//------------------------------// // Chapter 23 // Story: Spyra // by angelofrombelow //------------------------------// Berry Punch took a step forward, instinctively moving to try to protect Lyra, but was stopped by Valiant Shield. He placed a hoof on her back, and then indicated to her to stay quiet when she turned round. "We have one shot at this," he said, his voice low and determined. "You and Noteworthy need to get inside the castle and pick up the Elements of Harmony, then find a way back to Ponyville. Hopefully Twilight and the others will be unfrozen by now." "I'm not leaving Lyra," she replied. Discord was upon the unicorn now, looking down on her as a snake would at a mouse. Valiant Shield placed a hoof on Berry's shoulder, his eyes gazing deep into hers. "Equestria can still be saved but we have to be willing to give our all. I and my guards are going to make a last-ditch attack while Discord is distracted, but there's no sense in you sacrificing yourself." He retrieved a spear dropped by one of the crystallised ponies that had been frozen still in the gardens. His guards did likewise, ignoring their fear, their faces solemn. Berry looked at Valiant Shield sadly, aware this would probably be the last time she ever saw him, and then ran over to the back door of the castle. Noteworthy was already there, attempting to pry it open. Discord's spell was holding it fast, preventing entry. The two ponies exchanged uneasy glances, looked at the metal gloves on their hooves, and realised they would have to try to break it down. Valiant Shield looked to his fellow pegasi, the only two remaining members of the Canterlot guard, and gave a whispered farewell. "Gentlecolts, it's been an honour." The draconequus gazed down upon Lyra, taking the time to drink in her fear. Neither of them moved an inch. Discord was enjoying herself too much to bring their encounter to an abrupt end and the unicorn knew there was no point in trying to run. She stood her ground, maintaining eye contact with the demon. The only sound came from the occasional sparks of energy that crackled upon its skin. A few seconds passed before Discord finally spoke. "You're Whooves' little friend, aren't you? I thought that trap I set for you at Nightmare Moon's castle would have finished you. Didn't you take the time to read my letter? Quite rude, quite rude." Lyra gave a shuddering breath, and then found her voice. "It was obviously a trap. Didn't want to spend any time longer there than I had to. I only skim read your letter but I… I got the gist. I know what you want. But I don't understand why." "Why?" Discord hissed, "I'll tell you why. Because of your kind, because of your precious princess, I spent centuries – centuries – locked in a stone prison, forever part of your world but unable to interact with it. Trapped in my own mind. Wouldn't you want retribution, if you were put in the same situation?" She brought her face down level with Lyra's. "Wouldn't you want the scum responsible to suffer?" The unicorn shook her head. "No. No, I wouldn't. And I know that's the truth, because I've experienced the exact same thing that you're talking about." Discord frowned, then spoke in a bitterly sarcastic tone. "Oh yes, I can tell we're kindred spirits. I don't believe you." "It's, it's true," she said in a frightened whisper. "It was before Nightmare Moon returned. The Elements of Harmony were dormant and they needed six ponies to lend them their life energy, to reactivate them. The process almost killed us and we were left in a state between life and death. Limbo. I was fully conscious but…" "Hold that thought, would you?" Discord said. During their conversation, Valiant Shield and the two guards had been slowly creeping up behind the draconequus with the intention of launching a last-ditch attack. Their spears were raised, clasped in their wings, hoping they could land a fatal blow by stabbing her in the head. She had been fully aware of their approach and was so dismissive of the guards that she didn't even bother to turn to face them. Before they could make another move, she cast a spell with a click of her talons. Valiant Shield could feel his body becoming solid but it happened so quickly that he didn't have a chance to cry out. The last thing he saw was Lyra staring at him, horrified. The three ponies' bodies crystallised and they were frozen as statues, joining the rest of the Canterlot guard. Their grimacing faces glimmered in the moonlight. "Hmm. I've almost got the full set," Discord mused, "Once I've got their commander, I'll have a whole range of action figures to play with." She chuckled at Lyra. "Oh, don't look at me like that. A girl's got to have a hobby." She looked in the direction of Noteworthy and Berry, who were hammering at the castle door as they tried to break in. "Could you keep the noise down, you two? You're not going to get anywhere – the castle is quite off-limits. You can keep trying to smash through the barrier I've set up, but you'll just end up hurting yourselves. Wouldn't want that. I want