"Umm...sir?" I meekly called out to Snowflake. "Shall we proceed to... mingle?"
Snowflake readjusted his helmet and prepared to speak before Discord in a butler's costume had swept up to us.
"Your coats?" Was all he asked before a whisk of movement had stripped the entirety of the pegasus platoon. He then stood before us and graciously bowed. "Enjoy your stay at Lord Discord's castle, entrées are being regularly served around the room until 8:75 Y.U. where the guests are requested presence in the Lord's main dining room for T."
We all kept our jaws on the floor as the butlerized Discord skated away and served a guest with a plate of hot wings.
"D-Did he just-?" Snowflake started before seeing more of the butlerized Discord around the room, six if I counted right.
"Which one is the real one?" I asked myself, unconsciously reaching for my staff and realizing that it was missing alongside the armor.
"Troops," Snowflake calmly called out, "group huddle."
The huddle was moved to a corner as the rest of the small rebellion leaped through the windows, each being caught and served by a Discord butler.
"We don't know what he's planning, but for now, we need to take advantage of Discord's open matter to the castle. I'm dividing the entirety of this group into pairs."
***
"Sooo, Lightning Dust, huh?" I awkwardly attempted at conversation with my partner in the entrance room. "That's... That's a name."
Lightning Dust had this rather bright and annoying sky blue color for her coat, but her mane and tail resembled that of a blonde with streaks in her hair. She didn't look so interested about being left to the room as we looked on to the many guests.
"Urrgh, we should be fighting Discord while he's right there instead of standing around," Lightning Dust angrily grit through her teeth.
"Not with this many ponies that could get hurt," I argued. "Besides, if Discord really bothered to notice the group, he'd have at least stopped for two seconds or more at me."
Lightning Dust huffed and briefly shuffled in place. She looked antsy, WAY too antsy in fact.
"Hey," I whispered to her. "We'll get our shot when he's in the open. By then, the other groups will have searched enough of the castle to not only find out where our stuff was hidden, but they may find some other stuff that'll put Discord on his ass."
A loud clearing of a throat was made that made the entire room go quiet as the butler Discord's stood at the top of the staircase.
"Attention, Fillies, Gentlecolts, Esteemed Guests. At this time we have entertainment in the ballroom. Please make your way there for a performance by the Lady of Records"
Lightning Dust and I gave a look of confirmation, knowing that this could be our moment to strike. We kept to the back as the guests began moving to the ballroom. I kept my eyes on the crowd to see when they would all enter the room before hearing a rush of wind beside me. Lightning Dust had just leapt towards the Discord's and knocked over a few other ponies in her takeoff.
Before I could say a word, the butler Discord had jammed his pawed hand outward and caught Lightning Dust by the face, her wings still pushing forward as the butler carefully stepped down the stairs with her still with him. I forced myself to keep away as there were still too many ponies that could get hurt but cautiously approached to at least try and see what was going on.
"Madam," the butler Discord said, still holding tight to Lightning Dust as her wings began to feverishly beat harder. "I do believe you've knocked over quite a few of our guests. Such action is unbecoming of a lady, and as head of the staff for Lord Discord, I ask humbly-"
The butler promptly shifted Lightning Dust's head to the floor, letting the full force of her flight smash her face. "-suggest that you apologize."
The guests had finally ran into the ballroom and let me get what I needed to step in.
"Back off, Discord!" I yelled, trying to stand on my rear legs to get some height over Lightning Dust and to try and intimidate Discord.
The obvious clones started laughing, not the Ha Ha Ha kind, but more of a Doh Ho Ho Ho, ya know?
"Sir, I may resemble the master of the house, but I am not the Lord you are thinking that I am," the butler said, a hint of a grin hidden behind his stern demeanor.
I had to think fast, and perhaps I thought a little too fast when I started making something up.
"R-really? I can barely tell who anyone is anymore," I began, trying to make up a persona that I could try and use. "I only saw this young mare get thrown to the floor, and I only know because my ears at least can pick up on those kinds of sounds a lady's voice makes. Without my cane and walking dog, I'm practically useless."
The butler looked to the others in mild confusion as I attempted to glass over my eyes and continue on. "Perhaps you can help me? I remember coming in through a window by accident and my cane and uniform attire was completely stripped off me, no doubt by a scoundrel!"
The head butler looked toward one of the clones who had started to avoid eye contact and whistling a ditty.
"No doubt a fact that may have been glanced over by one of the servants I'm afraid," the head butler responded, still looking at the perpetrator. "If you could be as so kind as to describe your uniform and cane, I'll let the one responsible get it back straight away."
I attempted to hide my grin, somehow I was fooling this copy into believing I was blind. "It is a rather unique cane, green orb on its top if I can recall. A red wood finish, like oak soaked in red water. Let me think... the uniform is rather basic. A holster for my cane when I would sit, and a bag with three bottles of cider. It should also have my lucky rock."
The head butler waited till I was finished before shooing off the servant to get what I had described. I decidedly set down on four hooves and stared to the floor. "I can only hope to continue enjoying the soirée with a pleasant lady and a fine drink in hoof with my things back to me."
"O- of course, sir," the butler stammered out apologetically.
The sound of metal clinking and screeching claws on laminate came as the servant came barreling out with the staff, armor, and bag. Carefully setting them in front of me, I reached down for the staff and continued the act.
"Joy! My cane! Let me see if it still has a good whack to it!" I happily cried out before bashing the side of it into the butler's face as I danced around.
