Twilight and the rest of the Mane Six smiled and giggled happily, Twilight’s magic having been enough to return her friends to normal. Just then, three buffalo wearing tutus danced by on their tip-toes. “Maybe it‘s a little early for a group hug,” she said as the others watched the bison.
The Six of them hurried to the center of Ponyville, where they knew they could find Discord sitting in his throne. Buildings were hovering above roads replaced with soap. The clouds, made out of cotton candy, spewed chocolate rain. Discord sat in his throne, laughing triumphantly as pies rained down in front of him. Having seen a precipitating cloud of cotton candy sitting to his left, he held out his eagle claw hand, and a glass appeared in a small flash before being filled with the chocolate milk raining from the cloud. The Draconequus brought it back over to himself, and looked at it for a moment before grinning and closing his eyes. “Chaos, is a wonderful, wonderful thing.” As he raised the glass to his mouth he heard Twilight’s voice from in front of him:
“Not as wonderful as friendship!” Discord looked back to the Six standing before him, looking confident as they sport the Elements of Harmony in the form of necklaces on all but Twilight, who wore her golden tiara. Discord groaned, sitting back in his throne.
“Ugh, this again?” He raised the glass to his lips, the glass itself pouring into his mouth leaving the chocolate milk behind. He then threw the chocolate milk behind him and it exploded, creating a large cloud of gray smoke behind him for a few moments before it cleared.
“That‘s right! You couldn‘t break up our friendship for long!” Discord grinned, having heard Applejack’s words, and raised his bear arm. One of the fingers started glowing along with Applejack’s necklace, and it was slowly levitated towards Discord.
“Oh, Applejack, don‘t lie to me. I‘m the one who made you a liar.” Discord grinned a sadistic grin as he raised his eagle hand, the claws glowing a bright yellow, and the necklaces on the other four pulled towards him, the ponies leaving the ground and floating before the Spirit of Chaos.
“Will you ever learn?” Twilight sneered angrily after hearing Discord’s words, and her horn shined brightly. The unicorn raised her head and she disappeared in a flash of light, appearing between her five friends with her hooves out to the side, a pink shield forming around the Six of them.
Discord growled, his eagle claw shining as he swiped at the shield, causing Twilight’s magic to dispel and the Six of them to fall to the ground with a thud. The Draconequus stood up, looking down at them all as a sinister smile crept onto his face. “I think we‘ve had enough fun for today; would you all agree?” His claw shone brighter, and a light snap was heard from the necklaces as they flew over to him. “It seems to me, Twilight Sparkle… that you have yet to learn your place in this world.” By this time the Six had gotten up and were staring wide-eyed at Discord as the necklaces flashed, bound together, and hung itself from Discord’s neck.
“Discord! We played your games; now give the Elements of Harmony back!” Twilight growled as she stepped forward, her horn becoming engulfed in powerful magical energy.
“Twilight Sparkle… do you think of me as stupid? I knew you would find the Elements and, being one of Celestia‘s best students, I knew you would find a way to restore your friends. I was only playing with you, but now.... Play time is over.” Twilight’s eyes faded to white as her expression of determination only grew stronger.
“It‘s over, Discord!!” Twilight suddenly gasped as Discord touched her horn, the light fading in her eyes. Suddenly, there was a flash and she was thrown backwards, skidding a few feet before rolling and landing face down in front of him. Discord folded his arms as he shook his head while Twilight’s tiara floated off the ground to lay on his head.
“Oh Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and of course miss Rainbow Dash… I really believed you would put up more of a challenge than this.” Twilight stood, walking over to rejoin her friends, as Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Applejack showed warning signs of fear of Discord. Rainbow Dash continued to hover as her wings flapped, and she looked back to her friends before yelling towards Discord:
“You may have taken the Elements, but there‘s no way you can use them!” She then rocketed forward, letting out a yell as Twilight held out her hoof:
“Rainbow Dash wait!!”
