In the aftermath of yesterday’s events, Discord suggested that he and Fluttershy have a slumber party, much to Rainbow Dash’s annoyance, since she still shared the place with her host, considering she couldn’t fly. And after the night of revelry, silence finally fell over the household as all three of them fell asleep. The draconequus rested his head on a pillow, sucking his feline thumb and his cloven hoof kicking, mumbling.
BONK!
A blunt pain rang in the head of the Lord of Chaos, who was just woken up from his slumber, rubbing his head where the pain was coming from. Suddenly he realized something odd: his fur was completely wet. As his eyes finally adjusted, he saw several heads looking down on him in anger. The country pony, the fashionista, the wonderbolt, and three princesses. The only exception was the shy pegasus, with a concerned look on her face, and the dragon, who held a mallet in his hands.
“Did… did you just bash me over the head with a mallet?” Discord asked, almost in a shocked tone.
“We’re so sorry, Discord,” Fluttershy begged forgiveness, “but we couldn’t wake you up any other way. We tried to call you, prod you…”
“We emptied a whole bucket of water on you, and you still wouldn’t wake up,” the blue pegasus added.
“So we had to use more drastic measures,” Spike held the tool up.
“Yeah, but why?” Discord asked.
Everybody pointed in the same direction: to the window. He went to open it and saw the state of the world outside. Pinkie Pie sat outside the house, her mouth wide open as it rained chocolate, a ten-foot-long herd of lagomorphs stampeded, pigs flew in the sky, which was filled with angry spikey clouds. After a moment of staring, he snapped his finger and everything disappeared.
“Oh come on!” the party pony yelled, her insatiable thirst left unfulfilled.
Draconequus sighed and turned back to the group, but they were still giving him angry looks. “Look, I promise, I didn’t do this intentionally.”
“Sorry Discord,” Applejack voice her frustration, “but that’s gonna be a hard sell, considering the apples in my orchard came to life, grew twenty hoofs, and tried to plant me in the ground!”
“And while I find the sewing equipment coming to life and doing the work on its own amusing,” Rarity added, “they started to make those horrible shoulder pads dresses and bellbottoms while dancing to some of the worst tunes I’ve ever heard. SHOULDER PADS, DISCORD!”
“Applejack, Rarity, wait. Last time he did something like this unintentionally, it happened because of his dreams,” Twilight recalled familiar events.
“Discord, did you have a nightmare?” the yellow pegasus asked.
There was noticeable perspiration of hesitation on him. “M… maybe?”
“Care to tell us what happened?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“I’d… rather not.”
The former Princess of the Night stepped forward. “Would you settle for showing it to me instead?”
“Well, err…” there was a sense of resistance in his voice. “To be honest, I mean I just got up, why bother wasting such a beautiful day sleeping, so much to do an-“
Luna’s horn lit up. “I can always “help you” go back to sleep.”
“Wait! If I have to get my lights turned off, at least let me do it myself,” Lord of chaos freaked out, grabbing Spike's mallet and bashed himself over the head, knocking himself out.
“Well… that was unexpected,” the dragon responded.
Mare of the Night closed her eyes, and the darkness enveloped all around her.
A hallway. There was always a hallway, covered with infinite doors. And that’s where she ended up, just like last time, except she didn’t have to look for its main resident for long. Discord stuck out of the floor, his head squashed into it.
“You know we really need to stop doing this,” he said, pulling himself off the torn carpet.
“For you to have your powers go rampant for no reason it means something serious must’ve happened,” Luna stood by his side. “Now we just need to find the right door to your last dream.”
The Lord of Chaos covered behind the former princess, pointing in the distance. “We won’t have to look far.”
A door stood not far from them, standing out from the rest quite distinctly. A giant sheep’s eye was engraved on it and black smoke was coming out of the cracks.
The blue alicorn approached it, until a feline paw and a bird’s claw tugged at her leg, stopping her. “I beg you, don’t make me go in there again!”
“Sorry, Discord,” she said, raising him with her magic, “but this is an intervention and we’re getting to the bottom of this.”
She opened the door and darkness enveloped them.
“Well… this isn’t what I was expecting,” Luna responded, confused.
