Chapter Twenty-six:
The Resolve of Strength
We ran through the halls, following the path Corig had carved out. His words from back at the cages lingered in my mind.
"He has?" I shouted, only half-shocked. I knew that he was going to pop up sooner or later, but we've got nothing. "Well what's happening now?"
"The others are trying delay him while you lot figure out how to stop that monster. By the way, what IS the plan?" Corig asks, one eyebrow raised.
I look uneasily to Celestia, and she back at me. "We don't have one." Corig's arms sagged.
"Are you joking? How could you not have a plan? I thought you had a plan!"
"Well that was before we found out about this." I point to Celestia and Luna. Corig looks to them, then to me questioningly.
"And?" That's right, he was around before their rule. Before Discord's rule.
"These two here are Princess Celestia and Princess Luna." I explain. "They're supposed to be alicorns with vast amounts of magic that could help break free Twilight Sparkle's stony imprisonment. With her free and the Elements of Harmony together we could defeat Discord. But without their magic our plans have just crumbled in front of us. Now we have no idea how to free Twilight."
Corig stares at the Princesses, no looking impressed by their appearance. "These are the pony rulers?"
"Like he said before," Celestia spoke up. "We are supposed to be alicorns, much more impressive than how we look now. And I have not had the pleasure of making your acquittance."
"I'm Corig, Prime Alpha to all Diamond Dogs. I ruled these lands before you, you merely inherited it." Celestia was confused and intrigued at the same time.
"I was not aware that the Diamond Dogs had a Prime Alpha. And how is it that you ruled these lands before us? My sister and I took the throne centuries ago."
"It's a long story, one we can discuss a later time, but can we please focus on the danger at hand?" I interrupt.
"But how?" Sharla asked me. "Discord's made his appearance, the Princesses are powerless, we don't have the Elements and even if we did there's still the matter of Shining Armor's sister. So how are we going to beat him?"
"We no longer have a plan," Shining Armor chipped in.
"No power," Corig states.
"And what about Twilight? Without her the Elements wouldn’t work even if we had them." Rainbow Dash points out. It's true, we had none of that. Our plan has crumbled, and it wasn't even that sturdy to begin with, the Elements are in possession of the enemy, and we have no idea how to get Twilight out of her prison.
"What do we do?" I ask them rhetorically as a cheap smile plays across my face. "We do what we've done best and wing it." Everyone else look surprised at me, how I could suggest such a reckless thing. "How many times have we ever had a plan that has worked for us through thorough thinking? Instead of negotiating with the Diamond Dogs, I got captured. We were supposed to storm Canterlot, but I fell and jeopardized everything. We were supposed to get Celestia's help in freeing Twilight, but now she's lost all her magic. Face it, we've never had a plan work out for us, we've survived this far by relying on our wit and quick thinking. I don't know about the rest of you, but ever since coming to Equestria, I have been chased through a forest, nearly ripped to shreds, torn apart and mauled, beaten, starved, enslaved, kicked around, and nearly killed a dozen times! And there's only one person who was the cause of all that: Discord. So you know what, I'm tired of running into a brick wall at every turn and I'm going to get even with that son of a bitch and kick his ass any way I can." The others stare at me, then at one another.
"So you're going to fight him without a plan?" Luna asks, stepping forward.
"Even though you have little to no chance of winning?" Corig asks, leaning on his spear, looking more amused than surprised.
"And that he's thousands of times stronger than you?" Celestia points out. I looked to each and every one of them.
"That's the plan,"
"Then I'm in." Sharla steps forward, beside me.
"Me too." Shining Armor agrees.
"Shining?" Cadence gasps.
"Honey, he's right. Everything is gone. But not lost. I've been by Jesse's side long enough to know to trust his judgement. If there's a chance that we can beat Discord, then it's with him." She hugs him, proud to hear those words. Flex perched on my shoulder and nuzzled me, he's in too.
"Well you can count us in." Rainbow Dash said proudly, voicing for the other girls.
"Hey, you're not having all the glory for yourself." Corig growled."Besides, I have unfinished business with that bastard."
"You do realise that facing him head on almost certainly means your own defeat, do you not?" Celestia announces.
"Maybe, but we'll never know for sure until we find out. And what about you? Are you going to sit around while he destroys your country?" I asked the white mare.
"He does have a point sister." Luna says to her. Celestia looks to her younger sister and sighed, giving in.
