//------------------------------//
// Chapter 12: War 
// Story: The Dark Brotherhoof 
// by CelestialScribe 
//------------------------------//

In a flash, Discord was gone, and left in his place were dozens of chocolate éclairs. The arena erected around them seemed to be made of... jelly? A few test bites from Pinkie confirmed it as green gelatin. The open space ahead of them, flanked by the green walls, that lead down into the heart of Ponyville was winding in the distance. The checkered floor was ever-shifting, but always fixed at the same time. It was pointing to one location- a beam of colourless light shooting up.

"So... what just happened?" Rainbow Dash asked the group, but no one could offer a suitable explanation.

"Discord wants to play a game! It'll be SO MUCH fun! Discord's pretty good at throwing parties and stuff, y'know!" Pinkie chirped.

The group of twelve ponies began forming a circle and Rarity spoke up. "And how would you know that, Pinkie?"

"We had a 'Congratulations on the Stone Breaking' party!" She replied.

Twilight suddenly burst in with fury. "YOU LET HIM ESCAPE?!"

"No! That would be silly! I helped him escape."

A single strand of Twilight's hair shot out of place, a cracked smile appeared on her face and her eyes drifted apart. It would be quite a horrific spectacle if she had her hood up, her iris' were flashing with colours that would have stabbed the darkness nicely.

Applejack poked the unstable pony gently. "Er, Sugarcube? Y'alright?" Twilight just continued slipping over the edge of her own mind. 

Pinkie continued on, smiling to herself. "And then I said, if you Pinkie promise not to leave the basemen-..."

Pinkie's face turned expressionless. Her eyes squinted in thought, and she confirmed her fears. Face hardening, the last hours of Discord were upon him. Her voice erupted in demonic sounds, only barely understandable as her eyes flickered with flames. 

"HE BROKE A PINKIE PROMISE!" She bounded to the stacks of weaponry that were littered around John the tree. One by one, she forced an éclair into each Clairifier. She sorted the tater tots and pies into stacks, preparing for her vengeance.

"Right, so that's two of us down, and we haven't started yet." Fancypants remarked.

"Wait, so he wants us to fight him? Without the elements? With these... things?" Rarity pointed to the frantically moving Pinkie and her piles of weapons. She was moving faster than ever before, assembling all the necessary equipment. 

"It appears so. And, am I right in guessing that you've been told about us now?" Fancypants questioned Rarity.

"Even you, Fancypants?" Rarity showed some surprise, but was generally casual about it. "I suppose it would explain a lot. Well, yes, and I am incredibly thankful for it." 

"It was our pleasure, dear. Actually, it was really Twilight and Rainbow Dash's."

Twilight was cooped up on the floor, rocking slowly and mumbling incoherent words to herself. It was better than blowing everything up with magic, she was controlling it.

"Um, do we have to go... over there?" Fluttershy pointed a shaky hoof over to the beam, it was quite far away, but there was a clear path to it.

"'Spose so. We don't have the elements, so we gotta play along." Applejack looked at the trio of cloaked fillies. With Pinkie temporarily out of action, Applejack adopted the leader position. "Ya'll up for some chaos hunting?" 

They yelled in unison, "Cutie Mark Crusader Chaos Catchers! Yay!", causing some of them to flinch from the pitch. 

"What about you, Zecora?"

"I fear we may not have a choice, but either way, I will help this day." She picked up the set of vials she was teleported with. "With these potions of speed, victory is guaranteed."

"Fancypants?"

"I'd be honoured to help the elements. And as Zecora rightly put, we do not have a choice."

Applejack looked at Rarity and Fluttershy. "Ah know me an' Rainbow are in, but you need to know how to actually use these." She indicated to the Clairifiers.

"Oh, there can't be much to it, I saw how it hit Blueblood. Judging by the single direction and high velocity of the éclair, I assume it is launched from the top via the trigger. When the trigger is pulled, the constraints are released, propelling it towards the target." 

