Chapter 3
an Old Face
Fluttershy gasped at the sound of knocking at her front door. She quietly walked over to the entrance of her cottage, and carefully opened the door. She found Helpful, Merciful, Applejack, Spike, and Snowy at her doorstep. “Oh, hello, everypony.” Fluttershy greeted as the crickets chirped in the darkness of night. “What are you doing here so late in the day? I didn’t know we’re on a double date, Helpful.”
“Well, we have an emergency, Fluttershy,” Applejack answered her, “And we need to borrow your Water Sapphires for a second.”
“Oh. Sure. I can lend them to you.” Fluttershy replied with a smile. “Come on in.” The four companions entered into Fluttershy’s cottage and they watched as Fluttershy reached for her box of Water Sapphires at the top of her shelf, but to her surprise it was lighter than she expected and she quickly placed it on the floor and opened it. She gasped of shock to find that the box was entirely empty. “Where’re the gems?” She shouted as she lifted the box and shook it rapidly, “Huh?” And then she looked through the shelf, “Huh?” And then began to breathe in and out deeply, in panic.
“Fluttershy!” Helpful grabbed her attention concerned. “What’s wrong?”
“T-the Water Sapphire shards!” She answered. “They’re gone!”
“Heh. C’mon, Fluttershy, you’re just over-reacting.” Helpful assured her as he reached into the box. “I’m sure they’re just…in…here…somewhere…” He felt nothing and he immediately looked into the box with his head buried deep into it, “Huh?” He then lifted it up and shook it rapidly, “Huh?” And then he looked through the bookshelf, since nothing fell out, “Huh?” Once finished he began to breathe in and out deeply, in panic, like Fluttershy did, but then his attention was grabbed by an unexpected laughter. The group turned their attention beside them to see a Draconequus laughing on his back. “What’s so funny?” Helpful dashed right up to him with a still panicked expression. The creature soon calmed down, and he stood up.
“Oh, it’s just the fact that you both made the exact same over-reaction.” He chuckled, and looked at Helpful with a curious look. “Say…haven’t we met before?” He poked the Pegasus, who looked confused.
“Uh…”
“Oh, wait! Don’t tell me,” The creature teleported beside Helpful, “You must be Prince Joyful! My! Haven’t we grown older?” He pinched the Light Tan Pegasus’ cheek, like he was a little baby. After he let go, Helpful felt a strange feeling of déjà vu. Have they met before? “Excuse me, but have we met before?” Merciful grabbed the creature’s attention, who appeared beside him.
“Ah! Prince Merciful!” He lays an arm across the Alicorn’s shoulders, as if they were old friends. “Has it been so long that we’ve seen each other? Really, Old Chap?” Merciful only gave him a blank stare.
“My apologies. I do not recall ever meeting you.” Merciful replied with a thoughtful expression.
“Of course, you don’t. You were too young at the time to remember.” The creature chuckled as he disappeared and reappeared on Fluttershy’s couch. “So I’ll introduce myself for Old Time’s sake.” He cleared his throat. “Hello, everypony. My name is Discord,” He teleported beside Helpful, “Spirit of Disharmony,” And then he disappeared and reappeared beside Merciful, “And Chaos. Now do you remember?”
“It seems to bring some distant relations.” Merciful replied.
“Oh grand!” Discord laughed as he snapped his lion claw and teleported onto the couch again with a cup of tea. “I was scared you totally forgot me.” He sipped his tea, like nothing terrible was happening. Helpful thought over this really hard, but he really couldn’t remember when he met Discord before.
“When have met again?” Helpful asked him curious.
“Ugh! Really, Joyful?” Discord sipped his tea again, snapped his fingers to make a wastebasket appear, and he tossed the glass cup into it, and it disappeared. “Then again you were just a baby at the time so you wouldn’t remember.” Fluttershy’s expression then turned to an excited smile.
“You’ve seen Helpful as a little baby?” She gasped excited. “Wasn’t he so cute?”
