//------------------------------// // To Save or Not to Save? // Story: To Be Truly Happy // by KiaraKovu123 //------------------------------// “Hold onto me.” Said Discord as Pinkie leaped onto his back. She nodded and looked into the gloom of the cave that stretched out before them. Cadence darted forward next to Celestia. Discord and Pinkie followed closely after them. Luna took up the rear, looking for any signs of danger on the way out. “What about Tyranny?” Luna blinked, “Tyranny…shall probably be trapped in this cavern for all of eternity when it caves in.” Discord smiled and looked at Pinkie. She was almost asleep, eyes only slightly open to keep watch. But she nodded. “Good. Now we can be free.” She suddenly felt a cold whoosh of wind run across her and her eyes widened. Discord stopped and so did the princesses. “What in the world?” Cadence looked at her aunt Celestia, who shrugged and looked to Discord, Pinkie, and Luna. “Did you all feel that?” asked Cadence. Everypony nodded. “W-what was it?” Pinkie asked as she gripped Discord’s fur with her hooves. Discord pricked his ears and sniffed the air. A single rock fell from the ceiling and Celestia jumped out of the way. “I think…we better…RUN!!!” Pinkie shouted. Everyone commenced running, until they saw the light at the end of the cave. Discord and Pinkie smiled. “I think we’ll make it!” he said. Pinkie nodded and giggled. “I hope so!” another rock fell from the ceiling. It was easily dodged, though. Celestia spread her wings and tried to fly again, she lifted above the ground, but barely. Luna and Cadence copied her, but the same results occurred. In a few moments, they had reached the exit. Luna leaped in front of Discord and sprinted out of the cave. Pinkie laughed out loud and Discord took a jump in the air. But their victory was short-lived. “Gotcha!” a red beam of light surrounded Discord and Pinkie gasped. “Tyranny! Let us go!” they both turned to see the black Unicorn standing behind them with a victorious smile. Cadence gasped and rushed back into the cave, but a rock crashed down from the ceiling and she backed up. The cave was almost blocked off. “Tia! We must do something!” Luna’s horn glowed, but only barely. She still hadn’t regained her powers yet. “Oh, no! What do we do!?” “Not what you’ll do!” said a voice from behind. “But what we’ll do!” Twilight darted up to them, smiling. “Twilight! Ah, impeccable timing, my student.” Celestia praised her. Twilight nodded. “Are you ready then?” “As we’ll ever be!” pronounced Cadence. Twilight gaped in surprise, the pony she least expected to see now was her old foalsitter, but here she was. “I’ll explain later, Twilight. We have to save Discord and Pinkie!” Twilight lowered her eyebrows in a glare, somewhere deep inside her, she had ignored her teacher and she still held a grudge against Discord. But she had to save Pinkie. Her horn glowed a shiny deep pink and Cadence’s blue. Luna’s sparkled a bright navy, and Celestia’s, a shiny golden yellow. “Do this for Pinkie...” Her mind whispered to her, she felt herself whisper back, something she felt a neutral reaction to. “For nopony else. For Pinkie.” --- “Looks like my two little chickens almost flew the coop!” Tyranny snickered and the two flew back down the cave, until they were directly in front of him. Pinkie’s face grew bright red and Discord growled. “Ah, well, no punishments for now. How did those Princesses get in without my dragons defending the place? Ah, well, they must need a little scolding. But for now…” he set Discord and Pinkie down and she whimpered and hugged him tight. “Tyranny, just…” Discord shook his head. “Why are you doing this?” Tyranny’s eyes widened and he stomped his hoof on the ground, sending out a crack that chipped the stone. Pinkie whimpered again, but this time more quietly. “Why? WHY!? Because Celestia took all I had! My kingdom, everything!” “I already learned that lesson the hard way.” Said the draconequus in a calm voice. Pinkie bit her lip. “I know that. I’m not a dimwit, unlike you.” Tyranny rolled his eyes. “Once I regain control of Equestria, I will not turn it into a playground like you did. I will turn it into a place where I can get revenge, when Celestia’s debt is repaid to me, I will turn it into a glorious empire, with me as the eternal ruler, Celestia and Luna will be forever gone! And I shall be King Tyranny!” Discord pretended to snore, Pinkie giggled. “DID YOU EVEN HEAR WHAT I SAID!?” Discord pretended to yawn and opened his eyes. “Somewhat… I lost you at ‘Hello, I’m Tyranny’.” Pinkie covered her mouth with her hoof and laughed. Tyranny’s eyes flamed bright red and he reared up, and then stomped down, the floor cracked, which made a medium