As much as his face didn't show it, Lord Sarlaka hated battles. The sounds of bodies slamming into each other from the impact of charges were heard all around. The sounds of ponies yelling out screams of rage and anger entered his ears as they fought against their foes. The sounds of stallions' cries of pain as they met their bloody end raddled his mind. Even the distinct lack of sounds during quiet lulls in the action as the two sides backed off for a moment, only to have them come crashing together was terrifying. All of these were awful, with almost every single sound being the end of a life.
The worst sounds, though, were the soft thumps of pegasi crashing into the ground—the vast majority alive and fully aware until the point of impact.
A few hours ago, Sarlaka had taken to the darkened skies above the field of carnage. He was not there to join the fight, but to scout out what the status of the battle looked like, braving the growing thunderstorm around him as he did so. So far, while Discord's army was definitely pushing hard on Harmony's Coalition's left flank—their recently conscripted Seventh Army apparently had been positioned there—the vast majority of the battle line had been fairly stable. If anything, the sheer weight of numbers on Harmony's side had been pushing Discord's forces back slightly, though considering how much more powerful those “zombie ponies” were, it wasn't much of an advantage. However, considering Seventh Army's failures, this push might be a fatal flaw in their plan—their left flank almost becoming dangerously exposed.
The swarms of pegasi were still clashing in the skies, though it was obvious that the numbers on both sides had been thinned tremendously. It was hard to tell from here, especially considering the rain that was pelting against his scaled face, but from the looks of it, Harmony's Coalition was dominating in this contest. He attributed it to the superior training and numbers of their forces. Sure, each of Discord's pegasi was stronger and hardier than any typical pegasus, but these augmentations weren't enough to save his air forces from their destruction.
Besides, it really didn't matter how strong you were really; you weren't going to fly if you were missing a wing.
As for the small skirmishes on the far edges of the field of battle, there really wasn't that much to speak of. There was no possibility of either side routing from the field, there was no actual siege weaponry to speak of on either side to lob at enemy columns, and there was no naval battle off the coast for him to try and command at the same time. All in all, it was a fairly typical battle—except for their lack of routing—that dealt more with a battle of attrition than anything else.
Which meant that Discord's forces had the edge.
“I'm bored. Did we win yet?”
Sarlaka could only groan at the creature next to him. “Does it look like we won?”
“Well... maybe the heat of the day is getting to me, and I'm imagining the swell fight in front of me!”
“Discord, you made a massive thunderstorm. It is not hot at all.”
The draconequus waved his paw in boredom as lay in his lounger. “Details, details. So... did we win?”
Pinching the bridge of his snout, Sarlaka continued, “We are only about an hour into this thing, and from the looks of it, we are in a deadlock. Normally, I would say the battle will not end until one side loses their nerve and breaks, but considering that Harmony's forces have nowhere to rout to, and your zombies do not have the mind to run, I do not see that happening. Instead, I suppose that this will only end when one side completely crushes the other. And that,” Sarlaka sighed, “might take a long while.”
Discord stretched his legs a little. “So, basically, you're telling me to be patient?”
“Exactly.”
“I see...” the draconequus mumbled as he lay himself back down on his lounger. Sarlaka looked back up, and was just about to further inspect the army's situation when the loud voice perked back up again. “I'm still bored. Seriously, Sarlakielaka, why can't I just go in, shoot a few world-wipe meteorites, get this over with, we all go home, and Miller Time?”
“That is something that I would not advise,” Sarlaka spoke as he looked around the battlefield. A terrible and large crack of lightning streaked across the sky, followed instantly after by a half dozen brightly burning dots falling to the ground. It was somewhat difficult to get a good look from the ground, but considering his height, he was able to get a fair enough view—at least as far as the rain allowed. Not only that, but everything had appeared to darken even more in just the last few minutes.
“Before the battle started,” Sarlaka began again, “I was able to see that the Elements of Harmony are not only commanding their army, but are actually on the field of battle itself. Normally, I would just send some reserve pegasi flights to take down one or two of them so the threat of the utilization of the Elements was removed, but considering you decided to turn on the rain, I lost track of them.”
