And with all good things, there will come an end.
It shall be full of pain. It will be full of despair.
And I will, at last, be realized.
Entropy's Final Words

I'm back! Did I- Oh. Right. You're waiting on me. Well, no time to waste! Where did we leave off?

Luna had finally calmed herself completely, allowing the ancient magic that was her birthright to stop projecting her distress.

With the departure of the near-omnipresent despair, the mood within the library lightened considerably; less like a mausoleum and more like a hospital, with the ponies within bustling about.

Fluttershy hummed idly as she attempted to make Twilight comfortable within her bed; they moved her upstairs following her panic and subsequent departure from the waking world. Rainbow Dash, with full consideration of the disaster that had occurred, settled for rereading Daring Do and the Griffin's Goblet. She proclaimed a full desire to study their enemy, but everypony present knew she was just saying it. Rarity and Applejack, being too responsible to simply let their livelihoods falter in their absence swore to return as soon as they could, and departed each unto their own home. Pinkie Pie, of course, set up a party.

"For the last time Pinkie, Twilight will be FINE when she wakes up. She won't be lost to that wierdo Dipcord."

"Nonono, you're not understanding me Rainbow; my Pinkie Sense is already telling me there is going to be a new pony, and you know that the Sense is never wrong!"

"As a matter-of-fact, my Pinkie Sense already says the new pony is here in the library," she clarified in a loud hiss.

Luna looked on the pair with a growing amusement. It evaporated as she considered the pony- no, not a pony any longer. The godling resting above their heads. She felt a claw poke her foreleg.

"Princess, you might want to clean up. Your coat may have hidden the.. uh... blood in the dark, but you might shock them now if they examine you closely." Spike proceeded to point towards the bathroom and continued to organize the books marked out by Twilight's ruthless organization. Everything finds a comfort in routine, from dragons to ponies, even the gods themselves.

As Luna walked away, Spike shivered at the amount of blood that was hidden on the Princess' face alone. Despite seeing only a little of what had happened early in the morning, and even with the filter of sleepiness applied, it still unnerved him.

How do I transcribe this next part? How does one define the tongue of days long past?

Not-Twilight-Sparkle awoke. Strange noises emanated from below and all around; only one thing felt familiar within the vicinity, and it too made strange sounds.

Agony. Broken. It pulled from within the mare, calling for her to submit herself and be gone once more. Not-Discord disagreed. He moved the mare down an elevation, ignoring the creatures resembling itself. Making noises, pointing and waving.

A tall, blue mare that Discord recognized emerged from an enclosure along the opposite wall; with a jubilant cry, she called out, Moon!

The alicorn mare jerked around at the sound, horn aglow. Not-Twilight frowned at the bubble encasing her.
Quickly exchanging more sounds with the creatures next to her, Moon turned to address the newborn.

Let me help you, Twilight, she had said. Not-Twilight cocked her head in confusion; certainly Moon remembered her Uncle Dissy?

Please, Twilight, Moon pleaded once more. Not-Quite-Discord nodded slowly, and immediately felt a spell placed upon her. A simple one, performing an action she halfway understood.

"...and we would reaaaaaaaally like it if you gave our friend back!"
The pink creature's noises had suddenly become comprehensible.

A different, yellow being descended from above and alighted among the others; the pink one, and the arrogant rainbow-maned one smirking at her.

The latter creature was suddenly before Not-Twilight; "Enough with the pranks Twilight, we've got a Princess to save. Twilight? Hey!" She only received a blank glance as the lavender alicorn opened and closed her mouth, realizing she could do so.

The blue one glared at Luna from Not-Twilight's side as the yellow winged creature inched closer to the pair standing opposite. A drake unnoticed before walked closely with it.

The mare seemed to lose the pained, closed-off stance she had been holding; rather she became loose, sinuous in movement- a cheerful grin bloomed across her face. One could feel it in the air, sudden and yet subtle twisting of chance all about them, traces of chaos spreading all out from the library.

A triad of fillies in a schoolhouse distant felt the sudden need to attempt high-grade explosives in their crusade.

A designer was given inspiration of a... peculiar sort; and a peculiar design, too.

Ponies in the marketplace became a lot more certain in their decision, more willing to perform what they had set out to accomplish.
Unions were made. Lives taken.

