A Tea Party for Tyrants
"Ah, greetings Discord. What brings you here?" asked Princess Luna watching as the draconequus slowly walked towards her, Twilight following behind him.
"Well, this may seem strange but the faithful Twilight did ask for my help and this may be the only way to solve Equestria's little problem. I need you to release Nightmare Moon from that cage." He said pointing behind Luna, towards the magical cage constructed around Nightmare Moon.
"Release her? Why would I ever do such a thing?" Luna asked, her eyes widening with surprise.
"Hold on princess, let him explain." Twilight said
"Yes, I'd love to explain. You see Princess..." Discord said with a bow and continued " the only way to defeat Illogic is to play by his rules. As the saying goes, we must fight fire with fire."
"Exactly, like Illogic said when he fought Rainbow Dash with her own moves "rainbow with rainbow" he actually made sense for once. He was trying to tell us something." Twilight added, Discord and the princess shook their heads in synchronization at the random outburst.
Quickly shaking off the confusion, Discord continued with his speech. "So, we must do something that makes no sense or seems impossible to accomplish. My plan is to use the Elements of Harmony against him. But not with the regular bunch, no, with all the "villains" that have been defeated by the elements in the past. We must combine forces and form the bond of friendship to defeat him. So I need you to release her. I know this whole plan seems absolutely impossible but I think I can do it. Look at what friendship has done to me. If I can show the others the magic of friendship then we can and will do this."
"Should I even trust you?" Luna questioned "How do I know you’re not releasing these villains for more...ulterior reasons."
"There's no way of you knowing for sure princess but that's the point isn't of asking for somepony's trust, correct?"
"Trust him Luna and if you can't, trust me. I would never do anything to harm Equestria and its citizens, you know that." Twilight said in a sincere tone as she put her hoof upon Luna's shoulder.
"I am very unsure of this Discord." said the worried princess. "How do you know she will comply?"
"She may not. It's a risk we have to take if we want to save Equestria. If she does try something, I'm sure the three of us can defeat her. The spirit of chaos, the Princess of the Night, and an extremely skilled and powerful unicorn fighting one Nightmare Moon, It can't be that hard."
"That is a good point but this plan still seems very dangerous and quite the risk. But, I trust Twilight's judgment and I understand that you've changed so, yes I will release her." Luna said heading towards the magical cage. The sound of her hooves hitting the floor echoed throughout the silent hall. She gently placed her horn into the magical blue aura which kept the cage and it's bars in constant materialization. The aura quickly vanished and out walked Nightmare Moon.
"Thank you, Discord" she said walking towards him.
"You are quite welcome, dear. Now then, I'm guessing you overheard our little chat. Are you willing to do this?" Discord asked with a smile.
"Not willing but if I must."
"Glad to hear it. Now then, I may need your help releasing Sombra from his ice cage." he said turning to Luna and Twilight. "Also convincing the queen of the Changelings, finding that magician, Trixie I believe is her name is and the griffon, Gilda."
"That's quite the order, Discord but I think we could do that." Twilight responded in a cheerful tone. "Well let's get to it."
The task they faced was hard and long but Discord, Luna, and the gang continued to push forward. After releasing Sombra from his prison, deep in the Arctic North and against all odds convincing Chrysalis to join their cause, Discord stayed behind to keep the three infamous villains in line while Twilight and her friends went to find Gilda and Trixie. Princess Luna went to aid her sister in Ponyville.
"Here they are Discord..." Twilight said opening a door to let in Trixie and Gilda. "Whoa, this looks like an interesting little get together." she said looking around the room and watching as tea cups, the tea pot and the tea itself floated around the room. "I bet it'll be fun. Well, I better let all of you start getting to know each other, bye."
"Goodbye Twilight." Discord said, waving as she closed the door. He jumped up upon the long table on which the tea and sweets were set and began making his way towards the two new comers and placing a top hat, which appeared from thin air, upon his head. Many cups, plates and cakes by their own will, got out of the way of feet as they crashed down upon the table. The non-conscious kitchenware was smashed underneath them but quickly reformed as he continued forward. Reaching the end of the table, he jumped off and landed in front of the griffon and unicorn. Chrysalis and Nightmare stared in awe at the unmannerly spectacle that had occurred in front of them while King Sombra was too engulfed in the crystal glassware and mumbling the word "crystals" to notice.
"It’s nice to meet you, Trixie, Gilda. Welcome to our little get together, sit down, have some tea, and eat some treats." Discord said in a kind and welcoming voice.
