The first thing that she noticed was the smell of salt that hung pungently in the air. Twilight shifted where she was laying on the ground, and felt the sand beneath her hooves give a little. She tried to get up, but her body refused her attempts and she collapsed into the earth.
Her ear flicked as she heard the waves crash into the shore, and immediately her mind began to race, trying to figure out where she was. The last thing that she remembered was talking with her friends in Celestia’s throne room, and then suddenly everything had gone black. Twilight hesitantly opened an eye, but was immediately blinded by the sun that was beating down upon her.
The unicorn held a hoof up to shield her eyes, and found that her strength was starting to return to her. Slowly, Twilight lowered her hoof, and allowed her retinas to adjust to the bright sunlight. After the world stopped being one big white blur she began to pick out the shapes of her surroundings.
Behind her lay the ocean, where the surf was continuously beating upon the shore. All she could see either to her right or left was more beach; it seemed to stretch on forever. She saw large rocks scattered along the shore, and some of them even seemed to be carved statues. If they were statues the wear that they exhibited meant that they had to be several thousand years old.
In front of her, what she had assumed to be a large rock at first, the shape of a living being began to come into focus. Twilight once again held a hoof up to shade her eyes from the sun, so that she could make out what was standing in front of her better. Much to her dismay, Twilight recognized the figure immediately.
“Well it seems like you finally woke up, Twilight,” Apollo said as he smiled down at the small pony.
“What the hay is going on?” Twilight asked as she struggled to her to her hooves, but this time succeeded. “Where are we?”
“On a beach. What have you never been to the ocean before?” he answered, still not losing his smile.
“I know we are on the beach!” Twilight yelled back at him; she really did take after her mentor at times. “I mean where in Equestria are we? And why do I feel so tired?”
“Oh, I’m afraid that we aren’t in Equestria anymore my little pony. As for your second question… I really don’t know. You told me before that you had the capacity to teleport so I am just as surprised as you that the trip actually knocked you out.” The elder god shrugged, and sat down in the sand.
“If we aren’t in Equestria anymore then where are we?”
“It is interesting. Perhaps both our methods for instantaneous travel are fundamentally different. Tell me do you not pierce the veil when you move from one location to another?” the man in black asked, completely ignoring Twilight’s question.
“Pierce the veil? That is not only irresponsible but incredibly dangerous.”
“I guess I don’t really understand how you teleport then.” Apollo put his hands behind his head and laid down in the sand.
“It’s pretty simple. You first break down the body into pure energy, and it is sent to the target location and then reconstructed. But you never answered my first question. Where exactly are we.”
Apollo pondered this for a moment. “Well that is not really teleporting then is it? That is basically killing yourself, and then cloning yourself somewhere else with the energy you got from the beginning of the spell. Does that make you Twilight version 143 or something then?”
Twilight balked at his candid remark. “No! Now answer the question! Where are we?” Twilight stomped a hoof into the sand to emphasize her frustration, but the soft cushioning of the dirt below her took out most of the drama that the motion conveyed.
“I cannot answer that question, Twilight,” he said from where he rested on the beach.
“What? Why not?” Twilight decided that it would be best to sit as she talked to the man.
“I cannot tell you where we are, because I do not really know. Consider this place to be where none can see, and none can enter.” He motioned to the beach around them.
“Well then if you don’t know where we are, and we cant have come here. Then how did we get here?” Twilight rubbed a hoof against her temple. None of this was making any sense at all.
“I brought us here, because it was the place that I wasn’t able to see.” He sat up, and smiled at the unicorn causing her to cry out in frustration.
“Then why did you bring us here?”
“There is a very good reason for that,” Apollo said as her once again got to his feet and began to brush the sand off of his black duster.
“And what would that be?” Twilight asked in a deadpanned voice.
“You will see,” he replied as he turned, and began to walk further inland.
Twilight once again looked left and right, but all that she could see was the endless beach. Since she had no idea where in the world she was, she gritted her teeth, and began to run after him.
“So you want me to follow you somewhere I assume,” she said once she caught up to him.
“Very astute as always, Twilight,” he replied.
“So then we are obviously going somewhere. Why didn’t you just take us to our destination instead of the beach then?”
“You are very inquisitive aren’t you,” Apollo remarked with a laugh. “If I had just brought us to that end of the road then we would have missed out on the journey, and that is the most important part.”
“Whatever.” Twilight rolled her eyes and the illogical being, which only elicited another laugh from him. Silently, she trudged along side him into the dessert that sprawled out before them.
___________________________________________________________________________
The room was dark, or at least the light was low enough to give a foreboding feeling to all who dared to enter the chamber. Torches hung along the columns that flanked both sides of the walkways leading right to the throne. No shadows were cast by the flickering lights that filled the throne room; shadows would throw off the symmetry.
A long crimson carpet ran directly down the middle of the room, clashing with the grey masonry of the walls. The carpet was precisely cut to measure the exact distance between the door and the throne that sat at its end; no single thread of the fabric was out of place.
At the end of the walkway a magnificent throne of marble rested. Flags of the great zebra tribes stuck out behind the chair in a perfect fan of colors, they were treated to never waver no matter how strong the wind that blew through the chamber was. Seated on the throne, with a crown made of a perfectly black metal, Porosis meditated on his coming plans.
The god of the zebras looked to be an unmoving statue. If one were to approach him they would not see his ear flick at any sound, and would not be able to tell if he was even breathing. Despite his stillness, Porosis’ mind raced as he reviewed his strategies, looking for any sign of a miscalculation. Of course, he never found any.
The throne room hardly ever had any visitors. The guards outside the room were to remain as stoically unmoving as the god that sat inside. If he caught even the glimpse of a movement besides addressing somepony who wished to enter, Porosis would immediately expel the guard from the castle, and in many cases, from this world altogether.
