“Twilight, as your Princess and teacher I order you to destroy Discord with the other Elements of Harmony” The sun goddess commanded from her throne.
“No” Twilight answered flatly
“Pretty please?” Celestia added hoping that maybe her student would cave.
“No Princess, it’s only been four days since you’ve reclaimed the throne and you’ve already had my friends and I “destroy” Discord six times. Rarity is still cleaning her outfit of all the Discord bits. Fluttershy is still twitching and Rainbow Dash is still bragging to everyone about it.”
“But my faithful student, Equestria requires your aid.” Celestia attempted to plead with her student
“Does Equestria really need my help? Does it?” Twilight asked as she glared at her teacher
There was an awkward pause for several seconds as Celestia shifted her gaze around the room hoping to find a distracting or a way out, eventually she shifted her gaze back towards her student.
“No, no it doesn’t” Celestia stated sadly as she stared at the ground a faint look of shame on her face as she realized she had been exploiting her student and her student’s friends to preform acts of murder she should have been committing herself . “I’m sorry Twilight, I didn’t realize how much I had been using you and your friends, can you forgive me?”
“Of course Princess” Twilight answered with smile that quickly faded as she realized how late it had gotten. “Uh Princess, I don’t mean to go galloping off, but the train back to Ponyville leaves in a few minutes.”
“I understand” Celestia added with a smile “You head on back home now and tell Spike and your friends I send them my regards.”
After some heartfelt farewells and a hug or two Princess Celestia happily watched as her faithful student trotted out of the throne room passing an approaching guard as she exited the room. Once the door had fully been shut and the hoofsteps of Twilight had completely faded away the newly arrived guard approached the throne.
“Spymaster Carapace, I assume you acquired what I requested.” The Sun Princess asked with a devious grin.
“My agents retrieved the Elements of Harmony from Ponyville as you requested.” Carapace spoke as a torrent of green flame engulfed the guard leaving a rather large Changeling behind. “The information you provided my scouts was almost completely accurate.”
“Very good Spymaster, you and your agents are quickly becoming my favorite acquisition from the Changeling Empire. Keep up the good work and I’ll keep feeding you some nice information to give to your queen.” Celestia paused for a second as one of her older thoughts came back to the surface.
“Carapace, you Queen lives with us, why did she send her best infiltration team to spy on us? As well, where were you when she tried to take over Equestria.”
“Funny thing that is” Carapace began with a nervous chuckle “We were the advanced team sent to secure and relocate the one I believe called “Princess Cadance” we managed to capture her and move to the crystal caves, but not before she managed to take out the majority of best scouts.”
“I hit them with a brick!” Shouted Cadance from the other side of the throne room
“How long as she been here?” Celestia asked in confusion as she stared at the pink Alicorn across the room.
“After our failed invasion and subsequent arrival here it appears Miss Cadance has taken it upon herself to “Stare menacingly” at my scouts whenever she happens to be in the Castle, sometimes she even brings the brick with her.
“I call him Steve, he likes to hit Changeling spies, and sometimes make orange juice!” Cadance shouted once more.
“Well other than my discovery of Cadance’s apparent brick related violent outbursts against Changelings.” Celestia spoke as she shifted her gaze towards the brick wielding Alicorn “I’m quite glad you and your agents were able to acquire the Elements for me. Now all I need to do is find some bearers and I can take care of Discord whenever I want.”
“Miss Celestia, if you require the removal of someone or something my agents could easily find a new home for Discord if you desire.”
“That’s quite alright Spymaster, now if you’ll excuse me I’ve got gather some new Element bearers” Celestia finished as she magically passed a sealed folder to the Changeling before trotting out of the room. Chrysalis wanted secrets and if it suited her purpose Celestia was glad to pass on some less important Equestrian Secrets.
Several minutes later Celestia had finished her treasonous acts and was now moving quickly on her way to phase two of her plan. She had gathered the Elements of Harmony through no help of her “faithful” student. Now all she needed to do was gather Sombra, Luna, Chrysalis and maybe Nibbles… well probably not Nibbles, then she could strike. Her first stop was Luna who at this point in the day was probabl- Celestia found her thoughts cut off as her sister came exploding through the wall slamming into the stunned day Alicorn.
