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!"



Rainbow ran though the streets of downtown Canterlot, looking everywhere for a sign of her Element. It might not be as quick without her super speed, but she was still pretty fast. 

The streets were deserted, giving off a really creepy vibe.

"Come on, come on..." She looked around. There had to be something that could lead her to the Elements!

Suddenly she saw what appeared to be a miniature storm cloud just floating outside of an alleyway.

"What the...?"

Suddenly the cloud raced off down the alley!

"Hey! Come back!" This could be her element!

But when she reached the end of the alley she found Discord wearing sunglasses while reclining on a hammock that appeared to be made out of clouds!

"Tell me my dear, have you ever tried resting on clouds with those wings of yours? You should. Very plush." He padded the clouds for emphasis.

Rainbow wasn't buying his act for a minute and got ready to fight. "Get off there and put 'em up! Come on! Let's go!" She said, swinging punches.

Discord just sat up. "Hey, I'm here to deliver a message."

"I've got a message for you too!" Rainbow continued to punch the air until Discord took off his sunglasses.

"Listen carefully: this is important." He said with a surprisingly serious tone.  He then grinned and teleporting around her.

"A weighty choice is yours to make: a right selection or a big mistake. If a wrong choice you choose to pursue, then your friends are doomed without you."

He then snapped his claws, summoning the storm cloud from earlier which began to spin rapidly. A series of images appeared, each showing one of her friends in danger: Twilight hanging over a tank of hungry sharks, Applejack fighting monster plants, Fluttershy in a room of fire, Pinkie freezing to death and Rarity stuck in an out of control car heading for a cliff!

"My friends....die...without me....NOOOOOO!" Rainbow was terrified as her eyes swirled. She had to rescue them! But how? They looked like they were miles apart!

Suddenly a wrapped present appeared, floating next to her.

"This box contains your magic and speed. You can take them and leave the game or continue to wander aimlessly for your Element. Your choice." With those words, Discord slid a single paw down the side of Rainbow's face, turning her grey.

"I don't care about the game anymore. I HAVE TO SAVE MY FRIENDS!" Rainbow shouted as she opened the box. With her super-speed restored, Rainbow zipped off, completely missing her element dropping.
> Chapter 7
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight had saved the best for last: The Canterlot Public Library.

It was a large and old building, nearly bursting from all the knowledge and wisdom that had been collected here over the years.

"Alright, let's start searching!" Twilight said with a determined expression.

"Sssshhhhh!" The librarian shushed from her desk.

"Sorry." Twilight apologized quietly with a blush of embarrassment before she got to work.

She walked through rows and rows of shelves filled with books containing knowledge of all kinds. Twilight had to resist the urge to pick one up and lose herself in it.

"It's gotta be here somewhere. This is the last place in my area!" Twilight muttered to herself as she entered another section. She felt like just giving up and leaving when....

"AAAAHHHHH!"

Twilight rushed over to the reading area and what she saw stunned her.

Several books appeared to have come to life! They had bat like wings, eyes and fangs. People were ducking, taking cover, or just waving their arms around when the bat-books swooped at them.

"Everyone get out of here! I'll take care of this!" The readers were all to eager to agree, even the librarian didn't scold her for yelling in a library!

Needing time to come up with something, Twilight ran off, the bat-books flying not too far behind her. Soon there was a whole colony chasing after her!

"Okay, need to come up with a plan B!" She uttered, ducking as a bat-book swooped overhead. She looked ahead and quickly jumped before she could trip over a slug-book thing!

"Okay, then this is over.....I am going to kill Discord for ruining these precious books!"

Twilight kept desperately dodging, trying to come up with a plan to deal with the books without doing too much damage to them.

Fortunately, she was able to spot a durable-looking bag left behind by one of the other patrons in the panic. The bag looked big enough to hold the books. With a note to apologize to the patron for borrowing the bag later, Twilight performed a few well-timed rolls to dodge the attacking books and made it to the bag. With a few quick sweeping motions, she DID manage to catch all of the brought-to-life books and securely tie the bag before the books could escape.

After that, Twilight sighed with relief, but her watch reminded her that she had to head for the meeting place and check up on her friends.





As the monster shot a blast of soda at the two teens, Sunset managed to put up a shield to protect them.

"Get everybody out of here! I can handle this!" Sunset called over her shoulder to Flash, who nodded. He quickly got to work helping what few people were left out of there. The he looked and saw the CMC's hiding under a table! He quickly rushed over to them, avoiding the blitz from the battle.

"Girls! Are you ok!?" He asked as he crouched down to their eye level.

Scootaloo gave him a flat look. "Well, lunch was nice, Sweetie got a new toy for her collection. But then it started raining chocolate milk and....oh yeah, we were attacked by the soda machine!"

Flash shrugged. "Had to ask. Now lets...."

"Look out!" Sunset called out to them. They turned and saw a high pressure stream of soda being shot at them!

Thinking fast, Flash tipped the table over, creating a sort of shield for the four of them. The pressure was hard enough to crack the table a little but thankfully it help up. Sunset hit it with more magic which drew its attention back to her.

Seeing the coast was clear, the group moved on, dragging the table along for protection until they reached the doors and slipped out.

Once outside, Flash scooted the girls over to some bushed. "You girls wait here, I'm going to help Sunset."

"But-" Apple Bloom started to protest.

"Just stay here until we come to get you!" Flash ordered before rushing back inside to help in friend,  leaving behind three very worried girls.

Inside, the monster fired an array of ice cubes at Sunset, who the swiftly melted them with a fire spell.