"Only, I don't remember being.. what is this creature? I've never seen it before."

Much to the shock of all those present, Discord proceeded to pull a mirror from the ceiling and examine herself in it.

"Moon, dearest, would you please tell me why I look like something out of Nature's designbook?" She fluttered into the air, "And give me the relative position of my dear old cavern, please, before Law gets it into his head to ask me to try and join your side again. Harmony only knows what kind of madness I'd have to be infected with before I would be so desperate as to do something so foolish."

"Moon, you make it sound like something terri- Wait. Where's Sun? He's never left you alone before... Hm. How odd."

Rainbow Dash had collapsed beneath the weight of the entity that had landed on her, and was breathing shallowly, unable to get air with the alicorn sitting on her.

This earned a glare from Rainbow as she finally succeeded in squeezing out from between the floor and Twilight's hindquarters.

The pegasus suddenly found herself encased in a block of ice, as Discord fell back into great whoops of laughter. Pinkie too.

"Oh, the pink one knows what I'm talking about; wherever did you find such intelligent creatures Moon? We could use them to trick the other gods when they attack us here in the open."

An awkward silence fell upon the other guests, but Discord continued, a dangerous and wild edge growing in his voice.

"Tell me, Moon. What. Exactly. Has. Happened. I can feel only a third of our former number remain, and it seems Law and Sun have nearly killed each other. They're all moving, all of them coming to here." The ponies cowered in fear calling for Twilight, Luna included; only Spike dared to get close to the confused mare.

Sparks ran along the length of Twilight's horn, as a pair of weapons began to hover around the room; a glaive fashioned out of the wood of the home around them, an odd pair of eagle-talons dripping with a clear fluid that had simply buzzed into existence.

Spike finally spoke up before the baleful gaze that was Discord's ire, "Discord, stop it! You're making a bucking idiot of yourself."

A newspaper whizzed from the mailbox, punched through the front door, and smacked Spike on the nose. Hard.

That tone, that stance, that irked glare all screamed of the former Twilight Sparkle, but the mare shook her head as the truth slowly dawned on her.

Discord's weapons fell to the floor as the realization sank in. She let out a lighthearted titter.

"You really should tell me if I have Resurrection Sickness, Moon. Though, I suppose if this really is what I suppose it is, I'd best go out and enjoy myself before that new-self wakes up! Toodle-oo!"

And she was gone; not even a flash of Discord's signature white light or a snap, just gone.

"Yes... It appears I forgot to mention the Resurrection Sickness, didn't I? Erm, I've got to go and make sure Canterlot isn't burning down in Tia and I's absence. Have Spike send me a report!"

Luna bailed out quickly, leaving the four remaining to deal with cleaning up Luna's mess.

Spike volunteered to stay and 'clean' the party-readied library and chip out Rainbow while the other two looked for Discord.

Rarity was a mare alight with inner flame- one need only look at her to realize the fashionista had been seized by something stranger than herself, with the frenzied and single-minded energy of a creature possessed. Sweetie Belle was running to and fro trying to help Rarity reliably, the only way she knew how; ferry everything.

The masterpiece, however, seemed nigh on foolish upon first examination. A small piece of spiderweb that had dared to bear arms against Rarity lay on the side, both the source of inspiration and disgust. Of course, the former took precedence. It was a patchwork of many colors, almost a child's creation in appearance- only the elaborate styling set all across the clothing denoted otherwise. It was a spiderweb-patterned suit, and Rarity knew it would have to be just right, or else the pony it was meant for would hate it immeasurably. And her. Regardless, the dress alternated between the most fiery of crimsons, to the most mellow of oceanic blues- the storm-iron gray of thunderclouds, and golden sunsets capture in fabric glimmered along the edges and seams, and a horribly clashing whirlpool of what could hardly be described as any color seemed to shimmer along the back and side. It tormented the unicorn that she had somehow created something atrociously beautiful and yet not understood a single step of the way how she had done it. Verdant greens seemed to soar among rivers of flame along what had been at first, pockets, but had evolved into a pair of wing coverings; as Rarity finally was able to step back with her magical, creative, and physical reserves drained, she realized it for what it was: A flight suit.

