Racing down the stairs from the canopy balcony, the little purple baby dragon interrupted the conversation between Bon Bon and his caregiver.
"TWILIGHT!" shouted Spike in concern, "We have a BIG problem!"
Twilight turned to her flustered assistant. "What's the matter, Spike?"
"There's something strange going on outside in Ponyville. I saw a flying timberwolf get thrown out of Everfree forest, and the clouds are acting kind of funny."
Twilight paused for a second. "While the timberwolf thing is certainly odd to say the least, the clouds can be explained by a sudden shift in the weather schedule. You know how they have such a tough time keeping things on track."
"Yeah, but that's not all. I thought I saw some of the clouds turn into Discord!"
Twilight chuckled, "Spike, because of the vaporous nature clouds, it's normal to see them form patterns that could be familiar."
"No, I mean I LITERALLY saw some of the clouds turn into Discord! Strange colors and everything!"
"That's impossible. He's locked away in his stone statue prison."
"Oh, but I'm afraid that the dragon is quite right, my naive and little friend," an upbeat and ominously chipper voice echoed throughout the library.
"Discord?!" Twilight exclaimed, bewildered at the revelation.
"Did you miss me? I'm so glad you care enough to do so after a short time. Not like that stick in the solar mud, Celestia, whom couldn't even be bothered to be surprised at my triumphant return."
"But this is impossible! The spell the Elements cast on you should have last as long as we are around, at LEAST! There's no way you should be free!"
"Honestly, it came as quite a shocker to me as well, my dear Twilight. Not a few moments ago, I felt a massive influx of chaotic energy. It was as if someone shook a soda bottle in an earthquake, and popped the top. I wonder what you made so discontent that such a wave was created?"
"What makes you think I'm responsible?" Twilight asked, incredulously.
"Well, the energy came from here, did it not? In any case, I'm free once again, and I intend to take my rightful spot as King of Chaos. Rolls off the tongue, does it not?"
"Show yourself, Discord!" Twilight demanded.
"Adore me that much that you simply have to see me? I'm touched. Very well, don't say I don't aim to please. It's not like you can DO anything without the Elements of Harmony atop your head, anyway." With that, and a silly, if dark, chuckle following it, the wood table in the center of the library began to twist and warp into a serpentine and mismatched shape. Taking up colors so odd and misused, the beast began to take full animation. Clenching his lion paw and griffon talons, flexing his goat and lizard legs, and twisting his horse like head a thousand and eighty degrees, he stretched and yawned. His bat and bird wing fluttered as he hovered over the two ponies and the little dragon.
Bon Bon, absolutely mortified and dumbstruck, slowly backed up towards to door. "I've... gotta go and... check my... bye," she uttered as she raced out of the door, screaming her head off.
"I believe she's gone to announce to the town of my arrival. I'll be sure to give her an extra special surprise once I've taken my seat."
"You'll never get away Discord! We've beaten you once, we can do it again. Me and my friends WON'T fall for your tricks this time."
"Oh, gag me! Don't start up with that whole 'friendship can do anything' hogwash. The only reason you beat me is because you had those lovely little gems, which you're severely lacking right now. That, and Celestia cheated by using those letters she sent back to you to get all of you to quit being so lively."
"There's ALWAYS a way to beat creeps like you, and we'll find it!" she proclaimed, ignoring Discord's comments entirely.
"Not here, you won't. I'm afraid that words will be useless this time." With that, Discord snapped his fingers, and suddenly, little black specks emerged out of the books and papers all around the library, and ran out the door. It took a moment for Twilight to realize exactly what they were.
"The notes! The books! What have you done?!" Twilight yelled.
"Creating a few run on sentences... and having them run off as well!" He laughed at his poor joke as Twilight steeled her resolve. Having no more use in the library, she opted to find her friends and come up with a plan of attack. Grabbing Spike and galloping out the door she hoofed it to Sweet Apple Acres.
-o-v-o-v-o-v-o-v-o-
Considering what they were dealing with, and the circumstances they were under, she should have known that her plan was doomed to fail. On any other occasion, gathering the girls, informing the princess of the situation, and sending Rainbow Dash to pick up the elements from Canterlot would be pretty much a foal proof plan. The normally studious and diligent Twilight forgot a few factors in her attempts at quelling the issue at hand.
The first one was Discord himself. She honestly should have known that, by the time she took action, he would have already tipped the odds in his favor. Specifically, warping the town to make it harder to navigate and look for the girls, and tapping the fire line between Celestia and Spike. That particular advantage was a critical blow to her, as the other factor she failed to be aware of made the situation more difficult. She was so wrapped up in her studies as of late, she didn't know Rainbow Dash was still in the hospital. Without a way to contact the princess, or a quick way to retrieve the Elements, taking down Discord would be excruciatingly difficult. This wasn't even to mention that Pinkie was still missing, so even IF they had the elements, they'd still lack the mares to use them.