"What's the matter? Can't take a little heat?" She taunted, which made it roar angrily. With it's claws, it picked up a nearby table and thew it at her! She quickly blasted it to bits with magic, but was then pushed aside by the machine! She hit the wall and sunk to the floor on her side. As she looked up, she saw the thing towering over her and her eyes turned into pinpricks.

The monster growled but before it could finish her off....

*Whack*

The monster turned around and Flash holding a mop. 

"Time to mop the floor with you!"

The monster growled at this and focused it's attention on Flash. This gave Sunset the opening she needed as she got up and summoned a massive amount of fire and aimed it directly at the machine. Flash ducked behind a tipped over table as the monster was coated in flames. This caused the sprinklers to kick in, dousing the flames before they could get out of hand.

Thankfully all that was left was a slightly melted but utterly lifeless soda machine.

"Thank goodness." Flash said as he got to his feet.

"Yeah. Thanks for the help. I actually kind of needed it." Sunset smiled.

Flash returned her smile. "No problem. Anything for a friend." 

"....But seriously though. 'Time to mop the floor with you'?" She asked, smirking at him.

"What? I though it fit." He gave a nervous smile and she playfully rolled her eyes.

Looking around, they saw that there wasn't too much damage, aside from some broken tables chairs, soda everywhere and a destroyed soda machine.

Sunset winced at the sight. "I hope they don't press charges. I think this goes way beyond my allowance."

"I think they have bigger problems to deal with."

The two teens then walked out side to where Flash had hid the CMCs. Once they saw the older kids, the three girls immediately jumped out and hugged them. 

"You're ok!" Scootaloo exclaimed as she hugged her brother.

"Of course we are." He reassured, hugging her back.

"What's goin' on!? " Apple Bloom asked as she and Sweetie hugged Sunset.

Sunset hesitated. "Well...."

"There they are!"

The group looked to see Micro Chips, Sandalwood, Lyra and BonBon rushing towards them.

"Sunset! What's going on around here?!" BonBon asked.

"Yeah, things have been freaky, and not in a good way." Sandalwood pointed out.

Sunset grew nervous as she tried to figure out how to explain it all. "You see-"

Before she could continue, a rush of wind raced passed....leaving behind a rainbow trail that quickly disappeared.

"Was that...Rainbow Dash?" Flash asked in confusion.

Sunset just blinked. "Ok...even I'm not sure what's going on anymore."




When Twilight arrived back at CHS, she found most of her friends there, and they had their Elements!

"Oh thank the stars you girls managed to find yours! You would not believe what I've just been through!" It was then that she noticed something was off. "Uh...Rarity? Why are you carrying that big rock?"

Rarity gave her a confused look. "Rock? The only thing here is this bonafide diamond!" Suddenly she scowled and came face-to-face with Twilight. "Keep your envious little eyes off it! I found it and it's mine fair and square!"

Twilight could only blink and back away slowly. It was insultingly obvious that this was Discord's doing, but she had no way to fix it at present."Okay....Applejack do you know what's up with Rarity?"

Applejack quickly became shifty eyed. "I don't notice anything strange about Rarity. Or anybody else for that matter." She declared, avoiding eye contact.

Twilight was even more confused now. "What happened to you girls?"

"Well certainly noting you can laugh at!" Pinkie growled.

"I think this awful game is getting to everybody."

"Aw, boo-hoo-hoo." Fluttershy sneered. "Why don't you use you magic and make everything all right? Oh, that's right. You can't!" she taunted.

"What is wrong with you girls!?" Twilight exclaimed, exasperated at what she was witnessing.

"Well, looky there. Rainbow's runnin' away. She's abandoning us!" AJ said, looking past Twilight.

"Now I know that's a lie." Twilight muttered before a strong but quick wind nearly knocked them over. She turned around and saw a rainbow-colored aftermath before it disappeared.

"Was that...Rainbow? But...." Twilight couldn't believe it. Had Rainbow actually betrayed them?

A sinister laughter filled the air as Discord appeared in front of them.

"Well, well, well. Somebody broke the "no powers; no magic" rule." With a snap of his claws, all the restrictions he placed on the girls were lifted. Twilight could even feel her magic and powers return. "Game's over my dears. You didn't find all your precious Elements!"

He summoned an umbrella and when he opened it, it became inverted. "Looks like we might be due for a big old storm of chaos."

He let out a malicious laugh as lightning filled the sky and Twilight could only look on in horror.
> Chapter 8
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight continued to stand in place, stunned, as the world around her turned to chaos.

Discord was still laughing, and had even dropped to the ground in a fit of hysterics. A grayed-out Pinkie Pie stomped over and looked him in the eyes, glaring.

"And what are you laughing at!?" She demanded.

Discord just smirked. "Oh, you girls are just the most fun I've had in aeons!"

Pinkie growled before getting right up in his face. "Well, quit it! You'd better think before you laugh at the Pink..." She paused as she tried to come up with something."...ie Pie!"

"Oh yeah!" FLuttershy sneered. "Well, ha ha!"

"Quit it!" Pinkie demanded as she marched over.

"No. Ha ha ha ha!" Fluttershy mocked, ignoring Pinkie's protests.

"STOP IT!" Pinkie cried as Fluttershy continued her cruel laughter.

Meanwhile, AJ walked up to Rarity as she was stoking her boulder.

"Uh... Rarity?" She started, smirking while still avoiding eye contact. "That there diamond of yours? Twilight said we should split it six ways since we, uh, found it together." She pointed at the 'diamond',

Rarity elegantly responded by putting down the boulder and karate-kicking AJ in the gut. "HI-YAH! Try it, punk. He's mine. All mine! Ya! Ya! Ya!" She shouted, as she and AJ continued fighting.

