Five minutes ago
In a flash of white light, a draconequus appeared in the middle of a rocky outcropping. In the distance behind him, a large navy blue dome could be seen, resisting his influence. Around him, he could see signs of battle, with broken spears and pieces of armour strewn around the place. Chuckling, he began to teleport towards the main chamber of the Diamond Dogs, whilst turning a few ponies he saw into balloon animals. Arriving in the main chamber, he saw the room in a state of disarray. Looking up, a small grey dog gave out a shriek.
"Alright gentlemen, where are my decorations?" asked Discord, picking up the cowering dog.
"W-w-we lost them..." he stammered, flinching. His fellow dogs began to back away slowly, as quietly as possible.
"What" said the lord of chaos flatly, his face dropping. "What did you just say?"
"They somehow managed to break free from the petrification curse we placed upon them" sobbed the dog, shielding his face from the snarling Draconequus. Throwing the canine against a wall, the chaos spirit floated into the centre of the cavern.
"Fools!" he bellowed, raising his paw and claw into the air. "Now I have to betray you earlier than I planned and actually talk to those dragons!" His body began to be coated in a flashing white aura, engulfing his body. As the Diamond and Dig dogs began to scatter, a massive pulse of chaotic energy erupted from his body, tearing the cave system from the ground and hurling it into the sky. Summoning his sceptre, Discord flew up into the sky along with the spinning mass of rock. A bright blue light shone through the crystal at the end of the rod, filling the skies with violent purple clouds. The clouds converged into a huge, draconequus shaped cloud, crackling with power. A humongous purple paw swung down onto the floating cavern full of screaming dogs, smashing it towards the ground.
The ground shook as if it was falling apart as the enraged spirit of disharmony looked on from high, wand in hand. He saw the dogs crawling from the wreckage in an attempt to flee his wrath, but with a snap of his fingers, they were all turned into stone, along with a bunch of ponies he saw running towards the town. Looking upon the carnage he had brought upon the countryside, Discord laughed before descending into deep thought.I suppose the next stage of my plan needs to be activated he thought, teleporting away from the town.
In a forest, to the far west of Ponyville, were a gang of three teenage dragons. Their reckless ways had led to them being ostracized from their families, especially after their overhunting of phoenix's came to light. Life had been rough for them since then, since no dragon wanted to be associated with them. Their leader, a red male called Garble, was sure it was down to some baby he had met at the last migration. He had links to that pathetic Princess Celestia, who in turn had links to the Grand Dragon. His word was final on any matter involving dragons, even if it lead to somedragon's death. Stupid old fart thought the red teen, chewing on a rabbit he had caught. Dragons weren't usually carnivorous, but desperate times called for desperate measures.
But not much longer thought Garble, his mind drifting back to that odd pony that spoke to him a while back. She was bright pink and moved in ways that living things shouldn't. He was going to pound her into the dirt, when she spoke of the amount of gems she had access to. "Enough to feed you for the rest of your life" she had said, wicked grin on her face. All she had asked for was to be ready to look after some sort of treasure in a cave somewhere. He accepted instantly, having sensed his fates turning.
"Watcha thinkin' about, boss?" asked a lanky purple dragon, who was sitting on a log next to a fire, along with a short and fat brown dragon.
"About that crazy dame that offered us that job. Don't know when she's gonna get in touch with us. Just told us to wait in these woods" the red dragon replied, walking towards his friends.
"Hope it's sometime soon, these plants and bunnies are killing my guts" said the brown one, his belly audibly rumbling. Suddenly, a bright ball of white energy appeared above the fire, snuffing it out.
Jumping up, the teenagers got into battle stances around the sphere of light. Unrolling itself, the large form of a draconequus stretched his arms out.
"Who are you?" shouted Garble, getting ready to pounce.
"Ah, so you are the boys my secretary found. I am a friend, and a high paying friend at that" said Discord, bowing in front of them. Easing up their stances, the teenagers stood at alert in front of him.
