Twilight’s Battle with Discord; Redux
Twilight awoke with a strange feeling in her head. The lavender-coated pony with a sapphire blue mane that featured streaks of violet and a brilliant rose could not quite place a hoof to what the feeling was, so she placed it to her head instead as her world seemed to rotate. After a moment, she shook her head, realizing that her head was spinning and not the planet.
’How did I get here?’ she asked herself as she regained her senses. ’The last thing I remember is… Well, my name is Twilight Sparkle, I’m a magically gifted Unicorn, and I live in Ponyville, which is right over-‘
Twilight turned her gaze forward as she realized she was sitting on a hill outside of her home of Ponyville, which currently looked like nothing she had ever remembered Ponyville looking like. As it was, numerous buildings drifted through the air. They turned this way and that as they progressed aimlessly through the off-colored pink clouds.
Speaking of the clouds, they all formed the shape of random things, some shaped like dogs or mythological creatures, while others look like mountains or trees; one of them even looked like Canterlot Castle. From these clouds appeared to be rain falling up before falling back down, causing it to fly in all sorts of odd directions as it descended.
As Twilight watched the scene unfold, she also saw a number of creatures moving towards the town from the Everfree Forest that lied beyond. Though she still had no clue as to what was happening she ran instinctually towards the settlement in the hopes of finding a way to fix everything.
Twilight trotted down the road, keeping a swift pace while also conserving her energy as best she could so that she would not be caught off guard by whatever was doing this as soon as she made it to the town. As she began to near her objective, however, the road beneath her hooves turned to marbles.
Twilight lost her balance, her hooves slipping out from under her as she fell onto the shuffling spheres, causing her to roll hopelessly forward as she scrambled and flailed her hooves in an attempt to brace herself. Despite her efforts, there was nothing within reach that would help her as she rolled onward on her chest. She was beginning to grow sore as the glass balls cascaded beneath her.
She rolled closer and closer to the city, picking up speed as she went and easily doing so with little use of energy, despite the discomfort. However, she soon realized that this was more curse than blessing as she watched the edge of town come into view; the marble road ending and turning back into dirt road.
Her features contorted into a fearful frown as she did her best to find purchase with her hooves in an attempt to slow down. Try though she might, however, there was nothing for her reach her hooves to, and the effort only left her spinning as she slid.
Somewhat fortunate for her, the spinning did not last long before Twilight met the dirt head-on, - or rather ‘chest-on’ – sliding across the painful surface at full speed as the rocks and sediment left abrasions across her front and stomach. A whimper of pain escaped her muzzle as she shakily struggled to her hooves, the pain burning across her body as she assessed the damage.
Fortunately, the worst of her troubles were just a couple of rocks caught in her coat as her horn lit up, using a healing spell to recover herself from the painful earthly encounter. She dusted herself off, cringing slightly as her hoof alighted over the still tender-feeling area.
As she brushed the rocks away, she noticed she was wearing a necklace. Hoping it would be some sort of clue to remembering more of her forgotten past, she examined the necklace more closely. The necklace itself was a metal-crafted talon of some bird of prey, and within its grasp was a spherical Sapphire that glowed slightly. Upon closer inspection, she saw what she at first thought were runic symbols, but for some reason she was able to read them: ‘Eh sasuno uv Little Raven.’
Twilight stared at the necklace for a time as memories of the one who gave her the trinket, her mentor - her special somepony - flooded her mind. She could not quite tell what it was, but something was keeping her from her memories. For now, all she could remember was her name, her home and of course all the basics of daily life and common sense. Twilight took a deep, calming breath to clear her mind.
Recovered and once more presentable, Twilight took a closer look around the town, noting that the building that she saw afloat were ponies’ homes and businesses; now turned crazy combinations of seemingly random colors. In addition to the homes, even the ground appeared tainted too as it was a checkered black-and-purple that she did not recognize.
As Twilight was admiring the uniqueness of the town, a pony ran past her – running backward – screaming some odd language she had never heard before. One side of the pony’s face was green with a white mane and a wide grin, while the other was white with a green mane and a frightened frown.
Twilight turned her head to watch the queer occurrence transpire until she heard a loud rupturing sound as the ground shook. She turned her head back towards the center of town, where an incredibly large fountain started to sprout from the ground.
Once the structure reached its full height and the ground stopped quaking, all the rain – which Twilight thought resembled chocolate milk more than water – started to converge on it. Fearful of what was going to happen next, but not wanting to wait around for the situation to grow worse, she started making her way towards the large landmark.
