//------------------------------// // Discordant Discombobulation // Story: Shadow Grave // by Composer99 //------------------------------// “Applejack doesn’t look so good,” Pinkie Pie muttered to Rarity as they stood in the Cutie Map room while Celestia and Twilight conferred quietly together. Everypony, save the princesses, sported saddlebags for their journey. Twilight’s own bags were lying on the ground by Spike. “Indeed not,” Rarity agreed. Applejack stared blankly at the Cutie Map, a stricken expression on her face. “I’d suggest a party to cheer her up, but I think we miiiight be a little short on time!” “You would suggest a party, wouldn’t you?” Rarity shook her head and rolled her eyes, irritation mingled with fondness in her voice. Celestia and Twilight stepped up to the Map. Seeing Applejack’s expression, Twilight stepped over to her and put a comforting hoof on her shoulder. “I’m sorry, Applejack.” Applejack shook her head. “I’ll – I’ll be all right,” she said. “Just got to get my head around this, is all. I’m ready to go if you’re about to ask.” “Well, Discord?” Twilight asked as she levitated her saddlebags onto her back. Discord perked up. “I went to the cemetery to sniff around. I think I can work with what was there to find Shadow Grave’s hidey-hole,” he said. “If everypony coming can hold hooves or claws, we can get going.” “Spike, Starlight, you coming?” Twilight smiled at them. She held Discord’s paw, and the others formed a circle, holding on to one another, with Fluttershy holding Discord’s tail. “Good luck, everypony,” Celestia said gravely. “Here we go!” Discord said, and he snapped his fingers. There was a flash of bright light, and they found themselves in Bridle Park in Manehattan. There were gasps from around them as startled ponies stared at their sudden appearance. Everypony stood around, stunned. Rainbow Dash was the first to break the awkward, drawn-out silence. “What the hay just happened?” “I- I- I don’t understand!” Discord stammered. “That’s never happened before.” Starlight and Twilight were walking around the park, horns aglow, poking through bushes and tapping statuary. Rainbow Dash was fluttering around in the sky overhead, looking agitated. “Discord, darling, everypony has a spell or two fizzle once in a while,” Rarity said sympathetically. “I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about.” “Not everypony,” Discord huffed irritably. “Well, not until now.” “I’m sure you’ll be fine, Discord,” Fluttershy said reassuringly. “Once Twilight and Starlight are finished, we’ll be on our way.” “Yeah, we’ll track down that Meanie McMeanieFace’s hidey-hole for sure!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, bouncing with excitement. “I’m still a little worried about Applejack,” Spike said. Applejack was swinging her hat back and forth with one hoof, staring vacantly at the ground. “Discord, this is no time for pranks!” Rainbow Dash said accusingly as she came down for a swift landing. “Pranks!” Discord sputtered. “What do you take me for?” “The Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony?” Pinkie asked brightly. “Point taken, Pinkie Pie,” Discord conceded, “but even I can take things seriously once in a while. Things such as my magic not working properly!” It wasn’t long before Twilight and Starlight returned. “No signs of Shadow Grave,” Twilight admitted. “I know it was a long shot, but we couldn’t take the chance that her lair was around here and miss it because it seemed too ridiculous. I don’t know how Discord’s teleportation magic could have misfired, but I guess it must have.” She looked up at the sulking draconequus. “Ready to try again?” “If I must,” Discord grumbled. “Gather round, everypony!” They assembled together, and there was a flash of light. “You know, Discord, I’m pretty sure that someone would have noticed if Shadow Grave had hidden in the Canterlot Royal Gardens,” Pinkie Pie said. Twilight couldn’t tell if she was being earnest or sarcastic. “Oh, no, I just felt like a little diversion; these gardens are like a second home to me, don’t you know, what with how long I spent, er, living here,” Discord snapped irritably. “Confound it all, what’s happening?” He snapped his talons again. Flash! “Not again!!” They were standing in the town square in the centre of Appleloosa. A mixture of ponies and buffalo stared at them incredulously. “Faugh!” Discord spat out. Flash! “It’s awfully c-c-cold here!” Fluttershy managed, shivering. They were standing knee-deep in snow, on a rocky ledge. In the distance, far below, they could see the Crystal Empire, shining brilliantly in the midday sun. “Nope, not here,” Discord snapped. “Next!” Flash! “How the hay’d we get down here?” is what Applejack meant to ask. Since they were underwater, surrounded by thick seaweeds and anemones, it came out more like “Hvvglurrrblllvmmghgh!” “Not here either,” said Discord, his voice somehow unaffected by being submerged. “Next!” Flash! “AAAAAAAAAAAGH!” “Oh, I’m terribly sorry, ladies!” Discord shouted, sounding surprisingly earnest, as the lavishly decorated mare’s room emptied out, its previous occupants fleeing from the group’s sudden appearance. “Well, unless she’s hidden her lair in a U-bend, or perhaps behind a sink, I’m guessing not here!” he went on. Starlight stared intently at him as he raised his hand. Twilight perked up. “Maybe we should investi-” Flash! “AAAAAAAAAAAGH!” Rarity screamed as she began dropping like a stone. They’d appeared hundreds – no, thousands – of feet in the air. Panicking, Discord lifted his arm to snap his talons again. “STOP!” Starlight shouted. Everything froze. Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Spike were falling uncontrollably towards the ground, far below – only they were stuck in the air. So was Rainbow Dash, who had already begun diving to stop them. “Starlight?” Twilight asked, flapping her wings and looking around in confusion. Starlight was holding herself in her magic, the strain of concentration on her face. “Twi…light…” she groaned, “I can’t keep this up… for long. Look at Discord’s magic. Something else is there.” Twilight lit up her horn and looked at Discord. He was right about to teleport them. But to where? “Something else is there,” Twilight said, peering intently at Discord’s talon. “There’s an interference pattern… and it feels familiar.” Starlight panted, grimacing. “Hurry, Twilight!” Twilight pressed her forehooves to her face. “It’s – it’s like what I felt at the cemetery! Shadow Grave! She must have set up some kind of magical trap to keep Discord away from her lair. Okay, Twilight, you can do this.” She concentrated on seeing the patterns of magic in the air around them. There was Discord’s spell, about to take shape, but there was also a foreign pattern, weaving itself into Discord’s magic in a series of shadowy wisps, warping and distorting it. Twilight closed her eyes and focused. With a burst of raspberry colour, the dark wisps melted away. “Now, Starlight!” Twilight called. Starlight’s face was contorted into a rictus of pain and concentration. When she heard Twilight, she relaxed her body and let her magic go. The world jolted back into motion around them. Flash! “AAA-oof!” Everypony collapsed into a heap on hot, reddish sand. Confused, Discord looked between his talon and the pile of ponies on the ground around him. “Wha-what just happened?” he asked. Starlight rolled onto her side, panting heavily. “Something was interfering with your teleportation magic,” Twilight explained. “Starlight caught a glimpse of it. I managed to dispel it just now, but I’m not sure if I did it permanently. Shadow Grave set up an enchantment to defend her lair against your intrusion.” “That seems oddly specific, don’t you think?” Discord asked. “I mean, why go to the trouble of blocking me out like that?” “Uhm, Discord, hadn’t you been ruling Equestria at the time?” Fluttershy said. “Maybe she thought you were a threat she had to keep away.” “Ironically, she was right,” Discord said cheerfully. “I am a threat she has to keep away! Though not for the reasons she thought, I daresay.” Rainbow Dash picked herself up and shook off her wings. She extended a hoof to Discord with an embarrassed smile. “I’m sorry I shouted at you in Manehattan. We good?” “Why, Rainbow Dash, I’m touched: an honest-to-goodness apology from you?” Discord took Rainbow’s hoof in his lion’s paw and shook. “We, er, good.” Spike groaned, sitting up. “I’m glad we’re all good,” he said, “but – where are we?” A gust of wind blew through, scattering some of the red sand they were sitting on. They were on a dune of grainy red sand. In one direction, there was a vast cliff, with bands of red, orange, and yellow in the rock. Everywhere else was reddish sand as far as the eye could see. “This is some kind of desert, but it doesn’t look like anything I recognise in Equestria,” Twilight said. She turned to face behind Discord, a direction nopony had yet looked. “What’s that?” she said with a startled snort. Not far away were a series of obelisks and crumbling buildings, surrounding a large ziggurat. All the structures were jet black. The obelisks were covered with thin webs of discolouration. “I don’t like the looks of that place,” Applejack said after they had had a moment to take it all in. “It looks… it looks -” “- It looks really weird!” Pinkie Pie finished. “And you know it must be if I’m the one saying it!” It was true: the ruins did look weird. The central ziggurat was more or less a conventional shape, but it was adorned with bizarre statues and shapes, the obellisks twisted and turned to create menacing forms, and everything about the other buildings was a little off-kilter, as if they had been deliberately built to generate unease. Fluttershy began to tremble. “I don’t like it here,” she said, shrinking down. “Come on, everypony, we should check it out,” Twilight said. “This whole place reeks of magic.” Starlight was still panting. She trembled with exertion, trying to stand, then sank back to the ground. “I think I should stay here a bit longer,” she said hoarsely. “That spell does need a lot more work,” Twilight said, looking down at her. “Spike, you stay here and keep an eye on Starlight, in case she needs some help. Discord, come with us.” “Uh, umm, well, Princess, if it’s all the same to you,” Discord said hesitantly, fidgeting with all four limbs at once, “I think I’ll just stay here and keep an eye on Starlight, too.” He popped an eye out of its socket and set it hovering over Starlight, then patted her kindly and beamed nervously at everypony else. “Wouldn’t this kind of place be right up your alley, Discord?” Applejack asked. “I mean, it looks pretty chaotic and all.” “I may be the spirit of chaos and disharmony, Applejack,” Discord said, putting on a pair of old-fashioned reading glasses and a tweed jacket, and adopting an authoritative pose, “but I have to say that those old ruins don’t evoke chaos so much as they do madness. Not actual madness, mind you. More like a willful abandonment of the confines of reality. The language just doesn’t have a sensible word for it.” Twilight grimaced. “Uhh… tell you what, Discord: sure. You stay here with Spike and