//------------------------------// // Return of Harmony pt1 // Story: Dissidia Final Fantasy Friendship is Magic // by Final Fantasy BRN //------------------------------// Return of Harmony Pt1 At Canterlot Castle’s sculpture garden. Cheerilee’s class was touring the area. All the little ponies were excited about this visit. "I want to start our field trip here, in the world-famous Canterlot sculpture garden." Cheerilee announced, her students were super excited to be on a tour in around Canterlot Castle. She pointed to a statue that had three little fillies stacked up on each other playing. "That one over there represents ‘Friendship’." Scootaloo, Applebloom, and Sweetie Belle were too focused on the statue and accidentally bumped into each other. They all glared at each other, then Cheerilee presented another statue. "All right, my little ponies, this one represents ‘Victory’." She pointed to a statue of a triumphant looking mare next to two shooting stars, holding a gold flag with three yellow diamonds in it. The ponies stared at it in awe. "How cool would it be to have that for a cutie mark?" Scootaloo wondered. Applebloom scoffed rolled her eyes. "Cool, if you were actually victoryful at somethin'." "That's not a word!" Sweetie Belle yelled. Scootaloo scoffed at Sweetie Belle’s correction. "What are you, a dictionary?" "Girls!" Cheerilee called, stopping the fillies argument. The tour came to a different statue. "Now this is a really interesting statue. What do you notice about it?" This was the statue that Chaos had much interest in, it was of the creature who’s appearance Gabranth described as disorienting. It stood in a pose that resembled someone singing opera. The students inspected the statue closely. "It's got an eagle claw!" Applebloom said. "And a lion paw!" Scootaloo added. "And a snake tail!" Sweetie Belle also added flailing her front legs about. Cheerilee explained the creature further. "This creature is called a draconequus. He has the head of a pony and a body made up of all sorts of things. What do you suppose that represents?" Each of the crusaders had a guess. "Confusion!" Applebloom shouted. "Evil!" Sweetie Belle yelled, stepping in front of Applebloom. Scootaloo shoved Sweetie Belle away and announced her guess. "Chaos!" That caused the fillies to break into another argument. "It’s not chaos, you dodo!" Sweetie Belle shouted getting in Scootaloo’s face. Scootaloo threw one of her hooves at her and argued right back. "Don't call me things I don't know the meaning of! And it is too chaos!" "Is not!" Sweetie Belle argued. "You’re both wrong!" Applebloom shouted placing her front hooves on their heads. Then they all glared at each other and started to wrestle with each other. Little did they notice that a small life force started to glow within the statue. Cheerilee laughed at them. "Actually, in a way, you're all right." Hearing that statement made the fillies stop wrestling, they refocused and listened to their teacher’s lesson. "This statue represents ‘Discord’, which means a lack of harmony between ponies." Cheerilee focused on the crusaders and gave them a disciplinary look. "In fact, you three have demonstrated discord so well that you're each going to write me an essay explaining it." They each hung their heads and the rest of the class began laughing at them. "Now let's go, and I don't want any more fighting. The class moved on and the crusaders began to whisper their argument with each other. Once they were gone the statue began to crack and evil laughter filled the air. It cracked more and more until the stone casing fell off the creature, granting life back to the creature Discord. Discord, now with his body free, stretched out his arms and legs, he just woke up from a very long sleep. He then gave a big yawn and started to scratch his body. "Yeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwnnnnnnn. Boy was that a fine nap. I’ve slept on pillows, and just now, stone. I definitely love a soft pillow over firm stone." He felt darkness pumping throughout his body, this was a feeling he felt once before. "This power, could it be?" Just then a dark flux creped out of the cracks in the ground and it began to grow, it took the form of the Cloud of Darkness. Discord inspected her closely. "Ah a lovely woman!" Discord said cheerfully, he stretched out his paw towards her and in its palm flashed a bouquet of roses which he presented to the wraith. The Cloud of Darkness scoffed and she inspected the flowers closely. Then the stigmas in each of the buds turned into Discord faces and began making kissing faces at her. She grew disgusted slapped the bouquet out of his paw and shot a particle beam at the flowers and set them on fire. Discord frowned and his ears flattened as he watched them burn. "Gee tough crowd." Discord scoffed. "This is no time for pranks, we have use for your knowledge and talents. But if you can’t take this seriously then we’ll be the first to kill you." Discord furrowed his eyebrows. "Now, now, woman, I’ll show you that I can be quite the gentleman." He smirked as a thought crept back to him. "The God of Discord, has returned to Equestria hasn’t he?" Discord grimaced when he uttered that title in his mind. "I am a soldier to the God of Discord Chaos, he has summoned you to fight for us, he has granted you his divine energy to battle the Goddess of Harmony. Now that you’ve risen, it is time that you meet him face to face." Discord smirked. "Good, take me to Chaos’s lair." Cloud of Darkness turned into a dark sphere and floated towards the Everfree Forest. Discord kept smirking. "I will, but first." He flashed up to the sky and gathered a bunch of clouds together and once he mashed them in to a giant cloud, he tapped them with his finger and the cloud turned pink and flew away darting all around the sky. He grabbed a second cloud and tapped it with his finger and it also turned pink and Discord kicked it towards Cloudsdale. "I couldn’t possibly leave Equestria without causing the tiniest amount of chaos." He turned around to fallow the Cloud of Darkness to Chaos’s throne. Back with the Mane Six and Spike, they continued with Warrior and just finished retelling their stories. "I understand, you six are chosen heroes. You saved your world using six elements of harmony and each of you represents each of those six virtues." "Yes!" Twilight cheered. "The seven leaned inwards hoping he would remember something." "That’s an interesting tale, it proves that there’s more to you than meets the eye." Warrior said. The seven felt their hearts sink, Warrior still didn’t remember anything. "I got some work to do in Sweet Apple Acres." Applejack said. "Why don’t you guys come with me." The team started to move towards the farm when Rainbow Dash noticed a large pink cloud hovering above Cloudsdale. “There's a strange a pink cloud is over home.” Rainbow Dash said with a puzzled look. "Guys I’ll have to look into it. I’ll be back!" She dash up and over to the sky city with great speed. She noticed that the cloud is raining over the city, but the stuff it’s raining isn’t ordinary water. Rainbow Dash arrived and was stunned to see that whatever liquid the cloud was raining, was dark brown. It was flooding the whole city, and all the pegasi were in a frenzy, trying to control the flooding or trying to get rid of the cloud. Rainbow Dash held out her hoof and caught some of the liquid and licked it to see what it was. It tasted sweet, and had a slight caffeinated aftertaste. Rainbow Dash figured it out and it greatly confused her. "Cola?" She noticed the pegasi trying to move the cloud but something else seemed off about the cloud itself. It seemed a little more solid than most clouds. Rainbow Dash was about to dash and burst through it, but the Wonderbolts already dashed past her and started to circle around the cloud with great speed. Rainbow Dash watched in awe as a cyclone appeared around it and the cloud swirled around in the cyclone and it split up into pieces and scattered throughout Equestria. "Woah, just what was going on here?" Rainbow Dash wondered. She noticed a second pink cloud and saw it flying towards Ponyville. "If it caused this much mayhem in Cloudsdale, I can’t let it go nuts in Ponyville to!" She dashed after the cloud to stop it. Back in World B some of the Warrior’s of Cosmos stared to regroup and they even started to form teams of their very own. Zidane met Bartz in the World of Darkness. "That