The group was surprised to find themselves so close to the edge of the forest. Not even ten minutes had passed from the time Zecora returned the strange bag to them before they could see the buildings through the trees.
“So near, and yet so far away.” Said Pinkie, collapsing to the ground in exhaustion, her body actually deflating like a balloon.
“Ugh, what in Celestia’s name did that fog do to us,” complained Rainbow Dash, actually walking along with the rest of the group. “Right now, I’m too tired to even flap my wings, and I’ve never been too tired to fly.”
“I think I have enough magic to teleport everypony to Twilight’s castle,” Celestia said thoughtfully, “but we’ll have to…”
“Please! I beg you, just teleport us the rest of the way,” pleaded Rainbow, hugging the princess’s foreleg. The rest of the group joined in her request, some more hesitant than others, not wanting to ask too much of the alicorn ruler.
With a sigh, Celestia obliged to their wishes. “Okay, but from there, I won’t be able to cast it again for a while.”
And with that, the group was engulfed in her magical aura. With a quick pinch, they were in the guest room of the Castle of Friendship.
“WAH!” Spike jumped out of the room from the sudden appearance of the 18 ponies, though he quickly managed to shake off the shock.
“Where have you guys… whoa. You all look exhausted, and terrible, what happened?”
Twilight was about to answer her assistant’s question but was interrupted.
“Hold that thought for a moment there’s way more import—”
“DRAGON!!!!” bellowed a furious voice as the doors to the castle were slammed open.
“GAH, Zecora!” Spike stood petrified in the hallway, watching the fuming zebra storm in his direction.
“You better say your friends are all back, or I mark my words you’ll be the FIRST I ATTACK!!”
Spike was on his back as all he could do was let the enraged mare shoved her face into his, screaming at the top of her lungs.
This sudden turn of events eradicated most of the exhaustion from all the newly returned ponies, who quickly jumped into action.
“Zecora?! What’s going on. What’s wrong?” Twilight asked just as confused as everypony else.
“It’s about time you returned to your castle, trying to contact you has been a great hassle!”
“Zecora, we just spoke to you in the Everfree Forest no more than a half-hour ago,” Rarity said, trying her best to deescalate the situation.
“Yeah, you even showed us the way out.” Pinkie spoke up, “If there was something so important to tell us, why wait until later? Unless something happened between then and now because something is always happening. But that still wouldn’t make sense because even if that were true how could you beat us back to the castle, I mean even I couldn’t pull that off.”
The pink earth pony put her hooves to her head, “Oh, my head’s starting to hurt again.”
Now it was Zecora’s turn to be confused, “You claim we spoke? That cannot be! It’s been days since I’ve stepped into the Everfree.”
Applejack was the first to put the pieces together. “Y’all thinken what ahm thinken.”
“Chrysalis,” Everypony said blatantly except for the Pillars and Sunset.
“Ugh…” Twilight could feel the fatigue returning as she rubbed her eyes with her hooves, “Sorry, but can this wait till tomorrow? We’re completely drained after our trip into the Everfree Forest, and we didn’t even get…”
“NO! I refused to be pushed away. I’ve waited for your return day after day!”
“Day after…? We just left this morning to go on our friendship quest, when have you…”
“This morning?” Spike interrupted, “Twilight, that was two weeks ago.”
“TWO WEEKS!!” Everypony exclaimed, Twilight immediately grabbed the first newspaper she saw in her magic and looked at the date, “He’s right! It’s been two whole weeks.”
“My farm! My family!”
“My animals!”
“My party plans!”
“My reputation!” said Rarity and Rainbow Dash, making all eyes turn towards them. Both mares started to throw out their reasons why they said what they did and why it was better than the other.
“I have to stay in tip-top shape to maintain my Wonderbolts position.”
“I have to stay ahead of the fashion scenes to keep my customers impressed.”
“If I’m even two seconds late, the entire squad gets penalized for it. I can’t even imagine what two weeks of going AWL will do to me. I’ll be lucky if I only get court-martialed.”
“If I don’t make sufficient sales, then I won’t have enough bits to support my sister and I…, my sister… AHH!!! Sweetie Belle!!! Don’t tell me she’s been alone all this time. I do hope she’s doing fine. No, I hope she hasn’t…”
“ENOUGH!” Twilight exploded then wilted. “It’s obvious that we all have important issues to take care of right now. But I don’t think we are in any condition to do anything until after a short nap.”
