//------------------------------// // Chapter 17: Some Entertainment // Story: The Balance of Harmony // by The Rising Tide of Night //------------------------------// I held my staff up, readying my magic to cast the purging spell on then. When I didn’t see the answering aura on my staff, I looked down in surprise, finding myself holding nothing but a long fighting staff. I looked over at Discord, who was waggling my staff at me with a smirk on his face. “Good luck!” he called, vanishing and reappearing perched on top of Celestia’s throne, her in his lap and my staff in his hand. I only had a moment to register my astonishment before Applejack and Fluttershy leapt at me, weapons drawn. I dodged to the side as they both landed right where I had been standing, daggers flashing down. Applejack immediately reacted by bounding towards me, and I tried to block her attack with my staff. Fluttershy, not being as strong as Applejack, didn’t react as fast, but was still aggressive enough to come around Applejack and strike at me. I did my best to dodge and block, but they were too fast, and I felt the daggers scraping my armored shirt. I jumped up the stairs, trying to put some distance between us. They circled around me, one on either side, getting ready to strike. The vacancy in their eyes was disturbing, and combined with the twisted hatred, made them look menacing. The only thing I could think about was to go on the offensive, so I leapt at Fluttershy, staff swinging. She reacted to my swing by blocking with her arm, letting the staff roll off and grabbing it, pulling me in and off balance. Falling forward, I saw her swing her dagger at me, and I let go of the staff and tried to drop forward and out of the way, landing hard as the dagger whistled by. I scrambled to my feet just as I felt Applejack come up behind me, but was unable to dodge as she drove her fist into my lower back. Pain blossomed in my back, and I lost my balance once more, rolling down the stairs. I landed at the bottom in pain, and immediately tried to bring my arms up in defense. I was lucky that I did, as I felt a blinding pain on my arms as Fluttershy brought my staff down on them hard. Fortunately, my armored shirt protected my arms from breaking, but it still hurt enough to bring tears to my eye. I saw her raise the staff again, and rolled to the side as she brought it down with enough force to crack the tile I had been lying on. I kept rolling, anticipating Applejack’s follow up strike, which scraped on the back of my shirt as I rolled and cut a line in my cloak. I rolled over once more, pushing myself to my feet as I went. I jumped towards Fluttershy, grabbing at the staff as she swung it at me. The force of the swing jerked me to the side, but I was able to hold on and use my momentum to wrench the staff out of her hand. I swung it around as I went, and was lucky enough to catch Applejack in the forehead as she moved in to strike at me. I knocked her back to the floor, unconscious, just as I felt Fluttershy’s foot connect with my stomach, driving the wind from me. I fell forward, gasping, and Fluttershy drove her elbow into my back, knocking me forward to the floor once more. I felt Fluttershy kneel down onto me, placing the dagger at my throat. I quickly thrust my head backwards, catching the side of her face with the back of my head. She jerked to the side, dagger scraping along my neck, and I pushed myself up, using her momentum to slide her off my back and to the floor. I rolled to the side and stood up once more, sweeping my staff upwards just as she was standing up, catching her in the side of the head, knocking her unconscious as well. I stood there, breathing heavily, arms burning from the exertion of fighting my possessed friends. I whirled up to face the throne as I heard slow applause coming from Discord. “Bravo, bravo!” he cried, applauding. “Very well done!” He pushed Celestia off his lap, and stood, coming down towards me. “I especially liked how you dodged Fluttershy’s strikes. I really thought that Applejack would be the one to take you out, but little Fluttershy turned out to be quite the feisty one.” He vanished and reappeared next to Applejack, looking down at her. He bent down and placed his finger against her forehead, causing the wisp he had summoned to fly out of her and disappear. “It’s really too bad that you weren’t able to kill them,” he said as he appeared next to Fluttershy. “But I suppose it’s to be expected, being friends and all.” He tapped Fluttershy’s head, and dismissed the wisp. He appeared halfway up the dais, holding my staff. “I guess I should