Everypony, and zebra, looked at Rarity in astonishment. "What? It's just like an advanced elastic. Fashion can be educating, you know."

Fluttershy raised a hoof timidly, and upon Applejack nodding at her, she asked, "Will, I have, erm, to... shoot these at him?"

"O'course, how else we gonna play his stupid game?"

"Oh, but, I don't want to hurt anypo-... anydraconequues!"

"It won't hurt him! It'll just mess up his face." Rainbow said.

"Oh, but, I don't want to embarrass him either." 

"He's the spirit of chaos, Fluttershy, I think he'll be happy about it. Just stick near one of us and you'll be fine." Applejack concluded. "And Derpy?"

The grey pegasus finished eating the oversized muffin and also raised a hoof. "Can I make a muffin-based weapon for the Black Hoof afterwards?"

"If the Black Hoof survives, that'd be dandy." Applejack said.

"Sure then!"

With everypony, and zebra, ready, Applejack knelt down near Twilight and consulted her. "Twi?" Twilight lay there, unresponsive, trying to block out the events. "Look, ah know you've been through alot, but we can't do this without you."

Destroying private property, breaking and entering, conspiracy to throw pies, exploding tanks, assault, chocolate wind spells, talking trees, harbouring the spirit of chaos. Yeah. A lot. A nice spongy room would be welcome about now. Twilight thought.

"Sittin' here ain't gonna accomplish nothin'. The quicker we get this over with, the quicker we can fix everything. We've got him outnumbered and the princesses should be able to get the elements of harmony, or defeat him by themselves if we fail."

The princesses. They would know. The whole of Canterlot would. The shoddy replacement statue would be uncovered and traced back to them. Princess Celestia is going to create a new place to banish me to.

"And stop right there! Cause ah know what you're thinkin'! 'Oh, but the princess'll banish me now, they'll all know..."

How did...?

"But it wasn't your fault that we kept Discord. Ah'll take the blame."

Her friends trying to claim full responsibility was something she wouldn't have. "No." Twilight finally croaked. "You're not going to do that. I could of stopped it, but I didn't. I was too concerned with the next mission and the excitement to care. I'll take the blame." 

"That ain't happenin' either. Let's just say, we'll all take it, when the time comes. For now, you need to get up so we can kick Discord's tail." Applejack lent out a hoof to her, and pulled her from the ground. "Pinkie, ah'm guessing you're eager to get rollin'?"

Pinkie somehow elasticised her hoof and pulled the eleven soldiers, minus herself, into a line in front of her. In her other hoof, she managed to balance a set of equipment for each soldier, and began handing it out down the line. Fluttershy took her weapon with some apprehension. 

Pinkie's voice had lost the element of raw anger that made her a force to be reckoned with, but still kept her mad face as she barked to her squad. 

"Now I'm not good at motivational speeches. Bananas." The squad stood in silence, anticipating further inspiration but receiving nothing. She yanked a potion of speed from Zecora and downed it in one. After she gave out a few more sets of weapons, she shouted again.  

"But when you're out there on the battlefield, fighting this traitorous menace always remember: THEY CAN TAKE OUR PIES, BUT THEY CAN NEVER TAKE: OUR FRIENDSHIP!"

A bare smattering of applause and stomping of hooves followed. What's the worse that could happen?







The ponies, and zebra, were formed in an arrow. With the exception of Pinkie, who was everywhere at once thanks to that speed potion mixed with her usual craziness. Twilight and Applejack took the lead, being flanked either side by Rainbow Dash and Fancypants. The CMC and Zecora were supporting the back, Discord's tricks could be anywhere. Being the least experienced, Rarity and Fluttershy were safe in the middle. Derpy was flying above them.

The slimy green walls were funnelling them in and out. Fortunately they were not encased by it. The walls were only about two-ponies high, but they lead directly to the light beam. It was best to just do whatever Discord wanted them to do for now, instead of flying out.