“Wait, Flurry Heart, I left her with Shining. I have to go…” Cadence yawned, cutting off the rest of what she wanted to say.
“Even when everypony returns, you still refuse to listen to my concerns.”
At that moment, a thought crossed Starlight’s mind that made her blood run cold.
“Um, Zecora, do you have a remedy for aches and pains?”
That question echoed throughout the room as the realization of what she was really implying dawned on everyone except the zebra and the dragon.
“My patience is starting to wear very thin, and now you’re complaining about…”
“Tell us something only the real Zecora would know,” Twilight said, dreading that she actually would.
With all eyes now on Zecora, she noticed the look of dread in their expression, not accusations. This made her take a deep breath to calm down, then she spoke, “I used to be feared by the Ponyville folk, but that was before you six stepped into Poison Joke.”
Despite Zecora being cleared, everyone’s fears were now confirmed.
“Oh, dear, this is bad. This is very, very bad,” said Rarity before she started to hyperventilate.
Spike and Zecora looked at them quizzically.
“Uh, don’t you mean that’s a good thing?”
“If by, ‘a good thing,’ means that all of us drank a mystery liquid given to us by a villain whose mind is bent on eliminating us at all costs? then yeah, everything is perfectly fine!” Rainbow Dash said sarcastically, “For all we know, that could have been poison *yawn*. So sleepy.”
Zecora’s gaze drifted to the bag on Twilights back as it moved back to its original position, “That bag, was it given to you by my double?” She asked.
Twilight looked at it, forgetting it was even there. “Uh, yes, why?”
“Because I have a sneaking suspicion.” The bag rose up on its own without the use of magic, “that there will soon be trouble.”
The bag turned itself upside down and spat out the book it had inside. Upon closer inspection, the two mismatched buttons now looked more like eyes, which then emphasized the rest of the facial features of the missing Draconequus.
“Discord? Why are you disguised as a saddlebag?” Fluttershy asked, somewhat relieved to see her mismatched friend again.
“Actually, I’m more bag than Discord, if that’s hard to believe.”
A leather strap shot out like a tongue and wrapped around everyone in the room, including Spike and Zecora. Next thing they knew, they were all swallowed into the impossibly large insides of the bag where the Lord of Chaos sat upon a throne. “Unfortunately, I can’t allow any of you to leave.”
“Discord!” Celestia said before yawning, “what is the meaning of this?”
“I was hoping to let you have more fun listening to Zecora’s rhyme, but alas, I’m sorry to say this is no longer playtime.”
“Guys, Discord rhymed twice,” Fluttershy said in a worried tone, “he’s not joking around.”
“Thank you, Fluttershy. Hopefully, that will be enough for all of you to take my word’s more seriously. Because what I have to tell you is very important, so listen carefully.”
Discord’s stern face fell as he saw how his fellow group members could barely keep their eyes open, let alone stand. With an annoyed snort, he snapped his paw, and everyone regained their liveliness, no longer exhausted.
“There, feel better? Perhaps now you can at least pay attention to what you need to do to free me along with the Great and Infuriating Trickster as well as a few others.”
“Waitwaitwaitwait.” Rainbow Dash flew up to confront Discord, “Just so we’re clear, are you evil again or not?”
“Haven’t you been listening, I’m not Discord, just a reconstruction created from nothing more than my magical residue with a time limit mind you.” He said, jabbing a talon at her muzzle, making it scrunch up.
Rainbow quickly slapped the appendage away before Discord continued. “The real me is practically being held against my... his will. Even though my prison is more than what even I could ask for. I would rather become lawn ornament for another millennium than spend one more second in this nightmare of a paradise.”
“Okay, so Trixie is with you.” Starlight paused for a moment putting the pieces together. “Wait, how are you trapped exactly, and by who, and how does Chrysalis fit in all this?”
“Again, time limit, though in any case, she was one of the ‘others’ I mentioned, along with Iron Will, Tirek, a Chimera, and most of the other monsters that were kept in Tartarus, Dr. Caballeron and Ahuizotl. I would include Sombra, but he’s not actually capable of leaving, really he’s more like an accessory that comes with the place rather than an actual individual.”
Discord then gave the look of one who had just had an afterthought.
“Oh, right, there’s also The Pony of Shadows, Nightmare Moon, Daybreaker, Flutter-Bat, some Sirens and Wendigos, two she-demons, the Storm King and a Harpy along with a mad pony called Cerebral Cortex. But don’t mind them, they’re more like an elite group of devoted followers then prisoners such as yours truly.”