Rarity heard a gasp behind her. Her sister had returned with the glass of water requested in the flurry of activity while she had made the article of clothing; "Wow Rarity! What is it?" Ignoring the tracks of water she would have to mop up later, the designer levitated the drink from where Sweetie set it down; greedily downing it in one go, she generously provided her best answer: "Sweetie, I have NO idea."

The sound of Twilight suddenly speaking from behind the pair made both mare and filly fly into the air-

Rarity came down on her hooves hard, taking in great lungfuls of air in a pattern she had only just broken.

Sweetie Belle cringed away from the lavender alicorn; to a foal, she radiated something only identifiable as not-very-nice, and to feel it coming from the bookish princess spawned confusion of a nature long since forgotten. The filly felt like she hovered upon the edge of a great, whirling gust of wind- or perhaps before a massive wall of water. She drew close to her sister.

"This will do nicely. And my name is Discord, glamorous designer! You know, you seem familiar... Nevertheless!"

With an action normally impossible of a pony, Discord simply appeared in the dress, with the equin-model it was mounted on replacing where she had stood before. Much to Rarity's horror, she inspected Twilight.

Something about her friend had shifted; the way she held herself, the method of speaking, even the look in her eyes- it was a terrible beauty, where if the dress alone was a collision of chaos, the mare projected deeds done in the dark of night, the grace of the killing knife, the horror that was a necessary evil. Color drained from the clothed form, becoming a gray-golden field of ill-borne turns of events and dramatically cruel irony. To call the lavender alicorn a friend was tantamount to a perversion of nature itself; Rarity had an eye for detail, and there was nothing of Twilight in the entity before her. All the choice that birthed chaos, from war to theft, tragedy and foolishness, the ignorance and refusal to choose was personified- and then she switched. With a simple shift of footing, life blossomed, light bloomed across the dress, all vibrant yellows and greens, choices bringing forth new life and new beginnings, happy ends and pleasant dealings. An avatar of rewards given for the good decisions made and the heroes choosing to redeem their foes; the necessary evil fallen away in the path of a group choosing a better path. Discord let out a relieved sigh, "It feels like I haven't stretched my goodwill in eons!" He looked to the stunned designer and her sister.

And she was gone, leaving a picture of the pair embracing each other taped to a pile of precious woven metals also dripping water.

If I might say, it was truly a- heh... a RARITY to see Discord exercise the positive choices he also represented.
No? Too soon? Bah!

Where Harmony EndsThe filly argued with her brother, albeit one-sidedly, about whether or not they should start preparing for rough times ahead, both in harvesting and protecting the crops.

"Big Mac, let's face it, with Celestia outta' the picture, we might not have a sun to grow crops with!"

"But what about those freaky vibes comin' offa the moon? Certainly that won't end well!"

"But what if I never get my cutie mark because the sun goes out and something really bad happens, or, or, what if nopony is is around-"

The middle foal of the three siblings was soon approach with a cartful of bushels of apples, when the elder and younger collapsed to the green earth, Applebloom's signature girlish drawl being cut off mid-speech. With a cry of alarm, Applejack began to gallop heedless of the various oddities emerging around her- most importantly, the chuckling mare clothed in mischievous shades of green, alarming ruby-reds, and glimmering yellows. With a passion any artist would envy, the world warped before the farmpony's hooves; from shades of gray to towering structures of iron trees, tunnels of earth, and colored deserts each stranger than the last. Applejack stopped on the hill she started, vomiting out water following what appeared to be an ocean replacing the air her body now clamored for- and heard an almost musical bray of laughter from behind.

"Yer not Twilight, and that dress just looks downright weird. Discord, you'd have best not done anythin' to my friends and family!"

She opened her eyes to meet the farmpony's angry glare- and Applejack recoiled from the gold rimming Twilight's normally-amethyst eyes.

"Well, aren't you smart, harvester." Discord began to hover, still speaking, "but you since you were sly enough to see me immediately where others failed, I challenge you to a game of intellect!"

Applejack's expression morphed into a deadpan look. "You don't remember me, don't ya?"

"And why do you think Ah'd play some smart ponies' game? You gonna let me outta this loopy road to help my brother n' sister?"

Discord laughed, "They're fine, I assure you!" Applebloom's bow drifted over in a sheath of prismatic magic, "I don't allow anything to be harmed while under my games."