"So... how're these gonna take out Discord? I don't think the knock-out stuff'll do much against him now he's free." Said Rainbow as she flew up and scanned over the walls. Still nothing but expanses of chaos, it was probably safer inside. 

"Maybe he'll give up?" Fluttershy offered quietly. Only being returned with skeptical stares, she avoided the embarrassment by looking down. "Oh, um, or not?" She carried her Clairifier under a single wing, and looked ready to fall over with it's weight.

The usual members were cloaked, as it allowed convenient storage, but without hoods. They didn't need to be inconspicuous anymore. The pigs ceased their overhead flying as the group entered a big, open field of checkered tiles. Somehow, scattered trees sprouted instantly, and began growing fruits of bricks, pies, and other miscellaneous objects.

Then, a swarm of cheese spiders carrying Discord signalled his arrival, as he approached from the far side of the area. As he came close enough, the ponies readied their weapons uneasily, but Discord spoke first. After eating one of the spiders, of course. 

"Careful now, we wouldn't want to cheat, would we? We all know how well that went last time."

"Discord, can we jus' get this over with? You want us to go to that light or sumthin'?" Applejack said casually. 

"I was planning on it, but seeing as you're all so slow, I guess we better move that light," He motioned a paw to the light, and snapped his fingers, "over here." The beam was now inside the large arena. 

"Can we shoot you now?" Said Rainbow as she lined up the sight.

"If you want to ruin the one chance you have of getting these," Discord said as in his hand appeared all the elements of harmony. "...then go ahead."

That insufferable smirk that annoyed Twilight so appeared on his face.

"Oh, Twilight, lighten up! We're going to have a laugh, right Pinkie?" He floated over to the scowling pony and rested an arm over her shoulder.

"Don't. Touch. Me." She said coldly. Lifting his arm off of her slowly, she looked into his eyes and spoke again. "I don't think you're my friend anymore." 

Coming from Pinkie, this was a pretty big insult. Pinkie was friends with everypony, draconequues, donkey, changeling and so on, even if they were enemies.

"Woah, Pinkie, what's going on?" It was the first time the draconequues looked legitimately surprised. 

Twilight took this time to finally enjoy Discord's displeasure. "You broke a Pinkie promise. Now you're going to pay. Isn't that right, Applejack?" 

Being witness first-hand to what breaching a Pinkie promise meant, she confirmed, "Boy-howdy! You're in for a bad time now."

"Well, this should be interesting... wait," Discord floated through the ponies and one zebra, searching for something. "Where's Spike?"

"Oh, yeah."

"I dunno."

"Ah, right. Spike."

"We forgot."

"Who?"

Discord sighed angrily, "We need every member here!" 

He snapped his fingers and Spike appeared, asleep on the floor. Twilight walked up to him and nudged him awake. After rubbing his eyes open, he eventually stood up. The sun was fixed in the air, Discord must have been bored of changing them. 

"Ugh, what year is it?" He observed the strange landscape and then noticed Discord. "Oh."

"Yep, it's me. Your old pally, Discord. Now, would you like a cloak for this tremendous battle?" 

Still half-asleep, he scratched his head and looked to the other ponies. Most were attired in the Black Hoof outfit. All of his friends were there, including a few of the non-regulars, standing foremost to a backdrop of strange tiles, trees, floating houses above and general mayhem. "...Sure?"

In another click, he was dressed in the black, smaller and adapted version of it. Instantly, Rarity squee'd and admired the fabrics and textures. 

"He looks so cute! I didn't know you were a part of this! An adorable wittle assassin!"

He was tired of the baby talk, definitely, but compliments from Rarity none-the-less made him blush and put up the mouth bandana.

"Alright, alright, let's get on with this. I'm missing valuable chaos." Yawning, Spike joined the group looking at Discord and was handed a Clairifier by Pinkie. "Now, let's get all these boring rules out of the way."