They stood in a meadow of blooming flowers, bright sun shining down on them. They heard laughter in the air, and in the distance noticed two figures frolicking through it. One was the draconequus in question and the second, a too-familiar yellow pegasus. They were both happy, without a care in the world. He picked her up and they spun around, laughing.
“You make me feel so happy, Discord,” Fluttershy said with a smile.
“So do you, Fluttershy,” he replied. “And I promise I’ll always protect you from harm.”
Luna felt a slight turn in her stomach. This was way too sweet for her, especially considering it was coming from Lord of Chaos, and that’s when she noticed him covering behind her. What exactly was he afraid of?
“You couldn’t do that for me.”
Another voice just spoke, one that didn’t belong to any of the two participants of the dream, so she turned to its origin. The dream Discord also turned his head, and the look on him was unsettled, to say the least. A mare stood behind him; she was a white unicorn with a teal-colored mane and a single stripe of pink running through it. He was left flabbergasted, unable to utter a word.
“He knows you can’t,” she spoke, “and now he’s going to come back to take it.”
The sun suddenly turned black, vapor-like magical essence covered the sky, and a beam of darkness enveloped in sinister light shot down from the tainted sun, a strong wind blew, reducing the meadow to a barren wasteland. Luna erected a magical barrier to protect both of them from the blast, while watching the dream Discord pressing the yellow pegasus to himself, to protect her from violent winds, but as he finally raised her after the gust passed, he found her turned to black solid matter and the winds blew her to dust. The Lord of Chaos collapsed, visibly shaking from the experience. He turned and saw tendrils emerging from the dark light, fast approaching his direction, toward the unicorn.
“Draco, please do something! Save-!” the mare’s words went silent as one of the tendrils reached her and wrapped around her, imprisoning her in a bubble that deafened all sound on the inside.
A deep sinister cackle followed, it seemed familiar to Discord, he didn’t want it to be; terror and dread came over him as he saw a giant blue head of a ram pop out of the pillar of darkened light, a pair of giant antlers resting on top of his head, crimson red eyes peering at the quivering creature of chaos. He knew his name, yet he was simply too terrified to even utter it.
“Where is it, draconequus?” the grizzled sheep asked in a malicious tone. “Where did you hide it?”
He barely managed to scramble together the courage to speak. “I… I… I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Oh yes, you do. You cannot hide anything from me, draconequus. But I do not need your words to find what I seek.”
Tendrils finally reached Discord, twisting and turning until they formed a hand and grabbed hold of him. Another pair of tendrils reached for one of his ears and opened them wide, while another tendril reached out and into his ear.
“Luna, make it stop already!!!” the Lord of Chaos at her side uncharacteristically pleaded.
Mare of the Night finally snapped out of it after being drawn into fascination by the events on display. She exited the protective bubble, lighting up her horn, and proceeded to move through the scenery, while she watched as the tendrils conjured by the image of the giant ram pulled something out of Discord’s ear: it was a red strip of leather, with four golden runes embedded into it and a hanger in the middle of them.
“Ah… so that’s where you hid it,” he smiled. “But I’m not through with you yet.”
The ram’s horns lit up. Four stars suddenly appeared in the sky surrounding the tainted sun, a trail of magic connected between them and the sun itself began to expand, turning into a doorway into another realm, showing a sinister castle hanging upside down, slowly entering through it.
“Come, draconequus. Tambelon awaits.”
“NOOOOOOOOO!” the Lord of Chaos cried out.
A flash of light erupted, distorting the dream vision, but it refused to go away, even though the former princess was putting on the full force to dispel it; which meant there was still a source of the nightmare somewhere.
“Reveal yourself!” she called out. “The watcher of dreams commands it!”
WHY WOULD YOU DENY YOURSELF?
There it was again. That sinister voice. It remained fresh in her memory from not long ago. Without delay, she followed it to the origin point.
YOU TRULY HOLD SO LITTLE VALUE IN YOURSELF?
Its incessant prodding kept trying to bear down on her, but she refused to give in to its words. And then she finally found it. At the heart of it all, the same thing appeared as last night: a vaporous twisting shape exhuming darkness revealed itself, and as predicted, as she closed in on it, it took shape of her own dark side.
