//------------------------------// // The Elements Strike Back // Story: Land of Equines // by Daddy Joe //------------------------------// The Elements Strike Back March 17th, 2013 The girls walked over towards me, still lying on the ground, and recollecting myself after dangling hundreds of feet in the air without any harnesses, but the will to not let go of the rope. Rainbow Dash hovered above me while looking down. "Let me give you a hoof." Rainbow said, extending her right foreleg. I grabbed her hoof and she pulled me up with her flight, standing me up on my feet. "Sorry about dragging you out of the balloon. You sounded pretty freaked." Rainbow apologized. "Believe me, freaked is an understatement." I replied. "Yeahhh. And sorry for making you guys chase after me." Rainbow said, rubbing the back of her neck. "Even though you were under Discord's influence, i'm pretty sure we can forgive you." I said. Twilight and the others nodded their heads in agreement. "Sweet." Rainbow replied. "So, Twilight. With the elements back, does that mean you six can defeat Discord?" I asked. "That, we can." Twilight replied. "When we find him, I want him to turn me back into human form first." I said. "Oh, don't worry about that. Once we imprison Discord with the elements, everything will go back to normal, including you." Twilight said. "Well, that makes turning everything back to normal more simpler." I said. "Is there perhaps anything I can do to help out?" I asked. "For defeating Discord, you can't really do anything to help out." Twilight said. "Figured." I said. "But that doesn't mean you can't sit back and watch the show." Rainbow brought up. "Hey, you're about that, Rainbow." I said. "I've never actually seen the elements in full action." "Then this'll be another first for you." Twilight said. "Make sure that you're a good distance away once the elements are activated." Twilight cautioned. "Don't worry, I don't plan on standing next to powerful, ancient artifacts that can defeat a spirit of chaos." I said with sarcasm. "Is that sarcasm I hear?" Twilight asked. "I sure heard it." Pinkie chipped in. "Some of it was. But the elements are powerful ancient artifacts, right?" I asked. "Yeah, I guess they are." Twilight admitted. "But i'm just slowing you guys down. You six have a spirit of chaos to defeat." I said. "You bet we do! Now let's get out there and defeat Discord!" Twilight declared. Me and the six then ran back to Ponyville, where Discord is presumed to still be residing in. After arriving back in Ponyville, things were still chaotic. Tiled ground, a few floating buildings, and unnatural terraformation. However, things seemed a bit calm on the outskirts of Ponyville. It wasn't as chaotic as I or the six mares were expecting. "It's quiet... too quiet" I said. Twilight thought for a moment before she came up with an explanation. "I think I might know why." Twilight said. "What is it?" Fluttershy asked. "Did you ever notice how things seem more unusual whenever Discord is around?" Twilight asked me. "I suppose." I said. "Well, I think that the more chaos there is in an area, it signifies Discord's presence." Twilight theorized. "But Sweet Apple Acres was a major hotspot and we didn't see Discord." I said. "Unless he was watching us." Twilight said. I thought for a second. "Y'know, maybe you're right. Surprised he didn't come out to just stop us both if he was." I said. "His arrogance got the best of him most likely." Twilight said. "True." I said. Applejack then spoke up. "So if we listen and search mighty carefully for any signs of chaotic magic, then we should eventually find Discord himself." Applejack said. "Good idea, Applejack." Twilight agreed. "We'll stick together until we find Discord." Twilight said. "For starters, where should we check first?" Rarity asked. "The best place to check first is the town square." Twilight replied. Everypony then dashed towards town square in hopes to find and defeat Discord. The chaos levels remained fairly tame, but it got a bit more intense once we advanced further into the village. When we got to town square, Discord was nowhere to be found, but the town hall was floating in the air while doing a clockwise rotation. "Looks like he's not here." I said. "Where else could he be?" Fluttershy asked. Twilight rubbed her hoof on her chin as she thought, but Rainbow came up with something. "Um... I could offer a solution." Rainbow said. "What is it, Rainbow Dash?" Twilight asked. "Well, I was just thinking that I could just fly up a couple hundred feet and see if I can find Discord from up there." Rainbow suggested. "That's actually a good idea. Why didn't I think of that?" Twilight said. Rainbow then zoomed up into the sky and stopped. I could see her holding her right hoof over her eyes, trying to spot Discord. It didn't take long for Rainbow to come flying back down to report back to us. "Did you see something, or find Discord?" Twilight asked. "Found him! The big doaf is just sitting on this huge chair in the middle of the street with chaos all around him." Rainbow answered. "What direction?" Twilight asked. "Northwest. You'll know it when you see it." Rainbow replied. "Thanks Rainbow Dash." Twilight thanked. "Now let's get a move on!" she exclaimed. And so, we followed Rainbow's directions and headed northwest. A few minutes had past and that odd, reversed sound that filled the air became audible. "Y'hear that?" Applejack asked. "It's a sign. Discord must be near." Twilight said. "When we find him, he'll be sorry he ever dared to mess with us and Ponyville." Rainbow said, pounding her hooves together. We used the unusual sound as a guide to find Discord. As we followed it, it got a bit more louder and we caught sight of Discord's previous chaotic creations. Some would include the rabbits with five foot long legs and chickens that could fly like birds. Not