Chapter 2: The Gathering of the Elements
Silence reigned in the Ponyville Library.
Six ponies and a dragon stared at their Princess, shock painted on each of their faces. The Princess stood gravely before them, having just finished her tale. Nopony moved. The blue light filtered in from the library windows, and each inhabitant of the room - Princess excluded - now shied away from where it landed.
Twilight was on the verge of a mental breakdown. “But . . . how? Princess Celestia? Why would she do that?” Her brow furrowed as she tried to wrap her head around the idea that Princess Celestia, her mentor and the calmest, most rational pony in Equestria, would free Discord. This has to be some sort of joke. She looked to Princess Luna, pleading her for an explanation.
In response, Princess Luna shook her head. “We do not know what has caused her to act like this, but we suspect that Discord’s own magic was involved.”
“But how did he manage to cast a spell on her while he was trapped in stone?” Twilight began pacing frantically, unaware of the eyes of her friends as they all watched her nervously. Spike even reached out a claw to comfort her, but she barely even registered the contact before breaking away from it and continuing her pacing. “You said that he was using magic before he was fully free, so maybe he cast it after she started to free him. but what about before then? He can’t have been using magic before then, it’s impossible!” She was hyperventilating at this point.
“Twilight, darling, do calm down,” Rarity said. “I’m sure there’s a perfectly logical reason for this.”
“Logical? Logical?!” Twilight screeched. “This is Discord we’re talking about! Nothing is logical where Discord is involved!”
“Well, then I think that should very well explain how he was using magic while trapped in stone.”
“But that was caused by the Elements of Harmony,” Applejack said with a frown. “I reckon those’d be the only things that could hold him in one place.”
“Exactly!”
“But they’ve been used twice on him!” Rainbow Dash interjected. “This is Discord we’re talking about. He must’ve found a way around them!” Her words brought silence again to the group, until Princess Luna shook her head.
“No. We have felt the power of Harmony ourselves. It is not order; it twists around its focus, immediately adapting to any attempt to break free. Even Discord’s power could not have escaped from that.” She gave a defeated sigh. “Though we hate to admit it, he must have had help.” This elicited a moan of despair from Twilight, who collapsed onto the ground, sinking her head into her hooves. She felt Spike’s claw touch her back, and she welcomed the contact. Princess Celestia. . . . Why? From somewhere about her, Rainbow Dash’s angry voice filled the silence.
“How can you say that?! You know Celestia! She’d never break out a creep like Discord! Besides, you said she turned gray. That only happens when Discord is involved!” Twilight looked up to find her friend hovering a few feet in the air with her forelegs crossed, frowning at them all. “I don’t care how he did it, or what his prison was. This was Discord’s fault, not Celestia’s, and nopony can convince me otherwise!”
Again, the room was silent as each pony absorbed Rainbow’s words. Twilight felt her heart lift. She’s right. This is completely unlike the Princess. It’s too impulsive. At the very least, if she were going to release Discord, she would have told us so we could stop him if we had to. No, there’s definitely an explanation for this, and I intend to find out what it is.
This time, Fluttershy was next to speak. “I-I agree with Rainbow Dash. Princess Celestia would never do something like let that meanie go free.” She smiled at Rainbow Dash’s thankful nod.
“Yes.” Luna nodded decisively. “We know our sister. Celestia would never say what she said to me. Not without outside influence.”
Twilight sighed in agreement. “I guess I overreacted a little. I should know the Princess better than that.” She frowned. “Still, though. . . . What if it was just her?”
“Don’t worry ‘bout it, sugarcube,” Applejack said with a grin. “No point in gettin’ our tails in a twist over something that ain’t even true. What we really need to do is figure out what to do about all this.”
“Yeah!” Rainbow Dash said, pumping her fist in the air. “Time to get to the-” She was interrupted by a belch of green flame from Spike, out of which a scroll materialized. Twilight immediately snatched it out of the air, her expression a mixture of worried and anxious.
“Not just yet, I think,” Rarity said, looking at the scroll like it was a poisonous snake.
