//------------------------------// // chapter 5 The past the present and the future // Story: Twisted history // by LordOfMemory //------------------------------// chapter 5 The past the present and the future Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic -- the characters and creations are the property rights of Hasbro, Inc. and the MLP: FiM writers, producers, etc. Crystal empire (frozen wastes) Sombra was frozen in fear as he watched the spirit of chaos play around. Here in front of him was arguably the most powerful being in all of Equus and all he had to protect him and his partner safe was a small cover of snow keeping them safe hidden from view.(Dammit how are we going to get out of this mess and warn the empire without getting caught by this monster) While Sombra and Gleaming hid away Discord continued to play with the Umbra while manipulating the alarm spell. "As much fun as it is to set up an empire to crumble I feel like this is much to easy." As Discord continued his work he stopped as a lightbulb suddenly appeared over his head. "Oh no this is much to cliché for me." with a snap of his claw the lightbulb was replaced with a comically oversized lit candle. Placing the jar with the umbra inside down Discord began drawing an intricate and massive spell symbol with the most insane and unstable spell matrix known to life on Equus. "Oh this is going to be so much fun my friend. Did you know that as powerful as I am my old man is actually much more powerful. I mean chaos magic is some strong stuff but I only exist because he gave wild magic life and form so I feel like I should honor the old man. You my shadowy friend shall be the first grandson of Grogar the father of monsters you should be honored." A look of horror came over the Umbra pony as he doubled his efforts to escape his prison. The Umbra contorted in pain as a massive amount of magic suddenly flooded into his body. For a moment the umbra took on a corporeal form before he exploded his entire being being converted into black magic. Slowly the magic pulled itself together taking on the form of a massive shadowy alicorn. Discord just laughed with a small look of surprise at his creations form before sending him off to wreck havoc in southern Equestria. "Go take care of old Star swirl and his pillars, as long as they're around I feel like sunbutt and moonbutt may start cheating in our little games plus old starry is getting much to close to my old mans bell for my liking. Oh before I forget make sure they suffer my little one." Gleaming and Sombra stared in horror at the creation of a new evil that had been unleashed upon Equus and they had been helpless to stop it forced to watch on the sidelines like helpless foals. As Sombra began forming a teleportation sigil for the long distance jump he noticed how Gleaming had frozen up in shock. "Gleaming snap out of it I need your help, I don't have enough magic left for a teleportation to reach the protection of the heart's barrier I need your help." whispered Sombra as he tried desperately to get his fellow apprentice to snap out of her paralyzed state. Gleaming unfortunately wouldn't respond as she seemed stuck in her own head imprisoned by her fear. (No, i cant die like this not until I get back and apologize to Twilight. No I cant leave behind my family I have here either. This cant be happening this cant be happening , this cant be happening.) Gleaming couldn't help remembering how Discord had once shown her just how dangerous he had once been before he just started using his magic to mess with the creatures of Equus and cause general mayhem and chaos. She remembered baron land, flaming hell scapes, endless frozen wastelands and endless darkness as Discord followed the lead of his father and wrecked havoc on the world before his father was sealed away. Fear engulfed the mare as she remember the stupid events that had led her to ending up in the past in the first place. It had all been a stupid prank she had asked Discord to help her with. Twilight had been off on check up visit on Starlight Glimmers village so it had seemed like the perfect time to mess with his sister a bit. It helped that Applejack had been off visiting family or his entire prank would have been found out much to early. Convincing the rest of ponyville had actually been surprisingly easy though Pinky Pie and Rainbow Dash had helped quite a bit. Discord had used his magic to turn one Shining armour into Gleaming Shield, he had also used his powers to change all of the standard paperwork that Twilight could use to refute and figure out the prank to mess with her head a bit more. It had all started out simple enough. When Twilight had finally gotten back from her trip Shining had jumped her and surprised her with a big hug. Twilight had been dismissive of the strange mare in her eyes that had hugged her for no reason though had looked surprised that Pinkie hadn't popped out of nowhere to welcome the mare with a party. A look of disbelief and shock had come over her as Shining introduced himself as her sister Gleaming Shield acted hurt that her own sister didn't remember her. Twilight had been quick to tell the now named Gleaming Shield that she must be mistaken and that she only had a brother named Shining armour the captain of Celestia's royal guard and king of the Crystal Empire. Twilight had summoned a family certificate to try and show the Stanger in her eyes that she must be mistaken but was shocked to see that Shining armour's name was no where on the certificate but the mare Gleaming Shields name was there. Twilight was actually floored when Rainbow and Pinkie arrived to welcome her back greeting Gleaming as if they had known her already. Twilight had tried to