“He was adorable!” Discord answered as he was dressed in an old lady outfit and pinched the stallion’s cheek. “I mean, how could you say, ‘no’ to a face like he had?”
“Oh, for Magi’s sake.” Helpful pulled Discord’s claw off from his cheek, but it hung on and his cheek was pulled a few inches long.
“Oh, well, your youth is still going strong.” Discord complimented as he let go of it, snapping it back into place, and making Helpful rub it.
“Okay, Discord.” Applejack grabbed his attention finally. “Have you seen the Water Sapphires that Fluttershy had before?”
“What about them?” Discord crossed his arms as if he was being defiant.
“Well, they’re needed for emergencies.” Fluttershy replied, and Discord’s gaze turned to a face of surprise, but for a brief second.
“Is that what they’re for? Oh! How funny!” He laughed, but it was obvious that he was a little uneasy about this.
“Discord. What did you do?”
“I, uh, um…sort of…uh…” Discord poked his fingers together for an answer. “Ate them…” He winced for impact.
“You what!” Fluttershy shouted at reckonable amount of volume that made the entire cottage shake, the animals hide, and the group to cover their ears, except Discord, who was receiving the greatest part of the outburst. For a second it looked like Fluttershy’s mane had burned into flames, but it seemed normal once it was over with. Discord snapped his fingers and made a folding fan appear in his other claw and began to fan himself. “You should really open a window in here.” Discord told her.
“I needed those Water Sapphires to revive Helpful if he ever died again!” She shouted with a second tremor like before.
“Calm yourself, Fluttershy.” Discord assured her. “You’ll get them back in good time.” Fluttershy and the others looked at him confused.
“Really?” She asked curious.
“You’ll just need to wait until nature to take its course.” Fluttershy’s left eye twitched with a look of surprise. Applejack covered her face with her hat while Spike and Snowy exchanged looks of disgust. Helpful gave Merciful a look of uneasiness and then turned back to Fluttershy. “A-are you okay, Honey?” He asked her, a little nervous, but there was no answer. “Oh-no.” He trotted over to her quickly. “Say something, Fluttershy.” He waved a hoof in front of her face, but there was no response. “Fluttershy?” At that moment, water fell onto Fluttershy, waking her from the trance as she gasped in surprise. Helpful looked up to see Discord above them both with a just-now emptied bucket. He began to snicker as he landed beside them. “What was that for?” Helpful asked him with an irritated expression.
“Oh! Well, excuse me for trying to help.” Discord teleported to a chair and stretched his limbs out and yawned. “So please don’t be mad at me for lending a hand.” He continued as he tossed his eagle claw to him. Before Helpful could react, Fluttershy charged straight toward the creature in infuriation, who looked rather surprised.
“Fluttershy!” Helpful shouted after her and reacted. His black-tipped flacon wings glowed a bright red and Helpful flew around, in-between Discord and Fluttershy and caught her before she could get any closer. “Fluttershy, clam down!”
“Let me at him!” Fluttershy growled in fury. “I’ll rip off his lion arm first, and then the eagle arm, and then the rest of his body parts, one by one!” Helpful pushed Fluttershy back gently, but firmly and they started toward the door.
“I’ll have to bring back Fluttershy later!” Helpful explained as they both left through the cottage door. “Consider us on another date!” He slammed the door behind him, leaving Merciful, Applejack, Spike, and Snowy with Discord, who all seemed really surprised.
“That’s the first time I’ve ever seen Fluttershy that mad.” Spike remarked as he felt around his neck. “Really don’t want get on her bad side, except that the fact that it’s paper thin.” Snowy nodded in agreement with Spike.
“Egad!” Discord exclaimed in disgust. “Could you imagine being torn apart like that? It wouldn’t end well for anypony.”
“Well, just thank you, Discord.” Applejack scowled at the creature, who looked at her confused.
“Come again?”
“You’ve just ate our one-and-only easy chance of rescuing Rarity.” Applejack nodded in sadness.
