Deep in a dark alleyway, late at night, Tirek clung to the shadows, keeping as low a profile as he could. The power he took from that one Magicborn had finally integrated itself into his physical body, he was much less fragile, looking more like a 75-kilogram eighty-year-old man. He kept his cloak on and the hood down. He was waiting to find someone alone. But most of the Mysticans out at this late hour were in groups or were Skyborn or Earthborn women and men of… questionable repute, offering… unique service to Magicborn men and women that valued not only the services but the implied discretion on the providers’ part. Tirek wanted to roll his eyes, these Magicborn could take what they wanted from the Skyborn and Earthborn in question. Much like he could take what he wanted.
However, he knew he had to be discreet, he couldn’t afford to be found out, at least not yet. After another hour he found a man that gave off the aura of magic Magicborn gave. He didn’t see the man’s face, but he knew this Magicborn was very powerful, may be powerful enough that he could soon start draining Earthborn’s of their magic. He crept slowly, a quiet as a shadow and was about to grab the man’s shoulder when his head spun around like an owl. “Good evening Tirek.” the man said.
He then turned his body around spinning it the other way. It was… “Discord?” Tirek asked as he tilted his head to his left. “Is that you?” Tirek knew Discord, more so by reputation and the statue. But Discord’s current form was so… human, it made the Erisadies look less like the embodiment of Chaos he was and more … well like a madman.
“Oh, like my new form, fooled you into thinking I was a Magicborn,” Discord then snapped his fingers, he stood a little over seven feet tall his horn-like hair became like a deer’s antler and an elongated goat’s horn. His left arm was once again a raptor’s talon, his right arm a lion’s foreleg. His pauldrons became wings with his left one being an avian wing and his right one being a bat-wing. His left leg was a goat’s with his right was more akin to a lizard’s. His shirt’s tail changed to be a serpentine-draconic. He was once again in his ‘true’ form.
Tirek was no fool, he knew Discord was an egoist, but he had to build up to playing to the avatar’s of chaos ego, it was a gamble, but he needed Discord to turn and join him if he were to have any hope to succeed. “What shocks me more is that you out and about.” Tirek then looked around. “You are free, aren’t you. Or is this some kind of a trick on Celestia’s and Luna’s parts.”
Discord had transformed into a vulture-like version of his normal state on a golden perch. “I am as free as a bird and I am the real thing.” Discord then transformed back into his ‘proper’ form and snapped his talons as a cotton candy cloud appeared and poured chocolate milk onto Tirek.
Tirek frowned at first, but he knew he had to placate Discord. He took off his hood, revealing his face and head fully. He then genuflected to Discord on his left knee, turning his torso to his left as he brought his left arm back and his right arm across his chest as he also lowered his head in a bow. “I am truly humbled to be in your presence. Your escape is a feat worthy of epics. Sadly all I can do is to commend you.” All the while Discord was munching on the cloud as it was crunchy candy.
After he finished his snack, Discord turned to the spellthief. He had his fun and he knew he had to be serious. A slight scowl came on his face before he addressed his query, “I can’t say that the feeling is mutual, T-man.” Discord then snapped his talon and Tirek was both in a cage and in shackles. Tirek tried to pull at the chains of the shackles, more to see if Discord was being what he was, a being of pure chaos. After the chains failed to give he tried shaking the bars but they were… “Adamantine, with trace amounts of mithril, cold iron, orichalcum, and various other metals with magical properties, my boy.” Discord said as he reclined on the exterior of the cage. “There is no way you are getting out this time around.”
“I see,” Tirek commented as he stroke his beard, “Well, it would make sense to stop me here and now while I so weak.” Tirek was acting, but Discord couldn’t tell. “Why would you let me run wild and free when you can have all of Mystica to yourself. As you clearly learned how to circumvent the Elements of Harmony and the power they have on you.” Tirek knew better than to believe what he was saying, but he had to placate Discord, it was a massive gamble as Discord could just as easily be offended as he could be complemented, an avatar of Chaos and all.
“Silly Tirek,” Discord said as he reached into the cage and patted Tirek on the head like Tirek was some sort of dog. “This is not for me. My friends asked me to.”
“Friends?” Tirek asked as if he couldn’t spit the word out of his mouth fast enough it disgusted him so. “You’re friends with these… Mysticans?! You can not be serious?”
