“You sure that she’s fine?” the orange, dual-named filly asked Pinkie for the hundredth time. It had taken a lot of explaining (and perhaps a teensy bit of distortion of the truth), but the dragon’s group had bought that Rainbow Dash had hit her head during the conversation and knocked herself out, and whatever they talked about was, in fact, personal between her and Scootaloo and was not to be discussed. Yet, anyway. Pinkie made Blaze Pinkie Promise™ to eventually tell her friends, so it was not technically lying. It was also discovered that the Elements of Harmony could come into contact with the mysterious artifacts if the necklaces of harmony were not being worn by their respective bearers, though nopony was entirely sure how this information helped.
“Oh yeah, I’ve seen her knock herself out a dozen times, silly,” Pinkie declared as she took a nervous glance over to the wagon that the mare was sleeping in. “She’ll be fine.”
“Okay then...” Blaze still sounded skeptical, but figured that since the rainbow-maned mare was breathing, she was probably fine.
“We are nearing the king’s section,” Garret announced. A narrow passageway greeted them, guarded by two heavily armored griffons who stood tall and imposing, even if they weren’t in a position of attack. Each of them had their wings tucked to their sides, but on closer inspection, it was apparent that on each feather was a sharp metal slit of some sort. Garret noticed the stares and explained, “Blades for their wings. They’re the king’s guard.”
“Ah,” most of them replied in unison.
The group approached the guards, and the two snapped to attention. “State the purpose of your company’s visit,” one of the guards ordered Garret.
“We are here to see the king to warn him of a threat.”
The two griffons stiffened at the news and then scowled at the group. One of them eyed the dragons. “What is this threat?” the guard on the right asked.
“It is for the king’s ears only. All griffons are allowed to see the king, right?” Shadow Mirror asked, the last part drawn out in a know-it-all attitude.
The guard on the left scowled at him. “Yes, all griffons, but only one of you is a griffon, right?” he asked back with an equal level of snark.
Garret sighed. “Are you barring them from seeing the king? They all hold valuable information for him, you know.”
The one on the right spoke again. “We are not, but-”
“Then just let us in, you silly!” Pinkie chimed in with a grin.
“We do not take orders from ponies, so back off,” the left guard growled, ruffling a wing (and making the blades rustle threateningly) for emphasis.
Shadow Mirror had lost what little patience he had. “Do you want us to warn your king or not?!” he screamed.
“Well, we-”
“Please, sirs. Just let us pass, you can come with us if that helps,” Garret offered, trying to restore at least some semblance of order. The two guards shared a look and nod, and they let the group move along.
“So this place sure is... different,” Applejack commented, looking wide-eyed around the Minotaur Realm.
“Ah’ll say...” Big Mac said after working up the courage to even speak in front of his sister.
“Well, to me it simply looks like Canterlot, only filled with minotaurs instead of ponies,” Rarity said, much less impressed.
“So what’s the plan, Twilight?” Fluttershy nudged her friend, who seemed to be lost in thought as she studied everything.
“Oh...” Twilight shook her head a few times. “I think our best bet is to see the king and queen, and perhaps the prince if he is here. It should be this way.” She pointed up ahead, away from the shops that Rarity had been eyeing eagerly. The group started walking, but were missing one member. Twilight turned around and cleared her throat. “Rarity, this way!”
“What?” Rarity turned around from the dress shop she had been eyeing hungrily, and gave a nervous smile. “Oh, certainly. Let’s go.”
Twilight rolled her eyes, but they continued on their path to the palace. They found two guards up front who let them in after a very long (and in Twilight’s opinion, completely unnecessary) pause. The group was just glad that seeking an audience with the minotaur king and queen was very common and more open a process than in Equestria.
They stopped in front of a third guard, who looked at them judgmentally before speaking. “The king will see you shortly, just wait right here.” The guard then turned and left through a door at the end of the hall to the left of them, and when the door had shut behind him, they all let out tiny sighs of relief.
“Twi, what’s this king like exactly?” Applejack asked, bringing up a hoof and adjusting her hat..
“Stern, but he certainly isn’t mean or anything. I actually met him once... when I was a filly.” She blushed as all ponies turned to her.
“How’d that go?” Big Mac asked.
Twilight scuffed a hoof against the ground. “Well, I was a filly and shy and possibly rude...” Her voice trailed off, and her friends noticed.
