The Conversion Bureau: The Other Side of the Spectrum (The Original)

by Sledge115

Sanguine Meetings and Bloodied Past

The difference between false memories and true ones is the same as for jewels: it is always the false ones that look the most real, the most brilliant.
- Salvador Dali.

“Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.”
- Benjamin Franklin.

Canterlot, Equestria; 2nd Year Anno Harmonia; 1 week after the Portal Event

If one were to look upon Princess Celestia at the current moment, someone that knew her well, they would wonder who was the alicorn before them.

Celestia had lost almost all of the colors in her mane, reverting back to its natural pink, if only a shade lighter than normal. Her coat, once a pristine white, was now a shade of its former self. Eyes shut tightly in pain as screams, gunfire, and the chanting of the same phrase over and over again echoed through her mind.

J̻͉̟o̢̝̣͓̞i̜͓̠͎͈͉̯n̞̻̳̺̬ͅͅ ̰u̩̘̯̘̦̮̕s̥̩̜͕̭͍!
̜̹̥͇̺͕̺J͔̤̻͍͉̜ͅo͉ị̡͙͙n͇͉͕̜̥̬ ̦̼̗̦̰͝t̢̝̠̬̰h͚͞e͖͉ ̞͇͖̲̣͎h̛e̠̳r̛d̗͙͔̕!̹͡
͝B͎͡ḛ͕̣ͅc̘͎̰̰̫͔o̦̠̣̘m͏e̩̣͢ ͍͈͎̞͚p̷͖̪͍e̸̹̝̗̦̹̭r͓̝͉͎͇̣̻f̗̠͇e͉̥͚͍͎͔̣c͍̬̩̩͖̲ț̺̯͖͚!
̶̻͖̳̹̠͍̤Y̦̺̝̙̣͇̙o͡u͈̘̙̕ ̣̞w̬͈ͅil͕̹̺̻͎͇̖͞l҉ ͏͍̣̙̭̟̞f̛̖͓̲̠i̦̻͉̝͖̠͇nàlḽ͡y҉ ̷̲h͙̥͡a͔v̯̜ḙ̫̺̠ͅ ̲̮ͅą̮ ̪̲̪͚ͅs̳͓̰͢ơ͇͕̣̞͖̺u̟̙ͅl͈̱̳̮͎͞!̪
̩͓̻̮͍̣̖J̼̼͖̫̠o̸̯̰̲ͅi̶̤̹̟͖̺͓̗n̳̞͈̯ ̬̻̪̻̯͡u̠̹ş̠̤͖̮̹͙̤!̨͚͚̥̟͓̟̫
̳̦̙̞J͜o͓̙̼i͕̩͜ṇ͍̪͡ ̤͔̞̞t̺̳h̡͇͎̰̝̺̺e̮ ̱̯̺́h҉͍͍̝̖͉̟̜e̗̘r̨d̹̱͚̟!̼͝
͚̤͚̺̻͙J͎͇O̸̞͓̰̺̬͔͖IN̞̭̹ ̴̭̫̻͈Ṷ̵͙̮̰͕S̴̪͚!̲̦̦͍̣͎̹
͇̯͎̯̭̝͢B̤̥ȨC̖O̫͟M͙͖̩E͚ ̞͈̼P͎̲͕̤̞̣̹E̪̼̹͉̯ͅR̬͕̫̻̜ͅͅF̳̞̩̰͕͎E̟̺̬ͅC̜T͟!̯͘
̛͓̙̩J̶Ò̦̘̝Ḭ̧̙͈͙̠͙̱N̳̮͚̖ ̟͇̻̞͇̰͡T̪̫͕̞H̗̭͙͝E̵̝̮̼͇̹ ̯H̜̹̳͉̼̠̬͟E̞̻̳̫̱͓͖R̺̞̣͕D̟̞̲̼͈̘!̴̤ͅ

"SILENCE!" Celestia’s voice roared through her bedroom chamber, her Royal Canterlot Voice tearing through the room, shattering glass and blowing the doors open with the force of her cry.

"Silence...please..."

Celestia let out a whimper as a shadow fell over her, she barely had time to react when an eagle claw grasped her head, magic pouring through. "Sleep, Celestia. The voices will trouble you no more."

Celestia felt peace wash over, the sounds of chanting and fighting slowly drawing to a quiet note, her eyes gradually closed, her mind shutting down to enjoy the silence and sleep peacefully.

"Why does she suffer? My memories should be but a drop of water in her ocean of memories." One voice filtered through her ears, becoming more muffled as sleep claimed her.

"She may have more memories, a millennia or two more, but yours are far more powerful and emotional. Her mind doesn’t have the same upbringing and nature your’s does. Your memories are intermingling with her own, but you are hardened by nature, you have seen death as an everyday occurrence, and take it lightly." A second voice answered. Even with her mind slowly shutting down she was still able to hear. "And she doesn't have a guardian to hold back those memories either."

"I don't take death lightly."

"But do you not see it as an everyday thing, something that constantly surrounds you and your kind?"

"Yeah, it’s part of life. Been a part of our lives for centuries really. 'I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending.To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.' It’s in one of our religious texts.”

"It does comes with a price, now that everything is going down the drain."

"Don't I know it."

"Celestia here grew up in a world where everything can be controlled. Death was something to be avoided as much as possible. Fighting was a completely last resort, to cause death was even more so. This world...Is ‘Perfect’.”

“Sounds like you hate it.”

“They still use spears as a main weapon for Mother’s sake! How are they suppose to fight against the Tyrant’s armies like this?!”

“With a lot of prayer.” Celestia could barely hear the final sentence before her mind fully embraced the darkness.

5 Days Earlier

Celestia watched in silent vigil over the unconscious Commander with a worried look on her face.

“Why did the call go out to you? Why did it react the way it did?” Celestia muttered to herself, grimacing as stab of pain rushed through her mind. “Curse the screaming, broken minds of the Tyrant.”

Celestia eyes wandered over to a few items the were confiscated from Marcus when he arrived at the hospital.

A form fitting vest rested on the nightstand, its digital patterns strangely blending into the shadows of the moonlight. Celestia had no doubt that the vest would work in any environment, more so in darkness than in the light. The vest itself was filled with pouches, various names like 'magazine' or 'canteen' labeling themselves within her mind.

The one thing that stood out was the weapon still lodged in its holster. Celestia knew it was a weapon due to the memories she gained from Marcus, but she doubted the doctors or nurses had a clue what it was.

A 'Colt' M1911 pistol.

Modified to a certain degree thanks to Zecora adding something to the gunpowder for more power, an enlarged magazine for more rounds to be fire, and runes etched into the gun itself using 'normal' means. Which meant special ink was used to coat the gun, and not a large amount of crushed crystals.

The use of crystals were used solely for heavy machinery and the defenses.

The gun still retained a large amount of resistance, absorbed magic, and if Celestia was correct in reading the runes, the gun could use said magic to 'enhance' the bullet further by adding a magic coating to the round. This one added pure magic, one that was completely unstable. Which basically meant it exploded once it was destabilized.

Mostly once it hit a target.

She grimaced as a quick image of a new foal’s head exploding from the round flashed before her vision, before shaking it off. She moved onto the third object sitting next to the vest, a pair of necklaces.

Correction. A necklace and 'Dogtags'.

Celestia carefully picked up the tags, reading the words written in the tarnished metal.

Renee
Marcus D      AB Neg
277141984
USMC       L
No preference

Renee
Jacob A     A Neg
585251974
USMC     M
No preference

Renee
David S     AB Neg
586131975
USMC      L
Christian

Celestia mused quietly on the information. She knew Marcus was proud member of his country's military, given the simple point that his father's side of the family had a long and extensive military background. The fact that he carried not only his own, but his brother and father’s as well showed how much he cared for them.

It wasn’t proper doctrine, but she doubted most would care nowadays given that the ‘corpses’ tended to get back up in different forms.

She turned to the bright red locket, frowning as she set down the tags and brought the jewelry closer for examination. She wasn’t sure why…

But this locket was important.

But for whatever reason, she was unsure on why it was important. It looked like any other locket, perhaps a bit old, and it seemed to have been damaged from something directly hitting it in the center, but the way Marcus still carried it around with him showed the importance of it. She opened the locket up, and felt a wave of disappointment flow through her.

Is...is that it?Celestia thought to herself, she was confused on why she was disappointed when nothing happen. Is there something I am missing?

What am I doing? Celestia shook her head, a small amount of guilt rising in her chest. I'm invading his personal space and privacy, his own treasures he keeps close. Perhaps I should ask him more once he awakens, if he allows it.

Celestia gave a small sigh as she closed the locket, but it appeared to be not her day. The locket broke as it closed, startling Celestia. Oh darn. Celestia did her best to reassemble the pieces that had fallen as she moved the bigger parts together to enter the screws that had dropped, but as she did, the two pictures embedded within caught her eyes.

On the right was a picture of a man, who looked very similar to Marcus himself in some ways. He was wearing the same uniform that Marcus wore when she was attempting to calm him down and figure out what was happening. The uniform was clean and looked very sharp, his face was filled with a beaming smile as he held the woman in his arms for the picture.

The woman was wearing a white dress, a wedding gown, her sun kissed blonde hair hanging off to the side, her bright blue eyes showing nothing but joy as she smiled, hugging her husband close to her.

His mother and father. Celestia thought sadly, before she gasped as another memory forced its way into her mind.

“Marcus.” The blond woman held something in her hands, her clothes looking very dirty and rumpled as if she was working outside.

“Yeah Mom?” Marcus looked up from his studies on the couch, Jacob playing with his green soldiers at his feet, using said feet as ‘Forts’ for the green ‘Marine’ men. “Need any help with the horses?”

Marcus watch as his mother look at him, a small smile on her face as she rub the locket somewhat before giving it to him. “No, I have it in hand, don’t you worry about your dear old mother. I just want you to have this.”

“Your special locket?” Marcus grasped the precious locket within his hands. His mother told him that her special friends had given it to her when she was younger, and that she treasured it greatly.

“Yeah, its really special to me, and I want you to take care of it.”

“Okay...But why mom?” Marcus couldn’t help but look utterly confused at his mother for this.

“I just think its time for me to pass it on. I’ll know you will take good care of it.”

Celestia gave a breath of relief, this memory wasn’t painful or sickening. A small reprieve in the growing horror that Marcus was fighting against. She turned to the second photo, showing two boys in the photo. Marcus looked about nineteen, his right arm wrapped around his younger brother Jacob in a headlock, a look of elder sibling superiority for all to see. The fifteen year old Jacob looked far from amused, but he was smiling nonetheless at the camera. His dirty blond hair looked far from combed, no thanks to Marcus tousling it from before.

Celestia continued to look upon Jacob in the picture, tears threatened to pour from her eyes as crushing guilt and sadness slammed into her. She tried to breath, but all that came out was a choking gasp. She could feel it, the memory roaring out from the depths of her mind as she tried to keep it buried, but the emotions that came with it were powerful and crippling.

Celestia barely had a chance to whimper before the memory overtook her.

Washington, DC 2021 Anno Domini

Marcus growled as he pushed himself through his exhaustion as he fought like a rabid animal to defend himself. Ever since the fiasco in Mexico City, the PER had been pushing like mad to try and cripple the US military.

They had been failing spectacularly up until now.

DC was being overrun by New Foals, and the White House was one of the few areas left that was still fighting to survive. A CIA agent that was in the meeting had reported that the PER were taking the homeless off the streets from across the country, though it was unknown what they were doing with them.

Until the reports were coming from all over the city that ponies were attacking DC once again.

That was over twenty hours ago.

To think he came here with Cheerilee, the second of command of the PHL, so she could give the PHL a more combat role in the fight against the Tyrant’s new foals.

Well, they got it. The few PHL ponies that were with them had been vital in the defence, but the enemy’s numbers were slowly swallowing them whole.

“Marcus!” His head snapped to Cheerilee, who giving him a bright smile. “Doctor is on his way! He’ll be here in about ten minutes!”

“Why ten minutes?!” Marcus growled out as his AA-12 barked out several rounds in rapid succession, giving the hallway they were defending a new coat of blood.

“He says there’s something interfering with the Tardis! He thinks it’s some kind of prototype spell or something the Tyrant cooked up to stop him from interfering. Lyra is getting a squad ready to meet us once he breaks through the interference.” Cheerilee shook her head, tightening the tourniquet on an FBI agent who had his arm blown off from the elbow down thanks to Marcus. The rather brutal move had actually kept him from turning into a pony. His entire hand was coated in potion and Marcus lacked something sharp to lob it off cleanly. “He was rather insulted by it.”

Marcus turned to give a sarcastic response before the wall at the end of the hall exploded, causing the Marcus and the others to duck down to avoid the flying debris. Marcus turned back to the hall, leveling his weapon up before a navy blue unicorn stepped through, smiling at him and opening his mouth to speak. Marcus was already in the process of pulling the trigger when he heard the voice.

“Hello, Marcus.”

Marcus jerked the weapon away on instinct, unloading a trail of buckshot into the walls, his eyes widened in shock. “Jacob…”

“It’s Stalwart Heart now.” Marcus’ ponified brother ‘corrected’ him before his horn started to glow. Marcus was in a complete trance, he didn’t even hear the correction. He got up from cover and slowly walked out, the AA-12 hanging limply from his grasp.

But Marcus would have none of that.

