What Didn't Happen

by Zeg

The Perfect Plan

Moondancer knelt on her forelegs down low to the ground, laying the right side of her head against the polished stone floor of the Canterlot throne room. While the cool stone felt nice against her face, she had a much more important reason to be laying her head there than trying to sooth her headaches.

She squinted her left eye closed, trying hard to focus her blurred vision while she eyed the edge of the red carpet with her right eye. She took note of the ripples where it had been moved. A thoughtful hum echoed from her throat as she pushed herself back up. She circled around the spot near the double doors, nearly the same spot that Twilight had been standing when the doors had opened. From the looks of the disheveled carpet, there had been a small struggle near there that had involved more than just a couple ponies.

She glanced up to look toward the throne at the other end of the room, and then quickly trotted down the hall. As she climbed the half dozen stairs that lead up to the throne, she paused momentarily, seeing that another struggle had taken place there as well, and this one had been far more physical. The carpet was pulled and bunched, even flipped over at one corner where it ended near the foot of the throne. Two struggles, each at two opposite ends of the room, but nothing immediately noticeable in between.

Moondancer climbed the remainder of the stairs, standing off to the side of the throne as she turned to look out over the throne room hall. She noticed her armor stacked together close to where the first struggle had occurred near the doorway. She also happened to notice the cracks in the pillar that the changeling had been found nearby, but besides a broken window, that was the full extent of the damage to the room. For what should have been a battle involving two alicorns, a changeling queen, and who knows how many changeling drones or Nightguard, the room seemed to be in surprisingly pristine condition.

Moondancer glanced to her side, looking up to the stained glass mural that had been shattered. From her perspective, she could see out to the night sky, the full moon only partially in view. She took a few steps toward the window, and as she did there was something that caught her attention. Most of the colored glass panes had been broken out from between the lead cames that held the pieces together, but the cames themselves were otherwise still intact, if somewhat bent. At that moment, Moondancer recalled what Twilight had told her earlier.

She had said Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis had left the throne room through the window.

Obviously if they had, then the metal cames would have been torn from the framing. Also, the glass would have been blown outward, instead of having fallen down at the base of the window into a pile.

Twilight had lied.

Moondancer let a curse go beneath her breath. Her hoovesteps echoed through the hall as she quickly descended the stairs, and then cantered toward her armor. As she approached her gear, her magic began to take hold of the pieces, bringing them to herself and fastening the pieces to her body quickly as she prepped herself. Once she had finished with the body armor, she brought her helm up, grasping it between her hooves. She spent a silent moment just staring at the open face of the helm, the troubling thoughts of the day’s events playing through her mind as she did so.

A clatter of metal clad hooves touching down at the doorway drew her attention away quickly, and she saw her sergeant trot in through the open doors, folding her wings. “I came as soon as possible, Captain,” Gale said through labored breathing.

The helm slipped from Moondancer’s hooves and clattered to the floor.

When Gale had arrived at the palace, she had made her way to the throne room, remembering that Moondancer had mentioned wanting to check it. As luck would have it, she found Moondancer still there, but before she could say much more a clatter of something being dropped on the stone floor caused Gale to flinch and then freeze in place. Moondancer had dropped her helm to the floor, turning herself to face Gale with her magic fully ignited with a bright white glow. Gale’s mind frantically raced as she tried to figure a reason for this reaction, settling on the conclusion that she may have just walked in on a changeling in the act of trying to take her captain’s place. Her wings flared out to her sides and she crouched low, preparing to battle the enemy before her, but her eyes caught something that caused her to give pause. The left side of Moondancer’s face was bandaged.

Gale’s blood ran cold the moment she realized that she was the one who had been identified as the possible changeling. “Captain! Wait!” she called out, but it was just a second too late. Moondancer released her spell upon Gale, which caused her to leap back with a powerful flap from her wings in an attempt to dodge. However, the power that Moondancer had unleashed didn’t come in the form of an arcane bolt, and instead expanded to fill the entire area like a bright white dome. There was nothing Gale to could do to avoid the spell as it reached her and passed over her.

Gale let out a gasp when the spell passed, but was otherwise unharmed. She hovered there in the air, panting from the sudden panic added to her already exhausted state. It had only been the detection spell. She silently thanked the stars above that Moondancer hadn’t chosen something more offensive.

“...Gale?” Moondancer asked as she looked up to her sergeant, her face twisted with confusion and agitation. Gale relaxed, allowing herself to glide back down to the floor. “Are you trying to give me a heart attack!?” Moondancer screeched.

Gale flinched. “Y-you sent for me, Captain. Something for my ears only?” She pondered over Moondancer’s bizarre behavior, wondering for a moment if the head injury might actually be affecting her in some way. That thought disappeared quickly when she saw the hard look that her superior officer was giving her, and she quickly straightened her stance. “Captain, I swear, it’s me. You sent me to tail Twilight and the guards that went with her to the train station.”

“Then why are you disobeying orders?”

Gale’s voice caught in her throat for a second. “The private said you had something urgent for my ears only!”

“...Private?” Moondancer asked, her eyes growing a bit wider. “Gale, who approached you?”

“I....” Gale realized that she didn’t actually know who the Nightguard had been. When he had approached, he seemed to already grasp the situation, and even offered to take over her post. The situation had felt so natural that she hadn’t even thought to ask who he was, but then the same had happened when Moondancer had been replaced in the Everfree Camp nearly a month ago. Nopony had even noticed when a changeling had been standing right in front of them, nor had they felt anything was suspicious. Gale slowly closed her eyes as a strained sigh escaped from her. “I’m sorry, Captain,” she said, lowering her head as she realized her mistake.

“Never mind that,” Moondancer said firmly as she approached. “Whatever they were about to do, they didn’t want you to see it.” Moondancer stopped just in front of her sergeant, following Gale with her eyes when she raised her head and stood at attention. “Get to the yard. Draw as many Nightguard together as you can, get to that train and stop it, now.”

“Yes, Captain!”

Gale left the room quickly, leaving Moondancer there to brood over the annoying situation for a moment. She drew in a deep breath, letting it out with a frustrated growl.

The good news was that Gale had taken an advance squad of pegasi ahead of the rest of the Nightguard and successfully stopped the train from leaving Canterlot. Unfortunately, that was the only good news.

The Nightguard had searched the train from end to end, and when nothing had turned up, it was searched from end to end again. The station and the street just outside was now filled with confused and frustrated passengers. Everypony was scanned with the detection spell, some repeatedly, including any Nightguard bringing back reports from the search of the surrounding area. The invasive nature of the search definitely wasn’t winning any points for the Nightguard, and had caused more than one heated confrontation between a few citizens and guards already. Luckily, it hadn’t gone any further than words, yet.

“I’m getting really tired of ponies disappearing,” Moondancer grumbled. Twilight Sparkle had been nowhere to be seen when the guards arrived at the train station. Once she had arrived herself, Moondancer immediately ordered the search of the train, the station, and the nearby city blocks. That was over half an hour ago, and not a single trace of Twilight nor the half dozen guards that had supposedly been with her had turned up, let alone any trace of changelings.