"That's not Trixie." commented Chrysalis staring at the blue pony.
"Very funny, I have changed quite a bit from the old Trixie but I am still Trixie." said the unicorn, making her way to a chair and taking a seat.
"Do you even villain?" asked Nightmare, followed by an evil chuckle.
"To be quite honest I don't think any of us here are truly villains." added Chrysalis "I don't believe there really is a black and white, all a lovely gray. Just look at me, I command my changelings to take any land and then feed upon it's helpless inhabitants. Many would call me along with my fellow changelings evil and cruel. I am not saying I don't appreciate these compliments but in reality, we do what we must for survival. If we did not feed, we could not survive and our civilization would be lost forever."
"Yes you do make a good point. I am just a jealous part of a princess, everypony has their jealous side and you Discord, you just do what you do. It may cause problems but that is who you are. Just look at you now, working for Equestria and following Celestia's every will. It is pity if you ask me." Nightmare said slowly shaking her head back and forth.
"I don't do everything she says, just what benefits me but otherwise you're all exactly right.Take for example Sombra, over there." Discord chimed in, pointing at the king who was still entranced by the crystal ware "I don't think he ever wanted to be in the position he is now. Something happened long ago, I don't know what but it changed him. I knew him before the whole Crystal Empire fiasco and he was a pretty cool guy. Now, he's practically a lifeless husk preforming deeds of evil for quite obscure reasons. So with all of that as Chrysalis put it, we all do what we must to survive. So, by joining together to defeat Illogic, we are doing exactly this. If we cannot defeat him, we can't to continue forward in our lives."
"Why exactly should we defeat this Illogic?" Trixie asked, taking a sip of tea. "He is just like all of us, why don't we all join together to help him make Equestria a better place?"
"Ha, says the unicorn that can barely even cast the simplest of spells." Nightmare Moon said, nearly spitting out her tea.
"Back off." Gilda said standing up from the table, her claws tensing. "She was just asking a question."
"All I was going to say, griffon, is that she knows nothing of what Illogic can and will do. It is foolish to even think of teaming up with the likes of him." Nightmare said, slamming her hoof upon the table. "Long ago and as a part of Luna, I faced him and saw what he could do. He is only looking out for himself and will destroy anything or anypony in his path, even if they do have the same mindset...if you could even say that."
"She does make a valid point. There is no room for decisions here. We must defeat Illogic." Chrysalis commented.
"So, Discord, bro, how is this going to work exactly?" Gilda asked
"Well I'm not exactly sure yet but there is supposed to be a spark of some sorts that activates these things." Discord responded, pointing at the chest containing the Elements of Harmony." But first we need to concentrate on getting to know each other better and of course being a little friendlier."
"It seems that will be quite the task. We've barely even started and we're already arguing." Chrysalis stated, glaring at the griffon, unicorn, and Nightmare Moon.
"I never said this was going to be easy but we can do this. After all friendship is magic." Discord said,taking a bite out of the sweet roll in his hand and then smiling. Chrysalis burst out in laughter, pounding her hooves against the table, the plates and tea cups rattled in unison with each pound. Discord's smile quickly turned into a frown as he looked downward in shame. Nightmare couldn't help but notice this enormous mood change. Something changed in her at that exact moment. It was as if her heart grew three sizes when she realized his pain.
"It's okay, Discord. None of us understand this magical concept of friendship. I don't think any of us have ever really had friends. But I've noticed a strange feeling and a change whenever Luna speaks with someone in a friendly manner, whether it be her sister, Twilight or anypony else. I want to feel that for myself and experience this friendship."
"Thank you, Nightmare. I'll be right back everypony." said Discord, walking up a spiraling staircase as each stair appeared in front of him. The plate of sweet rolls gladly followed, quickly sliding across the table. Just as Gilda was about to take a bite of the sweet roll in her claw, it jumped into the air and fell onto the plate with the others.
"Hey, you just stole my sweet role!" she yelled, unsuccessfully attempting to grab the plate. "Come on, really!"
Trixie's eyes glided down to her plate as she stared at her uneaten roll. She paused for a moment and said, "Here, you can have mine." handing her roll to the griffon.
"Well, thanks Trixie." said the surprised griffon, taking the roll.
"It's the least I could to after you defended me earlier." the unicorn replied.