“Yes, this is one of the few times I am. The nerve of some people.” Discord said as he turned away from Tirek and scoffed at the comment. As he turned back, “In fact, I made six friends, charming young women the lot. All of them the former bearers of the Elements of Harmony.”
This peaked Tirek’s interest, “Former bearers, you mean someone bore the Elements aside from Celestia and Luna?” Tirek had to know more.
“Yes, they even used them to release me from my prison, after putting me back in it the first time they used it. But not all relationships start out smoothly.” Discord said as he snapped his fingers showed Tirek the six young women besting him with the Elements. Tirek could not help but feel as though he met those six before, but they were still very different. For lack of a better term, it was an uncannily close to his memories. Discord then showed them setting him free, which Tirek considered one of the least intelligent decisions Celestia ever made. Discord then dismissed the images as he showed the Tree of Harmony with the Elements returned to it, “But they were so kind to return the Elements to the Tree of Harmony the day before the Summer Solstice.”
“The Tree of Harmony, you say?” Tirek said as he looked at the image of the crystalline tree, something about it seemed familiar, but like with the six bearers, he couldn’t put his finger on it. Turning back to Discord, “So the Elements no longer exist?” The spellthief wasn’t so much seeking clarification but to make sure all the ‘i’s were dotted, the ‘t’s crossed and minded his ‘p's and ‘q’s. “So there is nothing that can stop you?”
“Well there is this one thing, well person I should say.” Discord clapped his talon and paw and the cage was gone. Tirek was dressed like a stereotypical Freudian psychologist within a chair to the back side of a couch as Discord was laying down on it, “Oh Doctor Tirek, this small quiet Skyborn druid has stolen my heart. She has the most beautiful smooth pink hair, her yellow and green dress are so modest. And she has the most fitting name I have ever heard, ‘Fluttershy’. I feel like I would do anything for her.” Discord tossed on the couch unable to contain himself, “Oh Fluttershy!” Discord squeed after he said her name.
“Fluttershy…?” Tirek’s right eye was twitching as Discord described her and from the images that the Erisadies showed him, he was finally able to identify her and why she seemed so familiar, she just like Posse, the one the of the six young mages that actually turned Scopran against him. However, Tirek’s mind was also processing more, “The being closest to an actual god in this world has fallen head over heels for a …” Tirek just could not compute what his capture was thinking and saying
“Are you surprised? Almost everyone I tell has been.” Discord snapped the end of his tail and Tirek was back in the cage as Discord was leaning against it.
“Not so much who you have…” Tirek took a second to find the best word “...befriended, Discord. But what does shock me is that you fail to see that you have traded one prison for another and have rejected your nature lest you go back into the prison you think is the worse.”
Discord’s wings had both become the white feathery wings associated with angels, a halo over his head and he was playing a golden eight-stringed handheld harp, “I have done nothing of the sort!”
Tirek sighed before he spoke, this was a fake sigh but Discord did not pick up on it, “I have seen this before. A powerful being had his nature change by interacting with six young women, namely a druid. Then again his will was always weak. But you, you are Discord, you are a legend, you cannot fall into the same trap that claimed my brother!”
“Trap. What trap?” Discord was caught off guard, he could have sworn that he had Tirek in the cage, that the spellthief was the one that fell into his trap.
“Let me answer that Socatically, this ‘friendship’ you have, how did it come to be?” Tirek said as he held his hand together with a small smile growing on his face as he could tell that the tables were starting to turn in his favor.
Discord scratched his head with his talon before he answered. “Well, Celestia thought that Mystica would benefit from an alliance with me so she tasked Fluttershy to… reform me.” Discord dropped to his knees as things began to dawn on him in a new light.
“And what did she do, trick you into helping her around her home, one small chore at a time?” Tirek asked as he rubbed his beard, Discord’s silence spoke more volumes than his words ever could. “I see. Might I ask did she initiate the actual ‘friendship’?”
“She convinced me to give each of the six one request that I am bound to fulfill. And her request was to be her friend…” Discord answered he had not once looked up only down to the ground and to the side.
“I see…” Tirek pondered.
Discord then shook his head, as he looked up to Tirek in anger. He knew couldn’t take Tirek at his word, the spellthief didn’t know his relationship to Fluttershy, “No. No. Fluttershy gets me, we have tea at her home every Tuesday, she makes the best finger foods and makes me feel at home in her cottage.”