honor my side of the bargain,” he said, tossing my staff in the air towards me, which I caught deftly, glaring at him. He pulled out the element, spinning it in his hand, and rolled it down the stairs to me. I grabbed the element, staring at him in astonishment, but refusing to question our luck. “Now as much as I’ve appreciated the little song and dance you’ve provided us, I’m afraid that I must ask you leave,” he announced. “I’ve got a few things planned, and I must get up early tomorrow morning.” He reappeared next to Celestia, taking her hand and helping her to her feet. The two of them bowed to me, then turned around, heading towards the back wall, which shimmered into an overlook scene. I started up the dais. “Celestia!” I cried. Discord’s head spun around to look at me, and he shook his head. “Ah, ah, ah,” he chided. “The night is over and it’s time to head home. Good luck, little Sparkle!” He snapped his fingers, and suddenly we were outside the city and on the road, darkness surrounding us. I looked around, surprised at the sudden change in time and place, and noticed Fluttershy and Applejack stirring, sitting up. Applejack was rubbing her forehead, and Fluttershy was holding the side of her face. “What happened?” asked Fluttershy, looking around. “How did we get out here?” “Are you guys ok?” I asked, rushing over to them. Applejack touched her forehead gingerly. It looked like a lump was forming, and she winced when she touched it. “Ah think Ah’m gonna have quite the headache,” she muttered. “What did y’all do to me?” “Umm, I kinda hit you in the head with a staff,” I replied. “You were both trying to kill me at the time, so it was kinda justified.” They looked at me, horrified. “It was Discord, wasn’t it,” Applejack stated. I nodded in return. “How?” she asked. “It was those wisps we saw in the city,” I replied. “He brought in a couple of them to possess the two of you for his entertainment.” “I’m so sorry, Twilight,” apologized Fluttershy, flustered. “It’s ok, Fluttershy,” I replied. “At least we got the element.” I held up the element, and they stared in astonishment. “He actually gave it to you?” Applejack cried, grabbing it and inspecting it before handing it back to me. “Yeah, I don’t really understand it either,” I replied. “I guess… that’s chaos? Unpredictable?” I stared down at the element, trying to determine if it was a fake. It looked much like the others that we had already found, complete with the brief glimmer of light in its depths. Satisfied, yet still confused, I placed the element in my bag, helping my friends to stand. Fluttershy had a nice bruise on the side of her face, and the lump on Applejack’s forehead had finished forming. We stared at each other for a minute, relieved and confused, then fell into a hug as we all realized that we had faced Discord and survived. Releasing each other, we started heading away from the city and towards our hidden disc. “Well, Twilight, one more element, right?” Applejack pointed out. “Then we can finally get rid of that jerk.” I smiled back at her. “Exactly,” I replied. Then my face fell. “I hope, at least. With the others gone, I don’t know what’s going to happen.” Fluttershy looked worried at my words. “That’s right, Twilight. Who’s going to hold the element of Loyalty? Or Generosity, or Laughter?” Applejack shook her head, confident. “We’ll be ok, Twi. Ah’m sure of it.” I turned to protest, but she stopped me with a hand on my lips. “Trust me, Twi,” she stated, looking into my eye, a knowing smile on her face. I smiled back, feeling reassured. Applejack had never steered me wrong when she spoke like that. Thinking back now, I often wonder if Applejack had seen the changes this world had wrought far before any of us, and was doing her best to make sure I understood in case things went wrong. We arrived at the disc, clearing it off and loading our things up once more. We decided to camp out for the night before heading off to our final destination, enjoying one more night of peace in the wake of so much confusion. We huddled around our map, locating the Dragon’s Mountain and planning the easiest path there. It was a testament to Fluttershy’s growth that she didn’t fall into fits of terror at the mere mention of the Dragon King, though I was unsure as to how much she would be able to endure on a mountain full of dragons. Such questions were put aside for now, and when we finished our planning, we spent the remainder of the evening talking and laughing, much like we used to. It was well into the middle of the night before we fell asleep, huddled together under our blankets under the dark sky.