August 14 1009 A.G
===•••===
It’s been four weeks since the triplets came back from their vacations. And oh boy, a lot of things happened during those four weeks.
The first thing that immediately happened was the trial of prince Blueblood. When he arrived in the court room, he looks scared and disheveled since he spend three days in the city jail. After the judge heard all the victims witness statements, she decided to give the unicorn an ultimatum.
Keep his title as Prince and spend the next 15 to 20 years in prison or give up his title and spend only six months in house arrest.
He chose the ladder. Now he’s Duke Blueblood.
The next thing that happened was that the three bills that Artemis successfully passed through the Senate not only caused an economic boom, but it also started somewhat of a technology renaissance. Equestria is still behind plant earth in terms of technological advancements. But at least devices like flatscreen TVs and videos game consuls are widely available.
Meanwhile in international news, thanks to the recession that the Delta Kingdom accidentally created. Caused a lot of dictators, military juntas, and absolute monarchies getting overthrown by their citizens and replaced them republics in their place.
Constitutional monarchies like Equestria and other republics around the world were safe from the chaos. So most the world was spared.
===•••===
12:30 PM
Castle library lounge.
After having a morning full of meetings with governors from all over the country, Artemis was now relaxing in the secluded lounge of the library by drawing a picture of a tall skyscraper from his imagination.
Artemis started to draw when he was 11 years old as a way to recover from the trauma, he experienced from nearly dying on September 11.
Not only did drawing help him recover, but he also found out that he was really talented at creating very detailed artwork. It also helps him relieve stress after a very busy and boring morning.
And with a comfy chair, the faint sound of piano jazz playing in the background, and the sound of rain and thunder from the outside created a perfect moment for the royal economist.
That was until he felt something land on top of his head.
Wondering what just landed on his head. Artemis pick up the object only to find out it was Luna’s pet sugar glider, Crater. And he looked really anxious.
Usually, the gray sugar glider would be a little trickster sometimes. But Artemis never seen him
like this before.
“Hey, hey, what’s going on little buddy? Why are you look so scared?” he said with worry.
Crater then pointed at the lounge exit.
“There’s something going on in the library?”
Crater nodded.
“OK let’s see what’s going on.”
Artemis put his notepad and colored pencils on the small table right next to his chair. Put the sugar glider on his shoulder and walked out of the lounge into the main atrium of the library.
What he saw shocked him.
Outside of the library's massive, curved window was a bunch of clouds blocking the blue sky. Now that would be normal if it wasn’t for the fact that the clouds were pink and raining brown liquid.
“This is what you want to show me?”
Crater nodded.
“Is this normal? Is this like some weird weather event Equestria experience?”
The sugar glider shook his head side to side.
This made Artemis worry even more.
“OK, do you know where the royal sisters are?”
Crater nodded.
“Well, what are we waiting for? When we get to the hallway you’ll lead the way, all right. Good.”
The run towards the library exit wasn’t that far since Artemis was on the second floor when he exited the library, the hallway could be described by one word.
Chaotic.
Royal guards we’re just scrambling to get to their destinations and the human even spotted Lily screaming at her radio in thestral.
(Imagine Russian and Ukrainian mixed into one language.)
‘Whatever the royal guards were panicking about must’ve been related to the pink clouds.’ Artemis thought.
Without a second thought, Crater jumped off of Artemis’ right shoulder and started to glide through the air.
Even know the sugar glider was gliding high enough for Artemis to see him. It was a bit difficult to keep up with him. Thanks to the government officials that Artemis had to push out of the way.
Occasionally, the little critter had to use some of the tapestries as a launchpad. But besides that, Crater was a really good flyer.
“Hey Artemis, wait up!”
Artemis looked behind himself to see Apollo and the mane six catching up with him.
And he noticed that Apollo was wearing casual attire instead of his business suit he had before.
“What happened to your business suit?”
An irritated look appeared on his brother’s face.
“Remember when I told you, I was going to meet a diplomat from Kemerovo in his country ‘s embassy?” Apollo asks.
“Yeah.”
“Well, while I was heading towards the embassy. All of a sudden, these pink clouds came out of nowhere and started raining chocolate milk, and popcorn was appearing out of the blue.”
Artemis couldn’t believe his ears.
“It’s raining chocolate milk?!”
“Yep, came out of nowhere and princess Celestia sent us an urgent letter. And before you ask, we don’t know what’s going on either.” Twilight answered.
“Back to my story the streets flooded with the chocolate liquid, and I was completely soaked head to toe. Luckily, Rarity and Twilight were able to dry me off, but I had to get a clean pair of clothes because my entire outfit was stained and soaking wet from all of the chocolate milk.” Then his face contorted in anger.
“Whoever caused all of this is going to get a good ass whooping and owe me 20 bucks in dry cleaning fees!”
“OK save that anger for later right now, just follow the sugar glider.”
“Sugar glider?” Everyone said in confusion.
“Look up.”
Everyone did just that, and they saw Crater, flying through the air like a champ.
“Huh.” Rainbow Dash said in thought.
“You don’t see that every day.” Said AppleJack.
===•••===
A few minutes later.
When the main eight arrived at their destination, they saw the sun princess pacing back-and-forth across the room. She was wearing a black sports bra, black workout shorts, and black fingerless gloves.
“Princess Celestia, we came here as fast as we could.” Twilight announced.
“Thank you, Twilight. Thank you all for coming.” Said Celestia.
“Is this about the weather? Why are the animals acting strange? Why is my magic not working?”
“I’m sorry, the animals are acting strange, because of this?” Artemis asks.
“Why is it raining chocolate milk and the clouds made out of cotton candy?” Apollo asks.
“Hold up.” Artemis said confusion.
Celestia silenced them with a motion of her hand.
“Follow me.”
===•••===
Canterlot tower.
Three minutes later.
“I called you six because of a matter of great importance. Though, I don’t remember contacting you two.”
“I came along because I want some answers.” Apollo said.
“Crater shows me what was going on and he took me to you.” Artemis said.
“All right you can stay. Back to what I was saying, an old adversary of mine that I thought me, and Luna defeated a long time ago has returned. His name is Discord.”
‘Why does that name sound familiar?’ Artemis thought.
“Discord is the god of disharmony and chaos. Before me and Luna were officially crowned as leaders of Equestria, discord took over the kingdom and ruled it in a constant state of unrest and unhappiness. During his rule, I saw how horrible life had become for all the six pony tribes. He even had the nerve to put my parents in jail. So he can just use them as his circus entertainment.”
“But your parents had their powers connected to the universe and all that, so it should’ve been easy for them to defeat him, right?” Apollo ask.
“That’s what my parents thought too. That was until discord uses his powers to drain their energy. Celestia breathe in a shaky breath. “It was hard to watch.”
“Oh crap.” Artemis said in disbelief.
“Fortunately, me and Luna found the elements of harmony, and together we can find our powers to defeat discord and turn him into stone, saving our parents and the kingdom from his chaotic rule.”
“All right princess.” Rainbow Dash cheered.
“The spell that the elements cast should’ve kept him at bay forever, but since me and Luna are no longer connected to the elements. The spell has been broken.”
“No longer connected?” Twilight said confusion.
“Now the area I’m taking you all to is Canterlot tower, this is where the elements are being kept inside. I want you all to use the elements of harmony to defeat discord and prevent him from thrusting Equestria into chaos once again.”
“But why us? why can’t it be yo- “
“Hey guys look, we’re famous.” Pinkie pie said, and she examined one of the colorful windows.
“The reason why I want you to wield the elements is because you six have shown what the true power of friendship can do. Though Luna and I used to be connected to the elements. It’s now up to you to defeat discord.”
After Twilight thought it over, she replied. Princess Celestia, you can count on-“
And she was once again interrupted by Pinkie pie.
“Hold on a second, you guys eternal chaos comes with chocolate rain, chocolate rain!”
