//------------------------------// // Chapter XIV: In the Absence of Magic // Story: A Purple Pony Princess's Problems on Planet Popstar // by ANerdWithASwitch //------------------------------// The walk up to the Cutie Mark Vault was, much to Sunburst’s surprise, not nearly as awkward as he initially feared. It consisted mostly of him pelting Starlight with questions about her magic, her giving shockingly in-depth answers, and Princess Luna following behind them with a constant frown. It almost reminded him of before he got his cutie mark, back when he ate up any information he could about magic, and the happy discussions he’d have with Starlight about it. Despite his flunking out of CSGU, his voracious hunger for knowledge had never faded over the years, and it seemed that Starlight had only gotten more powerful over time. She even seemed to loosen up a bit as she talked about her magic! Flaring his horn, he fiddled with his glasses a bit as he asked his next question. “So you have to match the natural frequency of the subject’s own magical output?” Starlight nodded. “Yep! If you don’t match it near perfectly, the waves will destructively interfere before you can actually do anything.” “Fascinating,” Sunburst said. Before their conversation could continue, though, it was interrupted by Princess Luna opening her mouth. “How curious,” she noted, peering up at the sky. “‘Twould appear that my sister has yet to lower the Sun.” Sunburst gulped. “Why…why would that happen?” Luna shrugged. “Most likely, some pretentious noble or another is distracting her from her duties. I shall wait for her move before I raise the Moon.” Starlight seemed to be visibly sweating enough that even Sunburst took notice when he looked back. “Starlight? Are you alright?” “Y-yep,” she shakily answered. “It’s just a bit hot out, y’know? I’ll be fine once we get in the cave.” Sunburst glanced forward and gaped. “Cave” was putting it a bit lightly. The area Starlight had led them towards was positively cavernous. The group entered without any fanfare, leaving the orange unicorn to glance around with his mouth still open. The cavern itself wasn’t much to write home about; just a standard geological formation. But the interesting thing was at the end: a blue glowing stone tablet. The thing had to be several meters tall and at least three across, but its size wasn’t the impressive part. No, the terrifyingly awesome part of it were the dozens of cutie marks stored within, kept unmoving in a sort of stasis. Starlight trotted up to the cavern’s centerpiece, a stone pedestal upon which a twisted stick sat. She turned around and beamed. “Here we have the Staff of Sameness! One of the great Mage Meadowbrook’s nine enchanted items!” Luna frowned, but Sunburst didn’t notice, too transfixed on the Vault. “H-how is this even possible?” Sunburst questioned. “The amount of potential energy stored in only a few marks alone should be enough to overwhelm the rock’s chemical binding energy!” Starlight telekinetically picked up the Staff and twirled it around a bit. “Like I said earlier, it’s all wave mechanics.” Her beam turned into a predatory grin. “But you won’t need to worry about that much longer. Diamond! Favor! Block the exit!” Sunburst whirled around to see what had to have been most of the town move into the cavern, stopping anypony from leaving unless they could teleport. Beginning to hyperventilate, he turned back towards Starlight and his eyes widened. For from betwixt the fork-shaped Staff’s prongs sprang a cyan laser, its trajectory aimed directly at him. Slamming his eyes shut, he braced for impact. None came. Cautiously opening his eyes, he found himself surrounded by a soft blue shield, clearly summoned by his alicorn companion. Luna smiled down at him while still keeping Starlight in her vision. “Be aware, Sunburst,” she stated. “Never take your eyes off an opponent.” Starlight growled and shifted her attention to the princess. Without speaking, she changed her target and gathered power in the Staff once again. Luna just rolled her eyes and cleared her throat. “ENOUGH!” she shouted with the Royal Canterlot Voice, stopping Starlight’s magic in its tracks and blasting her backwards onto her rump. The Staff of Sameness was wrenched from her grasp, clattering to the floor. The cavern even shook, and a part of the ceiling cracked a bit. Nopony noticed a bit of blue gas make its way out of the crack. Luna strode forward. “You, Starlight Glimmer, have blundered. I knew both Mage Meadowbrooks personally, and between the original and her namesake, they only had eight enchanted items.” Her next step brought her hoof directly down on the Staff, shattering it like the stick it was. “Moreover, the removal of a cutie mark would prevent a pony from properly utilizing their talents, as their internal magic would backfire on them.” The princess smiled and flared her horn, sending a cleaning spell Starlight’s way. A series of gasps ran out from the gathered townsfolk as the unicorn’s makeup was torn away, revealing her very much marked flank. “Ergo,” Luna finished, “you must still have yours.” Double Diamond stepped forward from the crowd. “You…you lied to us?” he asked with tears in his eyes. Starlight backed up until her tail was brushing up against the Vault. “No!” she cried. “You don’t understand! There was no other way!” “You told us that cutie marks led to nothing but pain and strife!” Party Favor called, his voice sounding pained. “If you were lying about taking your own, what else could you have been lying about?” “Did you just want power?” a pegasus mare shouted out from the crowd. “Is that it?” “You can’t have it both ways, Starlight!” a unicorn mare added. “Equality means all of us!” More jeering from the townsfolk followed, and Starlight grew visibly more distressed with each comment. Eventually, Luna stood tall and spread her wings. “Starlight Glimmer,” she bellowed, “you stand in contempt of the Crown for years of tax evasion, foalnapping, extortion, assault, and battery. Have you any defense?” Starlight slowly looked up, her mane shading her eyes and, surprisingly, a smile on her face. “Oh, but Princess, you said it yourself,” she chuckled. “You can’t try a dead mare.” Before Luna could react, Starlight had teleported next to Sunburst, charged her horn, and his next few moments were pure pain. The demarking was not a pleasant process in any sense of the word, as a piece of his very soul was rent from his body and