“AAAAIIIIEEEEE!”
“PINKIE!”
Crack!
“Oops!” Discord chuckled lightly to himself as he twirled the screaming Pinkie Pie in the air with his magic—the pony's rear legs bent in several unnatural directions. “Look at that. Seems that I broke her wee little legs. Hmm... I guess that's why mama Discord never allowed me to have pets when I was just a child. Oh well!”
With a light flick of his talons, he threw Pinkie Pie away from him, sending her body tumbling limply through the rain-filled air. It only took a few seconds for the mare to hit the ground several dozen hooves away from them, but to Twilight, it felt like she hung in the air forever. Eventually, the mare hit the ground—a dull “thump” signaling the event in earnest.
Twilight pressed her face closer to the forcefield to get a better look at her friend's fallen body. Thankfully enough, Pinkie was not entirely motionless, though whatever movements that she did make were small and shallow—more akin to involuntary twitches than actual conscious movements. Even through the sounds of the battle around her, as well as the noise of the rain against the barrier, Twilight was able to make out the hushed sobs of the broken mare as Pinkie desperately attempted to cope with the pain.
Twilight sharply turned her head back towards the draconequus, and charged her horn with whatever magic she had left—which sadly was not much at this point. “How could you... DO such a horrible thing! You... you monster!”
Discord looked straight into Twilight's eyes, and bore a mock-face of hurt as he raised his paw to his heart. “Me!? A monster! Why Twilight, my dearest and most lovable unicorn, I'm hurt from such accusations! I would never intentionally cause pain and discomfort to anypony ever!
“Besides,” Discord said as he lit a cigarette—a small smile forming on his face, “I don't think we should get into the business of calling each other names, now should we? I'm sure I could go on for a few hours calling you pesky little names. Instead, don't you think what we should be doing is deciding which one of you little mares should be my next pet? Hmm? And don't you worry, Twilight Sparkle; I'll make sure that you get to see how much fun your friends have being my pets.”
Flicking the cigarette butt away, Discord looked at Applejack. “Should I take Honest Applejack? That could be incredibly fun for everypony I'm sure. I'm certain a feisty one like her would be able to entertain me for a solid few seconds at least. And look! She has cute little metal claws thingies and everything! I wonder how many clones of herself she could fight at once on her own. Now that would be an interesting fight! Of course, I just went through playing with an earth pony already, so I think I should expand my horizons and all that good fun. Don't you think?”
Applejack scratched her forehoof into the muddy ground in readiness of a charge—a crack of lightning piercing through the heart of the storm. “Why don' ya come a lil' closer, and Ah'll show ya wha' Ah think.”
“Heh, I'm sure you would. Next, we have the graceful and generous Rarity,” Discord happily said as he turned his head towards the unicorn—Rarity still pointing her augmented sword at him. “So much grace. So much poise. So much... potential! I can see it now, place her onstage for everypony to see. In one corner, we put this finest specimen of unicorn with her little sharp toy of hers. In the other, I find another minotaur with another sword or whatever—I'm sure I'd think of something. Turn off their pain receptors, throw them at each other, and let's see what damage the unicorn's body can take!”
Rarity shot her sword at the barrier at that last comment—the weapon uselessly ricocheting off of the shield, forming nothing but a large ripple to join the millions of tiny ripples from the pelting rain. Still, even with the failed attacked, she growled, “I dare you to try.”
“Ooh! I'll keep that one in mind.” Discord's eyes slowly turned, and fell upon Rainbow Dash. “So what do we have here? Loyal Rainbow Dash. I remember you best of all of you ponies. You were probably the easiest to corrupt the last time I was before you. All I had to do was promise to give you back your wings, make some ridiculous little fib about that one pegasus city, and you were off to speeding your way to betrayal! Why, with how desperate you were to get your wings back, I wonder how you'd feel if I were to take those two things away from you permanently.”
Her cyan wings flared as wide as she could, Rainbow yelled, “If you think that I am just going to let you take us without a fight, you've got another thing coming!”
“Oh trust me, I completely expect quite a fight from such a brash and unruly pony like yourself.” Finally, his gaze fell on Fluttershy—the mare almost shrinking at the look. “And finally, we have the sweet and kind Fluttershy. Such a gentle little pegasus, its such a pity that a small pony like you would get caught up with all of these hooligans in their petty grudge against me. Why, I feel so bad, I'm almost inclined to let you go... though not quite. Instead, how does chaining you up, and forcing you to watch as I play with hundreds of your favorite fuzzy creatures sound? Hmm?”
Fluttershy gulped to herself, but kept her stance steady. “I'm not afraid of you... you big dumb meanie!”
“Oh dear! Those be a-fightin' words. Best not say what you can't follow up with.”
Discord became quiet for a moment as he looked along the line of multicolored ponies in front of him. As he inspected the five mares in front of him, he sickeningly licked his gray lips in a mock sense of desire—the action sending shivers up and down Twilight's spine. More than once, he stopped on one of them, paused, then continued on. One final time, he looked upon the group, taking an exorbitant amount of time to look at each up the mares. His gaze finally fell upon the most timid of their incomplete group.