Twilight finally snapped back to reality as she took in the situation. "Girls, you have to stop this!" She shouted at AJ and Rarity. From her past experiences with Sunset, Dazzlings, and Queen Chrysalis, she knew mind altering magic when she saw it.

"We need to stick together!" She exclaimed to Fluttershy and Pinkie.

She heard Discord laughing again and turned to find him sitting in a movie theatre seat and eating popcorn while he watched the show in front of him. "It's just too entertaining!" He then helped himself to another handful of popcorn.

Twilight had had enough with his antics and marched over to him. "Stop it, Discord. You're not playing fair!"

Discord actually looked confused for a moment before replying. "I'm not playing fair? Perhaps we haven't met. I'm Discord, spirit of chaos and disharmony." He got up in her face. "Helloooo?"

She continued to glare at him. "First off, I couldn't find my element anywhere! And now I don't know where Rainbow's is. Second: What did you do to my friends!?" She demanded.

"Oh that?" He asked as if it didn't matter. "I just encouraged them to be a bit more...chaotic" He grinned maliciously. 

"B-But you never said....!?"

"As for your element..." He continued, interrupting her. "It's not my fault you bad at scavenger hunts!"

"But I looked everywhere and there was no sign of it!"

"Ah! Ah! Ah!" He scolded. "I would like to point out that you have not, in fact, searched everywhere." 

"What..."

"As an act of good faith, I'll even give you this." He snapped his claw and the Element of Loyalty appeared in his paw, which he them tossed to Twilight. "Keep trying Twilight Sparkle, maybe the 'Magic of Friendship' will help you." He said mockingly. "Now If you'll excuse me I have some chaos to wreak. Ta ta!" He teleported away, leaving Twilight alone with her corrupted friends. Cotton Candy clouds quickly filled the sky as chocolate rain poured down from above.

"Chocolate milk?" Pinkie spat out in disgust. "I hate chocolate milk!"

Twilight quickly did a magic scan with her restored magic and found that the Element was the real thing. Now onto the matter of finding her own element...

"What to do what to do what to do..." Twilight muttered as she began to pace, ignoring her friends fighting each other over the 'diamond' in the background. She tried to come up with a plan. "Think Twilight Think!"

"Twilight!"

Twilight turned and saw Sunset running up to her, followed by Flash Sentry, Sandalwood, Micro Chips, Lyra and Bon Bon.

"What's going on!?" Sunset asked and preceded to tell her about her and Flash's experiences at the restaurant. "....and then we saw Rainbow superspeed by! I thought you guys couldn't use your powers so we dropped the Crusaders at Flash's house before coming here."

Twilight felt terrible. Discord's chaos was spreading faster than she thought. "This is a disaster! First my Element goes missing, then my friends are corrupted by Discord, now his chaos is getting worse!"

"What!?" The newcomers explained as Twilight told them about Discord's 'game'.

"Well that does explain why Rarity acted so odd when we saw her." Micro concluded, looking over at the fighting girls.

"Same for Pinkie Pie!" Lyra realized.

"Isn't there anything we can do to fix this?" Sunset asked.

"We don't have time! First we have to find the Element, then we have to deal with Discord. After that we can focus on getting them back to normal."

"Well is there anywhere left to look?" Flash asked.

"I don't-" Twilight was knock back by Rarity who had been shoved by Fluttershy.

Twilight turned around in anger, "Will you just-" Her eyes opened and widened in realization as she looked at the school.

"Of course! How could I have missed it? We looked everywhere but here!" Twilight spread her arms out, gesturing to all of CHS.

The others did not share her enthusiasm, and were in fact quite intimidated by the size of the school.

"Are you sure about this?" Bon Bon asked.

"Of course! This is the last place in all of Canterlot we haven't looked yet. And I know EXACTLY where to start!"

The others gave her flat looks before saying in unison: "The library?"

"THE LIBRARY!" Twilight cheered. "Let's go everyone! There's no time to lose!"

Managing to drag the corrupted Elements with them, the group headed towards the library, hoping to find a solution to this mess.

As they got inside, Twilight asked "Sunset, do you think you, Flash and the others can keep Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie and Rarity under control long enough for me to check the entire library? I have a feeling this is going to take complete concentration."

"I know this is hard for you, but between the six of us, we'll TOTALLY be able to manage the four of them under control." Sunset assured.
> Chapter 9
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Between the six of them....they totally did NOT have things under control.

"Now Rarity, just put down the rock and we can calmly..."

"Hands off my diamond you scoundrel!" Rarity yelled at Lyra and Bon Bon before launching a diamond-shield at them, which Lyra blocked with her own magical force field.

"Grrr...I hate libraries!" Pinkie growled while throwing books at Fluttershy.

"Well I LOVE them! How do you feel about that!?" Fluttershy taunted before dodging another incoming book. Sandalwood and Micro tried to stop them.

"Ok dudettes, we all just need to chill out for a second. Take a moment to channel our inner auras..." He was interrupted when Micro knocked him out of the way of an incoming sprinkle blast meant for them.

"Woah...thanks dude." Sandalwood said calmly, as though the fact that he could've been seriously hurt didn't affect him.

Micro, pale and panting, replied, "My pleasure", before collapsing from exhaustion.

Sunset watched all this in worry.

"Ah don't see what ya'll are so concerned about. Everybody looks fine to me." AJ said casually, narrowly avoiding an incoming diamond.

Sunset rolled her eyes. "Right....just fine." Her voice dripped with sarcasm as she began loosing patience with AJ's lies.

