Chapter 27
“What in the name of Princess Celestia do we do now?!” Rainbow Dash yelled, throwing open her hooves.
The group had put some distance between themselves and Blue Jay. The reason why was not exactly clear, but after the double shock of the Elements not working and the sight of Stoneflower being killed, it had seemed the smartest thing to do. As it became clear Blue Jay had no intentions of following them, the group stopped to take shelter in one of the larger ruins.
No sooner had they caught their breath, than Rainbow Dash went into a near-hysterical rant. She was pacing the length of the cracked and broken floor, trampling over patches where grass and moss had spread.
“I don't understand it,” Twilight said to nopony in particular. “Why didn't the elements work? They had power, I could feel it! So why didn't it work?”
“Maybe the big shiny bubble stopped them somehow?” Pinkie offered as she watched Rainbow pace.
“But the blast of magic broke through it,” Rarity said, “I saw it break through!”
“So why didn't they work, huh?” Pinkie said, turning to Twilight.
“I don't know!” She said, rather loudly. “It doesn't make any sense!”
“What the heck is that thing anyway?!” Rainbow said, spinning back to face the others. “It didn't even flinch! Did you see what it did to that crazy mayor lady?! She exploded!”
“Yes, Rainbow Dash, dear. We were all there,” Rarity said with strained patience.
“How the heck did she and that bodyguard find us anyway?!” Rainbow went on, starting her pacing again. “I thought she lost us in the forest! And I can tell you right now I never saw any pony following us! Where the heck did she come from?!”
“That Innkeeper musta told 'em where we were goin',” Applejack said with an absent tone of voice. “He had a bit of a screw loose. Didn't think much of givin' the three of us directions.”
Rainbow threw her hooves up at this. “Great! So you've got a crazy mayor and her crazy followers, but they're not even the kind of crazy where they just sit around and scream at invisible bushwoolies! They gotta be able to think! Well that's just great!” She spun back to the others again, “What kind of pony just runs up and grabs a weirdo stone of evil, anyway?! And what kind of evil weirdo stone makes ponies explode?!”
“If I knew that, I'd probably know why the elements didn't work!” Twilight snapped at her, although she immediately looked ashamed for it. “There has to be some kind of explanation. Maybe... Maybe Oggie said something we forgot?”
“You'd think he'd remember to say 'oh, by the way, your whole plan of using the elements isn't gonna work'! I think I would've remembered that, Twilight!” Rainbow snapped back as she gave a fallen pile of wood and rafters a punch with a foreleg.
“Hey, I'm just trying to make sense of this, alright?!” Twilight said with a frown.
“What sense is there to make?!” Rainbow Dash yelled. “Doesn't matter if we can figure it out or not, we're up a creek over here with nothing else to throw at that thing!”
“Rainbow Dash, would ya calm down already?” Applejack came back to reality. “We're all upset about this but ya don't need ta get everypony else into a state!”
“Oh I don't, huh?!” Rainbow turned on her instead. “Well maybe I'm just a little freaked out by the fact that we saw a pony explode!”
“Will ya stop sayin' that already?!” Applejack snapped. “We all saw it, Dash! Ya don't need to keep goin' on about it!”
“I think if there's anything worth going on about it's how that stone thingy just made somepony blow up into a thousand pieces just by touching it! After it got hit by a giant rainbow made of magic! You don't think that might kinda be a little important?!”
“We know it's important, Dash!” Twilight spoke up again. “But we need to think about this logically and work out what went wrong!”
Rainbow Dash scoffed. “What went wrong is we're all a bunch of idiots for not trying to think of some kind of plan B instead of just relying on these stupid things!” She tapped her necklace.
“But they've always worked on big baddies before!” Pinkie said.
“This wasn't really a 'baddie' though,” Rarity said thoughtfully to whoever would listen. “It was a rock, or... a stone or... jewel perhaps?”
