//------------------------------//
// The Upcoming 16 Hours 
// Story: Agents of Discord 
// by Scarlett Haze 
//------------------------------//

	During the trot through the extended tunnel to Canterlot, I got to see small segments along the sides that had been dug out. In each segment, a few beds had been set out or it had a small arsenal ready to be picked out. I had started to become nervous, mostly due to not knowing that I would be going to, you know, war.

I had been in small fights before, usually school related tussles that etched out a place of who I was. But, war? Never liked the concept in my life. There were things to fight for, I wouldn't deny that, but to torment innocent lives on top of murdering thousands? I actually stopped in the tunnel and began to question if I could seriously take away a life. Would I cower out if it was a choice between my life or my attacker?

I tried to picture a pony in front of me, beaten and bleeding out with its horn lit up. I readjusted the staff and went to strike down the visage. Before I could fully bring it down, I forcibly stopped and began swearing at myself, pulling away and moving from the vision I had placed down. How could I do it? Simple answer, I couldn't. Did I really think I could KILL someone? I tried to imagine Discord in the same position and made him smile through the blood that had dripped into his mouth.

"Come on, Bait," I made him say. "You said you'd do it, and here it is. Ram your stick into my head and save your precious friends!"

I let the taunts go on and again tried to bring the staff down. My eyes had shut before the crack of the orb hitting the ground let me know I had committed to kill something that my imagination had tried to accurately make me go through if I had done it in real life. When I had opened my eyes, the staff was still there, orb and all. I grudgingly got up and shouldered the staff again. I began to wonder why the orb wasn't even lighting up like it did when Trixie had made it when she pulled it out.

"Maybe it's magic controlled or something..." I muttered to myself, continuing down the dark path. The thought of everything was beginning to crash against me, war, Discord, Nightmare Moon, my friends forced to fight against me, others getting hurt or killed, it had slowed my usual pace to a slow and monotonous beat. I stopped myself and took a deep breath, trying to calm down and think clearly.

"This is worth fighting for," I repeated to myself as I continued on, this time with some determination behind my steps. I continued on before hearing the sound of audible digging.

"Put up the beam, come on!" I heard, a threatening bark following after the order.

The digging kept going as I approached, the hunks of dirt and rock flying as I forced myself against the wall. Doing the best I could to keep moving, I finally caught the attention of Spot.

"Tyrone," Spot called out.

The dirt and rocks had stopped, and Tyrone pulled into my eyesight. He looked ragged and wild eyed as he forcibly lifted Spot up by the throat and into the wall.

"What do you want, you stupid pup?" Tyrone screamed, letting Spot's eyes nearly pop out.

Spot pointed out to me and Tyrone snapped his head to where I was. His look softened and Spot was let go. He stood there panting like he had been running for a long time. He approached me, towering over me as he tried to speak.

"Ty," I softly spoke, "Do you feel okay?"

Tyrone's knees hit the floor and he fell forward, leaning his whole weight on me. The strain was a bit much, but I managed to roll him off to his back. The other dogs had since stopped working and were also sitting down or laying on the ground.

"Y-You don't happen to have any-" Rover dryly gulped, "-water with you, pony?"

I began hearing a cart from the other direction of the tunnel and started backing up. "Not yet, but it sounds like somepony is coming with some stuff, hang tight."

Rushing back to the cart, it was stocked with more beds and weapons for the rooms. The cart puller was kind enough to let me have his flask of water after explaining that the dogs were thirsty. Going back, I watched as each dog took a drink and handed the now empty flask back to me.

"We're going on break," Fido huffed, wiping sweat from his forehead.

The blue pony barked her agreement, at least, I think she barked her agreement. The four workers began trekking back as I was left with a passed out Tyrone. He did look awful, like he didn't sleep the entire time I was gone. I felt bad for leaving him and even worse for not even asking him how he had been or what he done since we last saw each other. I made a mental note to ask him about everything that he did when the fight was done and attempted to pull Tyrone to a bed or to the cart so he could be looked at.


***


Night eventually came after lolling around and trying to get the staff to fire something out again with no success. Doctor Stable told me that I really shouldn't be moving at all, but he gave his permissions that I could be able to at least walk around.

I guess I had completely forgotten about it at some point, it still hurt, don't get me wrong, but it was like an itch that you just left alone. So, you know the itch is there, but you get to a point where it doesn't really bother you. The hole at least was filling in, just about two centimeters to go until it was gone. It still felt awkward each time the bandages were taken off, being able to feel air go through you when it isn't supposed to was just weird.

I really couldn't sleep, not with the threat of impending doom awaiting me once I had gotten up. A suit of armor, being trooped with other ponies that were just as nervous as I was to try and get over the potential fear of killing another pony, the attack itself.

Not to mention that the dreams had become more confusing than I had ever dreamed before. Seeing my mom and dad, I had unexpectedly pulled out a railgun and blew them both up into giblets before entering Canterlot castle. From there I pulled out a microphone and started singing something, though it was really more a high pitched squeal that kept getting higher and higher until Nightmare Moon appeared. She towered over me like a colossal giant as she raised her forehoof into the air to stomp me.

I did stop the stomp by holding it between myself and the floor in an anime-eque style, complete with grunting and uncomfortable close-ups. The stomp was then interrupted by Discord freezing time and stealing me from beneath the hoof, giving out a Curly "Whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop!"