battle was intense." Zidane said. "It was, but the one thing I can’t understand is, what was the deal with those horses on Chaos’s side?" They both had trouble trying to understand how two, really cute and innocent looking animals would join an army bent on world destruction. "Maybe they’re just confused, You know I’m pretty good with animals. Maybe I can convince them to leave." "I hope so." Zidane said. "During the battle they seemed very strong." They’re chatter was cut short then they heard buzzing. They paused and Zidane drew his daggers and Bartz made a holy sphere appear in his right hand. They tensed up as the buzzing sound was heard behind them. They turned around and found nothing. They scanned the whole area and found nothing but darkness and blue columns in every direction. "What do you think it is?" Zidane whispered. "An agent of Chaos?" Bartz guessed. The buzzing was heard above them they looked up and found nothing. Then to the right, then the buzzing started occurring in every direction. They frantically looked around and still found nothing. Bartz felt bold, he and Zidane both knew they were being watched, but by what they didn’t know. "Alright!" Bartz called out. "We know your there! Why don’t you stop being cowards and fight us!" Then the buzzing got louder and louder from behind, sounding that whatever the source of it was, was coming at them from behind. Zidane quickly jumped backwards and he threw his daggers at the source and instantly killed it. Bartz was shocked and Zidane was surprised at what they saw. It twitched a couple times before it died completely. This creature looked similar to Chrysalis, however it had abysmal green eyes, it also appeared to be a lesser version of her. This was one of her minions, a Changeling. "A horse shaped bug?" Bartz observed. "I’m not sure, but I could tell this creature wanted to hurt us, so whatever it is, it must be a minion for Chaos." Unfortunately unlike the manikins, the changeling looked more alive. The two stared at it and began to feel a little sorry for it. Unfortunately the buzzing didn’t stop. Zidane stood up and readied his weapons and looked around. "Guess that was a little too easy." Bartz cringed. "It’s not alone." Then they gasped as a group of twenty changelings appeared in front of them. "Guess we need to take it up a notch." Bartz said cracking his knuckles. "Let’s just see what they got." Zidane said staring them down with a confident look. Bartz threw six holy spheres at the changelings and three changelings flew up and fried blades at the two rapidly, the attack deflected the holy spheres away. The two gasped and ran to hide behind a column, which did a good job shielding them from the blades. "Haven’t we seen that attack somewhere before?" Zidane asked. Bartz knew where the attack was from. "Yeah, one of the warriors of Chaos was using it in the battle before. I guess these guys can mimic powers just like me." "Ok so these things have the combined powers of the Warriors of Chaos and there’s a lot of them." Zidane declared. Unfortunately the blades began to crack and break the column. The two noticed that their protection was about to be destroyed. "Guess it’s time for some fun." Zidane called. He put on a smile and Bartz made Cecil’s dark sword appear in his hand. Zidane connected the two handels of his daggers together making it into one long duel bladed weapon. Once the column collapsed Zidane raised his weapon over his head and began spinning it very fast over his head. Bartz made a dark flame appear at the end of the blade and raised it upwards and got ready to slam it into the ground. "This is it!" And a small vortex of blue energy surrounded Zidane and it began to pull the changelings to him. "FLY AWAAAAAY!" "Burn!" Bartz called, and he slammed the flame into the ground and a large black flame flew towards the changelings. The changelings that couldn’t get away from Zidane and they got electrocuted, they were left paralyzed. While Bartz’s dark flame burned all the changelings in its path as it went to the center of the horde. The flame exploded and sent the changelings flying in all directions. The changelings that were still able to fly regained themselves and retreated. "You were right." Bartz said to Zidane. The thief looked at him and he grinned. "It appears that Chaos has a new type of minion on his side, other than the manikins." "These ones are strange, obiviously those two horses have something to do with this, these enemies….I can’t find the right words but, they’re something else entirely, not like the manikins." Bartz agreed. "Right, these ones are more alive, and independent rather than the manikins, who appear to be lifeless automatons." Zidane was hit with an idea. "You think the others encountered these to?" "Maybe, but we shouldn't worry, these things are powerful, but not hard to defeat. Then the two continued through the World of Darkness. At the Edge of Madness Discord was brought before Chaos. "Hmmm….it’s been long since I’ve been brought to this land." Discord thought. He stared at the evil god in the face as he sat with his hands crossed, along with his guard Garland standing at his side. "Go back to Equestria, it’s almost time for you to strike." Chaos ordered Cloud of Darkness, she nodded and vanished. "So you’ve finally opened your eyes to us Discord." Garland said. "I have." He smiled at Chaos. "Well, god of discord. You wish for me to serve you?" "I freed you from your prison, you will repay me by serving me." Chaos said staring the creature down. Discord frowned. "Now, now, that’s no way to ask me to do you a favor. You could try and say please." "Insolence!" Garland snapped. "You dare disrespect your master!?" Discord vanished and reappeared slinking his serpent like body around Garland’s body. He tensed up as Discord was violating his personal space. "I just want to see if you guys have any good manners, after all it’s not so fun when someone is rude to you like this isn’t it?" Discord was using what he was doing to Garland as an example. He vanished from Garland’s body and reappeared on the top of Chaos’s throne. Chaos growled at the creature. "You will show me respect or I will deal with you personally." "You want me to pledge my allegiance to you?" Discord questioned. "I gave you power to break you free, I can easily take it away and seal you again." Chaos growled. "Oh I don’t think so." Discord smirked. "I’m the spirit of chaos, and I will not be insulted by any one of you." He pointed to Chaos and to Garland. Garland readied his weapon and stared at the creature. "You ungrateful snake!" Garland snapped. "I will teach you some respect! If you will not show respect to your god then I will force it out of you!" Discord growled and began to rant in his mind. "I will not be underfoot to this false idol. The god of discord? That title should belong to me!" "How could this creature serve us in the past?" Garland thought. "It has no place in our ranks!" He readied his weapon. "You wretched worm! You come here and insult us? After we saved your life!? Chaos, I will dispatch of this monster for you!" "Do it!" Chaos growled. "Oh dear was it something I said?" Discord said trying to sound innocent. "Prepare to die you imposter of chaos!" Garland said. He charged at Discord and the creature just smirked. "Rrrraaagghh!" Garland roared as he swung his weapon at him. Once the weapon made contact with Discord he instantly vanished into a puff of smoke. "Temper temper Garland." Discord said. Garland turned for he reappeared behind him, it appeared that Garland failed to damage him. "Do you always fight with anger?" "Don’t mock me!" Garland yelled. Chaos watched as he growled in displeasure. Garland charged at him again he raised his weapon upward to smash Discord down into the ground. Discord smirked again he was attempting to vanish again but Garland anticipated that and quickly reached into his weapon and pulled out a second smaller one that was concealed inside his oversized weapon. Discord didn’t see it coming so Garland successfully impaled the creature. Discord coughed and gagged, as his dark red blood slid down his weapon. He collapsed on Garland’s weapon dead. "Ha! To easy!" Garland laughed, he turned towards Chaos and roared in rage. Discord reappeared relaxing calmly on top of Chaos’s throne high above the God of Discord’s head. "Impossible!" Garland shouted. He looked at his weapon and the dead Discord woke back up alive