The butler wobbled for a moment before falling to the floor unconscious, the servants gasped out in shock and looked to me as I set back at where I had been.
"Now," I said, my head looking up at the servants. "Let's play Whack-a-Clone."
With a yell, the staff came raining down on top of each of the servants, whacking heavily into each of them and making them all hit the ground and try to block the beating I was giving them.
"Where's the Lord? I'll beat the freakin' truth outta ya! Where is he?!" I continually yelled, still beating down on them until they had disappeared to the sound of a snap.
My pupils shrank when my body began shivering. BIG trouble.
"Why, Bait, I'm right here," the sound of Discord came from behind me, prompting my head to turn slowly to see him in full garb as a General. His fingers snapped and the armor and bag were back on me. "Do you wish to discuss the terms of your surrender after I beat you, or would you rather it be done now?"
With little thought, I swung the staff up at Discord, who wormed his body away and gripped my sides, blocking my wings from opening as well. With a heave over his head, I watched as the closed ballroom door came right for my head. Bracing for impact, my head and half my body had gone through the wood.
The music wasn't 18th century, I could tell that much. Even upside-down I could tell that I was looking at a house rave party, complete with laser lights, smoke screens, and a DJ standing in between two giant speakers.
With little option of escape, I felt a click on the door before forcibly swinging alongside it and cracking my head against the opposite side of the wall and falling out back from the door's hole.
"Check it, the Lord of Chaos is in the house," a female voice cheered out through the speakers. "Let DJ PON-3 put down a song ya'll can go insane over!"
The room erupted into cheers as Discord moved through the crowd, slapping his talon and paw with open hooves before reaching the center and clearing away a large circle for the fight that I had now resigned myself to. Shaking as much of the pain I could, I flew over the wall of ponies and landed into the semi-arena before spinning my staff with my right hoof.
"Seems like we got a battle goin' on, ponies!" The female voice called out. "Discord versus a nopony, should be a bit of entertainment along with the jams."
"In more ways than one," Discord grinned, cracking his knuckles before jumping out to attack.
Sliding out from the leap to the other side, I began spinning until I was up on rear hooves. With a smile, I beckoned Discord to come and get me.
Both of us leaped, this time, my staff and his talons beating into each other in midair. The clacks of his claws against the wood was enough to let me know he wasn't putting enough force to crack the pole, but I had begun to worry about how much pressure it could hold off. The tussle went on for a moment until I noticed his tail attempt to strike me at the side. With a push up with my wings, the tail missed. This time Discord was below me as I beat the staff into his face, multiple squeaks and squacks coming from each strike as he tried to get his hands up to fend off the blows.
Discord's hands gripped the staff and pulled me down into a spin. I kept the grip on the staff as best I could before I felt the spin stop. Discord held me up to the high ceiling with the pole, my back touching it as I tried to understand what was going on. With a loud grunt, Discord hurled me with the pole still in my hooves down to the floor, the impact cracking the floor and sending rockets of pain through my back and the hole still present underneath the armor.
"Oh, come now, Bait, I've only just begun to warm up to this fight!" Discord taunted, not knowing that his words were going to be coming true as I rolled on my stomach and pulled out the first bottle of Heated Cider. With a strike against the ground with the flint and towards the cloth, the bottle lit up, making Discord freeze briefly at the change in light I had in hoof. The pause was enough to roll back on my back and heave the fiery glass of cider towards his body.
With an audible crack, the bottle shattered and Discord's body was alight. His screams of agony were chilling as he hastily tried patting out the fire for a few secongs before he snapped his talons and disappeared.
"Got the some bitch," I smirked, getting back on my hooves before noticing the crowd had begun to rush me.
"Get him! He hurt Lord Discord!" Was all I heard as the crowd began to leap at me, biting and trying to pile on me. I attempted to only shake them off to escape so I wouldn't injure them, but the numbers were too much as I was forced to fall under the weight of the crowd.
Thinking that suffocation was going to be my fate, the room shook, making many of the ponies fall off. With a heave, the rest were thrown back. The dark room had become much lighter and the open wall told me why it was.
"All subjects!" A booming male voice called out through the brightness of the sun. "Stand down or you will face judgement on behalf of your new Queen!"
"Queen?" I silently repeated.
The sun was then covered by the body of an alicorn, dark, armored, and knew me rather well no less.
"Quentin!" She called out.
"Damn it, and I thought this was going to be a fun party before you showed up," I sarcastically moaned.
"Today, this ends in the castle with your life and Discord's," she dramatically began. "With both of your corpses underneath my shining hoof, Nightmare Moon shall control ALL of Equestria!"
Nightmare Moon cackled maniacally, making me picture every stereotypical villain I could think of, which gave me an idea.
"Control? You?" I began, attempting to create enough space to rush through the door on the other side back to the entrance room. "How? There'll still be others! They can take you down easily!"
"Of course, always the aftermath," Nightmare Moon crooned. "I can deal with insolent uprisings, much like the one you have attempted to create, and now look at you, alone, and helpless as I begin my assault. It's sad if it wasn't so pathetic!"
The door was almost reachable, but I still needed to buy some time.
"Alright, you may be right that I'm alone now... BUT HERE THEY COME NOW!" I screamed out, pointing back to the sky.
With that outburst, Nightmare Moon and her guard had briefly turned away as I flew as fast as possible to the next floor to gain some distance.
"Chase him down! Don't allow that pegasus to escape me!" Nightmare Moon screeched out, her voice now following me as I bashed through the second floor door.