Before she could make it so much as half way, however, the fountain appeared to overflow; all of chocolate-rain-milk converging on the water feature swiftly brought it over capacity and it began to shake and wobble. Twilight froze in her tracks, sliding forward by the motion as she leaned back in shock.
The sides of the incredibly large stone cracked and started to leak its contents, but before it could relieve enough of the pressure, it shattered entirely to pieces. Twilight, frozen with fear, watched the chocolate-turned-strawberry milk come crashing down over the town.
Twilight flinched as the milk came straight towards her, a loud scream escaping her lungs as she turned her head away, her eyes closed. As she screamed, the taste of vanilla ice cream contacted her palate, bringing her eyes open as she still sat in the road.
All around her was the strawberry milk, but she did not feel wet, and the surrounding area behaved normally – or rather, equally normal as it had before the tsunami – even though the wave had clearly struck the entire town.
The taste of ice cream still overwhelming her mouth, Twilight started to proceed forward as she drank some of the strange drink while also breathing normally. As she went, she continued looking around at the disarray of the town and trying to think of what in Equestria could have brought such events to pass.
As if in answer to her mental question, she caught a look at something unusual that sparked some of her memories: a Draconequus. The creature was a mixture of various other creatures’ parts mashed together into a conglomerate beast that featured a heightened intellect, a playful but disastrous disposition, and powerful control over Chaos magic.
This Draconequus bore the long neck of a gray Giraffe, with a black mane and white eyebrows and beard. His head featured the horns of both a goat and a deer. His eyes were yellow instead of white, and his pupils were two differently sized red dots. He had the ears of a bat and a single wing to match, while the other was similar to a blue Pegasus wing. His body was primarily a brown coat of fur while his left arm was that of a bird of prey, and the right that of a lion. His legs were mismatched as well, one being that of a green dragon that complimented his red dragon tail, and the other a Minotaur’s hoof.
This Draconequus’ name was Discord , and Twilight had fought against him before, Twilight and her friends winning by using the Elements of Harmony to turn the foe to stone. However, Princess Celestia later bade the six of them to turn him back again in the hopes that he could be made an ally.
Clearly, this was not working as Twilight watched the chaos spirit laughing as he wreaked havoc over the simple town. Fortunately, he was looking the other direction and had not yet seen her. Sadly, this was of little consequence as Twilight was no match for the enemy who was purely a construct of chaos given form.
Rather than staying to watch or even attempting to fight, Twilight ran towards the library, which served as both her workplace as well as her home. Along her way, she ran past a number of ponies who were doing surprising or bizarre acts - everything from one pony who was walking around in a handstand to somepony who was carrying their head in their hooves as they went.
Ignoring the sideshow along her way, she eventually came near the library, which was inside of a large oak tree in the middle of town. Currently, though not normally, a solid, black field of magic protected the tree. Within, Twilight could see the green grass that was not present anywhere else in town, as the purple-and-black-checkerboard that Discord had painted replaced it.
Lacking any further signs of Discord’s chaotic influence, - such as the strawberry milk atmosphere - Twilight could only imagine that somepony had erected the shield to protect it from such efforts. Twilight warily touched a hoof to the barrier, making contact with it for only a moment before a short breach formed to allow her through.
As she passed through it, the hole disappeared while she made the short approach to the door. She opened the door with her magic and ran inside, nearly slamming it shut behind her as she dared not waste even a moment for fear that Discord might find her.
As she came into the room, she realized that five ponies and a dragon – her friends and her assistant – all sat at her table, now looking at her with a sigh of relief as they recognized her.
“Gee, Twilight!” the orange-coated blonde-maned earth pony in the Stetson hat said, “are we glad to see you! Discord has been terrorizin’ the town somethin’ fierce, and we’ve all been stuck up in here like a couple ‘a mice hidin’ from a cat.”
The others nodded in agreement. “This hasn’t been a very fun party, either,” said Pinkie Pie, the earth pony with the pink mane and coat.
“Some party,” said a white-coated Unicorn with a purple mane that flowed around her horn. “There haven’t been any hors d’œuvre and I am simply famished.”
“That’s not true, Rarity,” said the light purple baby dragon with the light lime underbelly. “I brought everyone cheese and crackers; you just chose not to have any, remember?” Rarity turned her nose up at the metal tray that still rested on the table, a few of the snacks still resting with it.
