The last ten minutes had been horrible for Twilight, and things only got worse with every minute that ticked by. Every one of her friends that she had managed to reunite with was acting terribly towards each other and her. Their colors were dulled, their appearances frazzled and their actions were all the exact and complete opposite of what Twilight would normally expect.
First, she had found Applejack, who she knew had been talking to somepony before she caught sight of her around the corner. When she asked about it, Applejack had said she wasn’t talking to anypony. Twilight had, at the time, surmised that she could have been nervously talking to herself, but the shifty eyes, the antsy jerk in her trotting. It was clear the earth pony farmer wasn’t being wholly honest. And that was before the uncontrollable lies began as soon as they found Pinkie.
Pinkie herself had gone from a lovable, laugh and smile-inducing party mare to, for lack of a better combination of appropriate words, a vile, rude and condescending grump. Every time somepony laughed at anything, whether it was her or not, Pinkie would take immediate, personal and very deep offense, usually going on the offensive to make the offending pony take back what they had done.
Soon after narrowly defusing a potentially violent exchange between those two, Twilight had, for a moment, been relieved when they found Rarity. Then Rarity began to display signs of overwhelming greed and, possibly, dementia or schizophrenia. She continuously proclaimed that a gargantuan boulder she had been lugging along was, in fact, an enormous and bedazzling diamond. Anytime somepony laid hooves on it, even by mistake, Rarity would more or less bit said hooves off with her angered yelling alone.
Then they found Fluttershy, who, shockingly, was even worse than Pinkie Pie was. Gone was the shy and timid pegasus who loved animals and expressed kindness and understanding towards everything around her. In her place was a ruthless, sadistic and condescending piece of work that seemed to delight in throwing insults and obliterating the morale of the whole group, all with a snide and revolting smirk gradually growing on her face.
Twilight’s already exhausted and disoriented thoughts were broken down even further by the fact that Rarity, after asking for Twilight’s help in carrying her diamond had, in a shocking display of laziness, slipped away from Twilight, leaving the bookish mare as the only one lugging along a giant and worthless chunk of stone on her already sore back.
“Rainbow… Dash… where are you…?” Twilight asked herself under her breath, her eyes losing focus, her legs burning and her back aching. “Please… be safe…” she kept on mumbling to herself, trying to drown out the non-stop bickering and fighting among the mares that had gained a significant lead on her.
Suddenly, Twilight noticed the desaturated-orange hooves of Applejack in her line of sight. She raised her weary eyes and saw Applejack, brow furrowed and eyes narrowed with scrutiny directed towards the cloud-covered sky. Her teeth then showed in an accusatory grimace. “Well, would ya lookit that? Rainbow’s flyin’ away. She’s abandonin’ us.” she spat the words as if they were bile.
Twilight scowled at the farmer, feeling the back of her head heat up with anger. She withheld any remarks that would defend Rainbow for the moment, knowing full well she would lose her temper if she did. She ground her teeth, then followed Applejack’s gaze to the clouds. Her jaw dropped… “Wha… what?!” the words were barely a whisper, her voice hitching.
For once since they entered this darned maze, Applejack had spoken the truth. Rainbow Dash, her coat just as dull as the rest, was flying away at near sonic speeds, leaving a trail of prismatic light in the air behind her.
“Rainbow…” Twilight whispered, unable to believe what she was seeing. “No…”
A predatory look entered Fluttershy’s eyes before she looked back at Twilight with a taunting grin. “Well, good riddance. She wasn’t being helpful anyway.”
There was a moment of silence before Twilight turned a cold look on Fluttershy. “Fluttershy… you know you’re my friend, but I am going to have to ask you to SHUT. THE HECK. UP!!” she practically screamed at Fluttershy, her ears going flat against her head while her coat bristled.
“Ooh, a fight!” Pinkie chirped with her own grin growing in anticipation.
“THAT GOES DOUBLE FOR YOU!” Twilight turned her ire on Pinkie, her pupils dilating with fury. “AND ALL OF YOU!”