“Shoulda still worked right?” Pinkie turned to smile at her. “It's a bad rock or stone or jewel! So the Elements shoulda taken care of it anyway, right? I mean we've zapped alicorns and Discords and scary nightmare creatures and all kinds of stuff with them! A rock shouldn't really be that big a deal. I mean, I know a lot about rocks and they're not exactly super awesome magic blockers. Well, not normal rocks anyway. I dunno about other rocks. My sister Maud would know! She's really super smart and knows a lot of stuff about rocks I've never even heard about before!”
“Well your sister's not here!” Rainbow snapped at Pinkie this time, apparently committed to staying angry. “There's nopony here but us and that big pegasus guy and somehow I really don't think he's gonna be any help!”
“Rainbow, seriously, ya gotta calm down!” Applejack yelled, marching over to her.
“I am calm!” Rainbow yelled back, sticking her face dangerously close to Applejack's. “For a pony that's just seen a magic rock ignore the most powerful magic blast in Equestria before blowing up another pony just for touching it I am incredibly calm!”
Fluttershy stood to the side of the heated scene, watching her friends scream and shout at each other with flattened ears. She shifted her weight from hoof to hoof, trying to hide behind her hair. She took a few nervous glances above them, worried of some unseen danger that might swoop down on them while they argued. The roof of the building had very long ago caved in, and the late afternoon sun was pouring down through the beams and rafters that remained intact. Glassless windows on the second floor hung thick with ivy and innumerable small plants that had taken root right on the wooden frames. There was no sign of something watching them. No Blue Jay, no grey pegasus, and nothing else that her imagination was coming up with.
She turned to Discord, wondering if he was perhaps keeping a look out while the rest of them were shouting. However, Discord seemed as oblivious to their surroundings as the others were. He was watching the unhinged argument with rapt attention, his ears perked as his attention flitted back and forth between whoever was yelling the loudest. For one moment, he almost looked like he wanted to add something to the fight, but apparently changed his mind.
Fluttershy turned back to the argument as well. She did, however, take note of the fact that Discord was making an active effort to stay out of it instead of egging anypony on. She decided to praise him for it later.
The word 'later' stung for a moment, but Fluttershy refused to think about it.
“What do you want us ta do, Dash?! Huh?! What exactly is it ya want us ta do about all of this?!” Applejack yelled, poking her friend in the chest.
“How the heck should I know?!” Rainbow slapped her hoof away. “I don't have the faintest idea what we're suppose to do! 'Get to the stone and blast it with the Elements'! That is all I've been focused on this whole trip, Applejack! I'm not the one who comes up with the smart plans around here!”
“So you think because of that you can just yell at the ponies who do?!” Twilight interrupted, marching closer.
“No! That's not what I meant!” Rainbow turned to her instead. “But I don't have any idea of what we gotta do, alright?! And none of us have said anything about what we'd do if these things didn't work!”
“How were we s'posed ta plan for that?!” Applejack snapped.
“Well, maybe if we took some time to think about it we could've figured it out!” Rainbow yelled.
“Well we didn't!” Twilight said, stomping a hoof. “And there's no use complaining about it now!”
“So what exactly are we supposed to do?!” Rainbow turned to her again.
“I don't know, okay?!” Twilight yelled. “I have no idea! I'm trying to think and I'm trying to remember anything that can help but I don't know! I'm trying, alright?! I'm trying as hard as I can! I didn't mean to let everypony down! I am doing my best!”
“That's not what I'm saying!” Rainbow shook her head. “I never said anything about letting anypony down!”
“But I have, okay?!” Twilight yelled back. “I'm suppose to be the pony leading this group! I'm the one in charge of all this magic stuff! I'm the pony who got turned into a princess! It's supposed to be my job to stop disasters like this!” She took a few heavy breaths which audibly trembled. “It's my responsibility to protect Equestria! And to protect my friends! I'm the one who promised Princess Celestia to do everything I can to make things right!”