It was on an evening like any other in the castle that a being of unfathomable power leapt into existence in front of the ruler of Zebrica. Porosis felt his presence as soon as he appeared in the room with him, but waited for the visitor to make the first move. He would not be goaded into showing his hand early.
“Why hello there. It has been a while hasn’t it?” Discord asked the winged zebra before him. Slowly, Porosis opened his eyes and looked up at the draconequus that was floating in front of him.
“Discord, this is unexpected.”
“I did forget how much of a shut in you are. I was just taking a stroll around the world when I realized that I hadn’t talked to you in quite a while. So how is the whole taking over the world and destroying all life thing going?” Discord slowly floated to the ground where he rested his head on a paw while staring at his opponent.
“Preparations are nearly complete. What I would like to know however is how you managed to escape that prison you had been locked in.” Porosis simply stated.
“Escape? Nononono, I did not escape. Celestia saw it fit to unlock my little cell door so that I could deal with you. It seems my measures last time didn’t stick so well.” Discord frowned.
“You of all beings should know that no prison is truly eternal.”
“It would seem so. I am saddened that you saw fit to kill my friend when he let you out. Though, I would have had to punish him for freeing you in the first place.” Discord shrugged as he rose back to his feet.
“That abomination? Such a creature is not meant to exist in this world.”
“Oh, Sisy, you just are one big hypocrite aren’t you. You hate all living things for being chaotic, but you yourself are a living thing and therefore chaotic. Does all of this stem from some self hatred that you feel the need to project onto others?” Discord lifted his glasses off as he asked the question. Upon seeing no reaction he wrote a few notes on the notepad he was holding. “Interesting…”
“This has grown dull. What is your purpose here?” Porosis asked as he began to rise from his throne.
“Didn’t I already tell you? You really should pay more attention when someone is talking to you. I am here to end you once and for all.” Discord tossed his glasses and notepad aside where they splattered into paint on the stone walls of the room.
“So you are helping the ponies in this crisis? That doesn’t seem like you.” Porosis took a step forwards.
“No, I am not helping them. This is personal, and as such I would like to keep other factions out of it.” Discord stared down at his approaching opponent.
“Oh yes. You still hold some petty grudge against me after I rid the world of that weakling. What was her name? Terra?” A red ball of energy struck Porosis in the chest sending his body crashing back through his throne and into the wall behind it.
He climbed back to his hooves, and stared at the opponent who had just struck him. Discord’s chest was heaving, not from the amount of power that he had just put out, but from the rage that was coursing through his body. His eyes were completely glazed over with crimson energy, accenting the grimace that was on his face.
Porosis moved forwards from where he was standing at supersonic speeds. He knew from his many battles with the draconequus that Discord would need a few seconds to regain himself after unleashing that particular attack. Without stopping, Porosis rocketed through his opponent sending him sailing across the throne room, and crashing through the wall that led into the hallway.
The wall crumbled, and the debris below started to shift as Discord pulled himself out of the ruble. He didn’t have a chance to collect himself however, as Porosis struck him against, still traveling at incredible speed. The hoof struck Discord’s chin and sent him flying down the hallway where he crashed through the exterior wall.
Discord broke through the barrier, and felt his body floating in the air. He was falling through the air off the edge of the cliff that the castle sat upon. Wasting no time, Porosis flew through the hole that Discord had left behind him, and slammed down on the draconequus.
Discord was sent sailing down to the water below where he collided hard with the surface. Porosis’ eyes began to glow white, and a bream shot down to the water where Discord had crashed. The beam connected with the water below, and a massive fireball erupted. The fire spread out for several hundred feet before dissipating.
Porosis looked down at the place his attack had detonated, and saw steam raising from where the water had been vaporized. He was unable to see even a small sign of Discord however. Porosis spun around as the sound of clapping reached his ears.
“That was pretty impressive, Sisy. Now the gloves are off.” Discord’s hands flashed for a second and were soon wrapped in boxer’s gloves. At the sound of a bell ringing he launched forwards at the flying zebra that was waiting for him.
___________________________________________________________________________
Oh whistling, it is really an excellent way to relieve some stress. I was glad to find, since whistling doesn’t actually use the vocal cords, that my ability to produce a small melody was unimpeded by my affliction. The halls of the Canterlot castle did have excellent acoustics, or at least I think they did. I was never a musician so I am not particularly knowledgeable about such things.
I walked through the hallways as I lazily made my way to the throne room. The Elements of Harmony were supposed to be arriving today, and Celestia had wanted me to greet them for some reason. Sure, the mares were friendly, but I didn’t really know them too well so I wasn’t certain why Celestia wanted me there.
Maybe she wanted me to protect them or something. My newfound strength would probably be able to match any pony that I could find. Though in the face of an alicorn goddess I would certainly be no match. I suppose, that me being called to protect them had no basis then.
Shrugging, I continued to lazily meander through the castle, all the while keeping up my cheery tune. I had been down in the dumps a little while ago, but whistling, or even quietly singing to myself had always lifted my spirits in the past. Like all the other times I had ever walked through the halls, I marveled at the amazing artwork displayed. I wondered if any of the ponies ever had the urge to steal anything. Surely, this would be an art thief’s paradise.
I finally arrived at the entrance to the throne room where two guards waited outside. The cast their eyes at me a second before one of them nodded at me, which I took as permission to enter. I set both hands against the tall wooden doors and pushed them open, where they loudly proceeded to groan. I casually continued to walk into the room, but immediately the tension in the air hit me.
Fluttershy seemed to be weeping softly on the ground, and Rarity and Pinkie Pie were trying to console the distraught mare. Applejack was standing on Rainbow Dash’s tail, stopping her from soaring into the air for some unknown reason. I distinctly noticed the lack of a certain lavender unicorn, and the only one that seemed to notice my entrance into the room was Celestia; she was staring daggers at me from where she stood over Fluttershy.