“Oh dear, how were you rude?” Fluttershy asked to her right. Twilight looked over and sighed.
“Well, up to that point I had never seen a minotaur, and I may have said he looked... funny.”
Applejack caught that tiniest bit of emphasis. “Did ya use the word funny?”
“No, Applejack, I used something more colorful...” Twilight was blushing a hundred shades of red at this point.
“Do you think this king would remember?” Rarity asked hesitantly.
Twilight turned to Rarity and frowned. “Kind of hard to forget somepony when they are the sun princess’s personal student.”
“Ah reckon so... but Ah’m sure it’ll be fine. You don’t get to be leader of something without showing some civility to others. Ah’m sure this king will be nice.”
Twilight gave a smile, but it was starting to crack. “Yeah, nice...”
Before any further speech could be said, a door to their left slammed open, revealing the king, who was looking a little less than ‘nice’. They all looked to him, but he was only looking at one pony, Twilight.
“Ah,” the king’s voice echoed through the chamber, “the princess’s personal student. To what do I owe this pleasure?” He spoke polite words, but his voice was bitter.
Fluttershy nudged Twilight to start talking, and she quickly bowed and cleared her throat. “King, we are here to ask for your aid, in aiding your kingdom and ours...”
The king stepped forward a few steps with a menacing glare. “That so? Well-”
A door, which was to the right of the previous slammed door, also slammed open, this time revealing the queen. “Honey, are you intimidating our guests?” she demanded.
“Why do you always assume I’m... intimidating... our...” The queen had began to walk forward to him, and with each step the king’s voice squeaked higher and higher in nervousness. Fluttershy watched the two and decided to interject.
“Have either of you seen some dragons? Small ones?”
The queen broke eye contact with her husband and looked at Fluttershy. “Yes, they arrived the other day with a rather large and odd group, including our son the prince.”
“You saw them? Spike and Shyfrost?! Are they still here?!” Twilight ran up to her, asking with pleading eyes.
The queen sadly shook her head. “I’m sorry, no. They arrived to ask about some odd magical artifacts, and we gave them the information we could and then informed our son on this threat to our kingdom. He and their group decided it was best to move onto other nations and warn them. I highly doubt someone is targeting just little old us after all...”
Twilight deflated but was not discouraged. “What threat? ‘Cause we have a threat, too. I mean, we’re not the threat, but... Well, maybe you should start from the beginning.”
The queen smiled and told the group of ponies everything she knew, which wasn’t much. By the end of her story they all sighed in relief to know that the fillies were at least with a trusted group.
“Well, at least we know the fillies are mostly safe...” Applejack muttered. Big Mac grinned in relief, but knew his sister well enough to know that he wasn’t completely off the hook yet.
Twilight sat in the middle of the group, deep in thought. Fluttershy looked at her in concern.
“So you are certain that they are heading to-” Rarity paused and let out an audible gulp. “-the Griffon Kingdom?”
“Positive. It’s not too long of a trip from here.” The queen then turned to Twilight. “What do you think of this threat, Twilight Sparkle?”
“I need to see this artifact room and the item you mentioned.”
“That would be wise. Honey, do you mind taking them there?”
The king, who had been remaining silent up to that point, huffed but nodded in acceptance. Snapping his fingers in an order to follow, he turned and led the way. Once inside the room, Twilight immediately conjured up her magic to scan the room. Her scan returned one anomaly. The artifact that continued to shift and mold into new and fascinating, almost nonsensical objects simply made no sense to her, and that could only mean one thing. Her eyebrows raised in horror.
“Discord...” she whispered.
Princess Celestia was walking down a lonely corridor, deep in thought. She had a lot on her mind, mainly the Elements of Harmony and their magical decline, but also thoughts of her student plagued her. She knew that reviewing these same thoughts over and over was probably not the best idea, but sometimes it did help in finding answers. Still, in the past few hours she had yet to think of a single thing that would explain these phenomena, despite her greatest efforts. Then, she quite literally saw something out of place, and paused.
A painting, facing the wrong way, was leaning against a wall (as opposed to hanging on said wall) directly in front of her. She looked around to see if she saw a passing guard or worker pony whose job it was to clean them who might have moved it, but chuckled at herself when she realized that this part of the castle was part of her private study.