I deserved better!
She frowned, unleashing a burst of light against the manifestation.
YOU CANNOT… ESCAPE US…
As it all cleared up, the imagery was gone, and the blooming meadow was there again. Luna took a deep breath and exhaled, then turned to the real draconequus, who approached behind her, looking meek.
“Discord, I need you to give me an honest answer; when did you start having this dream?” she questioned him.
“To be completely frank, never before,” he answered. “This is the first time I’ve had it.”
She thought for a moment, before responding again. “We need to get back and tell the others.”
“No, wait-!“ Discord’s protest was cut off.
Luna opened her eyes, followed by the Lord of Chaos; they were both back in Fluttershy’s cottage, surrounded by others.
“Well?” Twilight asked her. “What was it, Princess Luna?”
She sighed. “We may have a serious problem, Twilight Sparkle.”
“How serious?” her older sibling asked.
“Last night, I offered to look into her dream, to see what torments her and possibly dispel the issue. The problem was solved, but the culprit responsible for it left a mark, one that turned into… my darkest part, before it was destroyed,” she explained to Celestia, slowly turning her head to the younger alicorn as she continued. “And I’m afraid the same repeated in Discord’s case.”
“What do you mean by “repeated”? You mean that very same remnant of shadow that was causing me the nightmare?” the princess of friendship asked for elaboration.
Mare of the Night nodded. “Somepony… or rather something has the power to infiltrate one’s subconsciousness and torment them in their sleep with horrific visions. There’s something odd though.”
“What do you mean?” the new princess questioned.
“Your nightmare tormented you with the visions of potential dark future and failure, likely to keep you despondent. But him?” She turned her head to Discord, who already had Fluttershy by his side comforting him. “It almost seemed as if his nightmare was trying to extract information from him, it was looking for something.”
“Care to explain yourself what's she talking ‘bout?” Applejack asked him.
The whole group looked at him, and they could clearly see the hesitation in his behavior. He was holding back something, something he didn’t want anyone else to know.
“Discord, please, tell us what’s going on.” The shy pegasus rubbed his hand gently.
He sighed, finally relenting. “Have you ever heard the story of… Gusty the Great?”
“Heard of?!” Twilight yelped and instantly teleported away, and reappeared a few moments later, holding a book, the image of a full-grown equine with teal mane and a pink stripe in it on the cover. “It’s one of the most popular books for children! There isn’t a pony in Equestria that wouldn’t know about it!”
“I never did,” a voice said.
Everybody looked at the originator of it, that somebody being Rainbow Dash. “What? I only ever read Daring Do books. Don’t blame me for not reading books meant for little kids.”
“Do we need to bring you up to speed, darling?” Rarity asked her.
“Wait!” a yell came from outside the cottage, before a pink mass leaped through the window, grabbing the book and nestled itself on the comfy chair in a single swoop. “If we’re going to tell her the story, we have to do this properly.”
“Pinkie, I don’t think we have the time for-“ Twilight protested, but got cut off as she began.
Long time ago, after the three tribes defeated the windigos and came together to establish Equestria-
“Excuse me, Pinkie,” Discord interrupted, “I love storytime as much as the next draconequus, but can you please tell the abridged version so we can get to the point, please?”
The pink pony looked at him and then sighed in disappointment. “You’re really no fun, you know?”
After the three tribes officially established Equestria, the pegasi used their ability to manipulate weather and built their new home, Cloudsdale, the earth ponies establish several farms to grow food in the new fertile land, meanwhile unicorns traveled further south, seeking the riches that the new land provided.
However, the further they traveled south, the more the light of the land dimmed, yet they would not be deterred from their mission. That was when they first encountered monsters they didn’t meet up north, but using their magic they managed to keep their settlements protected from their attacks. It didn’t take long however for the one commanding the darkness of this southern land to take notice of the ones who trespassed into his domain. His name was Grogar; he was a ram that ruled over the kingdom he had covered in darkness, infested by monsters that he created. He would see these “invaders” not just expelled, but fed to his armies.