“Did anyone get the number of that Draconequus?” Luna groaned as she sat up and rubbed her head completely unaware of her semi crushed sister pulling herself out of the rubble that used to be the wall.
“What in the seven fires of Tartarus are you doing?” Celestia growled as she pushed a larger piece of rubble off herself. She had planned to find Luna, but getting hit by her was kind of the same thing she supposed.
“Discord broke into my lab” Luna spoke as she brushed some dirt from her coat and helped her sister to her hooves. “He decided to add some apple juice to my project.”
“Uh oh” Celestia mouthed knowing where this was probably going “What happened next?” she asked with more than a little worry in her voice.
“Demonic apple juice” Luna answered flatly and began to trot off in search of the lizard. However she was quickly stopped as a golden aura wrapped around her and slid her back towards Celestia who was waiting with a devious grin.
“You want revenge?” she asked with a sick and twisted grin
“Of course” Luna answered a bit nervous from her Sister’s expression
“Then we have much to discuss, come along Luna” she ordered happily as she trotted off. Leaving Luna little choice but to follow the probably homicidal mare to wherever she was taking her. The two of them made their way through the twisting halls of Canterlot Castle and eventually found themselves outside the room of Nightmare Moon. Celestia was honestly quite surprised to see how many rune and wards Nightmare had placed on just one entrance.
“How do we get in?” Celestia asked with a raised brow
“Knock?” Luna answered in retort as she approached the door and knocked a couple times.
After a few seconds of waiting the sound of hoofsteps faintly emanated from the room. Followed by the sounds of several locks being undone one after another. Finally the wards and runes started to life one after another and eventually the door opened.
“Yes?” Nightmare asked as she opened the door slowly. Quickly the mare found herself wrapped in Celestia’s magic as both Celestia and Luna casually walked into her room pulling her along with them.
“This is why I don’t normally open the door.” Grumbled Nightmare as she was lowered back to the floor and release from the magical grip. “What do you two want? Oh, let me guess someone stole your sweet roll?” she asked sarcastically as she returned to her bed.
“Hey that only happened once” Luna hissed as she gazed around Nightmare’s room.
“That’s a lot of pink” Celestia stated flatly as she stared at the walls. The sun goddess was honestly quite stunned as she looked around the room. She had heard stories about Nightmare’s room, but never had she imagined so much pink.
“And what are these and what why is it so hot in here?” Celestia asked as she approached a shelf of what appeared to be dolls, including one that looked suspiciously like herself and basically everyone else in the Castle.
“That’s none of your business.” Nightmare snapped “Now what do you two want?” the annoyance in her voice growing greater by the second.
“Oh we’re dealing with Discord again” Celestia stated as she stopped fiddling with the doll copy of herself. “This one’s a little more creative than normal so I need everyone, so come along.” The Alicorn finished with a grin as she once again picked Nightmare up with her magic and carried her out of the room followed by Luna.
“You are aware I can walk right?” Nightmare groaned as she floated behind the other two Alicorns. “You know what, I don’t even care anymore.” She sighed as she assumed a lounging position as she floated through the air.
After a couple more minutes of casually floating and trotting the group found themselves in the royal garden where the rest of their party was unknowingly waiting. Chrysalis, Sombra and Nibbles had been enjoying a nice relaxing day…. Well they had been, but judging by the drops of blood on the picnic blanket and the odd splatters around Nibbles’ face they were quite sure Discord had been here at some point.
“Draconequus problem?” Celestia asked with a light chuckle as she finally lowered Nightmare to the ground and took a seat next to the resting group.
“Discord take food, Nibble try to take talons.” Sombra stated as he patted the young hybrid creature on the head.
“The poor idiot said it was as easy as taking candy from a baby.” Chrysalis chuckled as she passed an approving glance towards her little demon. “Nibbles made him pay for every bit of food he tried to take.”
“Well that’s good to know” Celestia stated as she summoned a bag with her magic. “Because we’ll need your help to make him pay for every prank he’s pulled on me in the last four days.” She finished by dumping the Elements of Harmony onto an empty portion of the picnic blanket.
“Now those bring back some memories” Nightmare stated as she glared at the necklaces and one weird big crown thingy. “Mostly rainbow based destruction.” She added with a mutter. “So Sparkle let you borrow them?”
