Discord had already dubbed Ponyville the "Chaos Capital of the World" by the time Sterling was taken to the Everfree Forest. He would relish every moment that he had before the Elements would "defeat" him again.
Yes, Discord knew that the Elements of Harmony wouldn't hold him now. They were being individually controlled by different ponies. The Elements were weakened. The only thing that could stop Discord's tyranny would be the Seventh Element, and The One who would be able to use it to unite all of the Elements and completely destroy him. Discord feared that The One was Sterling Smoulder, but now he was gone. Now nothing would stand between Discord and total Chaos.
Now, at his "throne" in the Chaos-riddled Ponyville, he laughed at his pawn's fate, at what he was going to do later, and how he was going to destroy all who would stand in his way.
Summoning a glass to pick up some of the chocolate milk coming from a nearby pink cloud, Discord proclaimed, "Chaos is a wonderful, wonderful thing!" That was when the Element Bearers, now reunited after Discord tore them apart, showed up.
"Not a wonderful as friendship!" Twilight Sparkle retorted.
Discord groaned. His fun was over, for now. "This again?" he muttered, draining his chocolate milk. Only he drank the glass instead. Discord pretended to look suprised and threw the chocolate milk away, causing a small explosion.
His time was up for now. Discord would have to bide his time and use the element of suprise (NOT an Element of Harmony) on Equestria. Nopony, not even Celestia herself, would see it coming.
And Twilight Sparkle could make a great addition to the ones he would control...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Luna led me to a chamber deep underneath the castle. Derpy volunteered to stay behind, in case anypony showed up.
Luna and I were alone now. "You may not have known this, Sterling, but Discord was banished from his homeland when we found him. He and Celestia found the first six Elements without me, because I was too young. But I found a seventh--rather, it found me.
"I would keep this seventh Element a secret from everypony. It wasn't until Discord tried to return to his homeland with the first six Elements that he found out there was a seventh. The people of the Northern Continent weren't affected by the Elements; not without the Seventh. They arrested Discord and attempted to brainwash him into the spirit of Chaos he is now, and use him as a weapon against the rest of the world. During this brainwashing, some of Discord's powers were forgotten. For example, he used to be able to control time, but it would drain him in order to do that. So he would only use it in emergencies.
"Discord was gone for years before we decided to go to the Northern Continent and look for him. We had a fledgling country to watch over, so we couldn't do it sooner. Once we got to the Northern Continent, We found that it was completely destroyed. We looked for answers, but we had nothing, not even a clue toward Discord's whereabouts. Finally, we returned to Equestria to find out that Discord had returned before us, and was now in control. He had hidden the six Elements of Harmony, in case they would be used to stop him.
"Once Celestia and I found the Elements, Discord was close to finding the Seventh Element, which I hid in a chamber deep underneath this castle...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ONE THOUSAND YEARS AGO...
Luna was close to where she hid the Seventh Element of Harmony. Nopony else knew of its whereabouts other than herself. This was in case someone like Discord tried to take it. In fact, she had this tunnel dug specifically for the Seventh Element. Not even the workers who dug out this cavern were told what it was for, nor did they question it, which was a bonus for Luna.
Celestia had put the six Elements somewhere in Canterlot (the Alicorns' winter retreat), to be protected by a spell that only she could break. Luna decided to do the same--except closer to home--with her Element.
As she descended the 777 stairs down to the main chamber, Luna thought about telling her sister about the Seventh Element. No, she thought. Now's not the time. She would know soon enough, anyways. Not even Discord knows about this new Element, so it's not like Celestia needs to know.
Celestia was in Canterlot right now, retrieving the Elements of Harmony that she hid there. Luna decided to stay behind, just in case Discord showed up.
Luna was at the bottom of the stairs now. She put her horn in the lock into the main chamber, and the doors swung open. She looked around, expecting somepony to show up and steal the Seventh Element. Finding no one, she hastened into the chamber and was about to take the Element when she heard a voice.
"I knew there was another Element of Harmony."
Luna turned around. It was Discord, except he looked a bit different. His eyes were once white, but now they were yellow, his pupils mismatched, and he just had a... mananical aura to him now.
"It's been a while, Luna," Discord said. "and you sure have changed!"
"In a way," Luna replied, "so have you. What have they done to you?"
"My eyes have been opened, my dear," Discord explained. "Why should the weak be equal to the gifted? I was wrong all this time."
"It looks like your eyes have been more than opened," Luna retorted. "Whatever happened to 'freedom is the right of all sentient beings'?"