“Hey! Woah, wait a minute!” Rainbow interrupted, the frown on her face breaking slightly.
Twilight shook her head. “I'm sorry, alright?! I thought the Elements would be enough to fix this! I didn't think things through like I should have and I'm sorry!” She hiccuped.
“Now just wait a second!” Rainbow marched over to her. “This isn't your fault, Twilight. None of us thought of any other ideas if the Elements didn't work!”
“But I'm the alicorn here!” Twilight insisted. “I'm the one who's a Princess!”
“And we're the ponies who helped make that happen!” Rainbow interrupted again, raising her voice above Twilight's. “Princess or not, you're not the only pony here whose job it is to protect Equestria! Just because you got yourself a set of wings to match your horn doesn't mean the rest of us can just put up our hooves and not put in any effort!”
“Rainbow Dash's right,” Applejack nodded, walking over as well. Unlike Rainbow however, she said this at a normal volume. “Ya may be the bookish one here, Twilight, but none of us said 'maybe we oughta think of another way ta deal with this guy'. We all just decided the Elements were gonna work and nopony thought we might be wrong about that.”
“But I should've known...” Twilight rubbed her face with a foreleg.
“And how, precisely, should you have known this would happen?” Rarity asked, although she did not sound as forceful as she probably intended.
Twilight looked up at her. “I'm the element of Magic! I'm... I'm supposed to think about these kinds of things!”
“And I'm the Element of Honesty and I shoulda told Applebloom where fillies come from when she asked,” Applejack said. “But just 'cause your special talent is magic, and ya have that fancy crown, don't mean ya have to know and live and breathe everythin' ta do with magic. Sure, ya've got the wings and stuff, but yer still a pony, same as anypony else. Just 'cause ya've got a little more power in the magic department than the rest of us, don't mean ya've turned into some omneepohdant alicorn that knows absolutely everythin'!”
“'Omnipotent,'” Rarity corrected, cocking a brow at her.
“Whatever,” Applejack waved a hoof at her. “Point is, yer still Twilight. Yer smart and yer pretty good with the magic thing, but yer still Twilight. And Twilight is a pony, just like the rest of us.” Applejack gave Twilight a Lopsided smile. “Honestly? It's kinda snobby fer ya ta think ya should have all the answers just 'cause of that crown on yer head. Don't ya think?”
Twilight sniffed, but said nothing.
Rainbow Dash cleared her throat.
“Yeah... uhm...” She scratched at the ground with a hoof. “I er... I didn't mean to make it sound like... you know... you had to fix this by yourself or... or should've known this was gonna happen... or anything... you know?”
“You said a lot of other stuff, though!” Pinkie bounced closer, putting her forelegs over Dash's back as she grinned at her.
“Yeah... Yeah I... I guess I kinda lost it...” Rainbow gave Twilight a sheepish grin. “Sorry Twilight... I was just... you know... not scared or anything but... you know...”
Twilight smiled at her, wiping her muzzle as she gave a nod. After this she sunk, sitting down on a patch of moss. “What are we going to do now?”
The others exchanged glances.
“Well, I suppose... best we can really do is... oh dear...” Rarity rubbed her head. “I'm really not sure. What do we know about this stone?”
“Does anypony remember what that Oggie guy said about it?” Rainbow Dash asked. “I know we were all there, but some of that guy's talking kinda went over my head.”
“I remember some of it,” Applejack offered.
“I remember the neat pictures he had in his book!” Pinkie added.
Twilight gave a nod, straightening a little. “I think... I remember most of it too.”
“Okay. So... where do we start?” Applejack said, sitting down as well.
“At the beginning?” Pinkie suggested, smiling widely.
“Good idea,” Rarity smiled.
Fluttershy was running her hooves over her mane as she tried to think. She herself did not remember all that much of what Oggie had said. Most of what she remembered had to do with the Cult he thought still had the stone. And the only reason she remembered that clearly was because at the time she had been afraid of facing them. Other than that, her memory was hazy at best.