and well. Garland and Chaos looked up and saw that Discord must have cloned himself, there were two of him. The dead Discord ran his finger on the weapon and picked up his blood and licked it up. "Mmmm. Raspberry jam!" The dead Discord vanished off of Garland’s weapon. They turned their attention to the Discord sitting on top of Chaos’s throne. "As much as I love watching you flail about, now’s the time to show you my powers!" He looked down to Chaos. "You’ll regret giving me your divine energy." Discord flashed down next to Garland and swung his tail at him and knocked Garland and he slid across the ground. Garland glowed bright red and shot out his arms and several large flames flew across the air and flew at Discord. "TO ASH!" The flames struck Discord and he instantly vanished in a puff of smoke again. Garland wasn’t going to be fooled again. "Enough tricks, show yourself!" "Up here!" Discord called. Garland looked up and saw Discord riding one of the giant fireballs that constantly fell from the red sky in the land of discord, like a horse while waving around a Stetson like a wild cowboy. "YEEEEEHAW!" Then the head of the fireball morphed into Discord’s face. "Air Discord coming right at you!" The fireball crashed into Garland damaging him. A bright flash covered the whole area. Chaos raised two of his arms and shielded himself. "AAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" The flash cleared and Discord stared at his opponent. Garland was stunned and smoldering, but was still standing. Discord was amazed at Garland’s determination. Garland retook his stance. "All right! Enough! It’s clear I must call upon the powers of true Chaos to defeat you! You’re not the only one with divine energy in them!" He placed the smaller weapon back inside his larger weapon and raised it above his head. Chaos roared and his eyes glowed and Garland’s armor changed to pure white. The glow blinded Discord and Garland took the opportunity to smash Discord with his weapon. "Warrior’s soul!" He started to build up power and Discord looked in awe as energy began to collect on Garland’s body." Know your Limits!" "The Experience Burst!" Discord said in disbelief. Unfortunately Discord couldn’t react in time when Garland flew at Discord with incredible speed. His weapon glowed brightly with divine energy as Garland smashed Discord upwards and Garland quickly separated his two weapons and engulfed them in fire. He threw them at Discord damaging him. Then Garland flew and quickly retrieved his two weapons and combined them into one. He then made it into a hammer and smashed Discord twice with it. "Miserable insect!" Then with one mighty swing Garland smashed Discord and the divine energy exploded on him. Discord was bruised and had several scratches and burn patches all over his body but he was left lying on the ground as he saw Garland charging at him attempting to finish him off. He finally decided to end the battle. "Fine! Fine! You win!" "Hmph. Know your place creature. We will do whatever it takes to keep you in line." Chaos stared the creature down. "Do not make the mistake of assuming we already trust you, because you’re sorely mistaken." "Right." Discord sighed in defeat. "I shall severe you my master, I hope you will forgive me for my rudeness." Discord bowed as he made flowers and a heart shaped box of chocolates appear in his arms. He offered them to the god. "Your loyalty is only one thing we need for now." Garland said. "Right now we need to see how useful your skills are to serve us." There was a long pause as the two began bringing the creature up to speed. "Ah I see, Equestria serves no purpose now and you wish to punish the residents for defying Chaos, however the six friends who wield the Elements of Harmony and Cosmos’s knight has befriended them and they’ve been constantly getting in your way." "Don’t disrespect us!" Garland shouted. "We almost obliterated Equestria, that is if Cosmos had not granted them her powers." "Oh you poor saps." Discord sighed. "You’ve been going at this all wrong." "Oh and you know how to beat them?" Chaos questioned. "It’s obivious isn’t it?" Discord said. "Their power is their friendship. What if it strained? Even if only a little." "You fool!" Garland shouted. "You think we don’t know that? We’ve been watching them for a very long time." Discord decided to explain what truly needs to be done if Chaos wants to destroy Equestria. "Yes but you’ve been too focused on overpowering them. You must break their bond and see to it that they can’t team up and even if they did, the Elements of Harmony would be rendered useless." Chaos laughed. "You are indeed brilliant, but there’s one thing that you’ve overlooked. The warrior who stands by their side. You think you can stop him?" Discord smirked. "I don’t think I’ll have to, you see, he could very well join us, I could dwindle Cosmos’s numbers and make ours stronger!" Chaos laughed. "Hmhmhmhmhmmmm so, you really think you can break their bond?" Discord smirked. "It won’t be hard I have the power to do it. He raised his hands and they glowed with dark magic." "Very well." Chaos said. "Go and make those ponies vulnerable." Garland smiled. "Once you do, they’ll be helpless and then we will make them pay for what they’ve done to us, in BLOOD!" Discord gave them an evil smile and left Chaos’s throne and returned to Equestria. "Let’s see if he truly can be trusted." Garland said. "Yes, our spy will keep a close eye on him." Chaos assured. Back in Ponyville Rainbow Dash chased the pink cloud around until she arrived at Ponyville Square unfortunately she lost it as it moved to the side and hid in a treetop. Rainbow Dash stopped and looked around to find the cloud but couldn’t find it. Then all of a sudden the cloud zipped past Rainbow Dash bumping into her causing to her to spin. Once she regained herself she growled. "Come back here you!" She began to pursue the cloud. She chased it until she got closer, and closer, and finally she caught it. "Gotcha!" However instead of her just breaking through the cloud she got caught in it. It appeared the cloud was made of a super sticky substance, this was no ordinary cloud. "Eww, what is this?" Rainbow Dash eyed the substance a little more closely and decided to taste test it. It tasted sweet with a flossy texture. Rainbow Dash figured out what the cloud was made of and was shocked. "Cotton candy!?" Then the cloud broke up into smaller pieces and flew around Rainbow Dash like crazy, then one piece hovered above her head and leaked a brown raindrop on her head. She felt it and looked up at the cloud in great confusion. "Wait a second! It's not supposed to rain until tomorrow. You can't just–" Then the cloud began to rain a full storm on her head. "You did." Rainbow Dash sighed exasperatedly while crossing her hooves. Later at Sweet Apple Acres Applejack was working harvesting corn "Hey, I didn't tell you to go anywhere!" Rainbow Dash shouted, as she chased the pink cloud over her head. Then the cloud expanded and began to rain a new brown substance all over the farm. Applejack Began to worry this type of rain was definitely out of the ordinary, what if it ruined her family’s crops? Applejack tasted the drops and it had a chocolaty, sweet, dairy like flavor to it. "Rainbow Dash!" Applejack called out she was greatly confused was it rain? Was it Chocolate milk? "What's going on with this rain? I mean chocolate milk? I mean chocolate milk rain?!" Rainbow Dash flew down to give the orange pony an explanation. "There's crazy weather all over Equestria! Cloudsdale is getting soaked by a major cola storm right now! But don't worry. I'm not leaving you until I get control of Ponyville!" Then all the corn in the farm started popping, covering the whole area in popcorn. The others stepped out of the house to see what was going on after working to reintroduce Warrior to Granny Smith, Big Macintosh, and Applebloom. They were also confused by the crazy weather. "I’ll be back!" Twilight said. "I’m going to find a spell at my Library to fix all of this." Twilight left with Spike. Warrior looked around and had to agree, that no matter how strange this world seemed, this was no work of some otherworldly nature. Pinkie Pie eyed the landscape with hungry eyes. She dove right into the popcorn ocean and began devouring it and slurping up any chocolate milk she caught in her mouth. "Why would you wanna stop this?" Rarity was the last to step out after