"It has been replaced with 'survival of the fittest'. Much more logical, in my opinion." Discord said. "Ah, well... Anyways, you won't be needing that little Element there--" Discord snapped his fingers and the Seventh Element was surrounded by thick walls of steel. "And to think that it was hidden right under my nose this whole time..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"...And he tricked me into working with him after he was defeaten." Luna concluded. "He used me, just like what he did to you. I was about to use the Seventh Element to free Discord, but Celestia used the other six on me before I could get down here, thankfully."
We were at the bottom of the stairs. Luna inserted her horn into the lock, and the doors of the chamber opened. It was dark, and I couldn't see what was within. Luna's horn lit up, and the chamber was bathed in what looked like moonlight.
There were cobwebs everywhere, as well as dust. Well, that was to be expected, considering that no one has set foot/hoof in this chamber for over a thousand years. In the middle of the chamber lay the Seventh Element of Harmony.
It was a white orb with a symbol engraved on it. Just like the replicas of the other Elements back at The Doctor's museum.
"Is it booby trapped?" I asked. I suddenly remembered a story of some archaeologist taking a relic off of a pedestal that was set to trigger arrows and giant rolling boulders as soon as the weight was shifted. What was the story called...?
Luna shook her head. "No. I didn't think it was needed if I was the only one who could get in."
"Fair enough," I agreed. I casually walked up to the pedestal and was about to touch the orb when a bright light surrounded me. I don't know what's up with all the bright lights lately.
When the light cleared out, I could see that the orb was gone. I kind of panicked at first, but then Luna spoke up: "Sterling! you have a Cutie Mark now!"
I turned to look at my flank. She was right; now I had a circle divided into six sections, one color of the rainbow for each section, surrounded by a white border.
But where was the Seventh Element? The replicas of the other six Elements back at the museum took the form of necklaces and a giant crown thing, but those are too... feminine for me, to say the least.
That's when I looked down at my watch. It was now gold, with an outline of my Cutie Mark on the face, right underneath the hands. And... is that face made of platinum? No, I think it's sterling silver. Suiting, since that's part of my name.
I gave a low whistle. "Classy," I muttered. "Check that out, Luna!" I showed her my new watch. "I always did like watches. And this," I checked out my watch again, "THIS is a watch worthy of the name!"
"Looks great, Sterling." Luna said, "But we need to get to Ponyville right away."
I blinked. "Right, right. Let's just grab Derpy and get going." And with that, Luna teleported us back to the surface.
"Luna, why didn't you just teleport us down there in the first place?" I asked.
"It doesn't work that way," she replied. "I made sure of it. You can get out, but you can't go in."
"Uh, guys?" Derpy said. "You might wanna see this." Luna and I galloped out of the ruins.
"I can't see anything," I called to Derpy. She was in the air above the forest. "And Discord took all of my abilities when he supposedly killed me."
"Then I'll pick you up." Derpy said as she came back down.
"I'll help you," Luna offered, lifting me not with magic, but with her bare hooves.
"Oh, you don't have to do that, Your Majesty," the Pegasus told Luna. "I've carried heavier loads of mail and--"
The Alicorn cut her off. "Please, I insist." She paused. "As your princess, that's an order."
Derpy shrugged. "Okie doke, then." The two of them lifted me up.
I was lifted above the forest, and I could see Ponyville. It was a disaster. Floating buildings, pies... a house of cards...
...and pink clouds spewing chocolate milk. "Eterneal chaos comes with chocolate rain," I muttered. I was going to look for more anomalies when the sun suddenly cane down, replaced by the moon.
"Uh, Luna? This wouldn't be your work, would it?" I asked, expecting to already know the answer.
"No," she replied. She tried using her magic to move the moon out of the way. "I can't control the moon!" She said, with more than a little fear in her voice. "Discord must be--" And the sun came back up.
"Yeah," I replied, knowing what she was going to say. "We're gonna have to get moving to Ponyville if we want to get rid of Discord."
"Celestia told me that I was to bring you back to Canterlot," Luna told me. "But, I think we could be forgiven if we--" Before I could finish my sentence, I saw some sort of light show.
A rainbow beam launched into the sky, arced, and landed on the other side of Ponyville. The arc folded out into two, enclosing the entire town in a dome. Next thing I knew, the dome expanded, like a bomb.
"It's the other Elements of Harmony!" Luna cried. "We're too late!"
I was confused. "Wait, what? I thought that was a--" That was when the multicolored fallout reached us. The impact scattered the three of us, which left me to succumb to gravity once more.