Rarity huffed before trotting up to Twilight. There was a pause before, with a grimace of effort, Rarity placed her hoof on Twilight’s face and shoved her. Hard. The boulder came tumbling off of her back to slam into the soil, creating a sizable crater, while Twilight herself stumbled back and sprawled to the ground beneath her. Rarity shot Twilight a dirty look before once more lifting the boulder onto her back. “I don’t want that kind of attitude being used around my Tom, Twilight.”
“Tom?” Twilight asked flatly while picking herself back up. She stopped to take a deep breath, trying to calm her frayed nerves and restore some of her near depleted patience.
“Oh, boo. I thought there would be a fight, too! Princess Rainbow’s short temper and recklessness really must not have rubbed off on you as much as I thought, Twilight.” Discord’s voice echoed around them before the ground jolted. A series of flashes of light signaled the return of missing wings and horns, prompting some surprised exclamations from the assortment of ponies. The ground trembled and shook while the walls of the maze wobbled and rumbled before they collapsed, vanishing into the soil below and kicking up an enormous cloud of dust.
Twilight coughed horribly while waving a hoof in front of her to try and clear away some of the dust before her so she could breathe. Daring to crack open one of her eyes, which had screwed shut on reflex when the dust began to rise, she spotted the silhouette of Discord himself coming forward out of the haze.
He had a stern frown on his face. “But, alas, it looks like somepony broke the no wings, no magic rule!” he lifted his claws and snapped a finger. In only a matter of seconds, the sky was filled with hundreds of the cotton candy clouds from before, each one unleashing a torrential downpour of chocolate milk. A few seemed to be raining cola, but that was an irrelevant detail, Twilight decided. The master of chaos chuckled deeply in amusement before an umbrella flashed into existence in his hands. “It looks like we’re in for a big ol’ storm of chaos, girls.” he opened the umbrella.
The canopy was shaped like a cup, catching rain instead of redirecting it.
Twilight grit her teeth and stomped forward towards the now hysterically laughing draconequus. “Stop it, Discord! You’re not playing fair!”
Discord raised an eyebrow at Twilight. “Wha, I’m not playing fair- oh, ho ho, perhaps we haven’t met.” he dispelled his umbrella and stepped forward, outstretching his paw as if to shake. “I’m Discord. Spirit of chaos and disharmony. Were you even paying attention to Celestia?”
Twilight growled under her breath. “How are we supposed to find the Elements when you get rid of the labyrinth before we can reach the end?!” she demanded, stepping up to him.
Discord paused, his eyes widening a bit. “Hold on, you…” his look of surprise devolved into a series of hysterical laughs before his body slithered unnaturally to loop over Twilight’s back. He grinned at her over her shoulder, causing Twilight to look away in disgust. His breath was horrid. “You thought the Elements were inside the labyrinth?” His claws appeared before Twilight’s face before snapping.
Twilight’s vision was flooded with white.
She saw the room in which they had first heard Discord’s voice. She saw all of them looking at the stained glass windows while Discord made his speeches and taunting remarks. Finally, he grew and recited his poem, though only one part of it was audible to Twilight’s ears.
“Twists and turns on my master plan,
then find the Elements, back where you began.”
The vision shattered, leaving Twilight standing in the chocolate rain with a hanging jaw and miserable eyes. Discord appeared before her, a more subtle grin on his face. “I never said they were in the labyrinth.”
“But… but…” Twilight stuttered out, trying to piece everything together and coming up with nothing. Discord merely chuckled and began to walk away.
“Keep trying, Twilight Sparkle,” Discord said in mock consolation while strutting away. He then turned back to her. “Perhaps the magic of friendship will help you. But while you’re figuring that out, I have some chaos to wreak.” his claws snapped and he disappeared.
For a second, the only sounds were of the rain pelting the ground and the wind howling through their surroundings. Then Pinkie decided to open her big mouth. “Chocolate milk? I HATE CHOCOLATE MILK!”
Twilight looked back at her group of soon to be ex-friends with exasperation and impatience. “Hush!” she snapped before closing her eyes and trying to ignore there renewed squabbling. “Back where you began… back where you began…” she repeated, trying to find the hidden meaning of Discord’s lame riddle.
