"DISCORD!" Flash yelled as he went down another pathway. When he had decided to find the girls, the orange pegasus had quickly started exploring the maze at the fastest speed he had ever ran. That is, till he saw Discord floating over a certain maze wall. Seeing this, Flash quickly tried to give chase after the draconequus. Despite this, Flash quickly found that he still didn't have his wings, restricting him to walls that kept blocking his way.
"Oh great," Flash grumbled as he found another dead end, his eyes now just losing Discord. He quickly took a sharp u-turn, trying to find another path. That is, till he found himself at another dead end. For the fifth time. "AUGH! You have got to be kidding me?! This is crazy!" he yelled at himself, slamming his hooves into the ground.
Then his patience finally ran out. Running into a sixth dead end, Flash finally came to a stop and glared at the maze wall. "Oh, that's it! Screw this, I'm getting out of here!" Flash screamed, rushing the wall at full charge. That is, till his first hoof barely touched the wall in his bum rush, only to feel a certain feeling. Electricity. His whole body became a lightning rod as the maze wall zapped him, knocking him flying into the opposite wall. "UGH!" Flash yelped, his body slumping down into the dirt. "What the heck?!"
Flash then looked up from his slumped over position, only to see a certain sight that made him growl in response. The maze wall he had tried to rush at now showed a small metal sign. On the sign was the following:
Electrified for your enjoyment!
Below it was a cartoon drawing of Discord, which was sticking his tongue out at him.
"Darn it..." Flash grumbled, seeing his plan destroyed in an instance. "Gotta give that guy credit. He thought ahead that time."
With that new fact in his head, Flash went down another path in pure anger. After what felt like an hours worth of searching, Flash finally found something that caught his attention. A distant voice, close enough to be noticeable, but not enough for him to hear what it was saying. Deciding to follow it, Flash found himself at yet another dead end, the voice on the other side. However, before Flash could turn around, the wall suddenly un-grew. It was as if somepony had hit rewind on the hedge, causing it to reverse its life cycle and disappear into the ground it had once grew from.
"What in the-" Flash remarked as he watched the hedge dig back into the ground before looking up, his eyes immediately widening as he saw the new sight in front of him. "Fluttershy! You're safe!"
He quickly trotted up to her, only to come to a sudden stop as he looked her over. He quickly noticed that she didn't exactly look normal. In fact, she looked a bit grayer than her usual buttercream coated self and she hadn't noticed him despite saying her name out loud. As he saw this, he slowed his pace as he walked up to her. "Hey Fluttershy, are you okay?"
Fluttershy slowly turned towards him, giving him the darkest glare he'd ever seen from her. "Okay?!" she said in a low yet harsh tone, "Why would I be okay?! I'm stuck in this stupid maze and the first pony I see is you, what have I got to be okay about?"
"Uh..." Flash was taken aback by Fluttershy's outburst. However, before he could say anything, another set of maze walls recalled themselves, showing a new bunch of ponies. Behind it stood Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Rarity.
"Flash! Fluttershy!" Twilight cheered as she ran towards them. "I'm so glad we found you both. This awful labyrinth is getting to everypony."
Flash looked over at the others and just like with Fluttershy, something about them was off. Pinkie was glaring at them after spitting a raspberry, Applejack was growling and Rarity...was carrying a giant rock for some reason. The sight alone made Flash cock one of his eyebrows in slight confusion.
"Aw, boo hoo hoo!" Fluttershy replied to Twilight, glaring at the once unicorn as she did. "Why don't you wave your little horn and make everything alright?!" Flash and Twilight shared a glance, mentally asking the other if they knew what the heck was going on. "Oh that's right, you can't, you don't have one." With that, Fluttershy strutted passed them and flicked Twilight in the face with her tail.
"What is wrong with them?" Twilight asked before glaring over at Flash. "What about you? Are you gonna act strange?"
"No stranger than usual," Flash shrugged, making Twilight sigh in relief.
"That's good," Twilight shook her head, slightly groaning as she did. "I don't know what I'd do if you started acting oddly. This is already bad enough with these three." Twilight pointed to Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Rarity. "I ran into them earlier and they're all acting...weird."