Without slowing down, or even dropping my merry tune, I did a complete one-eighty and walked back to the entrance at the fastest pace I dared. I yellow glow surrounded the doors causing them to slam shut; a wooden plank ever fell across the doors, sealing them shut. I would have sworn loudly given the chance. Seeing that my escape had been stopped before it could have even began, I sighed, and turned around to face the ponies that were all now looking at me.
“Excuse me for being so rude, but I would rather you not leave us at the moment,” Celestia said as she began to approach me.
I had to admit, I was slightly interested in what was going on, so I quirked an eyebrow to ask what exactly the situation was.
Celestia gave me a knowing look before she started to explain. “It seems that Twilight has been taken away from us.”
“You mean someone ponynapped her!” Rainbow Dash almost screamed as she pulled away from Applejack. “Why are we just sitting around here when whoever did this is getting away!” Okay, now she was screaming.
“Didn’t you hear the princess, Dash. She said flying around blindly wouldn’t help at all,” the farm pony explained to her distraught friend.
“Well, I can’t just sit around here and do nothing.” Rainbow crossed her hooves and slowly sank back to the floor.
“I understand your concern, Rainbow Dash, but Twilight could literally be anywhere in the world right now. There would be absolutely no good running off without knowing where to look first,” Celestia explained.
“So you mean we aren’t even going to look for her?” Rainbow Dash asked in an exasperated tone.
“I never said anything like that.” Princess Celestia’s horn lit up once again, and a scroll appeared before her. She wrote a quick note on the scroll before she burned it; I watched as the ashes began to swirl in the wind, and were carried out an open window. “There, I have sent word to the mage’s guild and others to begin scrying for Twilight Sparkle’s location. Once we have found out where she is we will launch a full rescue party.”
I thought that I had caught up by then. Apparently, some mysterious character had swooped in out of nowhere and taken Twilight with them. Also, she could be literally anywhere in the world by now. I scowled as I realized exactly whom it was that had probably taken her. Sure, Apollo had told me a sob story about how he was all alone in the world, but that guy could really be a dick.
I looked around, and saw that Fluttershy had calmed down somewhat, but was clinging to Rarity like a life preserver. Pinkie Pie was now off talking to Applejack in hushed tones, it looked like she had decided to straighten her hair for no apparent reason. Rainbow Dash had apparently caught onto the princess’ feelings, and was now also glaring at me.
I began to nervously back away from the two angry mares. I already knew that Celestia had taken up the habit of lashing out at me whenever something went horribly wrong recently, and I was afraid that Rainbow Dash might also think that it was liberating to do so. Right when I had backed all the way into the large wooden doors I heard a small thud on the other side. Momentarily distracted, I put my ear up to the door and thought I heard the sound of someone cursing on the other side.
Without warning the doors burst open, and sent me sprawling to the side. I hit my head on the wall, but probably did more damage to the stone than it did to me. I pulled myself to a sitting position, and watched as a certain blue alicorn marched into the room looking very angry.
“Why hath thee locked the doors to thine chamber, sister?” She was so loud I was afraid that one of my eardrums might burst.
“It was in an attempt to stop the human from fleeing. Now please, Luna, calm down,” Celestia replied trying to console her younger sister.
“Calm down! How can we calm down when one of our loyal subjects hath been stolen from under our watch. Are thee saying that the human had something to do with this?” Luna turned and glared at me with eyes almost as frightening as Celestia’s, almost.
“I am sure that he had nothing to do with it. I simply wanted him to stay put for a moment while we try to sort all of this out.” Celestia kept her calm demeanor as she spoke.
“Very well,” after she took a few deep breaths she started to speak again. “Explain to us exactly what happened here.”
“It all began when I called the Elements of Harmony here. I told them that we would need the elements soon, and that they should be prepared,” Celestia began.
“I thought that we would be unable to use the elements against Porosis?”
“We do not need them for him. We need them for Discord.”
“Why would we need to use the elements against Discord when he is…” Luna stopped for a moment, “Sister, please tell me that you didn’t.”
“I had to. It was the only way to resolve this matter without bloodshed,” Celestia replied quickly, desperately wanting to defend herself.
“Are you mad?” Luna bellowed in the incredibly loud tone of voice.
“Wait Luna, there is more.”
“More!”
“Yes, when I went to retrieve the elements I found that one of them was missing, The Element of Magic. I don’t know how this is possible since there was absolutely no way that Discord could have gotten to them this time. Everything looked hopeless, and that is when Twilight vanished. I believe that the culprit is none other than our old friend Apollo,” Celestia summated.
Luna looked taken aback at learning just who had taken Twilight. “Why would he do such a thing?”
“I don’t know, but if I had to guess…”
The rest of their conversation I wasn’t able to hear as I stealthily made my way out of the room, and down the hall. I was slightly satisfied with myself for guessing the identity of Twilight’s kidnapper, but I just couldn’t stay in that room any longer. The whole situation was way too much drama for me, and who knows what would happen if Celestia decided that everything was my fault again burned me alive on the spot. Just the thought of it was enough to make my skin crawl.
_____________________________________________________________________________
A dark shape shot out of the gaping hole in the side of the cliff. Dust trailed it for a moment before it was peeled off revealing a very angry Porosis. Discord hovered in the air watching his enemy approach at breakneck speeds. He reached behind him an conjured an oversized baseball bat, which he then proceeded to tap against his foot as Porosis continued to speed towards him.
At the last moment Discord swung the bat behind him, readying himself. With a powerful swing, an explosion engulfed the two, and blasted rocks off of the cliffside that was nearly a mile away. The smoke cleared and two figures were once again revealed to be flying in place nearly a hundred yards away from each other. Porosis was staring down his opponent while Discord was mourning his broken baseball bat.
“What’d you have to go and do that for, Sisy?” Discord asked, tossing away the broken bit of wood.