unceremoniously chucked in the Vault with the others. With a groan, he weakly collapsed to the cavern’s floor as his coat desaturated and his cutie mark was replaced by an equal sign. Starlight next turned to Luna, but the princess had already taken to the air and was between Starlight and the exit. The princess flared her horn and seemed to be preparing something, but much to her shock, the spell fizzled out. “Wh-what?” she breathed. Unbeknownst to her, she’d flown directly next to where the cavern had cracked earlier, where a gaseous, light blue substance was spilling outward and targeting her horn. For a brief moment, everypony was silent in their confusion. And then the crack exploded as a vine erupted from the ceiling and wrapped around Luna’s right hind leg. Another burst from the floor and wrapped around her middle, completely immobilizing her. The princess struggled helplessly against the plants, her magic disabled and her wings bound as the townsfolk screamed and began retreating from the cavern. Starlight wasn’t one to miss out on an opportunity like this. With only a moment to contemplate what was going on, she fired her cutie demarking spell at the prone royal. The plants actually seemed to hiss and draw back a bit as the spell connected, but stayed firm enough that Luna couldn’t escape. She still fought back with all her might, though, her cutie mark seemingly far more difficult to remove than Sunburst’s. Even as she wrothe in agony, Luna was able to grit her teeth and glare down at Starlight. “This is treason!” she shouted. “You will answer for your crimes!” “I think I’ve already won, Princess,” Starlight calmly stated, Luna’s cutie mark finally detaching from her body and joining the others in the Vault. Too weakened to fight back any further and with the spell over, the vines grabbed hold of the alicorn once more. In an instant, the one holding Luna retreated, dragging her down and into the ground. Moments later, more vines spilled out of the cracks in the wall, completely blocking the two unicorns left in the cavern from the exit. The cavern’s shaking finally ceased as the vines stopped growing, leaving Sunburst and Starlight in silence with nothing but a broken stick and glowing rock. “So you do have somethin’ to do with this!” Applejack exclaimed, pointing an accusatory hoof at Discord. Discord dismissively waved a talon. “Oh please, I merely planted the seeds for this over a thousand years ago! Hardly anything, really.” Everypony glared at him. Rolling his eyes, Discord reached out of Fluttershy’s window and plucked a sprout from the ground. “Besides, these plundervines should’ve sprouted centuries ago! I thought they’d already been dealt with.” “Well if you made them,” Rarity growled, “you can unmake them!” Discord snapped a bite of the vine off and chewed thoughtfully. “No can do,” he said. “These things are chaos constructs; destroying these would involve channeling-” he made a face “-order magic. Why, if I got rid of the problem entirely…” he snapped his fingers, vanishing the sprig and collapsing to the ground, though a transparent ghost-like facsimile of him remained in the air. “...it might just kill me!” he finished. “That’s not entirely disagreeable,” Rarity muttered as Discord returned to his body. Fluttershy actually shot her a glare over that one. With a softer stare, the yellow pegasus looked back at Discord. “Is there some way we could get rid of the vines, then?” Discord stroked his goatee and paced around. “Yes, that might just do.” Reaching up into nowhere, he pulled down a projector screen, which lit up without a projector. With a snap of his tail, Fluttershy’s kitchen was rearranged into a classroom, albeit one with every type of chair imaginable, and Discord was suddenly dressed in a tweed jacket and bowtie. “Take your seats, everypony!” the draconequus called, pulling out a pointer as the screen lit up with the words “Intro to Magical Harmonics: Chaos and Order”. “I, Professor D. Cord, shall be your expositor this evening!” Pinkie enthusiastically bounced into a nearby couch, and Fluttershy tentatively took a seat on the beanbag next to her. It was the softest thing she’d sat on in her life, even more than clouds. The other three, of course, remained standing (or flying, in Rainbow’s case). Discord just shrugged. “Eh, can’t please ‘em all.” With a flourish of his lion paw, he produced a device that he clicked a button on, changing the slide on screen. Now it displayed an image of Discord uproariously laughing upon his antlered throne, pink and blue patchwork grass in the background and cotton candy clouds littering the sky. In his paw he held a bag of seeds that he was happily tossing into his mouth. Discord sighed. “Ah, the memories.” “Get to the point, Discord,” an annoyed Applejack snapped. “Good things come to those who wait!” Discord parroted the old adage. Clearing his throat, he continued. “Now, as you may be aware, I was the uncontested ruler of Equestria for many a moon one thousand years ago-” “We’re aware,” Rainbow sighed. Discord exhaled and some steam escaped from his ears. “The more you interrupt me the slower I’ll go.” Everypony fell silent, and the room’s only audio became the chatter of Fluttershy’s animal friends from behind her kitchen door. “Now, as I was saying,” Discord said with a sneer, “I had a backup plan, should those annoying little ponies find a way to stop my gloriously chaotic reign! I created these wonderful little chaos packets called plunderseeds.” He flicked the slide again, now showing an image of the seeds burrowing under a tree-like crystal that Fluttershy had never seen before. “They’d grow and grow, and eventually they’d seek out sources of harmony and order magic and strangle them! In the ensuing chaos, nopony would be able to stop me from breaking free!” He looked at the screen and stroked his goatee. “Though, I suppose that the Tree of Harmony must have been more powerful than I thought if it was able to hold them back for so long.” Pinkie raised her hoof, and Discord nodded to her. “What’s the Tree of Harmony?” she asked. Discord blinked. “Sometimes I forget just how little Celly tells you ponies,” he noted. “The Tree of Harmony is the source of the Elements of Harmony–they’re sort of like its fruits.” For emphasis, he summoned an apple and took a bite out of it. “The Elements grew from a tree?” Rainbow asked incredulously. “Yes,” Discord responded, blunt as ever. He tossed the apple into the air, where it