He reached out for him, ignoring the cries from the others as he walked forwards with a dumbfounded expression. It was his brother, he knew he was changed into a New Foal, but to see Jacob before him had all but caused him to forget everything around him. His brother was here, he could save him, take him back to the PHL site and try to-

Marcus never finished the train of thought before his entire world was flipped around. He felt weightless until his body crashed into the far wall. Darkness attempted to claim him, but his body fought against it.

He blinked in confusion, feeling himself being carried away, sounds of fighting and cries for help or the calls of orders all around him.

Blink. A different ceiling. Defenders passing weapons and ammo, PHL members quickly setting up defensive measures.

Blink. Bodies everywhere. Ponies and humans littered the floors, some not even fully changed, looking more like a mad scientist went postal on everyone. They were strewn amongst each other in tangled masses. Survivors were praying, others were just glaring at the blood soaked doors.

Blink.

Marcus looked about as he found himself in the Oval Office, groggily watching Cheerilee as she tried to keep the door shut, placing her body against it to keep out the monsters.

The door exploded open, sending the earth pony tumbling end over end. She barely gave a soft whine of pain before she was dragged across the debris filled floor.  She was lifted off the ground, the magic surrounding her throat as it picked her up like a bastard child.

“Why do you fight?”

‘Jacob.’

“Why do you fight against us. We are kin, we are ponies.” Stalwart Heart explain patiently as Cheerilee kicked out feebly to him, struggling to breath.

“Because. .  you are. .  sick!” Cheerilee managed to cough out, her eyes shut closed in pain before they sprung back open as Stalwart Heart tightened his grip on her.

“We are not sick! I haven’t felt better in my entire life! The potion cured me of my humanity, and gave me Harmony!” Stalwart growled as he slammed Cheerilee into the nearest wall. She gave a small cry before Stalwart Heart set her before him once more.

Marcus felt the blood pumping into his head, his emotions battling against one another. His own brother was hurting someone he was beginning to care for.

It took a long time for him to see her that way. Ever since he saved her in the school in France, she was a constant source strength in his eyes. When they were searching the school for survivors, they found her held up against a door, her breathing ragged and unconscious. He was about to put a bullet in her skull when the cries came from behind the very door she was leaning against. He looked up to the window to see children staring back at him horror and fear.

An entire class room filled with unchange children.

The children were quick to defend her once they move her out of the way, surrounding her with their bodies to protect her from them.

She nearly died several times fighting against the New Foals in her rescue attempts. She defended them against a growing amount of New Foals, never wavering once in her duties.

When she awoke and questioned on why she defend the children from the New Foals, her only response was an inspiring testament to her job and students.

“When a parent leaves their future in our hooves, we not only shape them, but protect them from harm. Not just from themselves, but to anypony wishing to hurt them. They are my children, every single one of them. And it is my duty to protect them. Even from monsters.”

Marcus roared out, scrambling to his feet and charging at Stalwart. Cheerilee dropped to the ground, coughing out as Marcus blaze past her, tackling the unicorn to the ground and began to subdue him.

“Leave her alone!” Marcus shifted his position as Stalwart tried buck him off, landing behind him and snaking his arms around his neck. Stalwart attempted a spell, only to groan out in pain as Marcus punched him several times in the face. “Cheerilee, find the others, get us a ride out of here!”

Cheerilee gave him a hesitant look, unsure if she should leave him here. But Marcus simply gave her a small nod, which she quickly turn and rush through another door to find help.

“Marcus! Stop, join me-ack!?” Stalwart tried to speak out, only for Marcus to tighten his hold on his neck.

“Shut up Jacob. I promise Mom I’d take care of you, and I will do just that!” Marcus growled as Stalwart continue his efforts to free himself.

“I don’t need to be taken care of!” Stalwart managed out, his voice strained as Marcus continue his efforts to knock him out, but a pony body was much more robust than a human. “You need to be taken care of! Together we can help this world be better!”

“Shut up, Jacob. You need to sleep!” Marcus barely avoided getting his eye impaled as Stalwart attempt to jam it his skull.

“My name…” Stalwart clenched his teeth as his horn glowed, ignoring the punches Marcus laid into his skull. “IS STALWART HEART!”

Marcus found himself flying once more, fortunately it wasn’t powerful enough for him to hit a wall. Marcus landed on his back, sliding a few feet before executing a kip up, landing quickly back on his feet and launching himself once more at his brother.

Stalwart barely had time to get back on his hooves before Marcus decked him with right hook, sending him tumbling onto the ground.

“Your name is Jacob Allen Renee! You’re a Marine who was so damn good at his job that you were called up to be a part of the Secret Service!” Marcus roared as he lifted his little brother and threw him to the wall, causing him to cry out in pain.

“Your mother’s name is Megan Renee, she went into labor for nineteen hours because you were too stubborn to get out!” He grab him by the mane and punched him back into the ground.

“Your father’s name is David Shale Renee, a proud Marine who gave his life to save his comrades from death from Republican Guards!” Marcus kicked Stalwart in the barrel, sending him rolling across the ground.

Marcus was livid, anger incarnated if anyone were to look upon him now. However, his rant was cut short as Stalwart’s horn glow before launching the spell at Marcus’ chest, sending him soaring into a wall.

“THAT HUMAN IS DEAD!” Stalwart seethed in anger as Marcus stumbled to his feet. “MY NAME IS STALWART HEART! I AM THE HUSBAND OF TWILIGHT SPARKLE, STUDENT OF THE RIGHTEOUS AND CARING SUN, QUEEN CELESTIA. ACCEPT YOUR FATE, BROTHER!”

“M-marcus?” Both pony and human look to the door see Cheerilee standing at the door, her eyes wide in surprise. Stalwart turn his attention to Cheerilee, while Marcus rushed him as fast as he could.

“No!”

Marcus grabbed Stalwart by the horn and jaw, slightly twisting them in an attempt to get Cheerilee out of his line of sight, but was far too late.

“Ah?!” Cheerilee’s entire head covered in a bubble shield, her eyes wide in fright as she tried to break it, but failed to do so.

“Let her go, Jacob!” Marcus yanked hard to break his concentration, but the bubble remained.

“I think not!” Stalwart proclaimed, his smile a little too large for whatever plan he has for the mare. “Release me and accept defeat, or she will die within five minutes of suffocation.”

“Release her!”

“I will not.” Stalwart chuckled as Marcus looked at Cheerilee in desperation. It did not escape Stalwart’s notice.

“What’s this? Compassion? For a pony?” Stalwart grunted and Marcus punched him in the ribs. He gave him a long look as Marcus continue to stare at Cheerilee, who was slowly sinking to the ground. She was looking around in a panic, trying to breath but air was becoming less and less.

“Shut up!” Marcus sneered at him before looking back at the former teacher-turned-rebel fighter.

“You like her.” Stalwart chuckled out loud  after a moment of contemplation, shaking his head at the insanity before soon giving out a cold laugh. “Amazing how much of a hypocrite you are.”

“Shut up!”

“You can have her, just join me, and I will make sure she will be taken care.” Stalwart smiled at him, one lacking any sort of compassion whatsoever. “She just needs to be... ‘Re-educated’ on the fundamentals of pony life. She will be perfect for you once Queen Celestia is finished.”

Marcus looked on, watching as Cheerilee began choke on nothing, her eyes filled with tears  as she began to suffocate. Her hooves feebly scratching at the bubble with weakening strength.

“Join me Marcus, and everything will be perfect.”

Marcus began to shake, watching as someone he had come to care for was being killed before his eyes.

“Join me.”

And the one doing it was within his own hands.

“You will have a soul and finally know peace.”

He looked down to the pony in his hands who only looked up at him with a cold smile and promises of a better life.

It was almost as if Lucifer himself was standing before him and offering up a deal to him and not the kid brother that he looked after for so long.

“I can save her.”

“Yeah…” Marcus agreed with him, a single tear rolling down his cheeks. “Yeah you can.”

“I’m glad you see-” Stalwart Heart would never finish his sentence, as Marcus gripped his horn and neck tightly, before twisting his head violently, snapping his neck.

Cheerilee gave a small gasp as the bubble vanished, her eyes wide and tears running down her face. She coughed several times, clearing out her lungs of the carbon dioxide.

“Marcus…” She managed out before reverting back to coughing fits. She looked up to see Marcus clutching the body tightly, hugging it close to his chest, shaking violently as Marcus came to terms with what he had just done. "Marcus…”

Marcus weakly got up, struggling to his feet. Cheerilee attempted to help him, but was ignored. He stumbled over to the American flag, its colors calling out to him before he finally grasped the cloth and ripped it from the post.

Gathering the flag, he made his way back the corpse. He fell to his knees and slowly began to wrap the body, tears slowly falling from his eyes.

The sound of boots rushing to his position reached his ears, but he made no move to look up from his work. He had just finished wrapping the body when a pair boots stood before him.

"Colonel Renee!" A marine stood at attention, looking exhausted beyond anything Marcus had seen before. "We need evac now, sir!"

"What's going on?" Marcus rasped out, uncaring if anyone saw him like this at the moment.

"The President has just ordered a 'Burn House' Protocol." The marine gave a shiver of fear. "We have twenty minutes to evac."

It was then the sound of grinding gears began to fill the room.

"Don't worry..." Marcus stated, no emotions showing on his face as he picked up the wrapped corpse. "Our ride is here."

A blue police box slowly appeared in view, the doors opening to reveal Doctor Whooves and Derpy. Doctor attempted to say something, but Marcus pushed passed him, he didn't care what the pony had to say. He just wanted to secure his brother.

Marcus had barely managed to get beyond the middle of the room before he fell to knees, tears freely falling from his eyes. His body shook as guilt and sorrow filled him, thoughts on what his mother would think of him, his father, his entire family.

He was alone now.

All alone.

The last of his family was finally dead, a walking corpse ended by his own hands. He let out a choked sob, gripping the body much more tightly. Marcus felt warm forelegs wrap around his body, Cheerilee sniffing as she hug him from behind.

"Its okay, Marcus..." Cheerilee whispered, nuzzling his neck as she held him. "Just let it out, just...let it out."

Marcus clutched the body tighter, small gasps escaping his throat as he attempted to control himself, but failed in the end. He let out a scream of despair and guilt, filling the entire ship with his cries.

Celestia’s eyes snapped open. A rather curious looking Marcus was staring at her from his bed.

“Uh….What’s going on? Why are- WHAT THE HELL?!” Marcus rolled off the bed as Celestia launched herself at him, just barely escaping from her bear hug. He had just managed to grab his vest off the stand, yanking out his pistol from its holster and taking aim. “Why the hell are you trying to hug me?!”

“I... thought... what was I thinking?” Celestia answered, knowing nothing of what to think, she sniffed and wiped her snout with the blankets, blinking away tears and reigning in her wild emotions. “I must apologize, Commander…Or is it Colonel?”

“Aha…” Marcus seem a little put off by how Celestia was acting would be an understatement. “I...Kind of gave up when people insisted on calling me Commander instead of Colonel. They said it had a nicer ring to it.”

“I see.” Celestia mused to herself, climbing off the bed and standing before Marcus, who still had his weapon pointed at her. “You can relax Commander Rene, I apologize for my behavior, it was...Uncouth of me to throw myself at you like an over emotional trollop.”

“Yeah. No.” Marcus took a couple of steps away from Celestia. “That’s what they always say before they try again.”

“Your weapon is not loaded. You ran out of ammunition halfway through the battle.”  Celestia said with a warm smile as she stepped closer, causing Marcus to swallow somewhat, now completely unbalanced on what was happening. “And you know that I am not the Tyrant.”

“Yeah, but I only allow one mare to throw herself at me.” Marcus gulped as he hit the wall. Celestia gave a soft sigh in annoyance before reaching up and hugging, causing him to stiffen up with this action.

“I’m sorry.” Celestia voice was filled with conviction and sorrow. “I’m sorry for what is happening to your people. I’m sorry I attacked you without cause.” Marcus attempted to open his mouth, but Celestia continues on. “I know you attacked me, you had every right to-”

Marcus pushed her away, grimacing a bit at the thought of being hugged by the Alicorn, unable to get rid of the image of the insane being from his world. “Hold up there. What I did wasn’t right. If I tried that anywhere else, the Marine Corp would’ve kicked me out, arrested me, and buried me in the deepest hole they could find. And that is only if they didn’t shoot me first.”

“Given the circumstances.” Celestia took several steps away. “I believe you can be forgiven.”

“But-”

“Commander.” Celestia’s eyes narrowed at him, realizing that the human, no, a full blooded Marine would refuse to accept anything unless he was ordered to. While she couldn’t order him around, she could make him see sense. If not, she could be stubborn as well. “I forgive you. There is nothing more to be said.”

Marcus fumed in anger, gritting his teeth in annoyance at the mare before him. “I almost killed you! Your sister! Your subjects! How can you forgive me for those crimes?!”

“Because I have seen what you have seen, experienced what you gone through, felt all the terrible darkness this war has brought to you, your friends, your family, and your comrades.” Celestia lowered her head, closing her eyes as the silent screams echoed through her mind.

“After seeing just a small portion, I realized just how easy my ponies and I… No, all of Equus truly have it. You are a good person Marcus Renee, a good man doing what he can for his people and forced to make decisions that would cripple anypony else in this world.”

Marcus fell silent, eyes wide in surprise as Princess Celestia bowed to him, a small amount of tears being shed from her eyes. “Those memories will forever stay with me.”