A scroll appeared in front of him and he started browsing down it. "Oh yes, that's right, there are none. You win, you get the elements, you lose, enjoy chaos."

"How do we know you'll actually give them to us?" Twilight asked, aware of Discord's usual untrustworthiness.

"An' how are we 'sposed to beat you with these?" Applejack indicated to the weapons they were all holding.

"I'm sure you'll find a way to, don't worry. As for trusting me?" He glided over to Pinkie, a few inches head-to-head with her, and then spoke softly. "I Pinkie promise." 

Still locked into a stare with him, her hoof reached over to Twilight and picked her up. Saying nothing, she held the confused unicorn underneath her arm, pointing her horn towards him. Pinkie grabbed Twilight's tail and began spooling the Twi-gun. 

"You'd better run Discord." Twilight said as her magic sparked. Pinkie then punctured an apple pie onto her horn. "Ew, Pinkie! Gross. Pie rounds? Really?"

Now pie residue was sparking from her horn, preparing to unleash upon the draconequues. 

"Now, that, is what I like to see!" Said Discord as he applauded the strange gatling gun. "I still have one more thing to show you." The clapping started to radiate magic, and made visible sound waves echo behind him.

The sound waves called upon an armada of changelings. Except these weren't normal changelings. They had Discord's touch of chaos. What looked like hundreds of short, black ponies, transformed into a mix of things equipped with the Black Hoof weapons. 

There were rolling cheese wheels with a Clairifier either side of them. Abnormally huge snakes that spat tater tots. Snakes, Twilight thought. Why did it have to be snakes? Cuboid shaped green monsters were dispersed amongst them, that seemed to glow and expand before returning to normal. Cybernetic monkeys holding Clairifiers? Why not.

As well as all this, were some average changelings, that constantly shifted shape into unrecognisable objects and ponies. They were setting up catapults loaded with giant pies, while continuing to advance on the squad of terrified ponies. And zebra. And dragon.

"HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO BEAT THAT!?" Twilight screamed at him from beneath Pinkie. There must have been at least a hundred different monsters.

"Aw, no magic of friendship to help you? Well I'll give you some walls to hide behind because I'm so generous." With a snap of his fingers came a concrete wall, and another, and another. Rising up from the checkered tiles were bits of cover everywhere, they would need it. 

"Now, if you'll excuse me..." Discord materialized two Clairifiers into his hands. "I have an army to command. You know, that one coming to smash you. The big one. Toodles!" 

He disappeared and left the group, jaws-wide all around, almost cowering from the oncoming things.

"I think it's safe to say that we are rather screwed." Fancypants said inspiringly.

"Any more thrilling speeches Pinkie?" Twilight said, still secure under her arm. She didn't answer, but instead Zecora spoke. 

"Do you ponies have any plans? Chaos looks sure to spread across this land!"

"Panic? Surrender?" Fluttershy cried. 

"C'mon, I thought you were the guardians of Equestria!" Scootaloo whined. "You can take these guys! What's, like, a hundred changelings to a Rainbow Dash?! This'll be awesome!" The other two fillies seemed less excited. 

Rainbow Dash scratched the back of her neck nervously. "Er, yeah. No prob. We'll just wing it."

"That's massive!" Derpy said as she pointed in the air. The others examined the direction until they found that it lead to an oversized pie heading towards them.

Twilight reflexively put up a magical barrier above them, where the colossal foodstuff splatted against it. The debris slid down the purple shield and then evaporated along with it. 

"Look, we ain't got no choice, we gotta fight 'em." Applejack said, trotting closer to the wall of cover and preparing her weapon. The others joined her, lining the wall and peering over the top. They were advancing gradually.

"Now or never, I suppose." Rarity lifted her Clairifier at a high angle and fired. The artillery éclair curved through the air and landed in the midst of the enemy battalion. It must of hit someone, the positioning of the changelings was far to dense to not. 
It also made them more aggressive, firing back. Thankfully, they were terrible shots, but it didn't mean they couldn't get luckier as they got closer.