"What happened? Why are they acting like that?" Flash asked before pointing to Rarity. "And uh...what's with the rock?"
"Rarity thinks it's a diamond...and she keeps calling it Tom." Twilight replied, scratching the side of her head as she did. "I just don't understand what is going on here."
With this, Flash and Twilight were slowly able to make the others continue into the maze. They found that their friends' new personalities to be quite aggravating. Fluttershy would repeatedly insult them, Pinkie was almost always uncooperative, and Applejack constantly said things that just confused the duo. Also, Rarity had decided that she would not move an inch in the maze without her boulder and that Flash would start carrying the boulder, only for the former pegasus to end up in the back of the group due to worthless hunk of rock now sitting on his back.
As they took another turn in the labyrinth, Twilight walked to the back and asked, "You okay?"
"Oh, I'm fine." Flash groaned in a strained voice, "don't worry about me."
"Just hang in there a little longer," Twilight assured him, "once we find Rainbow Dash, nothing'll stop us. As a team, we're unstoppable."
"You're right...I just hope we find her soon."
"Well looky there, there's Rainbow Dash." they heard Applejack say, causing them to look at her in surprise. "And she's flying away. She's abandoning us."
"Now I know that's a lie," Twilight remarked, only to follow Applejack's line of sight. There, they saw a familiar rainbow maned pegasus flying over the maze, her wings now on her back.
"What the heck?!" Flash yelped as he dropped the boulder off his back.
As they saw the blue pegasus fly off, not even looking back at them, they quickly noticed that dark clouds were suddenly filling the skies. Seconds later, bursts of lightning covered the sky, causing Flash and Twilight to look at each other, grimacing at they did. Then the ground began to shake and the maze walls quickly vanished, collapsing into the ground and making a dust cloud. A few seconds later, the cloud was cleared, and the six ponies found themselves in a crater where the maze had once stood.
"That's not good." Flash gulped, looking the crater over. "Why do I get the feeling that this got a whole lot worse?"
"Well well well..." mocked a familiar voice. A second later, a flash of light appeared in front of them, showing the voice's owner: Discord. He let out a mighty laugh before saying, "Somepony broke the no wings, no magic rule." He glared at them all, snapping his fingers as he did. A quick flash of light surrounded the six, their missing body parts now returning to them, along with Lightbringer.
Discord then shined a cocky grin. "Game's over my little ponies. You didn't find your precious Elements." An umbrella appeared in his hands, which he opened and threw over his shoulder. "Looks like we might be due for a big old storm of chaos." Lightning flashed behind him as he laughed at this statement.
Flash and Twilight both went wide eyed from hearing this. They had failed.
Seeing this, Discord fell to the ground and started laughing. As he did this, Pinkie got right up into his face and glared at him. "And what are you laughing at!?"
"Oh you ponies," Discord replied as he wiped away a tear, "you're just about the most fun I've had in eons."
"WELL QUIT IT!" Pinkie screamed. "You better think before you laugh at the pink...ie pie."
"Oh yeah?" Fluttershy asked with a smirk, "well ha ha."
"Quit it," Pinkie growled as he turned and got in front of Fluttershy's face.
"No," Fluttershy replied, almost pushing Pinkie back. "Ha. Ha."
"QUIT IT!" Pinkie screamed.
"No," Fluttershy repeated before continuing to fake laugh at her.
It was here that Flash got in between them, gently pushing them both back with his wings. "Enough you two. I don't know why you two are acting like this, but you need to stop."
"They need to stop?! What about her?!" Rarity suddenly exclaimed, jabbing her hoof as Applejack as she interrupted Flash. "This swine said we're going to split Tom seven ways! I can't believe her!"
"No I didn't!" Applejack said, shifting her eyes back and forth as she did. Rarity just growled at this, and then began tyring to karate chop Applejack. Seeing this, Flash quickly got between them, trying to stop this new problem.
"This is insane," Flash said to himself as he blocked them with his wings, "what is going on with them? And why did Rainbow abandon us?! That makes the least sense of all."