“Think about how sticky that would be Pinkie pie, think about it. Not to mention all the ants that would be crawling around” Apollo said.
Pinkie pie turned around and gave the human a frown.
“Don’t listen to her princess we’ll be honored to use the elements of harmony again.” Twilight said.
Hearing her prize pupil’s reassurance, Celestia walked up to the door. Instead of taking a key out of her pocket she instead sticks her horn into the door. Much to Apollo’s and Artemis’ bewilderment.
“Celestia, I know you have a certain way of doing things. But wouldn’t a key be a better alternative?”
Artemis asks.
“I know it might seem a bit weird, but if I use a key, there a chance that I might lose it, it might get stolen, or some pony will make a copy and steal the elements. And since all horns have a unique pattern on them, I thought why not use my horn as a key.”
“So like a fingerprint.” Artemis said.
“Yeah, just like a fingerprint.” Celestia responded.
Finally the door unlocked and revealed a small purple and gold treasure chest.
“Take the elements. I just want that case.” Said Rarity.
“Never fear, ponies. l’m confidence that you’ll be able to defeat discord with these.”
She opened the treasure chest, and everyone gasp when the elements were not inside.
Celestia was so shocked from this, she dropped the chest making a loud thud on the ground, echoing throughout the empty hallway.
Everyone looked at it with shock and horror etched on their faces, except for Pinkie pie.
“Oh well if anyone needs me, I’ll be outside in chocolate puddles with a giant swirly straw.”
“Pinkie pie get your balloon butt back here!”
Artemis yelled.
“Fine, you’re no fun.” She said under her breath.
“I heard that.”
“Where are the elements?” Twilight said in a slight panic.
“That impossible. That chamber is protected by spell that only I can break. This doesn’t make any sense.”
A creepy laugh cut through the silence in the tower. As a response Artemis and Apollo took out their switch blades, Twilight and Rarity lit their horns, and Celestia lit her horn and took a fighting stance.
“Makes sense. Oh there is no fun making sense.”
“What the what the hell.” Artemis said with confusion and fear.
“We are royally screwed.” Apollo said.
“Discord show yourself!” Celestia said.
The voice just laughed at her as a response.
“Did you miss me Celestia? I miss you.” Then the glass depiction of the chaos God started to move.
“Thank goodness uncle Barlow is not here to witness this.” Artemis said.
“Yeah, he would’ve shot up everything by now.”
Apollo responded.
“It’s quite lonely when you’re encased in stone, but you wouldn’t know that. At least I don’t turn ponies into stone.” Discord said with venom dripping from every word.
“Enough! what did you do with the elements of harmony?”
“Oh, I just borrowed them for a teensy little while.” he then snapped his fingers, and the elements of harmony on the Stain-glass window disappeared.
“We’re fucked.” Apollo and Artemis said in unison.
“You’ll never get away with this discord.”
Said Celestia.
“Oh, I forgot how stubborn you can be Celestia. it’s really boring. You really are the daughter of Gallaxia.”
“Hey, no one insults the princess.” Rainbow Dash flew at top speed at the window. Discord teleported, and she shoulder check it. She didn’t even leave a crack.
“Oh, you must be Rainbow Dash known for her loyalty which is the element you represent.”
“That’s right. I will always be loyal to the princess.”
“We’ll see about that.”
“I can’t believe we’re talking to a tacky window.”
Discord in appeared in the window behind her.
The beautiful Rarity, representing the element of generosity, if I’m not mistaken.”
“So you know who all of us are, big deal.”
“Oh, I know more than that. Honest Applejack.”
“You seem to know our strengths too.”
“Oh yes, Twilight sparkle you control the most powerful and lucent element of all, magic. Fluttershy represents kindness, and Pinkie pie is my personal favorite of mine, laughter.”
This made Pinkie pie start to laugh.
“Pinkie!” Twilight yelled.
“Why he’s dancing on your head.” Pinkie laughed.
Discord looked around the room and made eye contact with Apollo.
“Now who are these two. They’re not an element not that I know of.” Discord said while examining the two humans.
“Leave them alone, discord.” Celestia said.
“Oh, Celestia where is the fun in that? Actually, I have an idea to spice things up a little.”
Discord disappeared.
“Where did he go?” Twilight said.
Artemis was going to answer, but then.
*CRASH*
One of the doors behind them burst open flying off his hinges and sliding across the hallway, with Atlas on top looking pale as a ghost, with a small cut on his right cheek.
“Holy shit I made it.” he said, while patting himself down. Checking if he was in one piece.
Everyone rushed to his side.
“Are you ok?” Apollo ask.
“What happened to you?” Rainbow Dash ask.
“Guys I’m fine. And to answer your question. I was in the lunar Barracks shaving, because I ran out of razors and Cyclone was kind enough to tell me where he had spares. While I was in there, the power went out. I thought it was the Thestrals playing a prank on me. Then all of a sudden, this brown slender creature, came out of the mirror and scared the absolute shit out of me. And it didn’t look like an allusion either, it looked real. So, I ran away in the dark, hoping in the direction I was going in well lead to the door. Luckily did.”
“Did this creature have a lion's paw and a chicken arm?” Celestia ask.
“Yeah, why?” Atlas responded.
Celestia blew a gasket.
“DISCORD!”
Right on cue, the draconequus appeared back in the Stain-glass window, but this time he is laughing his butt off.
“You should’ve seen the look on your face oh, that was priceless. I should really do that often.” Discord wiped a tear from his eye.
“That was really uncalled for. You know what? No more Ms. nice pony. I’m going to ask this one more time, you thick skull draconquus. What have you done with the elements of harmony?”
“Oh, so boring Celestia. Fine I’ll tell you, but I’ll tell you in my way.”
“To retrieve your missing elements, you have to make sense of these changing events. Twists and turns are my master plan. Then you find the elements back where you began.” His glass figure went back to its proper place on the colorful glass window.
“Can we go home now?” Fluttershy ask.
“You really want to go home in that messed up weather? Artemis ask
“What? I just wanna hug angel bunny.”
“You can hug your bunny after we fix this chaotic mess he left behind. Somehow.”
“What do you reckon he meant by that? twist and then end up where you started?” Applejack asks.
“Twists and turns. Twists and turns. Twist and turns.” Twilight looked out of the window, overlooking a massive maze and then an idea popped into her head. “Twist and turns, that’s it. The elements must be hidden somewhere in it. Castle labyrinth.”
“We’re really doing this. We’re going to be trying to find five tiny necklaces and a crown in that massive maze.” Apollo said while pointing at the labyrinth below.
“Yeah, there are eight of us, and if we all work together, we could find the elements in no time.”
“Make that nine.”
Everyone turn to look at the sun princess.
“You’re coming with us, princess?” Rainbow Dash ask.
“Yes I am.”
“I thought you couldn’t use the elements anymore. That’s why you want us to do this job, right?” Apollo said confusion.
“I did say that, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to leave you all to discord’s mercy. Besides, I have some unfinished business have to deal with him.”
The sun princess said that she cracked her knuckles.
“So, you want to get revenge for your parents?” Apollo asks.
“Yeah, and also for what he did to me when we first met. I was still a naïve mare back then despite my military training. One minute he was all smiles and laughs next thing you know he hit me so hard with his tail that he broke three of my ribs.”
Everyone looked at the white alicorn were shock and wincing at the same time.
“Luckily, Luna was able to heal me, but by then he took over the kingdom and we had to fight for three weeks in guerrilla warfare just to get him out of power.”
“So, we got another person that wants to beat his ass today. Atlas, do you want to join in on this?”
“Hell yeah, after what he did to me in the Barracks peace is not an option. He made me cut myself for crying out loud.”
“OK, four against one, I like those odds. Now enough dillydallying! Let’s go find those elements!”
“Oh yeah!” Rainbow Dash yelled in support.