“Remember, everypony,” Luna said, “whatever the cause for my sister’s decision to free Discord, she is well and truly under his spell now. These will not be Celestia’s words so much as a pale imitation of them.” Twilight nodded, her face hardening as she began to read, everypony else crowding around her so they could see it, as well.
Twilight! So good to hear from you! I was just thinking about you. It’s been so long since we got together and had some fun. I’ve been thinking about that a lot recently. Fun. You know it’s been centuries since I relaxed? It’s been nonstop work almost since I banished Luna. Well, not anymore! I intend to have plenty of fun from now on. I’d be delighted if you were willing to join me for it.
Now, on to the content of your letter. I don’t think my sun’s new color - or should I say colors - is anything to worry about. It certainly looks nice, and it was picked out by a friend very dear to my heart. Don’t worry, I’m sure it won’t cause any lasting problems. I won’t even try to keep it up all the time. However much of a party pooper Lulu is, I wouldn’t dream of taking her night away from her. Speaking of Lulu, tell her I said she’s missing out!
I’m afraid I’m out of time. Discord and I have an exciting day (and night) planned. Like I said, you’re welcome to join us at any time!
Your loving mentor, Princess Celestia. The letter was shaking in Twilight’s magical grip by the time she had finished. She didn’t look up from the page. Princess. . . .
“Truly, this is as bad as we feared,” Luna said softly after a moment.
“That doesn’t sound like the Princess at all,” Fluttershy agreed.
“We have to stop him,” Rainbow Dash said, her voice shaking with anger.
Twilight agreed. This was not the pony under whose tutelage she had spent her childhood. It sounded like her, and the hoofwriting was hers, but it wasn’t her words. She sounds like she doesn’t even care if she sends all of Equestria spiraling into destruction. Right now, she probably doesn’t. Her gaze turned to the window. Though the curtains were closed at the moment, some blue light still filtered in. I’ll save you, Princess. Discord won’t be corrupting you for long.
Twilight tore her gaze from the paper, determination evident in her eyes. “We need to get the Elements of Harmony from the castle, but I don’t know how to open the vault without Celestia’s help. Unless you can open it, Princess.” She turned to look at the Princess pleadingly.
Luna nodded. “We can. However, it will be neigh impossible to get to the vault with both Celestia and Discord in the castle. It is in arguably the deepest part of the castle save those that are actually underground, and it is guarded constantly and thoroughly. It will be most difficult to get there undetected. We’ll have to assume that some of the guards will still be loyal to Celestia, with instructions to stop us.”
"So let's just bust our way in!" Rainbow exclaimed. She began swinging her hooves as if fighting invisible enemies. "Bam, bam! They'll never even stand a chance!"
"Yeah," Applejack said dryly, "but what if we run into Discord, or the Princess?"
"Uh. . . . Well. . . ."
"I must agree with Applejack," Rarity said. "We are no match for either of them without the Elements of Harmony." She considered the situation for a moment. "Although, you do have a point in that the guards will not be a problem, especially with Princess Luna on our side."
"Yeah! So let's go in through a window or something, kick some flank, get the Elements, and kick some more flank!"
". . . that is a remarkably sound plan," Luna said. Rainbow Dash grinned at the compliment.
"Hay yeah, it is!"
"We'll still have to get past the hedge maze, though," Twilight pointed out. At her friends' confused glances, she elaborated, "that's where the window is, remember?"
"Ah'm sure that'll be right simple," Applejack said confidently. "Long as Discord don't separate us again, that is. . . ."
Rarity gave her a flat look. "Why don't we all just agree that running into Discord at any point will be disastrous?" Her words were met with a chorus of nods. She smiled. "Excellent. Now, to sum all this up . . . we will enter through the hedge maze, correct?"
Luna nodded. "We know of a hidden passageway through the outer walls, which will get us to the maze itself. From there, we must simply navigate the hedges."
"That shouldn't be a problem," Twilight piped up. "I spent a lot of time in the maze while I lived in the castle. Unless it's been reorganized since then, I should be able to get us through there."
"And these babies will get us out of anything you can't," Rainbow Dash added, nodding at her wings.
Rarity nodded, smiling slightly. "So the maze will not be a problem. After that, we go through a window into the vault room?"
