//------------------------------//
// Plans Have Multiple Steps to Them 
// Story: Harmony's Parallel 
// by Xutiepops 
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Back in a disharmonized Equestria, the rulers now had a common pastime. Watching the most evil of all of their Equestria fight and mope around for the last eleven days. And none of them were very pleased with the sight. 
Daybreakers eye twitched as Twilight just sat on her throne all day. Her hooves dug into the arms of her throne as she bared her teeth. 
Nightmare Moon sighed at the sight of everypony separating themselves from the others. Chrysalis was more than bored while Discord seemed too focused to have an opinion. Chrysalis rolled her eyes and sunk into her throne, "This was our most evil? Please, we could've gotten poor ponies to do better!" 
Nightmare Moon sighed. "As much as I'd hate to say so, I have to agree." She hung her head, "I'd never expect evil mares to care about boyfriends at a time like this." 
Chrysalis smiled slightly. "Yeah, they have to rule together! They'd get over it, but they're too stupid to realize it!" She just started laughing at the group of ponies. 
Daybreaker stared at the screen, her eyebrows furrowed as she growled under Nightmare Moon and Chysalis' laughter. "They're free to do whatever they want until an attack. They surely won't let their emotions get in the way of that." 
"You sure, sister?" Nightmare Moon asked, trying not to laugh. "Cause just the sight of Pinkamena makes Twilight sob! We should just put them out of their misery and bring them back!" Her and Chyrsalis fell into fits of laughter. 
Daybreaker stood up off her throne and set the two on fire. The two screamed and jumped off their thrones, looking to see the fire extinguished. They turned to Daybreaker with frowns. She just hissed at them, her mane rocketing up with it. The two backed away with nervous smiles, they backed onto their thrones with smiles. 
Daybreaker huffed and looked away. She walked towards the huge window and looked down at her Canterlot, the sun setting casting an orange overlay to the whole sight. "Twilight will get to see this. It's heaven. And she's evil enough to obtain it, she won't let emotions get in the way of the most important thing to her."
"What says this Equestria is the most important thing to her?" Chrysalis asked, hanging half way out of her throne. 
"The map told me a little more about her," Daybreaker stated bluntly. All she heard was a thud! and she looked back to see Chrysalis had fallen out of her throne. Chrysalis stood up and shook her head. 
"What!? How!?" Chrysalis asked, Nightmare Moon behind her in interest. Daybreaker looked at the two and couldn't help but find them adorable. They were so much younger than she was, but they always acted like sisters. But she ignored her minds want to reminisce. 
Daybreaker rolled her eyes and her head followed it. She sighed as she waltzed back to her throne. "Their tree of harmony is what keeps evil out." She deadpanned, her horn shot an orange beam at the table in front of them. The terrain on it slid into the table to create a flat surface. She shot another beam at the table, a diamond appearing on the surface of it. 
Chrysalis and Nightmare Moon stood side by side and waited for the whole thing to unravel. They thought the diamond was the end, but as Nightmare Moon went to talk, a hologram appeared. She watched as the magic from the table built up Rarity in front of them. She held a smug look on her face as she puffed out her chest. She seemingly stared down at Nightmare Moon. 
Daybreaker walked up to it and stared up at the hologram. "This table is our tree of harmony. It's the strongest piece of magic the original Equestria had. Now, it knows everypony in its radius, especially the evil ones." 
"Cooooool," Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis stated in unison as they looked at the table. Nightmare Moon had only seen it as a hoofrest before. Chrysalis turned to Daybreaker. "How do you know about this?" 
"My mother taught me how to use it before she passed," Daybreaker stated, her voice was void of any emotion. Nightmare Moon almost felt bad. Except she didn't. 
Chrysalis admired every part of the table, but she couldn't help to notice something off. She looked up at the hologram as the thing stared back down at her. She was surprised a chicken hadn't attacked the hologram yet. Actually, she was surprised that everything was normal.
She looked to Discord and saw him just staring out the window from his throne. He didn't seem like himself, not ever since yesterday. He looked bored and just thoughtful. And thinking wasn't something Discord did. 