===•••===
Castle labyrinth
12:50 PM
“Wow this place looks bigger in person.” Atlas said in amazement.
“Do we really have to go in there?” a nervous Fluttershy said.
“Nope, looks like discord forgot we have these babies.” Rainbow Dash flaps her wings and took off like a rocket.
“Rainbow Dash I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”
Celestia warned.
“Don’t worry, I will just do a little fly over and will have the elements in no time.”
Suddenly her wings disappear, and she crashed into the ground.
“My wings!”
One by one wings and horns disappeared without a trace.
In the middle of the panic discord appeared right in front of everyone, laughing like he was watching a comedy show.
“You should see the look on your faces. I mean look at Celestia. Oh, your face is the funniest one of all.”
Celestia said nothing since she was really fed up with this point.
‘1300 years later and you still use the same fucking playbook.’ Celestia thought.
“Give us our horns and wings back!” Twilight yelled.
“Don’t worry, you’ll get your horns and wings in good time. I just took them so there will be no cheating. First rule is no flying and no magic.”
“Maybe we should let Artemis punch him first.”
Atlas suggested after seeing Artemis’ eye twitch after he saw discord getting too close to Twilight for comfort.
“Agreed” Apollo said.
“The first rule?” Rainbow Dash said confusion.
“The second rule is every pony has to play or else I win. Good luck every pony.” he disappeared like he was never there.
“Never fear every pony, we have each other.” Twilight said, trying to calm down her friends.
“I hate to burst your bubble, but that's jack if we have no magic. I was hoping that Celestia would be able to give us some leverage. Sadly, that’s not an option anymore.” Apollo said.
“But that doesn’t matter. Didn’t you hear what Twilight said? It doesn’t matter what we face as long as we stick together.” Rainbow Dash said.
“Why do I have a feeling the discord going to screw us over again?” Apollo said to himself.
The main nine didn’t even have a chance to get one step in the maze before a bunch walls of out of tall bushes, came out of the ground and separated the group into six. The triplets, Celestia, and Twilight were in one group. While the rest of the main nine were by themselves.
“What the hell?!” Artemis said after he was nearly taken out by one of the bushes.
“You were saying?” Apollo looked at Twilight.
She wisely didn’t respond.
“Every pony remain calm. We’ll meet you at the center of the maze, remember be careful.” Celestia announced.
“Yes, princess!” The five element bearer said.
After the area got quiet, the five friends made their way through the massive maze.
“Apollo”
“Yes, bookworm.”
“Is that offer to beat discord’s ass still available?”
“Yeah, why? you want in?”
“Yeah”
“All right. Five against one. I’m starting to feel bad for the man.” Apollo chuckled.
“Celestia, I have some questions about Discord. We all know that he’s the chaotic God and all that. But when he tries to stop someone, what does he do to them? Does he torture them or something?” Atlas asks.
“Now, that is a tough question to give a straightforward answer. But since he’s using his old tricks from 1300 years ago. He is either going to hypnotize some pony or he’s going to do one of two things, either mess with them emotionally, mentally or give his victim hallucinations. Especially if the pony has experienced some type of trauma in their lives.”
The triplets’ blood ran cold when they heard this.
“What type of trauma are we talking about here?” Apollo ask.
“Well, it could be anything from being bullied relentlessly in school, to survive in a house fire to PTSD from a war. why do you ask?”
“How am I supposed to say this?” Atlas breath and out. “Me, Apollo and Artemis nearly died in a terrorist attack when we were 11.”
Celestia and Twilight looked at triplets with wide eyes.
“What happened?” Twilight ask.
“It’s hard to talk about, but let’s just say that we witness a lot of destruction and a lot of people died. Worst of all, it was bring your child to work day for us so we were nearby the epicenter of the attack.”
“Did you get any help to recover from it?”
Celestia ask with slight concern.
“Yeah, we got some therapy for it. It was a rough journey for us, but we were pretty much back to normal selves by the time summer of 2002 came around. And even after that, we met with the same therapist to discuss our feelings and all that sometimes.” Apollo answered.
Celestia breathe a sigh of relief.
“OK that’s a relief. At least you guys got help.”
“So, he can’t mess with us if we recovered from it?”
Artemis asks.
“Well, I don’t know about human minds, but if a pony is still suffering from what they experienced in the past Discord can take a vantage of that and tortured him or her. But if you’re fully recovered from what you experience, your mind should be able to protect you from most of Discord’s antics.”
“That’s a relief. For a second there, I thought we was totally screwed.” Atlas said.
“What about you princess? Are you safe from discord influence?” Twilight ask.
“Don’t worry Twilight. Even when we first met, he couldn’t mess with me at all. That’s why he broke my ribs.”
“And you’re wearing an outfit that expose your entire midriff.”
“For your information I was working out before all of this happened.”
“Hey guys, I found Applejack!” Artemis yelled.
The rest of the group follow Artemis voice, and eventually found a hidden area. where the human was helping out the orange earth pony who looks like she was in a daze.
That’s some princess knew by the color of Applejack that something was very wrong.
“Thank goodness we found you what happened?”
Twilight ask.
“Nothing, nothing at all.” She responded.
“Now, that’s a lie. I heard voices that’s how I found her.” Artemis said.
“Who were you talking to Applejack?” Twilight asks.
“No pony, no pony at all.”
The way Applejack acted confirmed Celestia’s suspicions.
“Come on y’all we better be going.”
The country mare walked into the maze with Atlas keeping a close eye on her.
“Did she just tell a lie?”
“I am afraid so my star student. It looks like discord hypnotized her. Maybe this is how he’s trying to stop you and your friends.”
“Is there a way to change her back?”
“There is a way, but we have to get all of the elements back ordered to do so.”
This made Twilight worry for her friends' safety.
When they exited the clearing, they saw Artemis trying to cut a hole through one of the bushes.
“Artemis, what are you doing?” Apollo ask.
“Well, since you ask. I’m trying to see if there’s any more hidden areas in this maze. Because when I found applejack. The wall open like it was like some type a hidden door. so, my theory is, Discord manipulated this entire maze and made a bunch of hidden rooms in the process.”
“So did you find the results you were looking for?”
Twilight ask.
“Nope, every time I cut one branch off two grow in its place like a hydra.”
Right on cue two branches appeared from the wall.
“See”
“You might be onto something Artemis. I never seen the castle labyrinth act like this before, so your theory has some weight behind it but for now, we need to find the rest of our friends and the elements.” Celestia said.
“All right.” Artemis tried to walk away from the bush, but his arm wouldn’t budge. Slowly the branches started to coil around his arm, pulling him into the wall of branches.
“Guys, there’s something up with this bush!”
Apollo took out his knife and cut the branches only for more to wrap around his brother’s leg and his arm.
The more Artemis struggled the more the branches pulled him in.
Everyone tried to help him (except Applejack), but their efforts were all in vain, as he disappeared into the bush.
“ARTEMIS!” Everyone yelled in horror.
“What the fuck is this? He just disappeared. Oh, this man is cruel.” Atlas said in a panic.
Twilight said nothing because she was in the middle of a panic attack.
“Discord! if you even harm one hair on his body. I will make you regret coming out your stony prison!” Celestia yelled in anger.
All she got in response was a laugh.
===•••===
Artemis point of view
Quiet. That’s all Artemis heard no birds chirping, no wind, no sound at all.
He opened his eyes.
He couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
Somehow he was transported from the castle labyrinth to the middle of Times Square. Except it wasn’t the Times Square that he knew. There was no one around, not a single car, and not even a single rat.
The bright lights were on, but that was the only comfort he had.
“How did I get here?”
“By my magic of Course.”
Artemis turned around to see Discord operating a pretzel stand.
“Pretzel? it’s a wonderful night for one.”
“No thanks.” he said not trusting the chaos God.