"What's up with me and falling lately!?!?" I yelled. I hit a tree, and fell down. Fortunately, There was plenty of foilage to break my fall enough for me not to be injured much, save for a few scratches. I got up and tried to look around, Unfortunatley, all I could see was a bright light--AGAIN. But this light didn't cause me to cover my eyes.
Once the light dissipated, I tried looking for Luna and Derpy when I noticed something. I was walking on two legs. I looked down and could see that I was human again!
"Luna! Derpy!" I called. "Can you guys hear me? I'm human again!"
Derpy Doo appeared. "Is that you, Sterling?" she asked. I assured her that it was me. "I've never seen you as a human before. Have you seen the Princess anywhere?"
I looked at her. "Uh, no." I replied, a little confused. "LUNA!!" I called again, much louder this time. No reply.
I panicked. I mean, Luna probably didn't get knocked too far from where Derpy and I are now, so why didn't she respond?
I told Derpy Doo to check the sky; maybe Luna had to head to Canterlot right away or something, and she didn't have time to tell us. The Pegasus checked, but she came back, saying that she couldn't find anypony in the sky.
"Alright," I said, panic in my voice. "Let's split up. You look for her that way, and I'll go the other way. If you see her, just holler for me. Got it?"
Derpy raised her hoof in a salute. "You can count on me, Mr. Smoulder!" She said, and ran off to look for Luna.
"And please," I called to Derpy. "Just call me Sterling!"
It didn't take us long to find Luna. Derpy found her and called me over. I came running full throttle. When I caught up with Derpy Doo, I could see why Luna didn't respond to me.
She was sprawled out on the ground, unconscious. she had quite a few major cuts, as well as a possible broken wing--I'm not too sure, since I'm not a doctor. I think she hit her head on a tree and that knocked her out. Needless to say, she was in bad condition. Really bad. Just because you were ageless didn't mean that can't get severely injured.
"C'mon, Luna. Wake up!" I cried, lightly shaking her. "C'mon, Luna!"
My eyes were filling with tears. I put my hand on Luna's head. "You trusted me from the very beginning..." I whispered. "And I betrayed you. Yet, you still trusted me. You came back for me..." I leaned closer to her. I wanted to say this t oher as soon as Discord tried to kill me. "...I'm sorry, Luna."
Suddenly, my watch started to glow. Next thing I knew, Luna's injuries were healing before my eyes. Remarkable. This Element of Harmony is giving me abilities. But what other abilities is it capable of?
Luna's eyes opened. "Sterling?" She said weakly. "We were too late. Discord's won this round."
"Luna, what do you mean?" I asked. "Those were the Elements of Harmony that took care of him, right? They've done it before, without the Seventh Element, so why should we be worried?"
"Wow!" Derpy Doo exclaimed. "I've never seen the Elements of Harmony do something like that!"
"It's because this one is the most powerful of them all," Luna said. I helped her get up. "It's as powerful as the other six put together. While those six need each other to work like they just did with Discord, the Seventh Element can operate alone in order to do some small things, like healing me."
"So the other six Elements locked Discord up again, right?" I asked. "We don't have to worry about him anymore?"
Luna shook her head. "No, he's only been slowed down. Since the Elements of Harmony are being held by different ponies, the strength of Discord's prison is just a little stronger than it was when you arrived. We need something that would secure what the Elements have done. That's where you come in, Sterling."
"Then what are we waiting for?" I said. "Let's get to Ponyville and use the Seventh Element to defeat Discord for good!"
"It's not that easy, I'm afraid," Luna admitted. "You see, we would need all seven Elements of Harmony working together, at the same time. We can't just use the Seventh Element alone. It would have the same effect as the other six alone; ergo, nothing will happen. We're going to have to wait until Discord breaks out again. In the meantime, Sterling, you will have to create a friendship with the other Element Bearers, in order to strengthen the bond of the Elements, so that all seven will be united."
"You really thought all of this out, Princess," Derpy Doo said.
"I had to," Luna replied. "I was trapped in the moon for a thousand years. It was like a deep sleep, but my subconsciousness figured it all out. I didn't remember any of it until the six Elements were used on me."
"Well," I said, clapping my hands together, "Looks like I've got some work to do. Pinkie Pie's throwing me a party soon, so that'll be a start. I can talk to the Doctor about what I could do after that."
"Great!" Luna said. "Sounds like we've got a plan! Celestia's bound to have some sort of celebration for what Twilight Sparkle and the others have done. We don't want anypony to know that Discord's only momentarily defeaten, other than Celestia and The Doctor, so don't say anything. I'll tell my sister everything. She's certain to agree with us."