a fresh canvas to work with." The two earth ponies stopped their assault, realising it was pointless. Noteworthy felt the urge to flee but he knew he wouldn't be able to get away. He would face his fate here, with his colleagues, no matter what horrors it could bring. Berry Punch, likewise, had no intention of leaving the mare she cared about to die alone. Discord turned her attention back to the unicorn. "Anyway Lyra, you were saying?" It took her a moment to find the will to continue. "I was trapped in limbo. Like you were. Fully conscious but unable to communicate with the outside world, with only my own thoughts for company. "But I didn't feel your need for revenge. I drifted, time no longer had any meaning and I lost my sense of self, but I wasn't afraid. It was serene, almost. "It changed me. Of course it changed me. I became unable to make strong connections with anypony because I felt cut off from reality, but I'm recovering. You don't need to do this. Your pain will ease with time." She kneeled down. "Please, I'm begging you – don't destroy our world. It won't bring you any peace. You can only find that in yourself." Discord sneered at her, but her words had touched a nerve. The draconequus became pensive, her destructive urges temporarily quelled. "That's quite interesting. I suppose it speaks of our different personalities. You're subservient, whereas I have this need to control everything. That's probably why it drove me crazy – I couldn't control anything, not even my own body. "So we have a connection. Cute. Don't think it'll make any difference, though. I'm not doing this out of some deep, psychological need or because I have daddy issues or anything like that." She lowered her head so it was level with Lyra's and hissed: "I'm doing this because it's FUN." Discord's breath stung Lyra's eyes and she looked away, her every nerve tense from having the draconequus so close. Discord grabbed her by the neck, her touch so icy cold that it hurt, and whispered in her ear. "I made this world. I gave you ponies your different colours, your wings, your magic. Everything was brown and dull before I came along. I set the foundations of the structures that rule your lives, I gave you everything. And your kind had the audacity to stand against me. "You ungrateful, self-obsessed little nothings. You think you matter. You do not. I created you, I am your God. And as I gave, so I will take away. I am going to tear you down, every last one of you. And once I have ruined Equestria, I will move onto the next country, and then the next." "And what… what will you do then?" asked Lyra, trembling. "When you've killed us all and there's nothing left, what will you do then?" Discord frowned and released her from her grip. A brief look of consternation passed over her face – the unicorn had raised something she hadn't considered. Once she achieved her revenge, what would she do next? Berry and Noteworthy saw her hesitation and realised this was most likely their only chance. They somehow had to try to reason with her. "You're immortal," said Noteworthy, rolling forward. "You need something to keep your mind occupied or you'll fall even further into insanity. If you have no-one else to interact with, your existence will become a living hell." "He's right," said Lyra, "Think of the centuries you spent alone, trapped as a statue. Sure, you'll have the freedom to move, but there are only so many times you can walk the breadth of a barren world. If you do this, if you go ahead with your revenge, you'll be trapped again. But this time, in a prison of your own making." Discord looked between the two ponies, genuinely thinking over what they had said. They felt a faint flicker of hope, barely a spark, that they might have reached her. That ponykind was not doomed. As if sensing their emotions, the draconequus suddenly burst into peals of cruel laughter, falling onto her back. "Oh, you ponies are just priceless!" she cried, "Priceless! You think I can't find a way around that? I wouldn't be the spirit of chaos if I wasn't possessed with a knack for invention." She recovered from her mirth and got back onto her feet, drawing herself up to her full height as she looked down on her foes. "You forget, I now have much of Celestia's power – the strongest healing magic on the planet. Even without its full essence, I can achieve things beyond your imagination. For a start, I could try creating new life. I could even try reanimating a few corpses. A few undead ponies would be fun to have around. "If that doesn't work, I am more than capable of extending somepony's lifespan beyond its natural length. I can inflict whatever tortures I want without allowing them the mercy of death. Given enough time, they may almost come to enjoy it. "And even then, I have a lot of genetic material to play with and give new shape. If I can't create new life out of nothing, there are plenty of ponies I could use to produce new playmates." She stared deep into Lyra's eyes. "Ever wanted to be a mommy?" Lyra stepped back in horrified