explain to her friends what she though was going on but they had just asked her if she had drank to much cider on the train trip back. For a whole week Twilight had tried anti-changeling shifting paint, anti illusion spells and spells of revelation. During the whole ordeal any pony she talked to would look at her as if she had grown a second head questioning the existence of her own sister. All the while Shining just played the role of a dutiful sister trying to help calm Twilight down while still messing with her head. At the time it had seemed like a fun joke plus it would mean he had managed to actually beat his sister in something which didn't happen often due to her intellect and vast magical knowledge. Unfortunately Shining had forgotten in his zeal to get one over his sister how quickly she tended to escalate things when trying to sort out a problem by herself. When Twilight had finally managed to track down Discord and Fluttershy and they also acted as if nothing was wrong Twilight snapped using a scrying spell to try and prove that she wasn't going crazy. The only problem was that the magic of the scrying spell had a violent reaction to Discords magic that was hiding Shinings true identity , which had a further poor reaction with the magic of the cutie map that had responded to relationship issues Twilight was having with her brother/sister. Things would have been fine maybe only resulting in a small explosion however the map having only recently been caught up in Starlight's magic to get it back in the castle after the mess with teaching Trixie magic had reawakened a fragment of the time travel spell. Before anyone knew what happened a wormhole had opened up and had tried to swallow everyone, luckily Shining had managed to cast a large shield spell over everyone and teleport them to safety. Unfortunately Shining had not been so lucky and had been sent back into the past with a whole new life designed for him by Discords now overpowered identity concealment spell. Gleaming was pulled out of her panic attack as she felt herself lifted into the air. Looking around to understand what was happening She saw that both she and Sombra were currently being held prisoner by the oversized claws of the spirit of chaos. "well well well I must say you little mice are better at hiding than most but I sensed your magic the moment you arrived. Though it was a blast keeping an eye on your flimsy attempt of an escape plan." As the spirit spoke a small eye with wings floated past them as he laughed at his own joke. Deciding to try and avoid angering Discord both ponies laughed with him. A large smile grew on the draconeques's face as his ego was stroked. "Well at least you two are smart enough to know genius when you hear it. You know what how about a game, you think about something interesting and I rip the information out of your heads. That game is a ton of fun, my old man loved that one a lot when it came to dealing with spies, unfortunately it always broke our toys but I'm sure that you two are built a lot better than those others." The fact that they were about to literally lose their minds wasn't what scared the two trapped ponies the most, no what terrified them was how Discord sounded honestly happy to in his words play with them as if he was a foal talking about playing a game of hoofball with his friends. Seeing Sombra's half completed teleport sigil a plan formed in Gleaming's mind. While Discord listed off the ways he could extend their play time together she used an enlargement spell on the flame of the candle floating above Discord's head. Hot wax spilled all over Discord's face causing the chaos spirit a great deal of pain and discomfort as his own magic got turned against him. A quick yell from her got Sombra into action as he flash froze Discord in crystal. Both ponies knew they were short on time and rushed into their only chance to escape as Discord's crystal prison started to crack. In a flash of magic the sigil activated as Discord broke free and attempted to follow his prey enraged by the pain of hot wax in his eyes and on his body. Sadly for him his revenge was not meant to be as he slammed face first into the magic of the crystal heart protecting the empire. Fury filled Discord as he tried to rip through the barrier only to get blasted back and further pain added to what he was already feeling. "Know this you rats, i will find you and then your going to wish you had never been born!" Discord left the empire grumbling about his dislike of the cold wild magic of the north, how unfriendly the wendigos were and how sunbutt and moonbutt were much better sports at his games than those two cheaters. Meanwhile in the safety of the empires inner barrier Sombra thanked the heart for its protection kissing the ground while Gleaming just felt relief that not only had she and Sombra managed to escape with their lives and their sanity but that she had been able to avoid messing up the past by giving the darker past Discord information about the future. Look at the barrier that had just saved their lives Gleaming could only feel a pang of guilt knowing that its protection at best only kept the worst of North weather from affecting the outer territory of the empire but was unable to extend the bulk of its power any further than maybe halfway through the mid city territories. As she and Sombra left to warn the council about the activities of the Spirit of chaos she knew that she had to do something to help the ponies the heart's magic could protect and help the empire thrive against threats like Discord. (I may not have the elements of harmony like my sister and her friends but I know that I can help in my own way, I just hope the council will be willing to listen)