twirled around and became a diorama of the Everfree Forest. Catching the structure, Discord snapped his paw to conjure a model of the Tree, which he placed in the Forest’s center. “And also no. The Tree is not exactly alive in the traditional sense. It’s more a massive conduit for harmony magic, so both it and the Elements can power each other.” With a wave of his paw, streamers of light appeared over the model trees and snaked towards the crystal tree before exploding up and outward like a firework. “It draws harmony magic from around it and redisperses it across the planet, letting the natural chaos of the Everfree express itself, but keeping a firm boundary between it and the rest of the universe.” “Well that’s gotta be a load of hooey!” Applejack protested. “There ain’t no way somethin’ that made the Elements also made the Everfree!” Discord grinned. “Oh, but it did. The magic wants to flow and equalize, but the Tree pumps it away from the Forest and into Equestria, keeping the concentration high everywhere else!” He snapped the diorama into nonexistence. “Ever wonder why the Everfree Forest’s range of influence forms a near-perfect sphere? This is why.” Everypony was stunned into silence. Discord snapped his tail and advanced the slide further. Now, the burrowed seeds had sprouted and wrapped around the Tree. “Now, without the Tree of Harmony, the harmony magic of Equestria would flow back into the Everfree and the Forest would expand in turn, causing lower magic levels overall for you ponies. And ever since Celly and Lulu took the Elements to seal my beautiful visage in stone, the Tree has been steadily losing power.” “So if the Tree got its power back,” Fluttershy realized, “it could fight back the vines and save Equestria!” “Ding ding ding, we have a winner!” Discord shouted, confetti raining down around Fluttershy and a gold medal appearing around her neck. Blushing at the sudden attention, she sank down further into her beanbag as Discord continued. “A sudden influx of harmony magic would empower the Tree enough that it could interfere with the all the plundervines’ magic at once, destroying them!” Rarity frowned. “But how are we to restore power to such an entity?” “What if we gave it the Elements back?” Pinkie chirped. Applejack and Rainbow physically recoiled at the idea. “Give up the Elements?” Rainbow scoffed and pointed at Discord. “They’re the only thing keeping him in line!” Fluttershy frowned. “No they’re not,” she whispered, but it was still enough to focus everypony’s attention on her. She whimpered and sank even further into the beanbag. “No, darling, please continue,” Rarity said. “It’s just,” Fluttershy said, “if Discord wanted to take over Equestria ever since Twilight disappeared, he could’ve.” She gave the draconequus a soft smile. “He values our friendship more than that, now.” “Of course, my dear!” Discord dramatically declared. “We’re still on for tea on Tuesday, right?” Fluttershy nodded. “Same time as usual!” Rarity cleared her throat. “Well now, even assuming that we do return the Elements to this Tree, how are we even to know that they would work without Twilight’s?” “Oh, you five are the best of friends even without Books McGee,” Discord dismissed. “I’m sure you’ll figure something out on the way.” “On the way?” Rainbow shouted. “How about you just teleport us right there, right now, Mr. So-Powerful-I-Can-Move-The-Sun.” Discord gasped and placed his talon over this chest. “And deny you a perfectly good adventure on which you can learn a valuable lesson about friendship? Why, I could never!” Yanking down the projector screen, he rolled it back up into Fluttershy’s ceiling. “Besides, I am certain that Harmony still hates my guts. She would never let me get so close to something of Hers when this whole debacle is because of my seeds.” Pinkie tilted her head. “Who’s Harmo-” “Aaaaand would you look at the time!” Discord interrupted, pulling back the fur on his paw to check a watch. “I’ve gone completely over my allotted time slot! We need to get a move on!” With a snap of his talon, he and the mares vanished from Fluttershy’s cottage and appeared on the path directly outside of the Everfree. It was the exact same spot that, only a year ago, six mares had ventured inside to save the world from eternal night. The Elements they had gathered back then now hung around their necks, but the air of tension was still decidedly there. The numerous plundervines made for a far more ominous picture, which was impressive, given the Everfree’s already notorious reputation. Fluttershy openly shivered in fright. The Forest already played host to a number of dangerous creatures, which she knew had to have been aggravated even further due to the vines. Discord, it seemed though, was unperturbed. Wearing a khaki jacket and shorts, pith helmet, and an oversized hiking backpack, he strode forward into the murky depths. “Onward, my friends! Let us venture forth into the unknown!” “The Everfree Forest ain’t exactly ‘unknown,’ Discord,” Applejack sighed as she entered as well, the other four mares following closely behind. “We’ve been in here before.” “Ah, but not in this state,” Discord countered. “Who knows what dangers abound while such an upheaval takes place!” Fluttershy squeaked and fell back so that she was behind Pinkie. Of course, such a thing would’ve been fruitless even had they been under attack; the tree line was quite a ways behind them at this point. The vines were so thick there was barely any space to stand, and it was quickly going dark. The evening sun, even stalled in the sky as it was, was not enough to illuminate through a canopy covered with the vines. “Rarity?” Pinkie asked as she stopped pronking in the low visibility. “Could you do something magicky to get some light?” Rarity tried to flare her horn, but was immediately coated in a blue gas of some sort. The spell fizzled out as she started violently coughing until the gas diffused. Taking a deep breath, the mare answered flatly, “It would seem not.” A snap reverberated around them, and quite suddenly Discord was glowing. “Oh, my dear, if it’s light you want, then let there be light!” Conjuring a mirror, he frowned a bit. “It needs a bit more…I’ve got it!” A light bulb appeared over his head, which he covered with a lampshade he pulled out of the ground and hung from his horns. As a finisher, he summoned a miniature lamp stand shaped like himself to complete the look. He kept the entire structure on top of