The morning light of Celestia's sun had washed over the Everfree forest but everyone could tell that something was wrong.
The sun had come out very quickly, almost forcefully. It seemed to shake and quiver in the sky.
Discord was getting stronger.
Mirror Edge sat in front of the campfire; the actual fire had died somewhere in the night. He poked the glowing embers, depressed, his friends watching him from afar.
He had told them about his dream, what else could he have done?
Twilight had theorized that Discord had snuck into his dreams to try and control him but he had fought back.
He couldn't believe how real it had felt. It was almost as if it had really happened.
It had almost happened.
But now all of that ends.
He slowly rose and walked over to the group.
"I might not have come to Ponyville with good intentions..." He regarded his friends one by one.
"But that changes today." He held his hole filled hoof out. Slowly everyone acknowledged and put their hoof on top of his, Pinkie was the last to put her hoof up on the stack. Everyone looked at each other; a sense of companionship filled them and gave them hope.
Which was cut short by a gurgling noise.
Heads turned to Pinkie whom the noise seemed to be coming from.
She smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, haven't eaten since yesterday." She bounced up and down. "Can we stop for breakfast?"
Rarity shook her head, clicking her tongue. "Tsk, tsk, Pinkie Pie do you know what's going on? The whole of the world is at stake here and you want to stop for food?"
She nodded earnestly. "Yep."
Rainbow Dash facehoofed. "Pinkie this is serious! Discord is doing Celestia knows what to her and Luna and is probably going to take over Equestria and...and..."
Her voice trailed off as the same gurgling noise that had come from Pinkie was coming from Rainbow Dash's stomach.
Applejack chuckled. "Ah guess you need to have breakfast before you save the world."
"But...but..." Dash tried to reason with them but the growing hunger traveling through the group had turned them.
She groaned. "Fine."
***
"GRAAAAAHH!!"
Discord torn at his hair in rage, the one who were destined to defeat him where coming to defeat him, again!
"Hey Discord!"
And to make matters worse, he was being mocked by his captives.
And that's just rude.
"You're making some pretty bad decisions!" Chrysalis taunted him. "I mean I made some mistakes but you're taking the wedding cake!"
He groaned loudly.
"You're mocking me aren't you!" he screamed, shaking his fists at the sky. The three rulers watched from afar.
"He's doing it again sister." Luna noticed, laying down her cards.
"He has always done this." Celestia admitted. "I never know who he's yelling at."
"Yes! I am mocking you!" Chrysalis continued taunting him.
"Shut up back their!" He shouted. I have you three trapped and you don't even care!"
Chrysalis shrugged. "We just have a few more cards up our metaphorical sleeves."
Discord turned his back to them and rubbed his temples. He was not going to be turned back into a statue, especially through the power of friendship or gunk like that.
He would destroy Equestria before that happens.
"..." He scratched his chin thoughtfully.
"Come to think of it, that's not a bad idea."
***
After a hearty breakfast of foraged berries and flowers for the Ponies and a large dosage of emotions for the Changelings the group finally set off for Ponyville with Twilight and Fluttershy leading them.
"Hey Mirror Edge! Copycat!"
The two Changelings turned to Twilight who was staring curiously at them.
"Yes Twilight?" Mirror asked.
"Well I don't know much about Changelings so I was wondering if you could tell me just how you take emotions and turn them into food."
The two nodded. "It's actually quite simple, you see-"
"Oh! Oh! I see Ponyville!" Pinkie suddenly chirped.
Everyone looked ahead to find their home, Ponyville in the distance. Twilight eagerly raced off in the direction of it.
"Hey wait!" Mirror called to her. "Don't you want an answer to your question?"
"Later!" Twilight offered, bounding towards the exit of the forest quickly followed by everyone else, brave looks of determination on each of their faces.
A moment later the group burst through the treeline and were finally greeted with their town.
Which was not in ruins.
Everyone rubbed their eyes in disbelief at the sight of the non-destroyed town but it was real.
Ponyville was perfectly fine, not a single thing was out of place.
Somehow this scared the group even more.
"Um, is anypony seeing what I'm seeing?" Copycat asked, her face the picture of confusion.
"Ponyville with naught a scratch?" Rarity offered, equally confused.
"Oh thank goodness." She let out a sigh full of relief. "I thought I was the only one."
They walked apprehensively though the main street into Ponyville. They could have sworn that it was just a few rocks and splinters the last time they had seen it. The town was deserted though, giving it a ghostly air.
"Where is everypony?" Fluttershy meekly asked, she seemed to be more scared than anyone else.
"Hello!" Pinkie called, her voice echoed off the walls of the empty town and back to them.
"This is all wrong." Applejack stated.
"Yeah." Copycat added anxiously. "What happened to Poniville?"
"What happened to the Princesses?" Rainbow Dash suddenly added. This startled Twilight who was searching the area ahead for clues to the disappearance.
"You're right!" She gasped and raced off down the road.
"Twilight!" Rarity called, concerned. "Where are you going?!"
