The road was quiet and calm. Which was quite nice because the last few hours had been spent walking a road covered in bubble wrap. At first it had been fun, but after ten minutes it had quickly become aggravating. Fillydelphia was coming closer though, which was cause for some enjoyment. Once Twilight rescued Applejack, there would only be two more. All they'd have to do was get Pinkie and then find Rarity.
They still had no idea WHERE Rarity was, but that would work its way out, she was sure. She was a little amazed at how well all this was going. They were encountering almost minimal resistance. Discord seemed to be doing more... morale wrecking things than actually trying to stop them. Did he actually think that Trixie would be enough? Or was this really all just a game to him? She wouldn't put it past him to be waiting for the last second to try and stop them.
Or maybe he was just overconfident. She reached up and rubbed her horn, where the element would have appeared. Crack and all. He'd beaten them once, he probably planned to beat them again. They'd have to be careful. They were wiping out the corruption in their elements one at a time, though, so what could he have planned?
She frowned when she realized she was trying to find logic in a creature of chaos. He probably wasn't trying to stop them specifically BECAUSE they expected him to try. Well, she'd take whatever advantage she could get.
They went over another hill and she shrieked, her eyes going wide. The others looked up and there were a few more shocked noises. She put her hoof out to catch Sweetie. “Stop, don't!” she said harshly, catching the mare before she could run forward.
Down the path was Celestia, sitting on the side of the road and drinking from her tea cup. Her cloak was pulled tight around her body and a thin stream of steam rose from the pot in the center of the table. She downed her cup before slowly setting it down. She got to her hooves and smiled at them. “Oh? Must you be so scared? Are you not happy to see me?”
Twilight nodded. “I'm thrilled, really. But considering you've been trapped with Discord all this time, I'm a little wary.”
The mare shook her head. “Truly? Such a shame. I was thinking we would have so much to talk about once I'd captured you.”
The alicorn groaned. “Yeah, that was pretty much what I was afraid of.”
“W-what does she mean?” Sweetie asked softly as she stared at her aunt.
The unicorn chuckled. It started soft and gentle but slowly began to shift and change. It grew louder, rougher and more malevolent. The mare took a step forward as her cloak burst into flames around the edges, slowly dissolving to ash as it fluttered along on the air. Her mane began to turn hot red as flames began to rise up from her hooves. “Oh niece, do try to keep up, will you?”
Twilight yelped and took a step back. “Y-you're a fire bender? But how? You can't, I mean, y-you're a water bender! I know! You can't just... change!”
“Oh, but I have and I can,” Celestia said with a light chuckle. “It is quite an interesting art, you know. Such power.” She held up a hoof. “For example...” She sent the hoof out and fire shot out. The ponies scattered, barely avoiding it as the cart exploded. Flowerbloom had to go underground to escape, as she had been strapped to it at the time. She popped out a few feet away, the remains of the shaft still strapped to her back.
Twilight flew into the air, catching Spike as he toppled through the air. She hissed a bit in pain as his scorched body touched hers. “Y-you okay?”
“Dragon, immune to fire,” he muttered as she dropped down, putting him on the ground. “You okay?”
“Fine. Just a little burn.”
Celestia chuckled and looked over at the ponies. “I've always been so precise, so... focused.” The fire formed in her hoof again. “I've always wondered what it would be like to cut loose. Won't this be fun?” She sent the ball hurtling again, though a sudden burst of air snuffed it out.
“You really think you can take us all on?” Rainbow asked, her wings out and ready. “Twilight's twice the fire bender you'll ever be.”
“Oh? Is that so? What do they call those little... battles of yours, Twilight? Aching kin?”
The alicorn gulped, but didn't answer. She'd been watching the mare strike and something about it was... terrifying. It was controlled, methodical, just like Nightmare Moon's. But there was something else about it. A hint of suppression, the power held back just barely. That if it was released it would wash over them like a shattered dam. “Celestia, please. Discord has his power over you, you must--”
“Don't,” the mare said with a shake of her head. “Celestia is such a... boring name.” She took a step forward as more fire erupted from her back, forming wings of flame. “My sister has been known as Nightmare Moon. I... shall be called Solar Flare.” A wide grin formed on her lips. “And I will burn you and your little friends to ash.” For a moment, the suppression seemed to disappear and she lunged forward as the wings spread, wrapping her entire body in an orb of fire. The ponies scattered, going every direction as they tried to avoid her.