“All right suit yourself.” he swallowed the pretzel whole. “You know when I first saw you? You peaked my interest greatly.”
“OK, what do you want for me?”
“Oh nothing it’s just you’re not a pony you have no magic, pretty odd for planet Equis, even for me.”
“OK so you decide to kidnap me just tell me how weird I am? That’s rich coming from a guy that’s turning streets into chocolate.” Artemis said.
“Yeah, yeah it’s cool I know. But that’s not the reason why I brought you here Mr. Yukon.”
“How do you know my last name?” Artemis started to back away.
“Easy, I read your mind.” he snapped his fingers and a document appeared in his hands.
“How did you read your mind? Celestia said that my mind is supposed to protect me from most of your antics.” Artemis said, starting to panic a bit.
“She’s right, but the word “most” is the keyword here, I can still read tiny bit of your mind. But your memories are harder to get into than a maximum-security prison. So, my information is limited, so what I gathered is boring to say the least.”
The human breathe a sigh of relief.
“So I decided to look into Twilight’s mind.”
Artemis’ heart stop.
“And I found out that you two are in loving relationship, how wonderful.” Then he grinned a devious smile.
“So, all I have to do is take out you along with the rest of her friends. I mean, I chose the castle labyrinth for a reason.”
When discord started to walk towards his target.
Artemis ran as fast as he can to get away from the crazy draconquus.
He thought he got away from him when he ran into a nearby Toys “R” Us and lock the door behind him. When he turned around Discord was right in front of him, and he ran into his hand.
He was hypnotized before he even realized.
===•••===
1:10 PM
After Artemis disappeared, the remaining group of friends found Pinkie pie also acting strange.
To make sure that no one else mysteriously disappears, Celestia decided to lead the group since she rather be kidnapped instead of anyone else.
when they were halfway towards the center of the maze, one of the bushes open like a hidden door. The sun princess entered into the small garden inside. Saw Artemis safe and sound.
But instead of acting, like his usual self, he was now shaking like a leaf, his eyes looking at her direction with fear.
“Every pony I found Artemis.”
The second Apollo, Atlas and Twilight bolted into the area. Artemis got up from the bench he was sitting on, and tried to get away from them.
“Hey bro, what happened?” Atlas said with concern in his voice.
Artemis didn’t answer. Eventually he was backed into a corner.
“Whatever Discord did to you, he can’t hurt you anymore.” Twilight said.
“I don’t fucking believe you! you all could be clones of discord, for all I know!”
“Hey, we’re not clones all right.” Apollo said, trying to be as gentle as possible.
“All right, p..prove it. What’s my favorite colors?”
“Easy, sky blue, white, and silver.” Atlas responded.
“What’s my favorite fruit?”
“Pineapple” Apollo, Atlas, and twilight said in unison.
“What’s my favorite movie trilogy?”
“You don’t have one.” Apollo answered.
“Oh my gosh, is it really you guys I thought discord was trying to play a sick trick on me.” Artemis said pulling his brothers and his marefriend into a group hug.
“We’re glad to have you back as well.” Apollo said, patting his brother on the back.
(Five minutes of Artemis recovering later)
“Do you remember what Discord did to you?” Celestia ask.
“Well, I remembered that it was quiet. Too quiet.
When I open my eyes, I was back home. I was standing in the middle of Times Square. It was nighttime, and the advertisements were on as usual, but it was empty. No cars, no people, not even a rat was in the area.”
“That’s creepy.” Atlas said.
“It gets worse. For some strange reason he decides to operate a pretzel stand. He decides to offer me one, but I refused.”
“Smart.” Apollo commented.
“Then he started to get a little weird telling me that ever since he saw me in Apollo, he was interested in us, since we are not ponies or any creature he seen before. And then he told me the reason why we’re in this maze is so he can us pick off one by one.”
“Wait, I thought we’re in here just to get to the elements in the center of the maze.” Twilight said in confusion and fear.
“I don’t think the elements are in the maze at all.” Artemis said.
“So, Discord decided to lead us on a silly goose chase. It looks like that stallion gained some brain cells during his time in stone.” Celestia said in slight frustration.
“But when he was hypnotizing me, his riddle kept on playing in my head. This made me think for a little bit after I came out of my hallucination, and I think I know where the elements are.”
With a shaky hand, Artemis picked up a nearby stick and started to draw in the dirt.
“Remember when Discord said you will find the elements back where you began?”
“Yeah” everyone said in unison.
“Well, since the maze is a trap, it’s either in the castle or back in Ponyville. The problem is, were are the elements located?”
“I think it’s in the castle. That’s where the journey began after all.” Atlas said in thought.
“Maybe, but discord is after Twilight and her friends, so I think the elements are located in Ponyville.” Apollo suggested.
“Wherever the location may be, at least we narrowed it down to two possible locations.”
Celestia said.
“But first we need to get the rest of the girls before we create a plan then again, I don’t know if they are going to be acting like themselves.” Twilight said looking at Apollo who is being teased by pinkie pie.
“Well, let’s find out.” Atlas said while walking back into the maze.
Celestia caught up with him.
“Atlas”
“What’s up?”
“I’m in meaning to ask you this ever since we entered into the labyrinth. Where did your brothers get those knives from?” Celestia ask.
“Our uncle gave us one when we turned 18. He got them a few months after we were born during a Military operation name operation desert storm.
Since he is a US Marine, his unit were the first ones on the front lines, and they gave him four switch blades by accident. So, he decided to save them as a birthday gift. Mom wasn’t too please but since we were adults, she allowed it. I barely use mine anyway, besides opening up a litter or peel fruit.”
Celestia chuckled.
“That sounds a lot like my father. When I was just a little filly, he thought the best heartwarming gift that a parent could give his daughter was a sword. It was taller than me.”
“What was your mothers reaction?”
“She was not too pleased. She didn’t want to get me a sword until I was at least 13. I was 10 at the time.”
“Wow, it looks like my uncle Barlow would be great friends with your father.” Atlas chuckled.
“Maybe who knows. But where is your knife?”
“In my room, I was a little nervous coming on this adventure without it, but after what happened to Artemis, I don’t feel that way anymore.”
“Yeah, we don’t want that to happen again now do we.”
“I agree with you on that.”
As the group made their way through the maze Celestia couldn’t help but observe Artemis from far. Besides being afraid of his own shadow, Artemis was still acting like his usual self unlike applejack and pinkie pie.
‘How strong is Artemis’ mind? Maybe the triplets have a similar mindset? or maybe their species is naturally resilient? That would explain how after one day they accepted the fact that they were now living in Equestria for the next few years. I’ll ask them later.’ Celestia thought.
(Three minutes later)
“Hey guys, I found Rarity.” Twilight yelled.
“Great, three down two to…go. HOW?!” Apollo couldn’t believe what he was seeing at that moment. Apollo was now looking at Rarity, the hot fashionista that everyone knows, and loves was carrying a boulder five times her size.
“She is going to break some thing for sure.” Artemis said, in a shaky voice.
“Look on the bright side at least she’s using her legs.” Atlas said, with a shrug of his shoulders.
His brothers looked at him with neutral expressions.
“Really that’s the only positive thing say about the situation? look at her, she’s fucking dying.” Apollo said pointing at the fashionista.
“What? you want her to use her back, now that’s one way to get hurt.”
“He does have a point.” Celestia pointed out.
“Rarity, why are you carrying a large boulder?”
The fashionista then dropped the boulder, making everyone jump off the ground.
“What do you mean a boulder? This big, sexy hunk of a rock is a diamond!!” Rarity yelled out with a crazy look in her eyes.
“Damn, she acts like a spoiled brat from West Canterlot.” Apollo said with his brothers are agreeing.
“And it’s all mine. now get your greedy eyes off of it it’s mine I tell you mine!!”
Seeing how Rarity was attempting to carry the boulder on the back was making Celestia cringe a little.