She turned to Discord, hoping perhaps he would remember more than she did, although she was not sure how much attention he had been paying at the time. Personal experience had taught her Discord only really had two responses to a lecture. Either he would ignore it completely, or he would look like he was ignoring it while actually listening to every word.
The spot where Discord had been sitting was empty. The grass and moss still had an indentation of where he had been lying. Fluttershy looked around to see if he had shifted when she was not looking. It was only by chance that she spotted the flick of a tail as he disappeared, walking out and around the ruined house.
Fluttershy gave her friends a sideways glance, watching as they calmly tried to sort through what they could remember. She stood up and left the crumbling room, heading after Discord.
Fluttershy walked out into what was slowly becoming evening, looking around for any sign of the draconequus. She spotted him strolling down one of the streets, heading nowhere in particular from what she could tell. She trotted after him. It did not take too long for her to catch up.
“Where are you going?” she asked when she was close enough.
Discord stopped and turned to her. He seemed surprised to have been followed. However, he broke into a wide smile and turned to face her properly.
“I thought I'd go for a little walk, actually. Clear my head and all that. Besides, it didn't look like I was going to be much use in there,” He gave a shrug.
Fluttershy stared up at him for a moment. She took off lightly and flapped to hover at eye level with him.
“I don't really think you're the type of pony... erm... draconequus, who wants to do something like clear their head,” She said.
Discord gave a chuckle. “Well said. However, I assure you it's true. Actually, there's a rather lovely oak near your cottage I'm quite fond of that I like to lie around in and do some head-clearing, when I have nothing better to do.” He frowned to himself. “Then again, I suppose that would count more as a 'nap' than 'clearing my head'. But in the end, I suppose it amounts to the same thing, really.”
Fluttershy did not seem very interested in Discord's Oak, though. She lowered her head slightly, rubbing her forelegs together. “Oh.”
Discord watched her for a few moments, but it became clear after a while Fluttershy was not going to break the silence herself. Usually that meant there was something on her mind and she was nervous about saying it out loud. Not that that meant too much. Fluttershy tended to be nervous about saying things quite often.
“Anything wrong, my dear?” Discord asked, leaning forward to smile at her.
“Uhm... no. Not really,” She pulled her mane back out of her face. “I... I was kinda worried you were... maybe... leaving? Or something?”
Discord stared at her, but she refused to look him in the eye. He gave a soft laugh. “Now, Fluttershy, I'm insulted! Do you really think I would just wander off and leave my little pony friends to face this rude Blue Bird by themselves?”
Fluttershy mumbled something but he did not catch it. He did notice her cheeks flare up, however. He laughed again and picked her up out of the air, holding her out at arm's length.
“Really, my dear. You worry far too much! Why in Equestria would I do that?”
Fluttershy peeked up at him, looking sheepish. “I don't know... Maybe... you don't think there's anything we can do?”
Discord's smile stayed where it was. Perhaps, more accurately, it froze in place.
Fluttershy turned to stare down at the ground, fiddling with her hooves. “We're doing our best but... I was worried you might think... it could be hopeless?”
“Hopeless, huh?” Discord said, lowering her a little.
She snapped her gaze back to him in alarm. “I'm not saying it is, of course! I just... I was worried maybe you were thinking it was so... you might decide to...” She trailed off, breaking eye contact again.
There was an uncomfortable pause. Fluttershy could feel her chest tighten. She felt the urge to say something. As she was about to, Discord broke into a stroll once more, hugging her against his chest. He did not head back to the others, instead taking a turn and walking down a side street.
Fluttershy turned up to look at him. “Where are we going?”
“I don't know,” Discord replied. “Over there, somewhere.”
His voice somehow sounded distant.