"Exactly! Follow Rarity's lead!" Applejack said as she randomly fired into the sky. The others obeyed, took aiming positions, and fired in synch. Looking over the pony-high wall, they could see several successful hits as a line of them was decimated.

"We're gonna need an assault squad fer up close, and a line of us behind for support!" Applejack shouted. 

"Who put you in charge?" Said Rainbow Dash as she fired again. 

"Ah've played enough Call of Pony: Modern Warmare to know what to do. Far as ah'm concerned that's all the qualifications ah need."

"Fine, I'm getting up close." Rainbow spread her wings and took off. Not long after flying, she soon reached the enemy side. Strafing across them, she dropped pies from the cape and fired the Clairifier as she avoided incoming attacks by barrel rolling through the air.

"I'll be support, please, if that's all right with you." Fluttershy said quietly. Receiving an approving nod from Applejack, she dug the Clairifier into the ground, and aimed it upwards. Thus was born, the mortar. Fancypants handed her a collection of tots. 

"I'd suggest putting these in, they'll make it more effective." Fluttershy took the load of tots and took down co-ordinates of the enemy attackers, before carefully launching them at the changelings. "As for me, I think I'd prefer to advance from a distance. I think I'll take up a hidden position at the side." He sneaked off to the side, moving from cover to cover. 

"I think what I would enjoy, may be providing a decoy. I shall charge and kite the enemy force, they will not expect a sudden change of course." She leapt upon the wall, and sprinted at them. She was incredibly fast. The enemy were now close enough to be a threat, but Zecora successfully distracted their fire. 

Pinkie was already heading into battle with Twilight spooled. Her horn rapidly discharged mixes of magic and pie, showering the changelings and quickly eliminating dozens. Pinkie stomped slowly closer, a true force to be reckoned with. She even took hits from the attackers, but it did not thwart her progress.

The CMC too were, as of now, in the core of battle. The communication between the three allowed them to see and hear every enemy movement. They acted as one, and moved as a ball of destruction. Many explosions were centred around them, their favourite weapon was unmistakably the tots.

"I'm sure you understand, Applejack, but I'd like to avoid getting messy." Rarity said. "I'd very much appreciate staying back with this commendable device." She mounted the Clairifier onto the wall and took shots from the safety of cover, and accuracy of a stand. 

One of the rolling cheese wheels was hit and spun into it's counterparts, breaking up a line. From nowhere came an éclair, loaded with tots. It landed between the gap of enemies and exploded, coating the once-black changelings a mix of yellow and red. A posh laugh could be heard from the right side of the arena, Fancypants was attacking from a low-wall, and then ran as a barrage of éclairs fired back. 

Discord came into sight above his approaching minions. Firing his dual Clairifiers at the, essentially, 'headquarters' where Applejack was ordering from. She hid behind the wall with Rarity, Derpy, Spike and Fluttershy. "That's right, I almost forgot. You ponies want some more ammo? I wouldn't want to win too fast."

With a snap of his fingers he brought a large heap of éclairs, pies, tots, and cider bombs down into the centre of the arena. It was closer to the Black Hoof, thankfully, but would mean a dangerous run to re-supply.

"Spike, ah gotta job for you. Ammo duty. Collect as much as you can and make sure everypony is well-equipped." Applejack ordered.

"Aw, that's not a proper job!" He complained back.

"'Course it is, how the hay are we gonna win without it? Ya can shoot at them as well, that's why you got one of them weapons."

"I guess so. Ok! You can count on me!" He scampered off, diving from the aftershocks that the catapulted pies brought.

"Derpy, erm, can you use these cider bombs?" Applejack pulled out three from inside her cloak and handed them to her. "I'll tell Spike to get some more later, but for now can you just drop 'em around them?" 

