“I don’t care what you have to do, just get this door open,” Shining Armor said to his guards as they continued to work on the door. It was not to long ago when Celestia was kidnapped by Discord that he had sent the entire guard to search for her. He paced to and fro in front of the large doors, several of his guards already working on opening the door, but no matter how hard they pushed, prodded, blasted, cursed, pleaded, begged, swore, flirted, knocked, rammed, told on its parents, threatened, or any other action they could think of to force the door open, the entry to the garden would just not budge.
“I do hope Celestia is ok,” Cadence said nearby, “I worry for her,” she said as Princess Luna came to her side.
“My sister has always been capable of handling herself, we just worry about what plans Discord has in store for her,” she said as she looked to Shining Armor, “Have thee figure out what is preventing us from entering the gardens?”
“I don’t know, but I think I-”
“Shining Armor!” Twilight called out out as the three turned to see her and her friends running towards them..
“Twily!” Shining Armor said as he embraced Twilight in a big hug, “it’s good to see you little sis.”
“It’s wonderful to see you BBBFF.” she said as she hugged him back, only to falter slightly in his hooves.
“Twily? What’s the matter?” he asked as she gave a sheepish grin.
“The poor dear was so frantic when she heard that Celestia was kidnapped that she went into a bit of a tizzy. She had to make 15 cross-referenced checklists before she even got on the train.” Rarity said as she gave a quick bow to both Princesses.
“We had to *huff* sprint all the way *huff* here just to keep up *huff* with her,” Fluttershy added, trailing behind the rest of her friends. Shining Armor looked down at his little sister as she gave a little blush.
“I may have panicked a bit on the way here,” she said as she went to stand up, only to stumble slightly on her hooves. After steadying herself she looked around as if she was looking for somepony, “Shiny, where is Celestia?” she asked as Shining Armor turned his head to the door.
“She is in the gardens with Discord,” he said as Twilight quickly rushed to a window to see where Celestia was. She gasped slightly as she saw both of them sitting still in the center of the garden, their eyes both glowing white.
“Why is she like that? Why haven’t you gotten into the gardens?” she asked frantically as she looked at the large doors where the guards were working hard.They had resorted to smearing butter on the hinges in order to make it easier to open. Needless to say, it wasn't going too well. Especially not with Pinkie Pie eating half of their ordinance.
“We don’t know what Discord has done nor do we know why she is in that state, Twily. As to the latter question, we have been trying everything to get in.” Shining Armor said as he trotted over to her, “There has been a barrier placed around the gardens and the royal guards can’t get through.” he said as Princess Luna and Cadence came forward.
“Tis true, even my magic can’t penetrate his shields, not for lack of trying. Everything bounces back no matter what we throw at it.” Princess Luna said as Cadence went to Twilight and wrapped a wing around her.
“Don’t worry, I’m certain that the guards will find a way through,” Cadence said as Twilight gave a small smile to her, before Cadence gave an incredulous look to the royal guardsponies, who were now having an argument with Pinkie Pie over what type of frosting should go on an “I'm sorry I ate your military grade butter” cake. “Eventually.”
“So why haven’t they gotten in. Is the barrier affecting their entry as well?” she asked as Shining Armor turned to her.
“We’ve tried entering through windows and the other doors, but every time we tried to enter, we kept getting hindered. A few of our guards were unfortunate enough to get stuck in a giant spider web in one of the windows, and a few others were stuck to the wall by the door spitting bubblegum.”
“Discord’s tricks?” Twilight asked, as Shining Armor nodded his head.
“They are not tricks, they’re works of art. I wouldn't expect you to understand my grand vision,” a voice was heard saying, causing all of the ponies to turn their attention to where the noise was coming from. Twilight and her friends watched as several of the guards backed away from the door to look at the face that was staring back at them.
“Discord,” Twilight said as the deity's face continued to stretch forward, showing every little detail on the wooden frame of his visage. Discord smiled and the wood creaked and cracked as he revealed a splintery grin.
“In the wooden bark, my dear.” Discord said as he bowed his head. Twilight stepped forward, ready to speak of what he has done, when Rainbow Dash beat her to it.
“Where have you taken the princess, what did you do!? She yelled, practically screaming her demands at him. Discord simply snorted at her and her wings suddenly curled inward, making her descend rapidly to the ground.
“It’s rather rude to get into someone’s personal space,” Discord said as the wood went outward and grabbed Rainbow Dash’s wings. Like small claws the branches grabbed the edges of her wings and began to tie them up in a knot.
“Hey! Cut it out!” she said, as Discord finished tying her wings, and making them resemble like a soft pretzel. She hobbled off to the side as Pinkie and Rarity tended to her, though Pinkie Pie kept making suggestions to what butter would go with her pretzel wings..
“Discord,” Fluttershy said as she hovered in front of the wooden door, Discord’s face turning to see her, “why are you doing this, why did you kidnap the princess?” she said meekly as Discord gave a curled smile that resembled a cat.
“Don’t worry, Fluttershy. The princess is in good hooves. She and my body are experiencing something that both of us had treasured oh so long ago.”