“Sorry, Captain,” Gale said quietly. She had been silently standing next to her superior officer as they both oversaw the search just outside the train station. Her muzzle was etched with a deep frown not too much unlike the one on Moondancer, but for a different reason. She drew in an uneasy breath, and then said, “This is all my fault—”

“Enough, Gale,” Moondancer said, not so much as breaking her watchful gaze of the search operation. The comment actually made Gale flinch, but she remained silent as she had been ordered. The uneasy silence lingered between the two for many moments afterward as they watched. “Mistakes happen,” Moondancer finally said, causing Gale to look to her side. “Against an enemy like this one, it could have happened to anypony. Heck, I managed to get myself caught by them once already.” Moondancer let go a long sigh, finally breaking her gaze away from the train station for a moment to look Gale in the eyes. “I shouldn’t have sent you alone. That was my mistake. You’re lucky that the only thing that happened was that they pulled a fast one on you. It could have been a lot worse for you.”

Gale held the silent gaze for a moment before turning her glance back to the station. “Well... sure, you’re right. It could have been worse for me. But now we have no idea where they even are. Isn’t that worse for everypony?”

Moondancer turned her attention back toward the station as well, watching as one of the unicorn guards used the detection spell to search one of the train passengers despite the loud complaints that he was getting for doing so. The scene caused her to grimace. “I’m really starting to wonder about this anti-changeling magic,” Moondancer said through a tired sigh. “I haven’t seen it work once. I haven’t even heard of it working at all, except the one time that Twilight used it herself. As far as we know, that is the only time it has ever worked, isn’t it?”

Gale glanced curiously toward Moondancer. “Do you think that means anything?”

Moondancer shook her head, letting it hang down as she cast her gaze toward the cobble street at her hooves. “I don’t know what to think.”

“Captain!”

Moondancer snapped her attention toward the voice when she heard the call, seeing one of the pegasus scouts flying in nearby. Despite her doubt in the spell’s ability, she choose to cast the detection spell anyway, and quickly let go a burst of white magic that harmlessly passed over the scout as he landed. “What is it, Scout?” she asked as she gave a quick salute in answer to the one he gave her.

“You’re... I don’t think anypony is going to believe this,” the scout said, his voice having an edge of agitation to it.

Moondancer slowly blinked her eyes, making a strong effort not to roll them. “Hard to know if you don’t tell us.”

The scout took a quick breath to calm himself, nodding as he prepared to deliver his report. “We found them, we think. My group is tailing them right now, and they were headed through the suburbs between Sunny Lane and Bridge Way, just east of here.”

“They?” Moondancer asked as she tilted her head.

“The enchantress and five others. But, the enchantress... she’s different.”

Moondancer quirked an eyebrow at the scouts evasive wording. “Stop beating around the bush, Scout.”

“An alicorn, Captain. The enchantress is an alicorn.”

There was a moment of stunned silence, and then Gale spoke up from the side. “Are you sure you weren’t just seeing things?”

“I made doubly sure of what we saw, even confirmed it with the others. We all saw the same thing, Sarge.”

Moondancer exchanged a quick glance with Gale before she took a single step forward, resting a hoof on the scout’s shoulder. “Thank you. Report back to your group and keep an eye on the target. Tell them to get in position with nets and to try not to be seen. When we get ground forces near enough, we’ll need their eyes to guide us so we can set up an ambush.”

“Yes, Captain!” With a quick salute, the scout took a single step backwards and then spun around to spring back into the night sky. Moondancer followed him with her eyes for a moment, turning her attention back when she heard Gale speak up next to her.

“Captain, can a changeling do that?” Gale had asked. “Can they just make themselves look like an alicorn?”

Moondancer already knew that a changeling wouldn’t have to if it had mimicked Twilight, but nopony else in the guard would have known that. If her guess were right, and that changeling was Chrysalis, then that left one obvious unanswered question. Why would Chrysalis deliberately draw extra attention to herself by openly showing herself as an alicorn?

Since no answer immediately came to mind, there was only one other way that Moondancer would be able to get her answer. “We can ask them ourselves once we capture them.”

A pegasus Nightguard laid on her back upon one of the many rooftops of the eastern suburbs in Canterlot. She had just finished adjusting the straps that held a cylindrical device to the side of her right foreleg. She hooked her left fetlock against the pin that stuck out of the side of hollow metallic tube and pulled back, causing it to slide back nearly to the end of the cylinder and lock in place with a quiet click.

Quickly rolling back upright, she hooked her forehooves over the peak of the roof, and pulled herself up just barely high enough to peer over the edge. The enchantments within her helm aided her pegasus sight in spotting the other guards perched on the other rooftops nearby, and also in spotting the targets on the street below. The group of mares had been wandering the streets as if lost ever since they had been discovered, and had now found their way to a secluded section of the suburbs. This was the best possible location to attempt the capture, and the pegasi had stealthily moved themselves into position across the rooftops surrounding the area.

Allowing herself to slide back down below the roof peak, she glanced back over her shoulder toward the street behind her. She made a quick signal by motioning with a hoof to her eyes.

Captain Moondancer caught the signal from where she was standing down below. She gave a quick motion with her hoof to let the guard know that her signal had been received, and then trotted up to the wall of the building where her team was waiting for her.

“They’re just ahead, around the corner. The pegasi will make their move any second now,” Moondancer said in a quiet whisper. The unicorn and earth pony guards all readied themselves near the corner of the building. Their task was simple; make sure nopony escaped through the southern street. The other groups spread out around the city block were to cut off any other possible escape routes while the pegasi went in for the capture.

Moondancer edged herself close to the corner, leaning the right side of her face against the wall as she stole a glance around the wall’s edge. She could see the six mares walking casually down the street, and spotted Twilight leading them. The scouting reports she had been receiving had told her that these mares were the same group that had helped the Nightguard at the camp in the Everfree. And just as it had been reported, Twilight was openly displaying her wings for all to see. Moondancer still found it odd to see her so calmly and casually moving about in the open without her disguise, even if it most likely wasn’t her. The sight left Moondancer with a nagging feeling that something about this was off, but she pushed the notion aside to focus on her task.

Moondancer’s eyes quickly darted up when she noticed a quick movement overhead. Only a second later she heard the sound of the net launchers being released, the spring loaded devices letting go a distinct metallic clank as each one was fired by the pegasi. The nets sailed through the air with a twirling, whistling noise as they flew toward their targets.

Twilight and her companions quickly sprung to action, scattering almost immediately when the ambush was launched. Two of the mares took to the air, but were quickly denied escape as they were snared mid air by the nets, each of them thudding back to the ground with a grunt. The remaining three ground bound mares that were with Twilight had each ran in a different direction, attempting to find escape down the side streets. Each mare found a team of Nightguard blocking their path, and were soon snared by by nets as well.

Twilight had chosen to run south down the main street, staying to the ground and agilely dodging the nets. Moondancer had her team ready, and motioned for them to follow her as she charged around the corner directly at the enchantress. Twilight’s eyes went wide with surprise the moment the group of Nightguard appeared before her. Her wings flared out at her sides as she skidded to a stop and she quick spun around to attempt to escape, but her hooves suddenly slipped out from under herself causing her to hit the ground chin first.