Porosis’ mask of stoicism cracked for the briefest of instances as his annoyance bubbled to the surface. His eyes began to glow once again as he shot two beams from them. The white beams arced across the expanse, taking sharp awkward angles as they quickly made their way to Discord. The draconequus held up his hand, and a mirror appeared before him. Defying all laws of physics, the two beams merely deflected off of the mirror and shot back at Porosis.
The zebra lazily moved out of the way as the beams shot past him, where they collided with the cliff behind them, and created a massive crater. Parts of the castle began to crumble and fall from the clifface, and many zebras could be heard screaming as they also fell to their dooms in the waters below.
Discord dispelled the mirror as he chuckled softly to himself. Annoyance once again flashed across Porosis’ face as he started to draw power to his eyes again. Instead of two beams, a single streak of black energy arced at Discord when he let loose the spell. Discord put his hands to his head in a look of pure terror as the beam drew closer. The beam continued to soar through the air at its target, but when it reached him it simply passed straight through.
“Got ya.”
Porosis felt an intense pain in his back as Discord grabbed one of his wings, and began to pull on it as hard as he could. The two fumbled through the air as they fell towards the water. Porosis tried desperately to hit his enemy who was standing on his back, and trying to rip off one of his wings.
The air shimmered for a moment as Discord razed a hand above him, and Porosis eyes grew wide as he saw Discord conjure a chainsaw. Discord pulled a hockey mask over his face with his hand before he grabbed the chainsaw, and revved its engine. Doing the most insane laugh he could, Discord swung the saw down at Porosis’ back where it ripped straight through his wing like it was butter.
Discord kicked off of Porosis as hard as he could, sending the one winged zebra rocketing into the water below. He then waved his hand again, and a rocket launcher appeared in front of him. Taking the oversized gun in one hand he proceeded to stuff the chainsaw down the tube, and aimed it down at the water as he waited for Porosis to emerge.
He only had to wait a few seconds before Porosis came screaming out of the water. Discord fired the weapon, but it went wide, and Porosis quickly closed the space between them. With a fierce jab he caught Discord in the face, and sent him sailing upwards. As his enemy was still dazed he sped up once again, and caught him mid air where he slammed down on the draconequus, knocking the breath out of him.
Porosis grabbed onto Discord, and continued to beat on him as the two sped back down to earth. After he was satisfied Porosis leaped off of Discord and slammed into him one last time. Discord was sent flying across the air at the ground that was spread out below them.
He landed like a meteor, and the resulting shockwave uprooted several trees that were in the area. Porosis wasn’t far behind as he landed on the ground just outside of the crater. Discord’s hand appeared over the lip of the hole, and he slowly pulled himself out. He stood at the edge of the crater and stared at his opponent.
Porosis had grown back his other wing, but now both of them had elongated and shed all over their skin and muscle tissue. His head had now grown two long and dangerously sharp horns: one black and the other white. His hooves were alight with an azure fire that slowly spread across the ground below him.
“Nice to see that you finally got serious,” Discord said with a smirk as he conjured a ball of lightning in his hand.
___________________________________________________________________________
“Can we… stop… for a minute?” Twilight panted as she walked beside the dark man.
Apollo stopped a moment and looked down at her. “I suppose so.”
Exhausted, Twilight collapsed on the ground, not really caring how hot the sand was. Apollo turned and looked the small unicorn over. She was sweating profusely, and her hair was completely out of sorts. He looked up to the sky to see the sun beating down on them from the same spot that it had been all day.
Apollo reached into his coat and pulled out a flask, which he then tossed into the sand next to Twilight. “Here, drink this.”
She eyed it suspiciously before picking it up with her magic and unscrewing the top. She took a hesitant sip, and upon finding that it was water, began to drink from the flask greedily. Apollo smiled and fell into the sand beside the unicorn. Twilight sighed happily as she slated her thirst, and then offered the drink to her companion.
“Keep it,” he said holding up a hand.
“Aren’t you thirsty?”
“Nah. When I crafted this body I had the dessert in mind. Neither the heat of the sun nor the chill of the night affect me. Just one of the many great perks of being immortal.” He smirked at Twilight.
“Well that’s lucky.” Twilight rolled her eyes as she screwed the top back on the flask.
“Luck has nothing to do with it.” He rolled onto his back and stared up at the sky. “Don’t you think that the sky is so beautiful this time of day? No clouds to break up the endless blue expanse, and the sun shining down from its never moving position above us as a beacon.”
“I noticed that. We have spent hours walking, but the sun hasn’t moved even once. How is that even possible? Celestia moves the sun across the sky everyday.”
“There are many mysteries in this world that can’t simply be explained. You can’t think of this place as following the same rules as the rest of the world.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” Twilight asked expectantly.
“You really do ask a lot of questions. Was that something that Celestia taught you to do?”
“Well you just answered my question with a question,” she said, shooting him a glare.
“Well answer mine and I will answer yours.” Apollo chuckled as he sat up to look at the mare.
“I asked you first.”
“Fair enough. You can’t think of this place like the rest of the world because it isn’t part of it. It may exist on the same planet, and within the same plane, but the rules do not apply here. Or better to say, they rules were never enforced on this particular place. When the rest of the world was undergoing transformation into something habitable this place got overlooked,” he explained, knowing full well that it would only spark many more questions. “Now its your turn. When did you start to get so inquisitive?”
Twilight’s mind was still racing from all of the information that was just freely handed to her. She put a hoof to her chin, and thought for a moment.
“I don’t really know. I guess it was still when I was a filly, and I had just started learning about magic. Ever since I started to research into the mystical arts I immediately knew how much I loved to learn. I began to question everything so that I could learn more about the world around me. I don’t think that it was Princess Celestia that taught me to question everything, but she definitely encouraged it,” she smiled as she thought back on the fond memories.
“So what was studying under Celestia like?” Apollo asked.
“I already answered your question, its your turn to answer another,” Twilight pointed out.
“You got to ask the first question in the first round so I get to start this one off.”
“So what is this some kind of game then?”