“You really should try some,” said the light yellow Pegasus quietly as she moved a bit of her light pink mane out of her way. “I-if that’s okay with you, I mean. Spike was very nice to bring them out for us.”
“Fluttershy, we have bigger problems than Rarity not liking the food right now,” said a light blue coated Pegasus as she hovered above the table, her wings casually beating as they kept her aloft. Her mane was a multitude of colors in the order of bright red, orange, golden blonde, lime green, blue, and violet.
“Rainbow Dash is right, everypony,” Twilight Sparkle said, making everypony else nod as they remembered the situation outside. “Discord needs to be stopped, and we’re the only ponies who know how to do it,” she said before looking down to her necklace and remembering her special somepony. “Aside from Ace, that is. Has anypony seen him since Discord appeared?”
Everypony averted their eyes as they looked as though something very bad just happened. Even Rainbow Dash sat back down in her seat at the table as she rubbed her hooves together. Twilight started to get concerned, looking to each of them in the hopes of hearing what happened.
Finally, when she looked to Applejack, she got a reply; “Well, Twilight, you see… Ace is the one who put the shield up here to keep us safe. After that, though, he said he was going to hold Discord off until you could get here and help us.”
Applejack took off her Stetson and held it firmly to her chest, eliciting even more worry from Twilight as she continued. “We watched him fighting Discord from the window, and it wasn’t looking good – that no good hound of a Draconequus was doing somethin’ to keep Ace from usin’ his magic to call on that fancy sword o’ his, and it put Ace in a bad spot…
“I’m real sorry to have to tell you this, Twilight, but… Ace is dead.” The words struck Twilight like a flaming arrow to the chest, and left a burning pain in her heart that felt about the same. Those last three words echoed in her mind as she sank to her knees, nearly falling over from the sudden shock.
Everypony in the room looked ashamed for relying on Ace so much, and yet doing absolutely nothing to help him in his fight. Twilight knew that there was not much any of them could do against Discord without the Elements of Harmony. Twilight could not bring herself to blame her friends… She always knew that Ace would give his life to save anypony, especially some of his closest friends… She just hoped he would never have to.
A single tear rolled down Twilight’s cheek, but before it could even reach the floor, she straightened herself back up. She was sad that Ace was gone, and she would never truly recover from the death of her special somepony… Still, this was not the time to wallow in the past, as now was a time for action – and Twilight and her friends were the only ponies in town, maybe even in all of Equestria, who still had any actions left to take.
A stern, concentrated look set upon her features as her horn lit up in a violet glow as she pulled a thick, brown book with gold lining from high up on one of the shelves. Her levitation magic enveloped the book as she set it upon the table.
The book opened, and within rested five amulets of gold with a specific gem embedded in each, as well as a tiara that was much the same. Each of these gems were cut in the image that was on one of the ponies flanks – their cutie marks that specified their specific skills – with the tiara being a radiant starburst encircled in stars.
Everypony’s looks turned serious at the sight of the magical jewelry as Twilight took it in her magic, placing the corresponding Element of Harmony onto each of her friends, and the final piece – the tiara – came to rest upon her head, just above her Unicorn horn.
What the group needed to do was not wholly pleasant, but it was something they had done in the past, and it was something they would do now: they were going to face Discord, and use the Elements of Harmony to turn the beast into a statue. Twilight cast her gaze over each them, making certain they were ready, and each nodded in turn – Fluttershy looked remorseful over the coming act, but voiced no objection.
Each of them proceeded through the door and back into the chaos-ridden variant of their beloved home of Ponyville. After they were all out, Twilight made sure to close and lock the door – perhaps more out of habit than actual usefulness – and they all made their way out of Ace’s carefully constructed barrier.
Twilight passed through it slowly, feeling the warmth of his magic flowing over her one last time as another tear formed in her eye before she steeled herself once more.
No longer was the atmosphere that of strawberry milk, but now the down was that of a dessert desert; the chaos magic had turned all of the buildings into various forms of ice cream that was starting to melt in the hot, arid environment that surrounded them. Instead of sand, however, there was fine powder of varying colors that either covered the ground, or was the ground.
Pinkie Pie bent over and licked some of the powder up, making Rarity cringe as the hyperactive pink pony started bouncing around excitedly. “It’s Pixie Stick powder! I love this stuff!” she exclaimed before licking another helping of it up, making Rainbow Dash fall backwards out of the air as she laughed.