Moondancer galloped up the street behind Twilight, cancelling the anti-friction spell she had used to trip up her target. Twilight was struggling to get back to her hooves just as she was tackled back to the street by Moondancer. “Ring her!” Moondancer screamed as she struggled to hold Twilight down underneath her. If this somehow was the real Twilight, she didn’t want to take the chance that she would end up on the wrong end of the angered alicorn’s magic.

An earth pony from Moondancer’s team quickly clamped a blue glowing ring down on Twilight’s horn. Moondancer’s horn lit with a pale white glow as she stood over Twilight, and her telekinetic aura took hold of the alicorn to flip her over, forcing her onto her back. Moondancer wasted no time casting the revealing spell, and the wide beam of white light passed over the suspected changeling. As it did, her violet coat and mane were stripped away to reveal the black chitin that it had been hiding.

Moondancer stood over the changeling, her chest still heaving from her heavy breathing. The changeling stared back up at her with its compound eyes, seeming to be equally breathless. A drone. The changeling had only been a drone.

Moondancer’s eyes darted around, looking to the other mares that had been captured. “Check the others,” she said. Unicorns began casting spells, stripping away disguises and revealing a changeling drone where each of the other five mares had been. Moondancer looked upon each of the drones as her mind worked. “Six drones,” she said quietly, a number that stuck out as significant. She tried to think of a reason why, and then realization briefly flashed on her face before she let go an exasperated sigh.

“Captain?” Gale asked as she trotted up. “What’s wrong?”

“Six,” Moondancer said plainly. “There were six guards with Twilight.” She glanced up, looking her sergeant directly in the eyes. “These are decoys.”

Gale glanced over the drones, her ears splaying back. “We brought most of the Nightguard here,” she said as she looked back to Moondancer. “The palace is nearly empty.”

Moondancer approached Gale quickly, placing a hoof on her shoulder. “Get the pegasi team together and get back there now,” she said. Her voice wasn’t angry or loud, but Gale could still hear the stress and urgency weighing heavy on it.

“Yes, Captain,” Gale quickly said as she turned to her task. Within a matter of a minute, she had successfully gathered together every pegasi Nightguard in the area and taken them to the skies to return to the palace. Moondancer had silently watched them leave, only hoping that it wouldn’t already be too late by the time they arrived.

Moondancer turned her attention to the group of changeling prisoners that the rest of the guards had gathered together and secured. She noticed that every single one of them was watching her. Her muzzle twisted into a grimace, and she approached the changeling that had been using Twilight’s form. The way it sat hunched over only exaggerated the apparent size difference between them, making it appear like Moondancer was towering over the smaller creature as she stared down into the compound eyes that were watching her. “I’m sure you’re watching through this thing, thinking that you’re little trick was so clever.” Moondancer leaned down to where she was nearly snout to snout with the changeling, narrowing her eyes. “I still owe you one, and I plan on paying you back in full when I finally find you.”

Applejack let a short whistle go between her front teeth as she glanced up at the high ceilings of Canterlot’s inner palace halls. “Sure is fancy. And you’re certain it’s alright us bein’ here, right Twi?”

So far, Chrysalis’s plan had been going better than she could have ever expected. Using Twilight’s form had proven to make the task of getting the five bearers from the train to the palace while remaining unseen all the more easy, and the Nightguard were busy chasing the bait that she had sent off toward the other end of Canterlot, which would give them more than enough time. Everything was going perfectly.

“Absolutely,” Chrysalis said in response to Applejack’s question. “With Nightmare Moon and most of her guards distracted, we won’t have to avoid anypony while we’re here. The guards that are still here are on our side, so there’s no need to worry.”

Rainbow Dash broke away from gawking at the surroundings long enough to ask a question of her own. “How did you manage to pull off something like that?”

Chrysalis gave Rainbow Dash a sly grin. “Oh, I have my ways.”

“She’s is a princess, Rainbow Dash,” Rarity added, her tone indicating that she was stating something that should have been completely obvious.

A quick shushing sound drew everypony’s attention toward Pinkie. “That’s a secret,” she hissed in a stage whisper, her hoof prodding at the velvet jacket that Chrysalis was wearing.

“Oh,” Rarity whispered back. “My apologies, Twilight.”

Chrysalis dismissed the concern with a wave of her hoof. “Don’t worry, we should be safe long enough to retrieve the Elements.” She continued to lead the five mares through the halls of the palace, passing by a few of her Nightguard disguised drones along the way. They gave her a quick salute that she nodded toward in response.

“Well,” Applejack started as she stole a glance back down the long hallway they had been walking through. “I hope you already know where they’re keepin’ them, cuz this place sure is big. A pony could get lost in here for quite a while, I reckon.”

Chrysalis glanced to Applejack. “I’ve got this all planned out,” she said with a confident grin. She already knew that her drones were waiting for her near the vault that the Elements were sealed within, and had brought the ‘key’ that they would need. The group came upon the final turn, and once they rounded the corner they could see another group of three standing there in the hall. Two of them were easily identifiable as Nightguard, but the third was somepony that most of the mares were not familiar with. It wasn’t until they got a bit closer that they notice the third pony was actually an alicorn.

“Twilight!” Cadance called out when she noticed the group of mares approaching her. Her face brightened with a smile as she cantered over to Chrysalis, and once she was in reach she extended a hoof to embrace the disguise changeling. Chrysalis kept to her act, putting a fitting smile on and returning the embrace. She felt a wave of energy at the touch, and had to resist the urge to lose herself among the powerful feelings of affection that washed over her, settling on drawing only a small, unnoticeable amount of power from it to quench her thirst for now. “I thought it was too good to be true when these guards told me they were going to bring me to see you,” Cadance said as she pulled back from the hug to look Chrysalis in the eyes.

“Well, I did say I would try to find a way to help, didn’t I, Cadance?” There were a few muffled gasps and more than one surprised look on the other mares when they heard Chrysalis mention the name. “I see they got the restraints off too. That’s good, because there is a favor I was hoping you could do for me and my friends.”

“Anything I can do, Twilight. Anything at all.”

Chrysalis smiled, and began walking down the hall, leading the group to a set of large double doors. “The lock on this vault should respond to your magic,” she said as she stopped just in front of the metal plated doorway. She glanced over the door shortly before turning her glance back toward Cadance. “I was hoping you would get it open for us.” Making use of Cadance to gain access to the magically sealed vault had been part of the plan from the early stages of its forming. The locking mechanism for this particular vault was special, protected with an enchantment that would only react to an alicorn’s magic, one of the most secure ways to protect an artifact such as the Elements. While she had originally planned to force Cadance to open the vault with a little persuasive mind magic, being able to ask her to do it as a favor instead was a much less strenuous option.

“Oh... well,” Cadance said hesitantly as she gritted her teeth together and looked up at the massive doors. “I wasn’t ever told a combination.”

