They all marched together with Storm Vine, archmages Celestia and Luna, and General Steel Spark in the lead. Arrayed behind them was the Equestrian Army, Storm Clan, nearly half of Stone Clan, and the order of the Equestrian Knights. A small force of wizards brought up the rear but considering their adversary, it was unlikely they'd be of any real help. In fact, most of those present would probably be useless in a real fight, if one broke out, but the hope was sheer numbers might convince him to stand down. Celestia and Storm Vine, especially the kirin, doubted this tactic would work at all.
Before them, the grassy plain between Canterlot Mountain and the Everfree Forest changed from grassland to some kind of checkered floor, the colors ranging from reds to yellows and greens to blues. Overhead, clouds made up of various foods passed by, raining various drinks and making a hazard of themselves to the flyers of their march. Pegasi, harpies, thestrals, and even a few airborne kirin had to break ranks to dodge the flying food. The wyverns fire-blasted any clouds that got close to them with mixed results. Some burned up, some dodged out of the way, and others made it their mission in life to assault their fire-breathing attackers.
And it wasn't just the clouds; animals such as fish and pigs were also airborne, and even those on the ground had to be careful of things such as dancing hippos, acrobatic rhinos, and skipping elephants. None of this, however, could stall their forward momentum and they soon arrived at their destination; the exact center of this chaos realm.
At the center stood a pillar, checkered just like the ground it rose out of, and atop this pillar was a black, gray, and red throne. Upon this throne was Discord, staring nonchalantly out at all of them as if this was the most normal thing in the world. Or, as if he'd expected them. The later, most likely, as Queen Platinum XVI floated past him again, screaming at him about how she'd been right about this very thing coming to pass. She and several other high-ranking nobles floated above his head and around the throne, each held captive in some kind of colored bubble, their various shouts of anger or fear muffled by their prisons.
For a long moment both sides were silent, only the prisoners making any kind of noise. Storm Vine and Celestia simply stared up at the draconequus, hurt, anger, and sadness maring their faces, neither making any effort to hide it. In truth, neither knew what to say to him. They knew Discord wouldn't just back down at their show of force but they didn't want to just attack him either. Both were still trying to figure out what to say to try and make him stand down when General Steel Spark stepped forward.
"Discord, you have kidnapped the queen and several high nobles, ravaged Canterlot, claimed yourself the new ruler of Equestria, and have changed the very reality of the surrounding area. Even if the charge of treason weren't laid at your miss-matched feet, the punishments for these crimes would be severe in the extreme. We are giving you one last chance to release the Queen and her subjects and come along quietly; at least some leniency might still be given if you do." The look on the trapped queen's face said otherwise.
Discord looked over the general, then let out an amused snort. "I expected as much from you, general. It's no surprise you'd come dancing to your queen's squealing and the same could be said of the rest of your army." He turned his gaze towards Storm Vine and Celestia. "But the rest of you? I thought you'd be glad someone finally stuffed an apple in the hog's mouth."
"This isn't a game!" Luna snapped. "You will return the queen at once and face punishment! You've gone too far this time, Discord!"
"This beyond extreme Discord," Celestia said, her voice calm and steady. "If you wanted to leave so badly, why not just do so? You could have simply teleported yourself anywhere in the blink of an eye and that would have been that."
Discord's yellow and red eyes narrowed at his, now more than likely ex, marefriend. "Would that have really been that, Celestia, or do you honestly think little miss high-and-mighty here would have ever let me roam free? As for just leaving, well, I've had another thought."
Storm Vine closed her eyes and prayed to the Makers that this was all just a very bad dream as she caressed the pendent he'd given her. "Discord," she begged, "please, don't tell me you really believe that foolish fantasy. You promised you wouldn't do anything like this!"
Discord's gaze fell upon Storm Vine and turned somber. "I said I wouldn't make trouble for Equestria's rightful rulers and I won't." He stood. "My fellow immortals, for too long we've suffered under the whims of these pony rulers who, compared to us, are nothing but foals! They have looked down on us, respecting us only for our power, and have isolated anyone who isn't a unicorn, pegasus, or earth pony! How many times have rookeries needed to relocate, new dens found because old ones are demolished to make room for new towns, new hunting grounds searched for because the ponies find it appalling!? I say enough is enough! We've lived here longer than anypony else and know what the land and its people's need better than any self-entitled royal! Stand with me and we can make Equestria the great land it once was again!" He looked at Storm Vine again. “How many times have you gone to this puffed-up oaf, pleading with her to reconsider some speciest policy only to have her laugh in your face? How many families have you had to look in the eye and condemn because the “queen” threatened you with treason if you didn’t comply? Are you really going to tell me you never thought things would be better if we, those that have lived the longest and know more about this land than anyone else, were the ones in charge? We should be the ones in charge! We should be the ones taking care of the land and everyone upon it! We shouldn’t be taking orders from some stuck up little cow who’s only claim to the throne is a bone sticking out of her head!”