"Come on old pal, we can do this, those ponies showed you friendship, you can do the same for these ones." Discord thought to himself, continuing up the stairs but then coming to an abrupt halt, realizing the interaction between Trixie and Gilda. "Hmm, I never expected that unicorn to be so generous and Nightmare Moon was so kind, when did that happen? Wait, generosity, kindness..." The draconequus' thoughts were interrupted as Sombra finally looked up from the crystal ware and then noticed the staircase.
"Stairs!" he yelled jumping up from his seat and then crashing into the bottom stairs. The others burst out in laughter at this amusing site and so too did Discord.
"What...is he...doing?" asked Trixie, fading in and out of laughing fits.
"He's always had a...strange obsession with stairs, ever since I've known him. It's a long story, maybe another time." Discord answered.
"That must be the one thing that he loves more than crystals." said Chrysalis, still laughing at the king who was now attempting to hug the stairs."
"Sombra sure knows how to make somepony laugh." Nightmare said, wiping liquid amusement from her eyes.
"Laughter" Discord thought to himself and then said aloud with a spark in his eyes "Yes, I've got it! Chrysalis who told us all the truth, that none of us are true villains, represents the spirit of honesty. I never thought I'd be saying this but Nightmare Moon who realized that I was hurt by Chrysalis' laughter and then kindly helped me right back up, represents the spirit of kindness. King Sombra who made all of us laugh and smile together, represents the spirit of laughter. Trixie, who gave her only sweet role to a hungry griffon, represents the spirit of generosity and Gilda, who stood by the side of and defended a unicorn she barely even knows, represents the spirit of loyalty. The spark, it ignited in me when I realized that although this is going to a hard task, together we can and will do this and only when we are united can the sixth element be activated, the element of magic!" Then in a flash of blinding white light the Elements appeared on the party-goers necks and the crown upon Discord's head.
"I cannot believe this, it actually worked." Chrysalis said with great surprise, looking down at the element upon her neck.
"The Great and Generous Trixie, I like it" said the blue unicorn polishing her element with her hoof.
"Crystals!" Sombra yelled with delight, staring into the sparkling balloon shaped crystals in his element, causing everypony to chuckle.
"Wow, I guess Dash has taught me a lot. I never thought I'd be representing loyalty." Gilda said, lifting her head proudly.
"Just look at me, Nightmare Moon representing the spirit of kindness? Luna has changed me." said Luna's counterpart with a slight smile.
"It looks like through all of our encounters with those ponies, we've actually learned a thing or two and they've changed us...for the better." Discord said, adjusting the crown on his head.
"I cannot believe I'm going to say this but I've had a wonderful time at this little party and for the short time we've spent with each other. Yes, I know it wasn't at all perfect and we did argue but none of us are perfect and with all that I've experienced tonight, I'm quite happy to say, I'm glad to be a friend to each and every one of you. I've never had friends before or ever expected it to be so wonderful, this is trully great." Chrysalis said, tears beginning to form in her green eyes.
"Yes it is..." Discord said, smiling. "And together as friends, we can defeat Illogic with the Elements of Harmony."
"Together, we can do much more than just defeat Illogic." Trixie said with a grin "Just think about everything that we could do."
"Yes, but first we need to concentrate on Illogic. With him not defeated, we won't be doing anything." Discord quickly added.
"Oh, alright, we better get going then but I have one question before we leave. Why didn't I get the Element of Magic?" she said in a whiny tone followed by the cutest of frowns.
"....Um...well..." Discord struggled to say, trying as hard as he could not to mutter something that may dampen her feelings. "I'm not really sure. I guess it's just the way the elements work. You should be proud that you're representing the element of generosity. Not many ponies get to say that...In fact, I've only heard of one other. Well we better get moving, there's no telling when that crazy colt will blow the world to bits."
"Yes, let's get moving." said the Great and Generous Trixie, now holding her head high with pride. The rather odd group of very unlikely friends exited the door out into the warm and sunny meadows just outside of Ponyville, the sounds of life entered their ears and the scent of grass baking in the warm sun wafted into their noses.
"Come on, buddy" said Discord turning back and looking through the open doorway to see Sombra hugging the stairs once more. "There will be plenty more stairs to hug." The king looked at the stairs with a frown but quickly jumped up and rushed out of the doorway. With a snap of his fingers, Discord made all traces of the room in which they had bonded and became friends in, vanish. He turned away and began heading in the direction of Ponyville, the grass brushing against his feet with every step he took. The others followed close behind.