Daybreaker noticed it too, and where Chrysalis was too embarrassed to say anything, she wasn't. "You aren't going to tamper with it?" She asked, he just glared at her. He looked even more bored. 
He snapped his fingers, a snake slithering through the hologram. The fake Rarity even reacted, she screamed and cursed at the snake as she ran from it. She was quickly just running on the table in circles as snake followed. 
Daybreaker grinned smugly at the sight. But she wasn't too happy with Discord's constant stare at the sunset. She rolled her eyes. "You know, ever since you saved Flutterbrat or whatever it is, you've seen lost in thought." 
She walked towards him, happy to see that Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis had pulled out a deck of cards and had started creating the rules for it, ignoring their conversation. 
"We could make it like a lucky tic-tac-toe! Just put down a grid of nine and make whatever card is on the top of our deck is our move!" Chrysalis suggested happily, creating a deck of cards with a blue web on the back of them. 
Nightmare moon nodded and created her own deck, a blue crescent moon on the back. She drew a grid of nine as the two used their magic to play a form of rock-paper-scissors.
"And?" Discord asked rudely. Daybreaker just smiled as she looked to the sunset as well. It was pretty, but if Discord thought it was pretty he would've made it purple. 
"You see no correlation?" She asked happily as she saw Chrysalis gloat as she won against Nightmare Moon. The two instantly started again. "The mare you were interested in almost dies, you ignore my orders and save her, and you're quiet afterwards? You could've said you were there for her, you know."
Discord shooed her away with his claw and his tail. "Oh please! Like I'd ever lie! It's pointless, and we don't need more confused emotions to get in the way. Do we?"
"So you didn't save her because it was her?" Daybreaker asked, Nightmare Moon now gloating as she won. Chrysalis pounced on her, the two changing the game to a childish game of tag as they ran out of the room. 
Discord just rolled his eyes, he was more than annoyed with Daybreaker. "Of course not! She's a wimpy baby! Besides, I had to save her, you weren't going to."
Daybreaker smiled. "I didn't cause I thought you'd enjoy seeing her, and vice-versa." 
Discord whirled to her. "You thought she'd enjoy seeing me?" He seemed just curious as he stared intently at Daybreakers smug look. He obviously cared, he was such a liar. 
"I almost thought she'd did it on purpose just to see you!" Daybreaker said happily. She could tell the mare liked him, she was too big of a baby not to, and if Daybreaker could play match-maker, like hell she would!
He narrowed his eyes at her and hissed, "You're lying." She shook her head with a smile. 
Daybreaker looked to the hologram, she shot a beam of magic at it and it resorted back to its original state. Twilight was still there, sitting on her own. Daybreaker rolled her eyes and made it switch to someone else, she went through all of them and was more than disappointed. 
They each just sat on their own, all gloomy as depressed. She groaned and rolled her head back, "I'd even agree that we could get poor ponies to be more fun!" 
Discord seemed happier, well at least more interactive. He snapped his fingers and appeared in Daybreakers throne, "If we asked the mappy-thingy to contact the next most evil ponies in all of Equestria, do you think it would send different ponies?" 
Daybreaker nodded, "I've already tried, I did the second Twilight screwed everything up." She turned to the table. "But they aren't all in Equestria. They're griffons, yaks, hippogriffs, changelings, and there's another dragon. Only one of them is a pony." 
"Well isn't that trustworthy," Discord rolled his eyes, laying on his back in her throne. "Like we'd ever get them to actually cooperate. These idiots better figure it out." He looked to the screen and saw Daybreaker flicking through them lazily. Of course, Fluttershy was sneaking out to the gardens. He couldn't help but smile at her. 
But he laid on his back and shut his eyes at an attempt to relax. He felt someone else's presence and opened his eyes too see Daybreaker standing over him. "What? Jealous, Celestia?"
He was engulfed in orange magic and was thrown across the room next to his own throne. He looked to her and her smug look. "No, I just wanted my throne back." 
Chrysalis ran through the room, Nightmare moon chasing after her. Daybreaker smiled as she watched the two. They were like children, but she liked little sisters better. 



The elements and their princesses weren't for much sleep the night before. They hadn't been able to sleep that well, and their bodies continued to sting and ache, even days after the battle. 