Never the less, with the combined effort of Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy, whom was a bit too meek to help the situation, they attempted to stall Discord for as long as they could. At least until someone made it to Canterlot to inform the princess and until Pinkie made a return. It was the best they could hope for.
As for Discord, he was having an absolute ball, figuratively this time. The one thing on this world that could stop him is left so disorganized that he couldn't help but giggle. It was made even better that two of the Bearers were either missing or incapacitated, and one was too scared to put up any opposition, and that he hardly had to lift a claw to do it. Scaring them off with flying houses and lightning bolts being spat out by wooden planks, the master of chaos decided to sit back and enjoy the show.
Summoning a glass of purple lemonade, and adding some mini piranha's into the drink for added bite, he took a hearty sip in satisfaction. "Ah, it's good to be King."
"PenDE~JO~O!"
Before the self proclaimed god could turn around, a massive fist decorated in silver rings smashed into the back of Discord's skull, and sent him tumbling through the air. Crashing into the ground, and rolling to a painful stop, Discord picked himself up with some effort, and rubbed the back of his now sore head in defiance. Turning to greet his equine attacker, he was instead met with a very large and strange bipedal being. In a taunt, the being swiftly rose his right foot and tapped it loudly with his left hand, before punching the air with high speed and expert skill.
"That first one was for the soap road, cabron!" the mighty mouth yelled, getting into a combat stance.
"You're certainly not one of my creations," Discord declared with a click of his tongue, "After all, I always found gold and silver to be so gaudy."
Normally, Elvis would be offended. His gold arm bands and silver hand rings were his prized possessions, and he'd NEVER let anyone, or anything, talk bad about them. However, he had a much bigger score to settle. "Shut up and fight!"
Discord sighed. "Oh, very well." He never liked being physical. Tricks, mind games, and indirect chaos was more his thing. Hell, it even made him feel rather dissatisfied when he forced hypnotism upon Fluttershy, whom was strangely far more resilient to his suggestions than the other four. Never the less, the being asked for a fight. Too bad that Discord loved breaking expectation.
With a snap of his talons, a decisive "Hah!", and a sudden puff of pink smoke, he attempted to transform the offending being into something small and silly. Like a mouse on a unicycle. However, when the resulting smoke cleared, not a single change was made to Elvis.
Discord snapped again. Nothing. Again and again. Still nothing. A chipmunk playing a kazoo. A penguin wearing a grass skirt. A cat dressed as a mouse. Not a single one of his visions came to being to replace his foe. Before Discord could ask what was wrong with the fingers and tap them with his paw, Elvis shot forward like bullet, and backhanded the chaos spirit with a crushing hammer-fist. Upon impact, Discord's head spun about twenty times before he stopped it abruptly. When this happened, and before he could react, Elvis quickly maneuvered forward, and swiftly kicked the draconequus in the side, more than enough to straighten him out. Discord faltered in pain of the impact, and quickly stepped back out of range of Elvis's follow up back kick.
He coughed and retwisted himself back to his familiar shape, before pointing an angry claw at his attacker. "Look here you whatsit!" He exclaimed angrily, "This is NOT how this works. I snap my fingers, you turn into a goth poodle, and laugh my scales off! It's all here in the script!" He held out a purple booklet that was titled "Discord vs. The Strange New Toy". Too bad for the chaos spirit that Elvis wasn't paying any attention to his shenanigans, as he merely jump kicked him, sending the silly villain into a stand that sold staples. Said stand was right next to a stand for pillows, but Discord was a little too disoriented to realize the cruel irony.
Once he shook the perfect flying cubes spinning perfectly circular around his head, he stood back up and dusted himself off of the staples. Having had enough of being kicked around, he snapped his fingers once again. The mice that were once hiding behind crates and in between houses suddenly became large and cuddly luchadores. They stormed out of their hiding places and gathered behind their mad master. Ponies scattered, afraid of what would happened next.
"Alright boys," he smirked as they snarled and roared in anticipation, "Play nice."
The massive muscle mice charged forward, with violent intent in their eyes. Elvis took a step back in defense. Before they could reach their target, Elvis flexed his leg. With a bound, he leaped right over the heads of the first row, stepping on one of the heads in the second wave, and landed directly behind the rest of the advancing hoard. Discord was dumbstruck at the grace and agility of this seemingly fat foe, and before he could do anything to help his minions, Elvis turned towards the mighty mice. With a quick drag of a lit cigar he pulled from his pocket, he blew the smoke from his mouth as hard as he could. In mere seconds, the entire small army was covered in a toxic mist that blotted their sight.
