One night early in the war, unbeknownst to the world, a plan was executed. One that sealed the fate of the ponies and removed their greatest weapons from play before they could even become a threat.
Dragon king Ember sat on her throne. Before her was a swarm of dragons demanding actions in the rising war. Some wished to aid the ponies, very few wished to stay out of the war, and the vast majority wanted to go to war against the two weakened nations. They all knew her decision before she spoke. The young dragon king stood staff in claw.
“SHUT UP!... We will aid our pony allies, they would do the same for us. Those of you who want to fight can leave as soon as you are ready. You’ll meet with Princess Twilight and from there she will send you where you are needed.” She sat, cheers erupting from the dragons. Her sigh was lost in the excitement as the crowd cleared out, such a violent group. Not that she didn’t enjoy it herself but she was disappointed to see years of peace with the other races had done little to cool their blood.
As the crowd cleared only a few remained in the cavern, two large dragons on either side of her and two strangers in front of her. The dragons weren’t surprising, it was a regular occurrence for others to try and woo, bribe, or challenge her. In a one on one fight she could hold her own, and should they cheat she simply used the staff and they would stop in their tracks. Absolute control of her subjects seemed cruel but she had come to learn it was a necessity when it came to dragons.
But it was not dragons that stood before her, nor was it ponies, or changelings, or even gryphons. No Before her stood two emissaries of the Zebra. The dragoness glared at the newcomers. Someone let them in, the question was who?
“What do you want?” She raised an eyebrow, surprised they even made it here.
The one on the left spoke up, his voice was soft with a thick accent, something that reminded her of a snake covered in oil “Your highness, we come in the hopes of reaching an agreement.”
“Why would I make any agreement with you? You’re the ones threatening and attacking my friends and allies. Why are you even here?”
The second spoke up, her voice was young and demanding; it also lacked an accent. Born in Equestria, and now betraying them, how dragon like. “We request you do not aid Equestria in the coming war. In exchange, you’ll be given a healthy share of anything found south of Canterlot and will be given large swaths of Equestrian lands after the war has ended.”
The king scoffed “Or I can aid the Equestrians and take from you what I want. Many dragons have already made it clear their stance on the war and staying out of it was never an option.”
“So we noticed, perhaps you would reconsider your options then. Join the us and you can have anything you find and any lands you conquer.”
“This isn’t a debate, you need the leave. The dragons will aid their allies in Equestria as is my will as the dragon king.”
The male frowned “I’m sorry you feel that way” His bag glowed. Magic! The dragon king lunged… and froze. Paralytic magic washed over the blue dragoness as the staff was pried out of her claw.
Garble entered the throne room, a wide grin on his face as he took the staff. He looked at the trapped female. “Bring her to my new treasure room, and make sure my newest statue looks her best”
Dread washed over Ember as Garble left to address the dragons outside. In an instant everything she had worked for was gone. With the staff on dragon could resist Garble’s commands. This was the worst thing that could possibly happen. Had she known what was coming, the ex-dragon king would have reconsidered.
As Garble left the cave he rumbled deeply with joy. Before him stood an army of dragons; one that would be finally unleashed on the ponies that lived so close. Raising the staff a ripple of magic washed over the crowd lighting their scales in a call to war. “We will attack the ponies, they are weak and rich. It is time their castles of crystal and chests of gold were ours!”
A cheer ripped through the crowd, only a few abstained. Not all dragons were for this, in fact many of the youngest generation had friends in the pony lands. That night they gathered in secret to try and make sense of what happened and to discuss what to do. As they gathered and whispered they failed to notice the cave entrance being blocked. Garble was determined to snuff out any defiance in his subjects. Soon they clawed at the walls as lava then water filled the chamber trapping them in volcanic rock. No, the new king wouldn’t allow anyone to stand against him.
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The Mane six were in Twilight’s castle, staring at the map. It had been sometime since they had all gathered here at once and even longer since they had needed to wield the elements, or even intervene in anything worse than the regular friendship problem.
Most of the mares still lived much as they had; Applejack worked the farm with her kids, Pinkie Pie now ran Kandy Corner with the Cake twins and her daughter, Fluttershy cared for injured animals, and Twilight studied magic and did her best to be a princess. Rarity and Rainbow Dash had both been been forced to retire from their respective fields due to age and the changing tastes of the country.