“Yes! That was your question for this round so now answer mine,” Apollo commanded triumphantly. “What was it like studying under Celestia?”
Twilight glared at him again but he merely ignored it. “Being Princess Celestia’s personal pupil was the greatest thing that I could have ever asked for. There are many ponies whose special talents are magic, but she choose me out of all of them to learn from her personally.
“I know that the princess has had a few students in the past, and all of them went on to be great mages that advanced our knowledge of magic beyond what we could have possibly hoped to achieve without them. With that kind of goal already set before me, being her student was… is kind of a stressful position, but it also gives me drive to better myself. I don’t think that I would trade it for anything in the world.”
“Very well said. I am sure that she would be happy to hear you say those things herself.”
“Do you really think so?” Twilight asked, feeling slightly vulnerable.
“Another simple question. You aren’t very good at this game,” Apollo laughed and caused Twilight to pout. “To answer you, yes. I have known Celestia for as long as anyone possibly could. I’m sure I don’t know her as well as her sister, and probably not as well as yourself, but I am sure that hearing such sincere words from a student of hers would make her very happy.”
“Thank you,” Twilight said looking up once again at the man seated beside her.
“For what?” Apollo caught himself too late, and silently swore under his breath.
Twilight smiled. “Thanks for being nice. When I first met you I didn’t really know what to think. Something about you kind of reminded me of Discord.” She nearly stopped as a serious look covered his face for a moment. “When you took me away from me friends and brought me here I thought that you might have some kind of evil plan or something. But now, I think that you genuinely want to help us out.”
“Believe it or not, Twilight, I too have a stake in this world. I helped create it after all. I would hate to see it ripped apart by war or some great inevitable terror. Everything that I do is to make sure that this world continues to spin on and prosper. I promised as much to someone a long time ago.” Apollo looked back to the sky.
Twilight looked him over while he was distracted by his own memories. Though his body still appeared to be young, his eyes were those of a soul that had seen too much in his time on the earth. He, like all of us, always kept up a mask while around others. He tried to appear carefree and aloof to the things around him, but Twilight had a feeling that he cared a lot more than he let on. She was about to ask him about it when he abruptly stood up, and turned to face her.
“I think that has been long enough of a rest, don’t you?”
“I guess so. You still haven’t told me where we are going though,” Twilight said as she also stood up.
“Would that be your last question for our little game?” he smiled down at the unicorn.
“Yes, where exactly are we going?”
Apollo laughed for a moment before he turned and began to walk once again on the invisible path ahead of them. “We are headed to the source, Twilight my dear. Do hurry, we have a long way to go yet.”
_____________________________________________________________________________
“This is just like old times isn’t it?” the now transformed Porosis asked the draconequus standing across from him.
“Oh yes. It does bring back memories. Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t I beat you the last time we fought like this?” The lightning in Discord’s hand arced to the ground, scorching the grass that was at his feet.
“I have grown far more powerful since then. This time you shall not triumph.”
“Hate to break your bubble, Sisy, but you aren’t the only one who has picked up some new tricks.” Discord raised his hand, but instead of hurling the lightning at Porosis he shot it into the cloud cover above him.
The lightning connected with the clouds, and the world around the two began to darken. Roiling clouds began to materialize in the sky above, and soon obscured the pleasant blue of the afternoon with a dark threatening grey. Discord laughed as he leaped into the air extending his hands to the heavens once again.
Massive bolts of electricity shot down from the now swirling cloud cover, and were channeled into Discord. He gathered his power for a moment before turning at staring down at Porosis who watched from the ground unamused.
“Try this one on for size!” Discord screamed as he loosed the massive bolt of lightning at Porosis. Electricity arced off of the bolt and sliced into the trees that surrounded the clearing, either felling the great oaks or setting them on fire. The main portion of the blast was undisturbed however and struck true.
A blinding white explosion expanded out from where the lightning collided with Porosis. Discord didn’t need to avert his gaze though, as his eyes were concealed behind a very stylish pair of sunglasses. The white plasma swirled in a sphere around its victim for a few seconds before it collapsed in on itself, causing a second explosion, this time far more powerful.
The shockwave tore boulders out of the ground, and snapped the trees that sat on the edge of the clearing like twigs. The trees that had been set ablaze by the lightning crashed into the denser parts of the forest, and soon small fires starting to spring up.
In the center of the blast Porosis stood, still looking up at Discord as though nothing had happened. Wisps of smoke trailed off his body, but no visible marks marred his perfect features. He flexed his wings, scattering the air around him, which smelled of ozone, and took off into the air.
He soared across the sky, his hooves leaving a small trail of blue fire behind him, as he approached his opponent. “Is that all you have!” he screamed, “I would have thought that you would do something impressive!”
Discord moved aside, barely in time to avoid being plowed into by Porosis. The winged zebra turned mid-air and shot two beams back at Discord as he continued to fly upwards. The black beams shot down at Discord, but once again sailed straight through him.
Porosis turned in time to see a large boulder sailing down at him. Without time to dodge, he grit his teeth and continued to accelerate at the rock. He smashed through the boulder, sending shards of it scattering everywhere, but he came out of the other side of the rock another lightning bolt sailed down at him.
The sudden impact sent him spiraling, but he quickly righted himself and looked around for Discord. He turned his gaze back to the ground where Discord was watching the events unfold from relative safety. Porosis scowled and rocketed back down to the ground, instantly breaking the sound barrier in the process.
He landed where Discord had just been standing a moment before, and turned to see the draconequus backing away from him. “You want to see me being serious? Well then I shall show you.”
Porosis’ horns began to light up with their respective colors, and the world around him started to darken to black. Discord found that he could no longer lift into the air, and he soon lost sight of his opponent as the world around him became dark. The darkness expanded outwards until it was nearly enveloping the entire forest that they were fighting in.
“Are you afraid?” a voice called out through the black.
“Not really,” Discord replied honestly.