Starlight. Just… could you please put your eye back?” “What? Oh! Of course! No sooner said than done.” Twilight and her friends approached the ruins: Rainbow Dash bravely pushing ahead, Fluttershy timidly lagging behind, the others advancing cautiously in a loose formation. Pinkie Pie inhaled excitedly. “Ponies made these!” she squealed. “Look, you can see them carved into the stone!” As they drew near the ruins, Twilight saw that she was right: the discoloured marks on the structures were carvings. They approached the closest obelisk and examined it. “I don’t see any earth ponies or pegasi carved in here,” Applejack said. “Suppose this was a colony of unicorns?” “I suppose,” Twilight said. “I’ve never read about anything like this, though. A lost colony of unicorns split off from the tribe that eventually settled Equestria?” “But how in Equestria did they get here?” Rarity asked. “And what were they doing?” “I think the carvings are telling us,” Twilight said. The carvings near the bottom of the obelisk showed unicorns using their magic to carve out large chunks of rock – probably, Twilight guessed, the rock from which the ruins were made. Carvings further up showed the construction of the ziggurat. And above those, there were unicorns gathered for what appeared to be ceremonies. “That doesn’t look so good.” Rainbow Dash pointed near the top of the obelisk, her voice thick with revulsion. There was a carving of two unicorns bound in ropes, lying on a table, while two other unicorns approached them with sharp knives held in their magic. Above the scene was carved a shape… actually, it wasn’t quite clear what the shape was, but it was oddly menacing, with hints of tentacles, maws, and eyes. The shape appeared to be reaching for the bound unicorns. Twilight recoiled, Fluttershy gaped before covering her eyes, and Applejack turned away, heaving. Turning away, Twilight looked around the ruins, breathing deeply to settle herself. “Well, I don’t think anypony is here, so it should be safe to fan out and look around to see if we can find Shadow Grave’s lair. Maybe it’s hidden in one of the buildings?” A flicker of movement from behind caught her attention. Turning, she saw Discord jumping and waving for them to come back. “He looks unusually cheerful,” she muttered. “Discord’s seen something… I think. Let’s go back and see what he wants before we have to look around here some more.” “I quite agree, darling,” Rarity said with a shudder. They galloped or flew back to the hill on which they had arrived. Starlight was now standing up, although she still had bags under her eyes, her ears were pressed to her head, and she was still breathing more heavily than normal. “I’ve sniffed it out, ladies!” Discord said proudly. “I caught the scent of Shadow Grave’s magic – it’s that way!” He pointed towards a distant part of the cliff. “Oh, what a relief,” Fluttershy said. “I’m glad we don’t have to search through those scary ruins.” “I wouldn’t count on whatever we find being any less scary, Fluttershy,” remarked Twilight. “Oh no!” Fluttershy gasped. Twilight’s castle was abuzz with activity. Its normally empty halls were filled with ponies carting in supplies or laying out sleeping bags in various empty rooms. Mayor Mare and Princess Celestia were in the Cutie Map room. Its only other occupants were royal guards. “I beg your pardon, Your Highness, but are you certain that we must evacuate Ponyville’s residents to the castle?” the Mayor asked. “I’m afraid so,” Celestia replied. “We can’t risk anypony being caught if the town comes under attack. Now, Mayor, please go and organise the evacuation.” “Of – of course,” the Mayor replied, bowing. She cantered for the door with a worried expression, just catching herself in time not to run into Princess Luna as the alicorn entered the room. She bowed nervously and manoeuvred around the Princess to the exit. “Sister, the old ossuary near Canterlot was raided not two hours ago,” Luna said. “I went there personally to see if Shadow Grave had thought to break in. It was empty: not a single bone to be found.” “I fear Shadow Grave will make her move tonight,” Celestia said softly, looking down at the Cutie Map table. “Excuse me, sorry, coming through,” a soft voice was saying by the door, and ponies did their best to make way as Princess Cadance, flanked by two crystal pony guards, entered the room. “I came as fast as I could, I’m sorry it took so long!” she exclaimed as she and the other princesses nuzzled each other in greeting. “Shining Armor and a detachment of guards are on their way by train,” Cadance continued. “They should be here a bit before nightfall. Flurry Heart is with Sunburst back in the Crystal Empire.” “I am glad to hear it,” said Celestia. “Now that you are here, we can let you know what is going on. Then we can come up with a way to keep Shadow Grave at bay until Twilight Sparkle returns.” “Who’s that?” Cadance asked. “Our enemy,” Luna said grimly. “A unicorn who has mastered foul magic.” “She was taken by surprise when we wielded the Elements of Harmony against her, long ago,” Celestia added. “I am sure she must be taking their magic into account this time. As she was bold enough to move openly against us before, I suspect she believes our alicorn magic could not stop her without the power of the Elements. “Should we begin searching around Equestria for her?” Cadance asked. “That will not be necessary,” replied Celestia. “If she fears only the magic of Harmony, she will strike here first, to destroy what may be her only weakness. “I am convinced she means to destroy the Tree of Harmony.”