So why had it been moved? She knew no other ponies were allowed in here without her permission. She sighed and conjured up a bit of magic to slowly turn the painting around. Her magic instantly dissipated, and the painting fell. She expected laughing from the hallway or something to happen, but no, nothing. Her mind processed this and came up with only one possible solution.
“Discord... why else would this be here?” Instinctively she ran to a window and looked out to the garden, Discord was still there, safe and sound and stony. She went back to the painting and spent the next five minutes inspecting the painting, expecting it to leap at her or start talking or turn into chocolate milk or something like that.
Nothing happened, not even when she conjured up some magic and literally burnt it to a crisp. “That was anticlimactic...” she muttered with a chuckle. Then she heard it.
“Oh what’s the matter? Expecting an explosion of some kind? Honestly, what kind of lord of chaos do you think I am?”
She didn’t want to believe it, but denial would get her nowhere. “Impossible...” she breathed, and Discord made himself visible with a flick of his claw.
“Oh Tia, Tia,” he said, shaking his head as if he were deeply disappointed in her. “Why bother with such stupid notions as impossible? Boooring!”
She was not paying attention to his taunting, though. She darted back to the window and frowned. The statue was still there. Of course it’s still there, she thought bitterly. She turned around to face him.
“I don’t know how you got out, but-”
“Got out?” He laughed a laugh which Celestia could only describe as simply insane. “Oh, that’s a good one! I mean, you can see my statue, no?”
“Yes...”
“Oh, can’t figure it out? Simple minded Celestia.” He then walked up to him which to her was odd considering his nature and placed a claw over her shoulder, which felt like nothing. She blinked.
“You- you’re not here?”
Discord brought up a paw and removed his monocle for cleaning. He answered as if this were a friendly conversation two old friends were having around a fire on a winter’s night, simply discussing new ideas. “Now, that is an interesting question, hmm. How shall I put it? If you mean in reality, of course I am! I mean, what is reality, really? Sight? What you can see? Do thine eyes deceive you? No, I am, in fact, here.”
She waved a hoof right through him and gasped. An illusion spell, of course... “I don’t know how you are doing this. You should be confined to the prison completely.”
“Oh, that I can explain. Have you heard something about a certain set of necklaces being drained of their power? That ring a bell? The power that imprisoned me is weakening, no?”
Celestia’s jaw dropped. “No...” she whispered. In her stress over the dragons, the necklaces and worry over Twilight’s safety, she had failed to notice one important detail. The very thing that imprisoned him, the magic itself, was weakening for some reason; and that meant that he would be out soon. And she was in the castle, without the Elements of Harmony to stop him.
“Yes... but don’t think I’m alone this time, little sun pegacorn.”
It took her several moments to form a response to this. Granted, it was not the most articulate response, but it was something. “Wha-?”
Then he chuckled yet again, a wicked grin forming on his lips. She had to act. Standing, she lit her horn... which fizzled out almost instantly. She felt horrified and utterly confused. If Discord was not free of his stone prison yet, what had stopped her horn?
“Oh oh,” Discord said, shaking his finger at her as if she were a naughty filly. “Did a certain sun lord have too much cake lately? Really, you're such a pig...”
Drugged... no.
She did the only thing that came to mind: she ran. She punched open the doors with her front hooves and galloped out, hoping to reach the only other princess in the castle that did not have an affinity for cake. All the while Discord had been following along, merely floating on his back, his illusion spell still holding strong.
“So tell me Tia, what’s the plan? Reach Princess Luna? Find Shining Armor? Oh how cliche!” His laughing and taunting buried deep into her, like an arrow into her soul. She knew it was hopeless, almost pointless, but she had to try.
Discord shook his head and gave himself a slap across his face, as if punishing himself. “Oh, that was stereotypical of me, wasn’t it?” He laughed even harder than before, an amazing feat in its own right. "Oh, may as well go for the whole kit and kaboodle!" He then snapped his fingers and two pink fluffy looking clouds appeared around him, following him like pets.
Celestia simply glared at him, but didn’t slow down.
“Oh, lighten up, a little sugar helps the mind going.” He tore off a piece of the clouds and shoved them in his mouth. “Just ask that pink friend of yours, what was her name? Dinky?”
“Pinkie!” Celestia corrected irritably.
Discord shrugged. “Something like that.”
After that she picked up the pace, her adrenaline was coursing through her system and gave her tunnel vision. Had she not been focusing so hard on her goal, she might have noticed some interesting details, such as the lack of guards posted or absence of maids cleaning.
