I don’t own MLP: FiM. That belongs to Lauren Faust and Hasbro.
You Wouldn’t Believe Me if I Told You
Chapter 20: Lost and Found
Cherry Topper gasped, “My word... That does not bode well for us at all!”
The plume of black smoke and dust had all but cleared, revealing a large, swirling mass of obsidian black shards and chunks of the old tower. Even the dust appeared to be consolidated into the steadily shrinking orbit. Through the cracks, they could see the blazing red Eye of Sauron. It looked bigger now, and disconcertingly less like an eye.
Twilight noticed something else. “Pinkie! Look there!”
Underneath the ball of debris, the ground was reforming and extending in every direction. This ground was different, though. No longer was it the dense, lush forest, or even a grassy plain. Instead, it was black with obsidian and volcanic ashes. Sharp and jagged boulders peppered the landscape. Active volcanoes appeared in the distance, barely visible though the ash fall that had begun to clog up the air. There was no visible sky, just a long, continuous black cloud obscuring the purple darkness of inter-dimensional space. In just a few short seconds, both the ground and cloud cover extended far beyond the limits of their vision.
And the ground was getting closer. Fast. Twilight and Cherry screamed.
“Whoopsy!” Pinkie exclaimed “Looks like we have gravity again!”
Using her Pinkie powers, she tried to slow their descent with limited success. Just before they hit the jagged landscape, Discord flew underneath them. The impact slowed the group significantly, but not enough to prevent all of the bumps and scrapes that they gathered when they tumbled onto the ground.
The three ponies and the draconequus groaned as they picked themselves off of the ground, and brushed off the shards of black stone and ash. Twilight looked at Discord questioningly.
“Why- why did you save us?”
Discord crossed his arms and lifted his snout in offence. “Oh, come on! I’m chaotic, not evil! I had only brought all you ponies into this to get you and Rainbow Dash out of here in the first place!”
“How could you have known that she and I would be in the top three?” she inquired, still not believing him. “And how could you justify condemning other ponies to save us?!”
“Calm down, Twily,” Pinkie interjected, “they aren’t dead. Discord has their essences stored in his scales.” She walked over to Discord and tapped the variously coloured scales adorning his tail. “He only did all of this to beat Sauron and get you out of here alive.”
Discord and Twilight both gave her startled looks. Discord responded first.
“Very good, Pinkie Pie. But how did you know?”
Pinkie closed her eyes and looked at the ground. Twilight thought she saw tears escape from beneath her lids.
“Because,” she said plainly, “I could sense what you were doing from Equestria; and because I knew somepony who had done so before. Somepony who I had been really close to, a long time ago...” She opened her moist eyes, and stared directly into Discord’s.
Twilight became even more confused. Cherry Topper nodded in agreement. Sudden realization dawned on Discord’s face.
Flecks of white light began to swirl around the pink party pony. The three of them watched in wonder. Taking a few steps backwards, Pinkie began to glow as more luminescent particles filled the air. Her body began to elongate. Clawed fingers formed on one foreleg, and a paw on the other. One of her hind legs became like that of a dragon. Her fluffy tail became round and longer, maintaining the poofy hairs only on the tip. Mismatched wings sprouted from her back, one like a pegasus and the other like a bat’s wing.
The glowing subsided, revealing a pink draconequus with a blue scaled tail and blue wings. Pinkie looked sheepishly at Twilight.
“Yes, Twily, I am not a pony. I am, however, still the one whom you have become so well acquainted with over the years. I’m sure you have a lot of questions for me right now, but now is not the time.” She walked towards Discord once more.
“Actually,” Twilight managed to reply, “in a weird sort of way, this answers way more questions than it raises!”
Discord still had not closed his mouth in awe. Pinkie stood directly in front of him, slightly shorter than he, with eyes still running with tears.
“I have found you at long last... my love...”
Discord immediately stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her in a strong embrace, which she heartily reciprocated. They both cried and intertwined their long necks. Discord’s horns slowly retracted into his head. His one large fang also shrank, but was met halfway by another on the other corner of his mouth. His white tail plume, eyebrows, and beard tuft turned a bright blue.
“Oh, Pinkamena!” Discord sobbed. “My dearest fiancée... the last 1000 years have been the longest of my life! Can you ever forgive me for-“
“Hush now, dear. I already have, a long time ago.”
Cherry Topper blew his nose noisily on a handkerchief, carrying the motion into a sweeping bow. “It is ever so nice to see you once again, Lord Particus Charles Favour.”
Party Favour dried and opened his eyes. “Oh, Grapes! You old coot! How are you?”
Cherry Topper mocked a scowl. “Fine until now, my lord.” They smiled and chuckled in unison.
Party Favour broke his embrace with Pinkie Pie and handed Twilight a red present wrapped in a blue bow. He smiled warmly.
“I believe this is yours.”
Unsure, Twilight removed the lid. A small cloud of confetti burst in her face, but otherwise the box was empty.
“I don’t get it...” she puzzled.
“It’s your magic, silly!” Party laughed. “I’m sure you can use it better than I can.”
Twilight was delighted, and leapt up to give the much more colourful and younger-looking draconequus a large hug.
Cherry nervously cleared his throat. Twilight and the draconequines turned their attention to him immediately.
“As touching as this reunion is, my lord, are we not forgetting someone?” He shook as he motioned behind him.
The ball of black stones was no longer there, but underneath where it had been stood a huge black obsidian dragon. Fire glowed out from between the cracks in its rocky skin and from its huge mouth bristling with shining jagged teeth. It had two sturdy hind legs and two sets of thinner forelegs; each equipped with spines and viciously curved talons. Its flared wings were composed of a rocky skeletal frame, and the webbing was a blazing sheet of solid flames. Razor sharp ridges and spines ran down its serpentine body, ending in a tail bladed similarly to a two sided battleaxe. Its head had five horns; three of them faced backwards from the crown of its head. The middle one was straight and flanked by two curved ones. The other two horns sprouted from the corners of its mouth and curved forwards on either side of its gigantic maw. In the middle of its vast head, directly below the middle horn, was a familiar fire wreathed eye.
Sauron raised his new, massive head, lifted his giant form onto his hind legs, and bellowed out an earth shaking roar. It sounded like a mixture of a dragon, lion, volcanic eruption, and an avalanche during an earthquake. Molten lava oozed from the corners of his mouth. From his upright position he regarded the tiny ponies and draconeqines with superior indifference.
Before they had been useful pawns, and now they were merely insects on his road to power. The game was over, and the board needed to be cleared.