Friends on the other side
Chapter II - Are you serious?!
“Whilst the meeting was… different from the norm,” Celestia began. “It was delightful to see you and your friends again, Twilight.”
Twilight smiled and nuzzled her mentor affectionately which was returned, “Likewise, Princess. We won’t let you down either!”
Celestia smiled at the eager unicorn before watching the other elements board the train destined for Ponyville. Although she had the utmost confidence in her student and her friends, as well as the fact she was two steps ahead of Discord who would now have to rethink his entire scheme, she couldn’t shake a niggling feeling of foreboding from her thoughts.
“Princess, are you okay?” Twilight asked.
“Hmm?” Celestia replied as she came out of her thoughts. “Oh, yes, Twilight. My apologies, my mind was elsewhere.”
Twilight nodded as her friends beckoned her over to the train. She nodded to them before turning to her mentor one again.
“Princess… is there anything else I should know? I mean to deal with Discord that is.”
“Twilight, there is not much I can tell you. You’ve already proven your worth by cleansing my sister of her darkness, and I have zero doubt about your abilities to face Discord,” Celestia replied with a warm smile.
Twilight beamed proudly and puffed out her chest.
“However…”
Twilight looked up at the princess and tilted her head.
“Just remember, Twilight, Discord may be random and somewhat rash. But he is not foolish. He will most likely strike Ponyville first to remove the biggest threat to his plans, you and your friends. Be safe my faithful student.”
Twilight nodded slowly as she took the information on board, already her studious mind calculating the best means of offence and defence, “I understand, Princess. We won’t let you down!”
“I know, my faithful student, I know,” Celestia smiled at the unicorn mare. “Now go, or you’re going to miss your train.”
Twilight smiled and quickly dashed over to the train and climbed aboard, just as the guard blew his whistle and waved for the train to depart. Celestia waved the train off with a smile, waiting for the train to disappear from view. Once it had, she dropped her smile and began to make her way back to the castle.
Be safe, elements… I know deep down in my gut, Discord has already begun his plans…
As the train sped down the mountain as fast as it could, each carriage was filled with ponies of various races and colours, all chatting away to one another over various topics.
One car, however—the one that the elements were currently riding in—save for the clickety clack as the wheels ran over the train tracks.
None of the bearers had really said much when the journey had started, The conversations started off as one would normally expect, but after a while. They all just fell silent, each one doing their respective activity.
Twilight was looking out of the window, her mind lost deep in thought as she tried to calculate a plan to discover what Discord’s next move would be.
Would he simply wait till one of them let their guard down?
Would he terrorize another kingdom? If so, which one?
And… a more morbid one. Would he simply wait for a bearer to die before striking?
Or even… try and kill them himself?
He’d waited a thousand or so years inside his stone prison, so she theorized that he wouldn’t be above waiting several decades longer to get his revenge.
Twilight shuddered at the thought and decided to dwell on it more later, turning her attention to her friends. She studied what each of them were doing in the silence. Applejack was staring thoughtfully out of the window, just like Twilight had been, Pinkie was the only one with a clear emotion on her face which was of course, happiness, as she gently swayed left and right as if she was internally humming a song.
Although it didn’t look like it, Twilight knew when Pinkie was thinking and to ponies unfamiliar with the pink mare who would simply shrug her off as in a world of her own, Twilight knew she was also in deep thought.
Fluttershy was looking at the floor of the carriage and hiding herself behind her mane, just like Applejack and herself, she too seemed to be in though. It wasn’t until she looked at Rarity did she know that all of her friends were thinking about the predicament with Discord, the severity of a deranged spirit on the loose clearly dwelling on their thoughts.
Except for Rainbow Dash, she was leaning against the window opposite Applejack and was fast asleep, her tongue dangling from her mouth creating a small puddle of drool on the table. Twilight stifled a giggle as the light blue mare murmured in her sleep and rolled her head, pressing it into the glass more.
She turned her attention to back outside of the carriage and looked into the sky. Her thoughts soon trailed back to Discord and what the girls could do to stop him. She thought back to what the princess had said to her, right before they had left Canterlot.
“Just remember, Twilight, Discord may be random and somewhat rash. But he is not foolish. He will most likely strike Ponyville first to remove the biggest threat to his plans, you and your friends. Be safe my faithful student.”
The lavender mare smiled with pride as she took her element off her head and examined it, feeling the magic within it.
I won’t let you down, Princess. None of us will! she thought to herself.
“Cabbages?!” Rainbow suddenly shouted as she woke up, blinking her eyes rapidly realising where she was.
Her sudden awakening was the start of a chain of sounds that suddenly erupted from the carriage as her friends all burst into laughter. Rainbow huffed and wiped the drool from her mouth before crossing her front legs and pouted.
“Ah come on now, Dash,” Applejack started. “It was funny.”
“Yeah, yeah…” she grumbled. “Are we there yet? I need to stretch my wings.”
“So impatient,” Rarity tittered. “I’m sure there’s not long to go. Right, Twilight?”
“Mhm, we should be there in about twenty minutes or so,” Twilight confirmed.
“Good,” Rainbow smiled as she leant back into her chair. “First thing I’m gunna do when I get back? Go for a two hour flight and try to beat my record, again. Then I—”
“Sorry, Dash,” Twilight interrupted. “But I wanted us to all go back to the library first, so I can discuss some things with you regarding Discord.”
“Oh, come on!” Rainbow groaned. “Can’t you just tell us here?”
“I would, but given the subject, I just feel it would be safer to do this in an environment where we all know is safe,” Twilight replied.