She found her sister’s quarters and absolutely nothing was out of place, except her sister. She was not there. Celestia turned to face Discord, who was playing a game of go fish with himself.
“Did you check the throne room? Honestly... you’d think after over a thousand years...”
“You will not get away with this you know!” she yelled as she galloped out and turned to go to the center of the castle.
Discord looked up and widened his eyes innocently. “Get away with what, exactly?”
“Whatever you did to the Elements and-”
“Me?” Discord gave an exaggerated gasp and placed a paw on his chest, as if struck in the heart by that accusation. “Why, Tia! I’m hurt! How could you ever think I was the one to do such a thing? I promise you, it wasn’t me.”
“You-” She skidded to a stop as she reached the throne room, because as she arrived, she found a creature that looked like Discord, except much, much larger; without a doubt the largest she had ever seen. Despite its large size, Celestia determined that it was actually a she, mainly due to her eyelashes and slightly more slender frame. She floated just above her sister, who was cowering in fear below her.
Discord grinned. “Now she, on the other hand, might have had something to do with it!”
“Sister! Are you alright?!”
“My horn! It-”
“What’s the matter, LuLu? Too much tea in your diet?” Discord laughed again as he tapped Luna demeaningly on the head with a large cardboard cut-out of a lowercase t.
Celestia tried and tried to will some magic into her horn, but nothing would happen, not even a spark. She looked up to the other Discord, and she smiled.
When she spoke, it sent shivers up Celestia’s spine. Not because her voice was loud and scary; rather because she sounded just like an average mare would. “Celestia, it is a... hmm, what would this be? A confrontation? Yes, I suppose that would be it. I can’t say it is a ‘pleasure’, though. That would be a lie.” She nodded solemnly, as if lying were a terrible sin.
“Who are you?!”
“Oh you can just call me Dee.”
“And what do you want?”
For a moment the creature seemed calm and collected. She stared at Celestia with eyes bulging out, and that’s when Discord broke the silence by laughing once more. Dee did the same, only her voice seemed to thunder all around.
“Isn't it obvious? Oh, for a leader of a nation you sure are slow.”
“You cannot have Equestria! I will not allow it!”
“Equestria? You think I’m only after Equestria?” Chuckling, Dee flew over to Celestia and literally picked her up with a claw. Celestia did her best to not flail about. “My little pony, you think too small.” She frowned briefly and pointed at Discord. “And so does he, come to think of it.”
“What can I say?” Discord shrugged, very much unoffended. “It’s the simple things in life that matter.”
Dee rolled her eyes and then smirked as she turned back to Celestia. “I’m not after your country, little pony.”
“Then what?” Celestia asked in bewilderment. What could be worse than taking over a country?
“I’m after your world.”
Well, there’s that, she decided.
“Well, more specifically, your dimension.”
“Dimension? I beg your pardon?” Luna asked from behind her.
Discord laughed again. “Oh isn't it marvelous? Of course I only wanted Equestria all to my self, but an entire dimension? Now that’s something. Oh, and she has me to thank for the plan!”
Dee laughed herself, but hers was more mocking than mirthful. “You? I can hardly thank you for anything. It was not you that alerted me to this world’s, nah, excuse me, dimension’s presence. No, not at all!”
Discord looked mildly offended for the first time today, and raised a claw in protest.“But, you contacted me, said you needed help, and for-”
“And in exchange I would release you, which I still plan on doing. Make no mistake there. But it was not you at all, it was a filly.”
“You don’t say?” Discord asked already growing bored with the conversation as he sipped on some tea with a top hat on his head. Then he finished off the cup and threw it on the floor. “Whatever. That’s ancient history now, no?”
“Yes,” Dee paused and then turned down to Celestia with a smirk, “it most certainly is. Now then, I need you to summon those Elements of Harmony, specifically through your student.”
“Never!” Celestia spat. “And even if I wanted to, I couldn’t! My horn no longer works, thanks to you!”
“Hmm, you raise a good point. But no matter.” She snapped a claw and suddenly a massive parchment was floating in front of them. “Oh dear, could I trouble you for a quill?” Without waiting for an answer she tilted Celestia to the side and with ease jammed her horn onto the parchment, writing with the whole alicorn as though she were as light as a quill..