Rainbow shot into the air, hanging over the unicorn for a second. Solar Flare held out a hoof and the ball of fire suddenly switched directions, tearing off her body and surging straight at the pegasus.
“RAINBOW! Look out!” Twilight screamed.
The air bender flapped her wings and sent a burst of air down, but it wasn't enough. The ball was partially disrupted, but the majority of it slammed into the mare, roasting her before sailing around. The pony dropped from the sky. Her body was singed and the smell of burnt feathers hung heavily in the ground. For a moment Twilight thought the worse, then the mare groaned and slowly sat up. “I'm fine, just a little-” She was cut off by a hoof slamming down on her chest.
Solar Flare stood over their friend, her horn in flames. “I tire of this. Avatar, surrender or I will burn your friend from the face of the earth.” There it was again, that forced suppression as she struggled to contain that power.
Twilight gulped and looked down at her friend. The pegasus groaned and tried to get up, but the expanding flames made her quickly go still. “Don't move, bird. At least if you ever want to... see another day.” The unicorn chuckled at her joke.
The alicorn let out a soft sigh. She slowly lowered her eyes and nodded. “Very well. I... I surrender. You win, Solar Flare.”
The unicorn frowned. “Really? Just like that? So... disappointing. I was hoping I would--” A dark shadow suddenly streaked past them. It slammed into the unicorn and sent them both into a spiraling circle on the ground. The two fought wildly, the dark thing moving so fast that it couldn't be hit. Solar Flare screamed, her rage pillowing up. Blood streamed down her face as she struggled to get a lock on whatever it was that attacked her. “DIE!” she roared. The thing darting away, grabbing Rainbow, as the unicorn erupted. A pillar of flame shot up into the heavens before spreading outwards, singing the feathers of the two.
Twilight could barely believe her eyes, her jaw falling open. It was a griffon with an eye patch and a bloody dagger clasped in her beak. Her feathers were dark and long wounds were streaked up and down her body. "Gilda! Y-you're alive!” the alicorn finally managed to say.
“What are you, daft? MOVE!” the griffon yelled. Another explosion tore through behind them. Solar Flare thrashed around, her body wrapped in pain as she hurtled explosion after explosion in all directions, destroying everything they came in contact with. The careful constraint was nowhere to be seen, now.
The alicorn nodded. “R-right!” She swooped in to grab Spike before turning to flee. The others followed after her, leaving the raging and blinded mare behind as she vaporized tree, earth and rock in her fury.
------
“HOW?” Twilight finally asked once they were far away enough that they felt safe to walk. They could still hear the occasional explosion and even see the smoke from far away, but it was a distant threat now. “You, we thought you were dead!”
The griffon shrugged before dropping Rainbow on the ground. She pulled the dagger from her beak and wiped the blood off on the ground. “I fail to see how that's my problem.”
“I knew she wasn't dead! Hah!” Rainbow said as she got to her hooves. “See? No pony almost as cool as me is going to go out just because of a few cuts.”
Gilda snorted and sheathed her blade. “I've been fine for a while, doing what I felt like. All this war business has been great for me. With everyone so focused on fighting and killing each other, it leaves plenty of room for the bandits and thieves to rise up.” She gave a light chuckle. “I've had my talons full dealing with a bunch of them. Pay was good, though.” She glanced to Rainbow. “But you, what was all that about? You could have seen that fire ball coming a mile away, why didn't you move?”
The pegasus sighed. “I... tried. But, well, I couldn't really see where it was. I thought she was just going past me.”
Gilda looked her over. “Wait, what happened to your eyes? They look like...”
“Poison bending. They're not much use right now. Don't know if they'll heal or not.”
The griffon nodded before glancing to Fluttershy. “What about you? Aren't you some kind of healer or something?”
“I've had a healer look at them already!” Rainbow said quickly. “There's nothing much they can do. They said it has to heal on its own or... well, it's not going to heal. There's no telling.”
“Oh. That's rough.” She glanced back the way they came. “We'd best keep a move on. Once she calms down and finds a healer, well, she's going to be pissed. I tried to gouge them out, but I could only get one good slash in with the way she was thrashing about and blowing things up.”