Meanwhile Twilight and Flash scoured the library, hoping for any sign of the missing Element.

As Twilight rounded the corner, she was nearly hit with a book. "I though you said you could handle them!?" She asked Sunset in annoyance.

Sunset was now on Pinkie's back, trying desperately to restrain her. "We're trying!" She cried before being thrown off like a bull rider.

Flash then appeared from the other side of the library. "Did you find it?"

Twilight shook her head. "Ok, maybe if we check the reference guide-"

"Hey Twilight, what's soaking wet and clueless?"

Twilight rolled her eyes. "I don't have time for-" but she was interrupted when she was splashed with cold water.

"Your face!" Fluttershy taunted, holding a bucket. She then proceeded to slam it down over Twilight's head.

Flash went over to Twilight and lifted off the bucket. "We're going to get through this."

Twilight groaned. "I know. We've got to find the reference guide to the Elements of Harmony before somebody does something she'll regret!" She hissed, glaring at her 'friends'.

"Don't worry. I passed it on my way over. Let's go." Flash led Twilight down a few shelves to where the book sat on a pedestal protected by glass.

Twilight grinned and pulled out the key she and the others had been given for cases like these and opened the case and picked up the book.

"Now maybe we can-"

Suddenly the book was snatched away by Fluttershy.

"Keep Away!" She sang before running off.

"After her!" Twilight commanded as she and Flash followed Fluttershy back to the main are of the library where the others were. "Get that book!"

Fluttershy than tossed it to Applejack, who kept it out of reach from Sunset and Micro.

"What are ya'll talkin' about? I don't have any book!" She then tossed it over to Pinkie, who ran to keep it from Bon Bon and Lyra. She then tossed it to Fluttershy but Flash managed to catch her off guard and knocked her away, making her drop the book. 

Just before Twilight could pick it up, Rarity snatched it up in her magic and ran off with it. "Mine!"

"Why do you even want it anyway!?" Twilight asked as she gave chase.

"Well if you want it, then it must be valuable!"

At this point Twilight had had enough.

"GIVE ME THAT BOOK!" She chased Rarity even faster around the library. Rarity tried knowking down books, chairs and even tables but nothing could stop Twilight.

Unfortunately Twilight soon lost sight of her. "Where's Rarity!?"

"Beats me" Applejack shrugged.

"LIES!" Twilight jumped at her and soon everyone was consumed in a big ball of violence. Sounds of punches, cries and even a cat could be heard as the teens blindly attacked one another.

"Ow! Lyra that's MY arm!"

"Sorry Bon Bon."

"Hey! She bit me!" Micro cried.

"Why you little-" Rarity growled.

Finally Twilight managed to escape, book in hand.

As the corrupted girls approached Twilight, the non-corrupted teens formed a semi-circle to protect her. Lyra and Micro had their magic at the ready, Bon Bon was flashing various fighting poses and even Sunset was holding them off with a chair, like a lion tamer.

"Back! Back I say!" Flash commanded, swinging a broom handle he had found nearby. He then frowned at it. "I need to get a real sword."

Twilight clutched the book to her chest. "This is my book. And I'm going to read it!"

Twilight opened the book and gasped.

There, sitting in the hollowed out pages, was the Element of Magic in all it's majesty.

Twilight was smiling from ear to ear. "See girls? We did it! We found the Elements of Harmony! Together!" She held it up for all of them to see.

All she got were some grumbles from those who bothered to actually listen to her. Twilight felt heartbroken.

"Twilight?" Flash asked gently, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"I can't believe it...." she said sadly. "...my friends......have turned into complete jerks!" She became furious again before counting them off.

"Necklace!" She pointed at Pinkie, who wore her element.

"Necklace! Necklace! Necklace! And big crown thingy!" She said as she put her element on her head. "Now let's go everybody."

"Uh, Twilight...Aren't we missing somebody?" Sunset asked.

Twilight shook her head. "Nope. We've got the liar, the grump, the hoarder, and the brute!" She said, pointing to each girl in turn.

"But what about Rainbow Dash!" Bon Bon pointed out.

"You mean the turncoat? There's no time to chase after her." Twilight pulled out Loyalty and put it on Sunset. "There, you're the new Rainbow Dash. Now let's go!"

Sunset, have VERY strong reservations about this, tried to protest. "But-" But before she could say anything, Twilight rushed out of the library with the corrupted Elements following suit.

The rest lagged behind for a minute, looking at each other. They were all concerned for their friends but were not sure how to handle it. Hopefully, defeating Discord would resolve everything.

Hopefully.




The group gathered back just outside the school.

"DISCORD!" Twilight shouted.

Discord appeared, donning his usual playful smirk. "Well, well, well, I see you've found the Elements of Harmony. How terrifying!" He said in mock horror.

Twilight stepped forward. "Alright Discord, we've played your game. Now you're in for it!"

Discord didn't seem fazed. "I certainly am. You've clearly out-dueled me, and now it's time to meet my fate." He put on a pair of sunglasses and summoned a target on him. "I'm prepared to be defeated now, ladies. Fire when ready."

Twilight gave the command. "Formation! Now!"

The rest of the girls gathered around, not really caring about what was going on.

Twilight looked over towards Sunset. " 'Rainbow Dash', get over here."

Sunset reluctantly moved to the group, doubt clinging to her heart.

"Alright, let's just get this over with." Twilight said with resignation.

Twilight connected with her Element, activating it along with the others (except Sunset). The Elements glowed and lifted them up in the air and for a moment the others looked hopeful that it was going to work. Even Discord lifted his sunglasses in surprise.