putting on a purple raincoat and folding out a purple umbrella she walked slowly to avoid any puddles. She smiled and approached Applejack. "Ahem. I heard about your troubles, Applejack, and I came to see if there's anything I can do without getting wet. Or dirty. Or out from under my umbrella." Warrior approached the orange pony and placed his hand on her back. She smiled to him. "Maybe Cosmos can fix this." Warrior assured. "I shall as for her assistance." He dropped to his knees and started praying. Unfortunately this strange phenomenon began to affect the apples in the trees, they started to change colors and grow to abnormal sizes. Then all the small woodland creatures all crawled up the trees and began to eat the apples. Applejack began to panic. "Fluttershy do something!" Fluttershy hid behind a tree as she eyed her friend Angel munching on an apple. "Now, Angel, you really shouldn't–" Then it appeared the apple had an effect on Angel. His four rabbit legs grew long and of horse structure and his feet changed to hooves. "No! It's not possible! I must be seeing things!" Then a whole bunch of animals that had horse legs walked pass her. Twilight returned with a spell book and with Spike at her side. Warrior saw the chaos and felt shocked, so shocked that he stopped his prayers. Twilight spoke proudly. "Don't worry, everyone. I've learned a new spell that'll fix everything." She focused her magic and the tip of her horn began to glow a big white ball and it spread out throughout the land. Unfortunately when the magic cleared, it had no effect. The animals were still disfigured and the chocolate rain was still falling. Twilight was stunned that her knowledge did pull through for her. "My fail-safe spell... failed." She turned to Spike. "What do we do?" Rainbow Dash caught another one of the pink clouds and got stuck in the stickiness of its cotton candy structure. "Uh, give up?" Spike suggested Twilight glared at him. "Spike, Twilight will come up with something." Rarity assured. She used her unicorn powers and placed her umbrella on Twilight’s back, Rarity didn’t mind since she was already wearing a rain hat. Warrior was confused, didn’t Rarity say she didn’t want to get out from under her umbrella? Twilight pondered something. "Time for plan B." She would have to try and fix this the hard way. She smiled and turned her attention to Rainbow Dash. "Rainbow, can you corral all those clouds in one corner of the sky?" Rainbow Dash smiled and shook off the cotton candy and saluted her and flew away and started rounding up all the pink clouds in a giant clump. Pinkie Pie rose up when she noticed the cloud raining the chocolate milk above her suddenly stopped. "Applejack, I need you to bring those high-strung storm clouds down to Earth." Rainbow Dash mashed all the clouds into one giant cloud and Pinkie Pie instantly came under it and began to swallow the rain as it poured into her mouth. Applejack took out her trusty lasso under her hat and swung it around and caught the cloud and pulled it to the ground. Pinkie Pie noticed that the rain stopped pouring into her mouth and growled. "Hey what happened?" Twilight began whispering in Fluttershy’s ear. Fluttershy gasped happily and began to pretend to be hiding something as she announced to the small animals. "Oh dear. I hope none of the animals see these delicious chocolate-filled cotton candy clouds. I'd hate to have to share them." Applejack tied the cloud down to a fence and Pinkie Pie threw her head into the cloud and began devouring it. Pinkie Pie heard Fluttershy’s fake announcement and pulled her head out of the cloud with chocolate dripping from her lips as she smiled at her. "You and me both, sister! Then all the animals stormed at the cloud and began eating it. Hey!" Applejack smiled and made an offer to the animals. "And when y'all are done with that, feel free to have some popcorn for dessert." Twilight felt happy for proving Spike wrong about giving up. "You see, Spike? You should never give up. There's nothing we can't overcome if we all work together." Warrior’s head started to hurt after seeing them work together to solve this problem. Perhaps some old memories were trying to awaken. It quickly ended and Warrior eyed the pink cloud suspiciously. "What is it?" Applejack asked him. "Something doesn’t make sense, this couldn’t be the work of dark magic….but at the same time I feel that it is." The mares gathered around Warrior. He took out his sword and sliced off a piece of the cloud and had his sword glowing with holy radiance, he touched it with his sword, the cloud turned black and rotted into a black slime. The ponies grimaced, a couple had to cover their mouth to avoid vomiting in disgust. "But it tasted and felt so real!" Pinkie Pie said. Spike began making gagging noises and he burped up a scroll from Princess Celestia. Twilight unrolled it and began to read it to herself. She gasped in horror. "Come on, girls. Princess Celestia wants to see us all in Canterlot immediately! Even you Warrior! Spike stay at the library where it’s safe!" "What did she say?" Warrior asked. Twilight gulped and said. "An ancient evil has returned." Warrior furrowed his eyebrows. The team immediately departed for Canterlot with great haste. Spike still wanted no part of any danger so he stayed in the Library. Once they all arrived they were immediately brought to Princess Celestia. They rushed straight through the door to the throne. "Princess Celestia, we came as fast as we could!" Twilight said. The princess smiled at everyone. "Thank you, Twilight. Thank you, all." She saw Warrior alive and well again and smiled warmly. She was ecstatic to see that Warrior really did return to live again. "Nice to see you again, Warrior of Light. I’m so happy to see you alive once more." Warrior knelt before the princess but he had a confused look on his face. Celestia saw it and knew something was far from right with him. Warrior felt more and more stressed about the subject of not remembering why the ponies of Equestria already knew him, but did his best to hide it. Along the way to the Castle and even earlier when he walked to the Library, several ponies he passed said ‘Hello Warrior!’ to him. That just irritated Warrior, but he was polite enough to say hello back. Twilight was the most worried out of all the others, and also wanted to get to the bottom of the strange atmosphere faster than anyone else. "Is this about the weather? And the animals' weird behavior? What's happening out there? Why isn't my magic working? Is there–" Princess Celestia raised her hoof to silence the unicorn. "Fallow me." she said. She led the team to a tower in the Castle’s left wing. It had a long corridor with a large red carpet that stretched to the other side. Along the sides, were stain glass windows that told past stories of Equestria’s history. Warrior stared at one in particular, a window that had him standing in the back of the six mares in the formation they do when they activate the power within their Elements of Harmony. Warrior himself was standing with his sword in front of his face with his eyes closed, his signature victory pose. Warrior then understood that he really did cement a legacy of some sort in this world. This was created after they freed Celestia from Ultimecia’s hold. Twilight saw that Warrior was stunned by this sight she nudged the others and they saw it too. Warrior stood still staring at the window. Celestia walked up next to Twilight. She understood what was happening, but needed to be sure. "Does he not remember anything?" Celestia whispered to Twilight. Twilight was taken back how she knew what happened to him after he came back to life. "Yes, as a matter of fact. Everything that we’ve done together, he remembers nothing." The other mares joined in to whisper to. "We even had to reintroduce ourselves to him." Applejack added. "We were told he may remember some things, but we’ll need to give it time, and also be prepared that some things he may never remember." Rainbow Dash said. "But it looks like he remembers the feelings of friendship we all shared." Pinkie Pie said. "So it’s true." Celestia thought. "The greater debt that’s paid in this war beyond even death." Celestia cleared her throat loudly and that caught Warrior’s attention. "Sorry Lady Celestia." Warrior said nodding his head. He rejoined the others and Celestia lead them further down the corridor. "I've called you here for a matter of