revulsion, gripped by a fresh fear as Discord smiled malevolently. "Get the hell away from her," said Berry, moving away from the castle, her face twisted by anger and despair. "Oh, you're trying to stand up for her? How sweet," said Discord, turning her attention to the purple earth pony. "I don't see what it'll achieve, though. You're nothing but a mere mortal, what do you think you can actually do to me?" She grinned at Berry, who was seething with rage and regret – it all seemed hopeless but she wasn't willing to go down without a fight. The pony stared up at the draconequus, scarcely daring to blink. On the periphery of her vision, she was vaguely aware of an intermittently flashing white light. She didn't know what it was and she didn't care – she was on the verge of losing control of her temper. "No answer? I thought not," said Discord, bringing her herself down to Berry's level. "Now the question is, what should I do with you? You have family in Canterlot, don't you? Perhaps I should invite them along to watch. Or maybe I should go to Manehattan and track down that delicious-looking daughter of yours." The mention of Ruby Pinch pushed Berry over the edge. Any sense of self-preservation was swept aside by her need to do something, anything, to make Discord pay. She lifted up a metal glove and in one sudden, swift motion swung it round and punched her as hard as she could in the head. The draconequus jerked upright, lifting up a paw to feel the spot where the attack had connected, eyes wide open in shock. "You… you hit me in the face," she murmured, unable to believe it. "You…" Berry was upon her before she could recover her senses – Discord was caught off guard by the ferocity of her assault and lost her balance, falling to the floor. Berry leapt on top of her and started landing blow after blow on her face, tears stinging the pony's eyes as every ferocious punch sent juddering pain up through her legs. She never tired – every attack was as strong as the last, enhanced by the gloves to be powerful enough to shatter stone. If a mortal pony had been her victim, they would have been dead already. But Discord was no mortal. In a blink, the metal gloves on Berry's hooves were turned into glass. The next blow caused them to shatter and she cried out in pain as the shards dug into her skin. Suddenly her body was sent flying backwards at high speed, crashing hard against the castle. She was held in place against the wall by an unseen force that she couldn't fight against, no matter how hard she struggled. Discord rose from the ground, pausing only to reach up and click her dislocated jaw back into place, then advanced on the helpless earth pony. "I'm impressed," she said, her wound healing instantly. "An honest-to-goodness last stand. That was almost like being back in the days of old, when there used to be knights willing to die for a cause instead of these feeble creatures that called themselves the Canterlot guard." Berry could only gasp in reply, fighting against a building pain inside her chest. She didn't know what was causing it, but there was something deeply, deeply wrong. Lyra rushed over to her friend, terrified by what was happening to her. The pony's skin appeared to be melting, with purple droplets forming on her coat. "Stop it. Stop it!" Lyra shouted at Discord. "Please… please don't kill her." "Oh, I'm not going to kill her just yet. I have a rather more fitting punishment in mind." With a flourish of her paw, she finished casting her spell. Berry mercifully passed out just before her entire body began to sag, then her limbs and head began to merge into her torso as they slowly transformed into a dark red liquid. Glass began to form around her, contracting in as it caught every last drop of her formerly solid body. Within seconds, the process was complete. Where Berry had once been, there was nothing but a bottle filled with liquid of a colour that closely resembled wine. Discord looked down on Lyra, smirked, then said: "NOW I'm going to kill her." The bottle, which had been left hovering close to the wall, suddenly regained gravity and fell towards the stone floor by the castle door. "No!" Lyra screamed, diving in a desperate bid to catch it. Her front hooves grabbed the bottle just inches from the ground but her forward momentum carried her into the castle wall. Her heart stopped as she heard the glass chink loudly against the stone. It took her a few moments to realise it hadn't shattered. A shell-shocked Lyra, her body trembling, held the bottle close to her and wrapped herself around it like a cocoon, trying to protect whatever was left of the mare she cared about. She had no idea whether Berry was even still alive in there, or if she could be saved. All she could focus on was shielding her from Discord. She squeezed her eyes shut, expecting the draconequus to deliver a fatal blow at any moment. She couldn't look, she didn't want to see. She just wanted it to end. But the God of chaos's attention had already shifted. Noteworthy felt a cold chill of fear rustle through him