They all had different reactions. Some were cold, some were lost in thought, some were always scared, but they all were quiet. They had never experienced something like their battle before, and their minds couldn't even begin to function, much less comprehend. 
They'd usually all just wake up at their own times and walk into the throne room. They'd just wait until the others would arrive, and once they were all there, they rarely spoke. And all they did was wait until someone else spoke. 
No pony ever would, so they all would leave one by one. 
But early this morning, Celestia and Magic were the only ones present, like usual. But they never expected a conversation. "What do you wish to do, Princess Twilight?" Celestia asked. Magic's eyes rolled up to look at her, their color dulled due to her exhaustion. 
Magic sighed and looked down. "Why are you asking me?" 
"Luna and I already failed. You're the next princess in command. You do understand that, correct?" Celestia asked coldly. Magic had never heard her sound like that, but there was more on her mind. 
"I can't do anything. I don't even know what to do! If we couldn't win, and we had no chances, then what more could we do?" Magic asked, emotion flooded her once void voice as she spoke. "Now, all we know is what they are. And we already accounted for them to be stronger."
Celestia didn't respond for a while, leaving the air heavier than ever. But she suddenly responded, "You will figure out something. This time you have Luna and I-"
"You are not fighting!" Magic yelled at her, slamming her hooves on the table. She ignored Celestia's intent stare. "Not in your condition. And you won't be fit to for a while. So it all comes down to us." 
"They hurt our wings. Not our horns," Celestia stated coldly. 
Magic just looked up at her, her eyes cutting through Celestia with cold emotion, close to hate. "No. You said I'm the one in charge and I say no. And that's final," Magic said coldly. 
"I'm shocked." Celestia stated.
"Why?"
"And proud. You're accepting that you want to do this yourself," Celestia smiled at her motherly. Magic just looked away, but soon looked back with a smile. 
She stood up off her throne and started pacing. "You're right. I need to come up with something. We need to stop waiting around." 
Celestia smiled at her and stood up. She trotted over to Magic and put a hoof on her shoulder to stop her in place. She stared back into violet eyes. "Wait for your friends. All of you are in this together." Magic just nodded and smiled back at her. 
It didn't take long for all her friends to tiredly flood into the room. Generosity and Honesty walked in together, shoving and giving the other mean looks. Of course, they showed Celestia and Magic nicer faces. Laughter bounced in and slammed her head on the table. 
But with the pegasi walking in, along with Flash, Magic stood up and stared at each of their tired faces. She smiled, knowing they didn't want to talk about their enemy, but she knew she had too. She cleared her throat with a smile, all her friends looked at her with void smiles and annoyed eyes. 
"I think it's time we start thinking about our disharmonized selves," she spoke loud and clearly. All she got were groans and scared stares. Kindness and Flash's eyes widened while everypony else rolled their heads and groaned. 
Magic just smiled at all of them. "We can't let them have control for too long. We need to do something. And soon." 
Loyalty sat her chin on the table and rolled her eyes. "What can we do Twi? Make it an even match with you learning electric magic or something? They're weirdos."
Generosity sighed and looked to Magic. "I agree with Rainbow. What are we to do?" 
The rest stayed silent, Laughter looking away, Kindness hiding behind her mane, and Honesty hiding under her hat. Before Magic could speak, Celestia did. "You all will find a way. You always have." 
"We always had something before," Loyalty told her. "Now we don't have the princesses, friendship, or the elements. We're boned!" 
Celestia just stared at each of them as they hesitantly agreed. And this time, Magic spoke before she could. "Look girls, we have each other, and we know for sure what we're against this time." 
"And what's that gonna do Twi?" Loyalty yelled at her. "We know they have a lot more magic, a dragon, and me. What do we have against that?"
Magic just smiled at her, as she had done a lot that day. "Look, I understand why you're skeptical, but just think, we know there's a huge dragon, and we know who's... I guess threatening!" 
"So what do we do with that?" Honesty asked, sinking into her throne with her hat as low as it could go. "Why not just lock 'em up in magic and lock 'em in a jail cell 'till we figure out howta send 'em back?" 
