Elytra soared above Ponyville, still in her griffon form with Discord on her back. Fluttershy was flying beside her, big worried eyes looking down at the town below. They had passed over the hole by town hall, which had only drawn more questions out of the pegasus. Elytra had avoided them all and just told her that those unicorns below were dangerous.
The internal battery of the shapeshifter was running dangerously close to empty. Staying in a form much bigger than her normal one while carrying another fully-grown being was a drain on her magic, and she could only hope that she could make it back to the castle before she had to change back.
“A-and what happened to Canterlot?” Fluttershy’s gaze turned to the mountain in the distance, three shapes now circling around its peak. “Are those…?” Elytra was drawn to look towards the glassed capital city as the pegasus’ voice trailed off.
There were only three alicorns around Canterlot. That meant Twilight had left…and was headed back here. That made Elytra’s mind race and her wings beat faster as she propelled herself towards the safe confines of the castle.
“We need to get back, now!” The two doubled their speed, thankfully without any more questions from Fluttershy. Seeing the changeling scared had sent the little pony’s own fear into overdrive. Just like before, the unicorns below didn’t bother them at all. The monsters were too busy digging their hole to even look up at the trio making a beeline for Twilight’s home.
Elytra’s talons and paws hit the stairs with a mighty thud. She raced up the steps and slid Discord off of her back at the top, her disguise dropping in a flash of green fire. One of her hooves banged on the door as the urgency of what was happening fully caught up with her.
They were already running out of time.
“Yeah yeah, is it safe?” Rainbow Dash was the one to open up the door, her wings already flared and ready for takeoff. “Did...you…” Her eyes focused on the pegasus that landed behind Elytra. “F-Fluttershy?”
“Yes and me!” Discord raised his voice and his lion paw. “Can we please come in?” Rainbow’s eyes drifted to the draconequus and only grew wider. The Wonderbolt was frozen in shock as she kept looking between the two new arrivals. “No no-” Discord groaned and slumped against the ground. “-take your time, please. I’m just dying slowly and painfully.”
Both Elytra and Fluttershy propped Discord up and helped him into the castle. When they were finally inside, Rainbow decided to move again. She quickly scooped up Fluttershy into a tight hug, which elicited a squeak from the smaller pegasus and caused the Elements to clatter to the floor. No words were said, just a tight hug and a few small tears were shared.
“Discord? Fluttershy?!” Applejack was the next pony to enter the room, Pinkie right behind her. The two mares rushed over to their friend and joined Rainbow in hugging Fluttershy, leaving Elytra to just look at Discord.
“Don’t...even think about hugging me…” The wielder of chaos warned the changeling. “I will turn you into a termite…” She wasn’t sure if he could do that at the moment, and she wasn’t going to hug him anyway, but she didn’t want to test his limits.
“Did I hear that right?” The final member of the Elements of Harmony appeared at the top of the stairs. Her bright sapphire eyes sparkled as she saw Fluttershy. “Oh my Celestia! I did! Fluttershy!” Soon enough, they all were surrounding the pegasus and crying happy, relieved tears.
Elytra held back from relishing in the mix of warm and sweet emotions that emanated from the pony pile. She was doing her best to drink them in without overindulging, after all she needed to remember that feeding was not the reason she did this. She did it because it was the right thing to do.
“Wh-where have you been?” Rainbow wiped away her tears and gave Fluttershy another squeeze. “I went to your house and it was gone! I-I thought…” She looked to the ground, then put her hoof on the ground with some force. “But you’re not! You’re here and we can fix this!” Determination flooded the room from all five of the ponies. It was far more than filling, it was contagious.
“Fix...what exactly…?” Fluttershy asked quietly as she looked around. “The...um...changeling. I don’t think I know her name, actually...she never explained what’s going on.”
“Oh. I’m Elytra...sorry. I forgot to say my name.” She chuckled nervously and then cleared her throat. “Anyway, yeah. Hi. We also got the Elements so you don’t have to.” She pointed a hoof to the pile of jewelry on the floor. “I figured since I had one of you with me, it was a good idea.” She received mixed gratitudes from most of the mares, and a long stare from Applejack.
“The unicorns have gone craaaazy!” Pinkie exclaimed, throwing her hooves into the air. “There’s a bunch of bad juju in the air and it’s turned them into monsters! Twilight and the other princesses too!” The quizzical look from the pony in the middle of the huddle received nods from her friends.
“She’s not entirely wrong, darling.” Rarity spoke up with a deep sight. “Though-” The mood in the room took a nosedive in an instant, before the next words were even said. “-there have been...some, well, a lot of losses.”
