//------------------------------//
// A Princess' Rescue 
// Story: Those Left Behind 
// by the7Saviors 
//------------------------------//

I felt my heartbeat steadily regulate itself as I returned from what should've been my death for the second time.

I could tell that no matter how many times I'd have to go through this, I would never get used to it. If I had found out that I was an immortal creature who could just bounce back from true death when my friends and the rest of Equestria were still around, I would've had a terrible time of it.

I would most likely have broken down worse than I did back during the Smarty Pants incident, I would've probably been worse off than Pinkie was when she thought we were abandoning her, I would've probably tried to do something stupid and hurt somepony in the process.

I knew though, that my friends and Princess Celestia would've done something to stop me before I went too far. Sure, there had been times where I had felt like they didn't appreciate me or abandoned me, but those times were few and far between.

Now?

Now my friends were dead, my sister-in-law was a homicidal monster, and both Celestia and Luna were no doubt on their way to becoming the same. Now I had no reason to care that I was immortal save for the fact that I couldn't take the easy way out of this endless nightmare.

Still, I had made it this far, and at this point, I don't think I would've done myself in even if I could. I was alive, I had a mission to accomplish now, and as long as I still continued to draw breath, I wouldn't just roll over and die—not until that monster was dead at any rate.

With that thought in mind, I slowly opened my eyes, half expecting Cadence to bite down on my neck and tear it out. What I saw instead, was an uneven, rocky ceiling softly lit by a bright and warm orange glow.

My ear twitched at the sound of a crackling fire somewhere nearby and I turned to see not a fire, but a massive sea of lava surrounding a blackened stone pathway outside the mouth of the cave I was apparently in.

Flames did indeed lick at the edge of the pathway, and if I listened closer, I could hear the lava bubbling continuously. It was only then that I noticed how hot it was—almost unbearably so.

My mind reeled in confusion as I took in the odd sight before me. How did I get here? Where even was here? Who—


"And she lives!"


My eyes widened even further at the sound of that voice. That achingly familiar voice. For a moment I just sat there staring at the world outside, but seeing nothing as my mind went back.

Back to a time when my friends and I banded together to stop a mad villain from warping the world into his own twisted version of reality... and almost failed. Back to a time when we released that same villain only a couple of years later and taught him the magic of friendship.

Back to a time when things were so simple.

I ignored the silent tears streaming down my face as I slowly sat up from my supine position and turned in the direction of the chipper, yet oddly, weak voice. There, sitting against the wall at the far end of the cave next to an elaborately decorated ebony doorway and giving me a weak smile... was Discord.

Discord.

The draconequus was alive.

He was alive.

Somepony else was alive.

"Welcome back to what was once the land of the living, Sparklebutt."

I ignored the greeting along with everything else around in that moment—desperate for some kind of evidence that he was real and I hadn't gone insane. I hardly even noticed myself moving towards the chaotic being until I was a leg's length away from him.

He raised a bushy eyebrow at me as I sank to my haunches and tentatively—almost fearfully—reached a shaky hoof out to touch his arm. I gasped quietly as he moved his arm away, only to grab my leg in his talons and lift it up slightly.

"Yes, Twilight Sparkle, I'm real and very much alive... for the time being anyway," he said with a wry grin before letting go and slumping back against the wall, "I wanted to jump out and rescue the damsel in distress like some noble hero, but I'm afraid I just... don't have it in me at the moment."

He made an odd choking noise that might've been an attempt at a chuckle. I had been standing there, leg still raised and staring at it in disbelief up until that point, but at the pitiful sound, I finally turned my full attention to Discord.

The draconequus was in terrible shape. 

I wouldn't have known that by just looking at him, though. On the outside, he looked like his normal mismatched self, but there was something in the way he spoke, the way he sat slumped against the cave wall, and... there was something else.

My expression turned  to one of shock and dismay when I finally figured out what it was that felt so off about Discord.

He was fading.

If I stared at him long enough, every now and then he would turn transparent—only slightly, but just enough to be barely noticeable to somepony who was paying close attention.

"D-Discord?" I said in a quiet, terrified voice as I took a step back—my silent tears from earlier falling from my eyes once more, "you... y-you're—"

"Oh, come on, don't be like that, Twilight," Discord interjected with a roll of his eyes, "I didn't pull you out of the fire and into the frying pan so you could break down on me."

