Shining Armour paced around the throne room of the crystal palace in the Crystal Empire. He was slightly confused, but mostly concerned and even a little bit worried. But with pegasi getting stuck in cotton candy and marshmallow clouds, raining breath mints and chocolate milk, he sun and moon rising and sinking below the horizon every few minutes, then both staying in the air, then both being lowered. His wife had been turned into stone, and there was even more chaos and madness in the city below.
Shining walked briskly to Cadence's chambers, where he had ordered her moved after turning to stone, and tried to remember the simple love spell she had taught him one afternoon.
He halted before the statue of the princess, lowering his head and firing up is horn. He performed the love spell correctly, aiming it at Cadence. Small cracks slowly started to appear in the stone encasing the princess's body. The cracks grew slightly, then continued to grow slowly. Shining Armour closed his eyes tightly, focusing more on the love spell as the stone cracked. he silence was punctured by the sound of stone chunks falling against the crystal floor. The white unicorn opened is eyes and looked up, pleased to see that his wife had been released form her stone prison. He ginned, wrapping the Princess of Love into an embrace. Cadence hugged the unicorn back. "Well, um, thanks, Shining." Cadence said awkwardly. "I guess you saved me."
"Good thing you taught me that love spell, Cadence." He replied sheepishly.
Cadence smiled at the white unicorn. "I love you, Shining." She whispered.
"I love you too."
The princess and prince walked into the crystal throne room again,Cadence moving to the windows. "Oh," she said softly, seeing the chaos outside. "That's... very, um... well, chaotic...."
"Can you do anything about it?" Shining asked.
"Well, maybe..." Cadence said, closing her eyes and firing her horn up. Shining, wanting to help, tried to perform the same spell he had used before the Changelings had attacked on his wedding day. The magical barrier surrounded the city, as did the spell the pink alicorn had used to keep King Sombra out of the city. The two spell together manged to get rid of the chaos in the city, although the sun and moon were both still raised. "There..." Cadence said, slightly exhausted from the effort. "All... done..."
The alicorn and unicorn embraced again, the magic barrier pulsing with energy.
Back in Canterlot Castle...
Twilight Sparkle fired up her horn again, hoping that this time it would work. And it did. The purple alicorn used a spell to break the chains chaining her friends and herself to the wall. The six mares, now able to move freely, rushed over to the dais, where Princess Celestia and Princess Luna stood, encased in stone. Twilight lowered her head and performed another spell, cracking the stone casing around the princesses. Twilight looked at her friends. Pinkie Pie was jumping around happily, Rainbow Dash was hovering a few feet above the floor. Fluttershy was smiling shyly, Applejack was galloping around the dais, and Rarity was.... Not there?
Twilight Sparkle turned her head quickly, then saw Rarity standing around where they had been chained to the wall. She was holding something in her hands. It looked like an amulet of sorts, the black and red colours.... Black and red. Amulet. Twilight put the pieces together, running over to her unicorn friend as fast as she could. "Rarity!" She yelled, just as the mare was about to put the amulet around her neck. "Rarity! Stop! Don't touch it!"
Suddenly, the amulet disappeared from her hooves, and not a second too soon, as Rarity had been about to fix it around her neck.
But then a certain draconequus appeared, also about to put it around his neck. Twilight summoned a spell, sending the amulet to who-knows-where.
Discord and Rarity both looked at her. "What?" She asked. "If you had put that on, you would have killed us all, or something like that."
Rarity sighed. Discord looked toward the princesses. "I'm sorry, Princess Celestia. I honestly didn't mean to do it. I had no idea what the amulet would do. And Zecora, the stupid zebra, she forced me to put it on. I'm sorry. Could you ever forgive me? I'll do anything!" He pleaded. "Anything at all! Just please, don't send me to the dungeon! Please! I'll do anything!"
The princess of the sun looked at him disapprovingly. "Do you swear never to cause chaos ever again?"
Discord nodded. Celestia continued speaking. "Swear it on your life."
Discord looked at the princes, eyes wide, then finally his mouth opened. "I swear on my life to never.... To never cause chaos again."
Celestia nodded. "Then I will not have you turned back into stone." At this statement, Twilight Sparkle's eyes went wide. Celestia ignored her. "Instead, you can either join the Royal Guard, or work in the palace kitchens. It is your choice. Should you cause any chaos, or don't do your job properly, to my satisfaction, you will be turned back to stone again. Is that clear?"
Discord slowly nodded his head. "I guess I'll join the guard, then."
Then the draconeqqus snapped his claw, disappearing.
Somewhere near the middle of the Everfree Forest...
Discord's gaze rested upon the Alicorn Amulet. He grinned evilly as he reached out his claw and paw, taking the accursed item in his hands. As the draconeqqus' hands came into contact with the Amulet, a jolt of electricity went through him. He grabbed it, fastening it around his neck. He Threw his head back and put his arms out, power coursing through his veins, pulsing in every part of his mismatched body. He wanted, no, he needed revenge. He needed revenge on the princesses. He needed revenge on Twilight Sparkle, and he needed revenge on her friends. They needed to be dealt with. They needed to be taught a lesson.
They needed to feel pain.