He smacked the orb with the queen in it, sending it spinning and making the queen a screaming blur inside. “Oh yes, I’ve done my homework,” Discord continued. “Do you know that the unicorns, before the Hearth Warming, threatened to not raise the sun out of spite towards the other two races? They were threatening to let the world freeze over, over some taxes! Look me in the eye and tell me that’s the kind of people we want ruling over us!” There were some rumbling from the army. While not a secret, retellings of the story had a habit of glassing over that little detail to make it sound like all three tribes were equally at fault. Having that fact laid bare in this particular setting was a good way to try and turn things in Discord’s favor. “And make no mistake, it IS the unicorns thinking they’re in charge of Equestria. How many earth ponies or pegasi are in the grand court of nobles, let alone how many non-ponies?” A big, red zero appeared next to him with a rather rude sound. “ZERO, THAT’S HOW MANY! That ends today. From this point forward, no species with be elevated above the others! All will have an equal say and equal rights!” He sat back down on his throne. “Are you still going to stand there and tell me I’m wrong?”
“Yes!” Luna shouted. “From where we stand, it looks like you see yourself as more equal than everyone else!” She pointed up at the throne he was seated on. “Unless you want us to believe that’s some random stump you’ve found to rest on? All you’ve ever wanted was power, not equality, and no flowery speeches of “doing this for the greater good” will sway any of us!”
“The wyverns agree with Arch Mage Luna,” Firestorm added, with Hearth Stone nodding in agreement. “You have done nothing before to aid those you claim are less fortunate. You may have brought up some true issues with the kingdom but we can all see through your smoke and mirrors and we will not bend the knee to the likes of you!”
A roar of agreement came from other leaders, leaders of the harpies, the thestrals, the lamias, and all the other races present.
“Discord,” Celestia called out once the calls of defiance simmered down, “I told you, you must be patient! Queen Platinum can be reasoned with if only-!”
“I have been patient since before this thing’s grandmother’s grandmother was born!” He roared, standing up from his throne again. “And with every new queen it’s the same! I’m not to leave Canterlot, I’m not to use my chaos magic unless granted permission! You try being restricted for over four hundred years and tell me how patient you are after that!” He gazed turned towards Storm Vine. “And you? What do you have to say about this? How are you going to condemn me?”
For another moment, Storm Vine was silent, just looking back up at him.
“Perhaps, eventually, you could have convinced me,” she finally admitted, ignoring to the sense of recoil from those closest and the almost uncountable eyes now upon her. “Had the queen been more of a speciest than she already was, had she gone out of her way to hurt anyone that wasn’t a pony, had been more of a tyrant, then I might have agreed with you.” She stood straighter. “But she isn’t that far gone and those of us that have lived long enough remember how much worse it used to be! When the Windigos were driven away, you forget there was a war between the ponies and the peoples already living here that nearly brought them back! That war ended with a peace treaty and ever since we’ve become more and more integrated! You say that no one but unicorns is a noble, but what of the representatives of the various species, what of the mayors who run the towns; how many of them are unicorns? How many in the army are unicorns? Had you just gone out into the world like you kept saying you would, do you really think that any of us could have stopped you? Do you think we really would have just blindly obeyed the queen and go out to drag you back? Had you gone, I would have covered for you! I would have told the queen, to her face, that you needed more freedom and that she had no right to try and confine you to the capitol. Instead, you do this, even when I asked you not to.” She shook her head. “I can’t take your side, not on this, and neither will any kirin. You have no allies here; release the queen and the other nobles and we’ll do what we can to help.”
It was his turn to stare at her in silence for some time. Finally, he sat down, his face one of cool indifference. “Fine then,” he said into the quiet, snapping his talons and making the bubbles disappear. Another quick snap and there was suddenly an army between them, squares of graham crackers, bars of chocolate, and giant marshmallows brandishing oversized toothpicks like they were spears. “Aloha it is. Spare the kirins!” he called out to his dessert army, “dispose of the rest!”
Silently, the food army aimed their toothpick spears forward and began marching.