his head and replaced his hat with it, of course. The glow intensified to the point that, with Discord as the illumination point, they could actually make out their surroundings. They were surrounded on all sides by a shifting, roiling mass of vines, and directly in front of them stood an impassable wall of them. Applejack leveled a glare at Discord. “Alright, you’re the one who knows where we’re goin’.” Discord leaned forward and knocked on the wall of vines. When they failed to retreat, he shrugged. “Well, the Tree is in the chasm next to Celly’s old castle, but the way forward is directly through these plundervines, which certainly puts us in a bit of a jam.” He summoned a jar of strawberry jam and a piece of toast to go with his statement. Pinkie giggled. At everypony’s befuddled stares, she tilted her head in confusion. “What? I can appreciate a good visual gag.” “I am afraid that was far from my best,” Discord said, reaching up and plucking a banana from a vine that bent down to meet him. “Rather low hanging fruit, I must say.” Pinkie grinned. “I still found that one a-peel-ing!” Rainbow groaned. “Now’s really not the time, Pinkie!” Pinkie frowned up at her friend. “Dashie, we’ve all been super tense lately!” Switching to a smile, she continued, “So why not destress with a good laugh!” “Well said, my comedic comrade!” Discord complimented. Applejack grumbled. “Ah don’t think laughin’ is gonna get us outta this mess, though.” “With all due respect, Applejack,” Rarity piped up, “it just might.” She softly smiled at the pink mare. “After all, where would we be if not for Pinkie’s ability to laugh in the face of adversity?” “Yep!” Pinkie excitedly agreed. “Keeping the mood light is my thing! Laughter’s serious business, you know!” Fluttershy gasping drew everypony’s attention. “Pinkie, look! Your Element!” Indeed, the Element of Laughter was glowing a soft blue around Pinkie’s neck. She looked down at it curiously. “Huh. That’s neat.” Discord stepped aside and gestured to the vines blocking their path. “Lead the way, Miss Pie.” Pinkie resumed her pronking, and the wall fell apart as she approached, the vines withering away and falling back into the underbrush. Tentatively, the group continued forward, unknowingly followed by a curious group of fillies that snuck through after them. “So that’s it, then?” Rainbow asked. “We just get Pinkie laughing every time there’s an issue and it solves it?” Pinkie tapped her Element, which had stopped glowing and, in fact, had dulled a bit. “I don’t think it’ll work more than once.” Rainbow let out an exasperated groan, but said nothing more. The group wound up walking forward in silence for several more minutes before they stumbled across their next obstacle: a small pond and another wall of vines on the other side of it. The plundervines off to either side were too thick to get through, and cut through the water in such a way that going around the pond wasn’t an option. Instead, for those without wings, the only way across was to hop upon a series of stones popping out of the water. Pinkie and Applejack made it across without any issues, and Rarity followed with only a single complaint about the messiness of it. Fluttershy, though, elected to hop across as well, given her poor flying skills and the stress of the situation. She regretted that decision when the rock she was on started moving. Fluttershy let out a shriek as a cragadile emerged from the water and roared at her friends. On instinct, she clung to its back, wrapping her forelegs around its rocky scales. She kept her eyes shut tight, but heard Rarity’s scream loud and clear. “Get out of here!” Discord shouted, prompting Fluttershy to crack her eyes open. He rushed forward to try and grab her off of the rampaging creature, but the cragadile, unfortunately, had other ideas. It moved quickly enough to slam its powerful tail directly into Discord’s chest, sending him flying fast enough to slam directly through the thick wall of vines. “Discord!” Fluttershy shouted, but he had already vanished behind the wall of foliage, which was quickly closing as the vines moved back into position. Their only source of light was left tumbling through the air, but the Discord-shaped lamp thankfully landed squarely on Fluttershy’s back, miraculously staying balanced even as the cragadile turned back towards the other mares. It snapped out at them, but Pinkie was able to stomp on its closed mouth before it could open it again, keeping it shut. Grunting, Applejack yanked a section of vine from the wall. “Dash, get out of here and get help!” she shouted. “What?” Rainbow demanded in shock as Applejack ducked under the cragadile’s front legs, tying them together with the vine trailing behind her. “Yer the fastest of us!” Applejack grunted. “And this ain’t gonna hold a cragadile for long!” “Uh, girls?” Pinkie piped up, trembling a bit. “I don’t think I can keep it dow-” The cragadile’s mouth launched back open, sending Pinkie flying with a “Wheeee!” It turned back towards Rarity and tried to roar again, but a solid kick from Rainbow interrupted it. “No way I’m leaving you guys alone to deal with this thing!” she shouted, the Element of Loyalty beginning to glow red slightly. Fluttershy, of course, was still clinging to the cragadile’s back for dear life. “Yes, that’s all well and good,” Rarity said, “but how are we dealing with the cragadile that’s currently trying to eat us?” The vine that Applejack had tied around it chose that exact moment to snap. For another time, the cragadile tried to roar at its prey, but it was once again silenced as a snap sounded throughout the area. The only sound it was able to make was the squeaking of a dog toy. A segment of vines split as a talon forced its way through. Next to it, a lion’s paw emerged from the foliage and, with a herculean effort, wrenched open a gap to reveal a snarling Discord. “You,” he growled at the cragadile, “have overstayed your welcome.” His tail whipped around and, with the same sound as a crack of a whip, the cragadile simply vanished. Fluttershy found herself rather surprised and hovering in the air without even flapping her wings, before Discord floated her gently to the ground, picked up the lamp, and secured it back on his head. “Wh-where did you send it?” Fluttershy shakily asked. “Someplace it will be a bit more useful,” Discord answered. A few thousand kilometers to the south, a very confused cragadile found itself suddenly on a stormy island. It