“Say, where is that old bat, anyway?” Discord looked around himself curious.
“’Old Bat’?” Spike growled in anger for the insult. He started to stomp—or waddle—toward Discord in anger, but Snowy immediately grabbed his tail and pulled him back.
“Spike!” He warned him. “Don’t! It’s not worth it!”
“She was abducted by Diamond Dogs,” Merciful explained, “But you wouldn’t care would you?” Applejack, Snowy, and Merciful turned around toward the exit and started toward it, dragging Spike behind Snowy. Discord thought over this for a brief moment. He did accidently anger Fluttershy past her limit and he should make up for it, in fact, he should care about this, for her sake.
“Wait!” Discord grabbed their attention. “I can get you inside the Diamond Dog mines.”
“You can?” Applejack asked him, untrustingly.
“Why, yes, I can get you inside.” Discord assured her.
“How?” Snowy asked as he still pulled Spike back, who still seemed quite angry.
“Well, to your convenience, I just happen to know where another way inside is.” Discord chuckled with assurance. “I’ll lead you to the entrance, but…”
“But?” Merciful raised an eyebrow in curiousness.
“You’ll need everypony to come with us. You’ll need all the help you can afford, and we’ll be traveling afoot.” Everypony gave Discord a confused look, he noticed this and sighed. “I’m not teleporting us there because—one—we really can’t let Celestia know, and—two—what would be the fun in that?” Applejack then looked at Merciful and then toward Discord and back. Merciful just said that earlier today. Is there something with Discord and Merciful that she doesn’t know, or is she just over-thinking this, like Twilight would? Merciful smiled toward Discord. “It seems that we can trust you, Discord, but please don’t get any ideas.” Merciful warned him, firmly. “Besides that, we can become well-fit allies.”
“Argh!” Eli grunted in pain as he tripped and crashed into an iron cart and it tipped over, spilling the gemstones onto the ground. He didn’t care about the Diamond Dogs loot; he was running from something…something hunting him. He scrambled onto his hooves and dashed on through the endless mine Labyrinth. An evil laughter could be heard distantly behind him, echoing through the rocky passageway. His fear was clenching his heart, like a dragon grasping a sacred gemstone, and his breathing was dangerously rapid, but all he knew was to run, to run from that something. Right when he made a left turn, a cutlass, colored red, shot out toward him. “No!” He screamed as he immediately sat up in his bed beside Rarity, startling the mare from her sleep. She sat up beside him with concerned eyes as she placed a hoof on his shoulder. Eli gasped at the feeling of Rarity’s unexpected hoof. “Eli?” Rarity asked with concern, but her voice was muffled from the dog muzzle still fastened on her face, however, Eli understood her.
“It’s nothing, Rarity.” Eli assured her with a fake, however convincing smile. “It was just a bad dream.” The White Unicorn nodded in understanding as she lay back down and slept away. Was it a bad dream? Or a nightmare that came back for the fifth time? Eli had been haunted by the same dream ever since he woke up in this cell. Every time, he was being hunted down and waking up at the sight of some sword lunging toward him. Why does this dream keep returning? Eli decided to forget about it, but even if he did, the dream would come back again. Before he could roll out of their pallet, the Diamond Dogs, Spot and Fido, open the iron door with a loud screeching sound, startling Rarity from her sleep again. “You!” Spot pointed toward Eli. “Rover has plans for you!” The small Diamond Dogs opened the cell and Fido stomped inside, looming above both Rarity and Eli still in their pallet.
“Aw. Isn’t that cute, Spot?” Fido cooed. “The little ponies slept together in bed.” Eli and Rarity just stared at Fido with confused expressions.
“Huh?” Eli raised an eyebrow confused.