"Yep!" Rainbow Dash nodded. "Then we take out the guard ponies, Luna unlocks the vault, and we all go and take down Discord!"
"Does anypony have any objections to this?" Rarity asked, now smiling widely.
"Um, could we try not to hurt the guards too much?" Fluttershy asked. "It's not their fault Discord is free, after all."
Rainbow Dash groaned. "They're the bad guys, Flutters! We have to beat them! That's the coolest part!"
"But they're just ponies," Fluttershy argued. "How would you feel if you were in their place?"
"We think you will find that the Royal Guard is somewhat better trained than the average pony," Luna said, a smile playing on her lips. "However, if it pleases you, Fluttershy, we promise that no guard will be unduly harmed." Fluttershy smiled her thanks at the Princess, while Rainbow Dash crossed her hooves sullenly.
Rarity frowned at them all. "I trust nopony has an objection beyond that?" When nopony spoke, she held out a hoof. "Well, then it's settled. I suggest we leave tonight, after dark.” Each pony placed a hoof on top of hers, until there were six hooves in the pile.
Wait. Six?
Twilight frowned, counting through everypony. Luna, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and herself. . . . Who was - ah! She looked around the room, and found Pinkie sitting in exactly the same position she had been in five minutes ago with a blank expression on her face. She frowned; of all ponies, Pinkie was the one to not be moving? Twilight removed her hoof from the pile and walked over to the motionless mare, causing the rest of the group to look as well.
“Pinkie?”
* * *
Pinkie Pie wasn’t paying attention. She hadn’t been for some time. In all the chaos of Luna’s tale and the ensuing argument, nopony had even noticed that her mind was miles away, fully occupied by another being.
Discord.
As Luna began to speak, Pinkie heard another sound, that of . . . humming? She turned curiously, and found the draconequus casually entering the library through the front door, whistling a jaunty tune. As Pinkie watched, he removed a lengthy purple cape and hung it absently on the wall as he walked further into the building, looking around unconcernedly. “The Ponyville Library,” he said, looking around. “As quaint as always, I see.” His eyes caught sight of Pinkie glaring at him, apparently ready to pounce. “Ah, hello Pinkie Pie! Fancy meeting you here!”
“Discord!” Pinkie growled. “So you’re behind all this!”
“Well, of course!” Discord materialized a chair as he spoke. He sat down in it with a cocky grin. “Did you think I was just going to cause chaos for a few days and then let the Elements lock me away again? I’ve got things to do, places to see, ponies to mess with!”
“We won’t let you get away with it!” Pinkie shouted, conveniently ignoring the fact that she had no idea what ‘it’ was. “Right, girls?” There was no response. Startled, Pinkie looked around, and discovered herself standing alone. “Girls?” She turned and found them still sitting in the same positions she had left them in. Princess Luna was still talking - though the sound was now somewhat muted - and the other seven were sitting in a hemisphere across from her, listening attentively. Not a single one had so much as twitched when Discord had entered.
Glaring, Pinkie rounded on Discord again. “What did you do to my friends?!”
Discord waved a claw dismissively. “Nothing at all!” He paused thoughtfully. “At least, I didn’t hurt them. I may or may not have spatially displaced them and created an illusionary Pinkie Pie so they won’t notice you’re gone.”
Pinkie frowned in confusion at his response, a reaction which made Discord grin widely. spatially dis-what? She shook her head before glaring again at Discord’s leering face. He’s trying to distract you. Stay focused, Pinkie! Eyes on the prize! “Why are you here?” she demanded.
“Ah!” Discord exclaimed gleefully, all but leaping out of his chair. “We finally get to the meat of the conversation! Here, take a seat.” He conjured up a chair directly under Pinkie, causing her to leap off her new seat with a yelp. Discord laughed uproariously as she turned angrily and jumped at him, intending to pin him down.
In response, the draconequus merely snapped his fingers, and Pinkie found herself suddenly neck-deep in a cushion of marshmallow. Unable to help herself, she stuck out her tongue and licked it experimentally. It was delicious.
In about two bites, it was also gone. Pinkie lifted her head to find Discord mid-sentence. “. . . Was just like you when I was younger. Well, like you but more handsome. No offense. But we are very similar, you and I, eh?”