"Got it!" Derpy saluted again.
"Don't worry, Luna," I assured her. "I'll keep it under my hood."
Luna blinked. "...What?"
"I--It's a figure of speech," I stammered. "You know, a variation of 'I'll keep it under my hat'?"
"Oh, right!" She exclaimed. "Well, if any of you need me, just talk to the moon; I'll be listening."
We were about to part ways when Luna remembered something. "Oh, yeah! Sterling, you can use all of your old powers now, with the Seventh Element in your control."
"Really? Sweet! What does this Element represent, anyways?" I asked.
"It's the Element of Imagination." Luna replied. "Kind of suiting, since it creates whatever you imagine--within reason, of course."
"Right," I agreed. "Well, I'll call you if anything turns up. And Derpy," I turned to the grey Pegasus, "I guess I'll be seeing you more often, with you being The Doctor's assistant and all."
"Yep!" she replied.
That was when we each went our separate ways. Derpy went to the Post Office to get today's mail to deliver, Luna headed for Canterlot...
And I took one last look at what remained of Everfree Castle. The last of Discord's destruction, for now. I wondered how he was able to pull something off like that; making sure that magic wouldn't fix anything here. I would have pondered it more, but I had work to do. I closed my eyes and focused on returning to the museum.
I opened my eyes and found that I was in the lobby. The Doctor wasn't there, so I checked downstairs. I knocked on the door, and he came running out with an old musket shotgun aimed at me.
I raised my hands. "Doc, it's me! I was brainwashed by Discord, and now I know what I'm doing."
The Doctor lowered his weapon. "I figured as much," he said. "I take it that you've met my assistant?"
"Yeah," I replied. "I think she was the one who saved me from falling to my death."
"What do you mean?" The Doctor asked. "Can't you fly?"
"Well, I could, but after Discord tried to dispose of me, he took away all of the powers he gave me... It's a long story, and I've got a lot to tell you.."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Later that day, everypony was gathered at Canterlot to honor Twilight Sparkle and friends for what they have done.
Celestia addressed all those who were present. "We are gathered here today to once again honor the heroism of these six friends,who stood up to the villain Discord, and saved Equestria from eternal chaos!"
There was a round of intense applause, and Celestia revealled a stained-glass portrait of the Element Bearers defeating Discord. Another round of applause, even stronger than the last.
It was over. Or so they all thought. After the celebration, Luna would tell her sister, in private, that this would only slow Discord down. He had planned it all from the very beginning, every possible outcome, and how to counter them. He did have over 1000 years to plan it out, after all. Sterling would have to befriend the other Element Bearers in order for all the Elements of Harmony to work.
It could be the greatest disaster since Discord took over Equestria, over 1000 years ago. That is, if he succeeded.
And that would not come to pass; not while Luna had anything to say about it. She had been fooled by Discord before, and she will not allow it to happen again. Not to herself; not to Sterling...
Not to anypony.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Meanwhile, Discord was being taken back to the Canterlot Sculpture Garden; this time in the middle of the Palace Labyrinth. But unlike last time he was turned into stone, Discord was aware of all his surroundings. He could still summon beings into this world, but he decided to do something a little different. Discord would create his own assassin, someone similar to who Sterling Smoulder was. It would be perfect. Discord still had Sterling's memories, so he would use the more agressive ones to create the personality of this new Sterling. Nopony knew that he could do this, and they wouldn't know until it was too late.
Discord's new puppet would easily be able to gain the trust of the Element Bearers, since he would claim to have fled from Discord, knowing that he would easily have killed him.
And then he would kill the Element Bearers.
"You think, my dear Celestia, that even without Sterling," the Spirit of Chaos thought, "you had me defeaten... But soon you'll see. And I'll take back Equestria once more, and that would only be a start!"
The gloves were off now. Discord was pulling all the stops with this plan. It would be foolproof.
And Equestria would never be the same again.
END OF BOOK ONE
AUTHOR'S NOTES: That's right, dear readers, this was BOOK ONE. I'm planning on writing two more "Books" for this saga. But what will be in those volumes? I'm just going to say "It's a secret to everybody". (See what I did there?)
Anyways, thanks again for reading this story! And stay tuned for Part Two! Feel free to drop your questions, comments, quibbles, and complaints below; I'm always open to feedback! In my opinion, I live in the biggest room in the world: The Room for Improvement.
And remember: Discord for Best Troll of 2011!