“I don’t care!” Spot growled. “Get the pony and we’ll bring him back to Rover, now!” Fido grabbed Eli, who exclaimed in surprise, and held him under his armpit, like luggage, as he stomped back toward Spot at the exit of the cell. Rarity couldn’t stand for those ruffians to take sweet Eli again. They’ll just beat him like earlier and she couldn’t stand anypony else getting hurt like this manner. She immediately jumped up and chased after Fido. The Diamond Dog noticed and he turned around to face her. She tackled into him, but Fido only stood there as Rarity’s expression turned to delirium from the trauma. Fido chuckled as he picked up Rarity by the mane. It was painful for her as she was lifted off the ground by her good hair. “Forget the other pony, Fido!” Spot ordered. “We have the pony Rover wants, so let’s go!” As Fido’s attention was grabbed by the small Diamond Dog, Rarity’s defensive instincts kicked in, and she kicked the canine right between the legs, and he let go of them both, howling in agony as he hit the floor. Rarity and Eli stood up and turned their gazes toward Spot, whose look seemed nervous. “O-okay, Ponies.” Spot tried to reason as they walked toward him with confident expressions. “May-maybe we can work out a deal. You go and I’ll make up an excuse to Rover for you escaping.” They walked closer to Spot still, and he walked backwards to stay away from them. “J…Just don’t hurt me!” He blocked his face for anything, and Eli quickly punched Spot at that moment and the canine flew onto his back.
“That’s for all those times you beat me up!” He shouted in triumph. The two dogs were down, Eli and Rarity can escape through the mine, but first they needed to remove the dog muzzle from Rarity’s face. Spot moaned as he sat up and rubbed his head, and then Eli grabbed his vest and pulled him off the ground, up to meet his gaze. “Now get the muzzle off of Rarity, or I’ll come up with another reason to punch you again.” Eli told the dog as he held up his other hoof, ready for another thrust to the jaw.
“She’ll only start whining again!” Spot looked away defiantly.
“I’m thinking that all that time in that cell sounds like a good enough reason for me popping your jaw off.”
“Please! I’ll tell you anything just let me go!”
“I need you to take off Rarity’s muzzle now!” Eli snarled with anger, Spot whimpered in fear. Rarity quickly pushed down Eli’s arm, letting Spot onto the ground, and she shook her head with saddened eyes. Eli noticed her expression of sorrow and sighed to calm himself. “Just take off the muzzle.” He tossed the canine onto the ground again. Spot quickly obeyed and unfastened the muzzle off of Rarity. She shook her head to get rid of the feeling on her face that muzzle created.
“Thank you, Eli.” She thanked the stallion. “That dreaded dog muzzle was cramping my marvelous mane style anyway.”
“You’re welcome, Rarity.” Eli assured her, and then he turned his attention to Spot. “Now, tell us where to find a safe exit, or I’ll do more than just popping your jaw off.”
“Okay, okay!” Spot agreed as he walked to a wall and scanned around the wall, touching and rubbing the small rocks littered all around the wall. Finally he pressed one in and the wall opened up, revealing a secret hall that stretched for quite a length. “There is an emergency tunnel we made some time ago, in case of cave collapsing. It’ll bring you outside in Everfree.”
“Sounds trustworthy enough.” Eli thought aloud. “Let’s go.” He started toward the hall, but Spot stopped him.
“Wait! Take us with you!” Spot pleaded them.
“Take you with us?” Eli exchanged a look of confusion with Rarity. “Why would we do that?”
“Boss has changed and not in a good way!” He explained to them both as Fido stood up, groaning from the pain. “He’s become more aggressive and mean than usual, since Master came.” Spot covered his mouth, shocked that he just let the ponies know what was going on exactly.
“Master?” Eli asked, curious.
“Why’re you taking orders from somepony else than Rover?” Rarity asked them as Fido sat beside Spot.
“We’re not. Rover’s taking the orders, we’re just following what he says, which is coming from the Master.” Spot explained with obvious nervousness.
“Uh-huh.” Eli nodded in understanding. “Who’s this ‘Master’?” Fido and Spot only shrugged.