“Yeah” Celestia answered with a long drawn breath. “Borrowed them”
“You stole them didn’t you” Nightmare asked flatly
“Yep” the sun goddess answered as she placed the big crown thingy on her head. “Okay, here’s the deal team. We’ve got six Elements and only five bearers.
“Blarg?” Nibbles growled in confusion
“Sorry little guy” Celestia responded as she patted Nibbles on the head “You’re already scary enough, I don’t need you using the Elements to claim what is most likely all the food in the Castle.”
“Blah blerg” Nibbles growled in response
“He say fair enough” Sombra translated finishing with a shrug
“So here’s the deal, we got the orange one; I think that’s the element of Apples.” Celestia spoke gaining several odd glares from everyone around. “Nightmare you get the Element of Apples because… well I don’t have a reason” she finished as she tossed the orange necklace to the black Alicorn who awkwardly put it on.
“Luna you get the Element of Fashion… I think” The white Alicorn spoke as she tossed it towards her sister and immediately went back to the pile. “Chrysalis you can have the pink one, No idea which one this is though” she paused as she examined the pink necklace “Probably the Element of Helium, but I’ll need a periodic table to be sure.”
Nobody laughed, they didn’t even giggle they just glared.
“Fine” Celestia stated without amusement “My grand humor is lost on you, Sombra you get the Element of Going Fast and the Element of Adorable.”
“Why does he get two?” Luna asked with annoyance as she pointed towards the two Elements Sombra had been given.
“Because he’s adorable” Celestia answered flatly “Now everyone here’s the plan.” She began with an evil grin
Discord’s day had been going quite well up until the afternoon. When he had first woken up he got a nice surprise of more pillow toast which he ate with a nice bit of text book jerky. After that nice meal he had gone down to Luna’s lab to help her out.
Sadly Discord’s help wasn’t appreciated, Luna’s concoction was clearly lacking in the department of Apple Juice so he did what he could to help out. When it mutated he was sure she would have been completely pleased, instead she tried to drown him in a fish bowl.
After that he went and visited Mooney. She had all sorts of wards and stuff trying to keep herself locked in the room. So Discord did his best to try and break her out, she didn’t enjoy him climbing through the air vents and ended up turning up the heat.
After he managed to treat his burns he had eventually stumbled on a nice picnic in the garden and it was quite the rude gathering if he had anything to say about it. They didn’t even share their snacks with him.
Now after all he had done to try and help them they decided to corner him with the Elements of Harmony.
“Discord, it’s time for us to take our revenge!” Celestia shouted as she her eyes began to glow and her group began to rise from the ground as the Elements powered up. Discord closed his eyes and waited for destruction but the only thing that came was a loud zapping sound. When the Draconequus finally opened his eyes only Himself, Nightmare, Sombra and Nibbles remained. Where everyone else once stood there was now only burn marks and the Elements.
“What happen?” Sombra asked as he turned to look at Nightmare.
“I guess they weren’t the proper bearers.” Nightmare answered flatly “Congratulations Discord” Nightmare spoke as she placed Celestia’s crown on Discord’s head. “You’re the new Celestia, and I’m the Element of Apples.” The black Alicorn stated happily as she trotted off leaving Discord and Sombra in complete confusion and Nibble with three new chew toys.
One week later the Element of Harmony showed up on the door step of the Ponyville library several of them appeared to have been chewed on. Twilight had wisely assumed not to question anything. However the next time her and her friends needed to wield the Elements they would quickly find out that the Element of Apples had a new master, Apple Horse was not amused.
Three weeks later at the “Battle of Ponyville”
“Okay girls, we’ve got Grogar on the run. All we have to do is use the Elements and send Grogar back to Tartarus, and then we can clean up Ponyville.
“Discord’s going to be so upset we saw Grogar without him.” Nightmare laughed as she prepared her Element.
“Quiet Nightmare” Twilight commanded “You’re only here because Applejack is down in Manehattan”
“After this can I write a friendship report? I do love reading all those reports you send Celestia. I mean seriously, I don’t think I’ve seen such cheesy moral anywhere not even the ones in Discord’s foal shows he’s constantly watching.”
