//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1: The Game 
// Story: Courage Will Pull Us Through 
// by Cloudy Serrano 
//------------------------------//


~Chapter 1~

          I sighed as I gazed around the room. It was empty really, but if I truly wanted to, I could fill it with anything I desired. I could make it into a mansion, bigger than the palace that Celestia had, or I could make it smaller than a Hydrogen atom, smaller than even the electrons around it. It was all just a matter of will. But I wouldn't do that. I needed to save my energy, for I knew that I had only one chance, one chance to give my past self the ability to defeat the Alicorn sisters once and for all. But I would make the most out of my chance, and give myself everything  I needed to change back Twilight, and stop the Alicorns from gaining more power. And once I set it in motion, there was nothing that would be able to stop it, until it completed what it was meant to do. All it took, was a little will.
             As the day wore on, I decided to create a window that looked out towards the palace grounds. Looking up at the sky, I found that the eclipse was nearly over. Good. This meant that soon, the Alicorns would lose the added energy of having both the sun and the moon up at the same time. Because of this, their senses would become dulled from the lack of magic strengthening them, similar to an arm losing feeling after it had been laid on for a while. All I had to do was wait.
             More or less an hour later, I felt it. I felt the huge amounts of magic cease its flow from the palace, and instead slow to a trickle. The waterfalls of magic were no more, back to simply being what they normally were. Simply a large river. A river, that needed to be drained, as the water was needed for something just a tad bit bigger than the river was currently using it for. This was my cue. 
             Concentrating, I slowed down time to the point where it no longer flowed. As I spread it out across the planet, I felt a slight resistance, most likely from the Sisters noticing and attempting to stop me, but they were tired, weak from the large amounts of magic leaving their body. Not bothering to make myself invisible, I teleported to another place. Ponyville, to be exact. 
             I looked upon the citizens of Ponyville, who didn't even acknowledge my presence. Of course, they could not, for time had effectively stopped. I noticed that I was near Laughter's home, Sugarcube Corner I believe it's called. Laughter was always one of my favourite Elements of Harmony. Laughing at every little prank I've ever pulled, making a joke out of anything I did; yes, I think Laughter is my favourite of the six. But she is not the one I was searching for. No, I had to find the rarest Element, the most powerful of the six, the one that used to be mine: Magic.
             I flew; no, flew is not the correct word. I... drifted towards Magic's dwelling, Golden Oaks Library. A fitting name, considering it was within a tree, although I do find it rather humorous how a library of books lies within a tree. A non-living tree, at that, held together mostly by pure Unicorn magic, blended to create the illusion of a perfectly healthy, living tree, when in reality it was actually- ah, but it was of no matter, as the time was upon me. 
             Extending my magic, I created a sphere around the library, large enough to cover it all completely. Granted, it wasn't very large to begin with, but the ponies apparently thought it was exceptionally large. The shield was invisible to the naked eye, but if one looked close enough, they would find there to be a sort of shimmer in the place of it. The shield allowed all forms of pure Unicorn magic short of teleporting out, and disabled my effect of slowing time to a standstill. 
             Satisfied with my work, I magicked myself into the top of the tree, where a certain element was busying herself with a journal of sorts. 
             She was in a small study, writing in some sort of journal or another on a desk. A blue wallpaper covered in spirals of gentle shades of blue covered the entirety of the wall, along with two paintings of famous Unicorns of the past on either side of a large window with the curtains pulled in tight. I never had much time to learn the more mundane parts of the history of Equestria after I was free from stone, so it came as no surprise to me that I had next to no idea who they were. Two large bookcases lay side-by-side in back of her desk, filled to the brim with books. More books lay strewn haphazardly on the floor, surrounding the mare.
            "Why, hello there Twilight!" I shouted, appearing in the words of her journal. 
             "Gah!" She exclaimed, immediately dropping the book. "Discord! I thought we went over this already. Don't startle me when I'm working."
             "Oh, silly Twilight." I reached out from the words and began gently rubbing the underside of her chin, only for her to pull away almost instantly. It was rather fuzzy, and always gave my paws a delightfully ticklish sensation. "Can you not make even the smallest bit of time for one of your most beloved friends? Why, you can't even talk to a pony these days, what with them so busy all the time."
            "You know I always enjoy our talks, Discord, but I'm a little busy at the moment. I'm sure if you came back later, though, you could tell me all about whatever it is you need to," she finished, using her magic to gently try to push me out of her journal.