“Yeah, she will,” Twilight said suspiciously. “How did you find us, anyway? We haven't seen you in... well, months. Then you just pop up when we need you most?”
Gilda snorted. “Things have been weird the last few months. Business has dried up and the Earth Kingdom is... well... I don't know what you ponies did, but everything is bucked up.”
“Discord,” Twilight said with a sigh.
“Yeah, it's all discorded.”
“No, I mean Discord, spirit of chaos and disharmony. He's, well, been changing everything.”
The griffon stared ahead for a moment, before coughing. “Wait, you mean all this... is just one spirit? I thought your fancy magic had exploded or something. I'd heard rumors about all you ponies being turned to stone, so I figured your fancy avatar magic bucked up.”
“No. This is a very, very powerful spirit. He's been causing all kinds of trouble and destroying the land. It's across all the countries. He's also the one who turned us to stone and the reason we're fighting so hard.”
Gilda let out a low whistle. “Well, don't you know how to pick your enemies. Anyway, word got around that you had somehow escaped. I figured I'd check in on Rainbow here since, well, I haven't had much work recently. I get there and the place is completely nuts. Some Water Nation ponies trying to get around and apparently furious about something happening to their airship. I tried to keep low and get some information. Once I found out Rainbow was already released I made my way up here. It was pretty obvious you'd be heading to Fillydelphia next.”
“Heh. It'll probably take Trixie a few days to figure it out,” Rainbow said with a snicker. “Once she gets over her airship, at least. Maybe we'll get lucky and she'll try to wait for a new one to come, they can probably tamper with that one too.”
Twilight nodded. “Maybe. But I guess it... is kind of obvious we're headed there. But that probably means that they'll know we're on the way. There's no telling what we'll find there.”
“The wall's down, if that helps,” Gilda said with a shrug.
“Wait, what? How? I thought it was back up?” Twilight asked, her mouth falling open.
“There's been a lot of fighting going on there,” Gilda said with a shrug. “It was turned into chocolate at one point, but last time I saw it there was just a few craters and it was all gone.”
“Fighting? What kind of fighting?”
The griffon sighed. “Well... I'd call it a civil war but... it's not quite that bad. Just... well... you'll have to see for yourself. It's just... weird. It's more like a merchant war but... ugh. It's just something you have to see to believe.”
Twilight nodded. After a few moments Rainbow nudged up besides the gryphon. “Hey. You know what? I'm still pretty mad about you not taking up the call to arms when we needed you. Everypony was there, helping us fight back against the Water Nation. We really could have used you.”
Gilda shrugged. “Wasn't my problem. I had food, money and shelter.” She glanced to Twilight. “Us pirates, well... times are changing. Our cities have been wrecked and our chain of command smashed. There were a lot of them waiting for something like this. Some are trying to get new lives, others are trying to set out on their own. I heard you amassed quite the fleet of them, too.”
“Yeah. Under Captain Lightning Dust. She was pretty awesome too,” Rainbow said with a chuckle. “Not as awesome as me, of course.”
Gilda snickered. “Probably more humble though. Not sure I ever met her though. Griffon?”
“No, pony.”
“Ah. Times are changing I suppose. Where are they now?”
There was silence as the ponies walked. Finally, Twilight gave a gentle sigh. “I don't know. They were part of the invasion force. Who knows what's happened to them now? Trixie probably has control of their airships though.” She glanced back. “How did you avoid being corrupted by Discord, Gilda?”
“What do you mean?”
“Most of our friends were, how come you weren't? When all this happened they...” She paused for a second. “When was the last time you were near any cities or towns?”
The griffon shrugged. “I don't know. A while ago? I try to avoid them except when I'm getting jobs.”
Twilight nodded and started walking a little slower as her mind turned.
“Twilight? What is it?” Rainbow asked.
“Nothing, I think. But... well, it might just be a bit of hope after all,” the alicorn said with a smile. “Maybe Discord isn't quite omniscient after all.” She glanced back. “Or he changed you and we just haven't found out how yet. Or he's just left you alone for the heck of it, along with all those other ponies. But still, there is hope.”
------
Discord hummed and looked over his-- “Stop trying to peep.” Snap.