"In all my years of ruling, I have had to make every decision thoughtfully and carefully to make sure my country stood strong. Very well, if you think that this is the best course of action, I will join you." There's a quick holler and hoot as we celebrate as we make the worst possible decision imaginable.
"I see the exit!" Sharla announces as we watched a bright dot grow bigger and brighter. We burst through the exit, rather dramatically and heroically if I might add. Might as well go down in style. And there he stood; his back to us.
His one antler and goat horn on his head; a lion's right arm and left arm a bird's; one lizard leg and one goat; his right wing is from a bat while his left is a normal bird wing, and connecting it all together was that reptilian tail and snake-like body. He had his back to us, not caring that we're here.
"Discord you third rate excuse for a child's nightmare, turn and face us!" I blurted out. But he doesn't, he continues to keep his back to us.
"Hey, we're talking to you!" Rainbow joins in. Still, he ignores us.
"Perhaps he just needs a little 'Motivation'." Corig charges at him on all fours. When he comes into range, he jumps on Discord, and still, the draconequus doesn't move. As Corig slams into him, he instead passed right through, breaking Discord in half.
"Wait a minute, what?" We rushed over to the scene and crowd around Discord to only find out that it's a two-dimensional cardboard cutout of himself. Of course, what else would he have done?
"Hey, what are we looking at?" We look up and jump back in surprise. Somehow Discord was able to slip in our circle when we crowded around the cardboard one.
"Holy crap man," I yelp as my heart skips a beat.
"Discord!" Celestia hisses.
"Celestia! Oh how good it is to see you again. I would have visited sooner but things have just been so hectic of late. Running a kingdom is so stressful." Discord says dramatically. "Look at yourself, off the throne for just a few weeks and already you look younger."
"HEY!" I shouted catching his attention, "you owe me some answers."
"Well, well. If it isn't the human. And I see you've brought friends. The remaining Elements of Harmony, Captain of the Royal Guard, a griffin, and look. I never thought I'd see some of her children again. Tell me Chex, how has Mommy been doing these days?" Chex swore at him and loosed an arrow, aimed right at his forehead. Discord snapped his fingers and the arrow turns into a rose. "Aw, you shouldn't have," he said catching it.
"Hey, I said you owe me some answers! Do you have any idea what I've gone through ever since meeting you?"
"Why yes, I do. You've been chased around by a putty-tat, had a skirmish with a flying rat and a wooden mutt, and you did a bit of excavation work. But isn't this what you wanted? To come here?"
"Shut up! It's time you gave me some straight answers. First off, why me? Why did you send me here?"
"Why else? To stir up trouble. True, it wouldn't have lasted long and you would have been accepted into society soon enough, but it would have been amusing for that short of time. Though it seems I've gained more than I bargained for. Little did I know of your potential. And now thanks to you I'm free and have defeated the only ones who can stop me." The others looked at me uneasily upon hearing that I had helped Discord.
"You did what?" Dash yells flying to face me at eye level. "I knew that you couldn't have been trusted. You were a spy!"
"No I'm not!" I retort back. "I don't know what he's talking about or what power I hold. All I know is that I've absorbed his chaos magic, but in exchange I had to give up some of my own, whatever it is. And now he's taken the bit that I've lost for himself! But none of that matters now, what we should be focusing on is beating him!"
"And how will you do that? Without the Elements of Harmony you can't lay a finger on me." He extends his arms and shows us his hands. Upon his three of his fingers on his left bird's arm sat three of the Elements. Laughter on the middle, Generosity on his index, and Loyalty on his pinkie. On his other hand were Honesty and Kindness. "I feel pretty, oh so pretty."
"Then we'll just do it the old fashioned way." Sharla threatened as she swung her axe over her head.
"That's not going to work, take it from your friends." He whistles a tune and out of nowhere appeared Krinox, General Swift, Chief Thunderhoof, the Shaman Vana. All gagged and tied up. And what's more, they were dressed like circus clowns. If it weren't so embarrassing it would be hilarious. "As you can see here that failed miserably. But go ahead and try anyway, let's see where it gets you."
Crap, as much as I'd hate to admit it, but I doubt we'll be able to beat him with the usual method we've used thus far. Maybe we could trick him on his own game. Wait, that's it!
"Tell me Discord, you like games don't you?" I baited him. A sudden interest is displayed on his face.
"Of course I like games. Who doesn't?"
"Well how about this, we play a game of tag. If we win you return all of the Elements of Harmony to us and Twilight Sparkle with them." The others look like I've gone crazy, except Celestia, I think she may have caught on too.