Chrysalis tried not to let her disappointment show, maintaining her calm outward appearance. Apparently, not everything was destined to go perfectly as she had thought. This was another slight setback, another event that was not meant to happen, another that she hadn’t foreseen, just like the moment that Twilight had managed to whisk away Nightmare Moon. However, she had managed to adjust her plan to account for that oddity, and she knew of no other possible way to access the vault other than through Cadance’s ability. Whether she knew the combination or not, she was meant to open this vault. “At least try it. You’re the only one who can do this,” she said, still holding out hope for her plan to somehow succeed.

“Wait a minute,” Rainbow said as she frowned at the doors. She turned her glance toward Chrysalis and asked, “Are you saying your fancy shmancy magic won’t work on this?”

“Well,” Chrysalis started, momentarily caught off guard by the question. She quickly thought to bring up an excuse for needing Cadance’s power that wouldn’t give herself away. “Mine isn’t... attuned to it. But Cadance should be. She is a princess of Equestria, after all.” Chrysalis ended the short explanation with a hopeful grin.

Rainbow Dash nearly made a comment about how Twilight was also technically a princess of Equestria, but relented when she felt the narrow-eyed stare coming from a certain pink pony standing next to her, barely hearing the word ‘secret’ being hissed at her. She settled on just mumbling a ‘whatever’ instead.

Cadance drew in a breath, letting it go with a thoughtful hum. “Right, well. I’ll do what I can.” She went to gathering her concentration, igniting her horn with a light blue glow. She focused on the large metallic plates that covered the doorway, each plate easily being nearly the size of a pony on its own, and numbering eleven in total on each of the two doors in a three by four grid pattern, with one missing in each of the top rows. Each plate had a depiction etched on it, but what the image was meant to be wasn’t exactly clear. It looked as if each one was only part of an unfinished picture. Her magic reached out and grasped at the plates of the right side door, trying to find something that would give but finding that most of the plates were solidly mounted to the door’s face. Her magic worked its way across each plate, eventually making its way up toward the top two that had the empty gap between them. As her magic ran over one of the plates, it shifted slightly, and she pushed it further only for it to slide from its original spot completely into the empty slot, making an audible clunk as it did so. She tilted her head curiously at the doorway, a motion that was mirrored by most of the others standing there near her.

“Oh! Oh oh oh!” Pinkie suddenly spoke up, drawing all the attention back to her. She was rapidly bouncing in place as she pointed a hoof up at one of the plates on the doorway. “Move that one!” she excitedly commanded, to which the princess reluctantly complied as she used her magic to shift the plate that Pinkie had indicated. “Now move those two,” she said as she continued to direct Cadance, to which she complied again. “Move those up, and then move those over.” Pinkie continued to guide Cadance in sliding the plates over the door’s surface, all the while looking like an excited little foal the way she alternated between chewing at her bottom lip and tongue.

“Pinkie, do you know what you’re doin’?” Applejack finally asked.

“Shush!” Pinkie said, not so much as missing a step between her commands. Applejack grumbled something along the lines of ‘don’t shush me’ in response, but Pinkie ignored it. “Move those over and then move that one down.”

Rainbow had been squinting at the doorway as the tiles slid around in a seemingly random fashion, her lips pursed as she tried to decide if Pinkie was actually making a serious attempt at opening the vault or if her friend was just getting some sort of bizarre entertainment out of making a princess slide squares around. Then she happened to notice something when a line of the tiles slid into place next to another. “Hey, that kinda looks like a picture.”

“Uh huh,” Pinkie said quickly as she nodded her head before picking out the next tile to be moved.

A few more tiles slid into place, and eyes began to grow wider as the others in the room began to see more of the complete image. “I think... yes, I see it!” Cadance said as she quickly worked her magic to move the last few tiles into their proper position. Just as she finished positioning the last tile, there was a loud clank, followed by what sounded like gears spinning up. As the sound echoed through the hall, a final tile slid in from the door frame above the door, locking into place were the remaining gap had been and completing an image of a half moon on the right side door. The sound abruptly ended with a loud clunk, being the only noise that echoed through the otherwise silent hall for a moment afterwards.

“Well, that’s one,” Rarity said as she glanced from the right side door to the left. “I suppose you can solve this one as well?” she asked as she glanced back over her shoulder at Pinkie.

Pinkie had already set herself to studying the eleven plates on the second doorway. She let go a long hum as she sat there on her haunches, her eyes slowly narrowing as she brought a hoof up to bump it against her chin in thought.

After about the third or fourth thoughtful hum, Rainbow let go a huff of air as she rolled her eyes. “Well?” she asked toward Pinkie.

“I’m thinking,” she quickly responded, going back into her pattern of staring and humming at the doorway.

Most of the attention was on the vault doors and the pink pony puzzling over them. However, Chrysalis’s mind was currently focused on something elsewhere. The whites of her eyes had a very slight greenish glow as she seemed to stare blankly at a space just off to the side from the group. The moment passed, and she blinked her eyes rapidly as the greenish glow faded away.

“Somethin’ wrong, Twi?” Applejack asked when she noticed that Chrysalis had seemed distracted.

“Hm? Oh, no it’s... well it’s not nothing.” Indeed it wasn’t nothing, as she had just learned from one of her decoys that they had been captured, and her group would soon have to worry about a large number of pegasi guards arriving at the palace. They still had time, but it was now limited. “We’ll need to move quickly once we have the Elements. The distraction that I set up isn’t going to keep them busy much longer.”

“Ah hah!” Pinkie declared as she quickly jumped up on all fours. “No wonder it didn’t make sense! I was looking for the wrong kind of picture. Silly me!” she said as she tapped a hoof to the side of her head, sticking her tongue out to the side slightly.

“So, you can solve this?” Rarity asked.

“Yepperoony! Princess, if you wouldn’t mind?” Once Cadance had prepared herself, Pinkie proceed to guide her in solving the second doorway’s combination. The duo of pink ponies worked the tiles over efficiently, one calling out the movements while the other used her magic to slide the tiles into place. The excitement in the room slowly built as the tiles slid into alignment, showing more of a complete picture. Words of encouragement began to buzz from the group to urge Pinkie and Cadance onward.

Even Chrysalis couldn’t help but lose herself in the thrill of the moment. “Come on, come on!” she cheered as the image on the left door neared completion. The last of the tiles slid into its proper place at the top of the door, and once again the sound of gears spinning up echoed through the hallway as a final tile slid into the empty slot from the door frame above. The left side door now held a completed image of a half sun that mirrored the half moon of the right side door. With both doors solved, the enchantments protecting the vault released themselves, and the heavy doors slowly swung open toward the group on their own accord.

“Yes!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed as she did a quick flying back flip. “That was awesome!”

“Yes, very well done,” Chrysalis said. “Now the Elements are ours.”

“The Elements?” Cadance asked as she looked toward Chrysalis. “As in... Elements of Harmony?”

Chrysalis smiled as she allowed the translucency spell she had cast upon the Element of Magic to fade, bringing the crown into view atop her head. Cadance drew in a shocked gasp, her eyes widening at the sight. “Yes, and now they are back where they belong,” Chrysalis said as she stepped forward, reaching a hoof up to rest on her shoulder. “Thanks to you, the Elements are now in the hooves of the chosen bearers. You’ve been most helpful.” Chrysalis turned toward the two disguised drones that had been silently waiting nearby, drawing Cadance along with her. “There isn’t a lot of time left. These guards will take you somewhere safe.”

