*inside the Sim*
In the middle of Ponyville Discord sat on his throne and frowned. He gestured with one claw at a floating circular table in front of him. At his gesture the table lit up revealing two translucent miniatures on a checkerboard surface, one fo a pony and the other a miniature representation of himself. As he watched the pony moved forward while munching on a carrot and trying to lift an anvil. A second later the miniature Discord was laughing while the holographic anvil lay flat on the ground with four twitching pony legs sticking out from underneath it.
Seeing this, the real Discord growled in annoyance before suddenly reaching down and flipping the table over and to the side. where ir promptly hovered for a moment before zipping to float above a passing group of long legged bunnies. A green light shot down from the table to engulf the bunnies and suck them up inside before it shot off into the distance. Discord ignored this as he grumbled again.*
“ GRAAH! It still doesn't work! How did that monkey do it? grrr..”.
He let out another annoyed huff and crossed his arms to pout. Then as if realizing what he was doing sat up straight and violently gestured as if trying to shoo something away from him.
“ Bah! No matter. I still won. Even if I did have to cheat. I am Discord! I don't care about how a magic-less monkey did more against me than Celestia, her sister, or her precious element bearers! I really DON’T! After all I have chaos... lovely chaos... I don't need to figure out how he did it! I'm not even interested anymore... really I'm not! I just want Chaos! Lovely chaos. Lovely distracting Chaos.”
Scowling he glanced aside and held out his claw. A glass appeared in his grasp that he held up while snapping his paw like summoning a waiter. A passing Cotton candy cloud quickly zoomed over to fill the glass up with chocolate milk. As he shook the now full glass in front of himself Discord let out a deep breath and began to calm down a bit. He leaned back in his throne as he relaxed.
“ Yes I'll just enjoy my triumph and not even think about it anymore. Just enjoy being me and in charge! Ah yes this will cure all my woes. Chaos is such a Wonderful, wonderful thing!”
“ Not as wonderful as Friendship!”
Discord blinked, glass halfway to his lips.
“Now what?...”
His scowl reappeared as he Saw Twilight and the rest of the girls standing determinedly before him. Most of the girls glared back at Discord, except for Fluttershy who was busy glancing around at random looking for someone and frowning as she failed to find them.
Discord turned to looked to the heavens in exasperation. Than with a sneer he drunk the glass in his hand, before he threw away the floating cloud of chocolate milk over his shoulder. As it exploded in the background he let out a weary sigh.
“ Oh for the sake of me!. This AGAIN?”
Applejack took a menacing step forward.
“Ya’ll better believe it! All yere tricks couldn't break us apart for long!”
Discord sighed and with a single gesture of his hand, pulled Applejacks Element towards him. The Earth pony dragging her hooves into the ground trying to resist until she found herself lifted up into the air to float before the spirit of Chaos.
“Oh Applejack. Quit lying... well if you could.. I did make you a liar after all...”
Discord smirked and raised his hand a bit higher. Pinkie, Rarity, Rainbow and Fluttershy all found themselves unwillingly dragged towards them. Until they too joined Applejack floating helpless in the air
“I made all of you what you are now really... will you lot ever learn?”
Discord blinked in surprise as Twilight suddenly teleported in among the girls. As he watched she surrounded them with a magical field that allowed her to float them back to the ground. Discord shook his head in bemusement.
“Well I suppose that answers that question. Although why you are trying to keep this farce up is beyond me. I beat you... I beat your princesses. I beat your Timelord... I beat everyone! Face it I WON!”
Twilght snorted in anger. Discord look of amusement grew as she growled out.
“Not yet you haven't....”
Before Discord could respond however Fluttershy interrupted. Stepping forward with a determined look on her face the yellow Pegasus asked in a firm tone.
“What about Andrew??? Where is he?”
The loo of amusement on Discords face fell at that. Scowling he replied, while behind him a theatre stage began to rise out of the ground.
“ Oh.... the monkey. I beat him to you know. He thought he was soo clever. The clown of the party, always putting on a show.”
Discord leaned forward as his sneer deepened
“Well since he was so eager to be the center of everything, I thought I'd give him a stage of my own!”
The girls heads all turned as Discord gestured to the fully emerged pony sized puppet stage behind him. With a clap of his hands a spotlight suddenly shone on the center of stage. The curtains then slowly rose out of sight revealing a small empty wooden platform. Then slowly what appeared to be a person dressed up in a clown costume dropped to the ground. Upon hitting the stage floor it collapsed into a jumble of limbs just like a marionette with loose string.
As the girls peered closer at the collapsed form, it did indeed appear to be a life sized puppet. Its limbs were made of thin sticks, with blatant wooden pegs at the joints for the arms and legs. The limbs began to twitch as they noticed silvery strings attached to various parts of the body. Following the strings upward revealed a pair of disembodied hands manipulating the control bars the strings were attached to.
Then the hands twisted silently and the puppets head raised up towards them. The girls all gasped in horror as they realize the head is not made of wood like the rest of the body. Rather it is a normal, albeit utterly grey, human face. As they recognized the face that stared out past them with ah opeless defeated look, Fluttershy and Twilight gasped together.