“We don’t know. We’ve never seen the Master, only Rover has.” Fido explained to them both. Rarity and Eli exchanged looks of thought. “Please, take us with you. If you leave and we stay, there isn’t telling what tortures he’ll do to us.” Fido gently rubbed his neck, imagining the pain that could be inflicted upon them.
“Well you should’ve thought of that before you started beating us both to bruises.” Eli trotted down the secret hall, and stopped noticing that Rarity wasn’t following him. “Hey, Rarity. Are you with me, or what?” Rarity turned her gaze from Eli to Spot and Fido, thoughtfully.
“Maybe they should come along.” Rarity insisted Eli, who stared at her oddly.
“What? You remember what they did to us!” Eli protested, sternly. “They beaten us!”
“Only Rover slapped me. Nothing more.”
“But what about that Dog Muzzle they put on you?”
“We regret such things, Pony.” Spot whimpered sadly.
“Yeah. We were only following orders.” Fido explained to him with a frown. The faces of these two Diamond Dogs had guilt enough to somewhat convince Eli.
“Besides, Eli.” Rarity added as she trotted over to the green Earth Pony. “They even know their way around this cavern than us. Right, boys?” Fido and Spot nodded quickly with innocent smiles. Eli sighed and rolled his eyes. “Just give them a chance.”
“Alright.” Eli agreed reluctantly. “You can come along.” Fido and Spot both exclaimed in excitement as they closed the door behind them. Spot held a torch as he took the lead and guided them through the cavern.
“Tell me why we’re looking around in Everfree in the middle of the night?” Sunny growled, annoyed, but mostly tired. In fact, the other mane five was forced awake and they all were led by Helpful, Merciful, Fluttershy, Snowy, Spike, Applejack, and Discord to Everfree. They all were equipped with saddlebags which each held essentials.
“I’m sorry, Sunny.” Helpful politely apologized to his old friend. “But Rarity’s been pony-napped by those Diamond Dogs again.”
“Did you give them a gemstone, so they could pull you in?” She inquired to know from the Tan Pegasus, who sighed, remembering what happened.
“It’s a long story.” He explained to her. “Discord explained to us that he knows another way inside.”
“Well, why doesn’t he just teleport us in?” Sunny asked confused, but then Discord appeared beside her a laid his lion arm around her shoulders.
“Now, Sunny.” Discord cleared his throat. “What would be the fun in that?” He disappeared out of thin air, confusing Sunny and making Helpful laugh. Spike was riding Merciful’s back and Sunny rode Helpful’s as Fluttershy trotted beside them with Snowy on her back. Discord reappeared beside Fluttershy. “Hello, Fluttershy!” Discord greeted her with confetti falling from thin air, but instead she looked straight forward with a stern look. Not even noticing Discord as they continued through the dark forest. “Fluttershy, I’m right beside you.” Discord waved his eagle claw in front of her face, no response.
“Sorry, Discord.” Snowy explained to the creature. “She’s not talking to you because of you eating her Water Sapphires.”
“Oh, please, Fluttershy.” Discord rolled his eyes. “Are you still raving mad about what happened? I didn’t know they were for emergencies.”
“Well you still shouldn’t have eaten what wasn’t yours.” Fluttershy scoffed as she trotted a little ahead of the creature, which looked at her confused.
“Don’t worry, Discord.” Helpful explained to him with an assuring smile. “She’ll warm back up to you soon enough.”
“Don’t be so sure about that, Helpful.” Sunny protested as she yawned, tired. “When a girl’s mad about somethin’ you did, she won’t forgive you for a long time.”
“Now, c’mon, Sunny.” Helpful chuckled at the baby dragon. “This is Fluttershy we’re talking about.”
“I wouldn’t become confident, Brother.” Merciful explained to him. “Fluttershy’s mind is very cross with Discord, and unless the Draconequus can make up for what he did, she’ll hoard a very massive grudge toward him for his careless ignorance.” Discord thought about this for a moment. If what Merciful said is true, than Fluttershy will hate him for a very long time.
“How do I make up for what I’ve done?” Discord asked, curiously.