He smiled. “We have ourselves a winner.”
None of the mares had any time to react before Discord lifted his paw in front of him, grabbed Fluttershy in his magic, and began to pull her towards him. A startled squeak passed through the pegasus' lips as she was lifted against her will, and brought towards the forcefield in front of all of them. At that moment, Rainbow took to the air, and with the speed of a mad pony, beelined it towards Fluttershy. Just before Rainbow was about to reach her mare, Fluttershy passed seemlessly through the barrier, resulting in nothing but a loud thud of Rainbow's body slamming into the barrier.
“No!” Rainbow cried out as she bounced away from the forcefield. Again and again, Rainbow slammed her body against the barrier, desperately attempting to somehow get past it. Of course, it was an fruitless cause, and the only thing she succeeded in doing was to give herself a few extra bruises on her face.
Discord began laughing loudly and maniacally, slowly spinning the petrified Fluttershy head-over-hooves in his magic as he did so. “Oh look at that! Looks like somepony might be a tad upset over me taking her little pony friend, or maybe it is more than a friend. Hmm? If that's the case, then I shouldn't let you miss any of the action, now should I?”
Too quickly for anypony to react, he grabbed Rainbow Dash in his magic as well, and forced her body through the shield as well. Discord smirked as he inspected her. Then, he spun her around, licked the pegasus' back, and stuck her to the forcefield.
“Let her go!” Rainbow yelled as she uselessly struggled against the glue-like substance.
Ignoring her, Discord brought Fluttershy right next to his eyes. As he did so, she quickly began to hyperventilate in complete terror. Discord—loud enough to let all of the ponies near him hear—whispered, “You were the only one to resist my corruption last time around. I will have fun making sure that you pay for—”
“RRRAAHH!”
Suddenly, a massive boulder close to the size of a carriage slammed into Discord's head. The massive stone didn't break upon the impact, and instead sent the draconequus stumbling to the side as it followed through with all of its force. A moment later, he stood back up, and with a confused face, blinked a few times at Fluttershy—the mare bearing the same face of confusion as he did. Just as Discord was about to speak, the massive body of Spike slammed into his side, sending both he and the God of Chaos flying to the side.
Instantly, Discord's concentration broke on the spells levitating Fluttershy and keeping the barrier surrounding the rest of the mares, releasing all the mares from their respective prisons. Only taking a brief moment to make sure that Fluttershy was alright—Rainbow Dash and Rarity were making sure of that well enough—Twilight turned her eyes towards the growing battle between Spike and Discord.
To say it was brutal was definitely sugar-coating what she saw. Discord was still apparently dazed and confused from the initial hit, for Spike was completely laying into the monster with everything he had. Spike gripped the draconequus by his legs, and with powerful swings, Spike slammed Discord on the ground from one side of his body to the other—cracking the ground every time the body hit. A dozen times this must have happened, until he finally slammed Discord into the ground in front of him, leaving a large crater on the ground. Finally, Spike raised himself onto his hind legs, and with as much strength as he could, stepped onto the God of Chaos again and again—the crater quickly becoming a massive sunken footstep shaped pond.
That situation taking care of itself satisfactorily enough, Twilight ran her way over to Pinkie Pie—the mare still barely twitching on the ground. As soon as she got near, she quickly planted her hooves into the muddy earth, bringing her face close to where the pink mare lay. Pinkie was a gruesome sight to say the least—her muscles were spasming, her eyes were wide open in shock, and her normally pristine coat was now marred with swaths of brown. That wasn't even counting the quickly escalating hyperventilation and the three places where each hind leg was bent unnaturally. Pinkie's blue eyes—her pupils dilated completely—remained transfixed on some faraway object as the mare lost herself to the pain.
Carefully, Twilight moved a forehoof closer to Pinkie's head, only to retract it before she touched the terribly wounded mare. “Pinkie Pie...”
Pinkie's pupils contracted slightly, and those deep blue eyes slightly turned towards her. “T-T-Twi-Twi?”
This time, when Twilight reached towards the pony next to her, was able to brave the sight, and slowly began to do what she could to brush the water-lodged ball of the pink mane. “Shh. I'm here now. You're going to be alright, okay?”
Pinkie moved her head slightly, so that she was looking into Twilight's eyes a little straighter. Despite how much better the earth pony was looking, she still did not look well in the slightest, the rain pelting the mare's face hiding any potential tears the mare may have been producing. However, Pinkie still was able to summon enough strength to feebly lift a foreleg, and fiercely gripped onto Twilight's own foreleg. Those eyes—the deep blue oceans of color—focused on her even more, and with it, a small smile formed on her face. This eventually culminated into a muted giggle, a giggle that only lasted a few seconds before it was replaced with a pained grimace.
Slowly, Pinkie's grimace faded, bringing back the smile. Softly, she whispered, “Thanks, Twi-Twi.” Pinkie grimaced again slightly, before once again settling back down. “How did you get out of the bubble thingy? Did you beat Discord?”
Twilight smiled, and chuckled slightly at the question. “Not yet, Pinkie, but we will. Until then, Spi—” Twilight stopped, thought to herself, then began again. “Mr. Dragon Pants is kicking his furry flank.”