"Can do!" Derpy gave a mock salute, grabbed the bombs and flew into the air.

"That's everypony, time to get stuck in." Applejack muttered to herself. "Good luck girls!" She said to the support, Rarity and Fluttershy, and then ran in. Her usual methods of roundhouse-bucking apple pies to near-decapitate the enemy worked effectively. 

The battlefield was a mess of fighting, the changelings no longer had a formation due to the constant disruptions from Zecora. Each defender had their own large group to contend with, but so far, were fairing well.

Rainbow Dash was much too fast to hit. She swooped down low above the army, and carpet-bombed the catapult's operators with paint tots. She briefly touched down onto the floor with a timed tot inside an apple pie, completely surrounded by changelings and giant snakes. They all directed against her, and sprang at the defenseless pony. At the last second she shot up, leaving the attackers to crash to the ground, followed by the eruption and spewing of the thick cream below. "Easy!"

Discord was hovering around, ordering and laughing, but was mainly focused on Pinkie and Twilight. He attempted to fire his dual Clairifiers at the two, but the speed in which Pinkie reacted was too fast to be able to stay in one position. He was forced to keep dodging and flying through the air as the Twi-gun chased him through the sky. When Discord momentarily became out of range, Pinkie whirled on the green, cuboid-shaped monsters that were creeping closer. 

The shots made the green monster glow, and expand. "That doesn't look good." Twilight said as she and Pinkie then became drenched in the monster's tasty innards. It exploded into gallons of custard that layered the battlefield. "Oh for..."

Meanwhile, Spike was darting between bits of cover, offering ammo to everyone he came across. It was hard carrying a pile of éclairs that was bigger than himself, as well as being weighed down by pockets full of tots, all the while being targeted by the cyber-monkeys. He eventually reached the support wall, where Rarity and Fluttershy were rather relaxed.

"Hey..." He panted, taking pauses between each breath. "You need... any stuff?" 

"Oh, not me, thank you, but I think Fluttershy could use some more éclairs." Rarity said politely, and then took another long-range shot into the many crowds. It hit a changeling, but didn't create any radius. "On second thought, I could use some more of those little bombs."

Spike dropped all of the ammo next to the wall, finally catching his breath. He gathered a load of tots and placed them next to Rarity while she was aiming above the wall. He then pushed the mess of éclairs over to Fluttershy's mortar pit, where she repeated the same phrase of "Sorry!" after each launch. Other than that, she was coping with the stress well. "Thanks Spike."

Rarity suddenly called out, "Oh! Fluttershy, dear! There's one of those green things next to a catapult and a bunch of nasty changelings! About forty-five degrees anti-clockwise of your last strike."

Spike helped Fluttershy load up a massive éclair, choking it with tots, and aimed it at the highly-populated region. Fluttershy rotated the Clairifier until Spike exclaimed, "Yep! About there should be good."

The heavy éclair flung into the air lazily, dropped into the desired group, and blanketed them with an incredibly thick mix of whipped cream and smoke. 

"Very nice shot! I'd say that place is irradiated now." Rarity chimed.

On the far side of the arena, Fancypants had yet to be discovered. Peering over the wall he was concealed behind, he spotted Discord, aiming down his two Clairifiers. He hastily ducked and brought out three cider tots, before filling the éclair with them. He doubted it would be enough to knock him out, but even if it made him slightly more drowsy, it would be successful. 

He balanced the Clairifier onto the wall and aimed at the draconequues, who was unaware of the imminent projectile. Fancypants breathed calmly, steadied as best he could, and sighted the goat-like head. Spinning, the éclair favourably pounded the draconequues' cheek, sending him to the ground with his weapons.

After a few moments of anxiously watching Discord's body lie limp, it swiftly rose and looked back into Fancypants' eyes. "Ow! That really hurt, FP!" Discord rubbed his cheek in pain, mock-crying, and then picking back up the two weapons, smirking. "Let's see how you like it, huh?" 