Discord was too busy digging through a bag to respond right away. It took a few seconds, but eventually the God of Chaos found what he was looking for, and pulled out the umbrella-hat. “I see. This is supposed to stop my world-wiping meteorites of doom... how?”
“Because,” the dragon sighed to himself for what felt like the hundredth time today, a headache slowly growing, “if you were to start dropping pieces of the mountain or something equally as ridiculous on parts of the army, the Elements would know that you were here, and would just run away. You know fully well that Magic knows how to teleport, and all she would have to do is get close to her friends, and everything we do today would be worthless.”
“Fine fine,” Discord fussed, throwing himself back onto his lounger. “It doesn't really matter anyway. Soon, it won't be an issue, and in a few minutes, I'll be able to go bang-bang boom-boom all day long without that petty reason for you to worry about.”
Sarlaka turned to him, his brow scrunched together in confusion. “That will not be an issue? What do you mean?”
“Why, it's rather simple really. The Elements of Harmony are still in your lair.”
The dragon was glad Discord had closed his eyes, for even if it was for a split second, the blind would've been able to see the shock and fear that flashed through Sarlaka's eyes. He did his best to return back tho his former demeanor, his tone slow and each word calculated as he spoke, “What do you mean they are in my lair? I scouted earlier, and I saw them on the battlefield just an hour ago. I saw Magic leading the army with my own eyes!”
The grotesque monster rolled back over to his side, barely able to contain his laughter behind the talon over his mouth. “Heh... eyes?”
“Yes, with my own two—” Sarlaka stopped, and with a heavy sigh, began again, “You are nothing but a child. Yes, I saw them my my own EYE!”
Ignoring the correction, Discord stood, and walked towards Sarlaka. “Yes you did, except you didn't. What you saw out there was simply a collection of decoys.”
Fear welling up more, Sarlaka's voice nearly caught in his throat as he slowly muttered, “Decoys?”
Discord rose himself so that he was level with the dragon's height and patted the top of Sarlaka's head. “That's right! Decoys.”
The draconequus turned himself, so that his gaze fell over the thousands of dying ponies in front of them. The lightning cracked again, outlining his widening smile. “That's why I sent some... friends to go say hello to them.”
Applejack nudged a ruby off the top of one of the larger piles, and watched as the gemstone slowly built up speed as it rolled down. She wanted to see just how far it would travel, as well as see if it would break her individual record that she had set a few minutes ago. Faster and faster the gem rolled, until it had picked up a fairly healthy speed. Unfortunately, it was prematurely stopped by the cyan body of Rainbow Dash, the mare inconveniently laying right in the middle of the little path that Applejack had claimed for her own devices.
Rainbow turned towards the ruby, then looked at Applejack. Both times, Applejack saw the pony shooting daggers out of her eyes in annoyance. It was somewhat understandable—this wasn't the first time the multicolor-maned mare had been hit by a gem—but it was still a massive overreaction to the impact. Of course, just like the last few times, the mare merely took a deep breath, ignored the annoying act, and slumped her head back onto her crossed forelegs. A few seconds later, Applejack heard a heavy exhale from her, and assumed that she was attempting to get some shuteye again.
A few seconds later, Applejack knocked a sapphire down the pile, and just like the previous gem, it knocked against the pegasus.
“RRRAAHHH!!!!” Rainbow picked herself up onto her hooves, and glared at Applejack for a second. The mare looked down at the gem at her hooves, snarling at the offensive device. Cyan hooves wrapped themselves around the gem, and with a mighty heave, she threw the sparkling stone across the foyer. The sound of the deep blue stone striking the floor on the opposite side of the room reverberated through the nearly empty room, the sound echoing through the chamber. A few seconds later, the only sound was the heavy breathing of the angry pegasus in front of the earth pony.
“Rainbow, darling, really? Could you be so kind as to settle yourself down?” Rarity groaned as she lowered her head back onto her folded forelegs. “I am trying to relax over here.”
Rainbow Dash snorted again in annoyed fury as she now faced the unicorn, a hoof pointed in Applejack's direction. “Relax!? Gee, that's nice! I would like to relax as well, except that freakin' pony up there keep throwing rocks at me!”
“Rainbow, I'm sure it was an accident. Why don't you just relax and... umm... try to take in the atmosphere of the room around you. There are a lot of little details in the décor that I hadn't noticed until just today.”