And that’s when the mare came forth to lead the unicorns in resistance against the evil tyrant. Her name was Gusty; a simple pony who dedicated her life to protect her people from Grogar. Wherever the dark ram went, she would know exactly how to evade him at every turn. She was praised for it, and for that reason, everypony started to call her “Gusty the Great”. This infuriated Grogar, so much that he summoned an entire host of monsters to sweep across the whole land. Gusty managed to evade him again, but now the army of monsters made its way northward in a straight line, to find and destroy everything in its path. Gusty realized that she couldn’t fight Grogar on her own anymore, so she and the unicorns decided they needed help from the pegasi army.
And so Gusty and the surviving unicorns traveled north in great haste, and in smaller numbers, they managed to overtake the much larger and slow army of monsters. And while nopony had ever tried to reach Cloudsdale on hoof, Gusty the Great was not deterred! She and her unicorn warriors marched up the hill that was the closest to it. But suddenly, they encountered the treacherous Grogar and Gusty could tell he was ready for battle.
Gusty called out to the unicorn warriors. “We can fight Grogar together!”
And the unicorn warriors shot magical beams into the clouds that wove into one! The beam, stronger than a thousand armies, shined down. It wrapped around Grogar and pulled him to the ground!
“Don't let him escape!” yelled Gusty.
Grogar was strong, for fear gave him power, and he broke through the bonds-!
“Pinkie, you’re in full narration mode again,” Discord reminded her.
“But this is the best part!” she whined.
“Yes, but can you just stay on the task, please?”
“Fine…” she pouted.
Gusty the Great saw as the ram sorcerer use the Bewitching Bell that hung around his neck to take away the magic of her unicorn warriors, but luckily, before she was overwhelmed by Grogar and his horde, the Royal Legion of Cloudsdale descended and took them on.
Grogar grew weary of the fight and decided to end it all. Using the power in the bell, he darkened the sky and from it, a giant sinister upside-down castle descended upon the battlefield to crush everything. In the final moment of the encounter, Gusty the Great took Grogar head-on and managed to grab the bell from him, and used it on the ram sorcerer himself. With his own power turned against him, the darkness and the castle that came down from the sky disappeared the same way they came, and finally, Grogar was shattered into pieces of light and sent into the sky, leaving behind a set of four stars.
In the end, the day was won, and Gusty the Great would forever be immortalized as somepony, who gave everything, to save everypony.
The End
The silence lingered in the room for a moment, before a blue pegasus finally broke it.
“I mean, the story wasn’t bad, but…” Rainbow Dash voiced her thought, “I think the delivery could’ve used a bit of something.”
“See? What did I tell you?” the party planner chewed out the draconequus. “It’s all about delivery, Discord. Now you’ve ruined Dash’s first experience. She didn’t even get the chance to see the illustrations in the book.”
Pinkie Pie huffed and opened the book on one of the pages, displaying the imagery of the characters in the story.
Luna looked at them, seeing the images of two characters printed in the book, the same characters she witnessed in Discord’s nightmare. “That… that’s them. The pony and the giant ram commanding the darkness. That’s what I saw in the nightmare.”
“You mean, they looked exactly like them?” Twilight asked.
“Well, not quite. Either the book is embellishing and portraying Gusty as taller and majestic, or the Lord of Chaos thinks so little of her that he imagines her being a helpless little pony.” She then turned to him. “But back to the question that started all of this; why is this important, Discord? What does this story have to do with your nightmare? What did it want?”
“It wanted… this.” Sraconequus rose and snapped his fingers, conjuring an image.
An item levitated on his palm; it was a red strip of leather, with four golden runes embedded into it and a hanger in between them.
“What is that?” the fashionista questioned. “Not that the choker doesn’t look stylish, but it looks really REALLY old.”
“You’re nearly correct, Rarity,” Discord confirmed. “This item is called the Collar of Dominion, it is a powerful artifact that Grogar once used.”
“More powerful than the Bewitching Bell?” Celestia asked.
“No, definitely not. But it is nonetheless a crucial link to his power.”
“How come?” Luna couldn’t understand it. “Isn’t the Bewitching Bell already a powerful tool on its own?”
The Lord of Chaos looked at the Mare of the Night, sighing. “Have you never wondered why, after Chrysalis, Tirek, and Cozy Glow took my chaos magic away all those years ago, they didn’t just use it to bend reality to their will, and instead just attacked Canterlot?”
