It was the day after Era's abduction, and Princess Celestia, along with the Elements of Harmony were discussing the abduction, and what the reason for such an act would be. Discord wasn't there with them, neither was Luna as the latter had to use a spell to subdue and the Spirit, who had went on a rampage after his discovery. After that, Luna had returned to her room and hadn't come out yet.
When they searched the room afterwards more thoroughly, they had found a small note with strange icons and scribbles Princess Celestia had never seen before. Spike leaned toward the wall where he was standing and sighed. ”Left out... Again...” He thought bitterly. He had no assignment, or any idea what to do. He was stumped, and he hated it.
Era was a nice kid. She wouldn't even hurt a fly, and that was what upset him the most. He growled, dropped down on all his fours and stomped through the halls of the castle with smoke coming from his nostrils. When he grew, his temper changed as well. The added thought that he had the strength to rip a pony into pieces was unsettling as well.
”I gotta do something to help... I just can't drag around here all day when Era's on her own with some creep...” He muttered. ”Wait a minute...” He paused in mid-stride, turned around and bolted through the hallways with a massive grin.
”I got it!” He barraged around a corner, barely avoiding colliding with a servant who seemed to be less than excited to have a teenage dragon running toward her. It didn't take long for him to get where he wanted to be, namely Era's room.
He returned to his usual bipedal stance and opened the door slowly while holding his breath. He wasn't sure if he was allowed to be there after what happened, but he could care less at the moment. When the door was completely open, he saw a familiar shape sitting on the bed with his talons in his face, leaning forward.
”Go away...” Discord muttered miserably. He had awoken from Luna's spell five minutes ago, and this room was the only place he wanted to be at the moment, preferably alone. Spike however didn't listen and took another step forward. Discord stood up and his talons lit up with chaos magic aching to be released.
Spike ignored him and searched the room with his enhanced draconic senses. If the ponies would have missed something, he would easily notice it. He closed his eyes and allowed his senses to roam the room. Discord regarded him with an arched eyebrow. Spike felt... He felt Discord's powerful presence as his chaos energy was hard to miss, but there was something else... It was a weak trail of chaos energy which lead through the window. It was almost like Discord's, and it could be easily mistaken as it, but this was just too weak. ”Era...” Spike muttered and opened his eyes.
At the mention of her name, Discord snapped to attention. ”What about her?”
”I think I can track her... She leaves a trail of magic after her, and I can sense it. It's... Nothing certain, but I think it could be worth a shot.” Spike explained. Discord grabbed the drake by his shoulder with his lion talon, then raised his eagle talon to snap his claws. Spike tensed. ”Uh... Shouldn't we tell Celestia?”
Discord paused and stroked his beard, shrugged and grinned. ”Nah, I'll just grab Shining Armor and then we'll go!” Spike protested and told the spirit about the note which had been found. Discord's brow furrowed. ”Well, you go get the note while I collect some ponies we could bring. Wonder if Big Macintosh is available...” He muttered when he disappeared in a golden flash.
It didn't take long for Spike to realize that Discord had a plan.
He shuddered.
”Ah have a feelin' we're not just gonna go out fer a drink as usual t'day.” Big Macintosh drawled to the unicorn.
”Yeah, but Discord really needed our help with this and I think it would be a low blow to refuse to help him with whatever he's doing...” Shining Armor sighed. ”Considering what happened with Era just yesterday...”
”I have a bad feeling about this...” Spike's eyes darted from side to side. He had managed to 'borrow' the note from the princesses, but he didn't like it one bit. ”I wonder when Discord's gonna arrive...”
As if on cue, the draconequus appeared within a flash. He grinned. ”Glad to see that all of you could make it here today!” He clapped.
”Yeah... It's not like we had a choice to be here or not...” Shining Armor added sarcastically while rolling his eyes. ”You just teleported next to me, grabbed me and teleported away with me.”
”Eeyup.” Big Mac nodded sagely.
”Quiet, you.” Discord scowled at the unicorn, who shrunk back. ”The reason I called you here today is because of the... Events... which occured yesterday...” Discord stared at a distant point, then shook his head. ”Anyway, we're going to search for Era with the help of Spike, who can track her magic somehow. The reason why Shining Armor is here is because of his expertise in defensive magic. Big Mac is here because his sheer strength is impressive.” Discord turned away from them with his talons behind his back. ”I'm here because I'm an ancient evil with no regard for safety or sanity. It's a perfect mix!” Discord beamed.
The ponies and the drake glanced nervously at eachother, but shrugged it off. Shining Armor stepped forward. ”So, my sister and her friends are coming as well? Their teamwork and the Elements of Harmony can come to use, from a strategic point of view.”
Discord thought about it. He was right... The Elements of Harmony could help them with this, but a group of eight ponies and two bipeds would not be a good idea, as they would be spotted easier. ”Nah, I'm sure we can do this on our own juust fine!” Discord grinned. ”Now, off we go!”