Twilight then went up to them, her horn glowing as she used her magic to push the others away from each other."Come on everypony, we need to stick together. There's no need to fight each other like this."
"Oh, this is entertaining," she and Flash turned to Discord, who was sitting on a movie seat chair, eating popcorn. "Please don't stop."
"Stop it Discord!" Twilight spat as she moved over to him, glaring as she did. "You're not playing fair!"
Discord raised an eyebrow. "I'm not playing fair? Perhaps we haven't met. I'm Discord, spirit of chaos and disharmony. Hello..."
"He's got you there Twi," Flash admitted.
Twilight just glared at him before returning her focus on the draconequus. "How are we supposed to find the Elements of Harmony, when you took away the labyrinth before we could get to the end?"
Discord then burst out laughing as he slumped in his seat. "How funny. You thought the Elements were in the labyrinth." He then clicked his fingers and in a flash of blue light, he, Twilight and Flash were transported back to Canterlot Tower. There, they saw themselves and realized Discord had either transported them through time, or was showing them visions of the past.
Twists and turns of my master plan, then find the Elements back where you began.
As soon as that was said, they were sent back at the crater, where Discord turned towards them. "I never said they were in the labyrinth."
"You tricked us," Flash growled, flaring his wings.
"I did no such thing," Discord leaned back while putting a claw over his chest, looking offended as he did. "I gave you all the information you needed, you simply came to the wrong conclusion. I just decided to have a little fun with you until you figured it out, but you never did." Twilight was disheartened after hearing this, looking down at the ground. Discord then sarcastically clapped at the sight, mockingly saying, "Keep trying Twilight Sparkle, maybe the 'magic' of friendship can help you. Now, if you excuse me, I have some chaos to reek." With that, he snapped his fingers and vanished.
The second he did, there was a rumble of thunder, causing Flash and Twilight to look up and see several cotton candy clouds appear and begin raining chocolate rain.
"Chocolate milk?" Pinkie asked before frowning, "I hate chocolate milk."
Twilight just groaned after hearing this. "You have got to be kidding me. I can't believe that just happened."
"We can't give up," Flash told her, tapping her shoulder as she did. "So we goofed, that doesn't mean we've lost. We just gotta find the Elements, then we can fix our friends and stop him."
"Yeah...I know." Twilight sighed before hitting her head, "think Twilight think. Find the Elements back where you began...back where you began..."
"Don't touch my gem," they heard Rarity say behind them.
"I'm touching your gem Rarity," Fluttershy retorted, tapping the rock. "Ha ha."
"What you laughing at?" Pinkie yelled, running up to the two. "Stop laughing!"
Twilight just groaned, these distractions were not helping her think. "I just wanna go home...why is this happening?!" she moaned, sighing as she did. That is, till she looked back up, blinking. "Wait a minute..."
It was then that her face made something that Flash had seen plenty of times. A big grin shined on his face as he saw this. "Here we go," Flash chuckled happily. "What did you figure out Twilight?
"HOME!" Twilight screamed, turning to Flash with a big smile. "Back where you began. The Elements must be in..."
"PONYVILLE!" They said in unison.
"Come on!" Flash said as he moved towards the exit of the crater. "If we hurry, we can get home and find them before Discord can do any major damage."
"Right," Twilight nodded before turning towards the others. "Let's go everypony, we got some Elements to find!
"I'm not going anywhere!" Pinkie barked back before sitting down."I hate walking."
"Oh yeah?" Fluttershy hissed, a mischievous look on her face. She then flew down and grabbed Pinkie's tail, before dragging her towards Flash and Twilight.
"I said I'm not going anywhere!" Pinkie told her. "Let me go!"
"Which is why I'm making you, you big baby!" Fluttershy laughed back. "And I'm gonna laugh at you the entire time!"
Meanwhile, Rarity was sitting on top of her boulder, not budging an inch. "I'm not going anywhere either. At least here I can keep an eye out for anypony who'd want to steal Tom."