“Oh trust me, I tried. I really really tried to do that, except that I already did just that, remember!? This is the second time that I decided to look around and say, 'Ooh! Look at all the pretty rocks.' I was stuck here for a few hours after Sarlaka beat the ever-living Tartarus out of me. Remember that? I was stuck in that cage over there!” she yelled as she pointed at the birdcage-like prison against the wall, the door long since ripped off of the hinges.
Rarity was about to say something, before she cocked her head in confusion. “Huh... how did I miss that thing? I would've thought Spike would've gotten rid of that thing days ago. Hmm...”
Just quickly as she got off track, the mare shook her head, and got back to the subject at hoof. “Look, that isn't the point. The point is that you shouldn't be throwing your anger at dear Applejack, or anypony at all! Just try to relax.”
“I AM RELAXED!!”
“Rainbow Dash, please,” Twilight nearly whispered as she looked at the mare. “I know that you're getting stir crazy. I'm starting to feel the same way, but we can't be fighting with each other right now, especially since we'll probably need to use the Elements in the near future.”
Rainbow's anger seemed to instantly evaporate as the words entered her ears. Those ears folded flat onto her head instantly after as she looked at the rest of her Element-adorned friend, and then touched her bare neck.“Yeah... the Elements...”
Fluttershy lightly nudged her head against Rainbow's side, and tried her best to give a smile. “Don't worry, Rainbow. Spike is getting your Element now.”
Rainbow used a forehoof to carefully stroke Fluttershy's mane in response. “Yeah... I'm sure he is.”
“Ya don' think tha' he's gonna try an' get it?” Applejack spoke, her brow furrowing as her confusion mounted.
The formerly angry pegasus shook her head as she replied, “No. That's not what I meant at all.”
“Then what did you mean, dear Rainbow Dash?”
“Well... Discord has my Element, right?” The rest of the ponies nodded in response. “Well... how can we assume that Scaley's just going to be able to just waltz on over there, beat the snot out of Discord, and get it without worry? Who's to say that he won't lose? What if he tries... and fails?”
“Because he... umm...” Twilight mumbled, her voice trailing off as she thought about what Rainbow said. The rest of the girls also went quiet, imagining the implications of that as well. They had assumed that it was a sure bet that Sar... err... Spike was going to get the Element of Loyalty from Discord no sweat, but not getting it was definitely a possibility. What was their backup plan?
Dread filling Applejack's mind, she realized there was no backup plan—it was either this, or nothing.
Rarity shifted uneasily “Spikey won't fail.”
Rainbow took a step forward. “But what if he does?”
Twilight lowered her head as well. “He... he won't...”
The pegasus looked now at both of the unicorns. “But what if he does!? Are we just going to sit here, and pray that another massive dragon with close ties with Discord comes along, and decides to help us!?”
“N...no...” Rarity shrunk back a little. “I... I don't think—”
“Alrigh', alrigh'. Let's not get our tails in a bunch. Ah think tha' we shouldn' worry 'bout it for now. Jus' figure it out when the time comes. Ya know?” Applejack intervened. “Look, Ah know it ain' somethin' pretty to think 'bout, but there's no sense in thinkin' 'bout it now. Too late to go 'bout an' change our plan now. Migh' as well go through with this plan, and see where it takes us. If we do fail, then we'll figure out wha' to do then. Alrigh'?”
Fluttershy looked up at the pegasus. “Please... Rainbow... just calm down...”
Rainbow looked down at her marefriend, and with a deep sigh, Applejack could see her try to calm herself down. Whether it worked or not, was not entirely known. “I'm calm. I'm just worried.” Taking another second, she turned towards the entrance. “Hey girls, I'll be right back.”
“Right back?” Pinkie scrambled to her hooves. “What do you mean you're going to be 'right back?'”
She stopped, but didn't turn. “I'm going to get some fresh air.”
“RD.” Applejack lifted herself onto her hooves, the mare nearly slipping back onto the ground as a gem slipped from under her. Fortunately, she didn't fall, and instead, she slid herself down the pile of gems to the bottom. “Wha' are ya plannin'?”