Flashes of a maze, this creature and others moving through a maze rolled through Discord's mind; then she was one of the creatures, a mix of courage and fear churning through her veins as she looked upon an ancient hodgepodge of creatures rolling on its back in hysterics. Again, she looked out at the group of creatures, nearly all of them corrupted with a damning, warping Mark of Fate, before being swept away as among the group, she unleashed a torrent of magic unto the unnatural being.

The Resurrection Sickness was wearing off, and before the new Discord reasserted herself, the last sane fragments of the old one needed to prepare for the coming deathmatch.

Shaking her head, Discord turned to address Applejack, "Then I must not have been Discord of Choice then, eh?"

"Very well, Miss Harvest-All-The-Apples! If chaos is change and change is chaos; does choice produce change, and therefore chaos, or does choice make its own change?"

The farmpony thought. All the gears the orange mare had in her head turned and whirled and spun, analyzing every word, clause, and fluctuation of speech. Discord seemed impressed by the level of consideration emitting from what she had assumed to be idiotic sentients. The dress' colors shifted lighter, forgoing the red for a calmer blue-collar and as she was about to speak, Applejack finally gave her answer. And it was the answer that would have made Discord herself proud, while forcing nearly all the other gods to perform a variation of face-meets-hoof.

Discord clapped her hooves together with a very Twilight-like movement before launching into the air, the hill flashing as the enchantments broke. In the distance, two very confused ponies tried to deal with a broken cart and dozens of bruised apples. Applejack looked behind her and realized her burden had been removed from her. The alicorn godling fluttered back to the now pacified mare and halted her once more.

"Now, for your fortune! I always give them to the winners of my games, and they're always true!" She summoned a tent, landing with a large 'pomf!' on the road, with the two ponies within.

The lavender pony leered closer. "Tell me your name, harvester." For all of Applejack's wisdom and instinct and experience screaming at her to flee, she stayed. She did want to make sure Twilight was fine, after all.

The fortune teller flinched at the name, glancing about furtively, hissing aloud, "Go back to sleep! I'm not done yet."

"YOUR FORTUNE!" Discord mumbled to herself, as the tent faded around them, and the ground, and even the notion of direction. They simply hovered.

They did this last time, y'know. I always find it annoying when others try to peer into my domain and stopped them, but... You're right. I need to start stepping in.

Where Harmony Ends

I looked at the pair floating in timelessness. Discord's power may be able to let him enter here, and his wit and skill let him steal minor glances, but Time was my business. With Twilight Sparkle yet unawoken, the Spirit-King appeared in standard draconequus form, with Honesty beside. The latter clung to the former, and even Discord seemed unsettled by the nature of this place- it normally rebelled and churned under his presence. Always a pain to clean up. I stepped forth from nowhere, walking on even level as the pair floated.

Honesty looked at me, then shut her eyes, chanting, "It ain't real... It ain't real... Just another one of his tricks..."

Discord looked at me, then paled. Completely. I mean, literally bleached of color- it was really hard to see him!

One day, Syndicate means everyone's the same-
All we've lost to the flame, listen to me now!
Baby close your eyes, don't open til' the morning light-
Don't ever forget, we haven't lost it all yet!

A tendril of Time's quintessence, needle-thin and unnoticeable even by the wily reincarnated Discord, crept up from what passed as behind the two. I knew exactly what was coming, and decided to give the tragically inclined mare one final gift. I drew before the two, close enough to touch.

"Yours will be the hardest, O' she of the Honest Nature. Yours will be the knife's edge upon which the world hangs. Your fate is Choice, of the cruelest kind- choice to define Change."

The gibbering mare drew silent at my words, and the song's final echoes drifted into the past, leaving only the sound of silence.

I struck as a viper, tendril slicing into the back of her skull, and locking eyes with her, and Applejack died five times. Five streaks of mane and tail, bleached a colorless, white-transparent. "Once for each life I've made you relive. Once for the Harmonious Elements. Once for each aplogy I give to you, and only you."

And I released the two from my grasp, tieing the departed Discord and Honesty back to the instant of time they had left, then sighed. I gave them a gift, and it took a lot from me to freely bare secrets left unsaid. Come, let me resume the now-modified tale.