“Losses?” Fluttershy’s expression darkened as the words’ full meaning hit her. “O-oh…I-I didn’t realize…” The pegasus started to shake as the thought of all of the ponies outside who hadn’t made it. Ponyville was full of unicorns, and they were hurting other ponies. It only took a few moments to put two and two together. “H-how many are in here?”
“About fifteen of us, Ah think.” Applejack closed one eye and did some quick math in her head. “Yeah. Us, Spike, Miss Cheerilee, the Crusaders, the mayor, Bon Bon, Diamond Tiara, Rumble, Sunburst and her.” The last word was spit from AJ’s mouth like it was pure poison. “We had...others, but…”
“Oh. I’m sorry.” Fluttershy seemed to disappear behind her mane as she coped with the situation. “Y-you said we could fix it, right?” There were murmurs from the group, but none of them were overly confident on the topic.
“What, couldn’t fix it yourselves for once?” Discord slowly got to his feet, some of his color already returning as he spoke. “Not working with a full hand is a bit of a handicap? Well congratulations, you’re still short your ace.” He was full of snark and bile as he spoke. “I got out of Dodge for a reason; I smelled this on the air and got Fluttershy out of this mess before she got hurt. I figured once I had the ability to come back, it was safe.” He crossed his arms and rolled his eyes. “I didn’t know I was walking into a prison with poisonous air!”
“What do you mean ‘once you had the ability’?” A new voice entered the fray, it was Sunburst from the entrance to the dining hall. He walked into the room, his eyes never leaving Discord.
“Have you been outside, four eyes? The magic out there is as thick as tar.” Discord scoffed and jerked a thumb at the stallion. “Can you believe this guy? You would think he would understand considering his...size problem.” The draconequus slinked over to Subburst and flicked the cracked stump of a horn that jutted from the pony’s head. “Don’t worry, sport. It’s not all about size, it’s how you use it.”
“Go away!” Sunburst swatted at the former villain and shot him a glare. “I mean, you should be able to get through it. You’re the god of chaos. The state of magic in this world should have no effect on you.”
“Oh how sweet, he thinks I’m the god of chaos.” Discord chuckled and grinned at the stallion, his one long fang glistening in the light of the castle. “I’m the embodiment, the avatar, but not the god. As for why I couldn’t, our magic is two sides of the same coin. Order and chaos. What’s outside is neither, it’s why it changes ponies like you and why I can’t change it. Keep up, hmm?”
“So...you didn’t cause this?” Applejack asked. The five ponies that had been grouped together were finally disentangled from one another and had been watching Sunburst and Discord argue. “This ain’t your fault, then.”
“Applejack, I’m disappointed.” There was legitimate hurt in Discord’s voice. Elytra couldn’t taste it, she couldn’t taste any emotion from him, but she could hear it. How genuine it was, well that was up for debate. “I’m all for a good joke every now and again, a little transformation or change in one's habits forcefully, but death? Killing? Come now, that is so two millennia ago.”
“Wait, you’re already feeling better?” Elytra realized Discord was talking and walking around. On her back he had made the occasional snarky comment, but he hadn’t been this lively. There was the worry that he had been faking it, but she really hoped that wasn’t the case.
“Hmm? Oh, yes.” Discord shrugged and walked over to Elytra, resting his claw on her head. “It seems this castle does wonders for such conditions, lucky me. I bet in no time I’ll be back to my usual fun-loving self.” That was a very sobering thought, Discord cooped up in a castle with his abilities. “Also, I would like to...thank you.” That drew a few shocked gasps from the gathered peanut gallery. “For saving Fluttershy, of course. I would’ve been fine out there alone, but poor poor Fluttershy would’ve been defenseless. So...thank you.”
That was the closest thing she was going to get to an apology, and she was pretty okay with that. From everything she had been told about Discord in the hive, he was usually cruel and vindictive. If she had managed to do anything to get on his good side, she’d take it.
“Oh!” Elytra had completely forgotten all of the chaos of Fluttershy’s reunion with all of her friends. They had something very important they needed to deal with, something headed this way. “Twilight wasn’t with the other alicorns over Canterlot. She might be headed this way.”
----
Once again, everypony was gathered in the dining hall. After the initial shock of seeing Fluttershy and Discord, they had all settled down and exchanged pleasantries and well-wishes. It was sweet, but they needed to get down to business.
“Okay!” Sunburst was at the head of the table again, this time with some actual confidence. He didn’t have the time to dawdle and try to drum up self-esteem anymore, he had to get everypony organized. “Twilight is on her way. Elytra reported it, I confirmed it on the balcony. We don’t have much time to lose.”