had no way of comprehending why it was there or why there was a purple unicorn with a broken horn ordering a bunch of yeti to attack it, just that it was very, very angry. “Don’t worry, though,” Discord reassured as Pinkie rejoined them, “I am certain that it will be perfectly fine. Now, Miss Dash,” he gestured to the path-blocking vines, “would you do the honors?” Rainbow darted forward with her glowing Element, felling the wall of vines and revealing, finally, sunshine. The group happily moved through, not noticing a certain trio of fillies trailing behind them. The sunshine, it seemed, was due to the Everfree’s local river. The vines were unable to get a foothold in and around the water, opening up the area to the outside air. The opposite bank, though, was absolutely covered in plundervines. A solid wall of them reached in either direction as far as the eye could see, and the Sun, of course, was still locked in the same position. “Discord?” Fluttershy gulped. “When you said that the plundervines go after sources of harmony magic…” “That includes Celly and Lulu, yes,” Discord confirmed. He dismissively waved his talon, though. “Don’t worry about that; once we restore power to the Tree it will release them right as rain!” “I um, just wanted to point out that it’s nearly ten in the evening,” Fluttershy meekly added. “Could you maybe take care of moving the Sun?” Discord rolled his eyes, but still snapped his fingers. The Sun quickly fell below the horizon as day turned to night, the full moon rising to its apex. The lunar body still provided enough light to see by, thankfully. Seeing, though, wasn’t quite necessary to know what was going on. “Oh, goodness me!” cried out a high male voice. Rarity blinked. “Why, I do believe I recognize that voice!” Trotting downstream, she led the group as a large purple river serpent came into view. “Good evening, good sir!” The serpent gasped. “Why, if it isn’t the little ponies that helped me out so long ago!” He placed a hand over his chest dramatically. “Perhaps we are predestined to meet each other during fashion emergencies!” Rainbow loudly groaned, but Pinkie and Applejack quieted her down while Rarity frowned upwards. “Well, I must say that your lovely mustache has grown back wonderfully! What seems to be the issue today?” The serpent stroked his facial hair and leaned down. “Well you see, Miss…I’m sorry but I can’t seem to recall your name at the moment.” “Rarity, darling,” Rarity answered. “And I don’t believe I ever had the privilege to learn yours, either.” “I’m Stephen Magnet,” the serpent introduced himself, “the Everfree’s local river serpent!” He cleared his throat and continued. “Now you see, I was just having my usual personal soirée upstream, when these terribly tacky vines all burst from the ground and got in my beautiful mane!” He leaned down to present the ruined hairdo. “It’s simply horrid!” Rarity tapped her chin and considered the situation. “Well, if those same vines weren’t entirely disabling my magic, I would be glad to assist you.” She sighed. “But alas, I am no mane stylist, so I fear that working with my hooves directly may only worsen your situation.” Stephen sighed disappointedly. “Is there truly nothing you can do?” Rarity hummed in thought. “Well, there is one thing.” She pointed downstream. “If you continue down the river, you’ll eventually reach the town of Ponyville. The local spa is an absolute gem. Just tell them that Rarity sent you, and that they can put it on my tab.” She winked as the Element of Generosity began to glow. “Be sure to add a 30% tip, too.” Stephen gasped in delight. “Thank you, Miss Rarity! I’ll be sure to go as soon as I can!” He blinked. “Er…when do they open?” Rarity smiled. “Assuming our celestial cycle resumes as intended, I do believe that Aloe and Lotus will open up shop at eight in the morning.” “I’ll be there precisely at eight fifteen, then!” Steven confidently declared. “Is there anything, anything at all I can do for you in return?” Rarity shook her head while maintaining her smile. “Resolving your crinal emergencies is a reward all its own, darling! Though,” she added, “if you would be so kind as to ferry us across the river, that would be appreciated!” “Oh of course!” Stephen replied, stretching himself out to allow the non-fliers safe passage. “It’s my pleasure.” Once everypony was across, Rarity happily trotted up to the vines, withering them away and revealing the path forward. “And that is how it is done, darlings.” Stephen smiled to himself as they disappeared back into the forest. He would have to remember the Ponyville spa for later reference, given how highly Rarity praised it. Before he could return to the river fully, though, a squeaking voice caught his attention. “Um, excuse us, Mr. Magnet, sir?” Stephen blinked and looked down at a trio of small fillies. The unicorn–who looked quite similar to Rarity, actually. Perhaps she was a relative. Regardless, she was the one that spoke. “Could we cross too?” “He called my vines tacky?” Discord grumbled as they trudged ever closer to the Castle of the Two Sisters. “Well, they aren’t exactly aesthetically pleasing,” Rarity countered. Discord pouted, but said nothing. The group walked in silence for a few moments. “So…” Pinkie broke it, calling all attention to her. “That’s three of five down. Two to go, right?” “Pinkie, what are you talking about?” Rainbow asked. “Oh, just that the Forest seems to be giving us everything we need to express our Elements!” Pinkie said. “So it’s just Flutters and AJ left!” “Pinkie Pie,” Rarity said, “there has been nothing to assert that that is necessarily the case.” Pinkie tilted her head. “Well, what about the fact that it’s the same as when we went through to fight Nightmare Moon? I mean, you helped Stephen then, and there was also a manticore, like how there’s one in front of us right now!” Everypony’s attention snapped right back to the path in front of them, eyes wide at the fact that yes, there was a manticore blocking their path. They all stalled in place except for Fluttershy, who gasped and ran forward. Everypony called her name in surprise and Discord even raised his paw for a snap, but they were all stopped as the manticore responded completely non-aggressively. “You’re the manticore I helped last summer, right?” Fluttershy asked with a smile. The manticore let out a purr and nodded before enveloping Fluttershy in a big, furry hug. Softly, she petted its mane. “How have you been?” The