World's End will come, and though I rollback every end, I grow weary and weak. If events are not perfect, I will make them so. I must.

Applejack staggered away, to Ponyville. Applebloom and Big Macintosh walked with her eyeing the middle sister cautiously; the glazed over, lost look was foreign on her face, and she flinched in fear bordering terror at every sound. Her mane hung disheveled, in wild and loose strands, her tail too in a similarly desolate state. They needed to see Twilight.

Discord, on the other hoof, had collapsed within the library, much to the defrosted Rainbow Dash and Spike's alarm. She looked at them, smiling weakly, before collapsing onto the library floor.

Twilight Sparkle awoke, aching and mentally sound. Power drummed its way through her body, more than she ever had- and of a wilder nature, too. It was obviously Discord's pure magic, an diversifying whirlpool of energy just begging to be set free and induce all manner of change. She knew everything that Discord was, and yet had managed to retain her original personality; an odd and extremely rare event, more so considering the mare had not event needed to piece herself together. She supposed that her mind bound the mad god's fractured personality and memories together, an inverse of the normal reassembly around the godhood. She had not rebuilt herself around Discord- rather he had remade himself around her.

Something was wrong- the library too still, and the ponies gathered with wary expressions held their breaths, watching her. Luna had returned from Canterlot, and stood with Spike not far- her friends simply gathered around the other two.

Twilight blinked. She ventured a simple question. "Girls, I understand I was... well, insane and rude earlier, and I'm sorry. But could somepony tell me what's going on? I need to make a list soon, and I don't have a schedule set up to deal with recent events!"

A discarded newspaper was birthed from the air, as the mare blinked forward a furious expression written across her face. The newspaper walloped the young drake, before she snarled, "Who taught you that word?"

Spike drew back, spines drooping and eyes looking around frantically to shift the blame. "Applejack!" he blurted, claws squeezing his mouth shut after.

By this point the group had broken from the two, smiles wide all around except for the aforementioned mare- her now streaked mane trembled with near Fluttershy-levels of panic, and Twilight's most recently acquired memories flickered through her mind. Realizing the apple farmer's signature stetson was gone, she corrected it with a thought. A sandy, dented old thing fell onto Applejack's head, a familiar weight comforting her immensely. She took it off to examine it- only to give out a scream and hurl it a distance away.

"Applejack, what happened to you? My memories of that fortune-telling are... blurred."

Luna perked up at the phrase 'fortune-telling', and she asked, "Did you mean... A true request of the future? Did Discord legitimately have that ability?"

Twilight smiled sheepishly, "Yes... Sort of. I'm able, to.. Steal glances out of the mists of Time... It never had any good repercussions for me- You should know, I've done one for you before."

Luna gave a low whimper. "I'm sorry, but... I must confess that I'm not as useful as I made myself out to be- when the Elements of Harmony stripped away Nightmare Moon and the physically manifest curse, it also removed many of my past memories, past power, and godly power. The.. erm.. Curse of Void," the last part said hesitantly, "its hold only strengthened during my stay on the moon. It sank deeper, and had any more years past I would have likely succumbed to it and-" Rarity cut her off.

"Discord's memories... do they press in? How do ah describe it!? It feels like Ah'm seein' six different things at once! Ah'm always me, but at the same time, Ah know. Ah KNOW! Ah know that Ah'm dead!" She devolved into indecipherable mutterings, only the names of her family members being made out.

Fluttershy hesitated, getting ready to try and comfort the deranged mare, but Pinkie seemed to help her more than Kindness; what Applejack needed was not a shoulder to cry on, but rather a focus to shrug aside the shades I had placed into her mind.

Where Harmony Ends

Don't give me that look. When you see what's coming, you will understand. They all will.

Where Harmony Ends

Longtooth Ignis approached. A wave of death upon the land, a master- no, the being that birthed fire and flames of earthly nature and which dwelt within the earth with the hordes and mountains of precious metals and gems. The dragon moved through sky and cloud with a grace unnatural to a monster of his size, idly burning in great waves what lay below him. He had sensed the weakness of Harmony's Unity; something had been broken, a loyalty shattered, a Law fundamentally violated. It was time to fulfill Entropy's wishes. Death and destruction would come by all that he knew himself to be. Unto Void does All Return!