"B-But... but you're fading!" I cried, taking a step forward, "Discord... are you... are you dying?!"

"Um... yes?" Discord replied with another raise of his brow, "did you not hear my ominous 'for the time being' comment earlier?"

"But... no!" I replied, growing more frantic by the second, "Discord, you can't die! Aren't you immortal, like me? Aren't you the God of Chaos? I... I just found you!" I grabbed his arm and stared into his eyes with a desperate, pleading expression, "I can't lose you! Not you too! Not... not when I finally—"

I was cut off as he put a paw against my muzzle and gently pushed me away.

"Twilight," he replied, his expression uncharacteristically solemn, "first of all, I'm the Lord of Chaos, not a god. Second of all, my immortality works a bit differently than yours or the other Princesses."

He turned away from me to look at the large and ornate black door at the back of the cave. Silence reigned for a moment as he continued to stare at the door and I continued to wait for an explanation.

"I'm much more closely tied to my aspect than you alicorns are to yours, Twilight," he finally said in a subdued tone, "it's both the boon and the curse of being who and what I am, as well as what I represent."

"W-What do you mean?" I asked, dreading the answer, "Discord, what are you talking about?"

The draconequus went quiet for another moment before letting out a weary sigh and turning back to me.

"As long as there is Order, there will always be Chaos," he finally replied, "one can't exist without the other, and since there is no one and nothing to keep Order in the world..."

"...you can't exist as the aspect of Chaos," I finished in a horrified whisper, "but... but wait," I shook my head and looked at him in confusion, "I'm still here, and Celestia and Luna... might still be here too! Doesn't that mean you can still—"

"Even if Sunbutt, Loony, and... the other alicorn whose name I didn't bother to remember, still had their faculties, all four of you together wouldn't be enough to keep me alive for very long," he snorted, "it's a miracle I've even survived this long."

"And... and there's nothing I can do?" I asked, knowing the answer all too well, "there's nothing that can save you?"

"Nope," he replied with a shrug before giving me an amused smirk, "not unless you can find a way to repopulate the planet on your own," he gave another choked laugh before wincing and fading out almost completely for a split second, "oh... well that's not good..."

"Discord?" I asked, my panic rising back up as I rushed back to his side, "Discord, please don't disappear! Not... not yet! I'm not ready, I... I... don't want to be alone again!"

"Sorry, Sparkles, but you're just gonna have to deal with it," Discord responded shakily lifting his claw, "I didn't drag my sorry carcass to Tartarus and rescue you from Little Miss Hates-a-Lot for my health and well-being, I came here to help you do what you need to do and nothing more."

Before I could question what he meant, he snapped his claw. The ground began to rumble and I turned towards the mouth of the cave just in time to see the black stone pathway rise up out of the lava on a pair of spindly black legs and position itself before the entrance to another cave much higher up on the wall opposite of where I was.

"It isn't much, but that should make it a bit easier to get where you need to go."

I turned back to Discord who—much to my horror—was now flickering in and out of existence at an alarming rate.

"Discord!" I cried, grabbing the disappearing draconequus tight around the middle, "come on, Discord, don't do this, please!"

"It's already done, Sparklebutt," Discord replied, patting me on the head and smiling ruefully, "that was all I had left. I knew Celestia would break down and either come here herself, or send one of the other Princesses down here to nab that infernal power eventually... so I came here and waited."

He gave another choked laugh and for the first time since I had known him, gave me a genuine smile free of any sarcasm, mockery, or any other kind of antagonistic emotion.

"If it's any consolation, I'm glad Sunbutt decided to send y—"

And just like that, I was grabbing at nothing but thin air.

I hit the ground and stayed there, trying and failing to process the fact that I had lost the only other living thing in existence that wasn't a monster, or about to become one.

I don't know how long I was in that cave, quiet and unwilling to move from that spot as I stared at nothing in particular. It seemed like ages, but eventually I blinked my tears away and slowly rose from the ground. I turned to face the path ahead and, doing my best to ignore the hollow feeling clawing its way into my chest, I moved forward.

I had something I needed to take care of, and nothing would stop me now.