“I’m nothing like you!” Pinkie said defiantly, standing up tall.
“Oh?”
“Yeah! You’re a big mean meany-pants! You tried to make me and my friends hate each other! I would never do that!”
“Yes, those were some of my better pranks,” Discord said with a grin. “I think I got Rarity best, don’t you? What was it she named that rock? Tom?”
Pinkie couldn’t help but giggle a little at the memory. Seeing Rarity carry a rock bigger than her the entire way back from Canterlot had been funny. . . . She shook herself, realizing what she was thinking. “Rarity was complaining for weeks afterwards about her back!” She threw another glare at Discord, who frowned. “And what about all my other friends? Making Rainbow Dash leave all of us wasn’t nice at all! And Fluttershy was being so mean. . . . Those pranks went too far!”
“Well, I had to do something! You would’ve sent me straight back to stone if I hadn’t!” That brought Pinkie up short. She thought back, and realized that it was true. If Discord hadn’t split them up, they would done exactly as Princess Celestia asked and used the Elements of Harmony on Discord without even giving him a chance. That wouldn’t have been nice either. . . . “I’d been trapped for over a thousand years, Pinkie. Did you really think I wanted to go back?”
“But my friends. . . ,” Pinkie said weakly.
“Yes, I’ll admit that I could have been nicer about stopping you,” Discord said. He sat back down in his chair again, leaning forward to stare intently at Pinkie. “But I had to think quickly. So I took the Elements, and then everything just sort of snowballed from there. By the time you were in the maze, that was the best way I could think of to stop you.” He sighed. “I really didn’t want to hurt you.”
Pinkie looked at Discord’s sorrowful expression, and felt the last of her anger leave her. I never even thought about it. We were the real meanies. Discord was just trying to protect himself, wasn’t he? She stood and walked over to the draconequus, holding a hoof out to him. “I’m sorry, Discord,” she said solemnly. “We never meant to hurt you.”
“Try getting your friends to say that,” he said, but he shook the proffered hoof anyways. “Thank you, Pinkie Pie. I knew you of all ponies would believe me.”
Pinkie smiled. “So, why are you here?” she asked, cocking her head slightly.
“Oh!” Suddenly Discord’s grin was back in full force. “I nearly forgot! I was looking for you, Pinkie!” He pointed at her dramatically. “I wanted to know if you would be willing to become my new Chaos Apprentice!”
“Chaos Apprentice?” Pinkie asked, frowning.
“Chaos Apprentice! Great title, huh? I came up with it just before I got here.” He winked before continuing. “As Her Mooniness over there was just saying, I got Celestia to free me today. So, obviously, I’ve spent all day with her. And as we all know, she has a student.” He pointed in the general direction of Twilight. “So I got to thinking, and I realized that I could have a student, too! An Element of Harmony, even! And so here I am.”
“But . . . why me?” Pinkie asked, frowning.
“Well, your Element, for one thing,” Discord replied, and suddenly he was right next to her, kneeling down to place an arm on her back. “Like I said the first time we met, Laughter is my personal favorite Element. I love a good laugh as much as the next Draconequus.” He grinned, and Pinkie couldn’t help but grin back. Then he was walking away from her again. “But more importantly, it’s your Pinkie Sense that interests me. Unless I’m mistaken, your ability to predict future events is a sign of being able to use my own chaos magic.”
“Really?” Pinkie gasped. “My Pinkie Sense? Does this mean I can make my own cotton candy clouds?”
“It’s chaos magic,” Discord said with a shrug. “There’s no telling what will happen.”
“Wow. . . .” Pinkie sat down hard, her mind reeling as she thought of the possibilities. “I could be the best prankster in Ponyville! No wait, in Equestria! No wait, in the whole world!”
“And I can teach you everything I know,” Discord said. “So what do you say? Will you join me?”
“Yes!” Then she paused. “Wait. Can I bring my friends?”
“Well, I can’t teach them how to use this magic,” he said thoughtfully, “but if they want to join you, then by all means. You should know, though, that good ol’ Luna over there just spent the last five minutes telling them that I’m evil and can’t be trusted.”