             Deciding to instead move over to a nearby green book cover, which was decorated with a multitude of exotic plants, I started up again. "Oh, but Twilight deary, this is something that you absolutely have to know! Come on, don't you want to know what has even me all riled up?"
             She sighed. "Look Discord, I'm sorry, but unless it's the end of all of Equestria, I don't think whatever it is I ‘absolutely have to know’, is really all that important." 
             "Well, I don't know about the end of Equestria, but I suppose the planet would be a nice compensation prize!” I exclaimed, throwing both of my arms wide open. A small amount of confetti shot from the book, showering her hooves.
             "WHAT!" All the books around me were flung away, leaving just the one I was in to float in front of her. "Discord, I swear to Celestia, if you don't tell me what you did right this moment, I am going to... to... to do SOMETHING!"
             Floating so close to her, I could practically smell the panic emanating from her pores. "Now Twilight," I chastised, watching as her left eye began to twitch. "That's no way to treat a friend. Why, if Celestia were here, I bet she would be scolding you right now! I'm not even sure I should tell you what's happening anymore." 
             Twilight's manic expression and heavy, deep breathing advised me otherwise. Despite being relatively untrained in how to use the power of her element, that didn’t mean that she couldn’t do even a little bit of damage to me. If you endlessly throw the same pebble into a river, eventually you’d find the correct spot to stem the flow, or, at the very least, cause a significant splash. "Oh, very well, I suppose if you're going to be that way." Raising a claw, I pointed to the closed window. "Go on then, Twilight. Look on outside."
             If I had before thought Loyalty was as fast as a hummingbird traversing the winds, then Twilight was the wind. Yanking open the curtain, and nearly ripping it from the rail in the process, she peered out into the village.
             "I- I don't understand." She said, cocking her head to the side.
             "Well what do you mean, you don't understand?" I asked, drawing her out of her stupor and causing her to turn around. 
             "There's nothing wrong with Ponyville! Discord, if this is your idea of a prank, then you better find some better material, because this is not funny." She urged, putting extra emphasis on the not.
             "Oh, but Twilight, I thought you were better than that! Go on, take another look. And this time, make sure to pay extra special attention to all the itty-bitty wittle ponies that are outside." I prompted, motioning her forward with my paw.
             Sighing, Twilight turned back to look outside the window. It took her about five seconds to notice something was off about the ponies outside, and after gazing out at them for a few more seconds, she gasped.
             "WHAT IS WRONG WITH THEM! WHY ISN'T ANYPONY MOVING!?" Immediately, her horn glowed an iridescent purple, but nothing happened. Beginning to scream my name, she sprang around to direct her full assault on me, only to find I was no longer there.
             Twilight's horn lit up briefly, but it lasted only a second. "DISCORD! YOU BETTER TELL ME WHY I CAN'T TELEPORT OUT, AND IF YOU DON'T HAVE A GOOD ENOUGH REASON, THEN I SWEAR TO CELESTIA I WILL PERSONALLY LOCK YOU BACK INTO YOUR STONE PRISON!" She screamed, violently scanning the entire room for me. Her head was whipping in every which way, causing her mane to move about her in the oddest of ways.
             "Now Twilight, deary, I thought we had been over this before." I spoke from my place in the picture by the window. "Remember, what would Celestia do?"
             I could practically hear her molars grinding at that one. Oh, the look on her face was absolutely priceless! Her eyes even began the twitching I remember from when she got me to point at the window. 
             "Alright then, Discord. I'll play nice." She relented, forcing a strained smile on her face. Coupled with her twitching eyes, it was a sight to see! "Please, would you mind explaining to me why I can't teleport out of here?"
             "Oh Twilight, if you wanted to go look around, all you had to do was say so!" Grinning at her clearly angered form, I immediately teleported us out to the nearest pony, making sure to keep time flowing normally for us, but not our environment. It was a bit more complex, what with us having such abstractly shaped bodies and all, but when combined with the fact that Sparkle decided to start moving… well, even I have my limits, and, despite being currently no where near them whatsoever, she did manage to start providing me with a slight migraine. Well, it just goes to show, even Gods can have their limits, no matter how powerful.
             "What... What happened to her?" Twilight stuttered out, looking over the pony. It was but a bright red earth pony, with three cherries for a cutie mark. A light blonde mane lay across her neck.