Tirek was unmoved, he knew he had hit a nerve, all he had to do was strike while the iron was hot, “Does she treat you like she treats her other friends?”
Discord had to look down again as he thought about the question and how his friendship and Fluttershy had played out thus far, “Well.. um… no.” However, he again looked up to Tirek to challenge the spellthief. “But I am a lot newer to the whole friendship thing, also you can’t expect a woman to treat a male friend like one of her female friends, nor can you treat me like a human. I am Discord after all.”
Tirek only smiled as he pressed the matter, unphased by the boiling rage just under the Erisadies' skin, “But what about her friends, how do they treat you?”
The fire went out as Discord looked into the void between him and Tirek, he tried to be resolute, but his voice shook as he answered, “Well they don’t trust me. But I often pull the worst aspects of themselves out of them and I have got out of my way to mess with them and …. And…”
“They have you shackled with what they call ‘friendship’. They have placed you in another prison. But unlike the last one, this one has the illusion of agency and independence.” Tirek stated, Discord could not argue, he could see Tirek's point, he was in another prison, a prison he made for himself thinking he was free. “Help me in my quest, set me free from these shackles. And I will set you free from the shackles of friendship these Mystican have placed on you. I will help you achieve true freedom.” Tirek offered as he reached out his right hand to Discord, “Once I've collected all the Mystican magics, I can think of nothing more pleasureful than seeing their world turned on its head. And I cannot imagine anyone better to do that than the very avatar of chaos.” Discord looked at the hand and started to bring his paw up, but he pulled it back as he let it fall to the ground. “Help me and join me, Discord, let me help you reclaim your true greatness.” Tirek paused as he took a step back within the cage as Discord looked at the ground in forlorn sorrow, “Unless, of course, this is the role you always wanted to play; someone else’s 'errand boy'.” Discord looked up to Tirek then the night sky and then to Tirek, his eyes were lifeless, his skin seemed to turn pale by two shades as if the life was drained out of it.
“I.. I...I…” Discord said as he raised his talon as if to snap it.
The following morning as everyone was back to looking through the books, they had covered all but a dozen books and were reading them currently, this was mostly due to Twilight’s and Pinkie Pie’s abnormally almost insane high reading speed and near-perfect retention rate, for Twilight she was an avid and prolific reader before she became a demigod, and her reading speed had only increased exponentially and retention rate had also improved to a state for all practical purposes 100%. As for Pinkie… well enough said. Twilight had put down the last book from the library that she was reading and looked at the group journal, it was the only thing that had not been read in this quest, ‘Maybe the old troll might actually have been helping us out,’ She first read it front to back, nothing stuck out. She looked at the book, taking in the five bookmarks, she opened the book and used them as a reference point, as she read each one she saw a few common themes, her friends were point to a test of their element, they made the right choice at the moment it mattered and they were each given an item from someone who seemed to learned from them. She looked up and saw Flash had collected the last of the other books, boxed them and Brighteyes was about to fly off taking them to the Chantalot Archives. Flash was packing up all the things he and the C.M.C. brought, with the three younger girls’, Spike and the rest’s help. “Sorry Twilight, but this was a bust,” Flash commented, not knowing about the journal. With everything packed, he and the C.M.C. started out, “I got to get back to town, I have to oversee a drill between the garrison and the Magiville militia.”
“We got to get back for school, Miss Cheerilee is having us watch the drills,” Sweetie Belle informed.
“Yeah, military history is the major subject of the week,” Scootaloo added sounding more sarcastic than generally excited.
“Well, yall behave now, Sugarcubes.” Applejack and the others waved the four off. The five young women and Spike then turned to Twilight. “So any luck?”
“I think I found something.” Twilight stated, since everyone was already looking at her there was no need for a ‘eureka!’like declaration in her voice. “I was re-reading our journal, and I noticed a few things on it the sections Discord bookmarked.” Twilight then opened the journal to the entry denoted by the orange bookmark. “Applejack, you remember when you told everybody that the tonic the Flim Flam brothers didn't really work?"