Time had been less kind to the mares themselves compared to their occupations. Of the six, Rainbow had aged the worst. The constant stress of pushing herself had began to dull her coat, the high energy, hyper physical lifestyle and constant injuries had taken a toll on her body as well. On top of now mourning her parents and the loss of her childhood home the technicolored daredevil was struggling to keep together.
Rarity’s mane had begun degrading as had her coat. Years of product, sunlight, and constant stress threatened her once iconic appearance. Now it was a daily fight to keep bags out from under her eyes and prevent any hair loss. On top of her appearance she now suffered mild paranoia and anxiety.
Applejack was much the same. She had put on a little weight but was quick to point out “you try rise'n two foals and not gaining a little weight!”. Her eldest has recently passed leaving her to raise her granddaughter much as Granny smith had done with her. This now left the sleep deprived mare to half-doze at the table as this was the first silence she had heard in months.
Pinkie Pie had somehow avoided gaining any weight despite her high sugar-high calorie diet and raising a daughter on her own. Other than minor short-term memory issues (Caused by years of cannon launches) she was much the same.
The last two had aged by far the best though. Discord had seen to it that Fluttershy didn’t age making her appear as she did when they first met. Her weekly tea’s with Discord continue and she regularly cares for injured animals making her the only one of her friends whose life hasn’t changed since they stopped adventuring. She was quieter than normal today though, she had lost her family as well in the Cloudsdale attack. The toll was already high, how could the win if this was how things were going already?
Twilight was still ‘growing into’ her alicorn body, she now stood a hair taller than the others with a horn just longer than the average unicorn. Teaching had done wonders for her perfectionism and tendencies to overthink. She had spent much of the last few years pouring over Starswirl's library in Celestia’s castle.
The magic of the Elements and the tree had protected all of them from anything crippling, but they still aged. Most of them weren’t young mares anymore and they knew it. A war was not something they were ready to fight, if they even could at this point.
The six sat around the normally brightly lit map, and for the second time since its creation... it had gone dark. Twilight had immediately summoned the others fearing the worst. All was silent, save for Spike cooking down the hall - ‘something to help them think’ was all he had said. The girls sat quietly, waiting for something to happen when Applejack spoke up. “We don’t need no fancy map, we’ve been fine for years without it. We’ll head to Canterlot tomorrow and get the supplies for a proper war room.”
“Agreed” Rarity added. “It will be a royal affair! I have plenty of pins we can use at the studio, you’ll be the envy of every general. OH! I need to make uniforms, I’ll do it tonight!” The girl’s attempts to lighten the mood did little. This wasn’t like old times, this was far far worse.
Spike entered the room “Hey, I made you all some tea. The cupcakes will be a bit though.”
“Cupcakes! You’re. a. genius! We’ll make cupcakes for the zeb-” Pinkie Pie was cut off.
“That’s not gonna work! Even the Wonderbolts couldn’t stop them! What makes you think cupcakes would?”
The rainbow haired mare sipped her tea, normally it would have been long gone but she needed the comfort of something warm right now. The others sat quietly as well, sipping and thinking. Soon a yawn was passed around the table. Twilight blinked the sleep out of her eyes, looking at the dragon. “That was some yawwwwn good tea… what was in it?”
The dragon looked down as the mare fell asleep. His eyes fell on a single dark rock hidden under the table, a fragment of Chrysalis’s throne. Right where he had placed it. Setting down the tray, he left the room, returning with a group of Zebra. Within moments they were all gone, leaving Spike alone. He had had no choice; this was the dragon kings will, and it was his will that Spike would forever be an outcast from both races he had failed to bring together. “Stupid staff…” he muttered, mourning the loss off so many he held dear.
He sat is a home that was no longer his, surrounded by gifts from friends that were no longer here. He locked the doors of the castle isolating himself within and slept. Dragons were known for century long hibernations, the dragon could only hope things were better by then, or that he never woke..
The next day no one knew what happened, all they knew was that the castle was sealed and the school never opened. It was days before they were able to get in and doing so server to only raise more questions. There were rumors and theories of course. Everything from them eloping with secret zebra lovers to having perished in some epic spell the effects of which wouldn't be known for years. But in truth the only one who knew was spike and no one knew how to wake a sleeping dragon...