They all looked at one another, unable to answer.
The Lord of Chaos stretched over to Pinkie Pie before he continued. “Because they couldn’t. I think our dear pink puffy party planner over here can attest that unless you’ve been washed over in the essence of chaos itself before, you would never be able to use it properly, especially outside the Chaos Dimension; it would turn on its user. That was one golden thread in our situation back then, and why they kept it locked inside the bell the whole time and never used it.”
“So, what exactly does this old bell hanger have to do with it?” Applejack frowned.
“The Collar of Dominion contains a very modicum portion of Grogar’s magic, but if the Bewitching Bell is attached to it, all the power locked inside it, no matter how dangerous or volatile, its energy can be used by the wearer, without repercussions.”
A gasp followed, coming from the yellow pegasus. “And since Chrysalis stole the Bewitching Bell yesterday, that means…!”
Tension spiked in the room in a matter of moments. There were so many things going on that seemed to be connected and no longer possible to be coincidences. Some unseen force gave Twilight nightmares, which eventually led to Queen Chrysalis being freed and releasing some great darkness in the Everfree Forest, resembling the imagery in her dream; and now, that same force gave Discord nightmares and was now threatening to uncover a secret that he was aware of. There was no denying at this point that the two things were related in some way. If Queen Chrysalis was after the Collar of Dominion, coupled on top of that she’s just gotten stronger and nobody could virtually hurt her in her new domain, there was no telling what horrors would she unleash next.
“Well don’t just wait!” Rainbow Dash urged him. “Give it to us so we can hide it somewhere safe!”
Draconequus snapped his fingers and the image of the collar disappeared. “That will be a problem, considering I don’t have it.”
“But I saw the image of Grogar dragging it out of your… ear,” Luna told what she witnessed.
“Yes. He wanted to see into my memory, to know WHERE the artifact is hidden,” he explained. “And sadly, I did know where it is.”
“Where?”
“The place where the Collar of Dominion is hidden… is known as the Jagged Ridge.”
Celestia thought for a moment. “Jagged Ridge? That’s a mountain range on the far western border of Equestria, just before the Nether Lands, home of the centaurs.”
“And every moment we waste, it means that whoever tried to extract that information from me, is a moment closer to finding the collar,” Discord urged, turning and preparing to snap his fingers. “So, I think we should go there as fast as possible and- “
“Hold on one darn pickin’ minute!” country pony stopped him. “Somethin’ ain’t addin’ up. The story of Gusty only mentioned the Bell. It didn’t say anything about the Collar, yet you seem to know about it and its location. Why’s that, Discord?”
His back was turned towards them, but with the awkward silence that lasted too long, they could tell something was off as if he hesitated to speak.
After a prolonged quiet he finally spoke. “I… knew where the Bewitching Bell was the whole time. How else do you think those three could’ve found it? I know many things, dear Applejack.”
Applejack just didn’t feel right about the answer; it just felt too evading, she wouldn’t have time to respond though, as Twilight finally spoke again. “Even so, we can’t just go on a whim, Discord. I left the castle without saying as much as a word, not to mention for an expedition to Jagged Ridge we’d need proper equipment- “
SNAP!
Twilight and everybody else found themselves in the Canterlot castle’s throne room, and moments later, after another snap, a pile of coats, rucksacks, and provisions fell on top of them.
“Okay let’s see.” The Lord of Chaos pulled out a clipboard and began checking off the list. “Clothing, equipment, food, and all other supplies… oh, look at that, all that’s left now is for you to sign on the dotted line that you’ll be absent for today, Twilight- “
“DISCORD!” the Princess of Friendship yelled so loud that it could be heard through all the castle.
“Listen Discord, I understand how serious the situation seems, but I can’t just drop everything to deal with it! Yesterday was an exception since it was the meeting for the Council of Friendship, but I can’t just leave all behind to let it “take care of itself”! I hold a position of responsibility that nopony can just replace on a whim, do you understand?!”
Draconequus froze in place and it became so quiet that one could hear the sound of the quill dropping to the ground as it slipped from his grip. The rest of the group was just as focused on her by the sudden outburst, the fuming expression as she just vented her anger.
