//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 // Story: Discord's New Plan // by powerpony //------------------------------// Twilight was walking through the Everfree forest. Spike was sitting on her back and she also had a blue saddleback around her waist. Her friends, Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie Pie all walked behind her as Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy flew above her. They all made their way through the forest until they made their way to the deepest part of it. They were soon surrounded by huge boulders and dead trees and the ground was covered in dirt. “I never thought I would have to return to this wretched place,” said Rarity, remembering the last time she was in the area when she was looking for gems with Spike only to be captured by the Diamond Dogs. The six ponies continued walking until Twilight raised her front hoof, singling everyone to stop as she noticed a huge hole a few feet away from her. “That must be the entrance Discord told us about,” she said. “Let’s go.” And with that, Twilight jumped down the hole with Spike wrapping his arms tightly around her neck. Rainbow Dash dive bombed into the hole with Fluttershy right behind her. Pinkie Pie jumped in the air, curled herself into a ball and shouted “CANNON BALL!” before falling down. Applejack dived down next while Rarity simply looked down at the hole. She was disgusted at all the dirt she saw, but then she said to herself, “Remember Rarity, this for Sweetie Belle and her friends.” So she gathered up all the courage she had and jumped down. All six ponies landed on the ground of the Diamond Dogs’ dark cave. They were expecting to see Discord waiting for him, but saw no one there. The entire cave was empty. “Where is that filly napping creep?” asked Rainbow Dash. “He said he’d meet us here.” “Remember Dash, this is Discord we’re talking about,” said Twilight. “He doesn’t play by the rules. We’ll have to try and find him.” But just as they were about to begin their search, the ponies saw someone in the distance. It was Rover, and the ponies knew that he would know where Discord was keeping the Crusaders. “Hey, furball,” shouted Spike. “We’d like to talk to you.” Rover saw the six ponies and remembered Discord’s orders; distract them until his master arrived. So with that, Rover ran off as the six ponies took off after him. They tried to catch up, but Rover was just too fast for them. That’s when Rainbow Dash spread her wings out and flew towards Rover and was able to catch up to him, and tackled him to the ground. The other ponies soon reached Rover, who was lying flat on his stomach with Rainbow Dash sitting on his back, looking quite proud that she was able to take him down. But Rover was able to grab her by the back leg and throw her off of him. Rainbow Dash was about to go flying into a wall when Flutterhsy flew towards her and grab her before she made impact. Rover was just about to get up off the ground, when he soon realized that he couldn’t. He couldn’t move his body at all. He couldn’t lift himself off the ground, or move his arms and legs, he couldn’t even wag his tail. He could still move his head, and open and close his eyes and mouth, but that was it. Rover looked up and saw all six ponies, and Spike, glaring down at him and he also saw that Twilight’s horn was glowing so he knew that she had put some kind of spell on him. “What did you do to me?” Rover demanded. “It‘s called a heavy spell,” said Twilight. “It puts so much weight on your body that you can’t move at all.” “Alright diamond mutt, start talking,” said Rainbow Dash. “Where is Discord and where is he holding the Cutie Mark Crusaders?” “That’s for me to know and you to find out,” said Rover, who was still following his master’s orders. Rainbow Dash was about to smash her front hoof into Rover’s face, when Twilight stopped her. “Easy, Rainbow,” she said. “Violence never solves anything. We’ll have to think of another way to get him to talk.” “I know how to make him spill the beans,” said Spike, and he whispered something in Twilight’s ear. A sinister smile appeared on Twilight’s face as she walked around Rover and stopped right next to his feet. Rover saw the smile and was starting to get a little worried about what she and Spike were going to do to him. Spike jumped off of Twilight’s back, opened up her saddle bag and pulled out a big red quill. Twilight had brought it with her to write her report to the princess about their progress on the mission. Spike then took the quill and started stroking it across Rover’s feet. The Diamond Dog laughed hysterically as soon as the feather touched him. “HAHAHAHAHAHA! NO! HAHAHAHA! STOP! PLEASE,” Rover said between laughs. “I….. HAHAHAHA… I CAN’T STAND TICKLING! HAHAHAHAHAHHA!” “How is tickling going to help us find the little ones?” asked Rarity. “Oh, you’d be surprised,” said Applejack. “I remembered when I was a filly, I stashed some of my Nightmare Night candy in my closet, but I started to notice that some pony was taking some of it. I knew Big Macintosh did it, because he has the biggest sweet tooth in our family, but he refused to admit it. That is until I gave him a good tickling that he told me he did it.” Applejack and Rarity then went back to watching Spike tickle Rover, who was now laughing so hard, he had tears in his eyes. “Tell us where Discord is and I’ll stop,” said Spike. “HAHAHA! I..HAHA…I WON’T TELL YOU! HAHAHA,” said Rover. Spike could tell that what Rover said meant that his plan wasn‘t working. So he finally stopped the tickling and placed the quill back into Twilight’s bag. “That dog is a lot tougher than I thought,” said Spike as he and Twilight walked back towards the others. “Um, if you don’t mind,” said Fluttershy. “I think I might be able to make him tell us where the girls are. If it’s okay with you.” The others ponies weren’t sure if Fluttershy could get Rover to say anything, but they were desperate to find the Cutie Mark Crusaders so they all said “Okay.” Fluttershy walked up to rover, who was still catching his breath from laughing so hard, and closed her eyes. She then burst them back open and gave Rover her famous ‘Stare.’ “You are a very, very bad dog,” said Fluttershy. “You ought to be ashamed of yourself! Kidnapping little fillies like that! Now you better tell us where they are, young man, or you’re going to be in big trouble!” Rover was terrified at Fluttershy just starring at him with her evil looking glare. “I…I…I can’t,” he said trembling. “I have orders from Master Discord to keep you away from them.” Fluttershy and the others were shocked. No creature had refused Fluttershy’s orders when she did her stare. This meant that he was very loyal to Discord. Twilight also shuddered a bit when she heard Rover call Discord, ‘Master.’ “It’s no use,” said Rainbow Dash. “This walking carpet isn’t going to tell us anything.” Rarity looked down at the ground, trying to think of another way to get Rover to talk, when she saw that her hooves were covered in dirt. That’s when she came up with an idea. “Oh no, I got dirt on my hooves,” Rarity whined. “And I just got back from the spa. Can’t you dogs clean this place up once in awhile?” The other ponies just looked at Rarity as if she was just complaining about the littlest thing like she always does, but then saw her winking at them. That’s when they all remembered her telling them about her time with the Diamond Dogs and how much they couldn’t stand her whining. So the others decided to do a little whining of their own. “Rarity’s right,” said Spike in his own whiny voice. “The ground is very dirty and I hate getting dirt between my toes.” “Yeah, and it’s too hard,” whined Twilight. “It’s hurting my sensitive hooves.” “And can’t you get some more light in here?” Applejack groaned. “It’s too dark in here. I might bump into something.” “This place is too dusty,” whined Rainbow Dash. “it’s making my beautiful wings all dirty.” “Mine too,” Fluttershy said in a pouting voice. “No pony will come near me if I have dusty wings.” “And what is that smell?” Pinkie Pie asked in a whiny tone. “It’s too stinky. It’s like rotten cheese that’s been out in the sun too long.” Rover could not stand all the whining he heard. It was bad enough when Rarity was just whining, but hearing six ponies and a dragon doing it was just pure torture. And since he was still under Twilight’s heavy spell, he couldn’t even cover his ears. He just laid on the ground, gritting his teeth together. “Make it stop! Make it stop,” Rover shouted. “You want it to stop?” asked Twilight. “Then tell us where Discord is.” “Did someone say my name?” said a familiar voice from behind the ponies. They all turned around and saw Discord standing behind a big cave entrance with the two other Diamond Dogs, Spot and Fido, standing by his side. “Now why don’t you let my friend go and we can have a nice talk with each other?” the chaos spirit asked Twilight’s horn stopped glowing as Rover quickly got to his feet and ran to his comrades. “Where are the girls?” asked Twilight in a very firm tone. “Don't worry. They’re fine,” said Discord. “But first thing’s first. Give me the Elements of Harmony.” Twilight let out a small frustrated sigh as her horn glowed again and she used her magic to open up her saddle bag and pull out the book that contained the elements. The book floated right towards Discord, who snatched it from the air and hugged it tightly. “At last,” he said. “The most powerful objects in all of Equestria are mine. All mine!” “Yeah, yeah, you got what you wanted,” said Rainbow Dash impatiently. “Now where are the fillies?” “Oh, of course. Where are my manners?” said Discord, as he pointed to the cave entrance behind him. “Just go down there until you find a small cave with a pool of water in it. The girls will be right there, waiting for you.” The six ponies all walked past Discord and the dogs and made their way through the entrance. Discord then saw the Diamond Dogs were looking at him with impatient looks. “Can we have our reward now?” asked Spot. “We went through a lot of trouble just for you.” “Yeah,” said Fido. “I got a kick in the shins while guarding those little ponies.” “Oh, that sounds awful,” said Rover in a sarcastic tone, “What about me? I’ve been tackled, pinned to the ground, tickled half to death and almost had my eardrums destroyed.” “Ok, calm down you three,” said Discord. “You’re right. You do deserve something for all your hard work.” Discord then stuck out the index finger of his lion hand and a yellow beam shot out of it and hit a part of the ground. Just then, a huge dust tornado appeared and started spinning around. When it died down, the Diamond Dogs’ jaws all dropped at what they saw. There, in the center of the cave, was a huge pile of gems. The dogs all ran to the pile and started grabbing the gems, kissing them, hugging them and throwing them in the air. Discord smiled at the dogs, but it wasn’t because he was glad he made them all happy, it was because of how stupid they looked. Because, the gem pile was nothing but an illusion, so what the Diamond Dogs thought were gems was really just rocks and dirt on the ground. “Oh, how I love to play with the minds of others,” Discord said to himself. Discord then eyed the element book he was holding and stroked it like he was petting a cat. He thought about opening it right then and there, but then he remembered the six ponies who were on their way to find their little friends and decided to follow them and watch the fun.