Then all of a sudden....it stopped. The elements stopped glowing the girls were dropped back on the ground.

"Wha-What happened?" Twilight asked in disbelief.

"I don't get it. Mine's workin' fine. Somethin' must be wrong with yours." AJ said, pointing and accusatory finger at Twilight.

"I hate these hunks of junk!" Pinkie complained.

Fluttershy promptly tossed hers away. "Garbage."

Rarity greedily snatched it up. "It's MINE!"

Sunset gave her friend an apologetic look. "I'm so sorry Twilight. I tried but-" She was then shoved by Fluttershy.

"Oops. Sorry Rainbow Crash!" Fluttershy laughed cruelly.

The sound of Discord's laughter filled the air. "Bravo everyone! Bravo!" He clapped with amusement, as though this had all been one big show to him. "Harmony in Equestria is officially dead. Discord rules, Harmony drools." He mocked, booping Twilight's nose. "Now if you'll excuse me..." He slid and slided away on the now soap roads.

"UHG! It's your fault the elements didn't work!" Pinkie shouted into the air.

"Who are you talking to?" Twilight asked in annoyance.

"Any of you! ALL OF YOU! I'm outta here!" With that, she stomped away.

AJ followed suit, " Ah better go, too. I've got new better friends waiting for me at the farm."

"Yeah! I'm sick of you losers." Fluttershy strutted away.

Twilight just stood there quietly for a moment before letting it all loose. "FINE! Leave! See if I care! Who needs you guys anyway!?"

The remaining teens were shocked by Twilight's outburst.

"Twilight....?" Sunset approached slowly. "I know...this seems hard....w-we gotta..."

"NO!" Twilight stepped back and glared at her. "I'm tired of dealing with these messes with friends who don't even care about me!"

"Twilight of course they care about you-" Flash tried to intervene.

"No! I'm DONE with all of this! I'm DONE saving people who don't appreciate it anyway!" Twilight looked down as tears gathered in her eyes. "...who needs them anyway?" She asked softly just before her body was slowly drained of color, turning her grey like the girls. The remaining group gasped softly at this.

"T-Twilight..." Sunset stuttered.

"I'm leaving. Goodbye everyone. If any of you want to keep trying to 'save the world', be my guest. But I'm through with this stuff." She announced sadly as she made her way home.

As Twilight walked away, the others gave each other looks of worry and despair.

"Now what?" Lyra desperately asked Sunset, who could only look after Twilight with sadness.

"I don't know."
> Chapter 10
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight walked home, either seemingly unaware or simply uncaring about the drastic changes that had been made.

Canterlot was nearly unrecognizable now. The ground was now a mix-match of stripes, polka dots and plaid. Cars with wings were flying around, a pair of hydrants were playing hopscotch, buildings and homes floating on chunks of earth up in the sky, and overall it seemed as though logic had taken a vacation and making it seem as though the laws a physics were a mere myth.

Twilight walked past all of this, ignoring the lone cotton candy cloud that was pouring chocolate rain on her when Discord appeared.

"What do you think of the renovations my dear? It's going to by my 'Chaos Capital of the World'! Can't you just imagine it!" He asked excitedly, before noticing that she was still walking, seemingly ignoring him.

"Come now, Twilight Sparkle. You've got to get into the spirit of things!" He summoned a cone and used it to gather the cotton candy cloud before taking a bite from it. "It's your new home now."

Twilight looked around. Nothing looked like her beloved hometown anymore. It had been reshaped and twisted beyond recognition. Into this monster's idea of a paradise. This wasn't her home anymore.

"Not Anymore." Was all Twilight replied before continuing her trek home, narrowly avoiding a collision with a dancing lamppost.

Discord watched her walk off for a moment, seemingly hurt by her refusal, before braking into a grin.

"Yes!" Discord cheered before going off to enjoy his new Empire of Chaos, reveling in his victory.




Twilight entered her home and slammed the door behind her.

"Spike?" She called out, heading to her room. "Spike, come on , we're leaving."

"Leaving!?" Spike asked as he met up with her at the bedroom door. "What do you mean we're leaving? What about Discord? Your friends? Equestria?"

Twilight dumped the crown into a trash bin and pulled out her suitcase and set it on her bed. "They're on their own now. I done with all of this, and don't ask where we're going, 'cause I don't know yet. Just not here." She began packing up clothes, Spike's doggy toys, anything they might need. She also began thinking about what to write to her parents when she heard frantic knocking on the front door.

Groaning, she answered it and found herself facing Sunset, Flash, Micro, Bon Bon, Sandalwood and Lyra.

"What do you want?" She asked in annoyance, eager to get back to packing.

"Sunset! What's going on!?" Spike asked, running up to them. "Twilight wants to leave Canterlot!"

"That's why we're here." She looked her childhood friend in the eye. "Twilight you can't leave!"

Twilight rolled her eyes at this. "I told you: I'm done. I'm done sticking my neck out for 'friends' who don't even care about me."

"Twilight they DO care about you." Flash said firmly. "They just don't remember, and neither do you!"

"What are you talking about?"

Sunset grabbed Twilight's wrist and dragged her inside and sat her on a sofa, despite Twilight's protests.

"What are you doing!?"

"Trying to help you remember." Sunset nodded to the others and they began dumping stuff from their backpacks on the coffee table.

Photos, letters and newspaper clippings were scattered all over the table, each one a token of Twilight's and her friends' past adventures.

"Twilight..." Lyra began softly, picking up a newspaper clipping, "Do you remember the time you and your friends got that dragon to leave and nap elsewhere?"