sized crevasse. Pinkie squeaked and hugged Discord tighter. “Now, my little pink princess…” Tyranny eyed Pinkie. She looked quite shocked for a minute, then scoffed and turned away. Discord flinched. “Don’t call me that.” Pinkie muttered under her breath. Tyranny picked her up with his magic and she floated over to him. “Fine. How about Pokey Pinkie Pie?” he said with a snicker. She growled. “Puny, Prudent Pony?” Pinkie stood up and stuck her nose in his face. “DO NOT CALL ME ANY OF THOSE EVER AGAIN! GOT IT?” she shouted at the top of her lungs. Tyranny seemed to cringe momentarily, but then smirked. “Sure, Sugarplum.” Both Discord and Pinkie grew bright red. “ONLY DISSY CAN CALL ME THAT! NOW JUST STOP!” Pinkie shrieked. “Mmm, okay.” Tyranny said in a relaxed voice. “But, let’s see how you like this.” He stood up and his horn glowed crimson. Pinkie was just about to ask what he was up to when she suddenly felt different. She tried to stay conscious but then everything went black, within a few seconds, she jumped awake. “Do you like it, Pinkie?” “Hm…I LOVE it…” she smirked and swished her tail from side to side. Discord gasped. “I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU NOT TO DO THAT AGAIN!” he shouted. “Did I promise? No. I only said yes.” He cackled and circled Pinkie. “So, tell me, how do you like those nicknames I gave you earlier now?” “They’re…perfect…” she said, batting her eyes. Discord felt enraged, jealous, fearful, mad, and just plain foolish all at the same time. “I’m glad you’ve realized it…now, what do you think of…” Tyranny smiled. “What do you think of me?” Pinkie lowered her eyebrows and smiled. “You’re perfect…” “And Discord?” Pinkie frowned and looked at Discord, showing no hint of happiness or love. Her eyes shined scarlet. Discord knew this was not really her, and she was in there somewhere, but she said what he feared. “I hate him. He’s an insult to the universe.” Discord felt sad all of a sudden, not fearful, sad. No, not sad, crushed. Pinkie, the one who he truly loved and trusted, had just called him a pathetic excuse for a draconequus. It hurt, even though this wasn’t really her. “T-Tyranny, stop…” he said in a shaky voice. Tyranny smiled and another rock crashed down from the ceiling. “Why? I’m having fun, aren’t you?” he said with a chuckle. --- “Where am I?” Pinkie floated around, in a universe far away from her own. It was nothing she’d ever thought to imagine, so she probably wasn’t asleep. “Discord? Helloooooo?” she paddled her legs across the wide, open expanse of a foreign land, everything was dark red or black. A single white object caught Pinkie’s eyes from far off. “Hello?” she paddled faster until she reached the white, she put her hoof on it, she saw a little hoof print appear, she could see through it, though. It was like a foggy window in the middle of winter. She put both hooves on the wall and rubbed all over, it cleared and she could see what was happening in Flaming Caves. She could hear and see everything. she realized she was seeing this in her own eyes. She could tell, but she wasn’t controlling what she said or did. She watched in utter silence for a moment, listening to the questions that Tyranny gave her. “I hate those nicknames…” she said, even though she had a strong feeling they couldn’t hear her. She listened to herself answer that she thought they were “perfect”. Then Tyranny asked what she thought of him. “WHERE DO I START!? I DETEST YOU!” she then listened to herself say she thought he was “perfect”. “NO! I DO NOT THINK THAT! EWW!!” She gagged. “And Discord?” “Ooh…” Pinkie smiled, “This question is more my style~! He’s sweet, cute, HILARIOUS! Uh, romantic…” she giggled, “Hm, silly, and he’s a total goof ball!” she laughed and smiled, she did feel a little better, and kind of wished he had heard that. She eagerly awaited “her own” answer. Five seconds later, her mane was deflated. “W-wh-what? N-no…I…” she sniffed and wiped her nose. “Please don’t listen to her, Discord…I don’t hate you…No…” --- Now, the boulder was almost removed, so one pony could squeeze in. I’d have to be a small pony, though. The Cutie Mark Crusaders all volunteered. But Luna shook her head. “No, you three could get hurt! It must be I!” Twilight shook her head. “No, Princess. If you get hurt…who knows what will happen. I’m goin’ in. I can fit.” “No, Twilight! Lemmie go instead!” protested Spike, who was hugging her back leg. Twilight shook her head. “No, I’ll go. Stay here, and be careful!” she ran up to the cave and squeezed in through the small hole. “Good luck, Twilight!” called everypony. She smiled and tried out an invisibility spell, it worked, but it was weak. She let out a sigh and walked down the cave, she