“Well you should be.” Something smashed into Discord’s face sending him sailing through the air, and into what he assumed to be trees.
Several cracks echoed through the air as Discord broke through the tree line. Eventually, his momentum ran out and he skidded along the ground before coming to a halt. Shakily, he pulled himself to his feet and wiped away a thin trail of blood that had started to make its way from his mouth.
Discord put out his lion’s paw and concentrated for a moment. After a few seconds his paw began to glow, and a white orb began to form in front of him. Discord tossed the spell into that air, but was blindsided once again by something striking him in the jaw.
He didn’t go sailing quite as far through the air as he had last time since a large stone stopped him flat. Discord felt himself slam into the boulder, and crack it, but when he opened his eyes he smiled at the sight of the white ball of energy ascending into the sky. The ball began to expand rapidly before finally exploding outward in a violent display of light.
Discord held up a hand to shield his eyes at the last second, but Porosis, who had also been watching the display, wasn’t so lucky. The sudden flash of light blinded him, and he found himself reeling for a moment as he tried to regain his bearings. Porosis blinked the afterimage out of his eyes, but when he turned to face his opponent he was struck in the chest by a ball of red lightning.
He grunted as he was knocked off his hooves by the sudden force of the blast. He felt the energy arc through him for a moment before dissipating into the earth below. With the attack over he took his time getting back to his hooves, and turned once again to face Discord.
“That was a nice trick,” he said in his usual emotionless voice.
Discord’s chest was heaving as he leaned back against the rock. He wiggled his tongue around in his mouth for a moment before frowning. He turned to the ground and spat out one of his molars before turning back to Porosis.
“I am the god of chaos after all.” Discord stretched out his hand and summoned an axe into reality. It was only slightly bigger than an average hatchet, but its head was made out of ice.
With incredible speed the god of chaos lunged at Porosis while brandishing his new frozen axe. Porosis however, didn’t even bother to get out of the way as Discord came at him. Discord swung down with all his might as he got in range of Porosis.
The axe head gleamed with firelight as it descended on the helpless god. It connected with his neck, but to the surprise of the wielder, the axe head shattered. Ice fragments flew through the air as Discord tried to reel himself back out of his strike.
Porosis leaped forward, showing his incredible speed, and attempted to strike Discord’s face with a flaming hoof, only to find that he went right through the illusion. Growling, Porosis turned around in time to see Discord holding a swirling ball of blue energy between his hands.
“HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!” Discord thrust his hands forward, and the ball he was holding exploded into a beam of blinding blue-white energy. Porosis didn’t have time to get out of the way as the beam struck him head on.
The attack didn’t stop at Porosis however, and continued to weave a trail of destruction for nearly a mile behind its target. Trees disintegrated as the energy washed over them, and the heat of the attack pulled in a torrent of air, blowing away everything in the surrounding area.
The dust that was kicked up by the blast began to dissipate as the sound of heavy beating wings came from inside the cloud. The air was forced outward, and the dust was carried along with it, until the shady visage of Porosis was once again in full view. Black smoke was rising off his fur, but once again no marks marred his pristine coat.
“Well… damn.” Discord pulled himself back into a standing position; the blue light that was emanating from his hands began to fade.
“Did you think that something like that could actually effect me?”
“I hoped,” Discord replied as red sparks once again started to dance across his palms.
“You, out of anyone, should know that nothing can mar me or change the state of my body,” Porosis said coolly as he took another step forward. The air was beginning to fill up with smoke as the forest fire started to hit its climax.
“Now that is not entirely true, and we both know it. After all I did turn you into a diamond,” Discord said with a smirk.
“Yes, chaotic magic seems to excite in breaking the rules. No matter. I have been free longer, and my power shall crush your twisted magics.” Porosis took another step forward.
“If you say so, Sisy, but I wouldn’t be so sure.” Discord shrugged as he took a step back.
“Would you stop calling me that,” Porosis replied coolly.
“Oh but, Sisy. Haven’t I always called you this since we just started our little song and dance? It wouldn’t make much sense to stop using your pet name now. Of course, I don’t usually like to make sense, but seeing as how it affects you I think I can make an exception this one time.” Discord jumped backwards into the air and began to lazily float.
“It matters not. You will still perish here.” Discord only smiled wider at his words.
Porosis’ horns began to light up once again, and all of the fire in the surrounding woods began to pool together. The flames rushed off of every branch on every tree towards the center of the clearing that the two were standing in. They rushed to Porosis who had his front right hoof stretched out in front of him.
This fire began to collect and the color of the flames that danced along his outstretched hoof began to change from blue to red. For miles the fire was pooled to the elder god who waited patiently for his power to come to him. After merely thirty seconds the entirety of the surrounding woods was, once again, no longer burning.
The fire danced along Porosis’ outstretched hoof, and its demonic gleam was reflected in his eyes. Discord also watched as the fire came to him, and suddenly his eyes widened in horror. He had seen this attack before.
“Are you ready to die, Discord?” Porosis lunged forwards at the speed of sound, aiming for the draconequus who was floating in front of him.
Just before the two were to collide Discord smirked, and Porosis sailed straight through the afterimage of the illusion. He turned, hurriedly trying to find his opponent while he still held his enormous power in his hoof. He spotted Discord in the sky above him gawking, and with a single stroke of his powerful wings, he was soaring through the air up at him.
Porosis closed the gap between the two in an instant, and once again tried to strike his foe. Again, he sailed through the illusion, and had to stop himself before he flew too far away. This was beginning to get tedious.
He spun around once again, but this time was unable to find Discord. A small ball of electricity struck him in the back of the head, and Porosis turned his gaze upwards to see Discord laughing at him. He was actually laughing in the face of such awe-inspiring power.
Porosis shot up at Discord who was flying just below the cloud cover, but before he could reach him Discord shot up into the clouds above. Still not wishing to waste the extreme amount of power that he had gathered, Porosis followed Discord into the swirling tempest.