“Rarity this is painful to watch, let me-“
*Slap*
Everyone was looking at Rarity with wide eyes.
“Did she just bitch slap sunbutt?” Apollo ask.
“Rarity why would you do that?” Twilight said.
“She was about to touch my diamond now get your greedy fingers off, it’s mine.”
After that, she hobbled away with her boulder on her back.
“You’re good.” Atlas ask.
“Yeah, it’s less painful than it sounds.” Celestia responded.
Then everyone heard the sound of the wall of bushes collapsing.
“Fluttershy, oh thank goodness we found you. Discord is getting to every pony.” Twilight said to Fluttershy.
The yellow Pegasus turned around and she looked pissed off.
“Oh, boo who. How about you use your magic little horn and make everything all better. Oh wait, you don’t have one.”
“Oh my.” Celestia said in shock.
“Did you hear the same thing I did?” Atlas asks.
“Yep, and I thought Pinkie pie was irritating.” Apollo responded.
“B…But at least we have one more person to find.” Artemis said.
“Yeah, but I wonder how much of a pain in the ass she would be when we find her.” Apollo said.
Then out of the blue, a school of butterfly started to circle Apollo. And they started to fly faster and faster.
“Hey what the hell is this?”
Apollo said in a panic.
“Oh no he’s trying to take another one!” Artemis said in a full-blown panic.
The school of butterflies start a fly around Apollo so fast that any attempt to get close to the funnel cloud was impossible, and before they knew it, he was gone.
“No, no no not another one. Discord you cruel bastard!!!” Atlas yelled to the heavens.
===•••===
Apollo’s point of view
“Get off of me! Get off!!”
After he successfully scared away all the butterflies, Apollo was shocked to see that he was in a subway station. With no trains, no people around.
Wanting to get some answers, Apollo started to wander around the platform. Eventually he came across a sign that said, ‘Grand central station’.
“Grand Central Station how did I get back hear? Must be another hallucination Discord created. Then again, it wouldn’t hurt to see what he done with the place.”
After looking for the familiar stairs that leads to the main terminal, he ran up the stairs, jumped over the turnstiles and found himself in the middle of Grand Central terminal. Except like the subway terminal underground there was no people, and no sounds. What call Apollo off guard though was the clock that was in the middle of the terminal was moving forward while the other side was moving backwards.
Deciding not to get dizzy from the out-of-control clock hands, he wanders around the area for a bit. Then a bunch of magazines with the title ‘Equestria daily’ caught his attention.
He opened up one of the magazines, and what he saw made his eyes widen. Inside of the magazine was no words only pictures of a bunch of cities in chaos. The streets were covered in soap in Canterlot. Cloudsdale was covered in sticky cotton candy clouds. And last, but not least Ponyville being overrun by a herd of bunnies with horse legs.
“Do you like what I did with the place?” said a voice from the other side of the terminal.
“Discord.” Apollo said under his breath.
He turned around only to see Discord playing the saxophone.
He was really bad at it.
“OK just tell me right now. Why did you bring me here?”
“I just want to know how your brother was so hard to hypnotize. And figure out how to stop Twilight and her friends, of course.” Discord said as he made the saxophone disappear in a briefcase.
“Oh, just shut up already you made my brother scared of his own shadow. And is this real?”
Apollo said pointing at the magazine.
“Yes, why?”
“ This is sick. People can get hurt, you’re destroying property, not to mention the countless environmental problems you’re creating.”
“It’s chaotic and chaos is fun.”
“Not when ponies are hurting everywhere. In my opinion, that’s not fun that’s just cruel.”
This made discord frown.
“You’re even more boring than your brother. you sound just like Emperor nebula. Caring about his subjects safety. Oh, you’re psychologically harming my soldiers, you’re destroying ponies homes blah blah blah.” Discord mocked. “That’s all a part of chaos and like I said before chaos is fun.”
“You know what I had enough of this. If you really believe all of that that means I have one thing to say to you. Fuck you and fuck your chaos!”
“You really need to learn how to respect your elders. Wait, I have a better idea. I can use that anger against the elements.”
Discord started to approach the human.
“I am warning you. If you take one more step, you’re not gonna like what I’m going to do.”
Discord laughed at his threat.
“Who are you gonna do? Are you going to yell at me again? Are you going to c-“
The moment discord got 1 foot away from him. Apollo punched him in his left cheek, hard. Causing him to stumble backwards.
“AH.” Discord looked at Apollo with anger.
“Oh that’s it, you’re going to learn.”
Discord used his powers to restrain the human, and he touched his for head with his right hand. The moment he made contact, static electricity went flying all over the place like a downed power line.
Discord now realized that trying to hypnotize Apollo was going to be very difficult. He couldn’t figure out why the task was this hard he was able to hypnotize most of the elements, but this time was different. It was like something was pushing him back.
He put more magic into his spell, and finally he was able to beat the resistance and hypnotized him.
===•••===
When Apollo started to regain consciousness, he saw Celestia, Twilight, and Atlas, surrounding him.
“Look, he’s waking up.” Twilight said
“Hey Apollo, you don’t know how happy I am to see you right now. Now you’ve been gone for like three minutes, so not that much change but everything is fine. This is not a tra-“
Atlas, wasn’t able to finish his sentence since the moment Apollo‘s vision was clear, he punched him right in the face.
“Hey hey hey hey hey. Come down Apollo discord is not here.” Celestia said, while pinning Apollo to the ground.
“Discord you fucking bastard, this better not be another trick!” Apollo yelled with anger in his voice.
“Apollo I promise you this is not a trick see everything is real you’re back in the real world.” Twilight said.
Apollo starting to calm down when he finally took in his surroundings.
“Oh, crap I’m back in the real world, finally. I thought that trip will never end.” Apollo said.
“If you don’t mind me asking, what did discord do to you?” Celestia ask.
“Well, it’s kind of all over the place so my story might not make sense.”
“Don’t worry take your time.” Twilight reassured.
“Well, after I managed to get rid of all the butterflies, I somehow ended up in a subway platform.”
“What’s a subway platform?” Celestia ask.
“That’s where underground trains known as subways stop to drop off and pick up passengers. It’s an underground train station.” Atlas answered while holding a bloody tissue to his cheek.
“Wait, are you bleeding?” Celestia ask, concerned.
“Yeah, don’t worry I got it.”
“What else do you remember?” A curious Twilight ask.
“Well, like Artemis, there was no trains no people around and it was very quiet, so I decided to look for an exit and I found one after finding out that I was in Grand Central Station. If you’re wondering, Grand Central Station is a beautiful subway station in the middle of Manhattan, it’s similar Canterlot station. Anyway, after I found the exit I soon from myself in the middle of the terminal. And it was nighttime, and the clock hands were spinning out of control, and then I noticed these magazines on the wall. So, I decided to pick one up and it was showing the chaos that was happening all over Canterlot, Cloudsdale and Ponyville.”
‘He’s now showing off! I knew he was a heartless by not this heartless’ Celestia thought.
“Then discord decided to reveal himself in a weird way by playing a saxophone pretty badly. Then he told me that he didn’t really care about the ponies that he was hurting by his antics. He even insulted your dad Celestia if you want to know. So, I decided to tell him fuck you and fuck your chaos. He got angry try to hypnotize me once, but I punched him.”
“You punched Discord?!” Celestia, Twilight, and Atlas, exclaimed.
“Yeah, I gave him a warning and everything he didn’t listen. So he got angry, he restrain me and put his hand on my forehead. The moment he did that spark start to fly like a lightning strike, and he looked like he was really struggling. Then I blacked out.”
“What are you feeling right now? Scared or whatever.” Atlas asks.
“All I feel is this huge amount of rage inside of me.”
“How is this possible?” Celestia wondered.