“ANDREW!!!”
Rainbow took a step forward demanding.
“WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM???!”
With a flash of light Discord suddenly appeared behind the Andrew puppet and chortled.
“ You like? I really did some fine work here. Look at the grain of the wood! The craftsmanship! The totally unlifelike movement! Why I even included a voice box...”
As he said that Discord reached behind Andrews back and yanked out a long white string. As the string slowly began to retract backwards, Andrew’s face began to move. As he started to speak, his puppet body swayed into jerky motion. Each pose and gesture he made while talking screaming of Despair and hopelessness.
“I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
`My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!'
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away..”
The white cord snapped back to its starting point as Andrew finished the poem and assumed a kneeling pose. His eyes staring out sightlessly into the distance once more, his face seeming to say that all one does is futile in the end. The girls lifted one hoof forward to comfort him, but stop as Discord spoke up once more.
“Intriguing no? A bit morbid for my tastes really... But I just can't seem to get him to say anything but commentary on the futility of life and being the last of his kind.”
Discord suddenly perked up as he plopped back down on his throne.
“On the other hand it does make a nice contrast to my fun. That lets me enjoy the fun of my little wonderland here so much more after each of his performances.”
All 6 of the girls suddenly shook off their shock and turned their glares upon Discord. Twilight trotted a step forward, her eye burning with rage.
“THAT'S THE LAST STRAW DISCORD!”
Fluttershy moved up to her left side, her gaze narrow and determined.
“THIS IS GOING TO END NOW AND WE WILL GET MY ANDREW BACK!”
Rainbow flanked Twilights right side, her wings spread in a aggressive manner.
“WE'LL SHOW YOU THAT TRUE FRIENDSHIP IS WORTH FIGHTING FOR!”
Pinkie just growled as she, Rarity, and Apple Jack also stepped forward and assumed aggressive poses. Discord peered at them bemused, and then raised his claw, gesturing at them to get on with it as he spoke.
“Oh very well if you must waste our time, but do hurry up! Hearing Monkey puppets dreary verse has gotten my creative juices going again for some lively chaos to cheer me up! I'm missing out on it.”
He flopped back into his chair. As the girls elements began to hum and vibrate he yawned and looked on in boredom. At least until a sparkling butterfly shot out of Fluttershy’s element to smack him on the nose.
“huh?..... whats this?”
Discord leant forward and paid full attention to the ponies before him for the first time. His eyes widened as he realized that none of them were grey any longer. Nor were they acting as he had brainwashed them to.
“No..... not possible.....”
Just as the full realization of what was going on hit Discord, Twilight opened her eyes. They glowed pure white with eldritch power as she and the rest of the girls began to float upwards. The six of their bodies crackled with energy. Energy that suddenly erupted into a giant rainbow of light that shot up into the sky.
“IT CAN'T BE!!!”
The Rainbow of Harmony arced upwards. Then it crashes down fully enveloping Discord, who screamed in disbelief.
“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooo!!!”
His cry trailed off as the energy rushing through him turned his body back into stone. Then the rainbow seemed to split into two as its light passed through all of Equestria with Ponyville at its center. Returning the land and its residents back to normal from Discord’s rampage.
A loud thud sounded in the middle of Ponyville as the Discord Statues crashed to the ground. Followed shortly thereafter by all six of the girls floating downwards until their hoofs touched the earth once more. They looked around in satisfaction at the restored town and its surroundings. At least until their gazes fell upon Andrew. Twilight and Fluttershy both raised a hoof to their mouths in shock.
“OH NO!”
“Andrew!”
The girls could only stare at the spot where the stage had been. Kneeling there was Andrew, his whole body still completely grey and his gaze staring forlornly into the distance. Hesitantly Rainbow Dash and Pinkie approached him. Pinkie tapping his shoulder with a hoof.
“ Andrew?”
Andrew didn’t respond, continuing to stare off into the distance as he mumbled to himself.
“I failed.... I wasn't strong enough.... why did I think I had what it took to delay him? I'm just a sole useless human...”
Rainbow moved around to try and get into his field of vision while yelling at him.
“SNAP OUT OF IT!!! ITS OVER!”
Andrew dully turned his head dully turned to face the two of them. However his eyes remained unfocused clearly not seeing them.
“I failed.... and now they haunt me. Blaming me for not being smart enough... clever enough... I'm sorry... I'm so worthless. I couldn't save them....”
As Andrew turned his gaze down towards his lap, Pinkie and Rainbow both recoiled in shock at the defeated tone in his voice. As they stepped back in distress, Rarity and Applejack moved forward to try and reach him.
“Andrew hun.... we won... come on now... come back to us.”
“Darling... Please listen to us... grey doesn't suit you at all... it’s all over now.”
Andrew ignored the twos pleas as he slowly raised his hands to his lap and stared at them. Glumly he began to talk to himself.