A brief moment of confusion flashed across Cadance’s face, followed by disappointment. “Oh... can I not go with you?”

Chrysalis stopped near the two guards, turning herself toward Cadance. “Where we’re going, it may not be safe. And... well, soon you may very well be Equestria’s only remaining princess. Putting you in harms way wouldn’t exactly be the wise thing to do, would it?”

“I see. Yes, I suppose you’re right,” Cadance said. She frowned down toward the floor, her sides heaving with a visible sigh.

Chrysalis reached forward, and gently drew Cadance’s gaze back up to her own. “We’ll see each other again. I promise,” she said, smiling gently and crafting words that she was sure Cadance would want to hear.

Cadance nodded and tried to force a smile in response. “Very well. I hope it’s sooner rather than later,” she said as she moved a step forward, embracing Chrysalis. Chrysalis held the embrace for a moment, stealing a glance to the side to her two drones. Her eyes flashed a dim green very briefly as she communicated a silent message to them, which they both acknowledged with a nod. Now that there was no longer a need for Cadance’s power, they were to take her back to the cell where they had originally found her.

Once Cadance had departed with the two disguised guards, Chrysalis turned her attention back to the vault, stepping just inside as she glanced at the five dormant orbs. Each one was perched on top of a solid onyx pedestal, and the other five mares had already begun to look them over out of curiosity.

Fluttershy was the first one to notice when Chrysalis had entered through the doorway without Cadance following her. “Where is Princess Cadance?” she asked meekly as she craned her neck to look around behind Chrysalis.

“The guards are escorting her to somewhere safe. From here on out, it’s just us.”

“So,” Rainbow Dash said as she tapped a hoof to one of the orbs to the far right. “How do we work these things?”

“Well first off, that one isn’t yours. Loyalty is over there,” Chrysalis said as she pointed a hoof to the orb that was to the far left.

Rainbow blinked and glanced over to the other orb. She cleared her throat and quickly flapped her wings to hover over to where Loyalty sat on it’s pedestal. “I knew that. I was just making sure you knew that.”

“Right,” Chrysalis said with a quick roll of her eyes. “This one is Honesty,” she declared as she pointed to the far right orb. “And the remaining three are Kindness, Generosity, and Laughter,” she said as she pointed out the remaining three in order. Each of the mares approached the orb that they knew was meant to be theirs.

“So, is there anything we should do?” Rarity asked as she glanced back toward Chrysalis.

“Yeah,” Applejack said as she pondered over the dormant Element in front of her. “I remember you sayin’ something back at the hive that we had to claim em or somethin’.”

“Yes, and we can do that like this,” Chrysalis said as she ignited her magic. Her horn flashed with a green tint, causing a spark of energy to travel across the magenta gem that adorned the crown on her head. The facets of Magic began to light up and sparkle, and soon the other five geodes in the room all began to sparkle in response to the call. The five orbs glittered more brightly until they seemed to glow with a light all of their own, becoming so bright that it was impossible to look directly at them. Once the orbs all became completely consumed in the light, they each flashed over the short distance from their pedestal to the neck of each of the five mares that were meant to be their bearers. The bright light dimmed very quickly afterward.

“Oh! Oh my,” Fluttershy said as she took a quick step back. She was glancing down at the golden necklace that now adorned her neck. She timidly propped the necklace up with her hoof, gazing at the pink butterfly shaped jewel set in the center.

“Hehehe! Look at mine!” Pinkie said as she proudly displayed Laughter for her friends to see.

“It looks just like your cutie mark,” Rarity said as she glanced over the balloon shaped jewel. She then glanced down to her own. “They all look like our cutie marks.”

“I’m not usually one to wear fancy jewelry,” Rainbow Dash commented as she sat back on her haunches, touching her forehoof to Loyalty. “But look at this thing! It’s a red lightning bolt. That’s just awesome!”

“I’m glad you all approve, but we need to get moving,” Chrysalis said as she turned to walk out of the vault. “We still have one more stop to make before we leave the palace.”

“Another stop?” Applejack questioned as she followed Chrysalis out, tilting her head with a curious glance. “I thought we were gonna grab the Elements and git.”

Chrysalis didn’t miss a step as she turned and began to trot down the palace hall, the five bearers all cantering out of the vault to catch up to her. “And we will, once we make a quick stop by the gardens.”

Fluttershy spoke up, her interest piqued at the mention of the Canterlot Gardens. “What’s at the gardens?” she asked.

Chrysalis let go a thoughtful hum a second before she glanced over her shoulder to Fluttershy. “It’ll be easier for me to just show you.”

Gale touched down in the yard near the entrance of the Canterlot Palace, wasting no time as she galloped toward the entryway. The squadron of pegasi that she had brought with her followed her inside. She had tried to think of what the changelings could possibly want at the palace, but had come up empty hoofed. There were too many possible places to search, and not enough of them to search every one of those places quickly enough. They would have to search as many as they could and just hope to get lucky.

Gale slowed her pace until she came to a stop, turning herself about to face her fellow guards. “Alright, I think it’s about time to let you all in on what’s going on here,” she said as she looked over the two dozen pegasi. “As you all already know, the Queen Changeling escaped, but we haven’t been able to locate her. We have reason to believe that any pony appearing to look like Enchantress Twilight Sparkle may actually be a changeling, possibly even Chrysalis herself, so if any of you do find her, you are to signal the rest of us.”

“How do we go about doing the signal, Sarge?” a stallion asked from the group.

Gale lifted her wing, reaching her hoof across to tap the side saddle bag attached to her armor. “Use your flares. Shoot them off inside if you have to, but do not attempt to approach the enchantress until we have the entire squad there.”

“Is she really that powerful?” another voice called from the group.

“Captain Moondancer suspects that Chrysalis did something to both the enchantress and our queen. If you think you’re tough enough to go up against something like that, then be my guest, but I’ll be there to say ‘I told you so’ when you get stomped. I’d recommend following orders and calling for help first.”

There was a low murmur that rumbled from the group of pegasi for a brief moment. The voice called back in answer from the group again, saying, “Understood, Sarge.”

“Good. I’m going to break us up into teams of five. That should give us five teams to search with. Whatever you do, do not lose sight of each other. We don’t have any unicorns with us here yet, so we can’t use the detection spell to check each other. Don’t trust any other guards you see until the rest get here with Captain Moondancer.”

A mare spoke up from the group, asking, “What do we do if we encounter other guards?”

“Avoid them, we’re after Chrysalis.”

Gale divided the groups in short order, and set them all to their tasks of searching different areas of the palace grounds. Her group was going to head down to the eastern halls, past the throne room. This was the same hall that lead to the vault that the Elements had been kept within.

As Gale and her four comrades rounded a corner in the hallway, they all came to a sudden stop when they came face to face with another group of two guards escorting Princess Cadance. Both groups stared at each other in surprised silence for a moment. Gale knew that the group was likely changelings, but she was surprised to see one walking around looking like the young princess. She momentarily considered using her flare to call the rest to herself, but hesitated when she realized that this might have been yet another decoy of some sort.