"And when I win?" He asks.
"You win. We stop trying to overthrow you and you can run Equestria in your image. End of story."
"What?" Everyone gasps, not liking those terms.
"Jesse, are you certain about that?" Shining Armor asks.
Before I get a chance to answer him, Discord interrupts. "Okay, what're the rules?"
"All we have to do is tag you any way we can. The moment we touch you, you lose. But you have to stay in the vicinity of where we can see you and you can't forcibly stop us."
"Doesn't seem too fair," he complains. "But okay, let the games begin." He claps his hands twice and the statue of Twilight on a pedestal pops into view behind him. A blindfold is wrapped around his eyes and a rope ties him firmly to a pole that wasn't there before. A lit cigarette is placed into his mouth, he looks like he's being executed. But what he's really doing is baiting us.
Too bad some of us are more impatient than others. Without thinking Rainbow Dash bolts towards him, taking her opportunity. We all slapped our faces as she crashed into the pole, and Discord vanished. Laughter is heard from everywhere with no fixed location.
"Discord, you're out of view, that's breaking the rules." I remind him.
"Oh, am I?" We look up and see him floating above us. Flora flies after him this time, her talons outstretched as she gets closer. At the last second before she could get him, Discord pops a trampoline into existence. She didn't have enough time to slow down or swerve out of the way and was shot back to the ground.
Chex bolted to where she was going to crash to catch her, it looked like the only thing that could move faster than her was the wind. Discord appears just off to the side of her path, eating a banana. He takes the peel and throws it on the ground, right in Chex's way. Of course one of her hooves just happens to land on it she starts sliding out of control. What else would have happened? But thankfully her momentum carries her on and she was able to make it to Flora before she could crash to the ground. Unfortunately she still crashed, into Chex. The good news was that they were both safe, to an extent.
"A-hahahaha. Oh the old ones are the best!" Discord laughs wiping a tear from his eye. He's distracted at the moment, the best moment we could have.
"Toss me!" Without a moments hesitation, Shining Armor wraps me in his magic aura and flings me though the air towards Discord. Before I could catch him he shifts his snake-like body just out of the way and I pass right by it. I tuck and roll and land on my feet, turning around to meet Discord head on. I push off and fling myself at him, Silver Fang flying through the air. I had all intentions of doing more than just grabbing him. I was angry, furious even, at what he's done. The random crap he's made, the day and night cycle, even the discorded ponies I could handle, I could even laugh at. But everything else he's done. The lives he's ruined, the families he's separated, the power he's taken for his own twisted purposes, I won't sit back and let him do any more! I'm ending this now!
"I know what you're thinking," he says as he cooly dodges my swings like I'm a child trying to beat up his older brother. "You think you can win, that you can beat me. That once you get me I'll release Twilight Sparkle and return the Elements of Harmony, they'll turn me to stone, and then everything will be as it once once. Well I have a newsflash for you:" He aught Silver Fang using just two of his claws and grinned like a snake. "You can't do it."
"Shut up!" I yell wrenching the sword from his grip, ignoring his words and trying again.
His eyes start changing different colors in waves. "Oh, keep trying as you might, but you know deep down inside you, you can't do it." He hisses. "You can do so much, but you can't beat me. You were always the best, always the greatest. Everyone expected you to fail, but you proved them wrong. You say that you don't care, but you do. You want to prove yourself, but to make sure you don't feel like you’re better than everyone else you cut them off and lie to yourself. And all that time you're afraid, afraid that one day it will happen. That they'll be proven right for once and you'll fail! And you know that that is today."
I stopped short of my last swing. I tried not to listen, tried to tell myself that he's just talking shit, tried to ignore him. That I know I'm right, that he's just making this up. I tell myself that I can win this, I can do it...
I bring my sword high over my head and he stop moving, giving me the perfect chance to strike. But I can't bring my arms down, I can't move. My arms tremble and the fire slowly fades away. I drop Silver Fang, it lands harmlessly to the ground. I fall on my hands and knees.
"You're right." I say, my voice trembling. "I... I can't beat you." The other gasped, horrified to hear what I'm saying. I said I'd win, this was my decision, my plan, my confidence, and my gamble. I can feel something change, something's happening to me, and I can see it. I'm losing my color, heh, I'm being discorded. And you know what? I don't care, I let it happen. I look up to Discord, and he grins back at me with victory flashing in his eyes.