“My most faithful student, Twilight Sparkle. An emergency has come up that outweighs fixing the Elements or finding your dragons. I request that you and all of the Elements of Harmony come down to Canterlot, I will discuss the issues in per-” Dee paused and looked down to Celestia, who was scowling at her. “Is it ‘in person’ or ‘in pony’? I’m still new to this dimension.”
She waited for an answer,but all she got was spit lodged into her eye. “I’ll just say ‘in pony’. Signed, Princess Celestia. Now, Discord, will you do the honors of giving this the royal seal?”
Luna chuckled darkly. “That is complex enough that you’ll never figure it ou-”
“Got it.” Discord then cleared his throat and literally projected the royal seal for Dee to see. She smiled and rolled up the parchment after installing said seal. He smiled at Luna’s stunned expression. “You’d be surprised what you learn when you’ve been trapped in a statue for so long.”
“Hmm, I don’t know the spell that sends the letters to this Twilight.” Dee looked at Discord, but he merely shrugged.
“Well, don’t look at me! Chaos lord, remember? If I tried to send it, it would probably end up somewhere in the Saddle Arabian desert.”
She sighed and turned back to Celestia, then she snapped a claw. Drawing on her magic, she literally dug said claw into the back of Celestia's skull. It was a simple illusion spell to grab memories, but Luna didn’t need to know that, so she let her gasp and laughed. “Let’s see, raising sun, nah, friendship spells, no... oh, there’s that reformation spell you were telling me about... ah ha!”
A few moments later and the scroll was whisked away. Then they all sat in silence. “Hmm, I suppose I should get you out of that statue, but what to do with them...”
“Oh, oh! Let me do something, please! I never get to mess with them!” Discord whined. With a quick snap of his fingers, he materialized as a child version of himself and started crying actual waves of tears.
“Very well. But for now...” She paused and flicked her claw, and just like that, Princess Luna and Princess Celestia were literally tied down with ropes.
“Ah, a classic,” Discord replied and laughed once more.
“Now stay here you two like good ex-princesses!” Dee said and vanished into thin air. She reappeared a few seconds later in front of Discord’s statue and tapped on it curiously. “How do I open this again?”
“You have to do something very chaotic.”
“Hmm...” Dee looked all around and spotted plants, trees, grass and one very large castle. She smirked. She conjured up a bit of magic and with that, the top of Princess Celestia’s study was wedged into the back of the castle. “Did that-”
Discord’s statue began to crumble and crack. He leaped out of the statue and lighting storms seemed to come out of nowhere. Each laugh from him was one strike of thunder onto the grass. Then just as quickly as they came, the storms vanished.
“Are you quite finished?” Dee asked. Her folded arms and dour expression indicated that she was not amused in the slightest.
Discord pouted as the lightning faded away. “Oh, I suppose so. You're no fun, you know.”
“Fun will not rule this world. Now let’s have some fun with those two.”
“Hmm, you know you are much bigger in person. But I digress!” He snapped his claws and transported the two back to the throne room. Instantly, their ears began to ring.
“You will untie us at once!” Luna screamed, making the Royal Canterlot Voice sound like a child having a tantrum.
Dee took a moment in silence and started to tap her claws on her chin over and over. “Hmm, sure!” She snapped her claws again and soon the two were standing side by side looking utterly confused. Luna recovered quickly and tried to leap at Dee, only to fall flat on her chest, moaning in pain. Dee cooed mockingly, “Aww, did widdle Woona hurt herself?” Her voice shifted back to its normal pitch, albeit a bit angrier. “We sapped your magic dry, stupid. Geez, you would think the leader of a nation would have figured that out by now.”
“What is the plan, sister?” Luna asked, not caring that the two could hear.
“At this time I have none, but I know Twilight has a few tricks...” Celestia replied weakly.
“Oh, your precious student! I know all about her! And tons of other things that won’t be... spoiled. Do tell, what backups plans could she possibly have?”
“Well, you know everything about her, no? Why don’t you... guess?” Celestia shot back.
“Oo, sounds like fun! Hmm... Okay, here it goes!” She snapped a claw and a large black box floated down from seemingly out of nowhere and landed just on the floor. “Ahh, television, what won’t others invent?” She flicked her claw again and a tiny black rectangle appeared in it. “Now let’s see... I think the future is channel twenty eight?”
Just like she said, the ‘television’ flashed for a moment and the numbers twenty eight appeared for a split second. Then something odd happened that neither princess was expecting.