"I have to find Celestia and Luna!" Her voice grew distant as she ran through the streets searching desperately for her mentor.
Dash looked back at Mirror Edge.
"We have to follow her."
"Of course we do."
Everyone nodded in agreement and took off after their panicking librarian friend.
"Am I the only one who sees something wrong with this?" Copycat, the last to follow asked the air around her but a reply didn't come to the Changeling. She was about to take off after her friends when she felt something wet around her hooves. She looked down and inspected what was splattered on her hooves.
"Paint...?" She looked down and inspected the liquid that was splattered on her hooves. She hadn't stepped in any paint before so this was very strange.
"Copycat! C'mon!" Applejack called, shaking her out of her thoughts. The thoughts about the paint gone, she took off as well.
The group found Twilight leaning against a building in the center of Ponyville, completely exhausted.
"Twilight?" Rarity cautiously approached her. Twilight groaned and slowly turned around her face clouded over with sorrow.
"This doesn't make any sense." She said confusedly. "Everything's fine, not a thing's out of place and the Princesses are nowhere to be found."
"Or Queen Chrysalis." Mirror Edge added as he buzzed down from the rooftops. He had been searching the area from above but his findings were as good as Twilights.
"It's okay." Fluttershy, ever the kind one, tried to cheer them up. "It's not like they could have disappeared into thin air."
"Well actually they could have." Pinkie chirped. "Discord is a big mean reality changer right?" She asked with her usual bounciness but quieted down at the glares that she got.
"Sorry." She muttered.
"This whole town is weird." Rainbow Dash shook her head. "There has to some kind of clue or something!"
"Look!" Rarity pointed at the ground a ways away from the group.
Half covered in the dirt, nearly impossible to see unless you paid attention to details, was the Elements of Harmony.
Well, the necklaces and crown at least. The gems were still dust in the wind.
"The Elements!" Applejack cried, noticing them now that Rarity had pointed them out.
Everyone ran over to the spot where the trinkets were buried. It looked to be the same place they had been when they left.
"They're still here!" Twilight exclaimed with relief.
"But the gems are gone." Copycat noted.
"What are we going to do with them?" Mirror asked quietly, looking over the trinkets.
Twilight stared at the gem-less necklaces and crown, deep in thought. Slowly, the trinkets rose from the dirt, lifted by Twilight's magic and floated over to each of the Element bearers. Twilight lifted her crown up and put it gently onto her head.
"I don't know, but we still need to try."
The others looked at their element necklaces and nodded, putting on theirs as well.
It was not a second after this that a magic dome burst from the ground and trapped the eight.
Fluttershy shrieked at the sudden entrapment. "What's going on?!"
"I think I know." Copycat sighed, looking down at the paint on her hooves.
Suddenly, a laugh the group had heard far too often rang out and Discord appeared in front of them in a flash of light and a finger snap.
"Discord!" Mirror spat.
"Mirror Edge." Discord retorted, sticking his tongue out at him immaturely.
"What have you done to Ponyville!?" Twilight demanded to know.
"Nothing, well, made it better if you look at it from my point of view." He admitted.
"Where are the Princesses?" Rainbow Dash shouted, slamming against the force field trying to break through it.
He chuckled and snapped his fingers. The world around them seemed to grow dark and the winds picked up. The buildings around them began to distort and twist, becoming warped well beyond what normal reality would allow and other parts of the world began to peel away like old paint flaking off revealing the original rubble behind the facade. Pieces of the land burst out of the ground altogether and floated overhead. Even the sun and moon were affected, being pulled together in the center of the sky creating a disturbing twilight.
"Chrysalis!" Mirror proclaimed.
Near them, trapped in the same type of dome that the group was in, were Celestia, Luna, and Mirror Edge's Queen.
"Took you long enough." Chrysalis dryly replied.
"Hello Twilight and friends!" Luna waved to her friends.
"No more talking!" Discord demanded waving them silent. "I've been thinking." He began, walking over to the three trapped rulers and looked at Luna and Celestia. "You two have been two very painful thorns in my side for a very long time." He changed his gaze to the Changeling Queen. "I'm still waiting for an apology for you betraying me."
She hissed at him defiantly.
Discord barely noticed and continued talking. "And as much as I had fun tormenting you two, I'm just not feeling it anymore." He traced an imaginary tear down his cheek. "So I'm just going to restart reality and remake it in my image." He crossed his arms and smiled smugly. "Isn't that brilliant?"
"WHAT?!" Everyone shouted in disbelief.
"You can't do that!" Celestia shouted at the Draconequus.
"Why not?" He chided. "I'm going to get you and the Mane six out of my hair." He pointed at the two Changelings. "Plus those two who aren't even supposed to exist, it's a win-win opportunity!"
"Not supposed to exist?" Mirror Edge questioned.
"Don't listen to him. This isn't a good time to break the fourth wall." Pinkie whispered.
Mirror Edge stared at Pinkie, trying to make sense of what she just said before he figuratively threw up his hooves and shrugged. "Okay, fine."