Shadows layered upon each other pressed into the tundra. A Crystal City lay in the distance, quite possibly the last- and Ethos Shade looked on with varying degrees of lust; so many pure hearts and souls. All just ripe for the taking. The shadow wrapped around his form pulsed with life of its own, and made protests of being so near the Crystal Heart. "It destroyed our avatar once, but if we make it stronger..." Shade conjured forth an image of the former King Sombra, "This one was a fool who did not use our power to the fullest. I will make master's wishes a reality." Unto Void does All Return!

They called him great. They called him a true innovator. They promised him a godhood- a chance to live immortal and study eternal. Yet here he suffered, a spectre whose only crime was existence. Starswirl the Bearded looked from his desert wasteland, magic surging, watching the new pet of the Solar Goddess fumble around with her new power. The sounds of clicking could be interpreted as something else had the ghost not have notions of what was coming. A changeling queen stood before the Pale Pony; "You called... master?" "It is time, Chrysalis." The image of a pony touched the changeling's jagged horn, and his essence funneled into the Hive Mind and it's queen. His voice whispered in the Changeling Swarm, "It is time to make Equestria anew." Unto Void does All Return!

A guardian rose, as the denizens fell; each life had been sacrificed for this one purpose. A monolith of stone, magic, and life arose, with the one thing that must be protected at all costs in its heart. The now-dead tribesponies had never given it a name, only a purpose. But for your sake, I will tell you what it will be called in time to come; they will call it The Harvester- or, as the gods would say, Soul Render. The guardian moved away, to the North, with one last objective to carry out. Unto Void does All Return!

An old mare's tale, a legend from Equestria's Founding and previous times, windigoes gathered on a mountain top where it was always sunny. They were soon to be released upon the world, to blanket it with ice and hatred, once the Celestia-damned sun went out. Their time was coming soon, their wrath piqued and their numbers great. They would take the world by storm, and fulfill the wishes of the demon they had spawned from. To them, revenge was truly a dish served ice cold. Unto Void does All Return!

Our war ends here, Harmony. When you have known Void, so too will all creation understand.

"Yes. Harmony fades, her Army of Unity is long defunct and depowered, while the Legions of Void have bid on our fading away, and it seems like they have won. No Elements, no allies, no Celestia." Luna gave a look of despair. "We will all die."

Silence reigned, as giant brooms appeared and brushed her friends away from Luna.

"We are the only ponies that can do anything anymore. Girls, this is something you have to think carefully on. I've made my decision. I would see you on the hill..." The eight of them found themselves on a hill not far from Sweet Apple Acres, overlooking a familiar gorge, "Here, tomorrow at noon, if you've decided to join me." Pinkie Pie bounced on her bed, realizing she had just been teleportal'd away by the new Discolight Pony. Rainbow Dash turned, and nearly fell off her cloudhome drifting near the Everfree Forest. Fluttershy "eep'd" as she fell onto her couch. Sweetie Belle gave a startled noise as Rarity came walking out of the bathroom, mane soggy and her hard work ruined. Applejack, Luna, and Twilight had all been teleported back to the library, the last of the three shaking her head as she popped a goldfish from her ear.

"For all of Discord's memory and power, I still can't get a solid grasp on making it do what I want to!"

Applejack muttered darkly, "Yer just not as chaotic as ya need t'be yet, Twai..."

"Why is Applejack still here, Twilight? I thought you wanted them to decide on their own."

"You're different AJ, and I can feel an extremely powerful magic shrouding both your mind and body. What happened when I brought you outside Time?"

"...A song. Some weird-looking creature, Ah think it mighta been a pony... It sang a song, said somethin' about choice to define choice, and apologized... Once for each of tha' Elements not my own, an' something about relivin' lives." She clammed up and flinched away from the odd-looking stetson still lying in the corner. "That was mine... Ah know for a fact, Ah wore that particular hat the day Ah died, tomorrow."

Honestly, these ponies can be slow sometimes. OF COURSE ITS ME!

Twilight nodded slightly. "There's no creature powerful enough left to rip alternate futures and implant them into the mind of my friend."

"It looked like a sad critter Twai... It apologized; did Ah mention that? It called mine, the 'cruelest fate', and sent me away..."