“Get up.” Marcus’ voice was soft, but firm as he knelt down to help her back to her hooves. “Someone of your position shouldn’t be bowing to a lowly jarhead like me.”

Celestia only gave him a smile, but nodded her head as she stood up. "Very well, but it will not change my stance on the matter. Besides, an apology is in order, not just for attacking you, but because of this."

Celestia took hold of the broken locket and place it into Marcus’ waiting hands. Marcus grimace slightly as he took a hold of it.

“Don’t worry about it. This thing broke so many times that I lost count. Still, I try really hard to keep it in one piece, so no worries. Thing’s outer covering is tough as nails though, not really sure what it is made of, but it stays in one piece... Or two pieces in this case.” Marcus chuckled as he gently patted the pocket.

Marcus gave a tired smirk before looking around. "Anyways, where am I? What the hell-"

The door to the clinic burst open, two guards rushing through before quickly bowing to Celestia "Princess!"

Celestia blinked in surprise at the guards, they looked as if they had seen a monster coming to devour them. "Yes?"

"Changelings! Coming up the pass to the city! They are heading straight for Canterlot!" One of the guards reported, the other nodding with him to confirm the report.

Celestia’s eyes widened before she turned, threw the windows open, and flew off the main city gates. The guards turned to look at Marcus as he coughed. "You boys mind escorting me down to gate? I’d rather not risk jumping out a window. Not up to speed yet."

The guards look to one another, blinking once before turning back to him with confusion.

Celestia flew over Canterlot, the early night sky filled with the sounds of the wailing of alarms. Many of the ponies enjoying the nightlife found themselves rushing to their homes or businesses to heed the alarms. Celestia closed her eyes, giving a sigh of relief as she watched the ponies clear the streets, and as the guards rushed through to secure several locations throughout the city. She banked to her left, heading straight for the city gates, and dived down to the land.

Celestia had barely landed when Luna appears beside her, dark blue magic shifting and forming into the Alicorn. Celestia shook her head at the rather disturbing display, ‘And Luna always wondered why ponies felt uneasy around her.’

"Sister, the guards have informed Us of the situation." Luna tilted her head quickly, a soft pop echoing from her neck indicating that she was loosening herself up for a fight. “After today’s mess, We have a need to put somepony into the ground rather forcibly.”

Celestia sighed a bit at Luna’s rather aggressive stance. Today had not been a good day. She frowned as she turned to the one of the guards, slightly surprised to see Shining Armor standing beside her in full armor. “Prince-Captain Armor, what numbers are we expecting?”

Shining frown somewhat and turn to a guard on the battlements. “Clever Ace! How many are coming up the road!”

The guard saluted once before disappearing from view, returning a short moment later, looking somewhat put off. “I count only thirty, Captain.”

“Thirty?” Shining growled before directing several guards away from the gate. “Watch Canterlot, patrol the streets, anypony still outside of mandatory lockdown is to be detained until further orders.”

“A ruse perhaps?” Luna turned to her sister. “Come from the front and strike from behind?”

“I don’t know.” Celestia murmured quietly, her horn glowing before cutting out quickly, hissing in pain as dozens of defensible ideas, plans, and counter attacks rushed through her mind.

“Sister?” Luna laided a wing on Celestia’s back, leaning in close so Celestia wouldn’t topple over. “Is something wrong?”

“Memories… Ideas.” Celestia clenched her teeth together and forced back the pain. “Cadance was right. I should not be up and about.”

“A grand time for the changelings to make a move now.” Luna seethed before turning back to the gates. “We and the guards will hold the gates, Sister. Take rest and come only when We truly call for it. We can handle it for now, for the Night is Our domain, none shall use it to their advantage."

Celestia couldn’t help but give Luna some ribbing for her speech. “And all this We and Us has me confused, Luna. Am I taking part of this or not?" Celestia teased Luna somewhat. " Have you not been working on your speech?”

Luna’s ears flattened against her skull, her face flushed with embarrassment. “I have been working on it, Sister, but you cannot expect me to change dialects and speech so fast.”

Celestia only giggled in reply, before turning back to the gate. She frowned a bit at the changelings arrival and the implications of it. It was only after a few moments before she realized why they were here. ‘The call.’

She took several steps forward, her horn glowing as it grasped the closed gates and opened them wide.

“P-p-princess?!” Shining stood in shock. Princess Celestia ignored him and stood before the open gates of Canterlot, Luna quickly moving to stand next to her sister.

“Sister?” Luna turned to give Celestia a questioning look, but the blank face on Celestia yielded nothing to her prodding. The changelings coming up the pass were in standard formation, guards surrounding a rather ornate chariot, one that was heavily armored.

These changelings looked like they made a gym their home and decided they might as well run around the border of Equestria just for kicks. Large and imposing, most of them had fierce looks upon their faces, all but waiting for anypony foalish enough to attack them. They carried not only spears, but swords and cross bolts, made from their own materials from the jet black shine on them.

“Hold, my guards.” Celestia called out, watching as several guards gulped at the imposing show of force. Only a scant few of them showed nothing, the tightening grip on their spears or shields was the only indications nerves.

As the group made their way through the gates, Celestia held up a hoof. “That is far enough. You, in the chariot, state your business on why you all have come to Canterlot."

The door swung open, a hole ridden hoof stepping out from the darkness, the changeling seem to flow out of the chariot than merely stepping, her stunning green mane hanging down in forest green locks, and a small dainty crown adorning her head. Although, Celestia was not quite sure it was a crown to begin with, or a piece of herself.

Celestia blinked once before she found herself standing in a small room, a much more sophisticated monitor system standing next to a bed, monitoring the being laying within... She couldn’t help but stare down at the occupant that was resting in the bed.

“Chrysalis…” Celestia’s breath was taken away from her. This was not the prideful changeling she faced off against several months ago. No, this Chrysalis was a shade of her of former glory. Gone was the deep ebony fur and lustrous green chitin that protected her barrel, now only a pale gray cover her from horn to hole ridden hooves.

The once flowing green mane now a stark whitish gray...or whatever was left of it from her apparent baldness. Her eyes no longer held a deep emerald green that could entice males with their supernatural glow, now she appeared to be all but blind.

Unseeing eyes looked about, her ears swiveling as she took note that she was not alone in her room. The blind eyes finally zeroed in on Celestia, the dying changeling queen gave a small weak smile.

“Checking up on me again, Colonel? How kind of you-”

“-to ‘invite’ me to Canterlot.” Chrysalis smiled at the alicorn pair, ignoring the blank look on Celestia’s face and the scowling one on Luna’s. “A wonder to be here once more.”

Celestia shook her head, clearing the image from her mind. She had barely opened her mouth when a wall of magic sprang up between the two groups. Shining Armor growling as he place himself before the changeling Queen.

“What are you doing here, Monster?” Shining bared his teeth at her, his horn glowing brightly in the night.

Chrysalis couldn’t help make a kissy face at the angry unicorn. “Oh Shiny, is this how you repay me for the short few nights we shared together in bed before the wedding?”

Shining Armor paled instantly, before his entire form shook in a combination of disgust and anger. “You RAPED me!”

Chrysalis scoffed at this, rolling her eyes at the fuming stallion. “I did no such thing.”

“YOU LIE! YOU RUINED MY WEDDING AND PLAYED THE PART OF MY WIFE FOR WHO KNOWS HOW LONG!”

“Yes, I shared a bed with you.” Chrysalis held up a hoof, which flare with green magic, converting it into a minotaur hand, ticking off several points. Many of the Royal Guards became extremely uncomfortable seeing something that should not have been on a pony-like body suddenly appear there. “Yes, we had a heavy kissing and petting before the wedding, all three days of it. Yes, I did mentally shut you down during the wedding. And yes, I did ruin your wedding. But never once did I ‘share’ myself with you.”

“But- but!” Shining spluttered at this, his eyes wide at what she said. “But the night before the wedding!?”

“A nice dinner, a large amount of high class wine, and a nifty little spell.” Chrysalis couldn’t help but give a small laugh at the look on Shining’s face. “I have standards Captain. You should be fortunate that I am not like changelings of old.”

Shining spat in her direction, ignoring the hissing anger of the changelings behind their Queen. “Why have you come here? Trying to stop me from booting out your changelings from Equestrian soil?”

“Please, Shiny. You couldn’t find a changeling even if they were right in front of you.” Chrysalis taunted him, giggling at his fuming face. “In fact, let me show you how idiotic and pointless your ‘Search for changelings’ has been.”

Before Shining Armor could react, Clever Ace landed before him, his wings flaring out as he stood before Shining Armor. Shining open his mouth to speak, but died in his throat as Clever was consume in changeling magic, revealing Clever to be a changeling all along. Shouts of surprise raised from behind him as he turn to see several changelings rising from the ranks of his soldiers and make their way to their Queen.

Shining Armor opened and closed his mouth several times, his eyes wide in utter shock at what was revealed to him, along with Celestia and Luna. Chrysalis looked down upon her people that stood before her, giving them a sad smile before turning back to Shining Armor.

“There, you see. You missed quite a few.” Chrysalis waved her hoof at the changelings, mocking the newly crowned prince. Shining however, was completely focused on the Changeling before him.

“Where is he?” Shining hissed at the changeling. The only thing the changeling did was tilt his head in confusion.

“Who?”

“Clever Ace, the guards, the ponies you taken and impersonated!” Shining roared at him, his eyes blazing.

The outed changelings look to one another in confusion before looking to the changeling before Shining Armor. He gave a quiet sigh before turning back to Shining. “Captain Armor, I am Clever Ace.”

“No! I’ve known Clever Ace since we joined the guard! He-”

“Was your Guardmate, shared stories of his childhood and what our futures would be like, even traded cards and played O&O with 8-bit and Gaffer with you in bunks after dark.” The changeling answered, then turned and looked slightly embarrassed and scratch the back of his head. “That was only after Point Dexter dressed up as trashpony and snuck into the camp to give us the stuff.”

Shining stared long and hard at him, his face taking the appearance of a rock or an emotionless mask. “No, it’s impossible. I saw Clever Ace at the wedding, he wasn’t blasted by the magic Cadance and I cast.”

Chrysalis only gave a huff of annoyance before gently tugging Clever Ace behind her with her magic. “Clever Ace, stay behind me while I educate a buffoon.” Chrysalis said before standing before Shining. “Listen here dunce. A changeling can look the part, act the part, even play the part, but we can not just take a memory of a pony at ease. Most changelings would’ve fallen from the mental strain of too many memories within their minds if it was taken from ponies. So we make up a persona, start off young so the younglings can understand how to act around others. They are all but pony, one that gathers and harvest all the positive emotions being thrown out.”

Chrysalis gave him a long look before sharing a rather baleful smile “As ‘Great and Powerful’ as you and your pretty wife’s magic claims to be, it is not all knowing, especially if the magic was geared towards hostile ponies.”

Shining opened his mouth, but Chrysalis kept going, her voice becoming haughty as she spoke. “The shield was impressive, but after finding out that my changelings living within the city remained where they were stationed at, I realized that it was only geared toward those that were actively attacking others or had malicious intent towards the citizens of Canterlot. The changelings living in the city had no desire to harm or enslave, only to keep their heads down until my foalishness was over and done with.”

Chrysalis turned her head away from him, opening a single eye to look at him in a rather condescending way. “You should also rethink you and your wife’s strategy in using love as a power source against a group of beings that eat it like candy. I managed to siphon off a large portion of the power before I was launched. Could of ended pretty badly for you-Ouch!” Something had come flying from the chariot, soundly hitting Chrysalis in the back of the skull. The object had enough force to rebound off, bounce against the wall of magic, and hit her a second time in the snout. Chrysalis yelped and fell on her haunches, rubbing her snout from the impromptu attack.

Everypony watched as a small chalice rolled across the ground before finally coming to a rest against the shield Shining Armor has summoned.

All the ponies blinked in surprise as a rather decrepit old changeling stepped out from chariot, huffing in annoyance at the Queen sitting on the ground. “Chrysalis, stop trying to antagonize the poor fool. I can’t believe I came all the way from the Badlands to see what you were up to. You are such a fool sometimes! You wanted to help the Hive?! You caused anarchy instead!”

“Mythuselon!” Chrysalis rounded on him, only to get poked in the snout rather roughly.

“Quiet you. You already cause enough trouble as it is.” The newly revealed Mythuselon shook his head, unintelligible mumbling coming from his mouth.

“I was trying to help my people!” Chrysalis hissed in anger, baring her fangs at the elder Changeling, whose only response was to slap her across the face, causing her to whine in pain.

“I am five hundred and sixty-seven years old, Chrysalis. I have seen your Great grandmother give birth to your entire line. I was called forth to watch each rising queen, take care of them, guide them, and if so, stop them from making a foal of themselves. So when reports of you being hit with an unknown spell was reported to the Hive, I had to expel a large amount of magic just to displace to your location.” Mythuselon grumbled, sitting front of the larger Changeling queen and starting to reprimand her on the spot, in front of dozens of ponies holding weapons without a single care. “Imagine my surprise to see you setting yourself up in the Everfree forest, planning on attacking the Elements of Harmony.”

“What.” Shining Armor, Celestia, and Luna glared at the Changeling Queen, who ignored them in favor of scowling at the elder changeling before her.