Twilight took the clipping and looked at it, remembering the time a dragon had almost covered Equestria in smoke and no one could get rid of it....except Fluttershy.

Sandalwood showed her a picture from where she, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash had competed in the Running of the leaves competition, how Applejack and Rainbow kept sabotaging each other while Twilight herself had surprisingly placed fifth.

As she looked through the rest, memories flooded her head. Memories of her friends. The bad times they had.....and the good. The adventures they had and the lessons they learned. Slowly Twilight's color returned and the sparkle came back to her eyes.

"That's it! It's all so clear!" She cried happily, gripping Sunset's shoulders in excitement. "Discord's trying to distract us from what's important." She let go of Sunset and walked around the room, addressing everyone in it. "He knows how powerful our friendships are, and he's trying to keep us from seeing it! When I first came to Canterlot High, I thought making friends wouldn't do any good. But the opposite is true! The friendships I've made since I've been here are what saved Equestria from Sunset and the Dazzlings. And now they need to save it from Discord!" She looked proud for a moment before recalling what she just said and gave Sunset a sheepish grin. "No offense."

"None taken." Sunset shrugged with a smile.

"You guys are right. I've got to fight for my friendships. For them. For me. For Equestria!" She declared with a heroic pose. 

"Yeah!"

"Alright!"

"Sweet!"

"Righteous!" 

"Awesome!"

Sunset grinned at Twilight. "Nice to have you back.

Twilight grinned back. "Nice to be back. Best of all I think I have a way to fix my friends!"

Twilight rushed back to her room, retrieved her Element and went through a spell book from her shelves. "Perfect!"

Twilight rushed back downstairs. "I think I have a spell to help my friends!" Most of the group cheered.

"The possibility of that working after everything we've been though is about one in a thousand." Micro said, holding a calculator. He promptly received an elbow in the gut from Bon Bon.

This didn't shake Twilight's resolve. "I know it's a long shot, but we've got to try. First I need to get my friends back together, then we need to take down Discord!"

"Count me in!" Sunset said.

"Right behind you!" Flash declared.

"What about me?" Spike asked.

Twilight smiled and picked up her dog. "Spike I know you want to help, but I think it's best if you stay here and hold down the fort. Can you do that for me?"

"You got it!" Spike said, saluting her with his paw before Twilight put him back down on the floor.

"Umm..." The trio turned to the others, who wore sheepish looks. "Dudes, I know saving Equestria is important and all....but do you mind if we sit this out?" Sandalwood asked.

"Yeah." Bon Bon continued. "No offense, but you guys have a lot more experience than us at this this and we've kind of filled up out crazy tolerance for the day."

"Don't worry about it." Twilight waved it off. "You guys have done more than enough. Feel free to relax here until it's over. You can keep Spike company."

"Sweet!" Sandalwood said, plopping down on the couch. "Got any snacks?"

Once the proper snack were prepared, Twilight, Sunset and Flash went out to save Twilight's friends.
> Chapter 11
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sweet Apple Acres fared no better than the rest of the city.

Discords chaos now seemed to be spreading to people too. Big Macintosh, normally stoic and quiet, was now barking and digging holes like a dog. Granny Smith was now tap dancing while holding a cane, despite her previous hip problems.

Applejack was leaning against an apple tree growing multicolored apples and eating one such apple in reverse (don't ask how that's possible, trust me, you don't want to know).

"And so I tried to defeat Discord, but none of my so-called "friends" would lift a hoof to help me." AJ told her family, taking a 'bite' out of her apple.

"Applejack!"

She looked where she heard her name being called. A group of flying pigs flew by to reveal Flash, Sunset and Twilight Sparkle standing there determinedly. 

"I've come to fight for our friendship!" Twilight declared.....just before Dog Macintosh popped up right next to her and gave her a big lick on the cheek before running off.

AJ got up and scowled. "Oh, now you want to fight. Where you went when I was battlin' Discord?" She threw some light punches.

Twilight and the others walked towards AJ, "Snap out of it. This isn't you! You're not a liar."

"Who says Ah'm lyin'? And if ya'll got a problem, yer gonna have to catch me first!" With that, she tried to run off, only for Flash to jump and tackle her to the ground.

"Get off me!" AJ shouted just before Sunset joined in to keep her down.

"Hurry! I don't know how much longer we can take her." Flash said, struggling to hold the athletic and super strong girl down.

Twilight rushed up and placed a glowing hand on Applejack's forehead, inciting the spell.

Memories flooded the cowgirl's mind, just like Twilight before her.....and soon her original color came back, along with her personality.

"Wh-what happened?" She asked one she was back to normal. Flash and Sunset let her go and she rubbed her head before noticing Twilight. "Twilight! I saw a vision of us feudin' and fightin'. I couldn't face the truth, so I started tellin' lies. Can you ever forgive me?" She asked, taking off her hat and giving her friend an apologetic look.

Twilight just smiled and hugged her. "I already have. Come on! We have to get the others!"




Fluttershy was terrorizing some small animals with some cruel pranks when Sunset teleported in and unleashed a blinding flash that gave Applejack the time she needed to toss a lasso around one of the corrupted animal caretaker's wrists and pull her in, knock her out with a gentle smack and finish hog-tying her.

At that point, Fluttershy woke up, but Twilight had ample opportunity to use her memory spell.

"Oh no! Twilight, Applejack, I just had the worst dream!" Fluttershy asked as she was hogtied on her living room floor.

"Afraid it was no dream, sugarcube, but we're working on bringing a happy ending to this mess." Applejack said as she untied Fluttershy.




"What do you think you're doing?" Rairty's voice came from inside her house.

