Drocsid was sitting on his ill-gotten throne, relishing in his triumph. He was talking with some of the brainwashed simpletons who had so foolishly thought they could challenge him. Their attempts were valiant but completely ineffective. Upon hearing about the Princesses' unfortunate defeat, a squadron of guards led by Captain Swift Sword, the new Captain of the Guard, came thundering in; they didn't last five minutes.
Drocsid dealt with the entire guard and didn't stop there. The tyrannous draconeques had hypnotized the entire castle staff into working for him. At the very moment, the chefs were preparing him a meal, and the guards with him were praising him up and down. Canterlot was in a panic, as well as the rest of Equestria. At this point, hope for Equestria was beginning to die.
But, it would soon rise up quickly. The double doors burst open, surprising both Drocsid and the guards. Smoke filled the room causing them to shield their eyes.
"Who dare approaches my throne room without warning? I should have you thrown into the slammer for almost giving me a heart attack!" Drocsid angrily shouted.
"You would throw yourself in prison? Talk about hating yourself. Although, let's admit, it'd be very hard to cage this handsome specimen." A voice which sounded exactly like Drocsid's joked.
Drocsid used his magic to clear the smoke away. "Now, you mock me by impersonating me. You're a very good impressionist, I'll give you that. Show yourself before I do it for you."
"It's not very hard mimicking yourself. You should have figured it out by now, Drocsid." Finally, after a lengthy amount of concealment, the mysterious figure stood in front of the despot. Drocsid was immediately taken aback. His astonishment caused him to fall backwards off his throne, hitting his head on the back wall in the process.
After regaining his composure, he began to walk towards his twin. "What kind of magic is this? Are you a Changeling? I didn't think they could do shape shifts to this level."
"Get real. The Changelings are a pathetic species. Anyone can shape shift if they know how to do it. But, really, this is sad. I'm much more sensible then this. You disappoint me, me." Discord frowned upon his evil doppelgänger.
"Will you start speaking in words?! I have no idea what you're talking about. You've got two minutes to explain before I force it out of ya. Handsomeness won't cut you any slack. So, start talking," Drocsid sat back down on his throne with a ''talk-or-you're-toast" kind of look.
Discord was not at all unfazed by this. "Very well, Your Impatience. Though, I still think that potion warped your common sense. I'll give it to you bluntly," Discord flew up to Drocsid stopping inches away from his face. "I. Am. You. You. Are. Me. That's about as simple as you're gonna get."
Drocsid teleported to the other end of the room. He gave Discord an evil glare. "So, it was real. Last night did happen. I thought it was just a dream. You've probably come here to challenge my rule. Well, I got here first. You were a tad bit late." Drocsid suddenly stopped. His mouth contorted into an evil smirk.
Discord knew that look. That was the look he would get when he came up with a really good plan, or, in this case, a really bad plan.
"I know that look. What are you planning, Drocsid?"
His head snapped back up. "What? I'm Discord, dummy."
"No, I'm Discord. You're just an evil copy of me," Discord smirked.
"Why you...!" He took a quick breath. "Call me what you want. After all, we're one in the same. Equestria would be helpless under us. One Discord is powerful enough, but two Discords. No one would be able to stand against us, we'd be unbeatable. We could manipulate every being in this pathetic nation. Every equine and non will be powerless against us. So, what say you, Discord? Wanna take back Equestria? It's rightfully yours after all." Drocsid grinned deviously anticipating his answer.
Discord looked at him with a deadpan expression. "Are you really that dense?"
Drocsid reeled back. "Excuse me?!"
"I'm not here to join you. I'm here to BEAT you. As the saying goes, 'If you don't join 'em, beat 'em.' And that's exactly what I'm going to do." Discord said positioning himself in a battle stance.
Drocsid's eyes darkened. "So be it."
Meanwhile, the five mares were searching the castle grounds, not finding any traces of the missing princesses. They searched the towers, the dungeons, everywhere. Yet, the Royal Pony Sisters were nowhere to be seen. It was as if they had disappeared off the face of Equestria.
No doubt this was building up some frustration in some of them. Especially Rainbow Dash. If something's not going the way she wants it to, she'll go to some extreme measures to try to force things to work out. This wasn't the first time Rainbow's aggravation bubbled.
"Ugh! This is ridiculous! Where could that sleazy snake have put them!? They've got to be here somewhere!" Rainbow hovered in front of the group, eyes scanning the entire area.
"What if they're not even here?" Fluttershy pointed out.
"No, they're here. My head's itchy. That means there's royalty in the building," Pinkie scratched her head to prove her point.
"How does that mean the Princesses are here?" Applejack asked skeptically.
"Don't ask me. I can't explain it. Just go with it," Pinkie waved her hoof at the cowpony.
"Well, if they are here, Discord...I mean, Drocsid, hid them quite well. Where in Celestia's name could they be?" Rarity glanced up at her horn and sighed. "Too bad I don't know any locater spells. They would have come in handy. How I wish Twilight was here!"