I called quits on the dream when Celestia had come out from nowhere and fire began spewing from her mouth and the sky.

I had let myself sleep as close to the Canterlot entrance that had been made and silently greeted the yellow magic wall that Richard was making after forcing myself up from the oddest dream I had experienced in a long time. I gave a sigh as I sat between the floor and the wall, staring down at the ground and at my watch.

20 hours 21 minutes 0 firsts.

I began refocusing on basic weak spots on any pony type that would come across me.

For every pony type, the rear legs, take them out and you leave a pony with little option to protect themselves or attack. Pegasi have the wing advantage and disadvantage, bust the wings, they lose flight. Lose flight in the air, and its over, period. Unicorns utilize magic as ranged attacks and defensive mechanisms. Thanks to the resistance of the human genome (that's what it's called right?) I can at least get in close range without having to get fried as badly. Since it comes from the horn, breaking it will make most control over said magic gone or partially broken.

The rules of breaking wings can apply to Nightmare Moon, but perhaps not to Discord. Discord has wings, but seems to fly without the need to flap them. The rule of magic breaking is also applied to Nightmare Moon, but getting close will be close to impossible as she can actively break me like a Kit-Kat bar. Best case scenario, both Nightmare Moon and Discord focus on each other, leaving me with open opportunities to attack who may be winning from the shadows. Worst case scenario, both Discord and Nightmare Moon jump me, forcing any potential fight out of me before they turn to each other.

The staff still had no response like it did when he made a small spark come out of the orb, but made me start thinking as to why it acted like it did. It involved magic, in some way, shape, or form. Looking to the reflective yellow barrier that still was in the way until Discord was ready to take it down gave me an idea.

With all the distance I could muster between the wall and myself with the staff, I let the orb graze it. Pulling back, I got to see a little light inside the orb when there wasn't one before.

"So you are magical... or at least something that holds magic until it gets shot out..." I whispered, now trying to get the spark to come out again.

"Damn it, get out of there!" I yelled out in a hushed tone, not wanting to disturb any other ponies as I continued frantically swinging the staff every way I could. "What am I missing here? A target?"

After waiting for something, I groaned and set back on the ground.

"Well, if worst comes to worst," I thought aloud, "I'll just use the orb to take up any magic blows if I can't figure out how to make it work."


***


"Remember! Cloud cover is your best and worst enemy!" Snowflake shouted out, a soldier's helmet placed firmly on his head. "The enemy comes to where you are near the cloud, you can strike with the lightning and catch them off guard! However, they will do the same, so reflexes must be sharp! Intense!"

I readjusted the strap that now acted as my holster for the staff. It hung off to my right side, keeping the gem out towards the front when I needed to pull it out. As for armor, it seemed both heavy and light. An open faced helmet that strapped around just below my jawline kept my ears out and my eyes still able to look out. The body armor was a complex wonder, being able to maintain a solid looking cover for both the back and sides, but allowing free mobility of the wings.

Along with the staff, I had decided to maintain a bag of 'Heated Cider', the Equestrian equivalent of Molotov Cocktails.

"Your Heated Cider should be released after immediate lighting! Each of you should have up to three bottles and a piece of flint! Use the flint and any hard surface you are on to create the sparks!" Snowflake continued to order as he swiped a flint piece across the wall and lit the enclosed space with a shower of sparks.

The magical wall fell down and the Diamond Dogs began digging upwards towards the surface.

"We're front line, so any resistance we find up there we need to take down immediately! If we don't the unicorns are going to have a tough time defending us in the air and helping take down the troops on the ground we can't get!" Snowflake shouted, turning toward the now breaking sunlight that had greeted us from the created entrance.

"Showtime, ponies! Move!"

We all rushed out through into the garden and found... nothing. No resistance, no enemies, in fact, we were standing in a quiet garden with a golden sun in the sky with a bunch of clouds overhead. Of course, on the other side of the castle was the moon and the dark night that the sun couldn't pierce through. It was certainly an odd experience as the garden had begun to fill with the other ponies.

"Uh... Drizzle! Blue Bell! Check the skies!" Snowflake ordered out, sending two pegasi to look out over Canterlot.

"This is... rather unusual to say the least," Time Turner murmured to me.

"Yeah, I get what you mean," I whispered back. "Shouldn't there be some sound at least going on? Or are we really that early?"

"If we are that early, then we've got the first shot at Discord before Nightmare Moon has arrived," Time Turner surmised.

Drizzle and Blue Bell came back to Snowflake and began their report.

"It's empty, nothing is out there," Drizzle explained.

"It's just quiet, very, very quiet," Blue Bell added.

Snowflake gave a nod and motioned the pegasi team around him. "New plan, we're going in and going in hard. Everypony to me on the back door and on the windows, when I give the signal, we all jump in and take over the main floor."

We all stumbled over each other until the pegasus team was lined in position. With a single hoof dropped by Snowflake, the simultaneous sound of glass breaking came from all of us jumping in... on an 18th century party.

The guests that filled the entry room all seemed to take the matter in stride after an awkward pause as they continued sipping wine and conversing with each other.

"Well," I finally sighed. "Now I just feel stupid."