//------------------------------// // Chapter 13: Some Much Needed Clarification 5/5 // Story: The Curse of Discord // by Creative Charmer //------------------------------// Speaking of the those ponies, who should arrive just moments later than Celestia and Luna themselves! Discord was unsure why they were back again, but he felt no change in their individual magical power, so they obviously had not discovered that tree as of yet, which meant Discord had nothing to fear, and as such, decided to remind the two ponies that he was still in charge here. Discord turned his throne around to face Celestia and Luna, who were both sporting resolute(and a bit dirty) faces, as if they still believed they could defeat him. What silly little fools they were, and how much fun it was going to be mess with them this time. "Oh ho ho, huh hoo!" Discord laughed gleefully. "This is so much fun! How about a game of 'Pin the Tail on the Pony'?" he proposed, lifting up a tail adorned with four stripes of light cerulean, light turquoise, very light cobalt blue, and pale heliotrope. Celestia instantly recognized the tail as her own, turning around to face her own tail-less behind with a gasp. Inside, Discord was cracking up from how simple it was to bedevil the sisters, and the fact that they approached him closer with their adamant expressions still held only forced the lord of chaos to have to use all his strength to keep from flat-out bursting into laughter from the pitiful attempts at not showing fear these ponies continued to present to the him. "Play time is over for you, Discord!" Celestia proclaimed staunchly. "Oh, I doubt that," Discord stated in a disinterested tone, tossing his Plunderseeds about whilst eating a few in front of the sisters to show his lack of apprehension. And interestingly, the seeds actually tasted better now than they had before, as shown by the sounds of pleasure Discord produced upon consumption of the seedlings. These ponies just seemed to make everything better! "Hungry?" Discord asked as he presented the bag of seeds to the sisters, with two seeds falling out and hitting the foreheads of the sister inadvertently(or maybe not...). However, the ponies didn't change their expressions in the slightest, and Discord took that as a saying that they weren't particularly hungry at the moment. "Suit yourselves," the draconequus said, tossing another talonful of seeds into his mouth afterwards. Discord closed his eyes casually as he savored the taste of his seeds, now having more for himself. Upon reopening his eyes, Discord was a bit surprised at what he beheld: six gemstones of different colors were being magically held up by the sisters, with three held by Luna and three by Celestia. "Ohhh! What have you got there?" Discord inquired, though in reality he was feigning interest. At the same time, he had dropped his bag of seeds, which mattered not, as the seeds would still act on their duties all the same. Discord also eyed the open saddlebags the ponies had on, which meant they must have carried these objects of unknown purpose all the way to him. How touching that they would make the effort for Discord! He must be the luckiest draconequus in the world! "The Elements of Harmony," Celestia had responded whilst Discord was in the midst of his rumination. She and her sister proceeded to spin the so-called "Elements of Harmony" around their bodies in two separate circles, rapidly speeding up the movement of the stones until a large sphere magically appeared, surrounding the ponies as the stones took on a more ring-like form in their swift gyrations. "With them, we shall defeat you!" the younger Luna appended. Whatever these "Elements of Harmony" were, they clearly possessed a magic of their own, and just as clearly, these ponies had found something they believe can defeat him; upon his assimilation of this information, Discord simply could not hold back anymore, and finally burst with a volley of uncontrolled laughter, almost falling back off his throne as he chortled. These ponies were so laughably desperate! Discord's sides pained him from his disreputable enjoyment. He just had to keep this going! "You should see yourselves right now!" he said as he leaned back upright. "The expressions on your face! So intense! So sure of yourselves! Ha ha haaa!" Discord again closed his eyes as he sniggered to himself as he clasped his sides, unable to stop himself—though why in Equestria would he want to do that? He was taking in so much pleasure from debasing these ponies that he didn't even bother to look as he heard what sounded like something magical being released(most likely from this stones), and continued to belittle the sisters further. "Hilarious! Ha ha ha ha—" is all he had gotten to say, as in what seemed like an instant, Discord felt his entire body freeze as if he had turned to stone—which he did! Though Discord could not open his eyes to show it, he was overcome with shock. Not a single part of his anatomy would move! He even attempted to use his dark magic powers, but nothing worked! How could those ponies have actually discovered something that could be greater than his own power? They never could have gotten past his Plundervines! During this bout of frantic thinking, something penetrated his freshly mineral ears: it was sound—specifically, the sound of someone talking. It appeared that though the entirety of his flesh and organs were transmuted to that of stone, his hearing was apparently fully active(though he knew not why). Soon enough, Discord realized he was actually hearing two voices, and they belonged to no other than those accursed ponies who imprisoned him in this granite