great importance. It seems an old foe of mine, someone I thought I had defeated long ago, has returned. His name... is Discord." "What!?" Warrior shouted in disbelief. Fluttershy saw another stain glass window that had the portrait of the disfigured creature in it. She squealed in fear and joined the others. "A creature who’s name is the same as the god I’m trying to defeat?" Celestia continued to explain who the creature is. "Discord is the mischievous spirit of disharmony. Before my sister and I stood up to him, he ruled Equestria in an eternal state of unrest and unhappiness. Luna and I saw how miserable life was for Earth ponies, Pegasi, and unicorns alike, so after discovering the Elements of Harmony, we combined our powers and rose up against him, turning him to stone." Warrior thought of something. "If he ruled this world in the past, he must be pretty dangerous…then if he’s been given the power of Chaos, then he must be even more dangerous than before." "All right Princess!" Rainbow Dash cheered. Celestia sighed. "I thought the spell we cast would keep him contained forever, Luna and I are no longer connected to the Elements, and we knew that wouldn’t be enough to undo the spell. Unfortunately we fear that Warrior’s theory is correct. The God of Discord had given him his divine energy, thus he was able to break free from his prison." "Grrr." Applejack growled. "I’ve just about had it with that Chaos feller!" Warrior nodded to the earth pony. "Your courage and determination is admirable." Applejack blushed slightly and bowed her Stetson to him. They reached to the end of the corridor which was a golden door with a silver alicorn carved into it. The door had six colored triangles painted on it, blue, purple, and pink, arranged in a specific pattern. It also had a gold sun in the center of the door, with a small hole in the center. Princess Celestia gave them a serious look. "This is Canterlot Tower, where the Elements are kept inside since all of you recovered them. I had to increase security on them after the Emperor attacked. I need you to wield the Elements of Harmony once again and stop Discord before he thrusts all of Equestria into eternal chaos. Warrior of Light we will need your powers of light, and Cosmos’s diving power if we are to have any guaranteed success." Twilight looked concerned. "But why us?" "Hey look! We’re famouse!" Pinkie Pie called. "Even more than we already are!" Pinkie Pie pointed to a stain glass window which depicted the tale of when the Mane Six defeated Nightmare Moon. "You six showed the full potential of the Elements by harnessing the magic of your friendship to beat a mighty foe. Although Luna and I once wielded the Elements, it is you who now control their power, and it is you who must defeat Discord!" Warrior knelt before Celestia while the mare’s jaw drop and gave concerned looks to each other. Twilight then gave the princess a serious look. "Princess Celestia, as Cosmos’s newest warriors, you can count on–" There was something about this situation that Pinkie Pie didn’t like about saving Equestria from Chaos. "Hold on a second! Eternal chaos comes with chocolate rain, you guys. Chocolate rain!" "Pinkie Pie." Warrior grumbled. "If we don’t stop this creature, then there will be more than chocolate rain, there will be fires, all over this land! Remember, he has allies! Pinkie Pie hung her head in sadness." Twilight smiled to Princess Celestia. "We'd be honored to use the Elements of Harmony again princess." Celestia smiled as she stuck her horn into the hole on the door. She sent magic into the hole and it went through all the lines and cracks in the door. Slowly the door opened it revealed a royal blue chest covered in large jewels. Rarity couldn’t take her eyes off it. "Ooh. You can keep the Elements. I'll take that case!" Celestia used her unicorn powers and moved the box to the mares. "Have no fear, ponies. I have total confidence that you will be able to defeat Discord with these!" She opened the box and to everyone’s surprise. The box was empty. The group stood shocked for a little bit until Pinkie Pie broke the silence. "Oh, well. If anyone needs me, I'll be outside in the chocolate puddles with a giant swizzle straw." Warrior moved towards the pink pony who was attempting to leave, but he pulled her by the mane back to the group. "Hey! what are you-" "First you defeat the enemy, then you celebrate!" Warrior said sternly, Pinkie Pie sighed with heavy sadness. Warrior felt the sting of regret, he sighed and explained why he’s being so hard on them. "If you are to serve Cosmos you must have discipline!" The mares sighed with great sadness, Warrior really had changed. "The Elements! They’re gone!" Twilight cried. Princess Celestia trotted up and down the floor with a worried look on her face. "That chamber is protected by a powerful spell that only I can break! I had it installed after the Emperor’s invasion. This doesn't make sense!" Just then the voice of the culprit, filled the air. Hahahahah. "Make sense? Oh, what fun is there in making sense?" The ponies cringed at the sound and Warrior tensed up. "Discord!" Celestia shouted in to the air. "Show yourself!" Discord kept chuckling. Then one of images of Discord on one of the stain glass portraits came to life and started talking. "Did you miss me, Celestia? I missed you. It's quite lonely being encased in stone, but you wouldn't know that, would you, because I don't turn ponies into stone." He moved to a different portrait and sat on a pony’s head, and then rapped his fist on it. "Enough!" Celestia snapped. "What have you done with the Elements of Harmony?" "Oh, I just borrowed them for a teensy little while." Discord said. He snapped his finger and in a portrait that had the elements within them, vanished. Symbolizing that they’re gone now. "You'll never get away with this, Discord!" Celestia snapped. Discord sighed. "Oh, I'd forgotten how grim you can be, Celestia. It's really quite boring." Rainbow Dash was the first to stand up. "Hey! Nopony insults the Princess!" She dashed toward the portrait and discord vanished before she could slam into him. Rainbow Dash ended up slamming her face into the portrait instead. Discord reappeared in the portrait and smiled at the pegasus. "Oh, you must be Rainbow Dash, famed for her loyalty, the Element of Harmony you represent." "That's right! I'll always be loyal to the Princess!" Discord rolled his eyes. "We'll see about that." Rarity scoffed. "I can't believe we're wasting our time talking to a tacky window." Discord vanished and reappeared in the portrait closest to Rarity. "The beautiful Rarity, representing the element of generosity, if I'm not mistaken?" Applejack was annoyed. "So you know who we are, big deal." "Oh, I know much more than that, honest Applejack." Discord grew to the size of the whole portrait. Twilight tensed up at this creature’s knowledge. "You seem to know our strengths too." Discord vanished and reappeared in the portrait were the ponies defeated Nightmare Moon. "Yes, Twilight Sparkle, and yours is the most powerful and elusive element, magic." He continued to point out the other pony’s strengths to. "Fluttershy's is kindness and Pinkie Pie's is a personal favorite of mine – laughter." Pinkie Pie started giggling when Discord started dancing on Twilight’s head in the portrait. "Pinkie!" Twilight cried. "He's standing on your head!" Pinkie Pie laughed. Discord finally turned his attention to the knight and decided to play with him for a little bit. "And of course, how could I forget. Equestria’s bravest, strongest and dare I say, most charming hero! The Warrior of Light!" Warrior furrowed his eyebrows at the creature. He didn’t know what exactly he was talking about but it was clearly evident that he knew who he was. Discord smirked when he saw Warrior’s look. "Oh I’m sorry, I must not have heard. You don’t remember anything do you?" Warrior gritted his teeth. This creature was doing a great job at getting under his skin. "I also happen to know that you’re the leader of the warriors for the goddess of harmony, Cosmos! You know it really is your bravery that makes you so famous in this world!" "Shut up!" Warrior shouted. The mares gave Warrior a concerned look. Applejack trotted up to Warrior and nudged his arm with her muzzle. Warrior looked down at her and she smiled at him. "This fellas just trying to get you worked up." Applejack assured. Warrior started to calm down and