"Now Rarity just-" Sunset was cut off with a crash from inside.

"Get away from my gem!"

"What in tarnation!?"

"Oh my!"

"Put down those needles!" Flash cried.

"Get away-" A flash of light could be seen from the windows and all was quiet. A moment later the door opened and Rarity tossed the boulder away, a look of mortification on her face.

"Let us never speak of this again." Was all she said to her friends.




Later on, the group continued, only this time Flash was hauling a wheelbarrow holding a laughing Pinkie Pie.

"And I-I turned gray!" She giggled. "Can you believe it?!"

"No kidding." Flash shuddered, remembering the fight Pinkie put up which would haunt his nightmares for the next few weeks.




Fluttershy peeked into Rainbow's room before shaking her head. "She's not here."

"This is the tenth place we've checked." Sunset said.

"Without Rainbow Dash, we can't use the Elements." Twilight said.

"She could be anywhere by now! We're never gonna find her." AJ despaired.

"Yeah, we will, 'cause she's right there!" Pinkie pointed out the window to where Rainbow Dash was resting under a tree.

The girls quickly rushed outside and went up to her.

"Rainbow Dash!" Twilight called out.

"Hey guys." Rainbow greeted, not bothering to get up or even look at them.

"We've been looking everywhere for you!" Flash pointed out.

"That's nice." Was all Rainbow said.

"Discord's still on the loose! We need you to help us defeat him with your element, Loyalty!" Twilight explained, only for Rainbow to wave her aside.

"Pfft. Loyalty, schmoyalty! Have you guys seen Canterlot? It's a disaster! I'm staying here in Cloudsdale where everything's awesome." She said as she snuggled into the tree.

Rarity was astounded. "How in Equestria can she think that that one tree is Cloudsdale?"

"The same way he got you to think that cheap rock was a bona fide diamond." AJ smirked.

Rarity glared daggers at her. "I thought we agreed never to speak of that again."

Twilight wasn't ready to give up yet. "Time for plan B."




About half an hour later, Rainbow was dozing away while a few feet away Twilight and her group had come up with a plan.

"Okay, Fluttershy, you grab Rainbow Dash and hold her down so I can cast the memory spell on her." Twilight said.

"Got it!" Fluttershy confirmed with determination.

She quickly and quietly snuck up to Rainbow Dash. She raised her arms up high......just before gently nudging the rainbow haired girl awake.

"Um...I'm just wondering if it's okay if I hold you down against your will for a little bit?" Fluttershy asked politely. 

The group groaned and several of them face palmed.

"Really Fluttershy?" Sunset groaned.

"Nice try! Canterlot's your problem, not mine." With that, Rainbow sped off.

"Ok! On to plan C!" Twilight declared, as they got to work.

Rainbow continued running until she came up to a wall of animals!

"What the-get out of my way you dumb rodents!" Rainbow demanded.

But the wall didn't budge. Rainbow groaned and tried to run in the other direction....only to be met by a wall of diamonds. "What the-!?"

"Gotcha!"

Flash jumped out and tackled Rainbow....who fought back fiercly.

"Alright pretty boy! You wanna figh? I'll give you a fight!" With that they fought. Flash did his best to dodge her attacks but Rainbow's speed allowed her to get a few hits in.

Thankfully this was only step 2....

"Yeee-haw!"

Suddenly Rainbow found herself tied up by a lasso by AJ. Before she could do anything, several more ropes appeared, each wielded by her former friends. Rainbow Dash was trapped.

The group struggled to keep a tied up Rainbow Dash from getting away. "Lemme go! I don't need you guys! Leave me alone!" She struggled against the ropes as Twilight approached and started the spell. Rainbow snarled as Twilight touched her forehead. Suddenly she went quiet as her color returned and the others let go of the roped. Rainbow shrugged them off and rubbed her head.

"Wh-what happened?" Suddenly she gasped, remembering what happened. "How's Canterlot!? Where are the Elements?! Did we stop Discord?" Rainbow asked frantically before she was enveloped in a group hug.

They celebrated their success.....until they noticed the buffalos in tutus dance by.

"Maybe it's a little early for a group hug." Twilight said and they broke the hug. "Nice to have you back Rainbow." With that, Twilight held out the Element of Loyalty.

Rainbow grinned and put it on. "Glad to be back."

Rarity took down the wall and Fluttershy thanked the animals for their help.

Twilight turned to Flash and Sunset. "I can't thank you two enough for helping with all of this. And I'm sorry I snapped at you two earlier when you really were doing your best to help. That was completely uncalled for."

"No sweat." Sunset shrugged.

"It was my pleasure." Flash bowed gentlemanly. 

"I'm grateful for what you've done, but now it the Element's turn to take the lead. We have to confront Discord on our own. Until this ends, can you see what you can do to help the other people?"

"We're on it!" Sunset declared.

"Are you sure you'll be alright?" Flash asked with worry.

"We'll be fine. We're prepared this time, right girls?" The group nodded and agreed. "Right now the rest of the city needs you more than we do. Can I count on you to help them?"

Flash smiled and nodded. "You got it."

"Thank you." Twilight smiled.

With that, the Elements left to confront discord and hopefully put an end to this nightmare.

Hopefully.
> Chapter 12
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Celestia and Luna stood in the park.....facing a giant creature made of marshmallow.

Awww.....why couldn't we have fought THAT thing?

Because this is my story Pinkie, not yours.

"Okay...out of all the monsters I've faced in my life, I have to admit: this one takes the cake." Luna said with a straight face.

"Don't you mean takes the s'mores?" Celestia grinned.