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Discord sat, high above on a mountain ledge watching the world below. Something was brewing, he could feel a shift coming on as for the first time in centuries harmony gave way and chaos began to blossom... he frowned. The first week of this war had been little else, the world was rife with chaos now, zebra scrambled to choose a side, ponies panicked, armies assembling, yes things would have been good if he didn’t have a personal stake in this. Each new shred of chaos meant things were getting worse; but this was not a shred, with was a castle sized ball of chaos. Something big was happening, something he was not looking forward to learning of.
It was early in the war, the zebra had the upperhoof at this point. The ponies simply didn’t have time to respond before the zebra were able to strike again, they seemed to have the whole war planned out already. Discord didn’t like getting involved in wars, he had a bad track record of losing… but he couldn’t stay out of this one, not much longer. If his friends had any hope of even surviving he would have to step in.
“Discord!” The voice was unfamiliar, but the ascent was unmistakable. Without turning around the ancient being calmly responded. “What do you want Muroian?” It was an ancient word, one that was old when Equestria was founded, it was the name of the first zebra tribe.
The zebra was caught off guard, as Discord had intended. “How… Discord we have come to parlay. You are the most powerful being with a sake in this war with your aid we can end it quickly and with minimal bloodshed.”
Discord turned his gaze to the zebra, and his five companions. Each carried a sack that hummed with powerful magic. They weren’t here to parlay he knew that much. “What would you have me do, vaporize a whole nation? Betray my friends? What do you have to offer that could make me do anything to aid you?”
As he watched each zebra revealed what they carried. Six large gems, five inlaid in necklaces and one on a crown. Discord’s breath caught. “How did you…?”
“We both know there’s only one way we took these without notice. We have your friends. Aid us and they won’t come to harm.”
“Blackmail then, how cliché.” He snapped his fingers and watched as the Elements evaporated in their hooves. “Now then, you’ve lost your aces and I’m still standing. Without the elements you can’t hope to stop me from doing as I will. I’m going to go find Fluttershy and you’re going to report back saying you failed and the war is over.” The zebra backed up, joining ranks with the other five. He was right they were defenseless without the elements… almost.
As Discord attempted to teleport away he felt himself collide with… well something. It was odd and flexed a little under his weight but pushed back, leaving him sprawled on the mountain top. The Zebra sigh in relief, the barrier held.
Looking closer Discord saw a large bubble surrounding the mountaintop, a bubble that reeked of logic and harmony. “A barrier. You never did intent to parlay at all, why not just leave and let me find it once you were long gone?”
The leader of the zebra circled the barrier from the outside, walking over the snatch the elements from where they landed; a short distance outside the bubble. Again the Draconequus glared, he had intended to send them far and wide, across planes of existence if possible, not 10 feet away. “Because, we wanted you to know it was over. The dragons are under our control, the elements are ours, their wielders are hidden away. By the time you get out, if you ever do, the ponies will have lost and you’ll have no one left. We will keep your friends alive as insurance should you escape, they won’t be harmed or experimented on so long as you promise to save your wrath for someone else once you’re free.”
The draconequus shrugged. “I could use a vacation, come find me when it's over.” the mountain terrace became a beach paradise, complete with ocean view, palm tree, and beach chair. Discord was already lounging in said chair wearing a wide brimmed hat and sipping from a coconut. The zebra were for good reason taken aback.
“We’ll do that…” Watching him with a suspicious eye they began to descend the mountain. Trapped or not Discord had little doubt how things would turn out. His friends never failed and the bad guys always lost, a lesson he had learned personally, several times. Looking out over his personal sunset he had to hope he was right. As he sat and watched he had to wonder how the world would do without his influence.
Little did anyone know the consequences of severing the world from a being that had been absorbing its latent chaos for millenia. In places of powerful magic and growing dissonance small pockets of chaos began to coalesce into small evershifting cubes. Though visibly harmless they began unleashing their condensed chaos onto anyone unwitting enough to come into contact with them. Later named Prize Boxes they would become a sought after item as they tended to turn into potentially valuable items, however they also tended to explode, or even mutate those who seek to loot them.