“Twilight! Go to your friends! Only the powerful magic of your friendship can stop them!”
Twilight nodded and dashed out of the throne room, dodging toxic bolts and shadowy tendrils, leaving the other princesses to the mercy of the enemy. It was a risk, but a calculated one. If Twilight had stayed she would have been unable to put a stop to it. The rainbow magic that had defeated Tirek mere months before was now the best hope Twilight had to save Equestria, and hopefully the other princesses with it. For that, she needed her friends. Together they could stop anything; she was sure of that.
Everything had happened so quickly; Canterlot hadn't stood a chance. Loads of an unknown... something had, without warning, flooded the city. It couldn't have happened at a worse time; Twilight was miles away from her friends in Ponyville on an important government meeting. Twilight interrupted her train of thought to leap over a tendril in her path, and resumed running and thinking.
The main vestibule was coming up; soon Twilight would be able to take wing and fly to Ponyville. Twilight reached the vestibule and realized that her plan was flawed. The door leading outside was completely shrouded in darkness. A sinister laughter filled the air, simultaneously a soft whisper and a thunderous boom so that Twilight could hear her enemy's words but not make out the voice.
“Looking for thessssse?”
Twilight's friends appeared before her, but something was terribly, terribly wrong with all of them. They were all frozen solid in stone. They looked as if caught completely unawares. Pinkie Pie was in the middle of a laugh, as if she had told a joke and found it to be much funnier than she had expected. Rainbow Dash's body was contorted in a fantastic flip. Fluttershy was looking down, smiling softly at a stone squirrel that had been unfortunate enough to be caught in whatever this petrifying magic was. Applejack and Rarity were imprisoned together; Rarity's hoof on Applejack's hat. The scowl on Applejack's face suggested that Rarity had said something none-too-flattering about the stony stetson. Even little Spike was frozen in a comfortable afternoon nap.
Twilight was beyond speechless. Through tear-blured eyes and clenched teeth she roared at the mass of black evil, rearing up on her hind legs and charging a massive blast of alicorn magic intended to punch through her foe's face. Upon landing, however, Twilight saw that her horn and wings were gone. This paired with the stony condition of her companions, the furious princess figured she knew who was behind all of this.
“Discord...” she hissed.
“Not quite,” the voice giggled.
With a loud crash, a larger statue dropped to the floor. Discord stood motionless, his face etched in a defiant snarl. He alone had been aware of the assailant.
“Then who-” Twilight began to exclaim.
The shadow took form and the voice laughed undisguised. Twilight was shocked into silence again.
“But you're in- but you don't- but you aren't-!”
“Did you really think you could just wish me away with your silly 'friendship'? That I would simply vanish away into nothingness? That you could just live your life and never see me again? I am here to avenge myself upon you! I am more powerful than ever I was when you faced me! I WILL CLAIM MY RIGHTFUL PLACE ON THE THRONE OF EQUESTRIA!”
There was a flash, then there was pain, and then there was darkness.
Twilight opened her eyes and shook her head. She was much too mobile to be made of stone. Her body ached far too much for this to be Heaven. Twilight got up, looked around, and decided that she may as well have been in Hell. Twilight was on the summit of a tall mountain overlooking Ponyville.
No magic.
No flight
No strength.
No friends,
No hope.