//------------------------------// // Some Reassembly Required // Story: The Day of Discord // by GJT_Productions //------------------------------// "OK, I've gotten status updates about the situation in the city, and made sure they were relayed to Captain Gibraltar in medical ward. What did I miss?" "Quite a bit, Shining. Take a look at the screen." --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Acting Guard Captain Shining Armor looks up at the magical projection screen controlled by Princess Celestia, seeing Pinkie Pie - recently restored to her full pink bouncy vibrancy - being pulled in a cart by a similarly restored Applejack, all the while taking about how amusing it was the thought of her ever turning grey. "How... how did Twily do that?!" Shining gasps in some degree of surprise as he sees on the screen the group of Element Bearers, minus Rainbow Dash, conversing with several citizens of Ponyville. "I think she neutralized Discord's influence with a variation of my own magic." Princess Cadance beside him answers, freely smiling for the first time in a while that day. "Discord seemed to have been controlling their minds, and the only way to break that kind of control is the same way I use my magic to help stop arguments and fighting between ponies. I'm so proud of her." "Heh, how about that? I guess there was a way you were able to contribute after all!" Shining explains, turning to a still-somber Celestia that was still fixated on the screen. "Thank you everypony for helping me find where most of my friends went to. We should be able to find Rainbow Dash on our own now." Twilight Sparkle was saying to a small group of ponies on the screen. Shining recognized some of the ponies on the screen - Mayor Mare, Guard Lieutenant Meadow Song, Guard Upper Class Caramel - and correctly guessed that the earth pony couple was Mr. and Mrs. Cake, but did not learn until later about Derpy Hooves. "It is an honor and a pleasure to work with you, Twilight Sparkle. Good luck with finding Rainbow Dash, and driving off Discord." Mayor Mare responds, and moments later the group bows to Twilight before turning away back into the still-chaotic Ponyville. The bowing startled Shining a bit, but when he turned toward Celestia he was even more surprised to see her with a flicker of a smile instead of being offended! The sun princess must've noticed his surprise, because she turned her head to face him before her reply: "She will make a good princess one day. Trust me, you will see in the future." Shining, still quite surprised, turns toward Cadance, who just shrugs in response - she didn't have any more clue what Celestia was talking about, despite what Cadance already knew about Twilight. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- IN THE CASTLE MEDICAL WARD... "So, Guard, how many did you say were involved in the protesting?" Captain Gibraltar was saying as he faced the unicorn Upper Class Guard, unable to move from his bed due to the sling his broken forelegs were placed in. "A couple dozen, sir. And I could see more ponies coming to join them." the guard answers. "Mmm. There might indeed be a problem, especially if criminal elements released from the prison get involved. I want you to grab a fellow squad member and monitor the situation. However, do not interfere with the protests unless there is danger to innocent life and limb! Understood?" Gibraltar orders. "Yes, sir." the guard answers again, snapping to a salute as he does so. "Very good. Do you have a status update about the batponies?" Gibraltar asks again. "No change from the last report, sir." "Alright then, have a pegasus squadmate give them these orders to stand down - they won't be able to do much good now, plus will be seriously sleep-deprived in their current state. Stay here while I draw up the scroll to give them." "Understood, sir." Gibraltar's dark-brown colored magic begins to glimmer around his horn, levitating a piece of parchment onto a small side table beside the bed. On the same table was an inkwell with quillpen, and the disabled Guard Captain was grateful Fidelitas had had these brought to him so that he could continue to conduct some of his usual administrative business in this very bizarre day... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ON THE CANTERLOT-CLOUDSDALE SKYWAY... The Changeling drones disguised as Agent Deceit and Agent Sadness were flying at top speed, looking back at the single E.U.P. Guard patrol hot on their tail. Their fast flight in the direction of Cloudsdale, far above the "safe speed" for pegasi flight on the "skyway" connecting the two cities, had drawn the attention of a single patroller responsible for monitoring the air route. "Cloud! CLOUD!" Sadness shouts, pointing toward a small cloud below the marked "lane" they were flying in, and both disguised drones dive down into the cloud, temporarily throwing off the pursuing Lower Class patrol. Seconds later, the patroller cautiously lowers himself in the direction of the cloud, only for the cloud to suddenly burst open in a blast of green magic! When the magic fades, two large creatures are revealed, one a bugbear and one a giant insect that looks like a cross between a wasp and an anteater. Needless to say, the terrified patroller tried to shout for help, but both creatures were upon him very quickly, the insect using a giant stinger to fatally end the patrol's career. The bugbear caught the now-dead body of the patrol and stuffed it into the cloud where the two drones had been hiding - the magic that allowed pegasi to walk on clouds did not immediately dissipate upon death, and the trick would delay discovery of the body long enough for the drones to get away. "I sure hope nopony else saw that..." the drone in the form of the giant insect said, using green magic to shift back into the Agent Deceit disguise. "Me too. But we don't have time to speculate about that, we need to keep flying. Everything has been taken care of in the Canterlot hospital, so they won't find us until we're all the way to Cloudsdale. Let's go!" his partner explains, reverting from his bugbear form back to the Agent Sadness disguise. Both disguised drones take off and back up to the "skyway" again, leaving more death and confusion in their wake. The real peril to Equestria was still spreading throughout the kingdom, regardless of what happened to Discord...