as she casually walked over to him. The straps holding him in his wheelchair slowly undid themselves, and he struggled impotently as he felt his body being lifted into the air. He was raised up to Discord's eye-level, his heart hammering in his chest as he tried to look away. But he couldn't – his head was being held in place. A moment passed, his trembling breath the only sound. He flinched when she finally spoke. "Noteworthy," she said, "You're the one who saved those two little fillies. Without you, they would have been pancaked out in the field that day. I would have had my retribution so much sooner. "But Whooves might have had something to say if I'd succeeded in killing them. He was angry enough that I broke your legs. It would have ruined everything, he would have felt compelled to stop me. "I had a serious impulse control problem when I was Screwball. That's been cured now – two minds are better than one. I should thank you, really. If those fillies had died, none of this would have been possible. Good job, Noteworthy." She tutted and tapped one of his useless hind legs, which swayed in the air at her touch. "Left you in a bit of a state though, didn't it?" she said, "Tell you what, since you've helped me so much, I'll try to fix you. A little bit of cosmetic surgery, shall we say? Now what should we do…" She looked the terrified stallion up and down, then clicked her talons as an idea came to her. "I know. Why don't we give you a new look?" she said, extending the claws on her paw. "Let's see what you look like with only one eye." Noteworthy cried out in panic, desperately struggling against the magic that was holding him fast. But there was no getting loose. He closed his eyes as Discord drew back her paw. There was a wet sound of impact, the noise of something heavy piercing flesh - but not his own. He had a brief sensation of falling and then he hit the ground hard, causing him to open his eyes again. Discord was staring down at her stomach – the sharp end of a spear was sticking out through her body, embedded so far into her that she was almost halfway down its length. "Well," she said after a moment's pause, a note of surprise in her voice. "I don't remember putting that there." A second spear suddenly pierced her flesh, followed by another, then another. She held her claw out to stop a fifth in mid-air before it could reach her, then turned to see who was attacking her. A brown-coated pegasus was snarling with anger, a dozen spears levitating above his head. "Whooves? I thought I killed you," Discord said nonchalantly, unphased by his reappearance. "I'm a shapeshifter, you idiot," he said, "Did you really think breaking my neck would do anything more than slow me down?" Without another word, he fired every last one of the spears directly at her head. She waved her claw dismissively, instantly reducing them to dust. "Your healing factor took a while to kick in though, didn't it? I've had so much fun while you've been gone" she said, flexing her chest and snapping the shafts inside her. The broken weapons clattered on the ground. She vanished, and then reappeared near the hedge maze. She extended her claw and beckoned to him. "Come on, then. Round two. Let's see if you can put up more of a fight this time. Just be careful not to…" She stopped in her tracks, noticing something was off. "My statues!" she cried in dismay. Every last one of the crystallised guards had disappeared. Whooves narrowed his eyes, his mane sparkling with flame as he readied himself for battle. "I couldn't take you on without making sure they were safe. I teleported them away – I'm not going to let you harm another living creature." He spread his wings and took to the air, a unicorn's horn sprouting from his head to better enable his ability to cast magic. He summoned a single ball of fire and threw it at Discord, as a test of his power more than anything else. The draconequus dodged it effortlessly and sneered up at the doctor. "I'm afraid you're a bit late for that. Have you seen what I did to Lyra's friend? She's a good vintage mind you – I may partake afterwards." At the sound of that, the mint-green coated unicorn whimpered and held the bottle tighter to her. Discord chuckled. "Or perhaps your late intervention was intentional on your part. Maybe you were jealous. Maybe only you are allowed to be a close friend to Lyra. I wouldn't be surprised if that were true – it fits your controlling nature." "Shut up." Whooves focused his attention on the ground around his opponent's feet. The earth began to shake and crumble, with licks of flame appearing through the cracks. "I've hit a nerve, I see," said Discord, before blinking out of existence just as a column of fire erupted forth with a roar. She reappeared once the blaze had faded, standing back on the now-scorched earth. "And you're going to have to be quicker than that." Whooves was breathing heavily, trying to hide his concern. He wasn't going to be able to take her down in a straight fight, he would have to outthink her. The problem was, Discord