Applejack leaned against the closest wall as she thought back to that day, three weeks before the Mystica Games, while everyone else was otherwise out of town, Twilight and Rainbow were searching for A.K. Yearling, Rarity was looking for the perfect place for her future Chantalot shop, Fluttershy was still helping chart a route for the Breezies and Pinkie was spending time with Maud at the Pie family Rock Farm, following the whole ‘Make-Maud-Friends-with-My-Friends’ near disaster. “Ah’ll never forget.” She took out a one-bit coin and looked at it.
Applejack was shocked at what Silver Shill said, she looked away unsure what to do until she saw Braeburn take one of the tonics, she saw a rainbow made of the colors orange, yellow, alabaster, cyan, purple and pink glitter on the bottle. Applejack’s eyes then reflect the same rainbow and she knew what she had to do. As Braeburn was about to drink the tonic that Flim and Flam sold. Applejack took her lasso and pulled it away. “STOP!!!” she shouted. Everyone turned to the paladin as she drew her sword and point it into the air, “Zona Vero!” she shouted as a clear bubble formed around those gathered. “That tonic is nothing more than the juiced beet leaves and old apples. It has no healing properties. Ah been equivocating for those charlatans!” she said pointing to Flim and Flam. “They have done nothin’ but con yall of yar hard earned bits! And Ah helped them.” Applejack lowered her head in regret.
Silver Shill then stepped forward and threw the portable tray he had on the ground. “So have I, I have helped them con you all and many others. Not only that I helped them force Applejack into equivocating on their behalf. I am sorry.”
“Thank yah, Silver.” Applejack said as she accepted Silver’s apology. Her face, however, grew stern as she turned back to Flim and Flam, “But no more and never again!” She made a cross with her right hand as it glowed green like a granny smith apple. “Ah curse myself, should Ah ever help these two with lies and equivocations, may Ah die where Ah stand!” Applejack’s body then glowed with golden delicious yellow light as the curse took hold. She then turned to Flim and Flam and making the same cross pointing at them. “And Ah curse yah two, too. May yah never leave Las Magus ‘til yah both become honest men, through and through.” The brother’s bodies also glowed the same shade of yellow. “And leave your ill-gotten gains!” After making the curse on the brothers, Applejack swung her blade as granny smith green bolt appeared to be sent from it striking the two and sending them flying.
Back in the present, “Still have the coin Silver gave mah.” Applejack said as she flipped the coin into the air and caught it with her right hand. “Ah have tried tah equivocate but Ah knew then and there that Ah can no longer rely on anything short of the truth. So what does that has to do with openin' the chest?”
Twilight then turned to the entry by Fluttershy, “Well each of you faced a situation where living up to your Element of Harmony wasn't easy and it wasn't clear how." Twilight then face Fluttershy, "Fluttershy, it was when you realized that the way to show kindness to the Breezies was by forcing them to leave your home."
Fluttershy thought back to that day as she took her pouch off of her belt and opened it, in it was the small blue flower from the Breezie’s Mound, “Oh, I remember the looks on their poor little faces!”
Fluttershy had just told the bees to go back to their hive and turned to Seabreeze. “Menkyulen. Thank you! Thank you so much! Thank you for coming after me!” The small fairy said as he hugged her and then sat down on a branch so that they were at eye-level.
Fluttershy gave a smile as she looked at Seabreeze, “Of course. You could've gotten seriously hurt out there. Even Magiville is much too dangerous for you on your own. At your size, even one tiny acorn is a threat!” Fluttershy pointed out as she reached her right hand to Seabreeze silently offering to carry him back.
Seabreeze threw his arms into the air, expressing his frustration over the situation, “Yeah, I know! That is one reason why I have been trying to get us to go from the beginning!"
Fluttershy was a little taken aback, but the direness of Seabreeze’s situation was finally dawning on her, “Oh, my goodness. I was just trying not to hurt any creature's feelings, but my displays of kindness may have cost you everything…” She gasped as she realized how little time Seabreeze and the others Breezies have before they would be trapped outside of their mound. “Time is running out, and you may never make it home!”
Seabreeze gave a sigh before he spoke, “That is exactly what I have been telling all of them! But they do not listen to me! Nobreezie ever listens to me!” He turned away from Fluttershy and looked down towards the ground forlorn and dejected.
Fluttershy placed a finger on his shoulder as a soft smile grew on her face, “Seabreeze, I understand your feelings are hurt, but it's hard for them to hear you when you're shouting and being mean. The message doesn't get across.”