“Princess Celestia, Princess Luna!” An image of Twilight sparkle and her fellow Elements of Harmony appeared on the television and began running up to the two princess’s on the screen.
“Stop,” an image of Dee said on the same screen and snapped her claw,” there, that’s better!”
All six of the bearers of Elements of Harmony now stood in front of the still magicless princesses, only they now appeared much, much younger.
Dee on the screen began to cackle and laugh manically.
Then the television disappeared and both Discord and Dee began to copy the false Dee, but something was off for Dee. “Hmm, no... that’s boring.”
“Boring?!” Discord asked in bewilderment. “What could be so boring as making Twilight and those little snots into babies? Its genius!”
“That’s not chaotic!” Dee scolded, slapping Discord across the face. He winced back in pain. “That’s just easy! That is not how our kind operates and you- you should know better!”
“Hmm,” Discord hummed and looked at Dee with a newfound respect, “perhaps you are right. I have not encountered one of your kind, you really do keep the Chaotic Code, don’t ya?” With another flick of his claw, he revealed a small white notecard with words written in crayon on it, along with a crude drawing of himself.
“Sure. Now, while we are waiting for our guests to arrive, let’s say we have some fun! There is a whole pony city to... change.”
“Right!” Discord cheered much to the horror of both princesses. “We can just-” He paused and broke into thought. Dee and the other two looked at him curiously. “Dee, I just thought of something.”
“Yes?”
“Twilight can’t send letters back. Not without that annoying little purple drake.”
“So what?! Then she’ll just show up. We’ll be ready for her, letter or no.”
“But so will she! We won’t have the element of surprise on our side. Even without the Elements of Harmony, she could still find a way to stop us or at least rescue them!” He gestured to the princesses, who were unmoving, but still furious.
“I... see your point. Perhaps we should bring them here against their will. It will take a considerable amount of magic to do so, but certainly not as much as traversing a plane.”
“What happens when you cross dimensions? To you, I mean?”
“I lose quite a bit of magic for quite a bit of time. Its annoying.”
Discord nodded. “Hmm, well, how about I grab half of Twilight’s group.” He paused again and took both of his claw into the air, then he positioned them around an imaginary circle. And literally made a ripping noise which seemed to rip the very fabric of reality itself. Princess Celestia’s eyes bulged out of her sockets, not literally (though Discord pondered if he should lend a claw in that department). Inside the new hole was Twilight Sparkle and her friends, all standing in a room with one Minotaur King next to them. “Hmm, they’re missing two.”
“Are you certain? Let’s see, Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, whoever that stallion is, Fluttershy... try looking for the other two.”
“Hmm.” He grunted and tried his trick again, then again and even a third time. By the fourth time he began to grow very frustrated and wanted to hit the fabric of reality, but then he realized that that would probably just hurt him along with it. “Those two must not be wearing their elements, my spells works with those to track them down.”
“Do you think they figured out our plan with that little dragon’s... thing?”
“Maybe, but no matter. We will get those two eventually. Why don’t I grab Twilight and Rarity, and you get Fluttershy and Applejack? Sound fair?”
“Deal.”
“What do you...” Luna’s question fell on deaf ears and she had not really expected an answer anyway. Discord had reached into the hole and literally grabbed the two ponies that he mentioned, while Dee was doing the same. The ponies grunted and struggled as the hole closed shut. The two dropped the four ponies onto the floor with a loud thump.
“Twilight...” Celestia uttered and ran up to her side. Each and every Element of Harmony felt dazed. All of their train of thoughts were interrupted from Discord.
“Whew!” He literally wiped sweat off of his head by sweeping it off and having it land on top of Rarity like a miniature wave in the ocean, and her mane and coat were now drenched. “That took a lot out of me!”
“My beautiful coat! This is disgusting!”
“Oh, sorry. I guess I don’t know my own size!” Discord then laughed once more. Princess Luna was starting to grow tired of it.
“Discord... what did you do...” Twilight tried to say, but she trailed off when she noticed Dee who was smiling down at them. Her eyes widened in horror and her jaw dropped again. Now there were two of them?
“What’s the matter, my little pony?” she asked mockingly. “Draconequus got your tongue?”
Twilight managed to stammer a reply. “Who are-”
“LIttle ol’ me? You may call me, Dee!”
All four of the new ponies smirked. “Dee? Don’t sound very threatin’.”