“What do you mean?” Atlas ask
“Apollo and Artemis have been both been hypnotized by discord, somehow still mostly the same, beside Artemis being scared of his own shadow like Fluttershy. And Apollo having anger problems. So I’ve been thinking ever since Artemis have came back to us, and I think the human mind is more resilient to discord’s magic than ponies. Apollo further proves that, since he literally said Discord was struggling to hypnotize him.”
“So what you are saying is that discord may not take Atlas.” Apollo said.
“I think so. He is weird, but he’s not stupid.”
“Well in that case, let’s go find lightning butt before I hurt someone else. Sorry Atlas.”
“It’s fine. No need to apologize.”
===•••===
Five minutes later
1:20 PM
“Fluttershy I am warning you right now. Stop poking me.” Apollo said with gritted teeth.
“Oh, what’s wrong? Is the big stallion all mad?”
“Knock it off Fluttershy or else.” Celestia said sternly.
This surprisingly worked.
“*Sigh* Is it me or we been walking in circles for the past five minutes.”
Atlas wondered.
“I think it’s you, but eventually will find Rainbow Dash.” Twilight answered.
Applejack pointed to the sky and yelled. “Rainbow Dash is flying away. She’s abandoning us.”
“Now I know that’s a lie.”
Twilight locked up and couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
It turns out Applejack wasn’t lying after all.
“Well, at least we know where she is now.” Atlas said. Shielding his eyes from the sunlight.
“Wait, how did she get her wings?” Twilight wonder.
“Discord” Celestia said, while clenching her fists tightly.
It was at that moment when the maze collapsed into the ground, leaving behind nothing but a 20 acre wide dirt patch.
“Well well well, looks like some pony bro don’t know wings no magic rule.”
Discord snapped his fingers, and every Ponies wings and horns were returned to their rightful owners.
“Game over my little ponies, you didn’t find your precious elements. Looks like we’re due for a big old storm of chaos!” Discord laughed, while holding an umbrella that was pointing the wrong way.
“If Dr. Seuss seen this, he would’ve had a field day with this.” Atlas, said to himself.
“Hey, what are you laughing at?!” Pinkie pie yelled in anger.
Discord wipe the tears from his eye.
“Oh, you ponies are the most fun I had in eons.”
“Now that’s depressing.” Twilight said to Atlas.
“Well, you better quit it. And you better think before you laugh at the Pinkie pie.”
“Oh really? Fluttershy said. “Ha ha”
“Quit it!”
“HA HA”
“QUIT IT!”
Slowly, the patch of dirt turned into a shit show.
Rarity kicked applejack in the face because she wanted to split the ‘diamond’ into nine pieces.(like a communist.)
Atlas and Twilight started to back away from the others. And Fluttershy and pinkie pie started to beat each other up.
The only ones that were affected by discord that was behaving was Artemis, who was shaking like a leaf and Apollo. He look like he wanna punch something.
Celestia was done with everyone’s Tom foolery. And she decided the best way to end the chaos was to light up her horn up and freeze everyone in her magic. Except for the triplets and Twilight, of course.
“This is too entertaining. And to think you guys were so close to the elements.” Discord said as he chow down on some popcorn while sitting in a movie theater seat.
“Discord, I don’t know if you heard, but we know that the elements weren’t in this maze.” Atlas said.
Discord spit out his popcorn.
“How did you figure it out?”
“Easy, after Artemis was hypnotized, he cracked the code. Because the riddle you said was playing in his head multiple times.” Said Twilight.
His shock expression turned into an impress one.
“Bravo, bravo I never thought you nine would figure it out. And I thought Twilight was was the one that was going to figure out the riddle.”
“But that doesn’t matter the elements could be anywhere. Now, if you excuse me, I got some chaos to create.”
After discord disappeared, a bunch of cotton candy clouds appeared. Now everyone is caught in a chocolate milk rain.
“Thank goodness I’m not wearing a suit.” Atlas said to himself.
“All right every pony, I think it’s about time we finally look for those elements. We’ll first teleport to the castle and then to Ponyville.” Celestia announced.
Most of the group ignored the princess, but she didn’t care and teleported everyone to the castle entrance. Where Luna was talking to Cyclone.
She was surprised to see her little sister wearing her combat uniform. That meant something must’ve went horribly wrong.
“Luna.”
“Tia, where have you been?” Luna said with worry and urgency in her voice.
“I was helping out the elements trying to get their... elements back. What happened here? Why are you in your combat uniform?”
“Well, while you’ve been gone with Twilight and her friends, Canterlot descended into utter chaos. In fact, I had to place the entire Canterlot region under martial law. Martial law! I don’t remember the last time we had to put an entire region under martial law. Cloudsdale, Ponyville and this city have been over run with chaos, magic. The only city in the region that’s not affected is Hollow shades. There are also bracing for impact.”
“Lulu, I am so sorry for leaving you here with this happening. *Sigh* I should’ve stayed to help you out.”
“No need to apologize sister, you just want to help out the elements of harmony.” Luna looked behind Celestia. “let me guess. Discord hypnotize most of them?”
“Sadly, yes, he took away our wings and horns, and picked us off one by one.”
“And why is one of Apollo‘s eyes twitching like crazy and his veins are popping out his forehead? Is Artemis coming down with a cold?” Ask Luna.
“No, Artemis is fine it’s just him and his brother were hypnotized by disc-“
“He did what!”
“Calm down sister, I was about to tell you that his hypnotism didn’t affect them as much as the rest of the girls. It’s just Apollo is struggling to keep his anger inside and Artemis has a lot of anxiety. But their personalities are still intact.”
“Well, that’s a relief.”
“Now the reason why I’m back here is to see if the elements are back in Canterlot tower I need you to watch the girls for me. With Atlas’ help course.”
“Don’t worry I will. Besides the royal guard and the police are dealing with the chaos right now so i’m available for a few minutes.”
“Thank you, Luna. Twilight, I want you to come with me.”
“Ok princess.”
After Celestia and Twilight ran into the castle, Atlas turned to Cyclone and spoke. “Cyclone I know this might be an odd request right now. But earlier Rainbow Dash flew away somewhere, and I think she’s hiding in one of the clouds above the maze. Can you look in that area and bring her back please. With Luna’s permission, of course.”
“You have permission to go.”
“Thank you princess. I’ll be back in five minutes. Make sure nothing goes wrong Atlas.” Cyclones said as he flew away.
“Don’t worry, I will!” Atlas yelled.
===•••===
Celestia and Twilight’s POV
Canterlot tower.
1:35 PM
“Princess Celestia, why did you want me to come with you?”
“I just wanted some pony to watch my back while I unlock the tower again. I don’t want discord to pop out of nowhere and hurt me again.”
“I have one more question and it’s about Discord. I noticed earlier anytime he mentions your mother’s name, he always says it like he absolutely hates her. Why is that?”
“I don’t know honestly; I never got an answer from either of them.” Celestia pulled her horn out of the door when it started to open. “My guess is since my mother is responsible for bringing the warlord era to an end, meant there was no more chaos for Discord to enjoy. I’ll probably never get a straight answer anyway. And I am OK with that.”
Celestia picked up the purple treasure chest and opened it only to see nothing was inside of it.
“The elements of harmony are not here.”
“So that means they are located in the Golden Oaks library.” Twilight said in realization.
“Twilight do not run. I’m going to teleport to both of us to the castle entrance. It will be faster than running through the castle for five minutes.”
“Oh yeah, right.” Twilight said in slight embarrassment.
===•••===
Castle entrance.
After waiting for five minutes, cyclones arrived with Rainbow Dash in handcuffs. Meanwhile, Twilight and Celestia arrived by teleportation.
The both of them were shocked seeing Rainbow Dash right in front of them.
“How did you find her?” Twilight ask
“Atlas ask me too see if Rainbow Dash was in the area. Luckily, she was resting on one of the nearby clouds. So here you go, one feisty speed demon safe and sound.” Cyclone said with a proud smile.