“I think whatever you ‘treasured’ is something I don’t want to know about.” Rarity said as she continued to untangle Rainbow’s wings. Discord made a face at her and turned his attention to the majority in the room.
“As I have said, the princess is safe and the potion that we have both drink will be done within the next ten minutes,” he said as he burped up a grandfather clock to look at the time, before setting it off to the side to take apart of the interior of the room, “ like I said once the time is up, the potion will be out and the barrier around us will be removed. If you wait patiently, then I’m sure that we can-”
“Guards! Break down that door!” Shining Armor said as the guards came forward with their weapons at the ready, and Fluttershy went out of the way to avoid their charge. The wooden door of Discord frowned slightly and turned to Fluttershy, who was hiding behind a pillar nearby.
“It’s seems these ponies want to ‘communicate’.” he said as his wooden frame stretched and he pulled out a small object from within the door. It was a tiny horn, with the words, ‘squeeze gently’ on the side. As the the dozen guards approached the door, the weapons poised to break it down, Discord gave a witty smile before gently pressing the horn.
The horn expanded five times its size and it’s booming noise sent the poor guards flying from their position and smacking into the wall. It ended within a few seconds and the horn reverted back to its normal size. Discord brought the horn to his lips and he blew on the top before putting it back from whence it came. Every guard either was stuck to the wall or some had their helmets flown off, revealing a large and messy mane underneath.
“Oh wow that’s a doozy.” Pinkie Pie said, her name appearing more fluffier than normal, as she went to a guard and poked at his mane, only to pull some out and appearing to be Cotton candy, “Oh delicious,” she said as she began eating away on the guard's mane as Discord, who acted a little triumphant, sat idle within the wooden door.
“Alright everypony. You may try your little tricks, but know I’ll keep pushing you back until the time is up. Celestia and my real body will wake up soon enough.”
“What do you mean real body?” Applejack asked Discord gave a guwaff.
“Well I’m his shadow, simple as that.” he said as several guards looked up and were dumbfounded. This whole time, no matter what they did to break down the door, they were facing a mirror image of him.
“You mean we’ve been facing a duplicate!?” a guard with a golden mane and a thick mustache called out as Discord chuckled to himself.
“You may call it that, if you wish.” he said as Shining Armor stepped forward, directing a authoritative hoof at the door.
“Major Armstrong, Corporal Flash Sentry! Bring down that door!” he ordered as both the golden mane guard and the guard under Cadence came forward to the door. Discord eyed the two with a peculiar smile and chuckled once again, shaking his head at the two guards giving off this bravado.
“Do what you must, but you will not get in,” he said as Flash Sentry jammed his spear straight into the door, “ohh, that tickles,” he said as Flash Sentry kept stabbing his spear, as Armstrong readied a hoof and lunged at the door. He slammed on impact as Discord’s face puffed out air as if the wind was taken out. Armstrong readied again when Discord smiled.
“Oh you're going to be rough? Let me help,” Discord said and opened his mouth and it lunged out against Armstrong. Armstrong went headlong into him as Discord closed tightly around him. A loud cry escaped from within Discord’s maw, and everypony watched helplessly as Armstrong was moving about inside Discord's mouth. He chewed for a few goods seconds before spitting the guard out straight into Flash Sentry and the two tumbled for a moment until they were in front of their captain, who looked astounded by the sight.
“Are you alright!?” Shining Armor said as Armstrong stirred.
“I got eaten, sir.” he said, his words slurred as if he went through a day’s worth of training and a tussle afterwards. A moment later a hoof and wing popped out from under the large guard.
“Can you get off me Major, please?” Flash Sentry’s voice came from underneath as the other guards came forward to help them. Shining Armor turned to Discord and he barred his teeth.
“We will prevail over you, Discord. We will get Celestia back!” he said as door of Discord remained where he was.
“Yes, you will get your princess back, within eight minutes time. After which, she would have experienced her most wonderful moment in her life.” he said as Shining Armor began to work with guards. As the guards continued their work upon the door, Twilight and her friends came forward to offer their assistance.
“C,mon girls, let's do what we can and break through to Celestia.” Twilight said as all the girls shouted in agreement, the only sole exception was Fluttershy, who looked unsure to the whole matter. As they went to do their work, however, Princess Luna remained where she was and she was not the only pony who remained behind.
“Something troubling you, Princess Luna?” Cadence asked. Princess Luna remained still, and yet her face showed that she was in complete thought. When she did stir she turned to Cadence with a perplexed expression.
“We do not know why, but we keep thinking from our long memory of our past. Tis something that is buried deep within the back of our mind that we are reminded of,” she said as Cadence turned to look at the wall of ponies trying to get into the garden, her husband ordering the door to be torched, while Twilight was trying to suggest a more complex option. Her friends were also giving a different ideas, but none yielded much, though Pinkie Pie was just talking among them and not contributing anything really, though the guard with part of his mane missing was giving her a verbal argument to get it back.
“And what memory is that?” she asked as Princess Luna closed her eyes to think for another moment before opening them up to look at her.
“We can't say, but,” she said as a small smile appeared on her countenance, “ I do recall there being flowers.”