"Yah, but without her magic, I don't think she would have been of much help," A.J. reminded.
"All right, maybe we're looking at this the wrong way here. Discord, evil or good, is cunning. He would hide the princesses somewhere we'd never expect. There's probably a hidden passage here. Start knocking on the wall," Rainbow started to do just that and began thumping on the wall. The others looked at each other uncertain.
Rainbow looked back at them and frowned. "Hey, at least I came up with something. What are you all doing? I'll tell you. NOTHING! Now, start thumping," She went back to doing just that. Not knowing what else to do, the others joined her.
"Hey, it's a portrait of the Princesses," Pinkie pointed to the wall. The others looked up and noticed a picture of the two alicorns in question. Luna looked angry, while Celestia looked...gray.
"It's probably just Drocsid's way of shoving the princesses' defeat in everypony's face. Let's keep movin'," Applejack urged.
Rarity examined the piece more thoroughly. Suddenly, realization dawned on her. "Girls? Have you seen any other pictures of the Princesses around?"
They all stopped and realized that they hadn't. "Do you think it could mean something?" Fluttershy asked.
"Perhaps we're getting closer to them. My head's really itchy!" Pinkie scratched her head vigorously with both hooves.
Rainbow suddenly gasped. "The painting! That's the last place anypony would look." She glanced back at the picture, eyes wide.
"Does...that mean that the...princesses...are trapped...in that painting?" Applejack asked in pure disbelief.
"It would appear so. But...now, that leaves the question...how do we free them?" Rarity looked up at the painting once more.
The battle had just begun. Both Discords had been throwing one assault after another. Not the kinds you would expect. Then again, what can you expect from the lord of chaos? Neither Discord had broken a sweat. They were evenly matched. Both draconequi had the same level of power. What the outcome would be, no one knew.
Drocsid hurled a tornado of whipped cream at Discord. Discord simply turned that whipped cream into an ice cream sundae. Discord snapped his tail, and the pillars came to life, surrounding Drocsid on every side. Drocsid just laughed as he smashed the pillars into pebbles.
"You're persistent. This could go on forever," Drocsid snapped his fingers and summoned a thundercloud. It shot out four lightning bolts consecutively. Discord snapped the electric bolts into nonexistence.
"You're right. It could go on forever. At the rate we're going, that's what it looks like. Do you really want to spend the rest of eternity fighting me? One of us has to give in," Discord flung a flaming Frisbee at Drocsid. Naturally, Drocsid drenched the disc with chocolate milk causing the fire to go out.
"That one is not going to be me. You've ruined a perfectly chaotic day, Discord. Have you really stooped so low? Have those pathetic excuses for the Elements of Harmony really manage to tame you? We're better than this. We could have taken them down ages ago," Drocsid materialized boulders and hurled them at Discord. He easily dodged them, turning them into popcorn kernels. "The Elements are no longer in their possession. They pose no threat to us. Yet, you've simpered down to their level. Friendship is a poison. It messes with your emotions. It makes you think. Without friends, you're free to do whatever you want."
Discord narrowly avoided a banana-cream pie being flung at him. "Your words won't get to me, Drocsid. I know your methods of manipulation. You can talk all you like, I just won't listen." He threw a beam of magenta magic at Drocsid. He dodged, but it curved back around and hit him from behind causing him to stumble forward.
"Apparently Twilight's magic has a mind of its own," Discord chuckled.
"You dare speak that cursed pony's name?!" Drocsid hurled a beam of his own at Discord. It grazed his head as he ducked. "Wait? Twilight's magic?"
"Oops, you didn't hear that from me. Speaking of Twilight," Discord snapped his fingers as a copy of Twilight appeared in the room.
Drocsid reeled back and charged up energy in his fists prepared to attack. "You will not take me down this time, Sparkle!" He hurled his magic at the clone, causing it to react and counter the attack with another blast.
Discord sat back and relaxed as the Twilight clone fought Drocsid. Drocsid, eventually, hit the pseudo Twilight causing it to disappear.
Drocsid looked back at Discord with eyes full of fury. "All right. I've had enough." Drocsid snapped his fingers, and magic-constraining cuffs appeared on Discord. Discord yelped in pain as he felt an electric surge course through his body, which cut off his magic.
"Now, that's not fair!" Discord hollered.
"I'm the Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony. I'm not supposed to play fair," Drocsid walked up to Discord and gave him a stern look.
"I'm going to give you another chance. Join me as Equestria's dictator. Forget about your 'friends.' Join up with me, and I'll let you go. If not, I'll amplify the cuff's power, which would leave you incredibly weak. It's your choice."
Drocsid began walking back towards his throne. He turned around again. "Oh, you know what, I'll be gracious. If you say no, you won't get hurt," He snapped his fingers producing an image of the Mane Six including Twilight. His eyes gained back their evilness. "But, they will." Discord's eyes showed worry.
Drocsid sat back down on his throne. "So, Discord, what's your choice?"