“Nothing!” Rainbow turned towards the her, and glared, the powerful wings flared with emotion. A few seconds passed, the tension between the two growing with Rainbow's annoyance, before she finally closed her eyes, folded her wings, and whispered, “Sorry. I'm calm... I'm calm... I'm calm. Look, all I'm doing is going out to get some air. I promise. I'm not going to do anything stupid.” She opened her eyes. “Alright?”
“Alrigh'. Ah ain' mad at ya, Ah jus' don' want ya to do anythin' dumb,” she whispered back. A smirk on her face, she shoved her friend. “Ah also wanna get a piece of the action, ya hear? So don' go tryin' to take all of them on on your own.”
“Yeah yeah, I'll only do that if you're too slow.” Rainbow smiled as she did a few quick beats of her wings backwards in response to the shove—her hooves finally landing back down on the ground a good ten hooves distance away. A grin was still on her face she turned back towards the entrance. “Well, you only get some if you... oh... hey?”
Confused, Applejack turned towards the entrance as well, past Rainbow, and found herself looking at six visitors, none of which she recognized from the times that Captain Wilks came to check on them. The front-most two were a pair of unicorns, both stallions, with bright white coats akin to Rarity's. The first had a bright blue mane, similar to the color of a clear day's sky, while the second had a dull yellow mane. The fact that they were unicorns in the first place was a surprise in itself, for Sar... Spike had made clear that unicorns were extremely rare in this world, bordering on extinction.
The third creature, standing just behind those initial two, was a massive griffin. It—Applejack could never tell what a griffin's gender was just by looking at it—stood twice as tall as any of the girls, and was the typical brown with white feathers. Both of the massive wings were flared wide, adding to the already large appearance of the flying creature. Compared to Gilda, it was at least another head taller, and much much more muscular, at least when it came to its four standing limbs.
Next to these three—on their right—was a minotaur whose massive size dwarfed even the large griffin next to him. His large size, along with the brown hair covering the vast majority of his body, reminded the cowpony of a large grizzly bear that she had seen Fluttershy with once or twice a few months ago. On top of his head, two large horns, both about the size of his head, stood high above his head—the very points of each sharper than Applejack's climbing claws could ever hope to become. However, the most striking aspect of this creature was not any of his physical aspects, but the massive sword at his side. The massive weapon was easily the same size she was, and while the shape showed it was a typical weapon of war, the thought of such a giant weapon being wielded by the minotaur was... unnerving.
Finally the last two were a pegasus and an earth pony—the only “typical” ones out of the whole lot of them. The pegasus mare was a dull gray with a mane and tail to match, while the earth pony stallion was a dull tan with a darker brown mane and tail. Other than their dull colors, these two could actually fit in Equestria normally—at least physically—and there wouldn't have been a second look cast in their direction. There were no other striking things about any of these creatures that Applejack could make out.
Except that each had a dull, blank look to all of them—their emotionless eyes appearing to have no life behind them.
Rainbow took to the air, and with crossed forelegs, yelled out, “Hey! What's up guys? Did we win yet? I hope you guys left me a few jerks to—”
The two unicorns charged their horns, and within an instant, two vibrant green rays blasted their way towards the pegasus.
Time slowed to a standstill as the powerful magic streaked towards Rainbow. A scream was heard from behind Applejack as Rainbow Dash's reflexes kicked into action, the mare acting more on instinct than anything else. With a powerful stroke of her wings, she slowly began moving slightly higher into the stale air. The twin lines of emerald approached closer and closer to their target, the deadly bolts traveling much too quickly for even Rainbow to get out of the way. However, just before the point of no return, the pegasus grunted, tightened her muscles, and forced her body to contort in a semi-horizontal position mid-ascent. It was in that instant that the bolts reached where the mare just a second ago.
Other than the very tip of her tail, they completely missed.
Time seemed to speed back up as Applejack tracked the crisscrossing streams of magic across the room, until they impacted the far wall blocking Celestia's room. As soon as the twin spells impacted the stone, the entire wall surrounding the epicenter literally turned to dust, leaving nothing but a twenty hoof wide doorway with a large pile of sand on the bottom, the statue of the alicorn now in plain view. The opening went all the way from the floor to the ceiling, with almost perfectly “carved” edges along where the new opening was.