“It would have worked!” Chrysalis crossed her forelegs together, sticking out her lips and pouting like there was no tomorrow, sticking her snout in the air. Mythuselon growled and punched her slightly in the gut, causing her to wince at the light blow.

“Yes, just like the wedding idea that was planned for months, but you had to go greedy. One of the ponies saw you, unsure on what they were looking at, they informed Celestia, forcing her to raise the entire city defenses to defeat any subterfuge…” Mythuselon took a deep breath in, flared his wings open, and flew up to her face. “INSTEAD, YOU INVADED ALL OF CANTERLOT! NOT ONLY DID YOU ALLOW YOURSELF TO BE SEEN, BUT YOU IMPERSONATED THE BRIDE! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU CHILD?!”

“I DID WHAT WAS NECESSARY TO KEEP THE HIVE ALIVE!”

“NO YOU DID NOT! YOU GOT GREEDY WITH THE GROOM’S LOVE AND CAME UP WITH AN INVASION PLAN HALF BAKED OFF POWER!”

The rest of the ponies in the courtyard leaned back in surprise as the two changeling roared at one another. Celestia turned to see if the other changelings were up to anything, but the look of sheer terror on their faces showed otherwise, some were even holding on to one another in complete fright. ‘This is...new?’

Celestia turned to see Luna march up to the two yelling changelings, her eyes wide as she realized what she was about to do. ‘Luna...No!’

“Silence! Thou are in the presence of the Royal Sisters! As they say in these odd days, ‘Shut thy wailing, wenches!’”  Luna looked awfully proud of herself as the Changelings stopped yelling at one another to stare at her for her use of the RCV.

Instead of fear or cowardice, they scowled at the Lunar Princess with anger, their horns flaring brightly. “SHUT UP!”

Luna barely managed a look of shock before she was engulfed in changeling magic, and vanished from view. Both Changelings huffed once before turning back and proceeded to yell at one another once more.

“Princess?” Shining Armor stared where Luna once stood. Celestia closed her eyes, her horn glowing before she cut the magic.

“Luna is fine, Shining Armor.” Celestia rolled her eyes, “She is currently swimming in the Galloping sea. She will be here momentarily, if a little wet.”

“Ha!” A voice barked out above them, Celestia sighed as she saw Discord sitting on a pink cloud, eating popcorn, watching the Changelings arguing. “I loved that. I should’ve done that to you two back then. Getting thrown in the ocean sounds like a pain the flank! All those mane products you’ll have to use to get your manes back to normal...” 

“Discord…” Celestia only rolled her eyes, struggling on what to do to bring the shouting match to a close. However, from the looks of their horns glowing, it might actually come to blows before long.

“Wow.” Celestia nearly screamed in alarm as Marcus’ voice rang out from beside her. Her eyes widened as she whipped her neck around with a crack to stare at the human- she didn’t even hear the crunch of gravel from his approach! Even with the Changelings shouting at loud volume, she could still hear the rustling of wings from various guards all around her. “She’s quite the looker.”

Celestia couldn’t help but stare at the human in confusion with his statement, before she remembered the memory that blasted into her mind several minutes before. He had only seen her when she was sick and dying. Marcus tilted his head, examining the Changeling Queen before smirking slightly. “Hmm. Shame really, I would of taken her out for a dinner and movie if I wasn’t taken myself. Maybe she needs male company to keep her calm. You know anyone?”

Before Celestia could respond, a flare of magic filled the evening air, creating a mass of dark blue smoke sprinkled with stars that began swirling furiously besides Celestia, taking the form of a very angry Princess of the Night…

One that was completely soaked from head to hooves.

Marcus gave her a slightly curious stare, before sniffing the air and smelling the scent of sea salt emanating off of the alicorn. Discord chuckled, giving Luna an amused look before tossing a kernel up into the air, heating it up in mid flight, and opening his mouth to enjoy the snack. His eyes widened in surprise as the popcorn bucket he was holding was ripped from his claws and dumped on his head, causing him to shout by the childish attack.

Luna huffed once, blowing her damp mane out of her face, scowling at the still shouting Changelings with contempt. “I despise them now more than ever. Please Sister, allow me to show them proper decorum.”

“No no, I got it.” Marcus couldn’t help but smile as he walked towards the two shouting changelings.

“Wait, Commander!” Celestia called out to the human, but was too late as he stood before the shouting pair, crossing his arms in a serious gesture.

For a moment, Celestia waited for Marcus to start yelling; maybe even try and get between the two, but all he did was stand there and wait.

And yet, it was working.

Both Chrysalis and Mythuselon slowly lowered their voices, turning to look at the biped standing next to them. The new creature was smiling warmly at the two. 

“What is he doing?” Luna asked; her eyes widening as Chrysalis’ eyes began to close, humming happily. Even her wings fluttered slightly.

“Oh, that’s smart.” Discord said with his head already free from the bowl, giving Luna a small glare before turning back to the human in action.

“What?” Celestia asked, turning to look at the draconequus with confusion.

“He is literally pouring out love.” Discord mused out loud. “And Chrysalis is literally drinking it up.”

“Why did you stop? Ouch!” Chrysalis nearly threw herself at the strange looking biped, only for Mythuselon to yank on her tail to keep her grounded.

“Oh no, not again!” Mythuselon growled at Chrysalis. “I will not allow you to throw yourself like that anymore, nor cause another incident!”

“Queen Chrysalis, of the Changeling Hive.” Marcus said chuckling, standing before the pair with a warm smile. He bowed to her before taking her hoof and giving it a gentle kiss, ignoring the holes with a practiced ease. “I’m welcome to be in your presence once more.”

“Once more?” Both Mythuselon and Chrysalis tilted their heads in bewilderment at his statement. Marcus only gave them a sad smile before standing back up.

“I am Colonel Marcus Renee of the United States Marine Corps of the United States of America. I am the leader of a joint task force between my government’s military and a band of various species fighting against a tyrant of incredible power.” Marcus explained quietly, his remorse showing clearly to the two before him.

“Who?” Chrysalis asked, completely confused. She felt the emotions playing out from his being. The emotion of love that he initially poured out was now buried by hatred, fear, grief, and a slew of other negative emotions. It nearly made her sick to her stomach...if she had one that contained anything.

“Me.” Celestia stepped up next to Marcus, giving both a long look before continuing. “A version of me which is so power hungry that she devastated several races in her conquest of power, enslaving an entire race and forcing them to change against their wills, even destroying countless relics and millennia of history, all for the dystopia she calls Harmony.”

Chrysalis blinked. Then she did so again. And then once more. It took her several tries to reply to what Celestia had just said, but when she did, it didn’t even begin to convey all the questions that were whizzing around in her mind at the moment. “Come again?”

Several minutes later

Chrysalis walked down the hall, following Marcus and Celestia as they made their way to the throne room. She was being followed by Mythuselon and two changeling guards. Celestia had waved hers away, stating that she was the one who had called Chrysalis to the castle. The guards heeded her wishes, although rather reluctantly.

However, the emotions from the ‘human’ showed her nothing but truth. The paralyzing guilt, the agonizing sadness, the utter horrors that he was forced to witness and perform.

Marcus sadly nodded his head. “It took about three years. The tainted love moved through your body like a cancer, slowly killing you from the inside out. Younglings and elderly died quickly once New Foals began to appear in Equestria. The healthy were slowly deteriorating away, and they begged you to leave Equestria to start anew...but it was too late. You were already tainted, and dying. Only the positive emotions, clean positive emotions from ponies and humans, kept you alive long enough to teach another pony the ways of your magic.”

Mythuselon sputtered at this, throwing his holy hooves up in the air. “A pony? With changeling magic?!”

Marcus nodded his head. “Trixie Lulamoon was your student. You gave her your magic so she could help the PHL. It was because of this that Trixie became who she is today, the Blue Spy. Our go-to pony to lay waste to bases, gather intel, and secretly assassinate leaders and soldiers.”

Celestia closed her eyes to this, memories of a young blue unicorn, domino mask concealing her face, racing behind a familiar human wearing enchanted armor wielding a magical claymore as they laid waste to anypony foolish enough to get in their way.

Chrysalis stopped in the middle of the hall, staring at the two as they turned to look at her. “Is that why you called? To help with this war?”

“To be truthful, Chrysalis.” Celestia looked away, staring out the window, taking in the beautiful night sky. “I never actually expected you to respond to the call. We have not had the best of current histories at the moment.”

“You think?!” Chrysalis snapped at her. Mythuselon attempted to reel her in, but Chrysalis ignored him entirely. “‘Watch out everypony, for a changeling will drain you of your emotions and leave you nothing more than dying husk!’ This goes far beyond our current spat!”

“I wouldn’t-” Celestia started to defend herself, but Chrysalis hissed in anger.

“You preach of Harmony and equalness, and yet in the early days of your rule, you cast us to the cold, deeming us too dangerous to be around!” Chrysalis seethed. “Or do you not remember my ancestors coming up to you, allowing themselves to be seen before all, only for you to cast your hoof and demand that we leave your land or suffer the consequences?!”

“I…” Celestia didn’t know how to respond to the outburst. She remembered, long ago when she first rose to power over the newly named country of Equestria, the changelings came to her and explained their existence. Her advisers had a large amount of suspicion towards the changelings, and begged Celestia to cast them out; if not for them, then for her growing sister Luna.

“When Discord cast you and your sister aside from Equestria, we had a speck of hope that opening up to refugees would reveal to them the lies you have told them. Instead, we were attacked; deemed his minions, only here to sow chaos upon them.”

“Queen Chrysalis.” Marcus’s voice broke her rant, her eyes wide as she looked at the human who placed himself between them. She hadn’t gotten used to his presence yet. “Enough.”

“But-”

“Enough! You answered the call, did you not?” Marcus voice became hard as steel, his eyes glaring into the green orbs of the royal changeling.

Chrysalis stood for a moment and then sigh. “Yes, yes I did.”

“Then at least have the decorum to keep yourself in line.” Marcus gave her a long look, watching as Chrysalis looked down, only for her to glare at the back of his head when he moved back to where he was standing. She didn’t really like him much either, even with the story. "Also, cut the glaring, Chrysalis. You’re not as subtle as you think you are. I got to know your counterpart quite well, and you act just like her when she doesn't get what she wants."

Chrysalis puffed her cheeks in frustration before turning her head away, snorting in annoyance.

"My people are being enslaved and dying." Marcus began, his voice filled with anger. "And I know you two don't like each other, but you have to put that shit aside. Because if you don't, that whore is going to win and mankind is going to be erased from existence."

"Of course, you're right. Its time to lay old hatreds aside. There is something else that you need to know, Commander." Celestia said, ignoring the snort coming from Chrysalis. "While I was...'recovering' from our fight, the Tyrant contacted me."

It took every ounce of training for Chrysalis not let out a startled yelp of fright as the human seemingly vanished from her senses. Oh, he was still there, standing tall and looking as fierce as any warrior, but his emotions had all but vanished. Nothing more than a cold void was left in his wake.

No, not a void.

Fear.

Unrestrained, horrifying, paralyzing fear.

“She found me?” The horrified tremor in his voice all but cemented that this was real. No being could ever fake that; not to her, not to any changeling of her caliber.

“She did, but thanks to Celestia and yours truly, not anymore.” The voice echoed through the hallway. Celestia eyes narrowed the moment his voice started to speak.

“Discord.” Celestia looked about, trying to search for the chaotic being. “What did you do?”

Marcus focused himself, searching for the odd creature before tilting his head upwards, catching the draconequus standing, upside down on the ceiling, eating a sundae.

“What I did,” Discord started, walking up to the nearest wall and beginning to walk down to the floor, “was insure that she didn’t cause any havoc while we prepare. Only I can cause havoc, a being that lacks enslaving the world and killing billions as an insane ideal. While you were making a statement crater the size of Canterlot, I was waiting for the right moment to cut the connection and erase the trail.”

Celestia frowned at this. She had a feeling that there was more to the tale than what Discord was letting on. “What do you mean?”

“You don’t get it, do you?” Discord growled as he brought himself up to full height. “She was searching for the one being that could break the morale of humanity itself if he was turned. As much as the good Colonel here likes to deny it, he became the poster boy for humanity. He, along with a scant few others, were the shining beacons in the darkness. He more than the rest of them, seeing as he started the process that led to the rise of the PHL. The moment she found you, there is little doubt in my mind that she would have swooped in and taken you out before you even had a chance to warn the others.”

“Yeah, swooping is bad.” Marcus muttered out loud, Discord nodding in agreement with the small statement.

“She was trying to convince you to side with her in a small effort to keep herself from wasting time on a pointless battle. She’s insane, not stupid. If worse came to worse, she would have killed you, taken your power, possibly subdued Luna and corrupted the Elements like she did to her own; the more crazy elements, the better for her. Then she would come for Marcus.” Discord enforced his statement by pointing a claw at Marcus. “With the Commander at the helm of the new Equestrian forces, humanity would give up all hope.”

“This is really happening?” Chrysalis couldn’t help but swallow nervously. “Truly? It’s actually happening?”

“Welcome to the end, Queen of the changelings. I will be your tour guide for the destruction of the multiverse!” Discord threw a claw around her, bringing her close to him. “On the left up ahead, we see a planet having its people’s history being wiped from existence! Coming up after that, we see a single being about to commit suicide to deny his final change in front of thousands of zombie ponies with cheerful smiles!”

“Discord!” Celestia scowled, but Marcus held up his hand.