he nodded to the pony. "Thank you Applejack." He turned his attention back to Discord. "You seem to know me and Cosmos, so you also must know about the War. You were in prison, tell me did Chaos set you free?" Discord laughed at Warrior. "How’d you guess? Yes, I serve the God of Discord and will work with the warriors of Chaos to plunge this world into darkness!" Discord began to scheme something. "At least that’s what he believes." "Not if I can help it!" Warrior shouted. "Stop stalling, Discord! What have you done with the Elements of Harmony?" Celestia yelled. "Oh, so boring, Celestia. Really? Fine, I'll tell you, but I'll only tell you my way." The ponies grew angry as Discord began to speak in a riddle. He vanished and reappeared in several windows. "To retrieve your missing Elements, just make sense of this change of events. Twists and turns are my master plan. Then find the Elements back where you began." He vanished completely leaving only his laughter. Fluttershy was shaking hard. "Can we go home now?" she begged. Applejack put some thought into the riddle. "What do you reckon he meant? Twists and turns and ending back where we started?" Twilight gave the riddle some thought. "Twists and turns... twists and turns... twists and turns!" She trotted to the window and saw the castle hedge maze. "That's it! I bet Discord hid the Elements in the palace labyrinth!" Princess Celestia smiled at them. "Good luck, my little ponies. The fate of Equestria is in your hooves." She walked up to each of them and tapped their shoulders with her horn as f she were knighting them. She smiled at Warrior, he knelt and Princess Celestia knighted him to. She leaned in to him and gave him a motherly smile. "Don’t worry Warrior, we all care about you very much. Stay with these ponies and maybe you can understand who you are to us better." Warrior sighed and started to feel warm inside when the ponies all gathered around him and smiled. "Thanks, Princess. We won't let you down." Twilight said to her. The team rose and walked out of the Castle and walked towards the labyrinth. The mares all walked slowly behind Warrior and waited until there was some distance between them. Then they all bunched together and talked amongst themselves. "I don’t understand what’s happening with Warrior’s attitude." Rainbow Dash said. "He’s changed completely." Fluttershy said. "I think I may understand what’s wrong." Twilight said. "Don’t you see? We found Warrior abandoned and unconscious in the fields near Ponyville. He was lost and confused and we weren’t Warrior’s of Cosmos at the time. Now, we’re talking to him as if we already knew who he was, not only that he now sees us as his comrades. So things are different now." "This is so depressing." Applejack sighed. "I wish he could just be the old Warrior, that I like." The mares sighed in unison letting everypony know that they all agree. "Twilight! Everyone!" Warrior called. The ponies snapped out of their thoughts and galloped over to Warrior. Sometime later the group arrived at the hedge maze. They stared at the grand archway entrance. Surrounded by golden flagpoles, with orange and pink flags. "W-We have to go in there?" Fluttershy whimpered, she began to shiver. Rainbow Dash looked bold and trotted up in front of the group. "Nope! Dopey Discord forgot about these babies!" Rainbow Dash said boastfully, she presented her wings her wings and smiled. "I'll just do a quick flyover and we'll have the Elements in no time." She raised and attempted to fly over the maze but while she was halfway in the air when he wings flashed and mysteriously vanished from her body. Rainbow Dash fell and hit the ground hard. She saw her bare back and shrieked. "My wings!" Then Fluttershy shrieked as her wings vanished to, then both Rarity and Twilight’s horns vanished from their heads. "Your horn!" The hornless unicorns said in unison. "My Horn! AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" "What foul devilry is this!?" Warrior shouted, as he gazed upon the mares that were just striped of their natural abilities. Then right in front of the entrance Discord appeared in flash of green light. He laughed manically as lightning struck around him. "You should see the looks on your faces. Priceless!" "Give us our wings and horns back!" Twilight demanded. Warrior drew his sword and pointed it at the creature, and gave him a heated stare. "Return their wings and horns or I’ll gladly remove yours!" "Oh Warrior, you really need to control that temper of yours." Discord mocked. "Remember I know where the elements are, and you’re in no position to make any attempts to kill me. Besides , if you kill me you’ll never get the wings and horns back." Warrior grumbled and lowered his sword. Discord vanished and reappeared and nudged Applejack’s side. "You'll get them back in good time. I simply took them to ensure there's no cheating. You see, this is the first rule of our game: no flying, and no magic." He slithered around the group, and ran his paw finger around Twilight's face. Violating her personal space. "Which reminds me." He snapped his fingers and Warrior’s item bag vanished. "Gah! Return my items NOW!" Warrior screamed. "You really could benefit from anger management." Discord mocked again. "Besides what did I tell you about your temper? Just feel lucky I let you keep your precious sword and shield. Just remember I can’t give you special treatment just because your human. Your mystical items, like your colored fangs are not allowed in the game!" "That’s the first rule?" Rainbow Dash said in disbelief, there’s more than one rule they must fallow. Discord slithered and sat on a hedge behind the blue pony. "The second rule is everypony, even Warrior, has to play or the game is over, and I win." He tapped his fingers together excitedly. "Good luck, everypony, and Warrior of Light! HAHAHAHAHAHA!" He vanished, and the mares looked at each other with worried looks. "Never fear. We have each other!" Twilight said. "Yeah!" Rainbow Dash cheered. "Like Twilight said, there's nothing we can't overcome if we all stick together!" Warrior started to feel at a warm familiarity in that speech. As if he knew they were telling the truth about being there for each other. The group all marched towards the entrance and stared down the maze. Twilight put on a determined face and the others did the same. "All right, let's do this!" "Together!" They all said in unison. They all took one step into the maze then a giant hedge cut off the rear exit and then several more hedges popped up in between each of them separating them from each other. They all shouted in fear. "Stay calm, girls!" Twilight said loudly to everyone. "Everypony head to the middle as fast as you can, and we'll regroup there!" Each of them weren’t phased by being separated. "Moving out!" "See you in the center! "Yee-haw!" "See you guys there!" "Be strong I will find you!" Everyone was unphased, except Fluttershy. She was hyperventilating as the group spread out to search the maze. "What's that? Who's there? Girls! Warrior!" Warrior marched around, going by corners and maneuvering the twist and turns. "This forest is like a temple." He thought to himself. "I hope I don’t have to hunt down four ghosts for four flames." Warrior paused and blinked for a moment before moving onward. But since he was alone it did give him a chance to think about the previous events that took place between himself and the ponies of Equestria. Warrior understood that the ponies and himself knew each other, even were close friends, but the one thing he couldn’t take was the idea of all the residents felt as if he was their savior of some sort. How a lot of them admired him for his bravery. Warrior sighed, this was hard for him to take in at one time. Being the leader of a small batch of soldiers and protector of Goddess was one thing, but…if he was to take such titles then maybe he has no choice but to go with it, he hoped Cosmos wouldn’t give him more than his shoulders could handel….but, this piled onto the fact that he still has no idea who he really was just made him feel worse about his own existence. Warrior then saw something glowing from to his right and saw a big stone pedestal. In the center of it he saw a stone tablet. He approached it and read the inscription on it. "Inscribe your name and a reward shall be yours!" Warrior saw this and gritted his teeth. He took the tablet and slammed it on the ground and stomped on