“Glad to see somepony still appreciates my work,” came a voice behind the lot as Discord stepped out of a dimensional tear – a ripped area in the air that featured a black and white swirling vortex that was the primary means of travel for Draconequus.
Rainbow Dash leapt back into the air as Fluttershy hid behind Applejack. Rarity’s knees shook slightly, which was much less than Fluttershy’s while Pinkie continued lapping up the sugary confection. Twilight stepped forward, her rage building at the thought of the chaos spirit hurting – killing – her special somepony.
“Discord, do you really think anypony here is truly enjoying themselves as you destroy their lives and homes?” Twilight said as what appeared to be a pony with scales, fins and gills swam through the air between the two, seemingly oblivious to the confrontation as air bubbles filled with water floated upwards to the sky.
“Well,” Discord said as he watched the peaceful fish-pony go on his way, “what I can say is that I have yet to hear anypony but you five complain – Pinkie Pie seems to be enjoying herself quite fine.”
The others fixed their sugar-loving friend with a glare, making her smile sheepishly, the rainbow of sugar-sand coating her teeth making for a ridiculous sight before she turned towards the Draconequus, lowering in a snarl.
Twilight stepped closer to the Draconequus again, putting herself several steps in front of them at this point, and nearly an equal distance from Discord. “We’ve had enough of you disobeying us. It is clear to me that you cannot be reformed to use your powers for good, and I will take full responsibility in explaining our actions to the Princess.”
Discord threw his head back, his body spinning in a circular motion as he did so, laughing all the while as he floated above the ground. He straightened himself and ended with a chuckle as he pretended to wipe a tear from his eye after the bout of laughter. “Why Twilight dear, one may think that you could actually beat me. Do you expect the Elements of Harmony to work against me every time you use them? I am not so foolish, little pony.”
Discord snapped his talons with a clack, bringing a large number of streamers, gummy worms, and balloons to tie around each of the ponies. Rainbow Dash fell from the air onto her back, no longer able to keep herself aloft, as her bound wings no longer beat against the air. Everypony wriggled and squirmed in an attempt to get free, Rarity and Twilight attempting to light their horns – however, Discord clacked his talon again, making their horns disappear.
No sooner than her horn had disappeared, Twilight’s necklace started to glow bright with a black glow through the mismatched bindings that held her. As it did, the makeshift ropes dissolved into a mist that blew away without any breeze. The magic spread around Twilight, forming a shield much like that that protected the library from Discord’s power.
Discord snarled, staring at the horn that was reforming on Twilight’s head as he started clacking his talons repetitively now, to no avail. The ground beneath Twilight’s hooves was now grass again as she lit her horn, each of her friends’ bindings now glowing as well as they were all freed from Discord’s chaotic clutches. They all turned back to the Draconequus again, their elements glowing brightly as Twilight put her magic into the artifacts.
“You have upset me for the last time, Discord, and no amount of pleading from the Princess will set you free from your stone prison this time. We will never let you take another life again!” Twilight called out as her eyes began to glow white as she was lifted into the air, followed by her friends, which were now encased in a purple shield comprised of Twilight’s magic.
“You may have won now, little ponies, but I will free myself once more, and you won’t always be around to protect Equestria – time makes fools of us all, and I shall remain far longer than any of you!”
A powerful rainbow of pure, ancient magic shot forth from the six ponies and their elements, striking the Draconequus head on, beginning the transformation of his body into stone. Each of the pony’s hooves started to alight upon the ground, their deed done with the only task remaining to watch as the body of their enemy shifted and squirmed uselessly against the magic.
“Mark my words, ponies,” he called as the petrification worked its way up his body. “I will return, and Equestria will become Chaos Capital of the world!” he called before his head snapped to one side, becoming a stony feature that still managed to glare at them.
While the use of the elements were not tiring, Twilight still felt spent from the emotional ordeal, wishing only to return to her home and write the letter to her other mentor, Princess Celestia, explaining what had happened. No sooner than the letter could be sent, Twilight would begin mourning the loss of her beloved special somepony, Ace Deus Fenrir.
Without a word, she collected the elements from her worried looking friends, and trudged slowly towards her home as the town started to recover its usual form, recovering from the chaos magic that was wearing off without its host.
Twilight and her friends had defeated Discord, but Twilight did not feel it was a fair exchange – a life for a life.