“Thanks Cyclone. I owe you one.”
“It was no problem at all.”
“Let me guess the elements of harmony are in Ponyville?” Atlas ask
“Yes.” The two mare said in unison.
“At lease I’m going to see Ponyville for the first time.”
Before Celestia could start, her teleportation spell, her sister tapped her on the shoulder and ask.
“Why is Rarity defending a boulder like her life depended on it?”
“It’s a long story.”
===•••===
Ponyville
1:41 PM
After the main nine arrived in the small town, they were shocked to see that Ponyville was in a worst condition Canterlot.
Buildings floating upside down, civilians stuck in clumps of cotton candy, he somehow messed up the day and night cycle.
Before Celestia could even take one step in the darkness of the night she fell flat on her face thanks to how slippery the dirt road has become. If that wasn’t enough when the sun finally appeared and revealed the soapy road in front of them and herd of bunnies with horse legs trampled over her.
After she regained her balanced, Discord passes the group by while sliding on the soapy road and spoke.
“Beautiful, isn’t it? This is the new and improved Ponyville and these are only my first changes.”
“First changes?! Ponyville looks more destroyed than Canterlot or Cloudsdale.” Twilight said in horror.
“Well, that’s the point after all. This will be the chaos capital of the world.”
Celestia‘s eyes widen in realization.
“You’re not planning to-“
“Spread my chaos all over the globe. Yes I am. Now if you excuse me” a hardhat landed on his head, and a bunch of construction blueprints appeared in his arms. “I got some renovations to get back to.”
Once again the chaos god disappeared.
“I think it will be better if we teleport to the library instead of busting our asses on the road again.”
Atlas suggested.
“I’ll do the honors.” Twilight said.
===•••===
Golden Oaks library
1:43 PM
After doing a few chores, here in there, spike decided to treat himself to a bowl of gems and a newly released power ponies comic.
Ever since he turned 12 years old just a week ago. He had a massive growth spurt making him 5 foot 5 inches. As a result, Twilight allowing him to travel on his own since he is a teenager now. As long as he doesn’t go anywhere past Canterlot or Hollow shades, which is fine by him since he doesn’t plan on traveling far anytime soon.
He was about to grab his soda when.
*Bang*
The front door flew open scaring the crap out of Spike. Apollo was the one that kicked the door open.
“Apollo what was that for?”
“Sorry Spike it fell necessary. Anyway where is the elements we need to find them.”
“Aren’t they in Canterlot? And why are you, Artemis and the girls all gray?”
“This being named Discord had the nerve to hypnotize most of us for some reason Artemis and I are the least affected, though.”
Spike then noticed a bruise on the human’s right hand.
“What happened to your hand?”
“Oh, this? discord tried to hypnotize Atlas earlier, but I stopped him by punch him right in the face. You don’t know how good it feels just to punch the bastard again. It doesn’t hurt if you want to know.”
“Oh, OK.”
“Spike do you know where the book about the elements of harmony is?” Twilight ask.
“Yes I do actually, I just cleaned up the library and I remember putting the book right around” spike looked on the third shelf and found what he was looking for. “ Here.”
Before Spike could hand the book over to Twilight, Fluttershy came out of nowhere, smacked him across the face and took the book away.
“Keep away!” She yelled.
Before she can throw the book, Celestia grabs the pegasus with her magic.
“This doesn’t belong to you.” She said, as she grabbed the book out of Fluttershy‘s hands.
After the sun princess handed the book to the purple bookworm, she opened it only to find the elements were inside of it this entire time.
“Oh thank goodness, we found the elements!”
“Well, what are you waiting for put the necklaces on them! Rainbow Dash is getting harder to handle.” Atlas said while trying to restrain Rainbow Dash.
Picking up the necklaces and put them on her friends one by one. Slowly the magic of the elements returned them to their normal selves.
“What happened? Why am I in handcuffs? Why are you pinning me against the wall?” Rainbow Dash asks.
“After Discord hypnotize, you just keep on trying to fly a way to save Cloudsdale only to take a nap on a cloud. The reason why you were in handcuffs is to make restraining you easier. But handcuffs didn’t stop you from kicking me in the balls though.” Atlas said after taking the handcuffs off of her wrists.
“Oh, I remember now. Sorry about that.”
“It’s all right, you were underneath Discord spell anyway.”
“Was I pushing this boulder this entire time?” Ask Rarity.
“And acting like an animal anytime some pony gets near it. Yes, yes you was.” Twilight confirmed.
Rarity said nothing as she picked up the boulder in her magic, crushed it into tiny pieces and tossed the debris out the destroyed door.
“Will never speak of this again.”
“Now, since every pony is back to normal, let’s go defeat discord once and for-“
“Sorry to interrupt you princess, but Apollo and Artemis are not free from the effects of discord’s spell. But don’t worry I think I know a way to free them from the spell.” Twilight said.
Using some of the magic from her element, Twilight conjured up a spell and cast it on the two brothers.
Not only did their color came back, but their demeanor also changed as well. Artemis stop shaking like a leaf and Apollo eyes were empty of any hate or anger.
When they realize the change, they both lunged at the purple unicorn and hugged her.
“Thank you!”
“No problem boy. Now if you excuse me, we have a draconquus to defeat.”
“Hold on Twilight, do you hear that?” Celestia said.
“I don’t hear anything.”
“Exactly. It’s quiet, too quiet.”
She was right. Before, the area was filled with the sounds of chaos happening all over the place. Now. You can even hear a pin drop.
“Girls, wait here for a second and get your elements ready. Triplets, stay inside, no matter what happens.”
Celestia conjured up an invisible shield spell, and walk out of the library.
Not even five seconds later, a huge beam of dark purple magic hit Celestia’s shield from above. It was so loud everyone in the library had to cover their ears.
The ground that her shield was not protecting was burnt to a crisp. Celestia looked up to the sky with anger in her eyes. She saw Discord on the only white cloud in the sky, with disappointment etched on his face.
The alicorn’s mind filled with horrible thoughts. If she allowed twilight, or any of her friends to leave the library first, they could’ve gotten killed before they knew what even hit them.
Snapping out of her thoughts she Immediately aimed her horn and fire a powerful blast of magic.
Discord dodged the attack, but his cloud wasn’t as lucky.
Discord thought teleporting behind her was a good idea. He didn’t expect Celestia to turn around and kick him into a nearby building.
He came out of the rubble and fired a counterattack.
Shield was able to protect her, but not prevent her from flying across the town and crashing into City Hall.
“Yes, chaos rules and Equestria drools.” Discord said, dancing in celebration.
Much to relief of everyone in Town, Celestia flew out of the gaping hole of City Hall like a bullet and punched discord in the face. Giving him a bloody nose and knocking out a few teeth in the process.
“Oh my God I caught that on camera!” Yelled an excited Apollo.
After Discord recovered from flying back first into a massive oak tree and magically healing all his injuries. He launched another column of purple magic at Celestia. She counter attacked it with a column of magic of her own.
For second everyone in the vicinity thought it was going to be stalemate that was on to Celestia’s magic was inching closer and closer to Discord.
Celestia smiled when she saw the desperate look on discord face.
“Just so you know, I wouldn’t look to my left if I were you.”
He did just that and saw a beam of rainbow magic heading towards him.
It launched him 10 feet away. Landing in a clump of sticky cotton candy.
The beam of magic also reversed all the chaos that Discord also caused. But the property damage was still there.
Before discord could get off the ground, Celestia placed a anti-Magic collar around his neck, just in case.
Discord snapped his fingers to start another attack, nothing happened. He snapped his fingers again. Nothing happened. No matter how many times he snapped his fingers. His magic wouldn’t listen to him.
All the citizens of the town coming out of hiding and started a crowd around him.
“Hey, every pony. what’s up.” Discord said nervously.