"That's cheating!" Discord bellowed in accusation. Elvis turned to him with an absolutely terrifying glare that caused the chaos spirit to step back and re-evaluate his position. Reaching behind his back, he pulled a pair of silly looking spectacles and placed them on his muzzle. Clasping his mismatched hands, he tried to make his eyes as wide and innocent as possible with the magnifying effect of the glass on his face.
"You wouldn't hit someone with glasses on, would you?" he pleaded.
Elvis, however, responded with a swift punch to Discord's chest. He heaved hard and tipped forward, allowing his glasses to fall to the ground. With that, the mighty mouth stepped forward onto the specks, shattering them, and readied himself. It was at that point that Discord realized what was going to happen next will most definitely not be any fun at all.
Elvis let out a guttural yell, and let his punches fly. Each strike followed each other like a jackhammer against rock. Discords serpentine body writhed and twitched as his opponent continued his assault. Pausing for a moment, Elvis readied himself for one final move to cap off his mach speed punches. As he jumped up, he raised his fist, and down cut Discord atop his head, and forced Discord into the ground with a violent smash.
He jumped back, and got back into a combat ready stance.
Discord raised his claw, then his paw, and pushed himself out of the self shaped crater below him. He was livid.
"I've had just about enough of you," he snarled, "You refuse to transform, you ignore my mice, and you hit those who wear glasses. I mean, who does that?! It think it's time for a change of perspective! Let's make you laughing mad!" Discord raced forward, slithering and coiling around Elvis, and gently pressed his finger at the top of his bald head. The serpentine god smiled wickedly for a moment as he stared at his would be puppet, before his grin began to falter. The only thing that changed on Elvis was his already sour demeanor going worse.
"Impossible," he uttered.
Elvis then wriggled one arm free, and grappled his foe's snake like form with it, pulling his body off of him with a hard tug. He unwound from Elvis unceremoniously, and tried to squirm out of the large hand of his big opponent. The mighty mouth then swing Discord like a whip, straightening him out once again, before slamming him repeatedly upon the ground. After five heavy thumps, he tossed his foe over his shoulder nonchalantly.
Landing a few hoofprints away from Elvis, Discord coughed and wiped his muzzle, panting heavily. "Alright. That's it. I'm sick of you defying me." he growled, "You wanna be physical?" He stood up, clenching his mismatched claw and paw. "Then get a big load of this!" He snapped his fingers, and began to grow, as he cackled wildly. It didn't take very long for him to cast a diabolical shadow over the little village. Being twice the height of an Ursa Minor, he finally stopped his growing, along with his laughing. Looking down upon the little bystanders and brittle little homes, he leaned down to speak.
"You should all see the look on your faces. It's priceless!" he giggled before summoning a large enough mirror to reflect the town wide populous' shock and horror. Noticing his foe was still as depressingly negative in expression as he was for much of the fight, he tossed the mirror into an open field in disgust. "FINE! TASTE FOOT!" he growled, raising his dragon foot above them, aiming for Elvis. Quickly stomping down, he watched as the citizens fled the shadowed out area, and expected to hear a scream or a cartoonish splat come from his opponent.
What he didn't expect was his foot being stopped before it hit the ground, with two points of pressure keeping it up. The harder he pushed down, the hotter those points got. Until finally, Discord shot his foot away from the spot, and looked down. It was Elvis, with his hands set aflame, as his body emitting purple flickers of fire. Discord stepped back, flabbergasted at this turn of events. For once, he wished things would make sense.
Before he could react accordingly, Elvis flexed his legs to the limit, and leaped straight up, high into the sky, right up to eye level with the mammoth spirit of chaos. Pulling back his right fist, he pumped it full of his demonic energy, and let loose one final punch. Coming from his fist, a massive quad-horned abomination made of energy rocketed forward towards its target in a spectacular display of light and dark colors. Discord shielded his eyes in a sad attempt at a last minute defense, but was quickly subdued by the blast. Barely a moment before the light show ended, Discord toppled backward, and landed with a definitive crash. His body shrunk to its original size, and everything chaotic going on in the town reverted to its original state.
Elvis landed back where he was standing with a thud, and rose to full height. Taking a drag of his cigar, he finally spoke, "And THAT, was for messing with MY town, puta!" Cracking his knuckles, he concluded his declaration with, "Dear Angra, I needed to do that." Punctuating it by spitting on the ground before him, the thunderous roar of approval swept the town as ponies raced towards the mighty mouth in joy and appreciation. "'Ey, 'Ey, calm down. Just doin' my job. 'EY, watch the coat-tails!"