“He’s right.” Marcus said giving the group a hard stare. “This is happening, and we need to stop her before she gets to this world. Who is to say she will stop with just our worlds?”

Discord nodded his head, twirling his beard with his paw. “The multiverse is vast, each world having vastly varied ways of existing, all with different ideals. Something the corrupt queen wouldn’t be able to stand. Oh, there are powers out there that can rival, yes, or even beat her. But she will play it smart; she will gather power from other worlds before finally striking, with a limitless army at her beck and call from dozens, if not hundreds, of worlds.”

“Then we end her reign before she gets that power. There’s no discussion, only action.” Marcus slammed his right fist into his open palm to emphasize his point, runes glowing brightly for a few moments before fading.

“But heading straight on with rightful hearts of what needs to be done isn’t enough.” Celestia hated being the one of sound mind, but she needed to keep them grounded. ”We need to be keen about this state of affairs, as the risks are too great and the enemy too powerful at the moment.”

Marcus deflated somewhat, before nodding with her assessment. Turning to Chrysalis, he asked, “So it’s agreed then?”

“What’s agreed?” Chrysalis asked, somewhat confused by his question.

“That we will unite to stop her.” Marcus clarified, shorting the gap between them until he was at arms reach, awaiting for her response.

Chrysalis hummed, then slowly placed one of her hole filled hooves in her chin, faking her thought on the question, only to grunt when Mythuselon slapped her on the flank. She hissed in response at the elder changeling.

“My Queen, Chrysalis, this is our moment.” Mythuselon said quietly, looking up to the young Queen. “Our moment to show all of Equus that we are not simply evil creatures that thrive on pain and suffering. Do you really want to throw that away simply because of something that happen a long time ago, before our time?”

“Its hard to forget when the one who made the decision is standing in this very place.” She growled, glancing at Celestia before turning back to the human. But her posture was different; it was a stance of a royal with responsibilities and duties to fulfill, where a decision made would change so much more than a law or a thought.

It would change how an entire species was looked upon.

“It seems I have not much of a choice. This evil will affects us all, and my subjects are at risk with the tainted love they bring.” Chrysalis said as she moved to face Celestia, Marcus moving close to hear her statement. “I, Chrysalis, queen of the changeling hive, daughter of Dryas and Iulia, state that the changelings are to ally to Equestria and humanity against the villain known as the Solar Tyrant. We, the changelings, are at war.”

There was a moment of silence to take the claim in. But before anything else could be done, a golden light emanated from Chrysalis, who yelped in surprise before the glow faded away. A single note was heard echoing around them before it too faded away.

“What in the seven corners of Tartarus was that?!”

“An ‘ultimate contract binder’, my dear.” Discord chuckled as he floated overhead. “You can’t just say it, you have to mean it, for the Concordia Maxima is a powerful artifact created by Mother. If you didn’t mean it…well, lets just say it won’t be pretty.”

“Then it shouldn’t be a problem. I meant every word. Of course, once this entire situation is resolved, we’ll discuss this further.” Chrysalis pointedly said, completely ignoring the ending statement, before turning to Celestia. “Once this mess is done and over with, I am hopeful that our new allies can at least give us the benefit of giving us a chance that was never given to us in the first place.”

Marcus said nothing, only nodding once before turning on his heels and walking away, no longer wanting to be in the presence of Celestia any longer than he needed to.

“Colonel, was it?” Chrysalis called to him, trotting up to him with a flirtatious smile on her face. Mythuselon grumbled under his breath as he struggled to catch up to his Queen, with the two guards following.

Celestia could only watch as they walked down the halls, her left cheek twitching as Discord laughed at her. He spoke, “So out comes the past. It was quite a spectacle to see your past decision come back and haunt you.”

“I was young.” Celestia started, but Discord only gave a bark of laughter.

“No, you were stupid, and you still are.” Discord stood next to her, raising an eyebrow before floating off the ground. “Scribble had told you countless times to leave them once your time was up, but you refused.”

“I had to lead them because you were-” Celestia scowled, but took a step back when Discord rounded on her, baring his fangs.

“I was doing my job!” Discord growled quietly. “I had to make sure everything was still running perfectly, but you were throwing a wrench in the process.”

Celestia thought for a moment, as she knew how the discussion would go. But she wanted it to happen, and there was no Cadance to stop it from happening now. It was a long time coming, and Celestia wanted her grievance to be known, for Discord to finally cut off his anger for her supposed crimes on ponykind.

How wrong she was.

“Dozens of innocent ponies were dying because of the storms you brought, the wild animals you introduced killed many more, and the very changing of the night and day, where you set the sun and rose the moon in the middle of the day, was tearing their minds apart! It was chaos!” Celestia defended herself. “That caused the Wendigos to prey on them once they began to blame each other for the troubles that were caused! I was there Discord, I saw you bring the storm the day the Wendigos appeared!”

Celestia knew she was in for a great amount of yelling when Discord stopped flying, stood up straight, and looked her dead in the eyes.

“And that’s how it should have been! ” Discord bared his teeth at the alicorn, angry flames dancing in his eyes. “What do you think they learned afterwards? They learned not to stand outside in the middle of storms and watch the beautiful wind, clouds, water, and lightning in a glorious and natural show, to be wary of animals that could gnaw on their innards, eventually learning to tame them, and they would’ve learned about the true nature of their problems with true thought on their part. They were not to expect a magical princess bringing wisdom of the ancients and making everything candy coated for them to frolic about on! They would’ve learned about the nature of everything! To make things themselves! But where are they now?! They can’t tie their shirt without asking if it’s alright!”

“They can still think Discord.”

“Do they really? Oh, woe is me, to try and understand your flawless judgment. I mean, just look at your standing army! You have them equipped with...spears!” Discord drolled on, turning his head to the side and faked a gag. “They question nothing! Trouble? You resolve without an effort. Risks? Why worry, the princess knows. Secrets of the past? What secrets of the past? The princess would never lie, so why think further? Why try anything new, when the one proven to know better is in charge? The ponies are going to be stagnant once you reach your limit, which is nearing, and you know it!”

“I taught them to use their abilities to the fullest!’ Celestia scowled, leaning in close to his face.

“Taught? Taught?!” Discord stared at her for a few seconds before letting out a cruel bark of laughter. “You didn’t teach them a single bucking thing. You learned from Scribble, who taught you to make use of your abilities so you could make yourself comfortable in your duties as the Sun Stones spread across the world began to lose their powers. You held their hooves and showed them how to do everything! They didn’t learn, they copied! They would have learned on their own, they would have been able to stand on their own hooves, and they would have been able to make peace with the various species of Equus! For Mother’s sake, the Earth ponies still believe they can only help with plants!”

Discord was fuming; he looked as if he was passing through all the points of his argument he had been building up in his many years of lonely thinking. “They would know how to keep peace, and they would have continued their existence no matter how many generations would have gone by! Now, the one species that come to us is one that you casted out as dangerous not even a decade into your rule!!”

“It was a mistake-” Celestia started, only for Discord to snap his fingers and cause her to lose her voice.

“Everything you ever did was a mistake! The moment you said that you could do more and that Scribble was wrong was the moment you shoved all the things Mother taught you down the river! Not only that, you took Luna away with you, not even giving her a chance to learn on her own! You listened to the haughty unicorns who could barely perform magic instead of the being that brought you into existence!”

“Calm down, Discord.” Celestia managed to throw off the spell Discord cast on her, trying hard to keep the angry draconquus from exploding.

“Calm?! I’m perfectly calm! I’m just dandy! I mean, it’s not as if the grand plan of my mother was destroyed by the one bucking pony that she trusted to keep the burning ball of flaming death moving across the sky!” Discord seethed, his breathing heavy as he tried his hardest to not blow up the hallway. “And the ponies at their earliest forms, when they first walked this world long ago, the ponies that poor Scribble took so long to make, are mere foals to what she pictured. And now Mother’s eldest son is thought by those creatures as a monster who wants nothing but their destruction! I am the personification of what calm would be in my situation!”

“You were dangerous, uncontrollable.” Celestia whispered, no longer wanting to fight. This fight was bringing back all the bad memories.

“Everything is dangerous; everything is without control. Anything contrary is an illusion. At least I knew what they were going to become because of it,” Discord scowled, before snorting at her. “And besides, after you ‘appeared’, I wasn’t going after the ponies, I was going after you and Luna. Why do you think I spent so much time here and not in the whole world as I was supposed to? At least the other species have developed as planned, if not a little misguided by your influence. There was a reason as to why everything was so goofy and not a complete anarchy-filled gorefest. I wanted your attention; I wanted you to focus on me and away from the ponies so they could ‘grow up’ without your influence.”

“I had to stop you.” Celestia only gave the smallest of small whispers, but it was loud in the quiet halls.

“Well. You did. How much good did that achieve? Oh...that’s right.” Discord snapped his claws as he pretended to remember something important. “You broke into Scribble’s vault to find Mother’s own personal notes of all the good things, of all of Harmony, to stop Chaos, to stop me. Bet you were devastated to see me turn to stone instead of thousands of little pieces. Also, how is Scribble doing? Oh, she doesn’t speak to you anymore? What a shame that is.”

Celestia didn’t want to continue fighting. She attempted to walk away from Discord, only to have him appear in front of her. “Ohhoho, you are not getting off that easy. I have been holding all your imprudent nonsense for all this time and now you are going to listen to it.”

Celestia seethed before looking up and glaring at him. “You caused more problems than I care to count, the biggest being what happened to Canterlot and Sombra!”

“What?” Discord tilted his head in confusion at her proclamation.

“Canterlot was under a complete tyranny, under your control, when you cast me and Luna out! When we came with an army to cast you out, you corrupted Sombra with your chaos! It was you who caused the most damage!” Celestia screamed at him, eyes filled with tears as she remembered fighting in Canterlot against all the ponies fighting in the name of Chaos. It was soon followed by Sombra’s descent into madness a few years later.

Discord stared at the crying Alicorn and couldn’t contain himself any longer.

He laughed.

He laughed hard and strong, tears going down his eyes as he raised a paw seeking mercy. “Oh, ha-ha-ha haaa! That was funny. Please... I beg you, no more stories of a past only you can perceive!”

“It’s not funny, Discord.” Celestia shoved her hoof into his chest, he stood strong with a smirk on his face.

“It’s funny because I didn’t do anything of the sort.” Discord’s smile got a little wider as Celestia’s frown grew. “Why in the world would I rule over a capital I was trying so hard to kick you out of, only to rebel against my own rule? Well, now that I think about it, that kind of sounds like me, but I didn’t want Canterlot, and I sure as Tartarus didn’t want to rule over it! I don’t even know this Sombra you speak of, but it sounds like he just went mad with power.”

To Celestia, it felt like ice water was just thrown on her coat. “But Blueblood-”

“Blueblood?” Discord blinked at the name, his mood considerably improved before snapping his claws in remembrance of the unicorn. “The one who called himself ‘The Voice of Chaos’ Blueblood? That idiot?”

Celestia nearly lost her voice at the next words that came from Discord mouth. “I never even talked to anypony in this castle, I was never even in the castle for more than a few minutes. As a matter of fact, this is the first time I walk these halls without six mares and an old acquaintance shouting at me.”

“But...but the dictations you gave out! The absolute rules you told Blueblood to spout off to the ponies of Equestria! The absolute anarchy you spread across the entire land!” Celestia was trying to breath but the words just kept coming. The things she knew about the war between herself and Luna against Discord was becoming blurred with uncertainty.

“Celestia. Did you think for a moment, just for a moment, that maybe the pony was... mad? Or even better, that he was trying to fool others into believing him so he could rule with an iron hoof under my name? Ponies are not far from being evil, even under your ‘good’ rule.” Discord couldn’t help but lean in close to hear Celestia’s answer.

“I know ponies are not far from being cruel, but those ponies-”

“Were pure evil?” Discord shook his head. “Ponies were made to be natural, Celestia, and some of them were meant to be-”

The last words he said might as well have killed Celestia for what they made her feel.

“-chaotic.”

“No! Blueblood supplied us information at great risk to himself about what your forces-” Celestia tried to reason for this action; blame Discord for it.

“Forces? What 'forces'? I was always alone in my fights with you and your 'armies'. I’ve told you once, and it looks like I’ll have to tell you twice. I was never in this castle and I never 'ruled' anything. My focus was you, to punish you for what you were doing. For what you did against Scribble’s and Mother’s plans for this world.” Discord leaned in close. “Turns out your ponies are not a good as you think they are, and look, you even allowed his family line into royalty with his…’contribution’ in the ‘war’ against me, with the current one being as evil, if slightly more greedy, than the first. Without you even realizing it. The moment you and Luna are gone, he will attempt to run this country, and burn it to the ground on the first day if he can’t. Part of me is hoping that it makes the ponies smarter in the long run.”

Celestia’s face was frozen in dawning horror, unable to grasp what Discord had just told her. Discord wasn’t one to tell lies. Trick questions, roundabout reasoning, even causing ponies to misinterpret his words was the norm for him, but never lying. Discord gave a wide smile, a genuine one, and clapped his hands together.

“Well, Celestia, this has been a delightful exchange. It gave me a lot to think about, and has improved my mood greatly. Tell you what, this has been so good to my state of mind that I’ll give you a heads up on what’s coming in the future.” Celestia turned to Discord, face in complete shock. “Soon, what you know of evil will be completely blurred, destroyed and ground into dust. And guess what! That is just what I’ve seen within the mind of Twilight Sparkle, student of the Solar Tyrant!”