"Get away from him!" Sharla shoots towards us and swings her axe at him furiously. Her axe cuts through him, chopping him in two. But inside were springs and cogs, a robot decoy. We hear disembodied laughter from all around us. Sharla puts down her axe and hoists me up, holding me in her arms, all my color's gone. "Jesse, Jesse!" She calls to me.The others arrive on the scene with Dash, Flora, and Chex back in action.
"On no." Shining Armor exclaims. "Why would this happen? Why him?"
"Discord wants to change everything, even personalities. Whatever this power he's taken he won't give it up so easily, and he'll make sure this boy doesn't use it either." Princess Celestia explains.
"Well we just has to make him remember what he was like before with the memory spell." Fluttershy says. "Then he should be back to normal."
"Leave me alone." I say emotionlessly, but they ignore me.
"Great, so one of you just has to perform it." Sharla says frantically, not sure why she'd want me to change back. I see the truth now, we can't win, and if I change back then I'll just think that we can again, but it won’t change anything, It's stupid.
"I don't know how it works." Shining Armor says. "You were like this once Rarity, you were changed back with the spell before. Did Twilight ever teach it to you?"
"I'm afraid not. And even if she would have I wouldn't be able to turn him back. The spell is a collection of the caster's memories, so only you could do it."
"There is another way." Princess Celestia says. "When this first happened I sent Twilight every friendship report she ever sent to me, reminding her and reversing Discords grip on her. If any of you can remind him of how he was before then it could change him back."
As if on queue Discord appears again. "Oh I'm sorry, but that's not going to work." He says to the others. As strange as it is I'm glad he's here now. Thanks to him I'm free of these vicious chains of hope.
"Change him back!" Sharla let me go and grabbed her axe, she flies at him full force. Sad, she can't win so why even try? Discord poofs a wolf suit on him and inhales deeply, then blows with all his might. She is sent sailing back to us, Shining Armor catches her with his magic.
"Looks like this little piggy made her house out of straw." Discord comments proudly and pulls the wolf suit off.
"Damn you Discord," Celestia curses. "How could you do this?"
"Oh it's quite easy Celly. First you just think up an idea, then you set it in motion, and voilà, chaos in a can."
"Well turn him back!" Chex threatened nocking an arrow.
"Well maybe I don't want to change back!" I retort. "Maybe I like the way I am now! Ever thought of that?" They start trying to convince me all at a once.
"We're only trying to help you."
"We're your friends remember?"
"What about getting home? Don't you still want that?"
"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" I yell at them. I put my hands over my ears and shut my eyes, trying to block them. But I can still hear their muffled voices all around me, all of them trying to convince me, to change me. "I don't want to hear it from you! Don't you see that we can't win?"
"Pathetic," I hear a single voice clearly in my head as all other sounds have stopped. I open my eyes and slowly take my hands from my ears. I don't know where I am, but I know I've been here before. It's a large empty place, completely black, but not dark, I can see myself clearly. I look around to try and find where the voice came from but I can't see anything. "You truly are pathetic."
I look ahead of me to see a familiar light. "You again?"
"Did you expect someone else?"
"No, just surprised I guess. So can I ask why you brought me here? And will it take long? I'd like to leave soon."
"Why don't you go right now?" It asks, thinking I can do it.
"Because I can't. You brought me here so obviously only you can let me go. Besides, I couldn't leave even if I tried."
"Oh course you can!" It shouts furiously. "Do you think that I picked you because you give up so easily, because won't try? No! That's not you That's not the person I gave my power to!
"And just who are you exactly?" I shouted back. "You say you give me power, you say that you are my power, that you are me and I am you! But just who are you exactly!" It's silent for a while. Like it's not sure how to reply. Then it gets brighter, so bright that I have to cover my eyes. As the light dies down I remove my hands shielding my eyes, only to find that I am staring at myself.
"I've told you. I am you." It says. I'm stunned, I don't know what to say. It's a perfect replica of me, like I'm staring into a mirror. But something is different, it's vibrant with colour while I am grey. "Do you know why you are so good at everything you do?Why you never quit? Why you've always been the best?"
"Because I always tried." I answer. "Because I can be better."
"Only when you want to be." It puts its hand on my back and gives me a warm smile. "You are only able to be the best because you try, because you want to be the best." It waves a its hand and a screen appears before us. On it are flashbacks of my life, of my accomplishments, my victories, my... my greatness. "You are only able to accomplish this because you break the very laws of the universe: everything has it's limits. But you have pushed past that law, you have no limits. There is virtually nothing you can't do. And that's where I come in."