This add more fuel to already burning fire.
“You not only harmed my daughter Applejack, but you also damage my farm!” Bright Mac yelled in anger
“You destroyed our town. This will take days if not weeks to fix all of this!” Yelled Cheerilee.
“You hurt my kids!” Derpy yelled before throwing a tomato at the now defeated Chaos god.
“What’s wrong Discord you’re afraid of an entire town being angry at you?” Artemis laughed.
With his back against the wall of sugarcube corner discord looked at Celestia, who was holding a movie theater box of popcorn in her magic. While her right hand was in a bowl of ice. She was sitting on top of a nearby house.
Bright Mac broke from the crowd and punched discord in the stomach.
This caused a domino effect of other ponies participating in the beating. Eventually starting the biggest ass whooping in Ponyville history. With 300 ponies taking turns beating up Discord, they were throwing food on him, and calling him every insult in the book.
Even kids joined in. Like Dinky Doo hooves, who got her hands on an electric razor and shaved his head. And Diamond tiara and silver spoon, who got their hands on a bunch of sharpies, and drew all over his face.
After five minutes, the fight was broken up by princess Celestia and Ponyville Police Department.
===•••===
Ponyville hospital.
2:30 PM
“All right, I got your results and you three are perfectly healthy. Mr. Apollo, you do have to have an ice pack on your hand for at least an hour though.” Nurse Redheart said.
“Well, that’s a relief.” Atlas said.
“Yeah, but imagine the bill though.” Artemis said.
The three brothers groaned at the thought.
Right on cue, Redheart entered the room.
The young nurse handed Atlas a small vanilla folder.
With bated breath, he with slowly opened the folder to reveal two pieces of paper inside one of the sheets of paper was usual paperwork. but the other one was the bill.
The Bill: 75 bits
The triplets couldn’t believe their eyes.
“Is this some type of prank?” Apollo ask the nurse.
Redheart just looked at him with confusion.
“I don’t understand.”
“The bill says that the MRI and the check up was 75 bits. And there’s not a single fee on this paper.” Artemis said.
“Nope everything is on there. And fees related to healthcare have been illegal for 700 years if I recall correctly.”
Atlas, looked at the nurse, then at the paper, then at the nurse again.
“I fucking love this country.”
===•••===
4:30 PM
When the sun princess came back to Canterlot, Luna, Cadence and Shining armor we’re all there waiting for her at the train station.
When Celestia got off the train with the rest of her group, they were shocked to see that she had a bunch of bandages wrapped around her right hand.
When they ask her questions about it, she told him that during the battle that defeated discord, she punched him so hard that it sprained her hand.
When Luna heard how the battle started, she wanted to kill him, but Celestia and three humans stopped her. She finally calms down after Apollo showed her the video of discord being defeated and getting jumped in Ponyville.
===•••===
5:30 PM
Castle spa Hot Springs
“I can’t believe Discord did all of those things. And in a three hour time span.” Cadence said in disbelief.
“Yeah, but at least were able to find the elements before it was too late.” Celestia said that she took a sip of her martini.
“Sure your hand is going to be ok auntie?”
“Oh, don’t worry about it Cadence. Nurse Redheart said it should be fully healed in two weeks. Besides, this is not the first time I had an injury like this.”
“If you say so. *Sigh* I’m still worried about how we’re going to rebuild the Canterlot region.”
“Cadence, I know Cloudsdale and Ponyville is a smoldering wreck right now. But have faith in Artemis. He might be young, but he knows how to get a job done.”
“Yeah, you’re right sorry for being such a worry wart right now.”
“It’s ok. I know where you’re coming from. After today everything is going to be smooth sailing.”
TV: “Breaking news every pony. Queen prism of the Delta kingdom have successfully reunited the river federation after weeks of negotiations.”
This made Celestia spit out her martini in shock.
TV: “The queen herself promise that this new Federation will be better than the old one that collapsed in 991.”
Celestia said nothing and she rested her head on the cushion behind her and stared at the ceiling.
“Oh, my stars, she did it. She actually did it.”
===•••===
Valhalla
Location unknown.
Somewhere in the universe, there is a land of the gods. Place where mortal beings go to spend the rest of their Afterlife in peace and comfort.
A beautiful city in the stars.
One of the residents it’s not like everyone else. She is a white alicorn with two different color eyes. Her right eye is orange like the sun, while the left was a dark blue like the night sky.
Her maine and tail colors is a sun orange on the top and dark blue on the bottom with twinkling stars completing the look.
This pony is the legendary monarch Gallaxia star Faust. queen of the galaxies, and former Empress of the Equestria.
And right now, she was sitting in her office, rubbing her eyes in frustration.
She just turned off her hologram showing planet earth. Her job as the queen of the universe was to make sure that everything running smoothly, especially on Earth and Equis.
And things were not looking good on earth.
She wishes that the humans would be able to get along for once instead of being hostile each other.
She turned on the hologram that shows planet Equis and saw three magic signatures that was not there before. But nothing out of the ordinary.
She was about to turn off the hologram when she looked at the large nation on the continent right in front of her.
She looked at the country with a sad smile. She was looking at her greatest achievement in her opinion. The nation that freed millions of ponies from feuding warlords and now her two daughters are now running the country as best as they can. She couldn’t be prouder of them.
But ever since she left 1009 years ago, she promised that she will be back one day.
And today is the day she decided to fulfill her promise.
===•••===
15 mins later.
After getting permission to enter Gallaxia open the door to her husband‘s office. The stallion in question could be mistaken for Luna’s twin brother if it wasn’t for the light blue and mane in tail and magenta color eyes.
His name was Nebula Faust, former emperor of a Equestria.
Nebula looked up from the paper he was signing and saw the look on his wife’s face.
“Honey what’s wrong?” He asks.
“I just want to ask you something important.”
Nebula got up from his office chair and sat down on the loveseat in his office.
“What do you want to ask me?”
“Have you ever thought about going back to Equestria?” Gallaxia ask.
“Like a vacation? Didn’t we already go to Canterlot 230 years ago?”
“No, not a vacation. I mean moving there permanently.”
“Do you want to become empress again?” Nebula asks.
“Oh no, we already rule the nation for 2000 years. Been there done that.”
Nebula figured out why his wife wanted to go back.
“You miss Celestia and Luna, don’t you.”
“Yes, I do don’t get me wrong. Valhalla is a beautiful place. It’s just ever since Luna was freed from the moon. I just feel like… I don’t know missing spending time with my daughters.”
“Me too honey me too. And I figured that you were going to ask me to come with you. So, my answer is yes.”
Gallaxia‘s ears perk up.
“You’re serious.”
“Yeah, I’m serious. I don’t joke around with matters like this.”
“Oh, thanks you, thank you, thank you.” She said, while hugging him.
“You’re welcome. Did you tell your mother about this?”
“Yeah, I did and she’s fine with it. As long as we visit her every once in a while, and I told her the same.”
“So, when are we going back to Equestria?”
“In two days.”
===•••===
Two days later.
Valhalla central station.
August 16 1009 A.G
August 16, 2009 A.D
(Valhalla uses both calendars)
“All right you two, I’ll visit you every holiday if I can.”
The mare that was seeing her daughter off is a white alicorn with baby blue eyes, and a bright red mane and tail.
Her name is Lauren platinum Faust, the mother of all creation.
“I know mother and we’ll do the same.” Gallaxia said.
Intercom: “Galaxy express 999 will depart in three minutes.”
“Well, it looks like it’s time for you to go. Stay safe my little star.” Lauren said, hugging Gallaxia.
“Goodbye mother see you soon.”
Lauren watch the two alicorns board the express train. After the departure bell rung, the C62 steam locomotive blew its mighty whistle and took off into the stars once again.
Lauren wipes the tears from her eyes and looked at her watch.
“Oh, it’s time to watch Steve Harvey.”