"If we do capture them, I ensure you they won't be sent back," Luna stated coldly as she walked in. She loved the feeling as everyone stared at her, but knew not to think about it. "My sister and I have talked about it, and we'll execute them for their crimes."
Everypony just stared at her, their hearts felt as if they were pierced by arrows. "No!" Flash shouted desperately. "You can't!" 
Celestia and Luna still handled him as a guard, coldly and sternly. "And why not?" Celestia asked rudely. "We cannot trust them to sit still in Tartarus, and what happens when we open a portal to their world? Every bit of scum from theirs floods into Equestria." 
Flash didn't realize he went against the princesses, and for a mare he was supposed to despise! He couldn't believe himself, he thought everything with Twilight was a fluke, but risking his job for her couldn't be a fluke, could it? He shook his head. "I-Its just... that's not what we do in Equestria. We've never done it before." 
"Not while you were alive Flash," Magic said quietly. He just stared at her, appalled. He was more horrified and disgusted with his alicorn than the enemy's. He was horrified and couldn't stand to be there. 
He shook his head and started towards the door of the room. "Where're you going?" Laughter asked, glancing at the princesses as they ignored him. 
"Uh... just away for a bit... I'll be back soon," he stuttered nervously as he left the room. Everypony sat in silence, but Magic couldn't be more worried. She had only felt closer to him since the fight, and now it seemed he didn't think so.
But she ignored it, going back to the conversation at hand. "I agree with the princesses. They get executed. We can't trust to send them back anyway." 
Everypony nodded silently, Kindness hid behind her hooves and her mane, terrified out of her mind. Laughter suddenly jumped up onto the table. "Wait! What about Cadence!? We can get her help!"
Honesty sat up with a smile, pushing her hat back. "Oh yeah! We can get Shining to help too!"
"No." Twilight stated bluntly. Everypony looked to her, confusion morphing their expressions. "I'd rather have Cadence and Shining as back up. I'd rather not lose everypony."
Honesty fell back into her throne, Laughter bouncing into hers. "Then what do we got, princess?" Honesty asked rudely with a huff.
Magic just stared as everypony looked at her. She finally felt ready to be in charge. "We have each other, we have a plan, and we have their emotions to our benefit." 
"What do you mean by emotions, dear?" Generosity asked as she tilted her head, trying to see Magic at a new angle. Magic just smiled at her, feeling motivated to do something. 
Magic puffed out her chest with confidence as she straightened her posture. "Electricity saved me. She might not do it again, but that means she'd be hesitant to fight against me." 
Loyalty rolled her eyes and propped herself up on her hoof. "There's still a dragon and the Controlling weirdo. What do you think we should do with that?" 
Magic smiled. "Trap them of course! And if they get free, just trap them again! It shouldn't be that hard, especially at the beginning." She paced back and forth with a smile as she tried to think of something else. "Plus they're probably paranoid."
"And if we can't capture them?" Generosity asked rudely, close to sneering at Magic. "We just die to green fire or something?" 
"We'll die!?" Kindness asked before Magic could debunk it. She cowered into everything she could cower in, her hooves, her mane, herself, and her throne.
Loyalty flew up out of her seat. "Of course they can kill us! And if we make one mistake, we're done." She turned to Magic and flew in her face. "And it doesn't matter if they don't want to kill you cause that doesn't mean you can talk her outta hurting us." 
Magic stared up at her, her heart sinking along with her confidence. Generosity noticed and she just felt awful. "I'm sorry sweetie, but we can't do this. There's too much at risk." 
Magic shook her head. "Our lives are not a huge risk for the safety of Equestria!" They all gasped, they were all appalled. 
"How could you say that!?" Laughter bounced in front of her. "We can't just give ourselves up! They aren't the last threat Equestria will see!" 
Magic sighed and looked up at all the scared faces, even the princesses looked worried. She just looked away, not able to look at them. "The princess' can find more. But if we don't make it out, we just have to make sure they don't win. That's the only goal!
"Equestria has always needed us!" She said proudly, confidence and motivation rising in her throat. "And they always will, but even you girls won't be around forever, so somepony has to take our places." 
"And you're saying that might be this time?" Generosity asked quietly. 