It did not seem like taking a walk was really at the forefront of Discord's mind any more, however. After only a street or so, he seemed to lose interest in the whole thing and clambered up a half-destroyed wall of a house instead. He put Fluttershy down to stretch out, cracking his fingers above his head with a yawn before he lay down to bask in what remained of the sun.
Part of her was urging Fluttershy to tell him they needed to get back to the others as soon as possible and try to figure out what they could possibly do to stop Blue Jay. But as soon as she thought about it again, she felt worn out. And what was worse, she knew no matter how hard she tried to think about it, there was not any way she was going to be able to think of something Twilight or Applejack would not think of first. She just did not have the mind for it. Truth be told, the only solution that came to her mind at all was to ask Blue Jay nicely to stop because he was hurting others. She knew she could be naïve at times, but she was by no means that naïve.
She gave a long sigh as she trotted across the flat roof, or possibly exposed attic, and lay down beside Discord. Fluttershy said nothing for a while, listening to the sounds of evening around them. Calls from birds, the buzz of insects, the far off cry from a meadowlark. The very very distance hum of magic.
A breeze rolled over the gutted houses and played with her hair for a moment. She listened to it rustle the long grass in the forgotten gardens. The sky was turning from blue to yellow. The few rays of the sun that reached them felt warmer than usual in comparison to the cooling air. There were the ghostly lights from fireflies just waking up for the night among the unkept bushes. Not that far from them, the roofs of the houses reflected the cold glow from Blue Jay's bubble.
Fluttershy turned to Discord. He lay on his back, arms curled against his chest dog-like. He scratched at his fur as he stared at the sky above them. He looked wider eyed than normal as he stared, almost with dread, at nothing.
Fluttershy's ears drooped. She shifted a little before she lay her head down across his stomach. It was not very long before she felt a soft paw start to stroke her mane.
She bit her lip as something inside her started to ache. But she said nothing.
The sky had turned red. The moon, still following its own route free of guidance, was waning. Soon it, the fireflies, and the distant glow were going to be the only lights in the empty town.
“I've been thinking,” Discord broke the silence.
Fluttershy blinked to herself, but did not sit up.
“Something that Blue Bottle pony said is bothering me,” Discord went on without prompting.
“I don't think you should pay too much attention to what he says,” Fluttershy said gently.
“Now now, my dear. One should always listen to what your enemy has to say to you. You never know what they might let slip,” Discord said. She could not see it, but she could almost hear him wag a talon at her. “But like I was saying; he mentioned something which is tugging at my mind.”
“What did he say?” Fluttershy lifted her head to look at him.
Discord was still staring up at the sky, as if he was talking to the moon rather than her. “He said the stone was not a Seventh Element or anything of that sort. Something which, I assure you, I remembered quite clearly before he ever mentioned it. I don't believe he was lying about that.”
“Have you remembered why you don't think it's like one of the Elements?” Fluttershy asked.
Discord frowned to himself. “I'm not entirely sure. I do remember seeing it once before. However, I'm almost certain it did not look like that when I did.”
Fluttershy blinked at him. “What do you mean?”
“Well that's the frustrating thing. It happened so long ago I can't really recall. I would remind you I can remember the forming of the three pony Kingdoms and the rather chilly winter the windigos brought quite clearly. Windigos, incidentally, are not really that much fun. Very single minded and no sense of humour. All they care about is snow. Dreadfully boring.”
“I'm afraid I don't really understand how Blue Jay saying the same thing you already knew would bug you, Discord,” Fluttershy tried to focus him back to the topic at hand.
“That's not really the part that bothers me,” Discord said. He paused for a few moments before he asked, almost hesitantly; “Do you, by any chance, remember what that charming Ogham fellow said ponies believed the Seventh Element was? If it did exist?”
Fluttershy blushed and shook her head. “I was so worried about facing the cult members, I didn't really think about the details of the stone, I'm afraid.”
“That's surprisingly thoughtless of you, my dear,” Discord raised his head to cock an eyebrow at her.