"And don't worry about missing it." Discord snapped his fingers and an evil looking throne rose from the earth (that wasn't floating through the sky) and sat down. "I'm giving you front row seas to it!"
Everyone watched in horror as the world around them began to disappear; first the outskirts of Poniville, than the outermost buildings. Soon everything was disappearing, turning stark white and fading out of existence.
Discord laughed maniacally, somehow coming into possession of a bag of popcorn. He munched triumphantly. "And there is nothing you little Ponies can do about it!"
"Nothing they can do!" Chrysalis stood up, time to show her trump card. "Now!"
Suddenly, all around them rocks, rubble, trees and other things began to shake and were enveloped in a green flame leaving behind an army of Changelings!
Discord spit out his drink that he also strangely acquired. "What?!"
The soldiers swarmed the domes, ramming into them with all of the force they could muster. Sure enough the shields cracked with every hit and came crashing down shattering like broken glass.
The eight plus the Princesses and Queen Chrysalis gathered in front of Discord.
"I was so worried about you." Twilight gave her mentor an affectionate nuzzle.
"I was worried about you and all of you." Celestia responded.
"While we do enjoy this sentimental moment." Luna noted. "Whilst thou are talking, Discord is eliminating the soldiers!"
She pointed up to Discord who had recovered from his initial shock and was defeating the Changelings in short order. Many of them were knocked out and had begun fading away; others were still conscious and kicking and screaming as they disappeared.
The edge of whiteness was getting closer and closer, erasing everything in its path.
"We need to stop this, now!" Copycat shouted.
"Right!" Twilight agreed. "Come on girls, formation!"
The six quickly stood side by side facing Discord.
Discord sat back in his throne and smirked. "You don't have the power of the Elements. You can't defeat me!"
"We can try." Twilight retorted.
The group began to focus their energy, the necklaces slowly started glowing and the Ponies slowly levitated into the air. It was different from before though, the Ponies were straining with difficulty, trying to call upon the energies that had come so easily before.
"It won't be enough!" Celestia shouted over the growing winds. "They can't focus the energy without the crystals!"
"So we will assist them!"
Luna stepped forward, her horn glowing brightly with concentrated magic. She planter her hooves in the ground and put everything into one blast, she fired at the Mane six. The blast seemed to hang in the air for a moment, held still by the Elements and suddenly broke apart, streams of magic going into each of the Elements making them glow brighter and brighter.
Discord was getting anxious at this development; he squirmed in his seat still believing that his victory was inevitable.
Chrysalis and Celestia charged up their magic as well and shot it at the Mane six, the golden magic and brilliant green magic blending together and separating amongst the Ponies.
The Elements of Harmony were getting stronger by the second, the magic from the three rulers having supplied them with more than enough energy causing the necklaces and crown to glow blindingly white.
Suddenly, small specks in the dirt and in the air began to glow brightly, like little stars. They flashed many different colors; red, yellow, purple. Mirror Edge noted these and stared at them with a growing understanding.
The crystals! He thought. Even though they were crushed they still work.
The specks were glowing as bright as the Elements at this point. Small strips of colors shot out of them, tiny ribbons of color that danced through the air to the Mane six. The ribbons came more and more until the Ponies were surrounded by swirling colors of light.
Mirror Edge smiled. This was going to be awesome.
Unfortunately, Discord had enough of this and flew straight at the six, roaring ferociously. "I wil not be turned to stone again!"
Mirror saw this and looked at his friends; no one else could do anything at the moment, the Mane six was preoccupied at the moment, the Solar Sisters and his Queen were out of power and to his surprise the whiteness had spread over Copycat and she was half erased from existence.
"Why?"
The question hung in the air for a moment before Pinkie finally replied.
"That's what friends do."
"Oh, right, sorry." She giggled, releasing him. Mirror had finally gained enough energy to morph to pony form.
"Now, will you help me with the apples?"
"Sure Mirror, what are friends for?"
He looked at Pinkie Pie, straining under the massive fluctuation of energy.
He knew what to do.
Using his wings to give him even more speed, he put all of his magic energy into a magic ramming shield and charged the Draconequus.
The two collided, Mirror's shield exploding on impact. He attacked the reality warper in any way he could; punching, biting, anything that could slow him down.
It was enough. The Mane six had built up enough energy and released it with a crescendo of light. The ribbons twisted and soared up into the air, fusing together into one giant rainbow of energy.
"NO!" Discord screamed as he saw the rainbow head for him. He tried to get away but the Changeling currently attached to his arm by his teeth had other ideas.
The Rainbow collided with both of them, swirling around them like a tornado.
Discord screamed and thrashed in pain as the energies overtook him, turning his body to stone.
Mirror Edge simply held on, feeling the energy coat him. It didn't feel like anything he had felt before; it was warm and friendly.
He thought about everything that had gotten him here; his original plan, the Ponies, Pinkie Pie teaching him about friendship, the trip back from the Everfree...
He closed his eyes as the colors overtook his senses, he didn't want to see how it ended but welcomed it anyway.