“I am not going back in that cage!” Cadance yelled as her horn lit with a bright blue glow. A half dome of the same color popped into existence, encompassing herself and her escorts. The sudden activation of magic caused a couple of Gale’s comrades to react, and they quickly brought up net launchers that they fired at the threat before them. The nets whistled through the air, but landed harmlessly against the dome to slid down to the floor.

“Cease fire!” Gale quickly called out as she flared her wing out to her side. While it was highly likely that the two guards were changelings, the one that appeared as Cadance was either putting on an extremely convincing light show, or was the real thing. If she was actually the princess, then that brought an interesting question to mind; did she realize she was standing next to two changelings? “Princess Cadenza?” Gale asked as she took a tentative step forward.

“Oh no,” Cadance said, vigorously shaking her head as she backpedaled a step, her protective dome sliding along with her. “I am not going to be tricked a second time. Keep your distance!”

“Wait! You don’t realize the danger you’re in,” Gale said as she held a single, cautioned hoof forward.

“I think I realize, thank you,” Cadance said as she narrowed her eyes at Gale.

“Those guards are not ours! They’re not even equine!”

Cadance blinked once, her harsh glare softening a bit at the confusing statement. “What are you getting at?”

“What did they have you do? The only reason they would let you out is to have you do something for them.”

“I....” Cadance’s mouth went slightly agape. She seemed suddenly surprised at the question. She slowly glanced down to her side, eyeing the guard next to her out of the corner of her eye.

Before Cadance could say anything further, there was a bright flash of green to her other side, and then a high pitched hiss from the drone that had dropped its disguise. It lurched forward with its mouth agape, wrapping its lips around the side of her neck and biting down. Sharp fangs pierced through Cadance’s flesh as she let out a shrill scream. Her shield flickered and vanished as she fell over to the floor, the changeling drone following her down as it remained latched onto her neck. She thrashed against the drone that held her pinned to the floor as she cried out in pain.

“Get that thing off her!” Gale yelled as she charged forward. The second drone dropped its disguise the second it was tackled by one of the pegasus guards, snapping its jaws as it attempted to get in a bite. Two others quickly helped restrain the drone as Gale and the other remaining guard pulled the other drone away from the princess. Cadance curled up on her side, holding a hoof over the wound on her neck as her body drew in gasps of air between the agonizing cries.

The two drones were dealt with swiftly, each one being restrained and then pinned to the floor under a guard’s weight. Once both drones were secured, Gale quickly moved over to Cadance, gently placing a hoof atop the one that she had pressed against her neck. “Princess, let me see,” she said as she gently tried to pull her hoof back.

“No, no no, not again, please,” Cadance whined as she tried very ineffectively to push herself away from Gale.

“I’m not going to hurt you! I’m here to help. Now let me see.” Cadance struggled for a short while longer before she finally gave in. She relaxed the hold that she had on her neck as Gale gently pulled her hoof back to take a look. The fur on her foreleg and neck were darkened with smeared blood, and there were two puncture marks where she had been bitten that were seeping a small amount. Gale only broke her stare away from the wound when she noticed Cadance’s body shaking as she laid there on the floor. She quickly looked around, noticing two of the pegasi gawking over her shoulder. “What are you doing!? Get a medic!” she said as she shot them a stern glare, which quickly got them into action. As the two pegasi galloped off in the direction of the palace medical ward, Gale turned her attention back down to Cadance. “It’s going to be alright,” she said as she edged in closer, clasping one of the princess’s shaking forehooves in her own.

“Twilight...,” Cadance weakly said as she drew in shaky breaths. “Twilight... why.”

Gale’s eye’s widened, and she knelt herself down closer to Cadance’s face. “Did you see Twilight here in the palace?” she asked. However, no other answer would come forth as Cadance simply stared off blankly across the floor, periodically repeating the name between her struggling breaths.

The Canterlot Palace Gardens were known to be a sight to behold the world over. Rows upon rows of perfectly cut hedges, immaculate fountains, and perfect stone depictions of important figures from the past were common place for one to see if they were to receive the privilege of visiting rights. However, the absence of lighting other than the natural moonlight cast a very different picture than what the mares had expected. Long shadows from the shrubbery, trees, and statues filled the gardens with unsettling shapes of darkness. Rainbow Dash was eyeing a small, perfectly pruned tree that she was passing by, and then turned her gaze back forward to see half of a white face staring back at her with its soulless eye. “Dah!” she yelped as she flinched back a step, her wings flashing out to her sides. Realizing that it was one of the many shadowed statues staring back at her, she shook her head as she let go a low grumble. “Why are there so many creepy statues here?”

“I think that one is rather charming,” Rarity said as she stopped next to Rainbow, looking up at the statue of a stallion. Its stone form was adorned with armor, its right hoof hooked around a bo staff that stood perfectly vertical as it stood at attention.

“They’re just statues of ponies, Dash,” Applejack called back as she followed Chrysalis along with Fluttershy and Pinkie toward their destination. “They ain’t gonna jump up and bite ya or nothin’.”

Rainbow mumbled something unintelligible under her breath as she trotted over to catch up with the group, Rarity following close beside her. She found herself pondering on just how much more milling around they were going to do before they arrived at whatever it was that was so important about the gardens. In the next few seconds, she got her answer when the entire group rounded the corner on a row of hedges. “Okay, that one is creepy,” she said as she pointed to an imposing statue centered in the middle of a circle of hedges just before them.

Applejack slowly nodded, her eyes not leaving the statue. “Yeah, I’d have to agree.”

“Definitely,” Rarity added as she grimaced at the sight before her.

“Why is that here?” Fluttershy asked as she half way hid herself at Rainbow’s side.

“That,” Chrysalis said as she turned toward the group of mares, “is a draconequus.”

There was a short moment of silence, and then Applejack asked, “A dragon-what?” as she looked to Chrysalis, confused.

“Looks like a little bit of everything,” Pinkie said as she pondered over the mixed up looking statue. It appeared to be posed as if mid song, one hand held over its chest and the other outstretched to its side as its mouth hung wide open to hold an eternal, silent note. Only its head seemed to somewhat resemble a pony in an odd way, the rest of it being a mixture of at least a half dozen other animals, likely more.

“He’s a whole lot of trouble,” Chrysalis said as she walked up to the statue. “But, with the proper guidance, his power can help us.”

Applejack’s head jerked back sharply before she looked between the statue and Chrysalis. “Waitaminute, what you getting at here, Twi?”

Chrysalis stopped at the base of the statue, glancing up at it. “We’re going to let him out, and then he’s going to help us.”

“Let him... out?” Fluttershy said, her ears splaying back as she shrunk down a bit further beside Rainbow Dash.

“That’s him,” Chrysalis said as she turned herself toward the group, gesturing a hoof to her side at the statue. “He’s been trapped in that statue for quite a while now, ever since the royal siblings first used the Elements and trapped him.”

“So,” Rarity started as she gave the statue a hard look. “The princesses put him there.”

“Yes,” Chrysalis confirmed with a nod.

