//------------------------------// // Divided // Story: Prisoners of the Heart // by KidatHeart5 //------------------------------// Discord groaned as he woke up and rubbed his eyes. He soon saw that he was in a dismal cave with the only light source being a solitary lantern. A menacing voice taunted, “Well, look who’s finally awake.” Discord gasped as he turned to see the person who spoke. In a makeshift prison cell dug into the wall was none other than Tirek, who had now grown out of the jar Discord had sent him to Tartarus in. He groaned, “Oh, great! Now I really am in pony hell!” Tirek said, “Join the club. You must’ve gotten into deep trouble for you to be here.” The draconequus crossed his arms and scoffed, “Like I would tell you anything.” “All right. Then I’ll tell you only one thing.” “And what would that be?” “Scorpan.” Suddenly, the entrance of the cave began to rumble as the stone blocking it was moving. Tirek smirked, “Ah, speak of the devil.” After the entrance was open just enough for anyone to slip through, Discord saw a silhouette of a gargoyle enter and roll the boulder back into place. The shadowy figure then walked up to the two and Discord’s heart leapt in surprise. Here was the creature who gave him comfort and respite when the draconequus first came to the Nether Lands all those thousand years ago. Discord was only a youngling who had just been separated from his sister and couldn’t find his way home. When he stumbled upon Midnight Castle, he met the two brothers Tirek and Scorpan, who were the princes of the nearly-barren land. Whilst Scorpan was kind and loving, Tirek was power-hungry and distant from his family. Discord did appreciate the care the gargoyle provided him, but his mischievous nature led him to follow Tirek on his secret visits to Sendak’s cave many times. The draconequus learned a lot of spells and potions from these visits until King Vorak was able to send him home to the Ancient Lands. Looking at Scorpan now, Discord saw that the gargoyle had hardly changed. He still had the warmth in his eyes and he was as strong as ever. However, the draconequus noticed that there was now a sort of weariness hanging over Scorpan. This was evident in the worry line on his forehead, the ragged blue-green tunic, and the skunk stripes streaking his brown mane and beard. It concerned Discord, but it didn’t stop him from embracing his long-lost…acquaintance. He almost choked up with emotion, “Scorpan! I can’t believe you’ve been alive all this time!” He pulled back and asked, “But, how is this possible?” Scorpan smiled and waved his claw, “That’s not important now…” His smile then faded, “But I think your new look is.” “New look?” He looked down and was shocked to find a red sweater with a yellow undershirt on his body, gray pants on his legs, and square glasses on his face. He exclaimed, “What the – I knew the Pony of Shadows was evil, but this is just mean!” Discord removed his glasses from his nose, but to his surprise, a new pair appeared on his face. He yelped and tried to remove the second pair, but the same thing happened. As Discord rapidly tossed every pair of glasses that grew on the bridge of his nose, Tirek chuckled to Scorpan, “I could watch this all day.” The draconequus stopped what he was doing and snarled at Tirek, “Oh, you wish! When I get my hands on that vile creature, I’ll give him what for!” The centaur said in an unconvinced tone, “Yes, I’m sure you could…” He then gave a wicked grin, “…if you still had your magic.” Discord’s eyes widened before he demanded, “Give it back to me, you aura-sucking parasite!” Tirek frowned, “Oh, please. Use your tiny brain. If your magic was still there to be absorbed, I would be out of Tartarus and attacking Canterlot by now.” Scorpan suggested, “Do you suppose the Pony of Shadows took your magic from you?” Discord explained, “Well, even if he did take my magic, I wouldn’t look like this.” He then realized in horror, “Unless…my chaos magic got corrupted instead of me.” “Maybe the corruption had a delayed effect on you. You definitely didn’t look like this when I rescued you from falling into the lava pits.” He snapped, “Does it matter what I look like?!” He then slumped down onto the makeshift bed and moaned with his hands on his face, “Ohhh, I’m so helpless. I let the Pony of Shadows take advantage of my feelings and now I can’t do anything.” Scorpan put his hand on Discord’s shoulder and consoled him, “We’ll help you get your powers back.” Tirek smiled deviously, “Oh, yes, we will.” He licked his lips at the prospect of absorbing Discord’s chaos magic. Disturbed, Scorpan corrected, “On second thought, I’ll help you get your powers back.” Tirek huffed and crossed his arms. “Now, why don’t you tell us everything?” Discord asked uncomfortably, “Does he have to listen in, too?” Tirek stated, “I could always not listen in, but why would I want to?” Scorpan told Discord, “I don’t think there’s much of a choice here.” The draconequus groaned, “Fine.” At the entrance of the Pit of Hate, Zappityhoof turned to look behind her and call out, “Hey, come on! You act like you’ve never been in here before!” Decepticolt frowned indignantly, “Of course I have! It’s just