manticore released her and started making various gestures, along with low rumbling sounds that weren’t quite full roars. Fluttershy nodded along in full comprehension before she gasped. “Oh no!” “What’s wrong, Flutters?” Pinkie asked. Fluttershy turned around. “The plundervines injured this manticore’s cubs! We have to help them!” She turned back to the animal. “Lead the way!” The manticore nodded and took off with Fluttershy close behind. The rest of the group made haste as well, and soon enough they had reached a small den. Even here, the vines shifted around the cave, but they could still clearly hear the whimpers of the cubs inside. Fluttershy leaned down and softly called out, “Come on out, little cubs. I’m here to help you.” Two small kitten-like manticores plodded out of the den, curiously looking around at everything and periodically glancing at their parent for reassurance. Getting a closer look at their injuries, Fluttershy frowned. They weren’t terribly serious, just a scrape on one and a cut on the other, but that could still be a problem in the wild. “Oh you poor, poor little babies,” she cooed. “Discord, could you be a dear and get me some rubbing alcohol and a cotton ball?” Discord yawned. “Are you sur-” “Yes I’m sure,” Fluttershy said, her voice suddenly quite a bit colder than usual. “I tolerate a lot of joking from you, mister, but this is serious.” Discord leaned back in surprise. “Yes’m.” He snapped his fingers and summoned a bottle of the disinfectant and the desired cotton ball. Fluttershy smiled. “Thank you.” Soaking the ball in alcohol, she turned back to the cubs. “Now, this is going to sting, but it’ll make sure those scrapes don’t get infected, okay?” Both of the cubs nodded, and Fluttershy set about tending to their injuries. Both hissed as their abrasions were disinfected, but the pegasus was undeterred. All the while, the Element of Kindness glowed a soft pink. Soon enough, she was done, and Discord vanished the tools back into nonexistence as the cubs retreated back into the den. She grinned back up at the adult manticore. “They should be alright now. If either of them gets sick, come see me at the edge of the Forest. Just know that you’re not allowed to hunt on my property, alright?” The manticore grumbled a bit, but nodded and followed its cubs into their den. “Now, Discord,” Fluttershy said, “which way do we go?” “Well, by my best calculations,” Discord said, summoning a comically oversized map. “The Castle, and by extension the Tree, should be just a few hundred more meters…” he twisted his arm in every direction before settling on one, “...that way.” They continued down the designated path for a few minutes longer before they found a new wall of vines that crumbled under Kindness’s glow. As the wall fell and the Element’s glow faded, however, the group found, to their collective dismay, another floral structure just beyond it. This, though, was far larger: a massive dome covering the entire Castle of the Two Sisters, including the chasm around it. Clearly, only one option remained. “Now,” Discord wondered aloud, “how shall we have Applejack demonstrate her honest nature? Is there anything you’ve been keeping from us?” Applejack sighed. “Nothin’ that’d help us out here. Y’all know Ah already tell y’all most everythin’.” “Well then,” Discord said, his tone a bit mocking, “ain’t that an issue.” Before anypony could propose a proper solution, though, a shrill scream from behind them caught everypony’s attention. The group all whirled around and gasped in shock, for before them were three little fillies clustered together, desperately trying to avoid the stare of a cockatrice. “It’s one of those chicken snake thingies!” Scootaloo shouted. “Cockatrice,” Sweetie provided. “Do I sound like I care about what it’s called?” the pegasus retorted. “Keep your eyes shut, girls!” Apple Bloom called as she stumbled around blindly. All of the mares barring Fluttershy rushed forward in an attempt to save the Crusaders, but the yellow pegasus had a different plan. “Discord?” she asked. Discord rolled up his sleeves and sneered at the cockatrice. “On it.” In an instant, before the others had even reached the Crusaders, the draconequus had rushed forward and pinned the creature against a tree. Unaffected by the cockatrice’s petrifying stare, he glared directly into its eyes. “Now listen here, you oversized lizard, I never liked your kind’s hunting strategies.” He shook his head and tutted. “Turning a creature to stone and slowly feeding off its draining magic just feels immoral, even to me! I have no idea what Grogar was thinking when he designed you, but I digress,” Discord continued. “Here is what you are going to do: you will stop pursuing these foals, you will tell all your cockatrice friends that ponies are off the menu, and if I ever catch you attacking another sapient creature again,” his voice dropped several octaves, “there will be hell to pay.” He dropped the cockatrice, letting it cluck a few times and scamper off back into the Forest. Standing back up to his full height, Discord dusted off his front appendages and turned back to the group. “Sorry about that. Turning another creature to stone just rubs me the wrong way.” Scootaloo seemed to be vibrating in excitement. “That. Was. AWESOME!” Discord preened. “I am amazing, I know.” “Well, now that that is resolved,” Rarity said, turning to the Crusaders, “what in Celestia’s name are you doing here? We told you to stay at the Barrel!” “We wanna help!” Apple Bloom declared. Applejack and Rarity looked at each other, silently deliberated for a few moments, and looked back. “You’re grounded,” they said simultaneously. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle both shrank back at that, but Scootaloo grinned. “Hah, you can’t ground me!” Rainbow descended from where she was hovering so that she was just above Scootaloo. “Not cool, Squirt.” Rarity raised an eyebrow and added her own two bits. “Your aunts will be hearing about this, Scootaloo. You are far from ‘off the hook,’ as they say.” “Now, Apple Bloom,” Applejack said, leveling a stare at her sister, “what’s the real reason you’re out here?” “Ah said it already!” Apple Bloom protested. “Ah wanna help!” Applejack raised an eyebrow as well. “You and Ah both know that ain’t it.” Apple Bloom poked at the ground a bit and looked down. “Alright, fine. Ah wanted in on savin’ the world. You always get to do it, so why can’t Ah help sometimes?” Applejack wrapped her sister into a hug. “C’mon, now, ya don’t need to save the world to help me, and ya definitely didn’t need to bring your lil’ friends into it too. Thank ya for bein’ honest, though.” She ruffled the top of Apple Bloom’s head. “But you’re still grounded.” Apple Bloom pouted, but Applejack grinned as she looked down and noticed that the Element of Honesty was glowing. Getting up, she trotted towards the dome of vines. “To answer your question, Discord, there’s a neat thing about honesty,” she said. “Bein’ honest can get others to be honest too.” The vines fell away just enough for all of them to fit through the opening. Applejack happily led the way inside, everypony else following closely behind into the pitch-black darkness underneath the dome. Starlight had lost count of how many times she'd thrown herself against the wall of vines blocking their exit. She had tried to teleport at first, but any attempt at that had that same blue gas attack her and disable her magic. Her telekinesis, at least, was unaffected, but the vines were too thick for her to be able to part with the fragments of her false Staff. “It’s not going to work, Starlight,” she heard Sunburst pipe up. He’d managed to stand up, at least, but his gaze seemed almost soulless. “We’re stuck here.” Sunburst’s actions without his mark were, if Starlight was being truthful with herself, somewhat disturbing. Everypony up until now had willingly surrendered their cutie marks, so seeing somepony so despondent after losing it was new. “What if,” Starlight said, “I set it on fire?” “We’d probably suffocate.” Starlight sat down. “So what, it’s hopeless, then? We’re just stuck in this cave until we starve?” “Not necessarily,” Sunburst started. He reached up to adjust his glasses like he normally did, but his hoof stopped in midair as another part of the demarking spell took effect. “I…I can’t remember what I was going to say.” Panicked, he looked around and began to hyperventilate. “Why can’t I remember? I know I know the theory behind magic, so why can’t I remember?” Starlight’s right eye twitched. “Oh, so now that you’re brought down to the same level as the rest of us, you’re freaking out? Well sorry to say it, but you’re not a bigwig up in Canterlot anymore!” “What is your problem, Starlight?” Sunburst asked, a bit angrily. “You were never this mad at the world back in Sire's Hollow!” “My problem?” Starlight growled. “I’ll tell you my problem. It’s these damned cutie marks, that’s what! They took Mom away, they took you away, and,” she stomped the ground, “nothing good can come of them!” “I don’t follow,” Sunburst said with a raised eyebrow. “Mom never cared about me and Dad,” Starlight spat. “She always said her cutie mark was meant for greatness, not wasting away in a town in the middle of nowhere. She got a gig in Las Pegasus when I was three and never came back. And you…” she pointed an accusatory hoof at Sunburst. “As soon as you got your precious cutie mark, you went up to Canterlot to be just like your sister. Guess you were too proud to bother even writing a letter to your small-town friend.” She snorted. “Cutie marks have brought me nothing but pain. They all need to go.” Sunburst cringed. “Listen, Starlight, yeah, for the first couple years of school, I was too caught up in the hype to think about writing back home.” “And then what?” Starlight interrupted with a sneer. “You were too pretentious after that to think about contacting an old friend?” “I was too ashamed to!” Sunburst responded, and Starlight drew back in surprise. He sat back down and lowered his voice to nearly a whisper. “I…I flunked out of CSGU. I just couldn’t show my face to anyone back home after failing everypony like that. I’m sorry.” Starlight felt like her worldview was on the precipice of shattering. She had built up this image of Sunburst in her mind of a wildly successful wizard that sneered at the very thought of contacting his hometown. But this Sunburst–the real Sunburst–was pretty much the exact opposite. This situation simply did not seem to compute for her. “Still,” Starlight snarled, “it doesn’t change the fact that cutie marks are what took you and my mom away in the first place! They’re still evil!” Sunburst leveled a flat look at her. “Starlight, quite frankly, it sounds like your mother was a horrible mare regardless of what her cutie mark was. And overall, they still help ponies!” He made a sweeping gesture. “Our marks are an expression of our true selves, and the aid in ponies’ specializations!” He frowned. “Starlight, your idea of taking everypony’s marks…it’s just not sustainable.” Starlight started breathing hard. “No, no there’s no way.” She started muttering, mostly to herself. “That can’t be true. It just can’t!” Sunburst stood and glanced back at his mark in the Vault. “Here, Starlight, I’ll show you. If you give me my mark back, I can use my knowledge of magical theory to help get us out of here.” Starlight didn’t respond, instead remaining right where she was and continuing to mutter to herself unintelligibly. Sunburst sighed and moved forward. Starlight, so wrapped up as she was in her thoughts, didn’t even see it coming when he hugged her. She certainly felt the embrace, though, and it completely stalled out her brain. Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes, and, somewhat involuntarily, she began to cry into his shoulder. Sunburst patted her back, and the two remained like that for several minutes. Eventually, though, a sniffling Starlight separated from the embrace. “Better?” Sunburst asked. “Everything I’ve worked towards was based on me lying to myself,” Starlight said. “I think I’m about as good as I can be after learning that, but hey, I got the shock out of my system now.” Sunburst nodded. “Did you uh, actually hear what I said before you started crying?” Starlight blinked. “Oh, right.” She lit her horn and opened the section of the Vault containing Sunburst’s mark. She looked upon the mark reuniting with him forlornly, but just sighed and let it be. Sunburst smiled contentedly at the feeling and looked back at the wall of vines, which had actually recoiled a bit when his mark was returned. “I’m going to be a bit blunt here, Starlight,” he said, “but I think we have to release the rest of them, too.” Starlight tilted her head and cringed. “Why?” Sunburst gestured back at the vines. “So, they really didn’t seem to like you taking marks, which is order magic, and they didn’t like marks returning, which