Discord gave an unamused look as the Elements of Harmony around his neck and on top of his head began glowing with a dark shimmer. “Foolish little Pegasus, I posses magic far superior to both Celestia and Luna, and now you‘ve all lost the Elements of Harmony to me once again.” Discord held out his arms as the shining energy grew brighter and more powerful. “I don‘t turn ponies into stone. The Elements of Harmony do.” Twilight’s eyes widened and she threw her hooves out to her sides, forming a thin pink bubble of magic that temporarily shielded her and her friends before it flickered and disappeared, the unicorn hitting the ground once again. She groaned, looking up at Discord from the dirt and seeing a shining wave of power engulf Rainbow Dash. Twilight closed her eyes tight, preparing herself as the wave washes over them all, Discord laughing maniacally as he unleashed the power of the Elements on them. “What‘s this?”
A few moments later Twilight blinked as she opened her eyes, slowly turning her head to face Discord-- but her view was obstructed. She paused, slowly standing and looking around before her eyes began to well up with tears. Discord was sitting in his throne once again, a satisfied grin on his face. Near him, slightly embedded in the ground was a stone statue of Rainbow Dash, still looking back at her friends with a worried gaze frozen on her face. Around Twilight were more statues of her other friends, all with frightened and horrified expressions on their cold and lifeless faces.
Twilight paused as she looked in front of her, her ears dropping as the tears stream down her face. Standing in front of her, shielding her from the power of the Elements was none other than a statue of Princess Celestia. Twilight began to cry more as she saw her face. She was looking back at Twilight with a very gentle smile on her face that seemed to say, “You did your best.”
Discord clapped his paw and claw as he began to laugh. “You should see the look on your face Twilight Sparkle! You were so sure that I was just going to let you turn me to stone with the Elements that you just couldn‘t bring yourself to realize there was no way you could win!” Discord leaned his head on his bear paw as he smirked, “Would you like to know how the princesses managed to use them on me?” Twilight said nothing, looking down as she wept for her friends and mentor. “It was a brilliantly executed sneak attack-- but back to my point. You see, when I was trapped in that stone for all of those long years I patiently waited. I waited for that curse to finally break so I could be free once more-- and I wasn't going to let a group of little ponies stop me.”
“Discord… please…” Hearing Twilight’s words, Discord brought his eagle claw to his ear as he grinned.
“What was that you said?” The Draconequus said as he leaned forward. Twilight, her head hung and her tears falling rapidly to the ground, yelled:
“Discord please! Give me my friends back! I‘m begging you!”
“Tsk, tsk, Twilight Sparkle. You are the one who challenged my rule. I intended you to be turned to stone as well, but without your friends or the Elements you‘re not even a threat to me anymore. Not that you ever were.” Twilight brought a hoof to her eyes, slowly wiping the tears before casting them to the ground,
“At least… turn me…” Twilight paused, her gaze meeting with Celestia’s gently smiling face once again, and her face turned from one of despair to one of determination. “Discord, I‘m going to stop you! And I‘m going to save my friends!” Discord shook his head as he stood, walked over to the unicorn, and reached down, picking her up to be on eye level with him,
“Ms. Sparkle, I‘m only going to say this one more time: if you challenge me, you will lose; if you accept this world of chaos and me as your ruler, then we both win. Either way, chaos rules, and Celestia drools.” He dropped her and turned, facing his throne. Twilight used her magic to slow her fall as she touched down,
“You restored my magic…?” Discord remained turned away from her.
“The fight is won; there is no reason to not give you back your magic.” He then flew off, leaving Twilight alone in a destroyed and chaotic Ponyville.
“What now…?” She turned her head to look off into the distance, the library still standing strong albeit a large hole in the upstairs wall from Rarity’s boulder. Her eyes widened as she began galloping rapidly towards her home: “Spike!”
She quickly opened the door and hurried back upstairs where she had left him, panting from her sudden output of energy. “Spike, where are you!?”
“Over here Twilight!” Twilight turned her head, a hopeful look on her face as she hurried towards the voice. She stopped as she saw him though, her little dragon mostly turned to stone, and from the looks of it the effect was still unfinished. Twilight’s horn began glowing brightly and she laid it against the dragon, Spike closing his eyes at the flash of light, but as it faded Spike remained in his almost frozen state, “Twilight… what‘s happening to me…?” Tears began sliding down Twilight’s beautiful face once again as she looked down at her dragon companion,
“Spike… Discord took back the elements when we got to him… he turned everyone to stone… I only escaped because the princess sacrificed herself and shielded me at the last moment… I‘ve managed to slow the process Spike but… I don‘t know how much longer you have.” She saw the dragon beginning to cry as he looked up at her from his prostrate state.