Luna rolled her eyes. "Horrible puns aside, we've gotta figure out a way to take this thing down."

"And that's why we're here to help!"

The two adults turned around to see Sunset and Flash.

"What are you two doing here?" Celestia asked.

"Like I said: we're here to help!" Sunset repeated.

"Though given I don't have magic or a real weapon......not sure there's much I can do." Flash stated as he looked up at the giant marshmallow being that was currently destroying the park.

Celestia frowned at Sunset. "I told you to go home, where you'll be safe! I just don't want you getting hurt!"

Sunset glared right back. "I'm not a little girl anymore! I'm a teenager! I'm on the honor roll! I ride a motorcycle! Beside, we've been helping Twilight and the others all day!"

Celestia blinked, stunned. "You have?"

"Yes! And we're still here! If you-"

"Look out!"

Luna and Flash tackled Celestia and Sunset respectively out of the way as a gooey claw landed where they once stood.

They hid behind some bushed as the monster let out a loud rawr.

"Look." Sunset continued. "I know you want to protect me but I can handle myself. I've been doing it all day, so why not now."

Celestia took a deep breath went into deep thought for a few moments before opening her eyes.

"All right. You can help. But you-" She pointed to Flash. "Have to stay here. Like you said: you have no magic and no way to defend yourself.Just focus on making sure no innocent bystanders wander into the crossfire."

"Got it." Flash nodded.

The three mages stepped out and confronted the beast. It gave a low growl at them.

"Steady..." Luna said.

The creature began to run towards them.

"NOW!" Luna shouted.

But before they could do anything...a giant rainbow filled the sky and they were blinded by a bright white light.

When they opened their eyes, the monster was gone and the park, and the city, were back to normal.

Luna blinked "What just happened?"

Sunset grinned.

"Twilight happened."




Discord sat on his sinister looking throne on a hill in the middle of the city, reveling in all the chaos he had caused.

He summoned a glass and filled it (top then bottom) with chocolate milk."Chaos is a wonderful, wonderful thing." He declared.

"Not as wonderful as friendship!" Discord looked and saw Twilight and her five friends, each standing proudly and bearing their elements.

"Oh, this again?" Discord smirked before drinking the glass and throwing the chocolate milk away, creating an explosion nearby. It was obvious Discord wasn't taking them seriously.

"That's right. You couldn't break apart our friendship for long!" AJ stepped forward.

"Oh, Applejack. Don't lie to me." Discord's finger glowed as he levitated AJ up to eye level. "I'm the one who made you a liar." Then his whole claw began to glow as he lifted the rest of the elements besides Twilight up to him. "Will you ever learn?"

Twilight, now angry, teleported herself in the middle of her friends and surrounded them in a protective bubble, much to Discord's surprise. Twilight gently floated them back on the ground, with the bubble undoing the chaos as it toughed the ground.

"That's odd..." Discord muttered.

"I'll tell you what we've learned, Discord: we've learned that friendship isn't always easy, but there's no doubt it's worth fighting for!" Twilight announced, with her friends standing proudly beside her. 

Discord seemed more amused than afraid.

"You really are quite the interesting little mage aren't you?" Discord asked, teleporting in front of her. "You managed to not only get through my game, but you managed to break my hold on you and your friends. You just don't know when to quit, do you? I can see why She picked you for this. Fine, go ahead. Try and use your little Elements. Friend me. Just make it quick, will you?" He teleported back on his throne. "I'm missing some excellent chaos here." He then resumed his evil grin.

"All right, ladies, let's show him what friendship can do!" Twilight commanded.

"Wait-wait-wait!" The girls looked over to see Pinkie slopping down as much chocolate rain as she could get, ignoring the looks of disgust and annoyance the the others were giving her. Finally she hopped back into the fray with a determined growl.

Twilight and the others gathered their inner strengths, and activated their elements, causing them to glow brightly. 

Discord just yawned at the presentation....until he was almost hit by a star shaped blast from the Element of magic. "Huh. What's this?"

The Elements kept shooting beams of magic at Discord until Twilight opened her eyes, revealing them to be glowing white with power.

The reality of the situation finally seemed to sink into Discord. "No...."

The Elements gathered their power to form a giant rainbow beam that shot into the air and headed straight for Discord.

"NOOOOOOOOO!" Was all Discord could do as we was consumed by the rainbow and was swiftly turned back to stone. The rainbow formed a dome over the city and exploded....reversing all the chaos Discord had done and turned everything back to normal.

Twilight and the girls floated back to the ground as Discord's statue, now wearing a look of horror, fell to the side.
> Epilogue
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

At town hall, everyone had come to honor their heroes and celebrate their latest victory.

The Mayor stood at a podium, addressing everyone. "We are gathered here today to once again honor the heroism of these six friends who stood up to the villain Discord and saved Equestria from eternal chaos!" She gestured to the group of six teenaged girls in front of her, all of whom were grinning, blushing and/or waving to friends in family in the cheering crowd.

"We would also like to thank this brave group of students, who helped the Elements defeat Discord in their own way!" She gestured to another group of students, this one consisting of Sunset Shimmer, Flash Sentry, Sandalwood, Lyra Heartstrings, Micro Chips and Bon Bon.

With that, the whole city celebrated their restored freedom. The cause of Discord's release was never discovered (officially at least, for the Crusader's collective sakes) and things soon returned to normal....or as normal as it got in Equestria.





Back in the Hall of Heroes...

The figure of a woman stood below a new window frame, this one depicting the six girls defeating Discord. She examined it for a little bit before smiling.

"Not bad girls....not bad at all."

With that, she disappeared, leaving the hall as empty as it was before.