is harmony magic. So that means that the vines have to use chaos magic!” He pointed back at the Vault. “And we have a lot of harmony magic stored in that rock!” Starlight looked at the ground and gulped. “Do we absolutely have to?” Sunburst comfortingly placed a hoof on her shoulder. “It’s the only way to release that much magic that quickly. Plus,” he continued, “doing this might convince Princess Luna to go a bit easier on you.” Starlight let out a disappointed sigh at the reminder. “I’m going to prison, aren’t I?” Sunburst shrugged. “I mean, we still need help with that project I mentioned. Princess Luna did mention potentially pardoning you if you were willing to pitch in.” Starlight stared up at the Vault and steeled herself. “I guess there’s no turning back, then.” Lighting her horn, she opened every window of the Vault. Under the dome, the only sources of light for the group were the lamp on Discord’s head and a soft blue glow far below them. Everything else was pitch black, forcing everypony to watch their step, given that they were standing on the edge of a cavern. Scootaloo peered over the edge. “So, how do we get down?” Pinkie had already taken off after noticing a staircase in the faint light and was halfway down when she shouted back, “We take the stairs, silly!” Everypony followed in relative silence, and the entire group, sans Discord, gasped upon seeing what was at the bottom. The Tree of Harmony, what must have once been a beautiful sight, was in shambles. Vines crisscrossed the entire thing, dimming its glow to be nearly invisible. Parts of the crystal near where the vines touched were a sickly green, and at its foot were two large piles of vines. Discord hung back, not willing to get all that close. The others, meanwhile, all stepped forward. “It…it looks like it’s dying,” Fluttershy noted sadly. Applejack was the first to reach the Tree itself. With a small frown, she reached up to her neck and pulled her Element out of its socket. “Here’s hopin’ that this works.” The Element seemed almost magnetically attracted to the lowest branch of the Tree, flying up to it and socketing itself in a divot. The Tree seemed to respond to it, that branch glowing a bit brighter and the vine retreating. The others followed suit. Rainbow and Fluttershy flew up to place their Elements on the upper branches, Rarity placed hers on the branch opposite to Applejack’s, and Pinkie bounced all the way up to the final branch to plop her Element in there. At the final placement, the entire tree glowed ever brighter, the many vines snaking across it withering away. That was all it did, though. Beyond the Tree itself, the plundervines were still prevalent, and the dome still stood. Applejack growled and stamped her hoof. “That’s it?” she demanded. “We go through all that trouble and it ain’t even working?” Fluttershy frowned. “No, I think there’s more to it,” she said. “We got through all of the problems the Forest threw at us! There’s something more we can do, I just know it!” Pinkie nodded forcefully. “Yeah! Twilight might be the most magical of us, but even without her, we’re still best friends!” In true Pinkie Pie fashion, she capped off her statement by wrapping them all in a group hug. At that moment, an additional point of light entered the cave. Much to everypony’s confusion, what looked like Luna’s cutie mark rocketed straight into one of the piles of vines, and a wave of magic washed over them. “I think I get it too, darlings,” Rarity said as they began to float. “Twilight may be our de facto leader, but our friendship remains!” “I don’t want to be sappy,” Rainbow added as the group began to glow, “but I could never abandon you girls!” “Heh, Ah second that one!” Applejack pitched in. “Twilight’s the Element of Magic, but we say it all the time…” “Friendship is Magic!” all five shouted in unison. In a brilliant flash of light, brightly-colored streams of pure magic shot out from the five Element Bearers and wrapped around the Tree. The Tree’s glow, in turn, increased to the point that the others had to avert their eyes so as to not go blind. A massive magical explosion followed, washing over everypony and utterly disintegrating the plundervines as it went. The dome collapsed, allowing the moonlight to stream back into the cave and illuminate the two very disoriented alicorns that emerged from the vines. Immediately, most of the group collapsed into bowing, but Celestia just chuckled. “Rise, my little ponies,” she said. “You all have saved Equestria again. Really, I should be bowing to you!” Rarity seemed scandalized by the mere suggestion, but Luna spoke before she could protest. “‘Twould seem that the celestial cycle was maintained, even in Our absence.” “That was meeee!” Discord sing-songed. “No need to thank me.” “I had to remind him,” Fluttershy stage whispered to Celestia, eliciting another chuckle from the princess. “Well then,” Discord suddenly said, “if that’s all, I guess I’ll be going!” He snapped his fingers and conjured a door handle midair. Twisting it, he yanked open the air itself. Before he could walk through, though, Fluttershy ran up to him. “Discord, wait!” Discord blinked in surprise and turned back towards her. “Whatever is it, my dear?” “Did you find out anything about Twilight?” Fluttershy asked. Everypony else went dead silent as Discord slammed the door back shut and grinned. “Why yes, in fact, I have! I thought you'd never ask.” In an instant, Rainbow had flown over to him and grabbed hold of his goatee. “Where is she?” she demanded. Discord calmly reached up and pried Rainbow off of him. “Trust me, Skittles, if I could snap my tail and get Bookhorse back here I would.” He shrugged. “But alas, it is not that simple. The universe she got herself stuck in has been on lockdown for thousands of years! Best I can do is get a window in there and watch.” Celestia frowned. “Could you conjure up a window here, then?” Discord scoffed. “Given how tethered you ponies are to the fabric of reality, destabilizing it would not be the greatest idea. Moving it from the In-Between to my own pocket dimension without collapsing it was already difficult enough!” Fluttershy frowned. “What if we went to your dimension, then?” Discord stroked his goatee. “Yes, I suppose that might work.” He grinned. “Why, I could even show you the greatest hits of the adventures she’s already been on! Watch party at my place!” With a snap of his fingers, he and everypony in the Tree's cave vanished.