realised this as well. She pouted in mock disappointment as he hesitated. "Well, this isn't going to be a challenge at all," she said, "It's totally one-sided. I have all of my wonderful reality-warping powers, and the power we took from Celestia was shared out equally between us. Tell you what, I'll go easy on you for a bit. Here, have at you." She half-heartedly waved her paw through the air in front of her. Whooves felt a stinging slap on his cheek, not strong but hard enough to cause pain. "No response? Here, have another." She hit the air again, landing another weak blow on the side of his face. He growled, feeling genuine rage for the first time in centuries. Given the nature of his personality, the aspect of Discord that he represented, he had always managed to keep a relatively level head. He had been able to think things through, put rationality ahead of his feelings. But these were exceptional circumstances. Discord had murdered Princess Celestia, terrorised his friends and now she was treating him with utter disdain. The fate of Equestria rested in his hooves, he was the only one who could stop her – and she was humiliating him. His mane and tail burst into flame as he accessed the full power at his disposal and began his assault. He tried his best to attack tactically, throwing fireballs at where she was standing and at where he thought she would appear next. He knew they wouldn't provide a killer blow or anything like it, but if one of them hit, it would seriously hurt. His best bet was to make her angry, encourage her to drop her guard and make a mistake. The fireballs rained upon the ground, bursting apart in an explosion as they made their shuddering impact, the air flaring a bright yellow. The grass burned and the castle's walls shook from the regularity of the blows. But Discord was having little problem in dodging them. Her body flowed like liquid in between the blasts as she treated his assault as nothing more than a game, as a kind of deadly dance that she accentuated with little flourishes. After barely a minute, Whooves stopped his attack, realising he was getting nowhere. Discord gave a small bow to indicate her pride in her performance, then delivered another remote slap to his face to anger him even further. "Why don't you just give up?" she asked, "You've lost. It was a noble effort, truly it was, but this planet is mine. It was and always will be. I know you had dreams of being its all-conquering dictator but you're going to have to stand aside and leave the job to someone who's got the vision to pull it off." He shook his head in disgust. "I don't understand you. How can you take so much joy out of suffering? Doesn't it make you feel empty inside?" She laughed. "Oh come now, Whooves. I'm not that far off from what the original Discord was when you first separated from him. This planet was his playground and all its inhabitants were his toys. It doesn't matter that you don't remember – he is a part of you just as much as you are a part of him. Deep down, you want the same thing." "I am nothing like you," he said, struggling to control himself. "I'm nothing like you!" Discord stroked the side of her head, enjoying the obvious upset she was causing him. "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, Whooves. You've spent your entire life making excuses, trying to deny who you really are. But think back to some of your past behaviour. One time in particular. Do you remember what you did to Luna?" His breath caught in his throat at the mention of her name. Discord smiled at his reaction, knowing she had him bang to rights. There was no excuse for his behaviour when it came to the moon princess. "Poor little Luna," she said, "She cared about you, you know. You were the first mortal she had allowed herself to care about for a long while. I distinctly remember you telling me about it, when I was a statue and still in control of my mental faculties. She cared about you, and look what you did to her." "I… I protected her." There was a distinct stammer in his voice. "I saved her from Krastos. He had her at his mercy and I stepped in and saved her." "Yes, you did. And then you allowed her to think you had died. You broke her heart." A cruel grin spread over Discord's face. "She grew angry. Bitter. Resentful. And the darkness inside her spread, until she became resentful against all of ponykind. We all know where that led." "I couldn't come back," he said, tears forming in his eyes. "I couldn't. She would have realised who I was. I would have been frozen in stone, just like you were. I suffered injuries that no mortal pony could have survived, she would have known!" "That's the excuse you keep telling yourself, but the reality is that you wanted revenge. You're the same as me. In fact, you're worse. I never let anypony get close to me because I know what I am. I'm a monster. And so are you." "Shut up. Shut up!" he cried, clenching his teeth in a vain attempt to hold in all his sorrow, all his rage. "I'm not like you. I felt guilty, so guilty. You're not capable