And with that, and a snap of his claws, Discord was gone, leaving what could only be called a living statue in the dark hallway of Canterlot Castle.

Yesterday Morning

The next couple of days had put Luna on edge, and not because of the prank loving Draconequus running about.

Celestia had been steadily growing worse by the day. She flinched at loud noises, randomly blanked out at any random point in time, and even refused to eat her favorite dish of food altogether.

And that was when she was awake.

Screams could be heard coming from her rooms in the middle of the night, talking feverishly in her sleep while she descended into Colonel Renee’s memories, sometimes even bolting from her bed fleeing monsters only she could see.

The night before was the worse, as a section of a wall in her bedroom chamber ceased to exist from a powerful spell she unleashed when she awoke. Luna wished to help her sister, but Celestia forbade her from entering her dreams after the first night, making her feel more and more irritable each and every day.

It was only a matter of time before Celestia finally snapped, and when, not if, she did, her wrath would befall a pony she disliked immensely.

Prince Blueblood.

He looked just like the ponce she knew so well over a thousand years ago. She never liked Blueblood, neither the one from a millennia ago or the one today, and both made her blood curdle like spoiled milk whenever they were around.

He had the look of somepony looking to raise his status, even if meant stepping on ponies every step of the way, always exhibiting his bits like they made Equus move, always worrying about his looks, and always using mares to get some sort of sick satisfaction. It made her nauseous just thinking about how the bloodline had not strayed far from the original, even if Celestia thought otherwise. It was even worse when he eyed her up, thinking of a way to try bed her as if she was some sort of prize to be won, even though he called her ‘Aunty’ when she was first introduced to him.

Coming from him, the sound of shaving her mane off with a rusted shear would be more pleasant.

Yesterday morning was the final icing on the cake for the weary Sun Princess, and Luna was in for a quite a show.

“Aunty!” Celestia flinched at the loud call, desperately trying to maintain a neutral look upon her face as she gazed up from her talk with Pack Alpha Canis of the Diamond Packs and Chieftain Minos of the Minotaurs’ Republic. Luna and Commander Renee were there to explain some details to the two visiting leaders and to try and gain their alliance for the human’s cause.

“Yes, Blueblood?” Celestia asked with utmost patience, but everyone could see that she had very little to give at the moment.

“Aunty, I demand to know where my guards are at!” Blueblood stomped his hoof several times to iterate his point.

“Your guards?” Celestia couldn’t help but look utterly confused at the statement. That seemed to throw Blueblood off.

“Yes! My guards, Aunty! The guard I formed to maintain my protection while I move about Canterlot! I need them to protect me while I meet the commoners of our fair capital!” Blueblood cried out, nearly stomping his hooves at her questioning.

“Oh...dear…god.” Marcus couldn’t help but mutter out loud. Luna couldn’t help but look aghast when he uttered his next sentence. “I have the sudden urge to throttle something…violently.”

“I am sorry, Blueblood." Celestia replied, giving him a somewhat strained smile. A persistent twitch underneath her left eye gave her pause in between words. "But something more important came up."

"More important?" Blueblood spluttered at this, staring wide eyed in shock. "More important?! What can possibly be more important than myself, Prince Blueblood, from the royal linage of the noble Blueblood himself!"

Twitch

Marcus couldn't help but give a slight cough at this statement with the phrase "stuckupbrat" entered in between.

Blueblood narrowed his eyes at the small insult, but Celestia continued on. "I am sorry Blueblood, but I am very busy right now. I have to finish talks with Canis and Minos, and then I have to set up for the Griffons and Zebras. I am sorry."

Blueblood fumed at this, and Celestia could see the tantrum coming from a mile away. "No! You will see to my issue now, Aunty! The dogs, bulls, and...whatever that thing over by Aunty Luna is can wait."

Twitch twitch

"Well, fuck you too, Your Royal Fucking Ass." Marcus rolled his eyes, while Canis and Minos tried to mask their chuckling at the rather callous insult by making the most obviously faked outraged gasps ever made by politicians.

Blueblood was not amused.

"How dare you call me a donkey!" Blue Blood marched over to Marcus, scowling as he got closer. "You look like a minotaur that went a few rounds with an ape he just found!"

Twitchtwitchtwitchtwitch

“No, calling you a donkey is an insult to such a mighty, fine, foul-working breed of equine. You, make me laugh. Next, you’re going to tell me how awful it is to finally see the world outside of your own ass, and I think you and I have very different definitions of what a pony’s anus means.” Marcus waved him off, rolling his eyes at what he considered a rather lame insult. He seen worse on the internet, which was filled with rather interesting but disgusting insults.

It took Blueblood a full minute to comprehend what Marcus meant, but once he understood, Blueblood was past being unamused. He was fuming.

“Any situation you have drawn my poor aunties into was surely your fault, you miserably grotesque, villainous, congenitally clueless, malodorous heathen!”

"My only crime is existing as I am. I came to Celestia and Luna for support, not yours, you pompous dickweed." Marcus turned away from from the childish stallion. He had dealt with way too many politicians(read: stuck-up assholes) before and he wasn't dealing with this one.

"Then whatever is against you is doing the world a rather generous service." Blueblood declared, sticking his snout in the air and turning to walk away. "My issues are far more superior than your own."

Twitch-*CRACK!*

Silence filled the throne room. Blueblood marched past the now truly shocked faces of Canis and Minos, completely uncaring about his blasphemous comment. Luna herself was appalled by the behavior from the stallion, she was struggling to try and come up with any sort of words, but she was left speechless. Marcus just didn't care. Oh he was furious and wanted to make the pony into a bloody smear on the ground, but he felt that he was above such things when not in battle. Besides...

It would be far, far too easy to do so.

"Auntie Celestia, when you are done playing with the riff raff, I shall meet you in the garden for tea and figure out how to get out of this deal with this troubling event that the strange monkey creature got you into." Blueblood snorted once as he made his way for the exit.

*SLAM!*

Blueblood yelped as the throne room doors slammed shut with a familiar golden aura surrounding them. He turned back, giving Celestia a rather confused look. "Aunty?"

Celestia’s face was impassively blank. She slowly stood from her seat and walked down the short steps towards the stallion. At the same time, the room began to heat up rather quickly, many in the room took note of her hooves leaving hoofprints in the ruby red rug; burning hoof prints.

"For over a millennia I have watched your family walk these halls." Celestia voice was the perfect pitch of formality, not a single waiver could be heard in her voice. "I have watched and dealt with many of them. With each generation, a small part of me hoped to see something that could take the family line into greatness like the original, but I always disappointed."

"Uh... Aunty? I'm trying to leave." Blueblood attempted to open the doors, but Celestia kept a firm hold on them. "Could you please stop holding the doors shut?."

“No.” Celestia responded firmly, causing Blueblood to jerk his head back at the bluntness. Something inside Celestia felt good as there was no sugarcoating in between her denial of something he asked.

“Buh, but Aunty-!”

“Shut your muzzle!” Celestia’s voice didn’t change in formality, but it did in intensity. Blueblood recoiled at the force. Those that were not Blueblood were looking at Celestia wide eyed, especially Luna. “There is so much a being such as myself can take, there is so much bickering and selfishness I can present with a smile. There. Is. So. Much. Shit I can only take from you, Blueblood.”

Marcus raised an eyebrow at the curse coming from Celestia, it was just really wrong to hear her curse like that. The Tyrant herself had never cursed before, and she was mental fucked up, so it was a rather odd experience to hear it now coming from her good counterpart.

‘I am a really bad influence...’

“And now I stand before you, realizing that the family line hasn’t strayed far from the roots, because those roots were just as disgusting and corrupted.” Celestia stood several feet away from Blue Blood, who beginning to sweat from the heat Celestia was emitting.

“Aunty-” Blue Blood open his mouth, but Celestia eyes flared open and everything around her erupted in white hot flames. Blue Blood scrambled backwards until his barrel hit the doors, trembling in complete fear.

“I am not your aunt. I am not your family, and I never will be.  I am thankful I turned away your ancestor’s attempt to lay with me, because if this is how my family line would have turned out, I would have banished the lot of you before you corrupted everypony else.” Celestia’s RCV voice and steadiness made the very air tremble and windows vibrate as she stared down at the cowardly pony before narrowing her eyes. “It is about time that you learn your place, Blueblood.”

Celestia closed her eyes for a moment before opening them once more. “Starting today, you no longer have access to the Royal Treasury. You no longer have access to Royal retreats or personal areas.”

“But I need those!” Blueblood cried out, shocked at what was happening. “I need the bits to keep the grooming products coming in! I can’t look this good without them! And the Royal Retreats are heaven sent! I need them to so I can retire from the mass of mares that look up to me!”

“You’re not helping your case there, you fuckwit.” Marcus thought to himself, his runes flaring to life as he trekked to the inflamed Princess, only to recoil when the flames rose to new heights. He couldn’t even look directly at her without fear of blinding himself.

“YOU SELF CENTERED, IDIOTIC, REVOLTING DISEASE-RIDDEN PILE OF SUB-MEDIOCRITY!” Celestia roared, her eyes filled with disgust at the cornered pony. “YOU THINK THIS IS PUNISHMENT?  A SIMPLE SLAP TO THE HOOVES AND BE DONE WITH? THIS IS SOMETHING THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN CORRECTED LONG  AGO! YOU ARE NO LONGER PRINCE OF EQUESTRIA, SHINING ARMOR IS A FAR BETTER EXAMPLE OF HOW A PRINCE SHOULD ACT! YOU ON THE OTHER HOOF, ARE NOTHING BUT A HORRID PONY THAT WAS BORN INTO NOBILITY, ONE THAT WAS PAVED IN BLOOD AND BAD DECISIONS, A DECISION THAT HAS HAUNTED ME FOR THE PAST MILLENNIUM WITH EVERY GENERATION! AND ONLY WITH MY EYES OPENED BY DISCORD IS IT THAT I AM READY TO LET YOUR LINE END.”

“Y-you can’t do that!” Blueblood seemingly snapped out of all rational thought at the mention of being thrown out of nobility. He stood up, puffing up his chest as he roared back. “I won't stand for this! You allowed the very being of chaos sway you about my family!? The Blueblood lineage is ancient, it was my ancestors who guided ponykind out of the darkness that he wrought among us all! It was my Ancestor that led to your victory, not your leadership! You are weak! It won't be long before they turn to me to guide them away from your madness that has claimed you!"

The laughter echoed around them, Celestia’s face was livid as she looked about, her eyebrow twitching with annoyance and anger. Blueblood on the the other hoof was terrified, trying to merge with the doors behind him. He only managed to squeak out an alarm when a claw emerged from beside his skull, soon followed by a paw on the other side. Blueblood swallowed as he slowly looked up and saw a long snout pulling from the door itself, before the rest of Discord’s head popped out. The mentioned chaotic being looked down, giving a rather large, razor sharp teeth filled smile.

“Hello there~”

“AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!” Screaming at the top of his lungs, Blueblood rushed past Celestia, who didn’t even bat an eye at him, and attempted to get past Marcus. Marcus however, who was feeling particularly vicious at the the unicorn for his callous comment, stuck his leg out and tripped the fleeing pony.

“Oops.” Marcus said half heartedly as he watched the unicorn faceplant into the ground. He casually turned back to Discord, who finished pulling himself out of the door, not even giving the blubbering unicorn a second look.

“Discord.” Celestia growled as she marched up to him. “Where have you been?”

Discord raised an eyebrow at the furious alicorn, flicking his claw at her snout to gain some space. “Busy, and before you ask, I been searching the multiverse for our wayward Commander's home dimension.”

“Just like that? That simple? Just a quick snap of the claw and you’re away?” Marcus couldn’t help but ask. From the way Discord said it, it was like a walk in the park for the guy.

“Yes and no.” Discord chuckled a bit. “It’s easy for a being like myself, chaos is my forte, and the multiverse is full of it for me to use. However, it requires a precise amount of power just so I can port my way over to another world, along with dozen of other things that I don’t have time to explain, nor would you understand. Besides, I don’t usually do so because there are rules and such to do such things from interfering…” Discord gave Celestia a long stare, then looked back at Marcus. “Rules that I follow like a good son should, unlike some daughters who believe they know better.”

Celestia only scowled at him for his cheap shot, but said nothing, she was actually proud of herself to be putting down her recent released rage at rest, but the feeling didn’t let up away as Discord looked back at her.

“But I digress, I found myself helping out a lot more than I should have when I found myself in the wrong worlds, but no higher being came in to stop me, so I believe it was okay. Mother would be torn between punishing me or praising me.” Discord gently tugged his goatee for a moment, lost in thought, before giving the group a beaming smile. “What did I miss? I just got back from a world where humanity is a space faring one, and is about to face off against large metal cuttlefish armada.”

Marcus blinked at the strange description, taking a closer look at the draconequus and took note of the ash, cuts, and odd smear marks across his body. “Were you fighting too?”

Discord looked down at his body, grimacing slightly as he took a whiff of himself. “No, sort of. I just haven’t take a bath in over a month.”

“But…you were gone almost a full week...” Marcus was trying to wrap his head around it before it finally dawned on him. Discord smiled as he saw the realization grace Marcus’ face.