"Ready to serve, sir" said the purple dragon. "Where do you want us to go?"
"The position isn't set up yet, but if you fly east, you'll know where it is" said the spirit of disharmony, a wicked grin spreading across his face. "Now if you excuse me, I have some preparations to do. Ciao!" he shouted, disappearing in another burst of light.
"Something about him seems... odd" said the chunky dragon, stretching his wings out.
"Yeah, I've never seen any dragon that looks like him before, boss" said the lanky dragon.
"That doesn't matter, what matters is that we are gonna eat like kings tonight, boys" said the leader, taking off from the ground into the night sky, closely followed by his gang.
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In the present
After the ground stopped shaking, the ponies began to pick themselves up. Emerging from under a pile of books, Applebloom ran over to her friends. "What the hay was that?" she asked.
"That felt like an earthquake" said Luna, firing a few more blue bolts out of the door towards the barrier. "A really strong one at that."
"Ponyville has never had an earthquake in all the years us Apples have lived here" stated Big Macintosh, helping Ditzy to her feet. "What could have caused it?"
"Five bits says Discord is behind this" said Mario, helping his younger brother up off the floor.
"If he is, that means he has finally decided to attack us" said the princess, walking out of the front door. As soon as she did, two pegasi guards flew into her. Quickly standing to attention before her, they saluted.
"M'lady, there was a sighting of Discord just out of town" said one of the guards, gasping for air.
"Go on" she said, rubbing her head.
"He was throwing some rocks around and literally kicking up a storm. Thankfully, nothing seemed to be aimed at the town" said the other soldier.
"Where about was this?" asked the princess of the night.
"Right where the Diamond Dog lair was" said the first guard.
"Dismissed, men" said Luna, ordering the guards away.
"Looks like Discord isn't a gracious loser then" said Trixie smugly, as the guards flew away from the library.
"We still don't know what he has in store for us though" said Ditzy, nursing a bruised knee. "He could just wish us all into marshmallows and eat us all up."
"If you remain under my shield, he cannot harm you" said the princess, picking up the report that was knocked onto the floor.
"How?" asked Scootaloo. "The storybooks say that the rod can grant any wish possible. He could turn your shield into a rain of spiders if he wanted to." Mario shuddered at the implication of that.
"I could explain where my source of magic comes from, but it'd take far too long. Let's just say it is formed from a mix of natural talent and harmony" Luna said, heading into the kitchen. "Now, while we have some downtime, you should eat." Nodding in agreement, the ponies followed her into the other room.
Floating high above the town, a Draconequus and a large playing card observed the barrier pulsing below him. I cannot touch this, if I know Loony right. I still need to get her attention though, without destroying the town. Snapping his fingers, as if struck by inspiration, Discord transferred his consciousness into a pale blue ghost version of himself floating next to her. Very handsome, if I do say so myself he thought, smirking. Snapping his fingers, the ghost of Discord teleported himself into the town.
Landing in Twilight Sparkle's bedroom, he heard muffled noises coming from downstairs. Time to pay them a little visit he thought, floating down the stairs. Standing in the main room were a few guards, wearing armour that had been dulled by a lack of care given. Snapping his fingers again, they all slumped over, asleep. In the next room, he could hear some children talking.
"Then I tripped over a Dig Dog, causing him to slap his friend in the face. It was so awesome" said a filly. Peering around a corner, the draconequus could see it was small orange pegasus talking. Floating into the room, Discord waved a claw at the Princess.
"Hello Loony!" shouted the spirit of chaos floating towards her.
"Guards!" shrieked Luna, flaring up her horn. Behind the ghost, the other ponies pulled into battle stances, dropping their food on the floor.
"Oh please, do be serious. Even if I hadn't knocked out all of your little soldiers, none of you could land a hit on me. Not you Princess, not you magician and certainly not you moustache" snickered Discord, wiping his mouth with a paw. "Heck, even the little girls have a better chance than you."