sheath. Being immobilized as he was, Discord could only listen as the sisters spoke unaware to the draconequus' still functional auditory perception. A heavy breath of relief was heard. "It's is finally done," stated the voice of Celestia. "Everything is as it once was." "The lands have returned to their natural form, and there is not a hint of the impish draconequus' influence anywhere in sight," the younger alicorn Luna added. "Even with all of his dark magical prowess, not even Discord could stand up against the power of the Elements of Harmony." "We could have never accomplished our mission without them. The Tree of Harmony has indeed assisted us immensely." Tree of Harmony? That must be where those elements...wait! TREE of Harmony?? That must...must be the same tree Discord had discovered! The same tree which held the greater power than his! That's how those stones were able to defeat him! They came from that tree!! How is this possible?? Why had his seeds not done their job?? How could the tree still be unprotected?!? Discord pondered these thoughts frantically, no longer paying any mind to the alicorns outside his stone prison. It was near impossible for the draconequus to grasp how those two ponies had overcome his vines. They hadn't the power in themselves to fight against his dark magic! They should have been captured on the spot! How?? HOW?? How... Over and over, the dethroned lord of chaos repeated the single syllable word in his mind. After all, what else could he do? He hadn't the power to escape—he hadn't the power to do anything but hear and think. For the first time in as long as he can remember, Discord felt truly powerless...and truly afraid... That is the tale of Discord's final days as ruler of Equestria...but the tale of Discord has not yet ended, because one question remains: what became of the cloud holding Discord's essence and powers? Though he and his essence were separate in the physical sense, they still held an unbroken link: one where if Discord was affected in a certain way, the cloud would be affected in the same way. Across the western sea, the chaos cloud was spreading Discord's chaotic influence across whatever land it floated over; affecting any and all living or inanimate creatures or objects it felt the desire to inflict bedlam upon. However, the instant Discord was defeated by the hooves of Celestia and Luna, the cloud and its essence felt an instant and drastic change as well. At a lessened pace, the cloud ceased its rain of chaotic magic, and everything it had once affected was changing back to normal. The once fluffy exterior of the billowing mass of dark magic felt itself transforming into a stiffer, more mineral texture. It knew not what was happening, but soon realized it was powerless to stop this transformation. As the conversion persisted, the cloud had also gradually been sinking from the sky, unable to hold up its increasing weight. The cloud drifted lower and lower until it entered a deep chasm, where it did not stop until it dropped down into the darkened depths of the chasm, where no other living creature did exist. All the way to the bottom did the cloud plummet, where it would remain—unknown to any other—for many moons to come... That is, until the eventual revival of the lord of chaos due to the Elements' spell over him weakening since the time of Luna's banishment to the moon, which severed the bond the sisters shared with the Elements of Harmony, thereby turning the elements to stone to await the day the new holders of the Elements of Harmony would come forth. However, even when that day had come, the spell containing Discord still came undone, and the devious draconequus was unleashed into the world to bring about a second "Chaos Reign". However, unbeknownst to anyone(including Discord), at the time of Discord's escape from the enclosure of stone, his cloud had been revived as well; the layers of minerals reverting to their fluffy form once again, and the billowy bringer of bedlam was free to fulfill its creator's will once again—that is, until Twilight and her friends re-sealed Discord in a new statue of imprisonment, and the cloud changed back to stone before it had even floated back out of the cavernous chasm... "...but evidently, when I became de-statue-fied for good, my aged creation was freed along with me, and must have been bringing about chaos ever to the outer world ever since," Discord explained, nearing the end of his story. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't proud of it for never departing from its original purpose," he stated proudly, shedding a tear from his eye. "Yeah—fantastic," Rainbow responded sarcastically. "It is, isn't it?" Discord responds with a smile. "Hold on a second," Applejack interjected. "When we first found the tree tangled up in your vines, it was dyin'! You said they were only supposed to weaken it!" "That's because the Plundervines were made to incapacitate the entire Tree of Harmony; I didn't plan that a sizable amount of its power would be taken away, but because that's the case, my Plunderseeds performed higher than originally expected; things were really going my way that day!" "Not counting the 'being turned to stone' part?" "But of course." "Enough with the reminiscin'!" Applejack shouted irately. "It doesn't matter how yer seeds were supposed tuh work! All that matters now is that we know yer the one responsible for what happened to Twilight, so yer the one who's gonna remove her curse!" "Must I? Because, personally, I rather like this change," Discord responded, with his response being met with the faces of enraged ponies directly in his own face. "...but I'll see what I can do."