Fluttershy's blush darkened. “I was a little scared.”
Discord laid his head back down, not commenting on what he thought of Fluttershy's fear of things that had not happened yet. “Ogham mentioned that the Seventh Element broke off from the same World-Guardian as the other elements, but it was a shadow representation of the other six.”
“What does that mean exactly?” Fluttershy asked. “Is it like the opposite of the Elements of Kindness, laughter, and the others?”
“No no, Fluttershy. It is the shadow part of those,” Discord raised a finger pointedly.
“I don't really think I understand. So, it's not bad?”
Discord said nothing. He frowned to himself for a while before he lowered his finger again and shifted to get more comfortable.
“I don't know.”
Fluttershy watched him for a while as he lay thinking. He stared unseeingly with wide eyes, giving no indication he was even aware that she was still there. It did not look like he was going to raise the subject again.
Fluttershy sighed quietly, lying her head down on top of him again. The sun had disappeared behind the mountain, but despite the cold evening air, Discord was warm against her cheek.
It almost made her want to cry.
“We should probably go back and stop this pony before he gets too full of himself,” Discord said eventually. The joke sounded half-hearted, however, and he did not move to sit up right away.
“What are we going to do?” Fluttershy asked. He voice was softer than normal.
“I'm not entirely sure,” Discord said as he shifted, making her lift her head again. “I think, however, I have something of an idea that could, possibly, help.”
Fluttershy blinked large eyed at him. “You have?”
He gave her a toothy grin. “It's a bit of a long shot. But then again, those tend to be the most fun. You never know how they might actually turn out. If things go as they should then everything is fine. If not, you usually end up with an utterly wonderful mess you couldn't dream of consciously making yourself.”
Fluttershy's ears lowered again. “That's not really reassuring.”
“Perhaps not,” Discord sat up. He leaned towards her as he smiled ear to ear, eventually scrunching his nose against her's, “but it's the best I've got. Besides,” He pulled back, picking her up again and holding her out in front of him. The smile stayed where it was, and at a glance nothing in his expression really looked like it changed, but there was the faintest shift in his voice. Hardly even there at all. “We'll do this together, just like you said... won't we?”
Fluttershy regarded him for a moment before she smiled warmly. “Yes.”
“Well then,” He cleared his throat, putting her down on the roof before he started to climb over its edge, “We should probably head back before the others start mounting a search party for us.”
Fluttershy watched him climb down before she flew to follow, landing beside him while he waited for her. They headed back to where the rest of the group had taken shelter. The walk was slow, and with every step Fluttershy could feel something made of lead start to grow in her stomach.
“Oh, one more thing before I forget it again,” Discord said suddenly, giving his own forehead a mock slap. “You mentioned it a while ago and I realised it completely slipped my mind to answer you properly at the time.”
Fluttershy stared up at him, at a loss. “What is it?”
He did not meet her eye, focusing instead on the way they were going, but he smiled again. In a way, it almost looked sad, somehow.
“You're my best friend, Fluttershy,” he said, matter-of-factly, “and I love you too.”
“There you two are!” Rainbow Dash grumbled when Discord and Fluttershy strolled back into the ruined house. “Where'd you run off to?! We were starting to get worried!”
“Don't get your feathers in a bunch, Rainbow Dash,” Discord waved a claw at her. “We were just out enjoying the evening air. Taking in the local wildlife. Seeing the burnt out, charred sights.”
“Well, you could've said something,” Rainbow huffed.
Twilight rolled her eyes with a smile before focusing back on the other two. “Did you guys find anything... I dunno... useful at all?”
“I found a blackberry bush,” Discord grinned. “They're still green too, so they have this wonderful bitterness to them.”
“Did you come up with any ideas of what we could do to stop the stone, Twilight?” Fluttershy asked, turning to scan the faces of the others hopefully.
They gave various shifts and coughs in reply.