When he entered the clouds he immediately lost sight of the god of chaos. Lightning flashed all around him, but the torrential amounts of water did nothing to affect the flame that he still held. Water evaporated from his hoof as soon as it touched, and the steam that was surrounding him was a dead giveaway for his position.
A ball of lightning struck him in the back of the head once again, causing him to turn around. Discord was flying in the storm behind him, not thirty feet away, still laughing his head off. Porosis scowled at the simple trickery that was getting the best of him, and shot off like a rocket at Discord.
Discord didn’t cease his laughing as Porosis drew near, and once again passed through his illusion. Porosis growled in frustration as he missed his target once again, and began to frantically search for him.
Another ball of lightning struck him from behind, only this time it was in the flank. Porosis turned in time to see Discord ducking back into the cloud cover around them. Porosis charged the location that he had last seen him, but as he got there another small lightning ball hit him in the side.
He turned right and saw Discord’s tail slipping into a cloud. Porosis once again growled in frustration at the display, and sailed through the tempest at his foe that decided it was a good time to play hide and seek. He smashed the cloud that Discord had disappeared into to tiny bits, but the draconequus was nowhere to be found.
Another ball of red energy, this one slightly bigger, struck him in the back of the head, but this time Porosis didn’t bother to turn around. With an incredible cry of rage he poured out half the energy that he was still carrying in his front hoof into the storm. Immediately all of the clouds evaporated into steam, and began to fly even higher into the sky.
Now Porosis frantically turned, and scanned every piece of the sky that he could for Discord. He finally zeroed in on him, still laughing and pointing at Porosis, a couple thousand yards away. Porosis let loose a feral growl as he pushed his wings to their maximum and rocketed at Discord.
Discord kept up his pointing and laughing until a moment just before Porosis was to make contact, and he suddenly disappeared. Tricked once again, Porosis’ face had lost all of its previous stoicism. His lips were now pulled back into a scowl of unimaginable rage.
The sound of laughter once again made its way to his ears, and Porosis cast his eyes down to the ground where the sound was emanating from. Discord lay on the ground, in the clearing that they had been previously, laughing himself to tears. Porosis once again screamed in rage, and pushed against the air with his wings far faster than any of his pervious attempts.
The sound barrier shattered before him not once, but twice as he flew downward with all of his rage empowering him. As he came closer, Discord once again didn’t cease in his incessant laughter, only furthering Porosis’ fury. Porosis crashed into the ground, and the resulting explosion blew apart everything surrounding the two. The whole while Discord’s laughter still filled the air.
Porosis cleared the dust around him, and the air that filled the crater he was now standing in, and he began to scan the skies for any sign of his enemy. He stopped as a wrenching feeling invaded his chest, Porosis was not accustomed to pain, but this feeling was unlike any he had felt before.
He cast his eyes back down to the bottom of the crater where a small amount of dust still obscured the ground. Out of the dirt that filled the air one thing could be seen however, a griffin’s talon that had been plunged deep into Porosis’ chest.
The dust around the two completely settled, revealing to Porosis his undoing. Below him, Discord laid on his back staring into Porosis’ eyes with a smile on his face. His other arm had been completely obliterated by the attack that he hadn’t dodged this time. White lightning started to crawl along Discord’s body as he continued to hold Porosis’ gaze.
“I win.” Discord poured out every bit of power that he still had, and sent it straight into Porosis’ chest.
Without his invulnerable aura surrounding him, the lightning arched straight through Discord, and into the heart of the god. The power that was poured into him swelled, and when it reached its climax, it exploded out of his back.
Porosis was blown back out of the crater as the blast tore through him. He flopped limply onto the ground above before skidding to a halt. His black blood trailed behind him as he came to a rest ten feet away from the lip of the hole. Slowly, Discord pulled himself out of the crater so that he could view his enemies last seconds on this earth.
Discord reached the edge of the crater, and limped as best he could, until he was standing over the still live body of Porosis. Porosis looked up at his murderer with dull eyes as he continued to struggle to pull in air to his burned out lunges.
“You… tricked… me,” he managed to say through his quaking lips.
“I’m the god of chaos… tricking people is what I do,” Discord replied as he stared down. A small smile quickly found his its way to his lips.
“So I… guess... you finally got your revenge… after all.” The blood that had littered the ground began to peel away into smoke, and disappear into the air.
“I guess I did.” Discord watched as the light faded from the zebra god’s eyes. He continued to breath for several moments, but eventually his heaving chest stopped moving, and he laid completely still.
Porosis’ blood, which had stained the ground, had now completely disappeared into smoke, and now his body was beginning to do the same. Porosis’ skin burned away into the air, and his muscle and bones quickly followed. After a minute or two nothing was left of the elder god, but the smoke that was now dissipating into the air. All of his power flowed out into the world around them, and began to return to the cycle of the world, which it had been drawn from.
Exhausted Discord fell back into a sitting position and watched as the smoke rose into the air. It spread out the higher it went, until there was nothing left of it but that faint traces of energy that were now spreading out. The sky was still clear for miles around, and the sun began to peek out from behind the clouds on the edge of the unnatural clearing above.
“I did it, Terra. I finally did it.”
____________________________________________________________________________
Twilight pulled herself up the last step, and threw her body to the ground. She rolled onto her back and continued to pant. Her coat was completely dampened with sweat, and more of it continued to leak out of her forehead.
“This is just too much. When are we going to get there?” she asked desperately as she looked up at the sun, which had still not moved during the entire time that they had been traveling. Twilight found herself, much to her surprise, actually cursing the damn celestial orb that beat down on her.
“What do you mean? We are here.” Apollo said from where he stood beside her at the top of the steps.
Twilight quickly turned her head to look up at the man who was standing to her left. His eyes were locked on something that was lying just behind her. Using the last of her strength, Twilight once again pulled herself to her hooves, and stared off in the direction that he was looking.