“Twilight… tell me the truth… can you save us?” Twilight closed her eyes as she looked down, still weeping,
“Spike I… I wish I had a spell to reverse this… but Discord‘s magic is so much greater than my own. I‘m going to do everything I can to save everyone I promise…” Spike paused for a moment after hearing Twilight’s words, and suddenly he burped loudly, a puff of green smoke turning into a letter and falling to the ground. Spike smiled softly up at Twilight as another tear slid down his face. Twilight looked from the letter back to Spike and sniffed back a tear, leaned down, and gave him a light kiss on his forehead, feeling it become cold under her lips before she moved away, “Goodnight… Spike…” Twilight took the letter into her hoof before pausing. She stood for a few moments before collapsing onto her bed and sobbed loudly. All of her closest friends were gone now, even her ever-faithful dragon Spike-- and even the princess.
Twilight broke down, crying for around twenty minutes before she finally ceased, still silently weeping into her pillow as she forced herself to sit up, taking a few deep breathes as she leaned against the back of her bed. Her horn glowed softly as the letter rose up and unfolded, the unicorn’s eyes sliding from side to side slowly as she read:
My faithful student,
If you have received this letter it can only mean that Discord managed to triumph over the Elements of Harmony and, for one reason or another, I am no longer able to speak with you. I know that you and your friends did everything in your power to stop Discord. You did your very best and I could not be more proud of you.
I began writing this letter as I watched you selflessly chase down your friends one by one and restore them to their rightful ways. You are the greatest student that I have ever had, Twilight, and I know that you will find a way to stop Discord, even without the Elements.
What you should do first is get out of Ponyville, assuming that you reading this tells me that you managed to escape Discord’s powers. I cannot gauge your losses, but you must be heavily distressed. Do one of two things after leaving Ponyville: head into the Everfree forest or attempt to get to Canterlot and find out if my sister is safe.
I must finish this letter now as I see that you have begun your confrontation of Discord. I pray that you will never receive this letter from me, but since you have, you must find Written Dreams.
Your mentor and friend,
Princess Celestia
Twilight took a deep breath as she folded the letter back into a scroll and slid out of her bed. She walked over to her closet and took out a saddlebag, sliding the letter into one of the pouches and putting other various necessities into the other pouches. “Why does that name sound so familiar to me?… Written Dreams.” Twilight walked downstairs, packing a bag of bits into her bags before nodding to herself: “Not too heavy, good.” She walked around the library, going through book after book of spells and famous ponies, and sighed when she was unable to find anything about the pony mentioned in the princess’s letter. She tilted her head, seeing a book missing from one of the shelves. “What book is supposed to be here? … Nopony has borrowed a book for quite a long time… perhaps I‘ll remember after my mind calms down…” She headed over to another shelf and slid a book titled Basic Survival: A Complete Guide into her bag.
Twilight then walked over to her front door and opened it, pausing as she looked around at the chaotic landscape. She looked to the left-- the Everfree Forest in the distance-- then to the right-- Canterlot Castle high up on the cliff face.
“First priority has got to be getting to Princess Luna.” Twilight began walking, letting out a slow breath as she walked through Ponyville. “Nothing new… where is Discord…?” She said to herself, seeing some long-legged rabbits run past. She looked up at the sky, the sun still hanging high overhead and the moon not climbing up to replace it anymore. “Looks like Discord regulated the sun and moon…” Twilight continued to walk for a number of minutes before pausing, seeing Discord’s throne empty atop his small hill, and every statue of her friends and even the princess mysteriously missing. Twilight heard herself growl as she continued through the area. She had hoped to see her friends again, even in the state they were in; it would have at least gave her more hope.
“Discord… your cruelty knows no limit…” The little pony continued to walk in silence, her gaze straight ahead at the castle in the distance as she reached the end of town and continued to walk down the soap road towards Canterlot, her hooves enveloped in magic preventing her from sliding on the slick path.