It took a moment for Discord’s words to sink in. The group could not believe what they were hearing. Just about every notorious villain they’ve ever fought and then some were now under the command of a being with enough power to trap a Draconequus.
“Oh no, nu-uh, one evil villain is plenty for us to try and take care of,” Rainbow said for all of them, “but you’re telling us that we’re up against an entire army of them! How is that even… Hold it, if Nightmare Moon is there, does that mean…”
“That is the real Luna,” Discord reassured them, “The one behind all of this is called...” Discord gave a shiver of fear, “Retribution. Somehow, he managed to pull out the darker side of Princess Moony Butt, much like removing a weed. Wow, that didn’t roll off the tongue like I had hoped it would,” As he said that, his tongue extended out of his mouth as Luna’s cutie mark rolled out before he flicked it back to its rightful place.
Once they all returned their attention to Discord, he continued. “As for me, I lost a bet against him in a game of nonsense and logic. Now I’m stuck here as one of his minion slash pets.” He spat the last word out like it was a bad taste.
“But I don’t blame you for not recalling any of this, that memory mist is quite effective. The only reason I remember most of what’s happened is because I’m not me, just a magical reconfiguration that is starting to run low. From the time I saw on Twilight’s clock, we have less than fifteen minutes to…”
“Which clock? The one that’s ten minutes behind,” Spike said, grabbing everyone’s attention, “Yeah, I was about to readjust it to the right time, but then you guys teleported in. I never got around to it.”
“Th... Then… Then that means,” Discord looked at a ridiculously big pocket watch, “Holy smokes! We have less than five minutes left!”
Back in the castle’s guestroom, the saddlebag spat out everyone and began giving orders.
“Twilight, quick, grab the book that I was carrying and remove the paper connected to the back of the front cover.”
As she did so, Discord turned to give another order but grimaced when he heard the paper being torn.
“Twilight,” he said calmly, “I don’t blame you for not remembering, so please don’t take this personally.” Twilight was yanked off the ground and shook like a rag doll. “YOU’VE JUST DESTROYED OUR ONLY ESCAPE PLAN!!!”
A breeze started to fill the room as the bag continued to express its frustration, “We spent days, almost a week planning this out, and you had to rip it?! The plan was on the paper you needed to remove, not under it.”
The wind was getting more and more fierce as Discord continued, “I was this close to achieving my freedom, THIS CLOSE!! But someone had to ruin it, and now I may as well be trapped here for the rest of eternity!!”
A bright light started to shine, but Discord didn’t seem to notice. “After all that hard work, it’s now gone, GONE!! down the drain!” the light abruptly ended, and a lavender pony sat in the middle of a scorched crater.
“We had one shot at this Twilight! One… shot?”
“Make that two.” Everyone stared in bewilderment at the second Twilight that appeared in the room. The original Twilight was about to say something, but the newly arrived alicorn shoved her hoof into her mouth. “Don’t forget what happened last time I came from the future, it didn’t end well, because you didn’t… I didn’t listen to me.”
The future Twilight turned around and began what she came back to do.
“SPIKE! Bring as many quills and parchment as you can carry. Everypony, start taking as many notes as you can for as long as I’m here. This is my last-ditch effort to correct my previous mistake, and those notes are the only thing I have to go off of. You book now! Discord twenty-five seconds!”
The future Twilight quickly levitated six quills and began to write with all of them on a blank parchment. Once she was done, it was passed over to the original Twilight.
“I’m going to need you… me, Star Swirl, Cadence, Luna, Celestia, Starlight, Sunburst, and Sunset to cast this spell in the next fifteen seconds.”
“Wait,” Sunset interjected, not having used magic in years, “I can’t…”
“You can, I watched you do it a week ago, you’ve got this.” Next, she took the book and carefully removed the paper connected to the back cover without tearing it.
Star Swirl furrowed his brow. “This looks too complicated for…”
“Ponies who haven’t practiced it over and over for days on end like you all have, now be ready to cast it in five, four, three, two, ONE!”
Discord’s apparition created a rift in space, creating a portal in front of a row of books. The spell was cast, it felt natural, practiced, as easy as breathing as eight beams of light entered into it.
Future Twilight cast a separate spell and brought the light back through and into a pile of blank papers. The portal closed, and the magic was disrupted, leaving the saddlebag as just a bag once more. Everyone looked at what Twilight held in her aura. It was the journal that looked like the one Discord gave them.