really sure how Discord perceives flying chickens as chaotic, but Discord is Discord. If I were Discord, i'd have dogs and cats live together. Now that's what I call mass hysteria. But anyways, when we caught sight of these, everypony hid behind a building while Twilight peeked her head around the corner. She quickly retracted her head back to us. "I see him, he's way down there in the middle of the street." Twilight informed. "So, you guys are going to do your thing with the elements?" I asked. "You bet we are." Twilight replied. "Aw, sweet! Okay, i'm gonna sneak behind these rows of houses and see if I can get a good view of Discord being defeated." I said. "Caleb, you're bout excited as a woodchuck at a wood convention." Applejack chuckled. "Hey, i've never seen these things in action. From what I hear, these things can do some pretty epic stuff." I said, beginning to walk away. "Just make sure Discord doesn't see you." Twilight warned. "He won't." I replied. After I parted ways with the mares, I stealthily snuck behind the buildings, working my way up to Discord's position. I poked my head around the corner of a building, into an alley, and saw Discord, who was sitting in a tall chair that had antlers protruding at the top, and was situated on a narrow, steep, tiled hill. I broke my stare and hid behind the building when he let out a hearty laugh, making me believe that he saw me. "Crap!" I exclaimed. Not knowing what to do next, I looked behind me and found an open window. I took a few steps back, jumped through, nearly fitting through the window frame, and landed with a roll. I landed in the kitchen area, so I decided to head upstairs to find a hiding place. I quickly ran upstairs and right when I turned the corner, next to a window, I saw Discord still sitting in his chair, hadn't moved or noticed me at all. "Oh... got scared for nothing." I said to myself. I cautiously poked my head out the window to see if Twilight and the girls were coming, and I could see their colorful figures approaching. I then turned my attention to Discord, who was filling a small glass cup with chocolate milk rain. "Chaos is a wonderful, wonderful thing." Discord said to himself. "Not as wonderful as friendship!" Twilight countered Discord's words, getting his attention. The six mares stood boldly in front of the spirit of chaos himself. "Ohh, this again?" Discord asked. Discord took his glass of chocolate rain and guzzled the glass down, tossing the solid chocolate milk behind him, causing it to explode like a grenade on impact. Yeah.... sounds pretty crazy, right? "That's right! You couldn't break apart our friendship for long!" Applejack said. "Oh, Applejack, don't lie to me." Discord said, raising his lion finger upwards and tugging Applejack towards his face with his magic. "I'm the one who made you a liar." Discord then brought his talon-hand upwards and it emanated a yellow glow, his facial expression looking rather twisted and evil. He used his levitation magic on the others, except Twilight, and brought them up to his level as well. "Will you ever learn?" Discord asked the five mares. I was about to jump out the window to help them out, even though it was a bad idea, but Twilight intervened by teleporting herself up to the mares and created this cool looking magic bubble that protected them from Discord's magic. She levitated her and the others back down to the ground, causing the bubble to pop on impact and removed a small circular section of the tiled ground, and returning it back to grass. "I'll tell you what we learned, Discord. We've learned that friendship isn't always easy, but there's no doubt it's worth fighting for!" Twilight said, the six stepping closer to Discord. Discord teleported himself down to the mares to jeer at them. "Nnnngg, gag!" he jeered. "Fine, go ahead, try using your little elements, frenemies. Just make it quick. I'm missing some excellent chaos here." Discord said, teleporting himself back up to his throne. "Alright, ladies, let's show him what friendship can do!" Twilight said, the sound of magical energy beginning to raise. "Wait-wait-wait!" Pinkie interrupted. I turned my head towards her, and she was getting one last drink of the chocolate milk rain. Not exactly the best time, but it's Pinkie Pie, so it's excusable. After that, she bounced into formation, commencing the elements magic. All six of the mares closed their eyes as Twilight's horn lit up with a purple aura, creating a visible, light purple energy that surrounded all six of them. "Oh, he's screwed now." I said, mentally. Discord then yawned, so full of himself that the elements still won't work. But right after he yawned, Rarity's diamond element created and gave off purple outlines at a rapid pace. This would also follow with Applejack's, Fluttershy's, Rainbow's, and so on and so forth. The outlines quickly shot right past Discord's face, causing him to open his eyes that were shut from arrogance. "Huh. What's this?" he asked in a calm, but confused tone. The outlines continued to fire at him even more faster. As I watched elements do their job, it seemed that Discord was becoming more aware that this might actually work, and that he would be defeated. "No." he said in realization. I directed my attention back the six, and by this time their eyes have lost all color and became milky white that casted a glow. Then it happened; all six of them floated in the air and joined close together as the final blow was about to be struck. The amount of magical energy was intense, for I could feel it surging past me and into the room, creating a fuzzy feeling in the room. And then suddenly, a huge, towering rainbow laser shot up into the sky and curved downwards to Discord, who was still sitting in his throne. Discord's eyes went wide as he looked above, the rainbow laser rushing towards him. It only took less of a second