Twilight tried to grab a transparent strand of hair, only for it to have no effect. A pair of tweezers whirled around from behind Applejack and attempted to do also pick out a strand, but that too passed through.

Applejack shook her head, clearing her thoughts... for now. "Ah'll go with ya Twai. Ah need to get answers from this out-of-Time fella' and Ah get the feeling he'll show up again when disaster strikes. You know how things always go in Ponyville..."

They shared a smile as Luna coughed. "Twilight, perhaps we should discuss on how to free my sister. The day grows long, and my moon will rise soon. I may have set Canterlot upon autonomy for now, but the longer they are free of our influence, the harder it will be to reclaim the throne."

Where Harmony Ends

Don't you just love it when a story brings down the drama? I'm tired. So tired... I must rest, and soon.

The Wonderbolt Academy graduate practiced her routines. She flew through them with a fury only birthed in those who know they are out of their league, but at the same time went anyway. The sun was on slow decent, as a filly observed from far below, buzzing her wings in an amazed manner. The mare-in-flight was afraid of missing this. She was afraid that in whatever madness to come, they would not all return. She was afraid for her friends, and even of them. Harder she flew, attempting to discard her petty concerns; she had no family left, none but that of her friends, and she would protect them as herself. She had no lover, nopony to spend the night with for comfort, but herself. And maybe the filly below her. Even her position as an aspiring Wonderbolt paled in comparison to the disaster they were now faced with. She may not have had the Element of Loyalty, but still Element she remained. There was no question in the matter. She would be at the hill tomorrow.

The Party Pony of Ponyville gave a profound sigh. "Looks like I'll never get to meet Cheese Sandwich this time, huh?" A calender marked Dash's birthday only a few days away. She had just tucked in the Cakes' foals, seeing as how the parents had rushed between child-care and managing the store had left them both exhausted in their own bed, unable to perform actions. Pinkie Pie didn't fear anything. She didn't overly concern herself with the future, or lose herself only in the now. Pinkie Pie knew a day would come like this eventually, the gypsies that had taken her away from her home had told her so. "Pinkie", they had said, "There will come a time when you will die with your dearest friends in a tragic and final battle." They were so nice to her, even though she didn't quite understand at the time what they meant, but she did now. She hummed quietly; the gypsies were also the ones that told her to sing all the time, and taught her how to make songs that sprung from the heart. "Pinkie", they had said, "You must always sing! Sing from your heart. Sing by knowing who you are, who the ponies around you are, and sing by the intention of joy, and you will always find music within." All of them would need her Joy and Laughter in the dark times coming. She would be at the hill tomorrow.

The animals urged her to go. They could feel the coming doom, and their concern was not for themselves, but for their caretaker, and hers for them. Terror and courage battled each other; where Rainbow concerned herself with the 'what would come', Fluttershy concerned herself with her friends. She was afraid of her own involvement, that she would be the weakest link. A bitter, cruel voice whispered within of her own futility and weakness. A soft, confident voice cited of her success with Discord and Iron Will, her ferocity in talking down the dragon. Fluttershy busied herself with tidying up the cottage, as her own angel and demon argued sides.
Your friends trust you. You're weak and helpless. You can help by presence alone. Your presence will result in their death. You can make a difference if you only try! Fluttershy was in tears as this last thought plowed through her fears, courage having won the war within. She knew what she would have to be. Kindness had no place in battle, but she would ensure that her friends lost neither their souls nor their lives. Kindness had no place in battle, but in war, they called it the infamous Mercy. She would be at the hill tomorrow.

Rarity was in tears. Her beautifully horrid creation wasn't even mentioned by Twilight! It had seemed to disappear upon the alicorn's awakening, and wasn't mentioned even once. She fretted over her tools. Fighting was messy, crude, and unbecoming of a lady. Yet she knew it was important, after all, some brutes would never take 'no' for an answer. Drying her eyes, she sighed; whatever came tomorrow, all of her friends would need to be ready. And by ready, she of course meant fashionable! A trace of discordic magic began burning within her, as she began to create; Sweetie Belle had been sent to bed after the moonlight spread across the floor. The horrific screaming had at last been silenced, and the moon was white once-more. It served as just enough light to sow by. All through the night she worked upon her outfits, following instinct. She was Generosity; a gift that kept on giving. With this in mind, her horn lit an ocean-blue, imbuing the outfits as she worked. A gift that kept on giving. Come rain or shine, sundeath or moonfall, the mare would be at the hill tomorrow.