“So what is your plan? Discord drummed his fingers on the table as he stared at the syringe that sat before Sunburst. He quickly slithered over and reached a claw out to grab it. “And what is-Aaaah!” The tips of the draconequus’ fingers were within an inch or two of the glowing blue liquid when they started to turn to stone. Quickly, Discord retracted his hand and glared at the little syringe. “Well isn’t that devious.” He looked at Sunburst and narrowed his eyes. “And where did you manage to get liquified, concentrated Harmony, four eyes?”
“I’m sorry?” Sunburst pushed his glasses up with a hoof and re-examined the syringe. “This is...mana...from…” It all clicked at once for the stallion. Rainbow had said the quote on the rock was something Twilight had said to Nightmare Moon. That was when they first discovered the Elements. The castle had come from the Tree of Harmony. The Tree must’ve created the mana pool below the castle to grow it and power the map...so that wasn’t just mana. “It’s fortified with Harmony, that’s why it’s not the right color.”
Sunburst shook his head to sort his thoughts out. The answer to that question had provided some much needed clarity and backing for his theories, and only bolstered his resolve. One of these solutions would work and they would have Twilight back by morning. He was sure of it now. If the Elements of Harmony didn’t work, his way would.
“Twilight will be here in a matter of hours.” Sunburst reasserted to the group assembled before him. “When she gets here, we’re going to ambush her.” There were worried looks from almost everypony at the table. He could understand, but they had to push past those right now. “We’re going to lure her close to the castle, right by the houses outside.”
“Who’s the bait?” Applejack stood up and asked. “No offense, but Ah don’t feel like riskin’ nopony else. There’s no tellin’ if Twilight will just blast whoever we put out there before gettin’ close.”
“That’s going to be Rarity.” Sunburst had put a lot of thought into this while Elytra was away retrieving Fluttershy and the Elements. It was the only option that didn’t result in immediate death the more he thought about it.
“Excuse me?” Rarity asked, a hoof to her chest. Her eyes darted around to her friends. “I do not know if you’ve forgotten but I am a unicorn, darling. Sending me out there will only result in one more monster being added to their ranks.”
“Even if it didn’t-” Dash interjected, flying slightly above her chair and furrowing her brow. “-what’s to say that Twilight wouldn’t just blast her on the spot?” A chorus of agreement came from the rest of the room, including Discord.
“There is no guarantee.” Sunburst stated flatly. “We know that when she’s seen you and when she’s seen Applejack she’s attacked on sight. We know, from Sweetie Belle, that something is telling the unicorns to attack earth ponies and pegasi only. We have no idea how they would react to an uninfected unicorn with an intact horn.”
Sunburst needed to add that last part, because he had seen how the monsters in the Empire had reacted to him. They had been just as vicious as they were to the other races. A silent prayer was sent up to the sky from the stallion that nopony would press him on that last little detail.
He reached down and grabbed a small metal ring in his teeth and then put it on the table. “Which is where this comes in. We put the inhibitor ring on Rarity to prevent the transformation and she lures Twilight in. We all hide in the houses and jump her when she gets close.”
“I-I don’t know…” Rarity was worried, sweat was already starting to dapple her brow and her tail twitched nervously. He felt bad for putting the mare in this position, but he had no other choice. An uninfected unicorn with a horn was the only unknown quantity, and it was their only avenue to take.
“Rarity, this is it.” Applejack took a deep breath and let it go in a long sigh as she spoke. “This is the last play we can make. Either we get Twilight back or...or we’re done for. Ah don’t like to admit it, but those are the facts.” The earth pony stood and looked up to the ceiling. “We get Twi back, she can probably set the sun and she can help us figure this out. Y’know her, she’ll use that big ol’ noggin of hers to figure somethin’ out.”
“Yeah and it’s not going to be just you out there!” Pinkie added in as she jumped out of her chair. “We’ll be there for you all the way! We have the Elements of Harmony and we’ll all be together again! Just like old times!”
“Yeah!” Dash pumped her hoof in the air and smiled, all of the cockiness in the world at her back. “We’re going to slap that crown on Twilight and turn her right back to normal! Then we’ll all kick this thing’s butt together!” Even Fluttershy nodded in agreement with the other pegasus.
“I suppose you’re right.” Rarity furrowed her brow and nodded at her compatriots. “You’ll get me out of trouble if she does attack, right?” There was something infectious about the confidence of the Element Bearers. It seemed to spread through the room and fill the hearts of every pony present.
“You know it!” Dash responded. “If she tries any funny business, I’ll get you out of there in a flash.” Bonds forged over years were visible between the mares. There was trust in those bonds, chains of iron forged in the hottest fires of tartarus.
“Good.” Sunburst couldn’t help but grin. “Let’s get down to business.”