In front of them sat a spring. It would have looked like any other small body of water, except that it was enclosed by a stone barrier with strange symbols etched into it. Twilight, now invigorated by the new discovery, limped to the edge of the water and gazed down into it.
“So this is that Source thing you were talking about?” Twilight asked as she gazed into the clear pool below.
“That’s right,” Apollo answered from right next to her, startling the unicorn.
“So why did you bring me here then?” She asked as she gazed up at him once again.
Apollo brought his hand to his chin in what seemed to be thought, as he pondered the best way to answer the question. “Well… I brought you here so that you could save the world I suppose.” He smiled down at the unicorn again.
“Okay, how exactly is this going to help save the world?” Twilight motioned to the pool of water below.
“Quite simple really. It will make you a god, and then you will save the world.”
“What!” Twilight shrieked as she backed away from Apollo.
“Well it’s like I said. You take a nice relaxing dip in the pool, and gain the power of a god. It is really great trust me. You get to have all of this power at your fingertips, and you get a body that never ages or feels the effects of time. You can live forever, and watch the world around you change into whatever the future has in store.” Apollo finished by motioning to the dessert around him.
“Who knows? A couple of thousand years from now this entire place could be sprawling farmland, or maybe and underwater kingdom. I highly doubt either of those, but the point is that you could be here to see it all.”
“But… I don’t want any of that.” Apollo’s face fell as her answer reached his ears.
“What?” he asked, not quite understanding the sudden change of events.
“I don’t want to live forever, and I never have. I have seen what eternity can do to ponies, and most of the time it doesn’t end well. The only times that I have ever seen an immortal truly content is when I see the princesses together, and even then it is only rarely.
“I want to live my life as a pony even if such a life is short. I know that this is an amazing opportunity that you are offering me, but I just can’t take you up on it. If you say that this pool can actually turn a normal pony into an immortal like yourself then I want to study it in depth, but I am afraid that I cannot use it. Thank you for the offer, but I am going to have to decline.” Twilight finished her speech as she backed away from the pool.
Apollo’s mind was racing as he heard her come to the end of her answer. He had known that this could be a possibility, but he had honestly not expected it. Twilight was supposed to be a scholar, and didn’t scholars always want more power? Malitia had certainly proved that true.
“I am sorry, but there are dire consequences to you refusing,” Apollo said after a while.
“What do you mean?” Twilight asked hesitantly.
“I brought you here so that we could stop Discord. If you don’t go through with this then it is likely that he will conquer Equestria in short order. You already know that the princesses cannot stop him without the elements, and the element of magic is missing. You ponies have no weapon to stop Discord. This is the last hope for your kind.”
“Well then we will find the last element, and beat Discord with the elements of harmony again.”
“Did you not hear me? You don’t have the last element, and think that Porosis is the one that probably took it. Now that he is dead you have no way of asking him where he put it?” Apollo argued back.
“Wait… Porosis is dead? How? When?” Twilight shot onto a completely different train of thought altogether.
“Discord finally managed to kill him just moments ago. When you were still climbing the stairs,” Apollo answered, pointing back to said stairs.
“Then we won't be able to…”
“Exactly what I said. You wont be able to get any element from him now that he is gone. Discord will have free reign, and you have to do this now in order to stop him. He was greatly wounded in the battle, and there is only a small window of opportunity before he has regained his power.”
“But… why me?” Twilight pleaded. “There are plenty of powerful unicorns out there why don’t you get one of them to do this. Why does it have to be me?”
“Because you are the Element of Magic’s bearer, Twilight. There is nopony else out there that could do this. Only you. The Source is the place where all magic in the world comes from, and it will react to you personally. You are the only one that could do this,” Apollo replied, still trying to coax the frightened unicorn into following his plan.
“But I can’t. This is just too much.” Twilight continued to back away from him.
“This is about more than just Equestria, Twilight! What about the human that you stranded in this world through your ignorance and arrogance?”
“What… what about him?” Twilight looked up to him once again.
“I know that you have had difficulty stabilizing a portal to send him home with. You simply lack the power to do so, but if you were to do this then you would have all the power that you need to open a portal. Not only would you be able to fix a wrong that you committed, but you could also protect the world from that maniac Discord. You may not want to do this Twilight, but you have to. There is no one else.” Apollo laid his answer down on her with absolute authority, leaving no room to question him.
Twilight still appeared to be glazed over with fear. She stared wide-eyed at the man in front of her that was telling her she really had no choice in the matter. She looked to the pool of water to her right that suddenly appeared much more menacing. Slowly, she approached the edge of the water once again too look into the depths below.
The pool seemed to stretch down for eternity. Though the water was crystal clear, Twilight could not see a bottom. Eventually the darkness claimed everything below in the swirling depths of the water. Twilight closed her eyes and sighed, having made up her mind.
“Okay I’ll do it, but…” Twilight was unable to finish her statement as a sharp pain cut through her. She looked down and gawked at the metal blade that was sticking out of her chest.
With all of the energy that she still had, she turned her head and looked up at Apollo who was standing over her. The man stared down at her with the same smile that would often grace his lips, but his eyes were alight with a radiance that oozed deception. She tried to speak, but no words escaped her lips.
Twilight’s legs began to go numb, and she found that she could no longer support her weight. She began to fall back, over the edge of the stone, into the water below. Her body slowly slid off of the sword that Apollo was holding as she fell into the clear water below.
Apollo pulled his sword up, and flung off any blood that would be loosely clinging to it. He cleaned the blade on his duster before he sheathed it at his side. He reached into his jacket pocket, and pulled out a golden tiara with a six pointed star on top. Smiling, he casually tossed the Element of Magic into the pool below.
Apollo then pulled a knife from his jacket pocket and held both hands over the water. Not even bothering to wince, Apollo cut open his palm, and let his blood fall into the pool below.
“All right. Now lets see what happens.”