“I'm afraid not,” Twilight sighed. “We've been going over every tiny thing we can remember Oggie saying about the stone, the cultist, the old manuscripts calling it a Seventh Element—”
“Which it isn't,” Discord interrupted.
“—the creation story he talked about, where the stone was found. Everything. But we can't think of anything that might actually help us stop it.” Twilight finished.
“I know so much about scary dark powers from outer space fighting magic protection dust I could write a book about it!” Pinkie groaned, wrapping her forelegs over her head.
“The only idea we thought might be kinda useful is when Rarity said the thing could be like an evil Element of somethin',” Applejack added.
“Fluttershy, can you hear me? Because I'm starting to worry I might have been struck mute at some stage,” Discord said with clear annoyance.
“Not that it's an evil Seventh Element, you dingus!” Rainbow stuck her tongue out at him. “That it's maybe some evil element that came from somewhere else!”
“Like a mirror universe where we all have moustaches and creepy opposite coloured manes!” Pinkie said with enthusiasm.
“Maybe,” Twilight said, “But even if it was, that doesn't exactly help us stop it.”
“Unless we open a portal back to its home and shove it into it!” Pinkie argued, miming the action.
“And how exactly do we do that?” Rainbow pulled a face.
Pinkie shrugged. “Hey, I can't think of everything around here.”
“Interesting theory, Pinkie,” Discord said, playing with his beard. “Remind me of that complementary coloured manes thing later, if you don't mind. As for right now though, I think perhaps I have an idea of what could give your little trinkets an extra boost of power.”
Twilight immediately turned her full attention on him. “Really? What?! What did you find?!”
Discord waved his paw and claw at her in defense. “Calm down, Princess! Let's try and keep some form of royal decorum here!”
“Discord, seriously. If you've found something that could help—” Twilight said, fighting back every urge to grab and shake the answer out of him.
“It's nothing we've found,” Discord said, circling her in a way he knew she hated, “I was just doing some thinking while I was sunbathing. And I said to myself, I said; 'Myself, your pony friends are in quite the bind here. And seeing as I would also openly welcome my powers back, perhaps I should do a little more than wave pom poms on the side-lines while they try and fight yet another Equestria-threatening menace.'”
“You have pom poms?!” Pinkie's ears perked up.
“Sadly not,” Discord said without missing a beat. “But what I do have is perhaps just that little extra power that could help put an end to all of this.”
He put his paw and claw together and smiled at Twilight, waiting for her to put the pieces together.
She frowned for a moment before the penny dropped. “You want to pool your magic with ours?!”
“Right first time!” Discord gave a small golf-clap. “See, Twilight? We are getting better at communicating!”
“Wait a minute!” Applejack interrupted, walking closer. “The last time ya'll did that it took a ton of effort just ta spring a locked door! How the heck are we gonna have enough power ta even scratch that stone?!”
Discord made a tutting noise. “Applejack, that was so last week! We're using the elements now! It didn't take that much for your light-show to break through Blue Moon's shield around the thing. I'm sure with some extra oomph we can put this whole mess behind us and go home for a decent bath and a warm cup of tea.”
“You said you don't really have that much magic anymore,” Twilight gave him a deep frown.
“Well, I'm still here, aren't I?” He turned to smile at her instead. “I'm sure I can scratch up a spark or two from somewhere. Just enough to 'fuel your fire', if you'll excuse the expression.”
“I don't think you used that one right,” Rarity frowned to herself.
“But Discord, won't you get hurt?” Fluttershy spoke up, circling him so she could look him in the eye. “I know I'm not a unicorn or anything and I don't know as much about magic, but that really doesn't sound very safe.”
“Oh yes, because everything else we've done so far has been a Sunday picnic,” Discord rolled his eyes.
“I mean it, Discord,” Fluttershy said. “This really doesn't sound like a good idea! What if you use too much of your magic and hurt yourself? What if trying to combine your magic with the Elements somehow backfires on you? What if Blue Jay somehow uses your magic against you?”