“Now Applejack, I’m hurt! Why would I want to sound like an old meanie pants?” she asked rhetorically, mimicking what she had heard so far from Pinkie Pie’s speech. “Just Dee will do, and I don’t see any reason why my name needs to announce my... nature. But that is hardly here nor there.”
“What do you want?” Twilight asked, she stood in front of her mentor as if to protect her. Celestia found it a tad amusing, but only for a moment before the shock came back.
“Want? I just got done explaining to the ruler- ahem, ‘former ruler’ of this nation what it is I want, and I do hate to repeat myself,” Dee replied.
“Whatever you're up to, we can stop ya, we-”
Applejack was interrupted with Discord claw literally being placed gently on her lips. “And how do you propose that you do that? Hmm?”
“With the Elements of... Harmony...” Applejack stammered.
“Oh you mean,” he stopped talking and conjured up a rather large looking magnet out of thin air, which instantly attracted three necklaces and three crowns, “these?” He examined them as if he were a jeweler, complete with little magnifier glasses. “I must say, Luna, your crown is much nicer than your sister’s...”
“Oh, give me those!” Dee huffed and soon she was holding 4 very sick looking Element of Harmony stones. “Hmm, these aren’t much good now!” she declared, and quickly tossed them into a metal trash can that she also conjured out of thin air. Then she snapped her claws and the stones had vanished.
“No...” Twilight said. She was terrified. Instead of these masters of chaos ruining her friends as she had feared, they had ruined the gems. It did not matter if her friends were acting in harmony or not, they were powerless without the Elements.
“Twi! Don’t just stand there, stop him!” Applejack exclaimed in a panic.
“Me? But we don’t have the-”
“Forget those! You destroyed that tree in a fit of rage, I’m sure you could stop these two no problem!”
“Oh ho ho, now this is gonna be fun.” Discord snapped a claw again and conjured up some film seats for the two of them. “Go on pony, give us your best shot!”
“Applejack... are you saying I should be violent to them? Its not like they’ve hurt us or anything...” Twilight really wanted to do something, deep down she did. But the two weren’t even toying with them on a physical level. Twilight was a pony and was taught Harmony from the princess herself, something about violence just seemed wrong.
“Twilight, they drugged us. Our magic no longer works. I believe that if you do have a plan, now would be an excellent time to use it!” Celestia butted in.
This new information made lashing out seem much less wrong. “You two did what?!” It didn’t take long at all for her eyes to begin glowing, they were almost red looking from Discord’s perspective. She conjured up as much magic as possible for her body, not all of her magic reserves. No. Doing that would be reckless (and possibly fatal), but enough magic to take those two down for good.
At least, she hoped.
Lavender-colored lightning began to spark off of her horn in rapid recession. A ball started to form on top of her horn, it shined almost as bright as the sun. It was a spell that the princess had taught her around a year before her departure for Ponyville. She aimed it at the two and fired. Time seemed to slow down for the two creatures. Both of them shared a knowing look, then smirked, and raised their claws and snapped in unison. Another rift opened up through space-time that sucked up the spell and then closed. Twilight slumped down on the ground, panting for air. Failure did not feel good.
“Ohh, too bad. I wonder where that spell will end up? Another universe? Ponyville? Perhaps your parents’ home... Twilight.”
“You wouldn’t!” Twilight stood up and glared at him.
“Nah, that’s not the chaos way. I’m sure it will just end up in a room filled with some pesky shippers!”
“Shippers? What do you-”
“Oh, never mind that. Now, just because we aren’t being cruel does not mean that it won’t happen... right about now!” A snap of the claw later and a podium sprang up from the floor, raising Princess Luna high into the air. “Hmm, ruler of the night are we? What do we say to that, Dee?”
“How about a magicless mare-” She paused and touched her claw on top of her horn while the princess of the night cowered. Something popped up on top of it. “Magical silencer. Same with you, Tia.” Discord did the same to princess of the sun. “How about you rule a desert! Yes, a bright, sunny desert! It’s not the most original thing I’ve done, but it will do.” She picked up Luna who tried to bite her, but if Dee felt any pain she did not notice. “I’ll just be right back!”
Again the rules of space and time were broken before their eyes. A hole opened, revealing a bright blinding light to a desert. Dee flew in along with Luna and out of nowhere metal chains and bars started to form around the princess. She was bolted down into the desert floor. Dee gave a few experimental shakes of the chains and satisfied with her work, came back in and shut the hole.