“Twilight?”
“WHAT?!” the purple alicorn yelled at the voice that broke the silence, and it didn’t take long before a sudden wave of shame washed over her when she realized it was her former mentor addressing her. “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to raise my voice against you, Princess Celestia, I was just- “
A gentle hoof shoved her muzzle, silencing her before she could finish. “Twilight, I can confidently proclaim that out of all in this room, I more than understand the burden of rulership. But at the same time, I also understand that there are moments when you cannot relegate important, especially crucial tasks to somepony else. It may not be my place to say it anymore, but this is a task you and your friends must undertake together.”
“But… but I can’t just drop everything and have things run themselves. And I’ve no pony who can take over my daily routines and schedules.”
The Mares of Sun and Night looked at each other and smiled. “On the contrary, Twilight: you have two.”
The Princess of Friendship’s eye widened from those words. “YOU TWO?! No, nononononono, I can’t accept that! After all this time you’ve been giving your lives as servants and protectors of Equestria, you finally got to live normal lives. I can’t just make you go back to your old ways! Besides, what about your play in Manehatten?!”
Celestia sighed. “Don’t worry, Twilight, this isn’t a permanent replacement. We’ve both been acquainted with the extent of this new threat we all face. If there’s any way we can help you and your friends, we’ll be more than willing to. And as I said before, an absence for a day or two won’t be an issue.”
The younger alicorn sighed. “Are you sure about this?”
“After what I’ve just witnessed twice in a row, I’d say our assistance is more than necessary right now,” Luna concurred with her elder sibling.
“Thank you… both of you,” Twilight replied with a smile.
“Well perfect then!” Discord said without allowing them to have a moment. “If we’re all set, we can all go straight to Jagged Rid-“
A loud knock suddenly came upon the throne room’s door, followed by a voice. “Your Majesty! Are you in there?!”
“Enter!” she called out.
The door creaked open and a single royal guard looked inside. “Oh, thank goodness you’re here, Your Majesty. I‘ve been searching the whole castle for the last fifteen minutes. None of the staff had any idea where you were.”
“I’ve… had a personal matter to attend to,” she cracked an awkward smile and glanced to everyone behind her. “Anyway, what’s the matter?”
“Two things, Your Majesty,” the guard said and opened the door wide.
With the sound of flapping wings, an owl flew into the room. The Princess recognized him, she’s not seen him in a very long time, since she’s designated him as a royal representative to the deer’s realm. She extended her hoof and he landed on it.
“Hello, Owlowiscious! How’s my special envoy to the Thicket doing?” She snuggled against her old friend.
The owl simply hooted and raised his leg, revealing a small cylinder attached to it. Twilight opened the brass cylinder and pulled out a piece of paper, and started to read it.
“Twilight darling, what is it?” Rarity asked.
She sighed. “An after-effect from yesterday. King Aspen is reporting that part of the forest close to Thicket has been completely ravaged and would like to inquire if we know anything about it.”
Everybody instantly glared at the Lord of chaos, who felt hopelessly surrounded.
“And the second thing?” she asked the guard.
He pulled out a scroll from a bag. “One of the morning patrols sent an urgent message from their routine.”
Twilight took the scroll and opened it. After a moment of reading through it, she let out a gasp.
“Twilight, what’s wrong?” Fluttershy asked.
“Everypony,” she turned and looked with a very concerned expression, “we need to get to Tartarus immediately.”
Tartarus. This ancient prison was carved into the mountain, protected by a magical door. It stood far away from any civilization, for it was a place where the most wicked, vile, and evil creatures deserved to be locked away.
With a flash, the six equines, the dragon, and the draconequus teleported to its very doorstep.
Spike looked at his companion, stripped of her regal armor, noticing there was a nervous twitch in her expression. “Twilight, just relax, will you? Celestia and Luna know what they’re doing. I don’t think you need to worry about it.”
“Can they, Spike?” she asked. “They’ve been gone for so long, and I’ve changed so many things in the castle in the meantime, what if-“
He pressed his finger against her mouth. “Twilight, chill, okay? Just trust them.”
The princess inhaled and exhaled. “You’re right, Spike. Let’s just focus on the task at hand.”