it until it was a shattered mess. "My my, what did that poor tablet ever do to you?" The voice of Discord said. He appeared in a bright flash right behind him. Warrior didn’t bother to turn and face him. "I know you’re behind this." Warrior stated. "I understand you’re trying to get me worked up, but what I cannot comprehend is the fact that you know so much about me." Discord smiled and he moved closer to Warrior. "You know, when I said your courage is what makes you so loved in this world, I was telling you the truth. You see, you can be and do the things that these ponies can’t do." Warrior both did and didn’t understand what he meant by that, he knew that being both a human and a soldier, meant that the things he could do that the ponies couldn’t do due to their nature. But it was clear his comrades haven’t been to this world either, because why would they only admire him for this? His allies could easily do these things that he did, maybe even better. Warrior gave discord as fierce stare "It’s my duty to protect this world from the scum of Chaos such as you! I believe Twilight and the others when they say we’ve done so before! I will continue to do so, and I will bring you down. If my bravery makes me a martyr in this world, then I’ll use it and become a shining example against you!" Discord scoffed and floated up in the air. "So, you think, you have what it takes to protect this world from the forces of Chaos?" Discord asked Warrior as he began circling Warrior’s head in the air. Warrior avoided making eye contact with him, he continued to stare forward without looking at him. "I know I will, it is the will of Cosmos. I will summon all the valor needed to do so." "Really?" Discord mocked. "Because I know that you have no Idea who you are!" Warrior sneered. So what if you know that!? He snapped harshly. "I don’t need your approval to fight!" "Oh but I can see that you have a great deal of fear! It shines like the sun in your eyes!" Discord continued to mock. Warrior closed his eyes. "Try as you might I do not fear you!" Warrior countered. "How nice, this means I can tell you about what you truly fear." Discord laughed. "You will not distill me!" Warrior said with confidence. "Really?" Discord asked. "Not even the fact that compared to your allies, you have nothing. The little things that everyone takes for granted, a warm home, family, friends, happy and sad memories, or even a name. You have none of it." Warrior shut his eyes and said nothing. Warrior wanted to deny it but, what could he say, Discord was telling him the truth, a truth he hated hearing. The one thing that tortured him that he never told anyone, you know that you have no past, you fear that without one, you’re not a person, you’re not a being, you’re nothing. Warrior gritted his teeth. "So what!?" Warrior shouted at the top of his voice. "I have a purpose as long as I fight for Cosmos." "Your bravery is as loud as an opera." Discord mocked. "But I know you’re just using it to mask your fear. You believe you have a reason for your existence standing by Cosmos. But let’s face it, that’s what scares you also, if this war comes to an end. What will you do then?" Warrior failed to come up with an answer. "See your just dust in the wind. If you disappeared, or died no one would care or even know you were ever alive to begin with." The venom in Discord's words stung him hard. "STOP IT!" Warrior screamed, as he clutched his head. "Oh Warrior." Discord said sympathetically. "Don’t be upset. What if I told you there were some who have the answers you seek?" Warrior heard that and it really spoke to him. Warrior opened his eyes and started to calm down. Discord’s words were strange, almost felt hypnotic. Warrior began to fall under some sort of spell. "You know who I am?" Warrior asked. "All you have to do is quit playing my game, leave Cosmos and join with Chaos. Once then, I’ll tell you everything you want to know." "Join you and get the answers I want?" Warrior thought. Discord held a finger on his claw hand above Warrior’s head. He was getting ready to corrupt him. "Yes, cast aside the light. Become the Warrior of Darkness!" Warrior paused, he really wanted the answers he to his life. But he remembered that he made pacts and promises, should he abandon them to fulfill his heart? "You need some help making that decision?" Discord said. "Let me help you." His finger touched his head and he began to work dark magic on Warrior’s mind. Discord peered into his soul, a blank area of nothing but gray his mind and heart shining in a distant area inside the nothingness. He got ready to take hold of Warrior’s mind that is, until a familiar Goddess appeared in front of him stopping Discord in his tracks. "Halt!" Cosmos said coldly to the spirit. "Oh!" Discord said bowing to the Goddess. "Cosmos! Goddess of Harmony! You’re looking as lovely as ever! Oh but I take it you’re not here to see my handsome face?" "I sensed you were about to perform a trick on my guardian!" Cosmos hissed. "I came to stop you!" "I guess so." Discord snickered. "After all you lose this one, there’s a very good chance you’ll never see him again." "My power may be weak, but I am still strong enough to counter you!" Cosmos said staring the creature down. Discord smirked at her. "Don’t think this is the end I’ll see you again!" "I know you will!" Cosmos said sternly. Cosmos threw her hand towards the creature and blasted him out of Warrior’s soul with her divine powers. Discord flew several feet away from Warrior’s body and as the soldier fell face first on the ground in a much weakened state. "Hmph." Discord snorted. With Cosmos watching this one, converting him is a useless gesture. But that doesn’t mean I can’t break the friendship of Twilight and her friends! Until next time Warrior, Arrivederci! Discord vanished leaving Warrior alone." "No!" Warrior groaned. Twilight appeared around a corner and gasped. She galloped towards Warrior and helped him to his feet. "Warrior! Are you ok? What happened?" "I’m sorry, I almost joined Chaos." Warrior was fully out of his hypnosis. "You what!?" Twilight said in disbelief. "Discord promised to give me the answers I wanted if I joined him. He knew my weaknesses and made me face them….I just couldn’t bare it. I would have become the enemy if Cosmos hadn’t stepped in." Twilight snuggled next to Warrior he looked down to her and she smiled to him. He began to feel warm inside then a headache formed in his head. "It’s ok Warrior." Twilight said. "As long as you’re safe it’s all that matters." "His power…it was mesmerizing. Something about him allowed him to manipulate me with utmost ease." He turned to Twilight. "The others! They’re in terrible danger! Discord’s after them!" Twilight continued to support Warrior to stand as they rushed through the maze to find the others. They heard more voices as they came around another corner and turned down a strait path when a wall next to them opened up. It revealed Applejack standing in front of a small pond. Twilight was happy to see her as was Warrior. "Applejack! Thank goodness! I thought I heard voices over here. Who were you talking to?" Warrior noticed something strange about her, her orange color and green eyes had completely left her body, leaving her completely gray. Warrior just couldn’t ignore it. "Applejack are you ill?" Applejack stammered nervously then gave the two a serious look. "I was talking to... uh... nopony! Nopony whatsoever! I’m feelin’ right as rain! Not feeling any magic effects at all." Then Applejack scrunched up her lips and her eyes darted around like she was hiding something. In fact it was painfully obivious she was. Twilight was confused at her behavior. "What?" So was Warrior. "Are you sure you’re not ill?" "Nothing. Come on, uh, we best be going." Applejack quickly trotted away not meeting the eyes of the others. Twilight was confused even further. "Did Applejack just...?" But she quickly shrugged it off, Applejack was one of her closest friends. "Come on, Twilight! Applejack wouldn't lie." "You said her greatest strength is her honesty right?" Warrior asked. Twilight nodded. Her evasive behavior wasn’t too reassuring. The two continued on, now rejoined by Applejack. Warrior stayed behind and inspected the area, he found three piles of apples, a pile of light red apples, dark red apples and a pile of green apples. He got a closer look at them and saw that how the apples were laying. He could swear that