Seabreeze turned to Fluttershy and pointed towards the beehive he barely escaped from, “But what about those bees? You were not nice to them, and that was the only way they listened!
Fluttershy shook her head at first, she could not help but feel that Seabreeze was conflating being firm with being abrasive “Yes, but they had to go, and they wouldn't listen to me any other way.” Fluttershy paused as she saw a rainbow made of the colors of orange, yellow, alabaster, cyan, purple and pink glitter on Seabreeze’s wings before her eyes reflected it. She knew then and there what she had to do. “We need to go, now!”
“But after I spoke with Seabreeze I knew that telling them that they had to go was the kindest thing I could do.” She took the flower Seabreeze gave her out of her pouch. She smelled it, “Still fresh.”
Twilight then turned to Rarity as she turned the journal to the page that was marked with a purple bookmarked which was the entry by Rarity on what happened in Manahatten, “Rarity, even after Suri took advantage of your generosity at Fashion Week in Manahattan, you didn't let it cause you to abandon your generous spirit.”
Rarity started to fiddle in her portable emergency sewing kit which had the spindle of rainbow colored thread given to her by Coco. As she took it out, she thought back to that day.
Rarity was in awe at how her hotel sheik line was a massive success among the audience. People cheering and cameras clicking all the while, “ Oh! They're liking it! I think I may have just won this thing! Oh, I can't wait to celebrate with…” As she looked at the audience only to see the section reserved for her friends was vacant. “My friends. They didn't come. What have I done?”
Before Rarity could fully let the absence of her friends and the start to recover from it, Prim Hemline took her out to the stage. Rarity didn’t know it but she was the only fashion designer that Prim ever escorted to the stage as the last model presenting her competitive line “Rarity, they all adore you! Aren't you going to tell them about your fabulous pieces?”
Rarity looked to the area her friends were to be and saw the cord that was in front of the area. She saw it glitter rainbow made of the colors orange, yellow, alabaster, cyan, purple and pink. Her eyes then flashed the same rainbow. She knew what she had to do. Shutting her eyes and leaping off the stage heading towards the back exit. “I have to go.”
Prim gasped as she called out to Rarity, “Come back at once!” The audience gasped as Prim stormed a short distance but stopped before stepping off the stage. “This is unheard of!” Phim shouted.
Back to the present as Rarity looked at the spindle for a second and then turned to her friends, “I simply couldn't have lived with myself if I didn't do something special for the friends who have always been so generous to me!”
Twilight then turned the book to the paged marked with the cyan bookmark and then turned to Rainbow Dash, “Rainbow Dash, you had the chance to fly with the Wonderbolts at the Mystica Games in the sport you wanted to be in, but instead you chose to compete with your friends.
Rainbow dug into her pockets and took out a golden Wonderbolt pin. She smiled as she thought back, “Sure!”
Rainbow was in a room of the Rainbow Falls Hospital and Soarin had just finished telling her about how he was faking his current state so that he didn’t have to make a choice. Rainbow was slightly taken aback at this among other things of recent, in particular, that what she had been told about Soarin was, in fact, a lie, ironically while trying to perpetuate a similar lie. She was ashamed of herself. She then looked at the glass of water on the stand next to her bed. She then saw it glitter with a rainbow made of the colors orange, yellow, alabaster, cyan, purple and pink. Her eyes then flashed the same rainbow. She knew what she had to do. She got out the bed. “Come on Soarin, we got work to do.”
“But being loyal to my friends was way–” Rainbow stated but was cut short.
Pinkie Pie jumped up and down cutting Rainbow Dash off, “Ooh, my turn, my turn!” She continued to bounce as Twilight turned to the page in the journal marked with the cotton pink bookmark.
“Calm down Pinkie,” Twilight said with a giggle as everyone shook their head at Pinkie’s child-like antics. As she actually looked at the entry, “you realized that seeing your friend laugh was more important than proving you were a better party planner than Cheese Sandwich.”
Pinkie reached into her hair and pulled out the rubber chicken Boneless. She looked at him and thought back to that day, Rainbow’s birth-iversary.