“Maybe they can fill us in,” Rainbow Dash pointed in the distance.
Numerous royal guards stood before the giant ornate gate, their expressions displaying worry, to say the least. As they heard the sound of hooves coming towards them, they all lined up and stood to attention.
“I received your message as soon as I could,” Twilight addressed them. “What’s happened? The message was very vague on details.”
One of the guards stepped forward. “It’s Cerberus, Your Majesty. He’s disappeared.”
“Wait, that’s what this is about?” She crooked her eyebrow. “It wouldn’t be the first time that Cerberus just left his post. He normally comes back after an hour or two.”
“Your Majesty, when we first made our rounds and came here, he was nowhere to be found. And that was six hours ago.”
“Oh… well, I’m sure somepony saw him then.”
“I dunno, Twilight,” Pinkie leaned in. “I’m pretty sure a giant, thirty-hoof tall three-headed dog wouldn’t be that hard to spot, especially if he wandered into a town.”
“Yeah, I’m with Pinkie on that one, Twilight,” the blue pegasus added. “There’d likely be panic and we’d get notified.”
A slight tingle of uncertainty was slowly creeping up on the alicorn, but she hadn’t exhausted all her options yet. “Did you check inside Tartarus? Maybe he just went inside.”
The guards looked at one another, and Twilight could tell that something was bearing down on them. “We did, Your Majesty, and… that’s the other thing we sent the message for.”
“Why? What happened?”
“You… you may wanna see it for yourself.”
The gang looked at each other. What happened in the prison that warranted such hesitation? They walked to the giant door, covered in a runic pattern, with a very complex enchanted seal that could only be unlocked by the use of magic, being the only thing that barred the way. The Lord of Chaos slithering between their hooves to the front, extended the nail on his feline hand, stuck it inside the seal, and turned it. The pattern on the seal lit up, the mechanism on the side turned with a clank, and the gates slowly opened wide.
“After you, Your Majesty.” He bowed to the purple mare.
She rolled her eyes and walked inside, others slowly following close behind. A heavy creaking sound came from the back as the door slowly closed, sealing itself shut.
It was dark. They could only see light in the far distance, coming from the source of whatever lay in the deep abyss. Their eyes needed a moment to adjust to the blackness, but even before that they realized something was off about the place; it was quiet, simply too quiet, considering this place was supposed to house numerous horrible monsters. And by the time their eyes could finally see normally in the dim light, they fully understood why the guards outside were so tense.
“EMPTY?!” Twilight yelled, causing it to echo all around to drive the point home.
All of Tartarus was empty. Giant steel cages that once kept vicious supernatural beasts locked away were wide open and their residents, gone. Not a single creature that was once locked in the cages that lined up in the long wide hall leading up to the high-priority cells above the abyss, was present.
“How… in Equestria’s this possible?” Twilight was left agape at the mouth. “This is supposed to be the most impregnable place in all of the kingdom!”
“Well, that’s not entirely true,” Applejack answered. “Remember that “Mister Lord of Chaos” over here once pulled two villains out without a hitch.”
Discord glared at her. “Hey, I resent that statement…! But fair enough.”
“Now let’s be fair, Applejack,” Rarity joined in, “Discord’s power is great, so it’s predictable that he of all creatures could do it, but not everypony has his powers.”
“Yeah, but who else do we know that has a great amount of magical power to have been able to teleport dozens of monsters out of here?” country pony retorted.
A low gasp escaped the princess’ mouth. “Queen Chrysalis! That’s the only explanation! It all makes sense. With the amount of power she wields now, she could definitely have done it!”
“Nah, unlikely,” Pinkie Pie said as she dragged her face through the dirt trying to spot the clues. “If she had, she would’ve just teleported herself out of Canterlot yesterday and we wouldn’t need to play Ponies and Changelings with her.”
“Yeah, but who else is there, Pinkie? There isn’t any other creature we know of that has a great amount of magic power to teleport masses of prisoners out of this place.”
Fluttershy twirled her hoof through the dirt, seeing several giant footprints, then turned back toward the gate, thinking for a moment. “Erm… what if they just all went out the front door instead?”