“It is over... all over... I thought I was clever... I thought my hands... they look like such strong... capable hands don't they? I always... thought that's what they were... that they represented my strength and adaptability. My little pony friends.... Strong Applejack, Rainbow and her daredevil ways, even Rarity who teased me incessantly. I thought my hands and tricks could hold him off in time... but... Discord... I failed....”
Twilight moved forward sharing a anguished glance with Rarity and Applejack before attempting to reach him herself.
“Andrew you didn't FAIL...”
Andrew ignored her.
“He won.... I wasn't strong enough....”
Twilight stomped a hoof in anger, her voice rising.
“ANDREW! LISTEN TO ME!!! WE WON...”
Andrew glanced up briefling before turning his gaze back down to stare at his hand once more.
“And now he torments me.... with images of my friends.. the ones I fail.... while I sit here...waiting.... for him to end this torment....”
He turned his hand over again as he muttered.
“They look like such strong clever hands....don't they?”
Twilights ears and tail droop as she sniffles a bit, her voice trailing off into a whisper.
“.... but we won.... Andrew please... its over... please.... please... come back to us....to me.”
As he continued to refuse to respond, Twilight turned her head back towards the others. Her eyes shimmered with tears as she silently hoped one of them had an idea on how to reach Andrew. The girls however could only return Twilights look each of them equally stricken with sorrow at the sight before them. Than Fluttershy suddenly shook her head and muttered to herself.
“I do believe in Andrew… The Andrew who believes in me....I have to do this... I have to reach him...”
Trembling slightly in nervousness Fluttershy marched up to where Andrew was still busy staring at his hands.*
“ANDREW! ITS OVER”
Andrew turned his head towards her and his face shifted to even bleaker despair.
“And now he torments me with an illusion of her... why .... have I not suffered enough?”
He turned his head away from her and for a moment Fluttershy faltered. She took half a step back and then shook her head angrily, a determined gleam entering her eyes. Moving forward again Fluttershy grabbed Andrews head with her hooves and forcibly turned it to face her.
“LOOK AT ME MISTER!”
Andrew weakly struggled as he tried to turn away, tears streaming down his distraught face, but Fluttershy’s grip was to strong. Slowly she pulls him towards her and envelope his body in a hug. Using one hoof to stroke his hair, Fluttershy softly nuzzles Andrews neck while she quietly murmurs into his ear.
“ There.... there Andrew. I'm here. It’s all okay.... shhh…”
Gently Fluttershy moved her head to kiss away the tears on Andrews face while she continued to comfort him. Unseen by her Andrews eyes widened and his struggle to get away slowly stopped as his hands rose slightly.
“F....flutt...Fluttershy?”
Ever so hesitantly Andrews wide eyed stare seemed to finally return from his internal hell and take in his present reality. Then like a dam bursting Andrew wrapped his arms around the yellow Pegasus fiercely. His head buried itself in her mane while he softly sobbed. Fluttershy smiled.
“Like you said Andrew... I'm here for you. And I always will be.”
As his sobs of relief grew in strength, the tips of Andrews’s hands began to sparkle where they were desperately clutching Fluttershy. The sparkles quickly flowed down his arms and up to his body, restoring color to his skin and clothing as it passed. As the last bit of grey was erased Andrew glanced up from Fluttershy’s mane and looked around in wonder at the restored Ponyville.
“I...umm... take it we won?”
Rarity sniffed and discreetly wiped away a few tears from her eyes.
“Well now that your back to normal Andrew darling, it certainly is a true victory for us all.”
Pinkie grinned and bounced. Then stopped as she sat down and put her hoof to her chin assuming a serious face.
“Oooh there is just one tiny problem... What does one serve at a ‘defeated a chaotic god and celebrate your friend getting a coltfriend party?’”
Everyone else rolls their eyes and Applejack chuckles.
“Well I reckon I can whip up some apple snack right quick. For some reason I'm starving! As if my meals have been leaving my belly instead of feeding it lately!”
The others crowd around Andrew hugging him and celebrating their win. None notice Twilight standing a bit back from them all looking a little glum. She whispers to herself as she watches Andrew sadly.
“I wish it were me there with him.....”
Rainbow lifted her head to glance back.
“Huh? You say something Twi?”
Twilight suddenly stiffened and her eyes widened for a moment. She quickly glanced around and as her eyes rested on the Discord statue stammered out.
“Umm.. uh... that is... I said…err… I think we need to contact Celestia to get Discord placed somewhere safe! Yeah that's it... we need to let the princess know all is well. Nothing else.”
Twilight sweated as Rainbow looked at her oddly.
“Wait, can't you get Spike to send a letter?”
Twilight blushed and laughed nervously.
“He's... kind of indisposed... with indigestion at the moment....
Rainbow Dash blinked’
“oh... that would make things a bit harder huh? I guess we better deal with this before we party than.”
Twilight smiled weakly as she watched Rainbow get everyone’s attention. Soon they were well on their way to getting ready to lug the Discord Statue back to Canterlot, Twilight pausing now and again to send longing glances at Andrews back.