“All valid arguments,” Discord nodded. “But considering the alternative, which is to pack up and head back home, I think it would at least be worth trying before we have to tell Celestia 'bad news, old girl. We gave it our second best shot, but in the end decided it was too risky to try and save Equestria so we came back home instead. So, how have you been'?”
“He's got a point,” Rainbow Dash said.
“A rather rude one, but I'm afraid I have to agree somewhat,” Rarity added.
“I don't know,” Fluttershy sank. “What if it doesn't even work? What if your magic can't be used with pony magic at all?”
“No, we know it can,” Twilight said. She was rubbing her muzzle with a hoof as she thought it over. “Like Applejack said; we did it back in Falabel to get out of the jail cell they locked us in. I was only using my own magic though, so we couldn't really gather a lot of it together. We did get the lock open, though,” She looked up. “With the Elements' power, it might just be enough to stop this.”
“Can't we try something else first?” Fluttershy said, turning to Twilight.
“Like what exactly?” Rainbow scrunched her muzzle. “Trust me, Fluttershy. We've been frying our brains trying to come up with a way to stop this creep!”
“Maybe there's something... I don't know...” Fluttershy rubbed one of her forelegs with the other. “Isn't there maybe something else we could use the elements on that could stop the stone?”
“We could always try and hit Blue Jay instead,” Rainbow gave a shrug.
Fluttershy spun to her, pale with horror. “Oh no! No we couldn't do that! Use the elements on another pony?!”
“We used it on Nightmare Moon, didn't we?” Rainbow argued.
“But Nightmare Moon was evil!” Fluttershy insisted. “She was a pony twisted by evil power! Blue Jay isn't evil he's just... bad.”
She sunk down further, avoiding eye contact.
“I appreciate the sentiment, my dearest Fluttershy,” Discord said, bending down to smile at her where she could see him. “But again, considering the alternative, I think we should take the gamble and see where we are once we're at the other end of it.”
“But what if something bad happens to you?” She lifted her gaze just enough to meet his.
“Like I said; considering the alternative...” His smile perked as he gave a shrug.
Fluttershy said nothing. She sat down, shrinking in defeat. Discord straightened and gave her a pat on the head. He then spun on a heel and turned to address Twilight, Business-like.
“Now, with that settled, let's work out the nitty gritty of this brilliant idea I've come up with! I will leave that to you, Twilight. I know how much you revel in organising the insignificant details of a plan.”
“Well I... I guess if you really think it'll be ok,” Twilight said. She only hesitated for a moment, however, before she turned to the group as a whole. “Alright, Everypony. We need to figure out how we'll get close enough to the stone to use the elements without getting attacked.”
“Blue Jay didn't seem that keen on hittin' us at all, if ya ask me,” Applejack said. “He coulda hit us the first time we tried ta power up, easily. I don't really know if he's got it in him, ta be honest.”
“Maybe,” Twilight nodded, “but I don't want us to take that chance. When it comes down to the wire, I don't want us to rely on the fact that maybe he won't get desperate enough to fire at us.”
“And what if this doesn't work?” Rarity spoke up.
Twilight said nothing for a few moments, pulling a grim face. “Then we'll need to consider using to Elements on... something else,”
The others mimicked her expression, Rainbow Dash grumbling something to herself.
Twilight gave a small cough, “Anyway... Let's start with the idea that it will work, and figure out what to do if it doesn't once we've got a better idea of Plan B first.”
The others nodded, satisfied for the most part with this for now, although Rainbow still looked cranky about it.
Fluttershy sat silently as Twilight and the others worked out a plan of action. She turned to Discord every few moments, watching as he enthusiastically gave advice, his own thoughts, or simply derailed the entire conversation.
She said nothing, focusing instead on listening to the plan and Discord's non sequiturs. But she could not shake the terrible feeling she had.