             "Oh, you know, this and that. I mean, there's no way that I can stop this. Once something like this has begun, you cannot simply stop it. You have to wait for it to finish. So really, even if I wanted to, I couldn't undo any I this."
             I continued to watch her as Twilight slowly reached out a hoof to feel the pony's mane. Lifting it up to her eyes, she examined it for a bit, until she finally let it go. Now, normally the mane would fall down, but instead it hung in the air, unmoving.
             Deciding that enough time had been wasted out here, I brought us back to her library. A sigh of relief nearly left my lips as we arrived, and I was able to dispel the fluid spell from us.
             "Discord, what... What was that? Did... Did you cause that?" Twilight tentatively asked, afraid to learn the answer.
             "Oh, well it is all rather simple Twilight. You see, seeing as how I've been a statue for a rather large portion of my life, I've decided on something. I want to play a game." I casually drifted from the painting on the wall to the wallpaper designs. 
             "Well, you see, Sparkle, when life gives you lemons, you can make lemonade. But, once you have made the lemonade, you realize something. Life never gave you sugar, sugar that was needed in order for the lemonade to taste juuuuuust right. And since life decided to be so horrible to you, you know what you do?" I paused here, allowing her to look expectantly at me, albeit with a largely confuzzled look. She always looked absolutely adorable when she had no idea what to think or do!
             "You take your lemonade, and you turn it into orange juice! And since the would-be lemonade has become something it never should have been, complications arise. Complications that, well, you really don't want to have to deal with. But sometimes, even though you really don't want to drink the orange juice anymore, life just decides to not let you change it back into lemonade. And so, you end up stuck with something that you thought you wanted instead of something that you really wanted, something you actually needed." 
             "Alright, Discord, I think I've had enough of your game." Exasperated, her eyes began a silent plea to me. They even watered a little! "Just please, for the love of Celestia, please tell me what it is that's happening."
             "Oh, but Twilight, you're being so silly all of sudden! And here I was, mistaking you for the element of Magic. I suppose soon you and Laughter will have to trade places, what with you being so much sillier than her." Boring into mine, Twilight's eyes continued their silent plea, until, with a sigh, I finally started up again. 
             "Well, as I previously stated, I want to play a game. Now, don't look so down already! It's a very fun game." I chuckled a bit at that. It would only be fun if she let it be fun. If she didn't allow it to be fun, then, well, I suppose things could get worse. I smiled down at her as I continued my description of our game. "I am going to send you off, off to a far-away place. Once you are there, all you have to do, is become the Champion of something, something extremely important to the future of the land, and, once you have done so, be able to successfully defend it once. Now, don't think collecting the title of champion will be that easy. It has to be a specific something, something that I won't tell you, but once you hear what it is, you won't be able to deny that that's what you must do!"
             "And why, may I ask, do you want me to play this game in the first place? In fact, you still haven't told me what is HAPPENING!" She finished with a scream, sparks beginning to shoot out of her horn in her anger.
            With a sigh, I casually appeared behind Twilight, and when I spoke again, she spun around to face me. "Oh, Twilight, silly, silly Twilight. If you really thought that I would show my hand so soon, then you are just a wee bit mistaken." I held out my paw, and in it appeared a miniature human hand. Such a shame they had to go. They probably could've stopped this before it got to this point, but the past is the past, and cannot be changed. Most of the time. "But, seeing as how you are going to be needing some form of idea of what you're fighting for, then I suppose I could tell you." I paused here, allowing the information to soak its way through her knowledge hungry mind. "What you will be fighting for, is simply none other than what you hold dearest to you."
And with but a snap of my claws, she was off on her journey. Which meant one thing, and one thing only; I had finally rid this world of one the immortal Alicorns.
        With the first of the four Alicorns gone, now would be the perfect time to begin setting back the clock. I could already feel the waning strength of the remaining three, one of whom was due to be gone in only three weeks time. After her, the remaining two would be stuck with only half the power that once held me back, and would be in no shape to fend off my assault. The third would fall a month after that, leaving only the strongest of the four, the one who would be able to withstand it for nearly a year. 
But, then again, time was irrelevant now. For her, nothing, absolutely nothing, would change, save for when that year was up. Now, all that was left for me to do, was wait. And I was used to waiting. Oh, believe me, I was used to waiting.