that the creepy skull-head thing gives me bad vibes.” Goldcap teased, “What are you, a scaredy-cat?” He retorted, “No! We faced that princess and corrupted her, didn’t we? And we got away with it, too.” A wicked voice asked dubiously behind them, “Oh, really? Then where is she?” The Pseudocorn Trio turned to see the Royal Sisters enter with Daybreaker levitating a crystal statue. Daybreaker said, “Yes. Show us the proof.” Goldcap told the sisters, “I have a memory spell for that.” Decepticolt added, “Yeah. And plus, didn’t the boss say to corrupt her at all costs and only capture her if possible?” Zappityhoof asked, “Say, whatchoo got there?” Nightmare Moon grabbed the crystal statue from her sister with her magic as she responded, “None of your business.” Daybreaker muttered under her breath, “Eesh! Grabby, much?” When they reached the chamber of the Pony of Shadows, the five of them climbed up a small outcrop and said, “Master, we have returned.” Shortly after they announced their arrival, the low-relief carving of a demonic face on the floor split into two to open up a deep pit. After the pit was completely exposed, an earthquake shook so violently it threatened to throw the accomplices into the ravine. Just then, a column of black goo erupted from the pit and stopped short of the ceiling. Within a second, the column consequently formed itself into a ball that grew with every foot of the column that shot up from the nigh-bottomless hole. When the entire column was absorbed into the sphere, the shape formed itself into the villainous figure known only as the Pony of Shadows. When the P.o.S descended to the ground, the stone entrance to the pit had closed again, allowing the creature to stand on it. He asked his minions, “Have you returned with success?” Daybreaker smiled evilly, “Oh, yes, we have.” Nightmare Moon brought forth the crystal statue of Cadance and explained, “The sentimental foal was trying to distract us from following the Guardians into the Hidden Cave.” The Pony of Shadows contemplated, “The Hidden Cave…No doubt they were trying to retrieve the rose said to cure corruption.” Zappityhoof asked, “Wow! Can it?” “Yes. If the rose is used on me, all of my hard work would become undone.” He then asked the sisters, “I take it you were unable to capture the Guardians?” Nightmare Moon answered, “Yes.” “Then you must intercept them and destroy the rose. Use the Crystal Princess as bait for young Flurry Heart and her friends.” Daybreaker smiled, “All too gladly, Master.” The villain then turned to the Pseudocorn Trio and said, “As for the three of you, you’ve come back empty-hoofed.” Goldcap said with a smirk, “Empty-hoofed, but not unsuccessful.” She then conjured up a magical screen, which replayed the memory of her and her colleagues corrupting Sunset Shimmer. The Pony of Shadows grinned in pleasure, “Well done, my faithful minions. But tell me: where is Shadow Lock?” Decepticolt answered, “He probably failed and didn’t have the courage to come back here.” Goldcap suggested, “Perhaps he got the corruption spell wrong.” Zappityhoof added and then singsonged the spell, “Ooh! Then he must’ve been like, ‘Wither and decay. End this destiny. Break these goodly chains…and set the darkness free.’” The Pony of Shadows spoke up, “Wait. That’s the right spell.” He slit his eyes in suspicion and asked, “How did you perform the spell on Sunset Shimmer?” The red unicorn nervously explained, “We…used-‘earthly’-instead-of-‘goodly’!” The P.o.S. stamped his hoof as he cried in fury, “You foal! If the spell was imperfect, then she is not fully corrupted!” Goldcap pushed her cohort and scolded, “I told you it was ‘goodly’!” When the Pseudocorn Trio started quarreling, their master morphed his face into that of a monster’s to scare them. To the frightened unicorns, he said, “Perhaps this might be a good time to teach you a lesson…” He then conjured up the crystal containing the corrupted chaos magic. “…and test my new secret weapon.” The Psuedocorns ducked their heads in fear as the Pony of Shadows fired the darkened magic at them. To everyone’s surprise, the trio was wearing completely normal clothing. The villain said in shock, “I don’t understand. It was supposed to harm them!” Nightmare Moon interjected, “If I may elaborate, the chaos magic has what you might call a fail-safe. When the magic is in the grasp of another, it will do no harm as long as the original wielder is alive.” “Then I will retrieve Discord and kill him.” The shadow pony whooshed out of the chamber. After roughly a minute passed, the minions heard him exclaim in surprised anger, “Raagh! He’s not there!” When he zipped back into the chamber, he said to the unicorn trio in an agitated tone, “Pseudocorns, I’m giving you a chance to redeem yourselves. Find Discord and destroy him. Use the chaos magic to track him down. Let no one interfere.” The trio nodded in unison, “Yes, master.” Daybreaker inquired, “But what of your great-grandnephew?” The Pony of Shadows answered, “If he hasn’t returned by day’s end, that means the uncorrupted search party might have either disposed of him or convinced him to join them. If the former, leave him for dead. If the latter, eliminate him.”