"What do you want?" growled Mario, getting ready to pounce.
"Just your attention. In about five minutes, there shall be some beautiful fireworks in your honour. You already have more than half of the elements, after all. Why not celebrate this?" said the ghost, sitting on the lap of the snarling plumber. Upon hearing this, Luna's face faulted.
"GO PROTECT THE ELEMENTS!" she yelled at Big Macintosh, who began to run out of the room.
"There's no need, farmboy. I cannot grab things in this form, telekinetically or otherwise. Anyhoo, I should be off. I have some preparations for my guests to do, so guten tag, meine kleine pferd!" the draconequus said, disappearing in a burst of light.
Now she has been scared, my next stage can commence he thought, returning to his regular body.
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"How much longer, boss?" asked the chubby brown dragon, lagging behind his comrades.
"We've only been flying for fifty minutes. Quit whining" said Garble, leading the trio. "Anyone see anything... Woah" he said, slowing to a stop. Ahead of him, the world was contorted into odd shapes, with the effects of the chaos magic being more intense than in the forest the dragons had lived in.
"Do you think that is what he meant by 'we would know it when we see it'?" asked the purple dragon, pulling up alongside his red leader. Suddenly, Discord arrived next to the group in a flash of light.
"Hello, hello my draconic friends" said the draconequus, spinning around the leader. "I was just about to set up your home."
"Where?" asked the fat dragon, looking around at the environment. There wasn't a cave to be seen.
"Hold on just a minute" said the spirit of disharmony, teleporting the dragons and himself to above Ponyville. "First of all, here is what you will be guarding" he said, snapping his fingers. In another burst of light, a giant playing card materialized. Looking at the pony contained inside it, a glare formed on Garble's face.
"Her" he growled, flying to pick up the card containing a white unicorn with a purple mane.
"She looks like that one who protected that pathetic baby dragon. The one that got us exiled!" snarled the brown dragon.
"The one and same. Guard it with your life and be on the lookout for a bunch of ponies lead by a red earth with a moustache. They don't look like much, but they are tenacious" said Discord, his sceptre appearing in his hands. "Brace yourselves, this will be quite loud" he said, raising the rod above his head. A red pulse struck a large mountain sitting north of the barrier, causing it to visibly shudder. After a few seconds of calmness, the earth began to shake and the mountain gained a bright red glow as the earth began to calm down returning to normal. The peak of the mountain bulged and shuddered. Finally, the top of the mountain exploded, showering the barrier and dragons in magma and boulders.
After the smoke cleared, Garble looked over to newly formed volcano. It had lava flowing all over it and smoke gets obscuring any real entrances. In other words, a paradise for dragons. Smirking, the spirit of chaos snapped his fingers again. "Your payment is awaiting you in there. Don't eat it all at once, or you'll end up looking like your mothers!" he said, teleporting away.
"Was that an insult?" asked the lanky dragon. "I think we should pound his arse!"
"Not worth it. Come on, we have a job to do" said the red leader, flying towards his new lair.
Looking up at the sky, Mario could see a large crater open up on the local mountain. At least, he could when the world stopped shaking.
"I'm guessing those were the fireworks he mentioned" groaned Sweetie Belle, picking herself up from under another pile of books. "Oh my, are you OK princess?" she asked, running over to the shuddering figure of Luna.
"I am fine, my dear. I didn't expect such a large hit on the barrier" she said, attempting to smile.
"Are you sure? You look like you've been hit by a train" said the plumber as he helped the mare of the moon to her hooves.
"I am fine. Honestly. Now, hurry to the mountain!" she said, pointing the ponies towards the door. Nodding in acceptance, the crew consisting of Mario, Big Macintosh, Ditzy Doo, Trixie and the Cutie Mark Crusaders ran out of the door towards the billowing smoke in the distance.