Magic didn't answer. "It might not be. But that's not what matters, what matters is that our only goal is getting out with the princesses on their throne. Not those monsters." She finally looked up at everypony's worried expressions as they now understood. 
"We will make it through this. We always have and we always will. We will succeed, and we will get out," Twilight tried to embed some hope into them all. "We get rid of the dragon and Control, let me deal with Electricity, and we don't have that many left." 
They all hesitantly nodded. Magic sighed in relief and sat down on the floor, trying to catch her breath. The silence in the room was full of motivation, fear, and high stakes. 
But a flash can cut through silence very easily, especially if that flash leads to a bored draconequus. He was more than puzzled as everypony ignored him, and as the atmosphere was heavier than chocolate milk rain. 
He put his claw and paw on his waist. "Okay. What's going on here and why wasn't I invited?" 
Celestia rolled her eyes. She looked to the draconequus. "Discord, this doesn't involve you. Go away." 
He huffed and snapped his claws, appearing behind Magic and Loyalty. He pulled the two under his arms and whispered to them as he stared at Celestia. "Alright, what's going on?" 
Loyalty pushed herself out of his grasp as Celestia groaned, looking down at the table. Laughter jumped on the table. "Some of us's appeared in Canterlot and took the princess captive! They're from a different dimension, by the way. But then Flash told us and we went there and fought!"
The three just stared at her as she explained. "Then! Then we got the princesses back here so we're figuring out a plan to go back and take back the castle!" 
Discord seemed interested until it ended. Then he rolled his eyes and pushed Magic away. He groaned and snapped his claws, appearing in mid air. "Oh how boring. Just go there now and take the castle or something! Send them back to their dimension so I can have tea with Fluttershy already!" 	
"It's... um... a lot more difficult than it sounds," Kindness stammered as nopony else wanted to explain it to him. 
"How so?" 
"It's just... we were only able to get the princesses last time. W-we... um.. couldn't kick them out..." she tried explaining, seeing that he didn't get it, she gave up. 
"The girls lives are on the line this time, Discord," Celestia explained bluntly. "So let us deal with it. You aren't needed." No one had any clue why she was being so short with him, but they didn't care, he was more annoying than help anyhow.
He huffed and crossed his arms. "Well. I guess I'll just go!" Kindness felt bad for him, but she didn't fight it. Everyone sighed in relief, but soon realized he didn't leave. 
"Uh, aren't you gonna go?" Laughter asked and bounced on the table in front of him. He just seemed more annoyed. "We kinda gotta think this out so we don't get hurt." 
Honesty rolled her eyes. "Oh for Celestias sake, what do you want? Cause if it's tea then it's gonna have to wait." She propped herself up on the table, seeming more annoyed than Celestia. 
He sneered at her. "Well! Don't you think I could help! I'm the lord of Chaos!" He pointed at himself. "Maybe I could help you all so you don't die!" 
Laughter smiled at him. "Oh yeah!" 
"No, you'll be more of a liability than a help," Celestia stated bluntly. "You'd play with them. You do not understand how serious this is Discord." 
He just raised an eyebrow at her. "Anything that threatens tea time with Fluttershy is serious to me, Celestia. Besides, as I heard it, you put Princess Twilight in charge." 
Honesty slammed her hoof on the table. "So you knew what was goin' on you eavesdropping' jerk!?" 
"Not exactly, Applejack," he mocked her accent and stuck his snake tongue out at her.
"This is an exact representation as to why we can't trust you," Celestia stated coldly and rudely. But she still looked to Magic for the final decision. 
Magic just looked between the two, trying to think of the right solution. Kindness' voice interrupted her thoughts, "I think we should. What's the harm in him messing with them? They'd just try and deal with him." 
Discord smiled at the only mare who seemed to be on his side, as always. "Thank you Fluttershy," he bowed, causing her to smile and blush. Of course, he didn't notice. He turned to Magic. "Well, it is your choice, Princess."
Magic smiled and nodded. "It would help, I suppose." She ignored his pride over Celestia and continued to think forward. "Alright. So are we ready to come up with a plan?" 
Everypony nodded as she started pacing.