The victor noticed four familiar ponies approach him slowly. "E~EH! Chicas! How's it goin'? Enjoy the show?"
"Is he ok?" Fluttershy asked meekly.
"While I admit the end was very brilliantly well played, I still reserve that the whole ordeal was rather brutish," Rarity said with a slight huff.
"Didja really hafta let'em fall on the farm? It'll take months to rebuild it, ya know!" Applejack complained.
"I'll help fix it, Señora. Shouldn't take THAT long. Pinkie promise," he declared with a grin.
"Speaking of Pinkie, where is she?" Rarity asked.
"That. Was SO. COOL!" shouted a rather excitable voice, before a pink blur sped right at Elvis, and hugged the large being tightly. "I'm glad you came out ok! I didn't even need to get my party canon to help. Oh well, I can always load it with its proper ammo. I guess this calls for -"
"Why?" a voice interrupted. Elvis turned towards the origin of the short question, and gazed upon a beaten and tired Discord, already back on his feet. Elvis got back into a combat stance, ready for the tricky serpent.
"Qué quieres decir?" Elvis asked impatiently.
"Why did you win? How were you able to resist my magic?! How are you able to resist CHAOS?!? I just don't get it!" the disgruntled god barked.
"I may be able to answer that," said Twilight, as she stepped forth from her other four friends. "Discord. As your magic is chaos based, then you must know that beings that are naturally chaotic would be far more resistant to its effects. Such as the monsters of Tartarus, and even Elvis here."
"How d'ya know he's naturally chaotic?" Applejack asked
"I felt the weaves in the magic he emitted when I took the magic restraint off of him. They felt similar to the magical weaves Discord would exhibit when he changed natural properties and the laws of reality the first time we met."
Elvis chuckled lightly. "You hear that, cabron? I can get near you and beat you senseless if you get too rowdy, without anyone getting hurt or changed!"
Discord scowled, but sighed in defeat. "So, what do you intend to do with me, then? Fetch the elements and put me back into my prison? With that fat baldy over there, it would be next to impossible if he pitches another tantrum."
"Hey!"
"Actually," said a serene voice, "I think I have a better idea in mind for you, my old friend." Everypony there turned to the origin of the voice, and beheld the goddess of the Sun descending upon them in grace. With a gentle land, she approached Elvis and the Elements. Everyone but the mighty mouth bowed before her. "Rise, there is no need for this right now." Everyone did as they were told.
"Oh great, Princess Stick-in-the-mud. Whatever you have planned, I'd honestly prefer going back to my statue," Discord snarked.
"Even if it meant relinquishing your chance at total, unrestricted, and permanent freedom?" Celestia asked, almost in a coy and sly tone of voice. Discord, of course raised an eyebrow to the prospect. The other ponies in the crowd, including the Element bearers, were not so keen.
Twilight stepped forward, and cleared her throat, before starting, "Uhm, I beg your pardon Princess Celestia, but... ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?! We JUST finished stopping him from repeating the events of A FEW MONTHS AGO, and you want him to go FREE?"
"Yeah," Elvis interjected, "I thought this cabron was the bad guy conquring tirano here! Why should we give him any compassion?"
"I will not be some fool as to just let him free without SOME compensation. In order to earn his freedom, he will need to undergo a special rehabilitation program I've been considering for the last little while now. Fluttershy, I will need to speak to you later about this."
"A-are you sure? I mean, I can't say no, but I kinda want to, if you don't mind, but-" Fluttershy mumbled, fidgeting with her hooves.
"We will discuss it," she said with a small and warm smile, "As for you Discord, we should return to the palace to discuss your future. Do realize that if you misbehave, I can always have Pinkie send Elvis to keep you in line."
Turning to Elvis, Discord watched the monster of a being crack his knuckles in warning. "I don't think that will be necessary, especially if my freedom, and well being, is on the line."
"Excellent. Shall we go, then?"
The chaos spirit sighed, before sticking his tongue out at Elvis, muttering something about being a dirty glasses breaker. He wasn't going to enjoy this, but what other choice did he have? With goodbyes exchanged by the Elements and the Princess, and with great hesitation, Discord followed Celestia back to Canterlot, leaving the crowd of ponies behind. After a few moments of silence, and the crowd dispersing to return to their daily activities, Rarity broke the silence.
"Is it just me," she started, "Or did the Princess actually use a threat of violence against Discord?"
With such a question that lingered in the air, the only reply it got was from the guffaws of one abnormal gold decorated monster, and his pink friend.