That was all the convincing Fancypants needed to begin bolting to safety. Discord somehow managed to fire the éclairs rapidly, just a second of pause between each one as he reloaded. It splayed at his feet, making him slip and tumble. He quickly recovered and made for anywhere Discord wasn't. He was very persistent, however.

"Could I bother any of you for some help? I appear to be in a bit of trouble." He was somehow managing to keep himself composed while running tired and scared of Discord's ever-firing salvo. Fortunately, Derpy was always on stand-by.

Discord was too busy concentrating to notice the grey pegasus hanging above him. She grabbed a cider bomb from under her wing with her mouth and dropped it on him, after pulling the pin. The metal cylinder fell daintily through the air and hit Discord square on the head, making a resounding hollow sound, and falling to his side. 

Circling Discord, the orange knock-out gas was emitted. It resulted in a coughing fit, and a bit more anger, but so far, no knocked out Discord. He looked up and spotted Derpy, smiling at him. "Oh-ho, sneaky. You're next then!" The next race was caused, as Derpy fled and manoeuvred from the laughing draconequues.

Back at the support line, Fancypants recovered his breath and attempted to shoot Discord out of the sky, slowing down his pursuit.

A cry of fear sounded through all the chaos around, one that Rarity and Applejack recognised the most. The Cutie Mark Crusaders were in trouble. Deep into the enemy lines stood the three fillies, back-to-back, becoming encased and flooded by changelings.

Rarity sprang into action, her sisterly instincts requiring it. She vaulted the support wall and shouted back, "Fancypants! Cover me!" While Applejack bucked away the last few trying to swarm her, she too heard the cry and propelled towards her sister. 

"Righty-oh!"

Finding a way to ignore how stained her mane was getting, she encountered the circling monsters. From the side came Applejack, who shouted at her, "Boost!" Hoping she understood correctly, Rarity knelt down, allowing Applejack to jump onto her back, before launching her over the circle.

Applejack and the CMC held back the surrounding forces inside the circle, while Rarity tried to find a way to pierce the it, allowing them to escape. She shot one with an éclair, and landed a hoof into another's face. It succeeded in getting attention, as some were drawn away from the circle.

Applejack then took the offensive as she bucked an unlucky foe into it's friends, toppling them like pins. The CMC kept the breach open with tots and pies, and Applejack charged through it to help Rarity, who had absorbed a little too much attention. 

Back at Pinkie's main offensive, the ongoing use of Twilight's horn was taking it's toll. The Twi-gun had been the suppressive fire they needed, but it had sapped Twilight's energy to nothing by now. "I think... I'm running dry, Pinkie." Twilight said tiredly. Pinkie dropped her to the ground once her horn came to a halt. 

"Ow!"

"Then I have to use you as a bat!"

"What?!" Twilight asked in alarm.

"Haha! Relax, Twilight, just kidding!" Pinkie had her normal cheer back. It was probably hard to keep up an angry demeanour when there was custard flying everywhere. 

"Oh. Good. Well, we should pull back, I can't continue fighting this close." Once the changeling's noticed the Twi-gun was offline, they started flocking back in full force. "We need to leave. Now." The two ponies back-peddled and dashed to the support wall.

And then so did Rainbow Dash, who took multiple hits to the wing, impeding her flight. Followed by Zecora, crucially needing ammo, but too far from Spike. The CMC retreated as well, being protected by their sisters either side, cutting through the potential barricades. Some time later, they had all been forced to withdraw. Exhaustion kicked in, and adrenaline wore off.

But the oppressors persisted. Their forces were substantially cut down, but still they outnumbered the fatigue-ridden Black Hoof. They advanced, still, on the last line of defense, the support wall.

"We put up a good fight." Twilight said, cowering under the wall. 

"We ain't lost yet!" Yelled Applejack to the disheartened ponies.