"What do you mean? What do you do?"
"You've asked me what I am. Well I am your strength. I am the factor that controls your behaviour, that keeps you from temptation, that doesn't waver your resolution, that forces you to push past your boundaries." It puts its hands on my shoulders and comes and comes face to face with me. It doesn't look mad, but confident. "Don't you see, why Discord chose you? What this power is? What makes you so special? Don't you see it? You’re the only one who can beat him because only you can force it."
"But... but what if I can't?" I ask, more unsure of my failure than I am in it's confidence.
"Then let me help you." It brings its fingers to my forehead, the tips shining with brilliant light. And suddenly, it all makes sense now. I understand. I understand my power, my strength, why I'm so special!
"Oh come now," Discord separates my friends away from me by placing barricades around the two of us, he's dressed like a cop. I'm back in the courtyard, like not even a second has passed by. "Give him some space. Can't you see that you're making the poor boy feel bad?"
"Jesse!" Sharla pleads to me. Hoping that I can hear her.
"So sorry, but he doesn't want to listen to you." Discord taunts.
"Actually," I reach up and grab his goatee and slam my fist into his face, causing him to be sent flying and the barricades to disappear. The others gasp in surprise at my action. "I can hear her just fine!"
"My nose," Discord complains lying on the ground several feet away from me. "How did you do that? You shouldn't be able to defy me like that!"
"Like what?" I start to change. Everyone stares in shock as my colour returns to me. My hair turns black again, my coat red, and my eyes burning with passion. "I don't see anything wrong with myself."
"What? But how did you reverse my spell?" He sputters in disbelief.
"Easy, forced it away Discord. You should know that. But that's beside the point. I tagged you Discord, now free Twilight and and fork over the Elements."
"Ha, like I'd actually do that!" He gets up and two perfectly shaped pies appear in his hands. Pies that have fuses like a bomb. He throws both pies at me, they hiss through the air as the fuses get shorter. I was hoping he'd choose the hard way.
"Sword!" I extend my hand out as Shining Armor levitates Silver Fang to me. Once it was in my hand, I kick off from the ground, and in the blink of an eye, I vanish.
"Wha-? Where'd he go?" Applejack asked as she and the rest look everywhere for me.
"We have bigger problems to worry about." Sharla points to the incoming pie-bombs. Shining Armor throws a shield around them, protecting them from the blast. But before they make contact with his shield, they're both cut cleanly in half, and I now stand hunched over in front of the pies. They exploded behind me, I'm clear of the blast range, safe from harm. The others look at me in disbelief as I stand up straight, exhaling cooly.
"Damn I'm fast." Before any of the others could ask how I got there or what just happened I lunge right and disappear again. I appear before Discord, suspended in the air. I twist in the air and deliver the bottom of my foot to his face.
"OW! Again with the face?" He complains. "How are you doing that?"
"Oh come on Dissy," I bring my sword up to face horizontally, my left palm placed against the flat of the blade. "You should know that by now." With no warning, I'm surrounded by fire. Fire that envelops and consumes me, fire that is strong, fire that does not burn on the touch, fire that I control.
"Jesse!" Sharla cries out for my safety.
"Wait child," Celestia stops here, mystified at what is happening before her. "Let this happen."
"What? But he's-"
"Safe," I cut her off. The fire dies down, not even the slightest of burns is shown. I'm not harmed, not even singed.
"What? You actually..." Discord droops his shoulders as he points at my metamorphosis. I'm not different, not in appearance that is, but something has changed. Silver Fang, no longer the blade I once held has been transformed as a medium for me to control and use my powers to the full extent.
What was once a mighty katana is now scimitar. The blade still bent back, but was now a bit thicker than it used to be. The handle, pommel, and cross-guard were all made from what looked to be gold while the blade itself had a pattern of red, orange, and yellow instead of the standard grey and that tint of orange. And in the centre of the rain guard was a sigil that looked to be painted glass in the pattern of fire.
"Princess," Rarity says in awe. "What is that?"
"I never thought there to be another." She responds, her eyes locked onto the blade, specifically the flame sigil. "I thought there to be only six."
"Six? Six what?" Pinkie Pie asked, confused as the rest.
"Why the six Elements that make up Harmony of course. " I answer. I hold my sword up for the heavens to see it's glory. "This is the seventh. The Element of Willpower!"