Even through the terrible noises of Spike and Discord fight—as well as the two armies fighting each other—Twilight was able to hear Pinkie giggled lightly. “Good.”
The pair were quickly joined by the rest of their friends—Fluttershy apparently no worse for wear. Their group finally back together, they looked back onto the quickly escalating fight before them. By now, Discord had regained his composure slightly, and was doing his best to teleport away from Spike's attacks. This was largely successful—instant dodges easily faster than the oversized forelegs of the purple dragon. Not only that, but it seemed that whatever injuries Spike had sustained before this second round of fighting had taken its toll on the dragon, for his movements were less accurate with every swing and swipe. Add in the fact that Discord was a tireless God, and in the battle of time, the draconequus would be the sure winner.
That wasn't to say that Spike wasn't doing a bad job. Quite on the contrary, for every three misses he threw, he was able to land a terrifyingly strong strike against the monster before him. Each hit served to send Discord off balance, leading to even more successful attacks later. A left. A right. A flash of lightning. A spinning strike with Spike's tail, and Discord was sent a few hooves to the side—Spike only needing to take a single step to reach him again. However, no matter how many times that Spike landed bone-shattering blows against the monster, it seemed that with the exception of a few scuffs of dirt and mud, Discord was no worse for wear.
Discord attempted to strike back with a bluish ray spell of some kind, but it was somewhat blocked by Spike's foreleg—the limb in question now sporting a great deal of frost on it. Immediately after, Spike used the same foreleg to backhand the draconequus with an earth-shattering blow, sending the monster flying away into the middle of the battlefield—his final impact shrouded in the darkness of the constant rainfall. Quickly, Spike leaned down, picked up something, and—after pulling himself back onto his hind legs—threw the object at Twilight.
Twilight instantly wrapped her magic around the object, and noticed that it was the Element of Loyalty. An easily recognizable booming voice reverberated across the landscape immediately after she caught it. “Go! Take it!”
As quickly as possible, Twilight nearly flung the Element at Rainbow, the cyan pegasus agile enough to fly up, and catch the necklace on her neck. The clasp behind her locked in place, and when she landed, she now matched the rest of her friends in apparel. Now sporting a beaming smile, Rainbow did a quick hoof pump. “Aw yeah!! Now let's get this party started!”
“Good! Now, start charging them up, for Discord can ready his spell before yo—AARGH!!” was the only thing that the mares were able to hear. Their attention now turned back to their protector, they saw his eyes were now wide in shock, his body frozen, and his breathing now shorter. Before any of the mares could say anything about what was going on, Spike fell to all fours—his wings laying on the ground limply—and the girls saw the reason.
Discord with red blood all the way to his taloned-arm's shoulder.
Swallowing their sorrow for a moment, the six gathered closer to Pinkie, and now in formation, began to power up the Elements of Harmony. As they did this, Twilight was still able to make out what was going on in front of her. Discord began to walk forward—his steps taking him on top of Spike's barely rising back—and eyed the six mares devilishly.
With a widening smile—and an exceptionally large flash of terrible lightning—Discord began to speak to the mares, “Oh... oh you think that you can just use those Elements on me? You failed terribly the last time that you tried. What makes you think that you'll succeed this time? Hmm?”
Discord began charging a spell into his paw—a frighteningly familiar sickly-green aura beginning to form—the rain sizzling into vapor upon contact with the growing power. With a final few steps, Discord slammed his hoof into Spike's snout—forcing the dragon's entire body to collapse into the mud—then hopped onto the ground in front of him. “Why, the only reason you even came close to winning this time was because this useless excuse of a lizard basically did everything for you. Next time though, you won't have his help, I'll have the Elements, and I'll know exactly how you six will return.”
His spell nearly ready, he pointed his paw towards the mares, and cackled in maniacal delight. “I'm going to send you buffoons so far into the future, there might not even be ponies left to save!” His spell finally charged, all of the magic focused onto the very tip of his finger, and launched it at the girls.
Except just as the spell was fired, Discord suddenly slipped, and his spell flew wild. Instead of striking the easy target that even a filly would be able to hit in her sleep, the spell sailed off into the clouds above, before eventually dissipating as it lost its focus. Surprised, the draconequus looked down, and found a serpent-like tongue wrapped around his leg.
Looking up slightly, he saw Spike grinning widely, his tongue slowly retracting back into his mouth. With a widening smile, he chuckled weakly. “I win.”
Discord looked down at his leg for a moment, then to Spike, then to his leg again. Finally, he looked back at Spike, and gave a slight grin of acceptance. “Heh, funny. If it wasn't for the fact that my impending doom was just around the corner, I would probably have a really good pun to say.”
Spike looked at the monster before him with his single eye. “Maybe you... could say that you... just got licked...”
To that, the draconequus looked towards the girls. “That was worse than all of the puns that I've ever made put together.”
Finally, Twilight felt the colossal spell reach its peak charge, and with a flash of blinding light, she launched it at the monster in front of them. As the spell impacted, the magic exploded, and just as second later, the world went white.
A/N: As much as Discord loves saying puns, he hates hearing them.