The almost titanic pinata nearly crushed Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie gasped as she ran to Rainbow Dash. After the dust cleared, Rainbow was unharmed but it was a near miss. “Rainbow's not having the best party ever!” Pinkie said realizing how close her friend was to being killed. Pinkie looked up and her eyes flashed a rainbow made of the colors orange, yellow, alabaster, cyan, purple and pink.She knew what she had to do. “I... I broke the Pinkie Party Promise! Stop! The goof off is off!” She shouted having everything come to a halt which was not already stopped by the near miss. Everyone was muttering in confusion.
“But I haven't named a winner.” Rainbow said as she brushed herself off, shaking off what happened in her usual manner.
Pinkie Pie shook her head as turned to Rainbow Dash, “You don't have to. I forfeit. Which means... Cheese Sandwich wins.” Pinkie was the verge of tears and ran to Sugarcube Corner.
Back in the present, “Best party I've ever had to date. You and Cheese were awesome.” Rainbow said as she hugged Pinkie.
Pinkie returned to the hug, “Yeah and Cheese was such a great sport.”
“It's clear we've all had our moments to shine, Twilight, but I'm with Applejack. What does any of this have to do with the opening of the chest?” Rarity commented as they all turned back to Twilight.
Twilight shut the book, “You all had a tough choice to make.” Twilight looked to each of her friends, “Yet you each made the right one and embraced your element. And in the process showed that virtue to someone else and help them, in turn, make the right choice too.” Twilight then looked at what was in each of her friends' hands. "Each of you received something from the person you helped.”
“Are you suggesting that these five otherwise everyday items will lead us to the keys?” Rarity’s eyebrow rose, finding the notion preposterous.
“I know it sounds crazy, but the chest is connected to the Tree of Harmony, the Tree is connected to the Elements, and the Elements are connected to all of us. And we are connected to the five people you have helped through these items. There must be a connection!” Twilight then taught about the conclusion she made, she would have never considered this .. well insane notion if Discord had not bookmarked the pages and made a big deal about himself reading it. “Looks like you were right Fluttershy, Discord was trying to be helpful after all.”
At the box, ten minutes later, as they all looked at the items each of them was given since the Summer Sun Celebration, less than two months ago. As Twilight scanned each with her magic, “I am not finding anything, no clues about the keys’ location. They’re… just what they are.” Twilight sighed in frustration. The only clue they had was a much a dead end to everything, Discord must have been messing with her, again.
Pinkie picked up Boneless and started shaking the rubber chicken with an angry snarl on her face and before she shouted at it, her anger was borderline comical, but it was also unnerving as it reminded the others of that one time someone broke a ‘Pinkie Promise’. “BONELESS! GIVE ME THE KEY!” She threw the rubber chicken at the box, as it struck the box it squeaked upon impact. As it bounced back a light came from the box from the keyholes and Boneless was transformed into a golden lever-lock key, it's shaft looked like a group of balloon strings and the bow was themed after Pinkie Pie’s three balloon Aura Mark. As everyone watched on, the key then floated to one of the keyholes showing that it had Pinkie’s Aura Mark etched around it.
Everyone looked at each other baffled at what happened. Applejack picked up her one-bit coin and placed it on the box, it followed the example of Boneless but its bow theme was the stylized apple on Applejack’s pauldrons and its shaft was like an apple tree and the keyhole showed it was etched with Applejack’s Aura Mark. Rarity took the spindle of rainbow thread and did like Applejack’s coin and Boneless but the theme was her three sapphires cut into kites. Fluttershy did the same thing with the flower Seabreeze gave her and then Rainbow with the pin Spitfire gave her. Both items emulated the previous three but each themed after Fluttershy’s and Rainbow Dash’s Aura Marks respectively. Twilight looked at the box, now with the five keys, “So Discord was helping… in his own twisted way.” Twilight then took a long look at the empty keyhole. “But there’s still a key missing. My key. The one for the element of magic.” Twilight then looked at the ground a soft sad frown on her face.
“I am certain that since we each found our own key, you must have also, Twilight,” Fluttershy said as she placed a hand on Twilight’s shoulder in an attempt to comfort her.
“Think, Twilight.” Rarity said as she also placed her hand on Twilight’s shoulder, but while Fluttershy was from Twilight’s back, Rarity was in front of Twilight. “When have you completed a difficult magical task, and as result, someone was encouraged to do the same?”