Celestia gave a sharp intake of breath. “Sister...” she whispered, holding a hoof out at where Luna had vanished.
“Your turn, princess!” Dee smirked and flew up to Discord’s ear and whispered something. “Uh huh, oooo, uh huh... perfect! Not orginal, you're starting to lose your touch.... but perfect for this scenario.” Dee rolled her eyes and opened up a portal, again, only this time it was closed swiftly with Celestia coming in. A few second slater, Dee came back only drenched in water.
“Oh wow, the bottom of the ocean sure is... hmm.”
“Wet?” Discord offered.
“I was going to say ‘dark’, but that works. Now, what to do with these little ponies.”
“Won’t she drown? We're not murderers... that’s so very, very boring. There’s only so much fun you can have with a corpse, after all.”
Dee gave him an askance look. “I’m going to pretend you didn’t just say that. Nah, she’s immortal. I bet you didn't know this about your little princess, but she doesn’t even need food to survive! Fun fact of the day.”
The devilish smirk, the laugher of Discord. The two princess’s that ruled the kingdom being stripped of their magic titles and now freedom. Not to mention corrupting the Elements of Harmony. It was too much for Twilight. Rarity, Applejack and Fluttershy were trying to pull her out of her shock, but nothing was working. Twilight continued to mutter things under her breath, her hooves firmly wrapped around her skull as if she had a massive headache. She could have at least tried to stop Discord, but Dee being in the equation changed things, it changed everything. She was low on magic and the more time that passed, the worse off their situation got.
Dee and Discord were winning, they knew it, the ponies knew it and even the princesses knew it. They were about to do something in regards to the four ponies cowering before them, but they both failed to take one thing into account, despite one of them knowing full well that he should have.
Twilight Sparkle was not a one trick pony.
The entire time she was muttering she was not, in fact, snapping or losing her mind; but reciting a spell. A wind current started to pick up in the throne room, which was automatically a red flag for both beings of chaos. They looked down and saw Twilight’s eyes were glowing again, and a type of force field had materialized around her and her friends. Discord saw this as another red flag, for the force field surrounding them was not pink, but orange. He immediately tried to reach out, but this type of force field was literally blocking him like he was a magnet and the shield was plastic.
With a bright flash, they were gone.
The flash for the four ponies ended rather quickly. They all looked confused for a moment before realizing that they were inside the very building where their friendship really started, the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters. The three of them spotted Twilight panting on the ground, looking like she was in pain.
“Twi!” Applejack galloped over and quickly checked her for injuries.
“I’m fin- no, that’s a lie. I’m not fine.”
“Where does it hurt?” Fluttershy asked.
“Wherever my pride is...”
Applejack rolled her eyes. “C’mon Twi, get up. We need to figure out a plan and-”
“Not to interrupt, Applejack. But how the devil are we going to stop that thing? I don’t know if you didn’t notice, but she was at least twice as big as Discord and had these ugly dragon claws and fire for hair! I don’t know if that means anything in terms of magical prowess, but I’m sure it does when it comes to her.”
“Uh...”
“Twilight? We can stop them, right?” Fluttershy asked hesitantly.
Twilight laughed bitterly. “I can’t even protect or watch my own son... how can I fix the Elements, stop them and save the princesses? I’m not a goddess, girls...”
“Twilight!” Applejack tried to scold the mare but she wasn’t having it. Twilight waved a hoof weakly in the air to stop her, but ended up losing her balance and falling on her face.
“Listen, I’m about to pass out. I barely have any magic left to cast. My horn is hurting, probably magical fatigue... you girls need to get to Zecora. She can probably help.”
“Alright, we’ll get to Zecora’s hut and, Twi? Twi?” Applejack tried to poke her a few times but nothing was happening, she wouldn’t move.
“She’s still breathing, she just exhausted herself,” Fluttershy determined. “Can you carry her, AJ?”
“Ah think so. A unicorn shouldn't be too heavy.” The three worked together and soon the exhausted mare was resting firmly on her back. “Geez, ever think of putting on some weight Twi?” she joked.
“C’mon, girls, Twilight’s always looking out for us. Now she needs us to do the same.”
They all nodded and headed out into the dark, foreboding Everfree Forest, missing the Elements and the one that had brought them all together in the first place.