“And we’re letting him out....” Rarity looked at to Chrysalis, her expression seeming to ask the silent question of whether that was actually a sane act.

“Not without the proper precautions,” Chrysalis said as she raised a single hoof as if to illustrate her point. “He’ll listen to us, whether he wants to or not.” The rest of the mares glanced between each other, sharing looks that seemed say what they were too afraid to say out loud; that none of them thought this was a good idea. “Trust me. We need his help, and with the Elements he won’t be able to say no.”

“That sounds kind of mean,” Fluttershy mumbled quietly.

Chrysalis’s jaw flexed as she grited her teeth, but she fought down the urge to snap at Fluttershy’s comment. “Look, there isn’t a lot of time for me to explain this all in detail. We’re going to have guards on us any minute, and we need to take Discord with us. I’ll explain it all later.”

“His name is Discord?” Rainbow said as she glanced up at the statue. “Well that isn’t ominous or anything.”

“Can we get on with this?” Chrysalis said, her frustration showing very briefly. After a moment of slight hesitation, the group stepped forward toward the statue, each of them drawing closer and stopping once they were only a few steps away. Chrysalis gave them a short smile and nodded before she cleared her throat. “Now, I need all of you to clear your minds and focus for me. Try not to think of anything in particular. All you have to do is focus on the feeling that is left inside you, I can do the rest.”

The five mares glanced curiously to each other, a couple of them even shrugging their shoulders before they began to close their eyes. They each stood there, nearly shoulder to shoulder as they did their best to do what had been asked of them. Chrysalis gave them a short moment before she too closed her eyes and then lit her magic. The green aura from her horn sent a ripple of energy up to Magic’s jewel, causing the facets of the jewel to sparkle with their own light at the power’s touch. The rest of the Elements responded by lighting in a similar fashion, and all six of the gems began to glow brighter. Chrysalis focused on a particular spell, and as she began to draw together the energy required to form it, a stream of light seemed to float from each of the gems in a glowing ribbon. The ribbons circled in front of the group, entangling with one another as they began to form two bright rings.

The ribbons of light eventually stopped flowing from the Elements, and as soon as they had most of the mares let out relieved gasps when the power draw ended. The glowing rings then floated up to the statue guided by Chrysalis’s magic, each one finding a home on one of Discord’s wrists.

“Woo, that felt a bit off,” Applejack said in a slightly woozy tone.

“I’d say. Felt like something was getting sucked out of me,” Rainbow said as she added her complaint, rubbing at the back of her neck as she sat back on her haunches.

“Using these is safe, isn’t it?” Rarity asked to Chrysalis, raising Generosity up slightly from her chest with her hoof.

“Yes, it’s perfectly safe. You’re just feeling the effects of the magic draw for the spell, which is perfectly normal,” Chrysalis said as she dismissed the concerns. “Now, we need to cast just one more spell.”

“Another one?” Rarity asked, her voice coming out as a higher pitched whine. “What was the first one for?”

“That was the binding spell. Now we have to actually free him. Concentrate.”

If any of the mares had any objections, they didn’t voice them. Each of the bearers closed their eyes once more, clearing their minds of distracting thoughts as well as they could. Chrysalis began the second spell, this one being far less complicated but quite a bit more demanding. Undoing a prison spell that had lasted for well over a thousand years was going to take a fair amount of force.

The jewels of the Elements all began to grow brightly, and soon waves of energy were pouring out of the the Elements in a rainbow of colors. The visible power of the Elements gathered in a multi-colored vortex that spun around Discord’s statue, growing and increasing in intensity as more power was drawn from the bearers. Many of the mares began to show signs of stress on their faces, but they kept to their task as they had been asked. The power of the spell finally peaked, and the vortex constricted inward onto the statue suddenly, causing a bright flash of light as the vortex was absorbed into the statue.

The bearers watched as best they could, squinting against the bright light coming from the statue. An audible cracking noise drew their attention to the base of the statue where spiderwebbed cracks were quickly crawling up Discord’s legs and lower torso. The entire statue began to vibrate as the cracks crawled their way upward all the way to the very tip of the horns, the cracks themselves beginning to emanate beams of light. With one more blinding flash, Discord’s true form broke free from the prison, causing flecks of stone and powerful shock waves of loose magical energy to scatter in all directions. The concussive force of the prison enchantment being broken would send a fluctuation through the natural magical aura all throughout the land.

Discord stretched, arching his back as his feet left the ground to float just above the pedestal. His arms reached skyward, his clawed hands opened and outstretched as he arched his neck. He let out a long, drawn out shout at the top of his lungs as his imposing form cast a dark shadow over the group of mares. His dramatics caused all of the mares to shrink back from him, all except Chrysalis, who just stared up at him with the most bored and unimpressed look she could muster.

Discord seemed to hover at a peak as his voice strained, and then his neck suddenly snapped to the side with an audible crack. “Yeow!” he said as he clasped his lion paw against the back of his neck, rubbing it. “Oh... you have no idea how long I have waited to do that,” he said, sounding quite satisfied with the good stretch.

Discord slowly floated back down, his feet coming to rest on the remains of the pedestal. He glanced over the group of mares before him, a grin twisting his muzzle. He reached up with his eagle claw, running the taloned fingers through his goatee. “Well, hello everypony,” he said, seeming to relish the array of uncomfortably confused looks he was getting.

Chrysalis calmly walked past the draconequus, glancing up to him as she passed by. “Discord, may I have a private word?” she asked as she continued to walk off toward the hedge row nearby.

“Oh, she wants a private word, this should be interesting,” Discord said, his upper torso seeming to snake around as he leaned his head close to the other five mares. He didn’t seem to mind the cringing reactions that he got from them as he stood back to his full height and cheerfully hopped off of the pedestal to walk over toward Chrysalis. Once he was close enough, he leaned his upper torso down far enough so he could rest his elbow on Chrysalis’s back, grinning from ear to ear at the annoyed look she shot back over her shoulder at him. “So, not to look a gift horse in the mouth, but I’m curious. Why exactly would you set me loose upon the world?”

Chrysalis reached a hoof up and used it to push Discord’s elbow off her back, causing the draconequus to face plant the ground next to her, even though his feet were still standing firmly on the ground. “I need your help,” she said, in a slightly begrudging tone.

Discord raised his head slightly, his odd shaped yellow eyes blinking repeatedly at Chrysalis as his mouth hung agape in confusion for a moment. Then suddenly, he burst out laughing, his body twisting and rolling over onto the ground. His legs kicked at the air as he clasped his hands over his mid torso, roaring through the laughing fit while Chrysalis stared at him with squinted eyes. “Oooh, oh goodness,” Discord said as he managed to catch his breath. He rolled over to his side, pushing himself up slightly to look Chrysalis in the eyes. “That was good. Say that again.”

“I’m serious,” Chrysalis said, causing another sudden fit of laughter to attack the draconequus. “Discord! Stop acting like a child.” The second laugh attack didn’t last nearly as long as the first, as Discord managed to get himself under control and push himself up from the grass. He wiped the tears that had formed in the corner of his eyes, chuckles still rattling from his throat as he shook his head. He let go a light sigh when he saw that Chrysalis hadn’t so much as cracked a smile through the entire thing.