“Ah, you get it. Good!” Discord clapped his claw and paw together, the grime and dirt slithering off his form into his paw, before casually discarding it over his shoulder.

“We… I don’t understand.” Luna tilted her head in utter confusion, while Minos and Canis stood behind her, weapons held tightly in their grip as they looked upon Discord.

“Perhaps later.” Discord said, gently patting Luna’s head, causing her to puff her cheeks in annoyance at the display. Discord then turned to the Diamond Dog and Minotaur. “Gentlemen! A pleasure to meet you, Discord, Lord of Chaos, how you doing? Need something? Tea? Water? A maze and a good bone to chew on?”

“Are you... making fun of us?” Minos stared at Discord, unsure if he should just bash the strange being with his hammer and be done with it, or laugh at the stones he had. True, he was the ‘God’ of sorts, but that never stopped him before. He beat on dragons for fun whenever he got bored.

“Wow, wow, no, nope, never, I wouldn’t ever dare. We just make an agreement, get things done, then we dance - we smooch - we kiss, and we carry on with our lives. After risking it of course for our very survival.” Discord smiled at the two, before taking a closer look at Celestia, who was busy glaring at the now unconscious Blueblood. Marcus however was wearing a strange expression, one of ‘what did he just say?’ “One moment, if you please.”

Discord popped away, appearing next to Celestia who didn’t even flinch at his teleporting antics. He opened his mouth, but Celestia beat him to it. “I despise him.”

“Excuse me?”

“I despise this pony, and his entire family line. Ever since you told me of what happened all those years ago, my eyes opened. I have been going over every memory I could remember of the Blueblood, and I feel ashamed of myself for justifying them. You were never there, at all.” Celestia lowered her head, shuddering a bit before continuing. “I was just so angry at you for casting Luna and myself out of Canterlot, that I never thought how odd it was for you to cause so much misery in such a way. It was so…”

“OOC?” Discord supplied.

“Excuse me?” Celestia blinked at the term.

“Whoops, I mean Out of Character.” Discord chuckled a bit, before waving his paw for her to go on.

“Anyway. . . Now I look upon him, and all I see is the vile thing that ruled Canterlot with an iron hoof, lied to the ponies of Equestria, forced them to work under your name when it was him all along, and fed us lies about what you were doing. I can’t stand the sight of him, but I don’t know what to do with him.” Celestia slumped slightly, giving a tired sigh, her headaches becoming worse by the hour.

Discord took a very long -eye brow raised- look at Celestia, before giving a tired chuckled. “Don’t worry, I got this.”

“Got what-?” Celestia blinked and Blueblood was gone, she turn and found Discord missing as well.

Not a minute later, Discord returned.“There, problem solved.”

“What did you do?!” Celestia turned to him, she may not have cared too much for him, but she didn’t want him hurt.

“What? I did your method of fair exile slash imprisonment, and you will just love the new garden statue decoration that I put up~! Completely not related to the question you just asked.” Discord blew on his claw, looking rather proud of himself.

“Discord!”

“Bah, he will be fine. It should wear off in a couple of centuries, just enough time for history to be rewritten or erased and should be as noble as the next pony. A fair punishment if I don’t say so myself. He doesn’t have his connections or bits, and when he awakens, he will be introduced to a new Equestria, one that doesn’t know who he is. Only you, Luna, and maybe Cadance. Or if we lose, then he will face the Solar Tyrant, if she doesn’t smash him like she did with her Blueblood.” Discord gave a smile, “At least he won't be awake for the entire thing. Believe me, I went insane a couple of times the past millennium while I was a rock. Oh well, what’re you going to do? You look terrible by the way, you look like you haven’t slept in days.”

Celestia froze on the spot, her eyes fixed on the retreating draconequus as he spread his arms to welcome the duo leaders once more.

‘He was awake the entire time?!?!’

Present

Discord closed the doors before taking several steps back and snapping his claws. The doors simply fell forward, crumbling into dust as they hit the floor. Marcus was standing behind him with Luna, who couldn’t help but look at the bare wall that once held a door with a slightly reminiscing look on his face. “Just like in the old Looney Tunes cartoons…”

Luna had none of this as she looked on in worry, before turning to Discord. “Will she be alright?”

“It will take time.” Discord simply said, waving his paw to get the slight burn he got when Celestia unconsciously attempted to protect herself by heating herself up to burn the attacker. Fortunately he managed to break her weakened mental defenses before she set everything aflame. “The good Colonel’s memories are quite powerful, and she is suffering for it. I placed a spell to gather the wayward memories and seal them up. She will have access to them, eventually, but right now, we need her in top shape for the get-together coming up. Is everyone here?”

Luna couldn’t help but feel odd about talking to Discord. Every other time she met the chaos being, it always led to a fight, one that she lost badly each and every time, with him mocking her and Celestia before sending them far away. It just felt wrong to simply let him order her around like this, but Discord was taking this seriously. Mostly because Celestia’s deteriorating state was a cause of concern for him, which she found extremely off putting.

“Yes.” Luna closed her eyes, nodding to herself as she continued on. “The Reindeers have sent a old friend, Sint Erklass has arrived early this evening. Dragon Clan Leader Spykoran arrived with him and is resting in the gardens after the long flight here. Chieftain Minos, Pack Alpha Canis, Queen Hedwig and her son Prince Tobias, Queen Chrysalis, Shaman Quagga, and Chief Thunderhooves are in their respectable quarters.”  Luna gave a small smile at one of the names. “Its has been a long time since We have last seen of Sint Erklass.”

Discord rolled his eyes at the old name. “Yes yes, the jolly old buck and all that jazz.” Discord muttered under his breath. “Why he didn’t do his job taking both of you back really irritates me to no end.”

“Maybe it has to do with you turning his daughter into a cloak?” Luna scowled angrily at Discord.

“Hey! He begged me to save her life. Even with my powers, I couldn’t save her from what was afflicting her. I did what I could.” Discord defended himself.

“By cursing her entire existence into a cloak!”

“It was either that, or forced to watch her suffer an agonizing death!” Discord snapped at the alicorn, causing Marcus to focus on the two. They had many issues between each other, that’s for sure.

“Are you two done?” Marcus interrupted, crossing his arms as he watched the two glare at one another. Luna was the first to look away, turning her head up to ignore him. Discord scowled at that, bringing up his claw to magic something up for Luna, hopefully something embarrassing and possibly trauma inducing. “Don’t you two have a trip to take tomorrow? Since Discord managed to locate my dimension yesterday, you lot have been planning all day to get there. I don’t need you two to have your fights going on. So get your shit together.”

“Yes. We apologize, Colonel.” Luna took a couple of steps away before turning back. “I wish we could send you home while we travel to your dimension, but you are needed here to ensure everypony’s cooperation and show them your plight in this battle of survival.”

“No, I understand, believe me.” Marcus waved the concern off. “Besides, it’s best if I rest up before jumping back in. I have to talk to Celestia anyways about what tactics she might use, since she is basically her anyways.”

Luna frowned at this before nodding her head. “Good night, then. Discord, We will see you in the when the sun rises for the new day.”

Discord waved her off, shooing her away so she could tend to her duties. Which she didn’t appreciate one bit. “Right, off with you then, Lulu. Colonel, I will see you in the morning.”

“Right, later you two. Rest up, better be wide eyed and awake if you’ll be dropping in the middle of a combat-zone if enough time has past in my world.” Marcus walked down the hall to his quarters, waving his hand without a backward glance.

Discord watched the two leave, before nodding his head. He had someone to visit before the night was over, he needed to warn her of the upcoming conflict.

That, and it has been a long time since he had seen Scribble.

“The board is set, the pieces are moving.” Discord turned away, holding up a single claw before snapping once and vanishing from the hall. His voice, now deepened, echoed in the empty hall. “We come to it at last, the great battle of our time.”

Discord’s Travels - Tale #1: Sending a Grim home

Discord popped his neck as he concentrated on what needed to be done. He was far away from Canterlot. Discord needed complete silence for his endeavor, and sadly, Canterlot was lacking that, with the guards giving him the stink eye and all.

Teleporting was a cinch. Teleporting to a different Universe on the other hoof was something else. However, his way of doing was much more refined than what the Tyrant did to establish a connection.

Whereas he flowed with the chaotic forces that separated the universes from one another to a point he established before hoof, the Tyrant used a big blunt drill and viciously drilled to another world. It was power consuming and wasteful. Plus the initial connection was something that was the very fundamental of chaos itself. Smashing atoms together to break them was that connection.

Humans were insane, but it was damn good fun to watch them work to overcome something initially they thought impossible.

Still, he wasn’t bridging worlds just yet. Since it was just him making the trip, there was no need for a portal at the moment.

“And off we go! Arrivederci Equestria!” Discord gave one last cry before vanishing with a loud bang that could be heard for miles around.

Discord immediately knew something was wrong the moment he left.

The signs were all there.

The turbulence, the way everything tasted like orange (a color he despised for some odd reason), the screaming human he collided with in mid jump. . .

‘Wait...that’s new.’

“Bloody wanker!” The human screamed at him. Discord opened his mouth to calm him down and all he got for his trouble was a punch to the snout.

“Argh! What was that for!?” Discord grabbed his snout and massaged it slightly, surprised that  the blow caused some harm.

‘Magic? Oh! Its one of those magic wielding ones….Wait?’

“If you are going to eat me monster, then I am going to go down fighting like a true Black!” The black hair man roared. Discord watched as the man transformed in a rather large black dog with a shaggy coat.

‘That’s… pretty impressive. Although I don’t think he planned this out very well.’ Discord couldn’t help but smirk as the dog-human yipped in surprise as he tumbled end over end in the white expanse between universes.

Discord floated around the strange human, chuckling as the dog both snarled at him before giving off a whine of frustration, finally transforming back to his human form.

“Done?” Discord asked him as he floated ‘above’ the human. The human scowled, trying to keep his sights on the draconequus while he floated helplessly in the void.

“Of all the stupid things I could’ve done.” The man muttered to himself. “I just had to keep playing around with Bellatrix instead of getting it over with.”

“Oh, thats no fun.” Discord answered as he set himself before the man. “You got to have fun once in awhile.”

The man looked up at Discord, snorting once at his comment. “It does when it gets me killed like a bloody fool.”

Discord floated forward, eyeing him somewhat, then slapped the man behind the head.

“Argh!” The man clutched the back of his head. “What was that for?!”

“You’re not dead.” Discord bluntly told him. “At least not yet.”

“Not yet?” The man looked up at Discord. “What the bloody hell do you mean not yet?! I was thrown through the Veil!”

“Veil?” Discord leaned in, snapping his claw as he summon up a platform for the strange human. “Whats this ‘Veil’ you speak of?”

The shaggy hair human looked at him like he lost his mind as he centered himself on the platform. “Is...is this not the Land of the Dead?”

“Kind of lacking said ‘land’, don’t you think?” Discord waved his arm to the endless white surrounding them.

“Its a figure of speech.” The man defended himself. “Who are you anyways?”

Discord smiled as he set himself on the platform, summoning up a rather regal looking outfit….

At least he thought it was regal looking.

“I am Discord!” Discord started off, bellowing at the top of his lungs. “Caretaker of Equestria, Lord of Chaos itself, and lover of many mares!”

The man gave him an unimpressed look, folding his arms and tilting his head, squinting at the ‘regal’ crown on Discord’s head. “Hmph. I am unimpressed.”

“What?!” Discord’s crown fell off, staring in shock at the human’s ignorance of his glory. “I saved you before you became a speck in the multiverse! You should be in awe!”

“Well,” the human started, brushing his coat to get the dust off. “I am Sirius Black, Lord of the House of Black, Godfather to Harry James Potter, Member of the Order of the Phoenix, Padfoot of the Marauders, and lover of many, many women who are swooned by my very touch.”

“Right…”  Discord couldn’t help but notice the way he said the 'Marauders' part proudly, only to grimace slightly as if he just remembered something uncomfortable. “Marauders?”

“Premier Prankers of our day in Hogwarts.” Sirius proudly proclaimed.

“Pranksters, huh.” Discord couldn’t help but smile at that.

Some Time later

“So Snivellus decides that he can get us back by trying to dose our drinks!”  Sirius regaled a tale to Discord, finishing off his wine before throwing the glass off the side of the platform, watching it spin away in the endless expanse. "Fortunately for us, Mooney's nose was able to sniff it out before we took a swing. We managed to get the elves to swap drinks for the Slytherin table, telling them it was for house unity!”  

“I take it that the results were pleasing?” Discord chuckled as he watched the man give a pleasant sigh as he thought of the memory.

This caused Sirius to break out in laughter. “Their tongues blew up like balloons! Watching them trying to leave the Great Hall with the grace of the being a ‘Pureblood’ while their tongues hang from their mouths like ties was hilarious!”

Discord roared out in laughter with him, slapping his knee at the image he conjured up, with help from Sirius for giving an accurate description of the fellows who fell into the prank.

Sirius leaned back in his cloud, taking a breath of happiness as he thought back of his childhood. He looked at the white nothingness surrounding him, giving a tired sigh as he thought back of the last few moments of his world. “I just wish I can go back and help them. Harry deserves some happiness, but with Voldemort's return, it just can’t happen.”

“Voldemort?” Discord looked rather interested at the name. “Sounds Prench to me? Flight from Death?”

“Wait, Prench?”

“Oui, la langue de l'amour et jupe gouttes!” Discord chuckled as he spoke in perfect Prench.