of that. I may have started off like you, but I've grown. I've become so much more." "You say you've changed?" said Discord, her excitement growing as she prepared to utterly destroy his argument. "Then what about Twilight? She cared about you. You cared about her. And what became of her? She's nothing more than a statue in your basement." She swung her paw hard through the air, delivering a violent remote punch to the side of his head. The force of the blow, combined with his emotional state, pushed him totally over the edge. He let out a scream as he lost control, then the air erupted in flame as he unleashed a devastating barrage upon the ground. Discord blinked out of existence, then reappeared in the air. Whooves redirected his fire and she shifted again. He continued re-aiming at her, too blinded by rage to see where he was shooting. Noteworthy, still prostrate on the ground from where Discord had dropped him, watched the proceedings fearfully. He was lying on the grass near the castle, with nothing to protect him if a stray fireball came his way. He winced as a blast smashed against the ground just a few feet away from him. He had to move. Reaching out his metal hand, he grabbed hold of his wheelchair and attempted to pull himself up. The chair's frame shuddered as he put his full weight on it, then fell to the side as it overbalanced, sending him crashing to the ground. "Lyra," he called out. "Lyra! We have to get out of here! Help me. Help me!" He shielded his face as a fireball crashed against the side of the castle, causing fragments of stone to shower over him. With a supreme effort, he began crawling forward to the relative safety of the castle doorway. "Lyra!" he cried. But the unicorn was unable to respond. The injuries she had suffered, the friends she had lost and the violence of Discord had proven too much for her. She was starting to go into shock. The draconequus had grown tired of dodging the doctor's attacks. "Enough of this. Game's over," she said, producing a large baseball bat from behind her back. "Batter up!" With a mighty swing, the bat connected with one of Whooves' fireballs and sent it flying back the way it came. He was so enraged that he didn't see it coming. It exploded against him, knocking him out of the sky. The noise of his rampage faded away as he crashed to the ground, the impact knocking the wind out of him. Discord chuckled to herself as she walked towards him, slapping the bat against her open palm. Whooves struggled to get up, exhausted from his efforts. Discord shook her head. "So disappointing. A whitewash. A walkover. I told you Whooves, you were no match for me. Sheesh, if this is all you could throw at me then it's a wonder Celestia ever defeated us in the first place." It was as if a light had clicked on in his head. The perfect way to defeat Discord, the only way she had ever been defeated. Use her overconfidence against her and strike when she thought she had won. He waited as she drew closer, closer. She was almost upon him, her bat raised ready to strike, when he let loose with his trump card. The one thing she might be afraid of. The spell Celestia had used to defeat all of her enemies. His horn flashed as he put his full strength behind his spell. Discord barely had time to realise what he was up to before it hit. Her skin began to turn grey and her movements slowed as her body was rapidly turned to stone. Whooves pulled himself up onto his hooves and backed away. Noteworthy watched on in astonishment, barely daring to believe that the doctor had snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. He called out to Lyra and the still-shaking unicorn looked up. Nopony spoke a word. A hush fell upon the night-drenched garden. And then, with a sickening inevitability, the silence was broken by the sound of cracking stone. Whooves stared on, his jaw set in determination, as the curse slowly faded from Discord's head and began to make its way down her body. She laughed triumphantly, mockingly. "Nice, Whooves. Very nice. But as you keep forgetting, I hold one half of Celestia's power. You think I didn't expect this? I kept a special something in reserve, just in… wait. Wait. What are you doing?" Her laughter died on her lips as she realised something was wrong. The temperature of the air around her was rising rapidly. Her eyebrows began to singe as the heat intensified. "I am nothing like you, but I'm not like Celestia either," said Whooves, sweat forming on his brow as he put all his magical power into one last attack. "And do you know why? Because Celestia. Didn't. KILL." Discord's eyes widened as she realised he was deadly serious. Sparks of flame burst into life in the air and patches of her coat began to catch light. She struggled against the stone that still encased most of her body, trying to reverse the curse placed on her. Whooves increased the power of his spell, slowing the rate at which she was freeing herself. The doctor hissed one word, just loud enough that she could hear it. "Burn." She reached out with her paw and