Applejack jerked awake, screaming Applebloom's name, only for the younger to rush over from downstairs to comfort the elder. Applejack was no warrior. Warriors were far and few between nowadays, violent, unstable, and almost always associated with tragedy and times of trouble. Yet her dreams said otherwise. Her dreams were haunted with images of ponies mutilated everywhere- spines ripped out, eyes placed on toothpicks and arranged in orders of color and size. Blood ran in streams, all around Ponyville, with her home in ashes along the distance, and low moans and death rattles all about her. It felt... good, she thought. She enjoyed watching ponies who came to her stall lying there with stomachs ripped out, a cruel fate to eat and be not be satiated. She grabbed one of the eye-on-a-stick bundles and proceeded to slowly eat them, the slimy, bloody eyes disappearing one by one into Applejack's dream-gullet. She saw her friends, Dash's coat stained crimson, wings ripped off and discarded in her vision- the pegasus was yet alive. She put her out of her misery with an unhesitant stomp of a hoof on her head. It felt like crushing a pumpkin. Rarity was eyeless, chained to a sowing machine, sobbing Sweetie's name as a white leather flowed in-

Harmony help me... What have I done? ...I must still relay my tale, but some of this is truly evil.

-flowed into the machine. Applejack's line of sight trailed back, and she let out a bark of laughter as the white leather trailed back to a quickly reused corpse of a foal, muscle and viscera revealed as the coat was ripped away by the foul magic of Rarity's curse. Applejack killed her, too. Pinkie Pie was literally split in two. Applejack saw fit to move on. Twilight Sparkle lay in the center of Ponyville, surrounded by the bodies of foals and mares laden with their babes. Applejack approached the bereaved mare; she was unharmed, bound only by chains of her personal fault.

Applejack let out a beatific smile, and trotted away with a spring in her step, as Twilight devolved into wailing howls in the center of town, surrounded by the corpses of those she could not save, and further tormented by the loss of one of her closest friends not to death, but to a fate much worse. A song rippled through the air. Applejack began to frolic in among the corpses of the dead, laughing wildly and grabbing up the bodies of ponies and swinging them around in a dance. It was wrong. Unbelievably so.

Baby close your eyes, don't open til' the morning light-
Don't ever forget, we haven't lost it all yet!

Distracted, the farmer's mind broke from macabre dreams, bloodied faces and coats, the horror that was the high consuming her. "Don't worry Applebloom. Ah'll fix this." The filly tried to ask what was the matter, but the question bounced off of the unsettled mare. Her coat had lightened, very slightly; but her mane and tail were completely transformed from the blonde to the colorless, semi-transparent white. Her Honesty resonated in the Tree of Harmony, far away, as she said, "Ah'll fix this. Ah will be on that hill come mornin', and if Ah can't, Ah will make sure nothin' ever is harmed by me. Ever." She hugged her confused and worried sister close.

Luna watched Twilight stare out into the night, gaze distant. It was clear she's reliving memories she had yet to review. "Are you Twilight, or Discord? I must know if my friend is truly alive." She was quiet at first, then, "A bit of both. When I am Twilight, Discord whispers into my ear. When I am Discord," Rarity's dress reappeared on the alicorn, "Twilight does much the same- moreso even that hers is compulsory where mine is but suggestion. I believe it shows the nature of our relationship." Luna nodded. The dress took on a pensive, clear blue, golden trimming highlighted. "I'm afraid for Applejack; something powerful and strange has seized her." A chess board grew from the ground, and a knight fell over. "Chrona's magic is that of the Great Entities, and I cannot help. It is frustrating." Twilight excused herself, citing the need to organize the up and coming events following Celestia's release. Luna nodded again. Her sister needed her, for once. She would not let her down. She will be at the hilltop tomorrow. She looked at the tipped over knight, replaced it, and tipped over the queen. That piece seemed a better fit.

Where Harmony Ends

by Kenny

Opening Act - Choice