“Oh, je sais que la langue. Croyez-moi, je sais combien il tombe les jupes.” Sirius responded, before blinking a bit, staring off in the distance as he threw the words around in his skull. “How come I never noticed that?”

“Most tend to keep their focus on the being, instead of their names…” Discord answered, before frowning a bit. “Unless their names is Dicksmasher McNippleTwister, then you kind of focus on both.”

Sirius snorted at the name, attempting to hold his laughter in. “Cause they got that name for a reason, I take it.”

“Exactly!” Discord exclaimed, throwing himself off the platform, Sirius rushed up to the side, only to see Discord float back up with an umbrella. “Besides, who said you can’t go back?”

“Kind of hard to go back.” Sirius stated, giving him a blank look. “Once you go through the Veil, no one comes back. I can see why now. Besides, it feels like hours since I’ve been thrown in.”

Discord laughed as he wrapped his arm around Sirius. “Time is meaningless here between universes! At least this far out it loses meaning. It only matters once you are close to or in another world that time has meaning!”

Sirius looked up at the draconequus with surprise, watching as Discord lean in close to him. “And lets see how this so called mighty ‘Veil’ stands up to the Chaos itself!”

Death Chamber

Remus stared at the Veil in horror, the death of his last friend had nearly crippled him to the very spot. Harry had long since fled, chasing in a fit of rage after Bellatrix.

“Sirius.” Remus hung his head, while Hermione placed an arm around him to give him support. The Death Eaters had long since fled once the Order gained the upper hand, but a final parting shot from one Bellatrix Lestrange had all but taken the fight from the rest of them.

“I’m sorry, Remus-” Hermione started, but Remus only shook his head, trying to keep the rage and hurt from exploding.

“Blimey…” Ron muttered as he looked at the Veil with caution.

“Buck up, the lot of you!” Alastor growled, before turning to Remus. “Especially you! You think Sirius want you to keep yourself on the ground and weep for him! He want you to avenge him! Now-”

“BLOODY HELL!” Ron screamed as he backed away when he saw a large creature appear in the Veil. Kingsley and Tonks both pointed their wands at the veil as the creature glared daggers at them.

Or more at the Veil than them as it looked at the stone surrounding it.

“What do you think it is doing?” Tonks whispered to Kingsley as she watch the creature trace his claws around edge before leaning back. It looked to the group of humans before giving them a smile, holding up a single claw glowing with magic before slamming it into the Veil.

The humans jumped back in fright as the claw punched through the Veil with ease. Ron mostly began to panic at this as the creature began to open the Veil. “What do we do?!”
 
“Hit with spells!” Alastor roared. “Drive it back into the Veil. We don’t know if this a regular occurrence that the Unspeakables have to deal with!”

A torrent of spells splashed against the creature, causing it to wince as the spells slammed into his body. It did very little to slow it down as it finally open a large passage and pulled itself through.

The creature scowled as he snapped his claw, everyone watched in horror as their own arms pop right off their body.

“MY ARM!” Rom cried out, watching as him arm seemingly flopped around in a panic. He wasn’t alone as the others cried out with the same distress.

“Oh quiet you fools.” The creature muttered, ignoring their cries in favor of pulling something else out of the Veil.

More like someone.

Sirius blinked as he landed feet first, shaking his head as everyone stared in shock as the creature brushed him off. “Hmm. In one piece too. Told you I would get you back!”

“Should of never doubted you, friend.” Sirius looked up at him, smiling before looking back to the group. “Hey guys, I’m… What happened to your arms?”

“Ah. That would be my fault.” Discord replied as he snapped his claw once more, causing the arms to pop back in place.

“Sirius…” Remus walked up to him, looking at his face closely as he got near to his friend.

“Careful there, Lupin. We don’t know if this is a trick of some sort.” Alastor muttered, keeping his magical eye trained on the draconequus.

“Hey there, Mooney. Miss me?” Sirius said with smile, giving his friend a hug.

“Padfoot?”

“The one and only.” Sirius answered him before looking back to Discord. “And I have a friend to be thankful for as well. Everyone, this is Discord, Lord of Chaos.”

Everyone stared at Sirius, slackjawed at his introduction of the chimera standing before them. Alastor couldn’t help but shake his head at this. “Of course he befriends the Lord of Chaos itself while he was in the bloody Veil.”

“Thank you, my dear friend Sirius.” Discord patted his back before turning to the rest of the group. “Yes I am Discord, Lord of Chaos of Equestria. I was just passing through the Multiversal void when I ran into this charming fellow. Quite the luck of the draw there.”

“Where’s Harry?” Sirius interrupted, looking at the group and coming up short one messy hair raven teen. “Where’s my godson?”

It was at that moment the entire room shook, the heavy thudding coming from above them caused everyone to blink in surprise. “What was that?” Neville asked, staring at the ceiling above.

Ministry Atrium

Harry watched the battle unfolding before his eyes, watching as Dumbledore and Voldemort traded powerful spells against one another.

It was simply unreal to watch them fight.

“Mighty impressive.” A voice called from above him. Harry flinched, eyes wide, before looking up. He saw a creature he had never laid his eyes on floating above him. Harry breathing stopped as he attempted to crawl away, only for the creature to land and push him back. “Oh no, better stand down young man. I doubt your godfather would want you to get hit with a stray spell.”

No sooner had he said this, a cutting curse slam into his belly and sliced him in half. Harry watched numbly as the creature died before his eyes.

The creature groaned, more in annoyance than in pain as his lower body shook before running off towards the fight. The upper half on the other hand, glared in anger. “HEY! GET BACK HERE IDIOT!”

Harry was sure he was cursed in some way.

Voldemort laughed as he prepared to launch another torrent of spells at Dumbledore, only to feel a sharp pain in his leg, still holding the intense spell collision. Looking down, he saw a pair mismatch legs standing there. “What~?!”

Voldemort gave a gargled cry as the tail wrapped around his neck, lifting him off the ground. Dumbledore looked on in surprise, cutting of the clash of spells to see the lower half of a creature lift the Dark Lord up and toss him like rag doll into a wall.

Voldemort landed heavily on the ground, his eyes focused on the pair of legs in anger. “Filthy thing!”

The legs jumped up and began to run, avoiding the dozens of spells launched at them.

Jumping, flipping, even doing fancy dances to avoid the torrents of spells.

Finally a single spell slammed into it, causing the legs to fly through the air before landing, apparently dead.

“NO!” Voldemort turned, watching as the other half of the creature landed at the pair of deer rear leg and lizard combo. “YOU WERE SO YOUNG! HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN!?”

The legs jumped back up, waving its tail like a dog. “Oh, you were playing dead. That’s nice. Now come on, lets get ourselves back together.”

Discord attempted to jump onto his lower half, but the lower end just kept running around in circles. Once Discord finally caught the running legs he turned to the ugly magic user, only to notice his legs were backwards.

Voldemort was anything but amused, he didn’t even want to stare at the abomination any longer, he simply wished for Dumbledore and Potter to be dead.

With a swift movement of his wand, Voldemort saw fit that the creature before him was laid to waste for its participation with an equally forceful slam to a wall. What he didn’t expect was Discord flinching at his magical attack, but not even moving an inch from the spell, causing him to smirk and brush off some imaginary dust.

In the distraction, Dumbledore took action. He wasn’t thrilled of seeing something new in his old age, but anything kind of distraction was good in his situation. With a direct aim of his wand to the the water of a fountain nearby, he rained down on the evil wizard. But Voldemort wasn’t that much distracted, as once the water came down upon him he attempted to retaliate but it was to no avail as he was completely encased in the water.

Discord nodded at the old geezer on his nifty water bubble as his legs tapped impatiently.  Discord tsked at his other half. “Now, now, no need to be impatient, we’ll finish this early and leave.”

Harry already stood up from his place, trying to get a better look at the spell at work. But even Discord noticed that the one-that-shall-soon-drown was very much attempting to send a curse his way.

“Well, it’s not like gawking will help now would it?” And with those words Discord proceed to act, with a snap of his claw the bubble of water slowly became a solid ice.

In his new predicament, Voldemort was in a hurry to leave, and on the continuous fight against the old wizard he was successful in bringing it to a draw. But the strange chimera was too much. He rotated, spreading his magic in force to be released the frozen prison of the water, large chunks of it clicking on the floor.

“Now, now, no need to be grumpy now? I mean, I would be upset if my nose was gone too." Discord voice drift into the one with no nose’s ear. Voldemort snapped his wand in Discord's direction, but he was already gone. The momentary distraction helped Dumbledore get near and push Voldemort into the farthest wall he could.

But that attempt became a battle of wills as Voldemort quickly reacted, sending a stream of malevolent energy intent on smiting him in Dumbledore’s direction. Both fought to keep themselves on their feet. But Voldemort was planning on ending this battle once and for all.

His plan became untied by the participation of the draconequus with making the floor underneath Voldemort soapy, the floor becoming slick with bubbles.

With the lack of friction the wizard was pushed back, and was about to rectify his balance, but Discord wasn’t done. A snap and a teleporting Voldemort later, the evil wizard was in the same position -without losing his momentum- upside down with the spell he was attempting exploding on contact with the floor at the same time as his head cracked against the far wall.

The room shook as the forced magic boomed through it, Discord placing a barrier between himself and it. Dumbledore wasn't as lucky as the old wizard could hadn’t the force himself and fell on to the floor, sliding across the floor near Harry, who rushed up to help the elder wizard up to his feet.

The glass of windows all around were heard shattering, a sound Discord was not fond of. He turn to see a large group of them about to fall on Sirius’s godson and the old man, which is why with a snap of his fingers were was no more raining shards glass to be worried about. Instead, the glass turn into dirt, covering the two, but not harming them.

“That could have been dangerous.” Discord muttered as his yellow-red eyes were aimed at the rising hissing wizard at the other side of the room.

“What are you...” Asked Voldemort almost to himself, a small amount of fear laced in his words.

“Sorry, but I wouldn’t want the list of those that want vengeance against me to know my name, so no name for you, No-Nose Norbert.” Voldemort was already mad at the creatures continuous irritating help, but now he was so angry his face did a full circle. Back to ‘beginning to be angry’.

Voldemort vanished, dust picking up in a dangerously looking voltrex. Discord was not amused at the trick, rolling his eyes as he examined the spell intently. Teleportation doesn’t need to be that over complicated, but yet again that could be considered what’s normal in this world.

But then the boy named Harry, who stood with the old geaser, flinched and whimpered in pain as he kneeled on the floor and then fell on his belly, clutching his head where his scar was located. Dumbledore bent down to help Harry up, but the boy lashed out, hissing in anger at him.

“You’ve lost old man.” Harry said with another voice overlapping the first. Discord looked at the boy in surprise.

“Possession? That’s interesting move there. Wonder why- ah well, I suppose I can help out one last time.” The moment his words left his mouth, Discord felt the presence of more people entering the place. Behind them, a group of teens appeared on the back of the Atrium. Discord was expecting stares at his person, after all he was the weirdest thing there, but from what he saw he wasn’t expecting. All of them were filled with concern for the boy more than worry from his presence.

Wait...

Possession of evil.

Friends of the possesed.

All magic users.

The setting clicked in Discord’s mind, he couldn’t help but chuckle as he felt the sickening magic began to waver as the boy fought back. ‘Tia was right about it in a way. I suppose I should look into gathering a few of my own.’  He turned away, finally done with interfering and with a snap of his claw, he was gone.

Death Chamber

Appearing near the gate he once stood not long ago, Discord came along to see elders of the group still there. Sirius was surprised to see his recently made friend appear from leaving so quickly. But before anyone could speak Discord spoke first.

“You're godson is at this very moment being possesed by the interestingly and ugly looking magic user that doesn't have a nose and is surrounded by his friends. There’s nothing else needed for me here.” Discord might have said it with a smirk and a nod, but the entire message was lost on Sirius.

“And you couldn’t do anything! I thought of you as a god! It should be a simple snap of the claw for you!”

“And don’t think of me otherwise, my dog morphing friend. But as you just heard, there was no need for my help.” Sirius was about to retaliate before Discord continued. “The boy’s friends were there, and if the evil no nose is as evil as you claim him to be, your boy Harry was already free of his possession the moment they arrived.”

“And why would that be? Anyone of the them know a spell to get him out of it?” Discord looked at the expert mage with a raised eyebrow, then his momentary serious face was disintegrated by his smile.

“Because friendship," Discord leaped into the Veil, snapping his claws as he did, teleporting Sirius in front of his godson. Harry couldn't help but look up at his godfather in shock, stunned to see him standing once more among the living. "Is magic."

Sirius could barely catch Harry as he threw himself at him, hugging him for all he was worth.

"Arrivederci, Sirius Black." Sirius couldn't help but smile as he heard Discord say his goodbyes to him. He didn't care that the Minister of Magic and his posse were standing right before him, staring at him in complete fright. He didn't care when Dumbledore attempted to lead Harry away, shrugging off the old man's attempts.

All he cared about was Harry himself. "Hey there, Harry."

"You're alive." Harry’s voice was muffled as he kept his head buried in his chest.

"It would take a lot more to bring me down." Sirius chuckled a bit, looking up to Remus as walked up to him with the other Order members

"Mooney?"

"Yes Padfoot?"

"We have a new Honorary member for the Marauders. One that will definitely will be remembered for a long time."