“Easy! Flowers, Chocolates, and a sweet Apology.” Sunny listed as she counted her fingers, interrupting Helpful.
“Y’know…” Applejack thought aloud. “That might actually work.”
“Unfortunately, it is much past the appropriate time for such gentle tidings.” Merciful reasoned. “We must be patient until the sun returns to us.” Sunny stared at Merciful with an impressed expression.
“Y’know, Helpful. Your brother has a knack for making every sentence he says mystical.” Sunny complimented, happily.
“Heh. Not quite.” Helpful explained. “But he has that good quality.”
“Thank you, Brother.” Merciful thanked the Tan Pegasus, and Applejack hugged the Dark Blue Alicorn.
“That’s a reason why I love this big guy.” Applejack explained with a delighted smile. “He always makes everything sound like poems.”
“Poetics, my dear, and well, over three thousand years ago, I spent my spare time to study the unique art of poetry myself, and as such, I began to reflect my poetic education in my vocabulary.” Merciful explained as he remembered his youth. “Such priceless memories of my unconditional youth were spent in that library.”
“There is a few times of which I forget on why I’m related to him.” Helpful whispered to Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie behind him. “Oh! Which reminds me. Celestia told me you went to the Crystal Empire, right?”
“Yeah!” Pinkie replied with an excited grin as they continued through the Everfree Forest.
“Wow! Really?” Helpful exclaimed in wonder.
“Have you heard of the Crystal Empire before, Helpful?” Spike asked curious.
“Heard of it? I could trot through that kingdom blindfolded!” Helpful laughed.
“He’s attempted that action as well.” Merciful added. “The Crystal Empire is of no foreign tale to us. We’ve been within the crystalline walls of the castle, itself.”
“Whoa. Really?” Rainbow replied with an interested expression. “Since when?”
“It was our younger days as Princes. Father actually was a great friend of the Crystal King there and we would always come there every year to, not only celebrate their friendship, but to encourage happiness of the Crystal Ponies there, too.” Helpful explained as he remembered all those joyous memories.
“Indeed, and the Crystal King was like an uncle to us.” Merciful added.
“Although, he was a little old.”
“True, but let us not forget who saved your life from the Ice Wolves of the Crystal Mountains.”
“King Sombra saved Helpful from Ice Wolves?” Spike gasped, amazed.
“Sombra? Who’s Sombra?” Helpful asked confused. “We’re talking about King Zircon, the third Crystal King of the Crystal Empire.”
“Oh, uh, sorry…” Spike apologized, understanding that the king they meant was not the dreaded Sombra. “I thought you meant somepony else. Please, continue.”
“Very well.” Merciful cleared his throat. “Now--.”
“Oh boy! Story Time! Story Time!” Pinkie Pie interrupted, bouncing up and down. Merciful only gave the Pink Mare a cold glare that really made her stop, too nervous to move.
“Without further interruptions, I shall tell you the story of how King Zircon rescued my brother from the deadly Ice Wolves.” Merciful cleared his throat. Pinkie scooted close to Merciful to hear the story better, and he sighed to let it slide. “It was at the Crystal Pony Fair that some of the younger foals in the Kingdom had been disappearing.”
“I was the first to take notice and I left the Kingdom, in search of the missing foals.” Helpful explained. “But I didn’t understand that I was trotting into a trap.”
“Indeed, Zircon noticed him trotting out into the snowy lands and he followed him.” Merciful continued.
“Well, why didn’t he stop you?” Pinkie Pie asked, confused.
“Zircon knew I was looking for the missing foals, and, well, he knew I could find them.” Helpful chuckled. “I could find a foal anywhere.”
“And his ‘knack’ for such things proved useful to Zircon as he followed young Joyful out into the cold.” Merciful continued once more. “My Brother, though young and frail, thought he could brave the colds himself, but he was terribly wrong.”
“The Ice Wolves captured me and I was taken to their cavern.” Helpful added. “And I wasn’t frail!” Merciful and the others only chuckled as they trotted through the forest.