The alicorn looked at her. “Fluttershy, no offense, but that theory would only be plausible were it not for one tiny problem: those imprisoned here were monsters! They’re angry, violent, and loud! Were they to go through the door somepony would’ve probably heard them, and even then, Cerberus would’ve stopped them from leaving!”
“But your puppy isn’t here, now is he?” draconequus stated as he put on a loupe on one of his eyes and looked at a rock. “Furthermore, the fact that he just disappeared without a trace, what’s then actually stopping the rest of the menagerie that was locked in here from leaving in the same manner?”
Twilight went into thought, and the more she did, the more Discord’s reasoning rang true, yet in the back of her mind something wasn’t making sense, something that the yellow pegasus voiced. “But, Twilight does make a good point, Discord. All those creatures would have to be really calm and docile to have gotten away unnoticed.”
“Yeah, do you know of somepony who could’ve gotten them that way?” the princess asked.
Discord was still for a moment, popping the loupe off his eye, before speaking in the most cryptic tone. “I can think of only ONE creature who’d be able to turn a gaggle of rampaging monsters silent and submissive… but the probability of being him is an absolute zero.”
Twilight couldn’t help but think he may be doubting his own words, especially after the nightmare he’s had, and the non-answer he gave when being questioned about knowing things.
“In any case, I think we’re done,” he brushed it all way. ”We won’t be finding these missing beasts now and we’re already pressed for time as it is.”
The guards outside stood to attention as the gates opened again and the group walked out into the sunlight.
“Your Majesty, what are your orders? What do we do?” questioned the leading guard.
“You will do the following,” Twilight ordered them, “you will return to Canterlot and report what happened to Princesses Celestia and Luna.”
“Ce… I’m sorry, did you just say that the royal sisters have returned?!” they were all taken aback.
“She’s replacing me while I’m away,” she explained. ”Also, tell them we’ve gone to Jagged Ridge as planned. You are dismissed.”
The guards all saluted and moved out with haste.
“Well then, are you all ready for our expedition?” the Lord of Chaos said, snapping his fingers, dressing everybody to look the part.
“Discord, do we even know how to get there? None of us were ever to the Jagged Ridge,” the blue pegasus asked.
“No problem on that front, Dash,” draconequus said, before snapping his fingers again and they all disappeared.
A strong wind was blowing. They found themselves somewhere high in the mountains, yet hot air brushed against them. It soon became apparent to them why this place was called the Jagged Ridge, as giant sharpened stone spikes stuck out everywhere around them.
“Welcome to the Jagged Ridge, everypony,” he announced. “I trust you caught on to the nature of its name?”
“Ugh, this is one of the most inhospitable looking places I’ve ever seen, Discord,” the fashionista complained. “Who in their right mind would even think of making it?”
“That would be the Nether Lands themselves, dear Rarity,” he explained. “The land on the other side of the ridge is a barren wasteland, hot winds that run across it crash against the mountainside that borders it, slicing right into it. And over the ages, it carved out the place we stand on now.”
“As much as I’d like to listen to the history of this place, Discord,” the princess intervened, “you said we’re in a hurry. Where do we go to find the artifact?”
“Through there,” the draconequus said and pointed in the distance.
There was a giant hole in the side of the mountain. Though this place seemed old, there was something about it that made it seem recent, something that the Lord of Chaos acknowledged as they approached the entrance.
“Odd, last I recall the entrance wasn’t as big as this last time,” he said, as he passed the threshold, which seemed to be at least twice his size.
“Last time?” Applejack questioned. “How would you know what this place was like “last time”?”
He froze, before finally replying. “Never mind that, let’s get going!”
As the Discord pulled on his beard, causing his eyes to turn on like flashlights and running in, the group lingered outside for a moment.
“Anypony else feeling like he’s been dodging a lot of questions lately?” Spike asked.
“That would be an understatement,” Rainbow Dash replied. “He’s definitely hiding something.”
“Girls, don’t be so hard on him. He’s probably just shaken from that horrible nightmare he’s had. I mean Twilight was,” Fluttershy tried to defend him.
“Yeah…” the alicorn replied, “after about two weeks. In any case, let’s go.”
The princess went inside first, with the rest of the mares and her companion following behind.