As a roar of war cries rose from the allied army, Storm Vine shared an anguished look with Celestia. There would be no going back now. The two held the gaze for another second as the tide rushed forward to engage Discord’s forces, then Storm dove into the fray with her brother, husband, friends, and allies, attempting to bring down the rouge draconequus.
-------------------
Storm Vine flinched and hissed loudly as one of the healers placed some medicine on one of her many cuts. “Ma’am, it’ll become infected if not treated!” The healer admonished.
“I know!” Storm snapped, then leaned back towards them. “Just get it over with quickly,” she growled, allowing the stinging medicine to be reapplied. While the pain from the medicine added to her terrible mood, it wasn’t the cause of it.
They’d lost and not by just a hair’s breadth, either. Their combined army had been thoroughly routed by Discord’s sentient snacks, which just seemed to never end no matter how long the battle had been going on for. Even the wyverns and the torrents of fire they would unleash on the sweets never seemed to whittle down their numbers, while their own slowly diminished. She was certain Discord had simply continued to snap more of them into existence while he lazed about on his throne. For him to have been able to just sit there and watch what was going on like it was some mild entertainment at a fair made Storm shiver in both worry and disgust. She’d seen a few troops go down, including one hapless unicorn who’d gotten impaled through the eye. If Discord could watch that happen and not bat an eye, then he truly was lost.
His sugary army had finally pushed them hard enough to break through the lines and the call for retreat had been given. Storm Vine, Firestorm, and Archmage Luna had stayed behind as part of the rearguard to allow the others time to get back to base camp, where they currently were now. She’d eventually been carried in due to the multiple wounds all over her body and her adrenaline finally giving out on the march back. They couldn’t stay here for long, however; Storm was sure Discord wouldn’t just let them run away to regroup.
Something impacted her hard on the side the healer wasn’t working on and Storm’s subsequent roar of pain made Bright let go of her mother and back away. “I-I’m sorry mom but they said you were hurt!”
“It’s alright Bright,” Storm said, trying to ignore the waves of pain her daughter had caused and make her fangs retract. “Where is your father?”
Bright pointed her wing towards the back of the healing area, indicating the command area just beyond. “Meeting with the archmages, generals, and Uncle Firestorm. He said you weren’t in any shape for a war council.”
“Who does he-!?” Storm started, attempting to get up, only for the healer to stop her.
“Ma’am, if you don’t stay still, I will get some soldiers to help hold you down.”
Storm glared daggers at him but, once again, laid back down. As much as she felt she needed to be at that meeting, it wouldn’t do her any good to either fall over right there from her wounds and exhaustion or not be able to follow what was being said properly through the haze of pain. “I need to know what’s going on; what we’re going to do next. We can’t stay here.”
“No, we can’t.”
Both kirins and the healer looked up to see Celestia walking towards them, weaving her tall body through the wounded. “Archmage Celestia,” Storm said, nodding, “what news do you have?”
“Discord isn’t marching on the camp, not just yet, but the leaders agree that he will soon enough.”
“Then where are we to go next? Are we going towards the northern mountains or the southern deserts? We can’t march towards Lunar Bay; the ocean will trap too many of us!”
But Celestia was also shaking her head. “I tried to get them to wait until you were healed and could attend, but they were adamant on making a decision as soon as possible.” The alabaster alicorn sighed heavily. “We threw everything we had at Discord. The wyverns their size and fire, my sister and I all our magic, and an army and plan to trap him. None of it worked.” She looked down at Storm apologetically. “It’s been decided that, for now, the best course of action is to continue retreating and separate into smaller groups as we do so. Hopefully, Discord won’t be able to get all of us in one stroke and enough of us can escape to form a resistance until another plan can be made.”
“No!” This time Storm did get up and knock the healer away. “We can’t do that! It’ll just be easier for him to pick us off one by one like that! We need to stick together and stop him now!”
Something large landed nearby and Firestorm’s head descended to examine his sister. “Storm Vine, are they attending to your injuries yet?” He asked, tilting his head to get a better look at her wounds.
“Firestorm! Quick, get me over to the council, I can’t let them go through with this ridiculous plan!” Storm snapped, taking a few wobbly steps towards him. Bright and Celestia jumped forward to keep her up and to stop her, but the kirin kept them back with her lashing tail and its scythe-like blade. “They need to see reason! We can’t just roll over like this!”
“Storm, there’s nothing else we can do!” Firestorm said, snorting hard enough at her that the wind made her stop. “We tried everything! If he can take all that we brought against him today then there’s no way to stop him!”
“There has to be!” Storm shot back. “I’m not giving up!”