for it to travel at its target before it engulfed him. "NOOOOOOOOOO!" I heard him yell. I could faintly see Discord through the thick rainbow laser. He was struggling to free himself, but then his legs began to turn to stone. Discord could only grit his teeth and look at himself turning into stone. Before his face was encased with stone, he turned his head towards the mares with his mouth agape, but his eyes shifted towards my direction when the stone reached the half section of his head. Once his face was turned to stone, it looked as if he was stuck in a frozen scream, his eyes still peering at me. I looked up into the sky and the rainbow splitted into two, creating a transparent dome that covered Ponyville entirely. The dome then gave off an extreme amount of brightness, causing me to shield my eyes. It only took a few seconds, but the sound of magic began to fade to a glimmering-like sound before everything went quiet. I removed my hand from my eyes and immediately noticed that the thick amount of brown hair on my hand was replaced with my previous whitish-tan skin. I then felt my face and it felt just like my previous human face. "Yeah, i'm back!" I exclaimed to myself. As I continued to check out the rest of me to make sure I was fully human again, I heard a loud crash outside. I looked out the window and noticed the huge contrast to what the outside looked liked previously. The tiled ground was replaced with lush, green grass, the purple sky was now turned to blue with white, puffy clouds. Overall, everything was back to normal. I then leaped out the window and headed over to Twilight and the others. "Hey, you're a human again!" Pinkie noticed. "Yeah, couldn't of happened without you six. Thanks." I said. "You're welcome." Twilight replied. "So what did you think about that little show?" she asked. "Oh, that was amazing! The way that rainbow shot up into the sky and came back down towards Discord was so surreal. I mean shit, I didn't think those little artifacts could do that." I said. "What did you think they would do?" Twilight asked. "I thought they would just shoot off a tiny laser, but man was I wrong." I said. "A tiny laser!?" Rainbow asked. "Well, like I said before, i've never seen the elements in action." I said. I then looked at the stone imprisoned Discord lying on the ground. "Is he.... dead?" I asked. "No, he's still alive. All we really did was imprison him in stone and created a harmonic pulse that returned everything back to normal." Twilight replied. "Now what do we do with him?" I asked, raising Discord upwards. "What we should do next is to immediately send a letter to the princess on Discord's defeat." Twilight said. "Good idea. You guys go do that." I said. "Where are you going?" Twilight asked. "I have to find the Land Rover. It was corrupted by Discord's magic, and kind of ran away from me." I said. "Kind of ran away?" Twilight asked. "It's pretty hard to explain." I said. "Right." Twilight said. "I'll see you guys later. And thanks again for turning me back to normal." I farewelled. "And basically saving Equestria from eternal chaos?" Pinkie added. "Yes, and that too." I said. With that, Twilight levitated the statue of Discord and the gang ran back to the library to send a letter to Celestia. I ran off to a northern section of Ponyville since that's where the Land Rover was heading. I had to have walked around for an hour before I found the Land Rover parked next to the train station. Nothing looked broken, but the inside was trashed. Boxes of MRE's and bottled water were scattered all over the place I took the fuel pump chip out of my pocket and slipped inside the fuse. Thankfully, it started up. As I drove through Ponyville, a lot of ponies looked out their windows, unsure whether to leave their homes or not. I gave them heads up that Discord was defeated, and that convinced them to come outside. But when I arrived back at the library, I was surprised to see a squad of royal guards loading Discord onto a golden carriage. The library itself was repaired from the harmonic pulse that swept across Ponyville. I parked the Land Rover next to the library and walked over to the guards. "Where are you guys going with him?" I asked a guard. "We're taking Discord back to the Canterlot Gardens, where he was originally placed." a guard replied. "Gonna have more precautions for his statue?" I asked. "E.U.P is way ahead of you on that. When E.U.P learned that Discord escaped, they've been coming up with protective techniques in case he escapes again." the guard explained. "That's good." I said. The door to the library opened behind me and out walked none other than Princess Celestia. "Princess." I said, taking a quick bow. "Hello Caleb. I've heard that you and Discord have made an acquaintance." Celestia said. "Says who? Twilight?" I asked. Celestia nodded her head. "So you must know what Discord did to me." I said. "Yes, i've heard about that aswell." she said with a smile. "But I guess it could've been a whole lot worse." I said. "Perhaps, but before I go, I want to thank you for your assistance in restoring the elements." Celestia said. "Yeah, no problem. These six are some the bestest friends i've had in this world, so it would make sense to help them out." I said. "Indeed. And I also want to inform you that there will be a ceremony tomorrow at the Canterlot Castle in honor of the six's victory against Discord." Celestia said. "A ceremony, huh? Well, i'll make sure to drop by for awhile." I said. "Excellent." Celestia beamed. "Is Discord secured and ready for transportation back to Canterlot?" Celestia asked one of the guards. "Yes, your highness." a guard replied. "Very good." Celestia said. Princess Celestia then climbed into her carriage. Once the pegasi guards attached themselves to the carriages to pull them, they began to their flight back to Canterlot with Discord.