Pinkie looked back at the other group in the library. They were sitting in a smaller circle now, with the illusion of Pinkie sitting a little back, having not moved since Discord had appeared. At the moment, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were talking rather heatedly about something that Pinkie couldn’t quite make out. Luna quickly stepped in and they calmed down, though Rainbow Dash pouted. She giggled. “Silly, you don’t have to worry about that. I’m their friend. They know I wouldn’t lie to them!”
Discord chuckled at that. “Oh, I think you’d be surprised.” Ignoring Pinkie’s affronted look, he continued, “oh, looks like they noticed your body. Time for you to go.” He snapped his claws.
“My body?” was all she had the time to say before she felt herself being pulled back towards where the “illusion” was still sitting, surrounded by all her closest friends.
* * *
“Pinkie?” Twilight called again, waving her hoof in front of the unresponsive mare’s face. “Hello? Anypony home?” Everypony else crowded around the two of them, watching anxiously as Twilight tried to get a response from Pinkie. Luna hung back just slightly, trying to look aloof without losing sight of the pony.
“Pinkie, are you in there?” This time, a response came in the form of a groan and a head shake. Pinkie blinked rapidly for a couple seconds before looking around at the ponies crowding around her.
“Oh, hi girls!” she said with a huge grin, instantly back to her overjoyous self. “You won’t believe what just happened! Or, did it happen? Maybe it was just a daydream. It tasted so real, though. . . .” She stopped to think about it.
“Taste?” Twilight wondered.
“Mm-hmm!” Pinkie giggled. “It was a good marshmallow.”
“What happened, dear?” Rarity asked after a moment of silence. Luna couldn’t help but lean forward curiously, although she was certain she wouldn’t like the answer. Not to mention that she now had to repeat her entire explanation.
“Don’t tell me you learned to sleep with your eyes open. That’s just creepy,” said Rainbow Dash.
“Welllllll. . . .” She looked around the group. “You all have to promise not to freak out, ok?”
That doesn’t sound good, Luna thought. Still, she nodded with the rest, though she decided to reserve judgment on whether or not to keep that promise.
Pinkie gave each of them a bug-eyed stare before continuing. “Ok, so I heard the door open while Princess Luna was talking, which was weird because why would somepony be coming into the library right now? I mean, maybe they were just looking for a book, but why would anypony be out and about right now just for a book? So I looked over there, and guess who I saw walking in?” She didn’t wait for an answer. “Discord!”
Everypony gasped, Luna loudest of all. Discord was here? How? What did he do?! Her eyes darted wildly around the room before settling on Pinkie. But she wasn’t turning gray. Discord’s magic always turned ponies gray.
A couple seconds later, she realized the stupidity of that thought.
“. . . And just sat down, and so I was like - whoa!” With disturbing agility, Pinkie leapt out of the way of the bolt from Luna’s horn. “Princess, you promised!”
“Yes, and so we are sorry for this,” Luna said, readying another spell. “However, if Discord’s magic has touched thee, then we cannot guarantee that thou art well. Now just stay still-” she grunted as another bolt missed “-this won’t hurt a bit.”
Pinkie dodged yet another bolt, and before Luna could get a fourth off, a flash of cyan crashed into her, sending her to the ground with a crash.
“Rainbow Dash, stay back!” Luna growled, struggling to stand.
“I won’t let you hurt her!” Rainbow dash growled back, trying to hold her down.
“This won’t hurt her! It will just end any influence Discord may have had on her!”
Rainbow was silent for a moment, before growling, “if you’re lying. . . .” She stared into Luna’s eyes for a moment before letting her up.
I am not lying, Rainbow Dash. But pray that Pinkie Pie does not truly believe what she says. She stood and looked around the room. Rainbow Dash was watching her warily from a few feet away. Rarity, Twilight, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Spike were all watching her nervously. They had spread out some when the blasts had started firing. As for Pinkie. . . .
Pinkie was nowhere to be seen.
Luna looked to the quickly closing door, then turned to Rainbow Dash. “Whatever I intend, we must at least find her.”
Rainbow nodded. “She’ll probably go to Sugarcube Corner first.”
Luna nodded, then headed towards the door, and out into the blue-hued day of Ponyville.