Rainbow went to argue, but she knew that Twilight was right, “Fine… just promise me it won’t be too long!”
Twilight rolled her eyes and giggled at the light blue mare, “Pinkie promise.”
Deep in the Everfree forest, the ruins of the once proud castle of the royal sisters lay silent as it had done for hundreds of years. Inside however, was a different story.
Secluded from the outside world, deep inside one of the old rooms used for secret meetings between the royals and the military, now resided three individuals. The whole room was near pitch black save for an ominous glow that came from a large object hanging on the walls of the castle, and in front of it, was Dr Facilier and Discord.
Facilier played with the rim of his hat as he smiled nervously up at the large, intimidating mask that was on the wall. Discord had brought it from his world in order for Facilier to communicate with his so called ‘friends on the other side’ and was watching the human talk to it with amusement, a bag of popcorn floating idly beside him.
“Now, friends,” Facilier began, “I know I’m in deep to ya’ll already, and me suddenly vanishing probably… didn’t help with your confidence in me.”
The mask flared its nostrils as it growled, glaring down at the human in anger.
“Ah hear ya, ah hear ya,” Facilier replied with a nervous smile. “But hear me out. This fine fellow, is Discord.”
At the mention of his name, Discord stood up and gave a over-the-top bow, bending his snake like body to the point of his face pressing into the ground, “Charmed.”
Facilier rolled his eyes before returning his attention to the mask, “Anyway… he brought me to this world, this world that is rich... with magic.”
The mask raised a brow as it looked at the human, a curious gaze in its eyes.
“Thought that might get your attention…” Facilier chuckled. “Now! Me and my associate would kindly appreciate some… help so to speak.”
The mask snarled loudly, clearly angered at Facilier’s demand.
“Now, now. Ah know you don’t like it when I… ‘ask’ things of you, but… when we take over these…” Facilier paused and looked over to Discord.
“Ponies,” Discord replied.
Facilier blinked at Discord for a moment, “Uh… come again?”
“Ponies. You know, small equines? Go neigh?” Discord replied.
The human looked to his shadow, then to the mask, then back to his shadow and burst out laughing, even the mask looked as if it was enjoying the amusing situation.
“Are ya’ll serious?!” Facilier cried out in between laughs.
Discord rolled his eyes and strode up beside him and pushed him aside slightly, “I’ll take it from here string bean.”
Facilier brought his laughing to a near stop as he wiped a tear away from his eye as the draconequus addressed the mask.
“This world has many nations…”
Discord snapped his talons and the room changed showing the world from a birds eye view. The mask eyed the large and vast landscape and grinned as it anticipated all of the souls within which Discord caught and smirked to himself.
“Now… here’s the deal, you help us take over Equestria… and I’ll give you the whole of the griffon empire… and more. All I ask is for the kingdom of Equestria, sound like a fair deal?”
The mask raised its brow and smirked before it opened its mouth and several black shadows raced out, standing along the walls, towering over the human and the draconequus. They were an array of creatures ranging from humanoids to demonic looking dogs and one that reminded Discord of the gargoyle statues in the canterlot gardens. Facilier smirked to himself and bowed to the mask as it snorted before it disappeared, leaving the two alone in the castle with the shadows.
What the mask and human had failed to see, was the crossed talons behind Discord’s back.
Facilier inhaled deeply and looked to Discord with a smirk, “We got ourselves some help,” he indicated the shadowy minions. “Now, forgive me but, what do these ponies look like? Are they the same from where ah come from?”
Discord sat down in a chair and desk that he summoned and an image of a pony appeared namely one of each race. Facilier took one look at the images before he and his shadow burst out into hysterical laughter.
The draconequus rolled his eyes as he drummed his talons on the desk in annoyance, the sound of the human’s hysterical laughter starting to irritate him, “Are we quite finished?”
“Oh come on now, ya’ll tell me what you're fighting against and you expect me not to bust a gut over it?” Facilier said between laughs.
“Yes, they are ponies. Big deal,” Discord scowled. “Given you’re up against frogs, fireflies and an alligator. You don’t really have a right to make a big song and dance over this.”
“Frogs? Fireflies?” Facilier asked, looking to his shadow who shrugged, “Ah have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Discord blinked, “Wait… what were you doing prior to me pulling you in here?”
“Oh you know, the usual,” Facilier replied. “Conning the witless and foolish people of New Orleans. They’re so excited about this Prince fellow who is visiting soon.”
“You don’t know, do you?”
“Know what?”
Discord stared at the human before a large grin formed on his face before he burst out laughing, slapping his knee and falling onto the floor as Facilier raised an eyebrow.
“What’s so funny?” He asked.
“Nothing, nothing,” Discord tittered.
Facilier rolled his eyes as he crossed his legs, “I see. Shall we get down to business then?”
“Quite,” Discord replied, clicking his talons and changing the rooms layout. “How shall we go about this then, my dear associate?”
“Well, you told me you can’t get anywhere near them without those ‘elements of harmony’,” Facilier stifled another laugh before continuing. “You mentioned earlier will detect you. So ah suggest we target the weakest one in their town and use their mind for… our needs.”
“Possession? That the best you got?” Discord deadpanned.
“Got anything better?” Facilier glared.
Discord went to raise his hand to retort but stopped and grumbled, “Touche…”
The draconequus snapped his talons and an orb appeared that showed the town of Ponyville. Facilier observed it intently and stroked his chin as it scanned the town before it settled upon two colts, one small and pudgy and the other tall and lanky. The human looked to his shadow who smirked and turned to Discord.
“Ah think we have ourselves a couple of… volunteers…”