“Zircon followed and his theory was correct—the foals were indeed captured by the Ice Wolves.”
“What are Ice Wolves anyhow?” Applejack inquired to know.
“Ice Wolves are like Timberwolves, you see, but they live in colder environments.” Helpful explained. “They’re well known for their hunting skills, and they never sleep.”
“Indeed, and they wanted to eat Joyful and the foals alive.” The others gasped in shock. “But Zircon jumped toward their rescue and used his Crystal Magic to save them, sealing the Ice Wolves in solid diamond.”
“Whoa. That’s awesome!” Rainbow Dash remarked amazed.
“But it came with a price. Crystal Magic may be powerful, but it has devastating effects on the user, if used to take the lives of the living.” Merciful leaned his head forward sadly. “Zircon died once he returned to the Crystal Empire, but he told Joyful that he was destined for greatness.”
“Whoa…” Spike thought, amazed. “What happened next?”
“Zircon’s only daughter, Princess Emery, took over the Kingdom as her father.”
“So how is Emery, anyhow?” Helpful asked them, curious, but the group exchanged looks of uneasiness. Merciful could see their reason in the uncomfortable silence.
“Perhaps, we should discuss the matter at another time.” Merciful insisted, and Helpful nodded.
“Okay then.”
“Okay, everypony!” Discord grabbed their attention as they stopped in a small field at the foot of Canterlot Mountain. “We’re here!” Everypony looked around confused. There was nothing here, but an empty field. How could they enter the Diamond Dog mines here? Where’s the entrance? “Uh, Discord.” Helpful grabbed the creature’s attention.
“Yes?” He replied with a grin.
“Where’s the entrance?”
“Oh, okay then!” Discord then disappeared and reappeared beside Helpful. “It’s really all quite simple, my good fellow,” He teleports between Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, “Just when everything just seems to turn yellow,” He nudges Rainbow playfully, but she looks at him, indifferently, “However with enough weight on the foundation,” He then teleports to Merciful, making eye contact, “You soon learn that--.”
“We’re standing on it.” Merciful answered the large riddle Discord tried to make, and the Spirit of Chaos stared at him, withdrawn.
“Good job, Merciful…” Discord chuckled, shaken. “I see time hasn’t weakened your eyes…except for the left one though…” Discord pointed toward Merciful’s left white eye.
“That was an accident.” Merciful explained to him.
“And so is this.” Discord snapped his fingers, and the ground around them began to shake and gave in. They were all standing on a pitfall and they fell straight through. “Sorry!” He shouted down toward them and laughed as he disappeared. The fall wasn’t long. They soon landed in a few carts on a mining track. Luckily for them, the impact didn’t force the carts to move forward, sending them through whatever was ahead of their carts. The group stood up in their carts, groaning from the pain of their landing. “Is everypony okay?” Applejack asked, concerned. “Mercy?”
“I am fine, Milady.” Merciful answered as he stood up next to her in the cart. “How are you faring, Spike?” The baby dragon rubbed his eyes and yawned tired.
“I’m a little sleepy, but otherwise, okay.” Spike replied. “Is anypony else hurt?” Helpful, Fluttershy, Sunny, and Snowy landed in the cart behind Merciful, Applejack, and Spike’s, while the others landed in the cart at the very end. All three of these carts were linked together.
“Are you alright, Fluttershy?” Helpful asked her as he helped her up.
“I’m fine.” She assured him with a smile. Just then, laughter filled the entire cavern that lasted for quite some time. In fact, Pinkie Pie started to giggle and join the laughter and fell onto her back.
“Welcome to your one way ride to the Diamond Dogs’ Caves!” Discord’s voice spoke once the laughter ceased. “Please, keep your hooves inside the cart at all times, and don’t exit the cart until comes to a complete stop…or crash!” He laughed even more as the group exchanged looks of uneasiness.