Twilight thought back, but nothing that matched what each of her did came to mind for her, “That’s just it Rarity, since the Summer Sun Celebration, I haven't. The closest thing was when Discord sought to ruin my day with Cadance.” Twilight then walked away from Fluttershy and Rarity, in fact, she avoided Applejack, Rainbow, and Pinkie and walked to the Tree of Harmony. “But that was Discord throwing my title in my face and all I got out of that was a headache and sore wings. If I had gotten anything like what you all got or had an experience where I proved my element, I would have written about it in the journal.” Twilight groaned as punched the tree, it was not hard or intended to cause damage. “So much for all that help, Discord. We might have five keys, but without the sixth key we might as well have none of them.”
Spike walked up to Twilight and gave her a hug, like a younger brother would an older sister, “Don't worry Twilight. You'll find your key.” Spike started to encourage, but he then started to inhale sharply thrice before he exhaled one of his green message sending flames as a scroll with the seal of Celestia and Luna appeared. Twilight caught it and opened it. “I hate it when Celestia does that.” He groaned before he and the others turned to Twilight as she opened the scroll and read it. “So what does it say?”
“That I'm needed in Chantalot at once! It’s a good thing I’ve been working on my teleportation spell. I’ll tell you all what it’s about when I get back. We’ll meet up at the Golden Oak.”
“You go, darling, time is of the essence!” Rarity ordered. Everyone else nodded in agreement as they all stepped back as Twilight cast her teleportation spell.
Twilight arrived outside the doors to the throne room in what felt like the instant she finished casting her spell. She saw that the guards at the doors were unmoved. “Princess Celestia, Luna, and Mi Amore Cadenza are waiting for you.” The one on Twilight’s right said as he opened the smaller door within the large ornate doors. Once the door was open, Twilight flew in, “I teleported so that I could come as quickly as possible!” Twilight said as she flew to Celestia, Luna, and Cadance. The three were at the far end of the room. “What’s wrong?” Twilight asked as she landed in front of older princesses. She doubted Celestia would summon her if all was well.
Celestia sighed as she conjured projection gem and had it send images out, it was of Discord dressed as a magician that would pass through the Dodge Junction/Appaloosa area with the fake thin mustache, black and white wand and tall hat to boot. He was on a stage with a full audience of Magicborn. He placed the hat on the ground, he tapped it and the hat became Tirek. The spellthief still looked like a frail eighty-year-old man, using the staff to support himself. “I'm afraid I trusted Discord and the effect that Fluttershy’s friendship would have upon him too much,” Celestia said as Twilight saw the crowd drained of their magic as Tirek started to become healthier in his appearance. “As you saw Discord has betrayed Mystica and joined forces with Tirek. “ Celestia said as the image changed to Las Magus, one of the Skyborn majority city as Discord carried Tirek up to one of the walkways designed for the Magicborn and Earthborn residents and visitors. Discord then teleported everyone into a titanic slot machine pulled the lever got three Celestia icons and all the people came out utterly confused and disorientated allowing Tirek to drain all their magic.
Twilight didn’t need to be told how powerful Tirek had become as she saw the recordings of him draining the magic of Skyborn and Earthborn. It was only a matter of time before he would be able to take the magic of demigods and it was all thanks to Discord. “How could Discord do this?!” She asked in anger over Discord’s action. “I thought our friendship meant something to him! I thought he had changed.”
“Discord is the embodiment of chaos, it is foolish to impose our understanding of the world and actions on him,” Cadance said trying to offer some comfort to her sister-in-law. As she spoke the projection gem showed Discord and Tirek going to other cities across Mystica, and Discord making it easy for Tirek to drain the Mystican’s of their magic. All the while Tirek seemed to become younger and younger, healthier and healthier, stronger and stronger, more and more fit, etc, etc.
“But we are running out of time. We must act lest Tirek claims our demigod magic as well. If that were to happen all would be lost.” Luna interjected calling out the severity of the situation.
“We do have one solution. It is not a good one, but it’s the only viable option open to us currently.” Celestia said as she turned off the projection gem. The point had been made to Twilight as the youngest princess turned to her mentor, wondering what solution Celestia had. Celestia then looked at Twilight, much like how she did when she took Blueblood’s console to send Discord alone, a stern and reluctant look, “We must rid ourselves of our magic before Tirek can steal it from us.” Twilight could only gasp in response.