“Oh pfffttt,” he said, spraying spittle from his tongue as he dismissively waved his lion paw at Chrysalis. “Don’t be such a drag,” he said as he casually snapped his fingers. He held a smug grin for a moment until he realized that nothing had happened. As the grin slipped from his face, he tried snapping his fingers a second time, and then a third before he looked at his fingers with a frown as if they might be defective. He blew on them and shook them before snapping his fingers a fourth time, becoming further agitated when his powers refused to answer his call. Then he finally noticed the golden band for the first time. He slowly raised his arm up to look at his wrist, eyeing the band that encircled it. He reached his other hand up toward the band, and then noticed the second band on his other wrist. He looked absolutely puzzled as his eyes quickly looked back and forth between the two bands.

“Having problems?” Chrysalis said, now being the one wearing the smug grin. Discord glanced to her from between his raised wrists, his eyes slowly narrowing. He snapped his fingers once more in her direction, letting go a growl before rapidly snapping the fingers of both hands at her in an alternating, machine gun fashion. “That isn’t going to work,” she said as she rolled her eyes.

“What did you do!?” Discord bellowed as he extended his lengthy body toward Chrysalis, pressing his face up against hers. She didn’t flinch away, and only stared back into his crazed yellow eyes. Her glance flicked quickly to her sides when she noticed Discord’s shaking claws edging closer to her neck.

“If you harm me,” Chrysalis began sternly as she pressed her face firmly back against his, causing him to pause, “then you’ll find yourself unable to use your powers on anything ever again.” For a short moment, it seemed like Discord had once again become a statue. He made no sound, no movement, only staring back wide eyed, and even held the same pose when Chrysalis backed away and stepped off to the side. “What I did, is I put a binding spell on you. You can only do what I give you permission to do.”

Discord blinked his eyes and then stood upright, glancing down to his side at Chrysalis with a harsh glare. “Why?” he demanded as he crossed his arms.

“As I said, I need your help.”

Discord let out a single loud mocking laugh. “Why would I help you of all things in this world.”

“Oh, Discord. I’m not naive,” Chrysalis said, rolling her eyes as she sat herself before him. “I know you would have no intention of helping anyone but yourself. But faced with the choice of living the rest of your eternal existence as a very boring draconequus, or doing as I say, I’m very confident that you’ll consider helping me just this once.”

Discord leaned down, pointing one of his talons at the golden band encircling his other wrist. “Are you saying you’ll take these off if I help?”

“I’ll do better than that,” Chrysalis said with a broad smile. “Help me, and afterwards, you can do whatever you want with Equestria.”

“...Why would you offer that?” Discord asked, tilting his head as he eyed her with suspicion.

“I have another goal in mind.”

Discord silently considered the offer, standing back upright as he let go a long hum in thought. He twirled the tip of his goatee in his talons as he considered his options, and finding the prospect of roaming the world without his chaotic powers undesirable, he settled on doing whatever it was that Chrysalis wanted of him. “Fine, what do you want, Chrissy.”

Chrysalis quickly narrowed her eyes. “Don’t call me Chrissy.”

“Oh right, I forgot. Only one stallion in your life that can call you that, am I right?” Discord said with a wide grin. When he saw Chrysalis gritting her teeth as she glowered at him he couldn’t help but let go a chuckle. “Oh ho ho, if looks could kill, I’d be so dead right now.”

Chrysalis let go a loud huff, her eyes glancing over to the group of mares waiting on them to return. “Discord, I’m being very serious when I say that you are not to use that name.”

“Oh, I see. So they don’t know who you are,” Discord said as he twisted his neck around to look back at the group, which caused most of them to visibly cringe. He flashed them a playful, toothy grin before looking back down to Chrysalis. “That’s an interesting little train wreck waiting to happen, and quite the interesting body you chose to steal as well, an alicorn of all things. Feeling a bit nostalgic?”

“Enough!” Chrysalis barked through her clenched teeth. “I’m a few seconds from binding your mouth shut for good.”

“Oh, it was only a little harmless teasing. Really, Chrissy, you do need to lighten up,” Discord said, ending on sigh as he shook his head in disappointment.

Chrysalis was almost visibly shaking with anger by this point. “Don’t call me that again,” she growled lowly, glaring up angrily.

“Well what should I call you!?” Discord asked exasperated as he tossed his hands in the air above his head. “Changeling-that-looks-like-a-purple-pony?”

“Twilight. Call me Twilight Sparkle,” she said, stamping her hoof against the ground.

“Oh...,” Discord said calmly, and then went to tugging at his goatee again as he pondered over the name. “Oh, now that is an interesting name. Where have I heard it before?” Chrysalis had had close to her maximum dose of Discord already, letting a low growl emanate from her throat as she tried to restrain herself from outright attacking him. Luckily, something else would provide a distraction. Unluckily, that distraction was a signal flare whistling into the air nearby, popping with a bright flash and a shower of sparks. “Oo! Fireworks! You didn’t have to set up a celebration in my honor,” Discord said as he reached over and rested his lion paw on Chrysalis’s withers.

“Great, we’ve been spotted. Come here!” Chrysalis said as she quickly trotted over to the rest of the mares near the center of the garden with Discord in tow.

“Hey! I think a fireworks display is starting!” Pinkie called cheerfully as Chrysalis and Discord approached them.

“No, that was a signal flare,” Chrysalis said as she and Discord stopped just in front of the group. “We’re going to have guards all over us soon.”

“Kinky,” Discord commented, leaning over and giving Chrysalis a sly grin and wink. It took every fiber of her being to not deliver a skull splitting kick to the side of his head.

Instead, Chrysalis cleared her throat loudly. “Discord, I want you to get us out of here.”

“Oh, but I’m bound!” Discord said as he held his hands out, showing off the golden bracers ringing his wrists.

There was an audible clunk when Chrysalis facehoofed. She grited her teeth together for a few seconds as her hoof slid down her face to the end of her muzzle, and then she glared up to Discord as she stamped the hoof loudly on the ground. “I just told you! If it’s something I tell you to do, then you can do it! That’s how it works!”

“Oh so, kinda like a genie,” Discord said as he with a pointed finger. Quickly hopping off his feet, he hovered there slightly off the ground as he crossed his legs to sit indian style. “Your wish is my command, Master!” he declared with bravado, crossing his arms out before himself and then giving his head an exaggerated nod. The entire area exploded with a cloud of gray smoke to the sound of a loud poof, and then filled with the sounds of choking coughs from the group of mares. Discord waved the smoky air away from his face, letting go a light cough himself. “Well, that didn’t work.”

“Would you just get us out of here!?” Chrysalis screeched.

“Alright! Alright, hold your little horses,” Discord said as he defensively held up his hands. Clearing his throat, he reached out in front of himself with his lion paw, his fingers poised to let go a snap. He looked up to the sky above the palace, noticing the group of pegasi that had gathered and were now closing in on them. A grin crept across his face as he snapped his fingers.

There was a bright flash, and then Discord and the six mares were gone.