“Throwing yourself at him ‘til you’re dead won’t work either!” Firestorm snarled. “We need time to think of something else! If we split up, he can’t get all of us and those that remain will be able to figure out what to do next! We need you for what’s next!”
“He needs to be stopped!” Storm yelled, her voice hitching. “I can’t let him keep this up! I can stop him, I know it!”
“Storm,” Firestorm said, his voice gentler, “he’s too far gone; you can’t help him anymore. You saw how he reacted to the battle.”
“I can!” Storm protested, though now the conviction was finally leaving her voice. “I can stop him, I can fix this! I just need to try again!” Hot tears were spilling down Storm’s cheeks, no matter how hard she cursed them and tried to stop. He legs also gave out and she dropped to the ground, Celestia, Bright, and the healer rushing over to make sure she hadn’t hurt herself further. “He can’t know he’s won; if he thinks that then there will be no going back! We have to keep trying!”
Firestorm became engulfed in fire, then emerged from it about the same size as Storm. He moved over to his crying little sister and rested his head against hers. “It’s too late for that, Viney. Eventually he’ll become complacent or get cocky and then we can try again, but we have to wait for that first and come up with a better plan for when it happens.”
Storm Vine just shook her head but didn’t say anything more. The healer once again moved in to attend to the kirin’s wounds.
“Luna and I are going to head back to Canterlot to get as many spell and history books as we can, especially from the restricted section. Once we can’t carry anymore we’ll leave for a few secluded spots that very few know about. You and your family can join us if you like.” Her voice became a barely-heard whisper. “At least that’s one good thing about him always being stuck in Canterlot…”
Storm didn’t say anything; she just continued to nuzzle Firestorm and Bright while still unsuccessfully trying to hold back tears. Celestia left, soon replaced by Tempest who gently repeated what Celestia had said before trying to comfort her as well.
-------------------
It was night before Storm was able to move without opening her wounds again, the medicine was a fast acting kind, and while it was still painful they had little choice but to get moving. Celestia and Luna had already left for Canterlot and the army was moving again, heading directly west and planning to splinter off into smaller groups in an attempt to frustrate Discord into giving up the chase.
Although he hated the idea, Firestorm had no choice but to leave with the Storm Clan, following through with the plan to splinter off and Storm watched as the different clans spread out in all directions except due east.
“Which way are we going?” Pudding Stone asked Storm once the wyverns were out of sight. Pudding himself was actually the oldest of the kirins, a good one hundred years Storm’s elder. Her rank as the Platinum Knight, however, and his own general wish to not get too involved in things if he could help it, was what made Storm the de-facto leader of the kirins.
“We can go north, then east, towards the Griffith Isles,” someone spoke up. “He said to spare us; maybe we can help lead him away from the others.”
“And paint targets on our backs!?” Another shouted. “Let’s head west like everyone else! There are islands out in the Lunar Oceans we can head towards!”
“Or even into the Undiscovered West!” another added, “he won’t find us there!”
“We go northwest!” Storm finally said. “We need to stay close enough to be in touch with the other groups. Once a new plan gets put together, we need to be able to hear about it!”
“There won’t be a new plan!” Quartz Stone shouted. “We threw everything we had at Discord today and it didn’t even scratch him! We need to get as far away from here as possible to someplace he’ll never come looking for us!”
“Quartz!” Marble snapped.
“You know I’m right!” he shot back.
“We CAN beat him!” Storm announced. “Just not with brute strength or overwhelming numbers. We need time to come up with something that will work and once we do, we need to be ready. We go to Lunar Bay, dig into the foothills, and move forward from there. If everyone is ready, we fly immediately.” When there were no objections, Storm was the first one into the dark sky, quickly followed by the others. Tempest and Bright tried to fly close and console her, but she’d cried herself out, leaving behind only a stone-cold resolve.
As she flew, Storm felt something beat gently against her cheat. Lifting a hoof, she found it was the pendant Discord had given her. With everything that had happened, she’d forgotten that she’d never taken the trinket off. A new wave of anger and sadness welled up as she touched it. She should have thrown it at him when she had told him she wouldn’t join him. That might have changed things… no, it wouldn’t have changed anything.
For a second, her hoof pushed on the strap keeping it around her neck in an attempt to break it and let the now meaningless bit of metal fall away into the darkness below. The second passed and her hoof relaxed, easing back into its original position.
No, it wasn’t meaningless. It still had a purpose. When they met again and beat him, Storm would give it back to him, formally ending their near life-long friendship. He could look at it every day in his prison as a reminder or take it with him to the grave for all she cared, but he would get it back, and Storm would never have to see him again.