“Discord!” Applejack shouted for him to hear. “You call this ‘another way’?” Discord appeared, his face meeting hers, crossly.
“And what?” He leaned back with his claw and paw on his hips. “Like you had a better way?” He snapped his fingers and the carts began to move on their own. “Enjoy the ride.” He disappeared with laughter echoing through the cavern and the cart began to move forward into the dark cave. Fluttershy hugged Helpful for comfort on their ride, and Snowy held onto Sunny.
“Do you mind?” Sunny grabbed the Ice Dragon’s attention.
“No.” Snowy squeezed Sunny tighter for comfort. The carts continued onward on a slow pace, as if it was a small carnival ride. They soon entered a long hall filled with light and once their eyes adjusted to the brightness, they could see that the hall had toys and machines from a carnival ride as well, and Discord was singing a song as they continued through the hall. The toys were all pretty much Discord wearing different outfits throughout this part of the ride, and Discord’s song went like this:
“With all the Love and Joy,
“There is Chaos here,
“Which has much more power,
“Then the Princess there,
“Every day,
“I’m amused,
“All the time,
“You’re confused,
“It’s a small world after all!”
“You’ve got to be joking.” Sunny spoke up, indifferently.
“It’s catchy…” Helpful shrugged as Sunny gave him a cold glare.
“Discord.” Merciful spoke up.
“What?” Discord’s voice answered him. “You don’t like the song? I can sing it in other languages!”
“Take us to very end of this ride, please.” He told the creature, which appeared right after he said this.
“What? And what would be the fun in that?” Discord asked him with a confused expression, but his only answer was a steely glare. He sighed. “Alright, alright. I’ll take you the very end of the ride.” He snapped his fingers and they teleported at the very end of the carnival hall. As they exited into the darkness, Discord shouted toward them from behind. “And bring me back a toy!” He laughed as he returned to his song. Sunny sighed of relief that it was over, but soon Applejack noticed something ahead in the track.
“Um…Mercy?” Applejack grabbed the Prince’s attention. “Do you see that?” The Alicorn looked ahead and he smirked as Spike widened his eyes.
“Indeed, I do.” He replied with a hint of delight in his tone.
“What is it?” Rainbow Dash asked as the cart slowly began to gain speed. She and Pinkie Pie couldn’t see anything in the last cart.
“Hold on.” Merciful told them all, and at that moment, the rails led straight down, and they were all plummeting downward! Everypony was screaming in fear, except for Pinkie Pie and Helpful the Selfless, who were shouting in joy, and Merciful, who was only silent. The rails straightened out and the carts were flying at ramming speed. “So this is what Discord meant when he said, ‘or crash’!” Pinkie Pie remarked as the carts turned right, fiercely.
“Quick!” Applejack shouted, over the sound of cart movement. “Where’s the brake?” Everypony looked around them for a brake, but there wasn’t any brake in the cart train!
“Discord!” Sunny growled in anger, and at that moment, the carts took another jerk to the left, knocking off Spike and Helpful in the process, forcing Fluttershy to lose her grip on Helpful!
“Helpful!” Fluttershy exclaimed in shock as they fell into the darkness. They both flew forward into the black void and fell for some time. Spike was shouting in fear, and Helpful’s black-tipped falcon wings glowed bright enough for them to see the water below. Helpful flew to Spike right when they hit the water. The current was strong. He grabbed onto Spike and held him tight. “Are you alright, Spike?” Helpful asked Spike, concerned. The dragon coughed up water as he asked this. He also noticed that Helpful’s wings illuminated the water as well.
“I’m fine…” Spike answered him. “I’m so tired.” Spike yawned as began to close his eyes, but the current’s pull was so rapid and rough that the water splashed onto them and awoken the poor baby dragon. “I’m up! I’m up!”
“And I don’t think we’ll be up for long…” Helpful remarked as he noticed a whirlpool up ahead of them both. “Hold on!” He held the dragon tight as they entered the whirlpool and spun around rapidly until they went under and everything went black…