I did the first thing I could think of. I ran to Twilight's hot air balloon, and the ponies looked at me, a little dumbfounded. "What in Equestria are you WAITING FOR? AN INVITATION? GET ON THE BALLOON!!" The ponies looked at each other, then looked at me. "But we thought-" "NO TIME, TWILIGHT!! NO TIIIIMMMME!!" She and her friends finally decided to accompany me in the balloon. Twilight then started the balloon's ascent and we started drifting towards Canterlot to find the Elements of Harmony. Twilight looked at me, I had a hard, determined look on my face. "Austin, we thought that you were angry at us...We thought that you wouldn't help us now."
Without looking over my shoulder, I said to her, "Twilight, I am a little angry at you. But there's a time for anger and there's a time where you have to look at the bigger picture. A little blind hatred isn't going to keep me from getting you girls to the Elements of Harmony. I'm sorry I snapped at you. You know what I went through. But it's time for me to snap out of this paranoia, and get to Canterlot and put an end to this." Twilight stared at me, a little startled at my words. "And Twilight?" She nodded. "Yes, Austin?"
I looked at her, staring into her big purple eyes. "I can never stay mad at a friend." Twilight's solemn frown changed to a small grin. I just smirked at her, then looked back towards Canterlot. My smile didn't stay for long. "So how am I supposed to play a part in this? After all, I'm just a human with some crazy powers. I still have to learn the real meaning of friendship." Twilight shook her head. "I'm not certain either. But we need to get to the princess. I'm sure she knows where the Elements would be."
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We arrived shortly afterward at the castle. I kicked in the doors and ran into the throne room with the Mane 6. What we saw made my skin crawl and horrified the ponies. Celestia and Luna had been turned into solid stone statues. Discord had his final revenge, and was probably on his way to Earth. "Princess Celestia!" Twilight cried, but I grabbed hold of her. "Stop! Stop Twilight! There's nothing you can do for them now!" "I have to try!!" "No!" I tugged on her tail hard and she dropped and cried. I grabbed her by the shoulders. "Dammit Twilight! Do you think that Celestia would want her best student to just sit here and cry while she's a statue?!" Twilight sniffled. "N-No..." "Don'tcha think Celestia would want her to go and find the Elements and fix this mess?!" She nodded. "Y-yes..." "So why are you crying? You have to get angry!"
"But the princess-" "FORGET THE PRINCESS FOR A MINUTE!!" I groaned then stood in front of the ponies, all of which looked a little hopeless. I stared at them. "Listen! Discord did this! He turned your world upside down and your princesses to statues, and the only things you can think of doing is cry and wallow in self-pity?! No! This is the time to get angry! To make sure that Discord is banished ONCE AND FOR ALL!!" Rainbow Dash looked at me, then stood up. "Yeah!" Applejack saw Rainbow, then smiled. "Yee-haw!" Fluttershy flared her wings. "Yeah!" Rarity nodded. "Onward!" Pinkie hopped in place. "Yeah!"
I kneeled down in front of Twilight, who slowly looked at me with her watery eyes. "Whaddya say Twi?" Twilight thought for a minute, then wiped her tears away and nodded. "Yeah." I helped her onto her hooves. "Alright then. So let's get those Elements!" We ran to the Element's chamber. I opened the box. "They're here!" I looked at the ponies. "They're actually-" My sentence was cut short. I stared at my friends. They were grey....colourless....They seemed hateful....almost....angry. Discord laughed and floated above them. "Not this time, my little ponies! I made sure to get rid of you this time!" I stared. They were no longer the Elements...they were....enemies.
Discord threw his head back and laughed. I looked at the Elements of Harmony. The golden shine turned tarnished. The gemstones lost their glimmer. The chains turned rusty. I stared in disbelief. "No! NO!!" Discord then just smiled. "So YOU were the one who was supposed to defeat me? Well good luck without your precious Elements!!" I snapped. I just lost it. My eye twitched. I stared at him with a look of pure hatred and eyes of fire. "Meet me in Ponyville. I'm defeating you with the Elements of Harmony myself. With, or without the help of the Mane 6." Discord just smirked but accepted my terms with a smug grin. I took the ponies and the Elements to Ponyville, and I read the book on the Elements.
I read it over and over and over, but it revealed nothing. I threw it down in frustration. I looked at my greyed-out friends. They seemed to be arguing. I sighed then sat down. It was hopeless...I felt a single tear drip down my cheek and it dropped onto the Element of Magic. Something caught my eye. I looked at Magic, and saw that where the tear drop hit, it had polished the headpiece where it was once tarnished. I stared, then looked at Twilight. She seemed crestfallen. I blinked. Suddenly, all the memories of my family and friends and all the time I spent on Equestria flooded into my head all at once, and I felt something....My eyes twinkled and it caught the attention of all the ponies. My hopeless expression suddenly stretched into a happy grin.
They looked at me like I was insane. Come to think of it, I probably was.