The unicorn continued to walk down the path, her mind drifting back to the letter that Princess Celestia had written to her. “The princess must have had some kind of fail-safe in case Discord won… otherwise she never would have thrown herself in front of the Elements like she did.” She withdrew the letter from her bag and unfolded it again.
I pray that you will never receive this letter from me and since you have, you must find Written Dreams.
“Written Dreams…” Her eyes widened as she suddenly remembered an encounter with a pony of that name. “He came into the library once…”
Twilight hummed as a feather duster floated around in front of her, her horn lightly glowing with magical aura as she went around the library, dusting off the bookcases and each book individually, “Spring cleaning is such a nice time, don‘t you agree Spike?” The little dragon only grumbled as he stood in front of a different bookcase, dusting it off as well,
“Yeah, wonderful,” he said sarcastically as he rolled his eyes. As Twilight giggled, there was a knock at the door,
“Keep cleaning, Spike; I‘ll get it.” The light purple pony trotted over to the door, humming a familiar tune, before opening the door with a happy smile. “Yes?” Standing in the doorway was a pegasus with a dark blue coat, a silver mane ,and a semi-long silver tail. His cutie-mark depicted a pen writing a line of stars along with a small moon just above the base of the trail.
“Hello miss, this is the library right? Sorry if I‘m mistaken.” Twilight shook her head as she opened the door fully, stepping to the side and motioning him inside with her hoof,
“Yes this is the library. I apologize: I also live here so sometimes people mistake this as my house instead.” She hummed lightly, trotting over to a bookcase, before looking back at him with a happy smile. “So you like to read?” The blue Pegasus walked over to the bookcases, nodding as he looked over to her,
“Well, yes and no, I read when I need to know something, but all in all I much prefer writing.”
Twilight’s ears perked when she heard this, and she walked a few steps closer, tilting her head a little with a curious expression,
“What kind of things do you write? If you don‘t mind me asking of course…” Twilight felt herself blush sheepishly, realizing she was asking him something personal. He smiled at the question, however, and looked over to her, his hoof touching the ground instead of the books.
“Ah, all sorts of things. Magic, ponies, pegasi, and unicorns-- I write about just about anything you can think of. Some things can take a lot of research though.” Twilight had sat down as she listened to him speak, and her ears perked a bit as he finished.
“I consider myself a pretty well-read pony. I‘ve read every book in this library by now.” She heard the colt laugh and nod in response to her,
“Books really can be fascinating journeys. Oh, I‘m sorry I forgot to ask your name.” Twilight stood back up, offering her hoof to him.
“Ah, of course. My name is Twilight Sparkle.” She then saw the pony’s eyes light up and he grinned, taking her hoof and shaking it before the two of them returned their hooves to the ground,
“Ah, I was hoping to run into you when I visited Ponyville. The Princess has told me a lot about her best student. It‘s an honor to meet you Ms. Sparkle.” Twilight took a step back and blushed, seeing him giving a light bow before her,
“Ehm… sorry I‘ve just never had anyone bow to me before. Really I‘m nopony special.” The pegasus moved his head back up from the bow and shook his head.
“Oh, but you are! You and all of your friends wield the Elements of Harmony, one of my personally favorite subjects.” Twilight looked a bit off to the side, embarrassed about the praise she was being given.
“So… is there anything I can help you find?”
“Actually, I‘m looking for a specific book the princess said you would have. It‘s called The Quill of Eternity. My name is Written Dreams by the way.” Twilight nodded with a gentle smile before looking up and around for a moment,
“Spike, can you bring me--”
“The Quill of Eternity, I have it right here!” The baby dragon was by her side in an instant with the book in hand. Written Dreams smiled lightly as he took it from him and slid it onto the bag he had on his side,
“Thank you very much, Twilight, Spike. I promise that I‘ll return this book to you the next time we meet.” Twilight nodded to him with a gentle smile.
“Let me know when you‘re in town next; I can ask Pinkie Pie to throw a party for you! She loves meeting new ponies.” Written Dreams chuckled as he walked over to the door with Twilight beside him.
“Till then, Twilight.” He lifted her hoof and gave it a kiss before departing from the library and began walking down the road towards Canterlot.
Twilight looked up at Canterlot, so far up the mountainside, and sighed to herself, “I wonder if he‘s still there… it‘s been so many months since he came by the library…”