Nightmare didn’t have time to take in Twilight’s reaction as she quickly received a hoof to the jaw. To this day nobody know exactly what happened during the “Battle of Ponyville” but it is believed that Twilight Sparkle gave Nightmare Moon such a sound beating that Grogar returned to Tartarus on his own claiming that had been the most fun thing he had witnessed in the last seven thousand years.
[Secret Bonus Nightmare Moon Mini-Sode]
Nightmare Moon, Alicorn of Darkness and now the Element of Apple was enjoying a nice quiet afternoon in her room. Over the last month she had taken part in many stupid schemes and even helped save the world, if only because she took a rather amusing beating from a small purple horse.
“Peace and quiet” Nightmare sighed to herself as she lay in her bed enjoying the nice cool breeze that came in through an open window on the other side of the room.
*Knock, knock, knock* came the sound of a hoof on her door.
“No” Nightmare groaned as she rolled over in her bed. “Nobody is home.”
After several seconds of continued silence Nightmare realized that whoever was at her door had probably left.
“Huh, didn’t think that would work.” The Alicorn stated in a mixture of surprise and confusion. “Well it had to happen one da-“ The Alicorn was cut off by a sudden thud from the other side of the room. The mare quickly rolled over revealing a rather tired looking Changeling Queen
“Oh good, the second least annoying person I know.” Nightmare spoke with a sigh of relief “What brings you to my chambers this fine afternoon and why do you look like you climbed up the side of the Castle?”
“I…. did… climb” Chrysalis gasped in-between words “Luna….” Chrysalis paused for a moment as she continued to try and get air back into her lungs, after a couple seconds of stressed breathing she was able to speak properly
“Luna asked me to help her with “Science” and I stupidly agreed to help her.”
“How’d that go?” Nightmare asked with a knowing grin
“I can’t feel my wings and the Hive Mind is speaking in Spanish!” the Changeling Queen yelled in response “She warned me the next one might make me explode and I bolted.” Chrysalis finished before slumping back on the floor. “She said I had to do it for Science, I’ve been running for the last thirty minutes.”
“Yeaaaaaah” Nightmare answered in a drawn out response. “Never help Luna with Science, it ends in dying… painfully.” She finished as she rubbed the back of her head. “I’m guessing you’re hoping to hide out here till she gives up decides to use Discord or Celestia I assume?”
“Yes, please and thank you.” The Queen added with an enthusiastic nod.
“Very well” Nightmare answered as she rolled back over in her bed. “There’s some movies in my closet and a mini fridge under the bed.”
“Thank… Wait you have a fridge and a T.V?” Chrysalis blurted in response
“I took them from Luna’s room when I left her head.” Nightmare casually answered as she used her magic to open a panel on the wall across her room revealing large flat screen T.V on the other side. “I promised not to rat out her “Plan B” and “Plan C” had we continued to try and take over Equestria.” Nightmare finished with a chuckle as she remembered how annoyed Luna looked when she took the Mini-Fridge
“You’re an evil, evil mare” Chrysalis laughed
“No, evil was Luna’s “Plan B” after the Elements managed to stop us on our return we were prepared to release hundreds of “lost” documents showing Celestia during the age of disco” the black Alicorn needed to do everything in her power to keep from laughing as she summoned a single photograph and slide it towards the Changeling Queen.
“Sweet hive below” Chrysalis muttered to herself as she stared at the image of Celestia. Her normally long and flowing mane had become a rather large and poofy afro. Her calming eyes were hidden beneath large purple tinted glasses and the outfit she wore couldn’t be described in the Equestrian Language.
“When you’re ready Child” Nightmare began as she patted Chrysalis on the shoulder from laying position on the bed “Go forth and use this mighty weapon of blackmail against Luna.” She continued her tone only getting more powerful as she stood up. “Do not fear her science and use this weapon to claim a mini fridge of your own.”
“I’ll make you proud” Chrysalis stated as she forced a single tear down her face. “I’ll teach her to make everything in my head Spanish!” Chrysalis shouted as she stormed out of the room.
“Good for her” Nightmare sighed happily before turning her T.V on and preparing to return to her nice quiet day of doing absolutely nothing and for once in a long, long time nothing bad happened to the Element of Apples.