The ponies and the drake glanced at each other again, but this time in uncertainty. All of them had a very bad feeling about this...
Discord, however didn't notice how uneasy his companions were as he teleported the group away from the castle.
An hour later, Fluttershy was walking around the castle, searching for Spike. He had left without telling her where he was going, and she was worried that he might have gotten lost in the castle. She squeaked in terror as she bumped into a decorative suit of armor, and darted away unnoticed.
She breathed a sigh of relief as she saw Twilight Sparkle exiting a room down the hall, and was currently walking toward her. ”Twilight knows Spike better than anypony! She must know where he is...” The pegasus reasoned and walked over to the unicorn ”Hello, Twilight..!”
”Oh, hello Fluttershy! Say... Have you seen Shining Armor anywhere? I can't find him... He's not in his office...” Twilight sighed. She had looked forward to spending the day with her brother.
”Oh... I haven't seen him after this morning. And I was going to ask if you had seen Spike. Have you seen him? If you haven't, I don't mind... I was just... eep...” Fluttershy hid her face in her mane.
”Fluttershy, you don't have to feel awkward that you're dating a dragon who's pretty much my little brother! But...” Twilight stopped, leaned forward and spoke in a low growl. ”If you break his heart, I'll break your spine...” Twilight leaned back and sighed. ”Now, when that's out of the way, why don't we search for the guys together?” She trotted down the hall. Fluttershy didn't protest and followed the lavender unicorn.
Luna walked toward her sister's quarters with her head hanging. She hadn't felt this miserable in several years, and to top it off, she couldn't find Discord anywhere. She was on her way to Celestia in hopes that her sister knew where he was at the moment. As she opened the door to Celestia's room, she noticed the alicorn lying on her bed with her regalia lying tossed away on the floor next to her. ”Celestia...” Luna comforted and climbed onto the bed, which creaked in protest.
”She's gone... She was in our castle, under our watch and still they got her, Luna... I failed... I failed protecting one of my subjects, my niece is currently scared and lonely somewhere...” Celestia leaned to her sister for comfort, and Luna placed her wing on her. Luna sighed. Whenever there had been some kind of natural disaster or accident, Celestia would shut off like this. She'd drop the facade of being a wise leader and just mourn. Luna didn't dare to think how Celestia was when she was all alone, when Luna was still banished.
”She'll be fine... Era is a headstrong filly, and she knows what to do in tight situations. Don't you remember how she would demonstrate her offense spell she had taught herself on Discord?” Luna chuckled, and Celestia laughed momentarily at the memory of a scorched and ashamed Discord.
”And by the way... Have you seen Discord anywhere lately? I can't find him in the castle, even when I attempt to scry him. Maybe he went out to have some time alone...” Luna sighed.
”No, but strangely enough, both Shining Armor and Spike are missing as well... Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy told me this earlier, and both of them seemed to be worried about them...” Both of the princesses got lost in their own thoughts, but both of them snapped back into attention when they realized something horrifying.
”Discord got a plan...” Luna said in a barely audible whisper. Her dark coat seemed to be a bit paler from the thought.
”Oh... Oh dear...” Celestia shuddered. This... couldn't be a good thing.
”The trail ends here, I can't sense it any further than this. Sorry, Discord... ” Spike lowered his head.
”Ah, don't worry about it! At least we have an idea of where she could be. But I have to say, this place feels... Familiar somehow.” Discord mused as he walked toward what seemed to be an ancient stone pillar hidden beneath all the vines. With a snap of his talon, the vines withdrew from the pillar.
Discord remembered the marks on the pillar, and visions of fire and destruction clouded his minds, he even heard a few distant screams to remind himself of his deeds in this jungle. ”That's... not possible..!” Discord shook his head.
”What's not possible?” Shining Armor asked and took a step toward the pillar where Discord stood frozen.
”We're... We're by the entrance to the Equii Jungle, former residence of the Draconeqi... I thought this jungle was burned down thousands of years ago!” He tore his eyes away from the pillar and to the jungle they were about to venture into. ”I don't remember all the dangers here, so be careful and stay close to each other, alright?”
”Sure.” Spike nodded
”Alright.” Shining Armor nodded as well.
Big Macintosh turned to the jungle slowly, chewed on the wheatstalk in his mouth slowly, then to the group he was traveling with. He shrugged. ”Eeyup.”
”Well then, off we go!” Discord took a heavy step forward, only to step down into something mushy and warm with his lizard leg. ”Ew...”
The ponies and the dragon glanced at eachother once again, questioning their own judgement in deciding to join the spirit on his mission. But same as before, they just shrugged and followed.
Nothing could go wrong in an ancient, undiscovered and dangerous jungle when your guide is the Spirit of Disharmony and the Element of Chaos, right?
...Right..?