"Face it AJ, this isn't looking good." Rainbow said, wiping the embedded cream from her wings.

The others murmured noises of approval, barely even resisting the onslaught. The demoralized ponies scarcely fought back, only once or twice firing the low amounts of ammunition they had left. Panting, they had given up. 

"No! We can do this, darn it!" Applejack said in desperate anger. She was unable to form words, there was nothing she could say. "Ah... but... oh, forget it."

"Anypony have any tissues?" 







Things were going brilliantly for Discord. It was commendable how many the elements and their friends had taken down, but nothing would be able to stop the sheer amount he employed. The battlefield was, literally, caked. It was almost impossible to find a tile unaffected by the glorious battle.

"Speaking of glorious battles, where is everypony?" He asked himself. He had been in and out, controlling chaos and the like in other areas, keeping New Discordia in check. 

They weren't in their previous positions that they had been defending so well. He looked over to their base camp, a few éclairs were being fired from there, but nothing worthy of the Black Hoof.

Observing further, he spotted a hastily made flag out of tissues, waving above the wall. Could it be? They were surrendering? "Haha! Victory!" Discord was both happy and sad that their battle had to come to an end, but it couldn't last forever. Or could it? Maybe he'd give them a break and then right back into the action. 

Either way it was time to confront them.







"Oh, Twilight and co, I really expected a longer battle. I am disappoint." Discord said sarcastically.

"Yeah yeah, shut up." Twilight didn't feel the need to argue, it never lead to anything with Discord. He was a manipulative, shifty character, who now pointed two Clairifier's to her face. Twilight didn't bother to flinch, she had been hit in the face too many times, it might as well have been numb.

"Oh, come now Twilight, you were so close to getting these," He formed all six elements in his hand. "I'll tell you what, I'll give you another chance."

"Doing what?"

"Roller-skate chase scene."

"No."

"I'd do it." Pinkie said, but too exhaustedly to be noticed. 

"You're no fun." Discord spat out his tongue. Literally. It began squirming on the floor. But apparently they were really easy to grow back. "I'm sure I'll find a use for you then. Permanent target dummies?"

Another metallic cider bomb struck Discord's head, but with the pin in. "Ow. Would you please stop that?"

"Sorry Derpy, we gave up." Twilight said.

"Oh, whoops."

"Yes, now if you'll be so kind as to-ARGH!"

Discord was captured in a glow of yellow and indigo magic, forcing him to the floor. It seized his arms and glued his body to the ground, causing him to drop the elements.

Looking at the source of magic relieved Twilight as much as it absolutely horrified her in every way possible. More horrified actually. The two royal sisters, Celestia and Luna, stood majestically side by side. The dual beams kept Discord at bay while Luna spoke through struggling breath, "Twilight Sparkle! Use the elements!"

Twilight need no further encouragement. She hurried and gathered up each element, and handed them to their respective owners. Within seconds the process was engaged. Twilight and her friends rose into the sky, leaving the others watching in awe. The elements activated, the owner's eyes shone white, and the feared rainbow thrust towards Discord.

"So... drab... and... cliché..." Voiced Discord as the rainbow enveloped his body, turning every part of him to stone. The dome of white magic then clouded Ponyville, and cleansed it of it's chaos.

They touched back down again, Ponyville back to normal. But the fresh, green, grass and sunny skies were not comforting in the slightest, for Twilight could feel her mentor's stare at her. She should call it the 'Solar Stare', she managed to joke before turning to meet her maker.

While Luna appeared more pleased that Discord was once again banished, Celestia had the fury of the burning sun behind her eyes. Twilight could not have been sweating more profusely than if she were sitting on the sun itself. She spoke sharply, and expressionlessly. 

"Luna, please stay here in regards to Ponyville. Make sure everyone is alright and understands what has occurred. I will take the 'Black Hoof' to the castle, as they explain why there is a paper-mâché statue of Discord in the Gardens."