“Don’t touch my gem!” Rarity’s voice snapped angrily.
“I’m touching your rock, Rarity. Ha. ha.” Fluttershy shot back tauntingly.
“What are you laughing at?!” Pinkie seethed, approaching the two bitterly.
“You.”
Twilight sighed, unable to think straight. “I just want to go home…” she whispered, thinking back to the golden oaks. She recalled her mornings with Rainbow Dash, their banter, their occasional roughhousing. She missed it all already. Home… wait…
“That’s it! Back where you began!” Twilight perked up instantly, feeling a new spark of hope and determination igniting in her chest. “The elements must be in Ponyville!”
Ponyville looked horrible.
Twilight felt her heart sink as she beheld the town she had called home for the last nine months. Buildings had been uprooted and floated upside down. The grass and flowers had all been wiped clean, replaced with some kind of very bright checkerboard patterns of blues and pinks. Gravity had stopped working on several public benches and anything else not rooted to the soil. Many homes had become little more than tall cardboard cutouts. What few ponies there were outside were looking around in confusion and fear, unable to process what was happening around them.
The group stood outside of Ponyville on the dirt path that led into and through the town, running north and south. Twilight wasn’t sure how they had ended up south of Ponyville when Canterlot was to the north, but she chalked it up to more of Discord’s… whatever it was. Magic? No, magic made sense. This was just nonsense.
Shaking herself, Twilight began to canter towards Ponyville, eager to just get this over with. “Come on, girls. I know I have a book in the library that can help.”
Then the bunnies came.
Twilight let out a startled and pained shout when, seemingly out of nowhere, an entire herd of rabbits, all of them still on elongated legs, trampled over her, pinning her into the dirt while their feet pummeled her. Once they had passed, Twilight heard Fluttershy offer some words of approval to the lead rabbit, but she ignored her. “Right… okay…” she mumbled out while standing back up.
Then the sun went down. Instantly. It went from noon to midnight in about a second. To make matters worse, the moon was barely a crescent, granting almost no light to the now very dim world. “Wow, ah can see so much better now.” Applejack said sarcastically.
Now the ground had become slippery. Twilight cried out yet again as she lost what little balance she had, practically belly-flopping onto the now sudsy dirt road. What is even happening?! Twilight shouted in thought, struggling to keep up with the changes her world was experiencing in such rapid succession.
The sun shot back up, briefly blinding her. Once her eyes adjusted to a high light environment again, Twilight could see why the roads had become so slippery. Her frown grew and exasperated groan slipped out of her throat. “Discord’s turned our dirt roads into soap.” She bluntly stated.
The Draconequus in question went sliding by on ice skates, gracefully moving down the road in an almost dance-like fashion. “Beautiful, isn’t it?” he asked simply as he went by. He then lifted into the air and gestured to Ponyville. “This is the new and improved Ponyville, and these are only my first changes.”
Twilight opted to ignore his commentary and pushed on, focusing on keeping her balance on the stupidly slippery road. That was, of course, until Discord picked her up from behind and faced her eyes to Ponyville. “Picture it! The chaos capital of the world!”
The sun went down.
Twilight’s lips pressed into a thin line. “I can’t picture anything. It’s too dark,” she said dryly. Discord promptly dropped her.
“Well, give it a few minutes and you’ll be able to see it in the beautiful light of day,” Discord said before shrugging. “Or not.” he then jumped over Twilight and once again vanished in a flash of light.
Twilight sighed before trudging on, any and all enthusiasm she had been desperately clinging to back in the maze now thoroughly evaporated.
She took them away from me.
Rainbow’s eyes narrowed as she scanned the environment before her, dismissing any and all distractions. I’ll make her pay. She thought bitterly, the anger burning in her veins flaring up again when she recalled the face of the one she was hunting. The lilac unicorn held a twisted and evil smile, her eyes wide open and unfocused with madness.
From the cloud on which she sat, Rainbow could see the whole world.
It was just such a shame that, to her subdued and manipulated mind, the whole world was the front yard in front of Twilight’s library.