It was as if the former wall was never there.
Rainbow finally landed on the ground, and took a single wayward look at the tip of her tail, the multicolored hairs now an inch or two shorter than they were moments before. As she inspected her tail, Applejack galloped over to where Rainbow stood, and after planting her hooves on the ground next to her friend, glared at the hostile creatures in front of her. In response, their formerly emotionless glare turned much more malicious—their blank eyes narrowed.
Soon after, the pair of ponies were joined by the rest of their friends. Twilight's horn was ignited, ready to release its potent energy the moment that any other action was made. Rarity's sword was now in the air, along with every single diamond spike that she had been holding in the bag at her side. Pinkie—while unarmed—was growling like a wolf as she lowered her stance, and readied herself to pounce on any of them. Even Fluttershy—the mare as timid as a butterfly—had appeared next to Rainbow, and was glaring in the direction of the fiends.
Rainbow didn't hesitate to respond as she let a devious grin overtake her face. “Oh, so that's how you wanna do this? Awesome. I was just itching for a bad reason to stretch my wings.”
As if they had rehearsed it, all six of the mares charged the monsters in front of them at once.
Sarlaka just looked at Discord. “You are more clever than I thought.”
With a smile, the draconequus did a quick little backflip in the air, and crossed his arms. “You think so? I was afraid that you would find out that I was throwing them at your lair, and it would spoil the reveal. I'm glad that I was able to hide it from you enough.”
“Indeed you did. Considering how much I value intelligence and how much you seem to lack planning, I'm surprised you were able to pull off something so sly on me.”
“Oh dear Sarlaka, my friend,” Discord patted him on the side of his head, “you would be surprised with the amount of things that I have up my sleeves... well... metaphorically of course. Oh! By the way, I almost forgot to give you a little something-something that I promised you.”
With a snap of his fingers—and a small flash of fire—the Element of Loyalty floated in his hand.
As Sarlaka blinked in shocked confusion, Discord let out a loud laugh. “Oh Sarlaka! You should see your face! It's hilarious! It's like you just saw a ghost or something. Anyway, here you go! Have fun with it.”
With a flip of a talon, he floated the shining necklace over to the dragon. Sarlaka was almost too stunned to lift his claw to catch the precious artifact, the necklace nearly slipping out of his palm. Nearly taking a stumble from lifting on of his legs, he quickly readjusted his stance, so that he was now sitting up on his hind legs. For a few moments, the dragon did a quick inspection to make sure that it was the real thing, and not some kind of illusionary magic or a wooden prop.
No. This... this was the real thing.
“What's wrong? Cat got your tongue?” Discord asked, his voice filled with mock sympathy.
Sarlaka looked back up at the chaotic menace. “You're giving it to me? Just like that?”
Discord smiled wider. “Just like that.”
He clinched his claw tight, securing the Element in his protection. Looking back up, he looked straight into the eyes of the malicious creature in front of him. A thousand thoughts ran through his head at once—his desire to get back and protect the girls being number one on his list of priorities. He wasn't sure if they could take on whatever was just thrown at them by Discord, but he didn't want to take that chance—Discord's goons wouldn't stand a chance against him. Still, there was the simple problem of Discord standing next to him.
Discord scratched his cheek. “So, did you decide to join me, or try and—”
With a deep breath, Spike torched the air where Discord was floating with the hottest flame that he could muster. For several long seconds, he relentlessly expelled all of the air in his lungs to fuel the dragon fire. Longer and longer he blasted the God of Chaos, until the heat from the flame began to turn the ground below into molten glass—the dead grass long since turned to ashes. If Spike wasn't fireproof, he was certain that he himself would've been completely incinerated in moments just by standing nearby. Finally, he was forced to let up the flame, and with a deep inhale, the flames cleared.
Instead of what he hoped would remain—a pile of nothingness—he was greeted with the spitting image of Discord wearing swim trunks around his waist, sunglasses over his eyes, and sunblock on the top of his nose.
Through the superheated haze, Discord took his sunglasses off, and smiled. “Just what I was hoping for... more chaos.”
A/N: I self edited this chapter, so all the mistakes are my own. I also edited this just out of the hospital, so if there are mistakes, sue me.