felt herself become visible, than invisible, back and forth, until it wore off. She rolled her eyes and ever-so-quietly walked down the hall, until she reached an open space, she looked around, puzzled. “I thought they’d be in this room…” she suddenly felt like she was being watched, she turned around to see Pinkie grinning at her, from down the cave. “Pinkie Pie!” she ran up to her. “I was so worried, thank goodness!” Pinkie giggled and rushed down another hall. “Huh?” Twilight skidded to a halt and watch Pinkie dart off into the darkness. “Uh, Pinkie?” she trotted after her, but then picked up the pace. “Come and catch me, Twilight!” said Pinkie, it was only then that Twilight noticed Pinkie’s scarlet red eyes, the exact opposite of her normally sky blue irises. She skidded to a halt. “Pinkie…?” “PINKIE! YEAH! That’s my name…and who are you?” Twilight gasped, “PINKIE, LET’S GO!” “Go? Why? I’m having soooo much fun with my new friend!” “Who’s that?” “Well, DUH! Tyranny!” Twilight’s eyes widened and she took a step back. “Pinkie, what has he done to you?” --- “HE’S TRAPPED ME IN HERE!” --- “Huh? Nothing! I just love, love, love my new best friend~!” “Pinkie! Snap out of it!” Twilight’s horn glowed a bright pink and she used all of her remaining powers for this moment. Pinkie’s eyes instantly became blue again. “TWILIGHT!” she ran up to her and pounced on her with a big hug. “OMIGOSH, YOU’RE HERE!!!” Twilight smiled and nodded. “Yes, but we have to get out of here!” “Uh, yeah! But just Lemmie go get Discord! We’ll have to be very careful--” “No, Pinkie! We don’t have time!” said Twilight as another rock fell from the ceiling. “Let’s go now!” she started to run back the way she came. Pinkie stood where she was. “Twilight…uh, I’m not leaving without him.” Twilight groaned and stopped, facehoofing herself. “Gee, Pinkie! We don’t need him! He’s immortal anyways! He’ll make it out ok--” “He’s not immortal anymore because of Tyranny! AND I’M NOT LEAVING WITHOUT HIM! I’ll be right back!” she ran down the hall in the opposite direction. Finally reaching Tyranny’s chamber where Discord was being held. “Did you take care of the unwanted visitor, Pinkie?” Pinkie looked at the ground, trying to avoid eye contact with Tyranny. “Uh, yes, sir.” She walked up to Discord and looked up at him with, a first serious expression, which he countered her with a poker face. Then her eyes teared up and she winked at him, making a tear slide down her face. Her mane was one again curly. Discord grinned and winked back at her, obviously on the brink of tears himself. Just then, Twilight burst in the room and looked at Tyranny, who was staring at her. “And you are?” “Twilight Sparkle. Here to save Pinkie.” Tyranny growled at her and leaped in front of her. “I don’t need you now, leave at once or be crushed by the cave itself.” “No, because we’re leaving. Pinkie, come on!” Twilight pinned Tyranny to the ground. “Go! I’ll be there in a minute!” Pinkie nodded and Discord did, too. She leaped up on his back and he ran off down the cave. Tyranny gaped. “WHAT!? NO! NO! NOOOO!” he looked at Twilight, who was smiling at him. “We win~!” she said in a musical voice, then got off him and sprinted down the hall. More rocks fell and she eventually caught up with Discord and Pinkie. She brushed off Discord. “Are you ok, Pinkie?” “I’m fine. Let’s just get outta here!” Discord at once sped up and Twilight took the lead, the rock she’d used to get in was now moved a little more. Twilight leaped through the opening and Pinkie jumped off of Discord, then jumped out of the hole just as another rock crashed down from the ceiling. Discord tried to squeeze through the hole but wouldn’t fit. Twilight took a deep breath and at once felt her powers return to her, she turned around, panting. “Discord!?” Pinkie skidded to a halt. “Hurry up!” Discord pushed harder and harder, and Celestia tried to help him out, but her magic was still charging, along with Cadence’s and Luna’s. “Twilight, thou must help him out!” Luna shouted. Twilight stood motionless, thinking it over. Discord was her arch enemy, should she help him? Would he just bring chaos back to Equestria? Or did he really change like Celestia had told her. Pinkie heard a few more crashes inside and Discord yelped. “OW, OW!” “What is it!?” Pinkie asked with a frantic look on her face. “My tail! It’s stuck under a rock!!” he struggled and batted his wings Pinkie gasped and turned to Twilight, “TWILIGHT, HURRY!” Celestia looked at Twilight with a stunned expression, “Are your powers not back yet?” “They are…” Twilight blinked, still in the exact same spot, having a war with her mind. Pinkie couldn’t help herself, “TWILIGHT, DO IT NOW! DO IT FOR MEEEE!”