//------------------------------//
// chapter 4 
// Story: Discord and the Amulet 
// by gabbles_da_fangirl 
//------------------------------//

	Twilight Sparkle looked up at the draconequus. Discord ginned evilly. The purple alicorn looked back at the draconequus, then closed her eyes in concentration. Her horn started to glow and she shot a beam of purple light at Discord, hitting him in the face and turning him to stone. Twilight and her friends cheered, glad to have defeated the monster that Discord was. Except Pinkie, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity were still chained to the wall. And the princesses were still stone. And the chaos outside hadn't stopped. Oh, no, Twilight thought. What have I done?
The ponies stopped celebrating. Twilight sat against the wall and buried her face in her hooves. "Twi?" Applejack said softly, breaking the silence. "You okay, Sugarcube?" 
Twilight mumbled something that sounded like "Go away." 
They spent the rest of the night in silence, except for the snores from Rainbow Dash and the other ponies' breathing. 

Rarity woke up the next morning. She had the strangest dream, in which Discord had the Alicorn Amulet and turned the princesses into stone, making himself King of Equestria. He had then redecorated the castle, banished Zecora after returning to find her asleep on his throne, and then made Diamond Tiara his assistant. She opened her eyes slowly. Oh, the white unicorn thought. It wasn't a dream. 
The walls were still red and black, and there was an empty throne at the far end of the room, also red and black, with a few touches of silver or grey. Was this some kind of cruel joke? Was this Pinkie's idea of fun? She looked to her right, expecting to see Pinkie Pie or Rainbow Dash sitting there and laughing. But she only saw five other sleeping ponies, chained to the wall. And her mane and tail were still green and brown.
But then Rarity realised that the stone Discord was not there, and a pile of rock was on the ground where he was. The white unicorn was not sure what to think. She only knew she needed her morning coffee.

Twilight Sparkle slowly lifted her eyelids. She hadn't slept well. She had dreamt about the princesses being turned to stone, Her dream went like this:
The purple alicorn princess watched as Discord turned the princesses to stone. She tried to run towards them, but she was frozen. Twilight looked down, or rather, she tried to look down, but she could not move her head either. But she could still move her eyes. She looked down, and saw that her body had been turned to stone. Even though she knew it was opeless, she tried use her magic to release her from her stone prison. It didn't work. No surprises there. The stone was slowly encasing the princesses. It was spreading from the back legs, and was now around their fron legs. In a few minutes, the stone would cover their faces, and then their manes, turning them to stone completely. Twilight put all her strength into her magic trying to break out of the stone. She could her Discord's voice, echoing around the throne room. "There's no point, Twilight Sparkle." The voice hissed softly yet evilly. It seemed to come from everwhere and nowhere at the same time. "Give up now, and I might spare you frineds." The spirit of chaos summoned some fog or mist, and an image appeared in it. Twilight's friends were in the dungeon, chained to the wall. Rarity's mane was messy and her hooves were cut and scraped. They all looked absolutely miserale. Rainbow Dash's wings were broken and bent horribly, several cerulean blue feathers around her. 
And then the images changed. Twilight's friends were still in the prison cell. But this time, they were not chained to the wall, but o each other. Rarity's horn was broken, as were Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash's wings. There was a clanging sound, the cell being opened, and light flooded into the dark, damp prison. They all looked towards the source of the light, squinting as their eyes ajusted to the brightness. But their hopes of escpae or rescue, or of being released, were crushed as saw an arm of Changelings swarming through th door and into the cell. The five mares walked backwars as fast as they could, trying to reach to wall of the cell. But then Applejack stumbled on the uneven cobblestone floor, falling over and crushing her hoof between the floor and the chains, and the rest of her body. She screamed out in pain, and terror, as the Changelings approached, teeth bared and spears raised. The orange mare lifted herself off her injured leg, which was almost as mangled as Rainbow Dash's wings. Pinkie Pie rushed forward to help her injured friend, but a Changling barred her way. Applejack slowly got back on her hooves, and they continued to inch closer to the wall, and the Changelings kept advnacing. Twilight's friends finally bumped into the wall. Not two seconds later, the Changelings were right infront of them, drawing daggers from nowhere, and the Changelings further back pointed heir spears at the throats. 
Then the fog dissapated and the image disappeared. And then time seemed to slow down.
Everything seemed to happen in those few moments. Twilight's horn glowed pink through the stone, which cracked from her horn down the her back hooves and the tip of her tail. The stone fell away in chunks, and Twilight ran to Luna and Celestia. A pink aura surround them, and the stone cracked and fell away. And not a moment too soon, as the sone had been just about to cover the princesses' eyes and mouth. Celestia brushed some stone off her back. She turned to face her ex-student. "I am very dissapointed with you, Twlight Sparkle." The voice that came from Celestia's mouth sounded very much like it should, altough there was some other voice also. "You should know better that to interfere with powerful magic. I regret making you a princess, as does my sister." Luna nodded. The Princess of the Night fired up her horn, as did her sister. They put heir horns together, and their auras met, urning into a yellow and blue swirl. The princesses aimed their horns a the purple alicorn, and fired a beam at Twilight, sending her to... The other side of the throne room? 
Twilight Sparkle looked aorund. Her friends were next to her, and they're wings and hooves were unharmed. The princesses were still stone up on the dias. It had been a dream.

But the statue of Discord was gone.