summoned a storm cloud in a last-ditch effort to save herself – rain began to lash at the flames. But it could not help her. The water simply evaporated in the heat. The fire continued to spread across her body, rising up her chest and reaching her head. She refused to cry out, instead staring the doctor in the eyes defiantly until her face became hidden by the rising smoke. She was now engulfed in a white-hot flame. A ghastly crackling could be heard as she burned, along with an acrid smell that hit the two watching mortals in the back of their throats. Noteworthy was trying to shield his face from the heat, which was now so intense that it was tanning his skin, even from several feet away. He held his gloves to his face but he could feel the metal growing hot. The thought crossed his mind that Whooves was going to burn both him and Lyra as well. The unicorn made no effort to protect herself. She couldn't look away. The horror of what her former best friend was doing was too great. Her eyes were wide and her tears dried on her cheeks almost as soon as they formed. The figure of Discord, barely visible past the fire, suddenly shifted. Its upper half fell away, dropping to the ground. Whooves was gasping for air, the strength of his spell draining all his mental reserves. Still staring at the spot where Discord once stood, his teeth bared, he allowed the fire to fade away. The earth was cracked and bare. All that remained of the draconequus was a large heap of ashes. Whooves panted heavily, still possessed by rage. He was insensitive to anything else but his hatred of Discord, her words echoing in his head. The only sound was that of his breathing. "It's over," he said finally, his voice hoarse. "It's… it's over. I won." Noteworthy lowered his hands and looked at the doctor. Once he realised what he had just said, once the relief inspired by Discord's death had passed, he was hit by an undeniable sense of disgust. Whooves was the one ultimately responsible for this; he was the one who created Screwball. None of this would have happened if it hadn't been for him. "You've won?" Noteworthy said, his voice shaking as his fear was rapidly replaced by anger. "You've won? You have the gall to claim victory after everything that's happened? After what you've done?" He began to shout. "Have you any conception of the damage you've caused? The Elements of Harmony have been tainted. The Canterlot guard have been defeated. Princess Luna has been banished. Princess Celestia is dead! Carrot Top is dead!" His voice cracked as he mentioned her name. "There's nopony left to rule Equestria but you! Is this what you wanted? Are you happy now? Are you happy?" Whooves shot him a look filled with so much anger that it turned his stomach. "Am I happy?" the doctor said, still gripped by rage. "Am I happy?! You think this is what I wanted? You'd be dead if not for me - all of Equestria would be in ruins. And you dare to criticise me for it?" Noteworthy pressed his body up against the wall and turned his head away as the seething doctor approached, frightened of what he might do to him. Whooves stopped just yards away from him, his body trembling, his anger still not sated. "Look at me," he demanded, flickers of flame sparking on his coat. "LOOK AT ME!" "Whooves?" a frightened, quaking voice pierced his consciousness. Lyra was staring at him with wide, terrified eyes, clutching the bottle that had once been Berry Punch close to her chest. The sight of her, looking at him as though he was a monster sent from hell, shook him to the core. "Lyra," he murmured, filled with regret. "Lyra, I'm so sorry. So sorry. I can… I can make this right, I can…" He looked around him, taking in the scorched landscape that had once been the Canterlot castle gardens. The land had been ravaged by his battle and Equestria's greatest protectors had been defeated by his plans. "I… I can…" His voice began to quaver as he realised how little there was he could do. He didn't have the power to return the Canterlot guard back to their original form. If he had Discord's abilities then it would have been a cinch, but the draconequus's magic had been burned up along with her body. There was also little chance that he could save Berry Punch. If she had been a shapeshifter, being turned into liquid would have been easily survivable. But as a normal pony, even with the reality-warping powers of Discord, there was a strong possibility the process had killed her. If she was still alive, then her consciousness would currently be locked in a kind of limbo. Restoring it, along with her body, would require a being of great power. Greater than his. There was nothing else for it. Luna would have to be brought back from her banishment. And once she learned of her sister's death, his punishment would be severe. He had agreed to help Discord in the hopes that he could prevent him from bringing ruin to Equestria. He had singularly failed in that mission. He sank to his knees and bowed his head in defeat. All that Discord had told him was true – he was a villain.