they had faces. To Warrior’s surprise the green pile he was inspecting winked at him and then vanished with the other piles. "What!?" Warrior said shocked, since Applejack was found here, he felt a great deal of concern for her. He rushed and caught up with the others. When he did, they managed to enter a big wide area full of nothing. That is except Pinkie Pie. "Pinkie Pie! Are we glad to see you!" Twilight said happily as the group rushed over to pink pony. At least she was pink, just like Applejack, her color left her leaving her gray. Pinkie Pie gave her a very angry look. "Oh you are, huh? Why? Need a good laugh?" Her words hit both her and Warrior hard like a hammer. Warrior felt concerned for her. "Pinkie Pie? Are you well?" Warrior asked. "MIND YOUR BUISNESS!" Pinkie Pie screamed at the knight. They were both left confused, Applejack didn’t seem to notice. "Pinkie?" She trotted up to Warrior and Applejack as Pinkie Pie walked ahead of the group leaving the area. "What do you suppose has her so upset? It's not like her." "I’m not sure. But anger is a natural emotion, I’m sure it will pass." Warrior suggested. "But why is she and Applejack gray?" "I didn't notice anything strange about Pinkie." Applejack said loudly, she scrunched up her lips and her eyes darted all over the place again. She turned and joined Pinkie Pie. "Weird." Twilight said. "Better pick up the pace before the stress of this gets the better of all of us." "We must make haste before Discord gets to the others!" Warrior said. Twilight left and Warrior stayed behind he looked around and inspected the area and found a lonely aqua colored balloon. He walked over to it and it turned revealing black eyes and a mouth drawn on the front. The face had a evil smile on it. Warrior grabbed it and lifted it up to his face and inspected it closely. Then the balloon’s face came alive and started laughing. "HAHAHAHAHAAAA HAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!" Then the balloon just popped. Warrior started to worry, he didn’t know what was happening but whatever it was, it wasn’t good. He turned and rejoined the group, now rejoined by Pinkie Pie. The group continued and they came pass a large stone wall witch all of a sudden collapsed. On the other side of it Rarity was found holding a large boulder on her back, her color left her as well. "Rarity!" Twilight cheered. "Are we glad to see..." She finally noticed what she had on her back. "Why are you carrying a humongous boulder?" Rarity tossed the boulder off her back and glared at Twilight. "What do you mean, 'boulder!?' This big beautiful bedazzling rock is a diamond!" She eyed it hungrily and began petting it as if it were alive. And it's all mine. She threw it back onto her back and shot the group with serious looks. "Keep your envious. Little eyes off it! I found it and it's mine fair and square!" She moved forward with the rest of the group following close behind. "Is she hallucinating?" Warrior asked Twilight. "That giant rock is clearly no diamond!" "I don’t know." Twilight sighed. "I’m starting to get scared." "I’m worried to." Warrior stated. They all continued their travels to find the others. They turned another corner when another hedge wall lowered and revealed Fluttershy, she lost her color to, and also looked dazed and confused. "Fluttershy!" Twilight said happily. "I'm so glad to see a friendly face. This awful labyrinth is getting to everypony." She and Warrior turned to see Applejack giving them a untrustworthy look, Pinkie Pie stuck out her tongue at them and Rarity still struggled to carry the giant boulder on her back. Fluttershy turned around and gave them an angry look. "Aw, boo-hoo-hoo!" She scoffed. Twilight and Warrior were stunned. This wasn’t like the meek little pegasus at all. "Why don't you wave your magic little horn and make everything all right?" Twilight looked up at her head and remembered she still has no horn. "Uh…" "Oh, that's right, you can't. You don't have one." Fluttershy turned her head and walked away with a smug look on her face, she whipped her behind so her tail would smack Twilight in the face. Warrior was stunned. "Fluttershy were you just bullying Twilight?" "What’s it to you Mr. No Name!?" Fluttershy said glaring at him. Warrior’s jaw dropped at how mean she was being. "You’re homeless, and I should tell you, I’m GREATLY bothered by bums! You probably haven't showered in days!" Warrior was frozen. "She didn’t just…." Twilight was stunned also. "She just made fun of you for having nothing! That’s the last thing the real Fluttershy would ever do to a friend! What is happening to my friends?" She observed the others for their incredibly bizarre behavior. Fluttershy tripped Pinkie Pie and Applejack started laughing at her. "And what are you laughing at?" Pinkie Pie said glaring at Applejack. "Chocolate Milk." Applejack said darting her eyes all over the place. "Little help here!" Rarity called, still struggling to lift the boulder. Twilight moved under the rock to help her lift it. "Thanks, Twilight." Twilight was happy to see one of her friends still acting nice. "You're welcome–" Rarity quickly changed her look to a threatening stare. "But don't get any ideas about my gem! I know where you live." She prodded Twilight’s side with her hoof. The group moved forward to find Rainbow Dash, or the Elements of Harmony, whichever came first. Rarity felt like she had enough carrying the rock so she wiggled out from under it leaving only Twilight to struggle and carry it. Twilight groaned. "Must... find... Rainbow Dash. As a team... we're unstoppable." Rainbow Dash won't let us down. Warrior was disgusted by Rarity’s selfish action so he helped Twilight lift the boulder. "Thanks." Twilight said. "Don’t mention it." Warrior said. "I would normally question Rarity’s motives, but I feel I should humor her for a little while." Applejack looked up and saw a sight made her angry. "Well, looky there. Rainbow Dash is flying away. She's abandonin' us." Twilight rolled her eyes. "Now I know that's a lie." She looked up and gasped along with Warrior. Rainbow Dash regained her wings and was fleeing the maze. "How can it be?" Just then, all the hedges in the maze sank back into the ground, opening the way for the team to leave. Dark clouds appeared right above the team as Discord appeared right in front of them. "Well, well, well. Somepony broke the ‘no wings, no magic’ rule." He snapped his claw and the unicorn’s horns and Fluttershy’s wings were returned to them. As well as Warrior’s item bag. Discord smiled evilly as he floated above the team. "Game's over, my little ponies. You didn't find your precious elements. Looks like we might be due for a big old storm of chaos!" Discord made a pink inside out, umbrella appear in his hands and opened it up. He eyed Warrior closely. "Looks like you failed your goddess! Cosmos would be disappointed in you!" Warrior growled at the creature and marched towards him. To say he was mad about what Discord tried to do to him earlier would be an understatement. He eyed the others and then stared at Discord coldly. "I know you did something to them! What did you do!?" "Why don’t you go look in that pond over there where you found Applejack!" Discord laughed. He vanished leaving the team alone. Warrior found the pond still there despite the hedges not. He rushed over to it to discover the truth. "Dear Cosmos, help us!" Warrior pleaded in his mind. One thing bothered Warrior greatly, if Cosmos saved him from being affected by Discord’s powers. Then why didn’t she do it for the others? At the Sanctuary Cosmos sat on her throne using her goddess sight to see what was going on in Equestria. "It’s too late." Cosmos frowned. "Their friendship has strained too much. I hoped it would be strong enough to not be overpowered by Chaos…I was wrong. Our only hope is to slay Discord. But he alone can’t do it." She flashed up into the heavens and gave out a message to each of her warriors that were scattered out across the world. Her image appeared in front of each of them. "A innocent world is on the verge of utter destruction. One of your allies is already there, but he alone can’t stop it. Return to the Sanctuary and save the world of Equestria." Her image faded from in front of the warriors. The Onion Knight checked his map. "I’m close! Don’t worry! I’m on my way!" Onion Knight put his map away and turned towards the Sanctuary and rushed to help Warrior save Equestria.