Flash and Twilight sighed, knowing this wouldn't be easy. That is, till an idea popped into Flash's head. He flew over to her with a cocky grin before saying, "You know Rarity, this crater can hold a lot of ponies. It'd be easy for a whole bunch of them to come and surround you. You wouldn't stand a chance against an army." Rarity just glanced at him, before looking back down at 'Tom'. "But you know," Flash continued, "there is someplace that's secluded and you would have home field advantage."
"My house," Rarity gasped.
"Exactly," Flash nodded, slightly nudging her as she did. "So let's get Tom someplace safe."
"Oh alright." Rarity grumbled before pointing her hoof at Flash. "But don't think for a minute that I'm not keeping an eye on you, we clear?"
"Crystal," Flash replied with a nod.
Luckily, Applejack was at least willing to follow them, and the six ponies then made their way home. However, it seemed Discord's fun had spread to the trains, putting that method of transportation out of commission. So they were forced to walk to Ponyville, which took much longer than they'd hoped. At least Pinkie was finally willing to walk on her own, making the trip slightly easier.
Eventually, the sight of their home filled their vision, showing their journey was almost at an end. "Ponyville," Twilight said happily. "Finally made it..."
Flash wasn't so happy though, pointing at it as he moaned. "Oh no...Look at it Twilight, it looks horrible!" The place was a disaster, with the normally green grass now a checker board pattern of pink and purple. Several patches of ground, with buildings on top, were now floating in midair and the town hall was also floating and upside down. "Discord's turned it into a madhouse!"
"Not for long," Twilight said as she turned to the others before charging forward. "Come on girls, I'm certain this is what Discord's riddle really meant. If we get back to the library, I have a book that I just know can give us a clue."
"Look out!" Flash yelled as he flew at Twilight suddenly, pushing her aside right before a stampede of mutated rabbits charged passed and barely missed them. "That was close," Flash said as they dusted themselves off.
Before they could do anything else, the sun suddenly disappeared and was replaced by the moon. Doing so plunged the world into pitch black night, making it impossible to see.
"Whoa," Applejack fake gasped, "I can see so much better now."
"You know, that's not so much lying as it is sarcasm Applejack." Flash retorted in a deadpan tone.
Applejack just rolled her eyes and tried to walk forward, but suddenly slipped on something and was sent sliding out of control. Doing so caused her to knock down the others, before coming to a stop in front of Twilight and Flash. "I meant to do that."
"Oh, what now?!" Flash groaned as he and Twilight tried to get up, but it felt like the ground below them was made of ice. "What the-"
In that second, the moon was replaced by the sun and light allowed them to see why the ground was so slippery. "Discord's turned our dirt roads into soap," Twilight growled, trying to keep her balance.
It was here that Discord decided to appear again, skating along the ground without issue. "Beautiful isn't it?" He asked as he pointed towards the town. "This is the new and improved Ponyville, and these are only my first changes."
Pinkie skated past them, not looking happy about doing so. "This may look like fun, but it's not."
"Why are you doing it then?" Flash asked.
Before anything else could be said, Discord appeared next to them and picked the two up. "Picture it," he said as he gestured them towards Ponyville, "the chaos capital of the world." However, as he did this, the moon and sun swapped again, making it impossible to see.
"I can't picture anything," Twilight deadpanned, slightly growling. "Its too dark."
Discord let go, causing them to crash into the ground. "Well, just wait a few minutes and you'll see it in the beautiful light of day again."
"Ever heard of overkill?" Flash replied, dusting himself off with his wings. "If this is supposed to intimidate us, its not working." Discord just shrugged, before ballet leaping over Twilight and disappearing. Flash then let out a sigh before giving Twilight his hoof, helping her up. As he did, Twilight looked at their home's new look.
"Ponyville," Twilight said in horror, "the chaos capital of the world."
"We can't let that happen." Flash commented with determination. "No way."
"Right." Twilight nodded, the two glancing at each other before walking towards Ponyville again. No matter what, they wouldn't allow Discord to get away with what he was doing. Even if it took a miracle, they would succeed in saving their home.