“We went through all that trouble…?” Rainbow said with annoyance, “just so we can get the exact same book that we already had!?”
“Not quite,” Future Twilight said, opening it up and showing them the inside filled with writing from cover to cover.
“What we just did was only an experiment to retrieve an object from the other side of the mirror realm. The book will explain how that works in much greater detail. Anyway, this turned out to be a failure, and we only managed to copy what was on the other side, not transfer.”
“If you don’t mind me asking,” Starlight said, but Future Twilight answered before she got the chance.
“Retribution was able to pull Nightmare Moon out of Luna and Flutter-bat out of Fluttershy. You think he wouldn’t be able to recover Star Swirl’s time spell from…” She started glowing and releasing energy, indicating that her time was almost up.
“Ugh, if only I had more time. One last thing before I leave, Retribution will come. And when he does, none of us will see it coming until it’s too late. You just have to hang in there and stay strong…” with a flash, Twilight was forced back to her time.
“Am I the only one that feels like that last part wasn’t quite finished and intended for just one of us, or is that just me?” questioned Pinkie.
“I felt it too, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it were true.” Twilight said after covering a yawn feeling, the draconequus’s magic leaving her almost as tired as when she went into the memory mist.
“Sweet Celestia! How many times are we going to… Zecora, I’m going to close my eyes for a few moments. When I wake up, I promise that we will all give you our undivided attention, okay? Okay.”
And with that, Twilight collapsed on the spot along with everyone else that went on the friendship quest. Celesta and Luna, unfortunately, had one last job to take care of before calling it a day.
Luna teleported Celestia and herself back to Canterlot Castle. Upon their arrival, one of their secretaries, Steady Quill, looked up from her work and looked almost stunned to see the pair there.
Ignoring her for the moment, the two sisters began to go up to the highest balcony the castle could provide and proceeded to lower the sun and raise the moon. But Steady intervened, “Oh, your highnesses, you’re back, are you ready to start the preparations for…”
“Steady Quill, please, not now,” Celestia said with a yawn, “I think Luna and I are going to be taking a few days off,”
Steady Quill sighed, “Oh good, I’m relieved to hear you say that.”
Surprised, the two sisters were expecting a lot of things, but their staff’s neutral tone wasn’t one of them.
“And I’m concerned to hear you say that. How come you’re relieved after our extended absence?” Luna inquired, despite her eyes fighting to stay open.
“You two have been doing week’s worth of work every day for the past week and a half. It’s a wonder you haven’t dropped dead of exhaustion. I mean, you’re over two months ahead of schedule with just about everything except the meeting with the Griffins next week and… Actually, now that I’m getting a better look at you, you’re both looking a bit…”
Celestia and Luna didn’t wait around to hear her finish. With one last push of energy, they ascended the stairway and reached the balcony.
“Sister,” Luna said, “I don’t know if I can stay awake much longer, I propose to discuss this matter in the dream realm. What say you?”
Celestia finished lowering the sun then turned to face Luna to answer, “I agree, but perhaps tomorrow night. I know how tiring it is to be in that place after just one day, and right now, we are in no condition to discuss any matter big or small. For now, sister, get some rest. There is a lot we need to catch up on.”
Exiting the balcony and entering her room, Celestia fell asleep the moment she closed her eyes, collapsing onto her bed.
Luna, as exhausted as she was, entered the dream realm despite her older sister’s wishes. Usually, this left the younger sister drained due to the fact she wasn’t really asleep. But this time was much different, she felt more energized than ever, feeling like she could do anything and more.
Under normal circumstances, this would have concerned her, but she was merely surprised after everything they’ve just gone through.
“This is strangely unexpected,” she stood on her hindquarters, expertly kicked the air in front of her with her forehooves a few times, and ended in a roundhouse kick. Once she was finished, Luna landed back on all fours. She stood there for a moment, wondering what the purpose of doing all of that was.
“That felt too natural for it to be a coincidence… Though, that is a matter for another time. For now, there is work to do.”
Despite her sister’s warnings and everything else telling her to stop, Luna had more important business to take care of. She intended to do it before sunrise.
Luna found Celestia’s door in no time. Upon her approach, the alicorn felt the strong pull of a nightmare escalating to the point where it would lead to devastating mental damage for the pony having it. Luna bolted to where the dream was occurring and entered.