//------------------------------//
// Part 2, Chapter 1 
// Story: The Discordian's Daughter 
// by Pumpkin Patch 
//------------------------------//

	There was an eerie silence in the hospital as Twilight Sparkle made her way through it. It was very late in the evening. A majority of the staff had gone home and any inpatients were asleep behind locked doors. Thus, the hallways of the entire building were left mostly empty with nothing to see, let alone hear.
The hallway lights were still on, however, and Twilight had no trouble finding her way. Besides, the path she was on was one she had navigated many times now. She stayed on the first floor, making her way to the far back of the building. 
Her destination was a small corridor that few ponies travel down. It was situated at the very end and to the left of another, much longer hallway and it often went completely unnoticed by patients and visitors alike. The doctors and other hospital staff members, however, knew this pathway very well, as well as the room it lead to. 
Making a left at the end of the longer first hallway, Twilight came upon a set of large double doors that she was just as familiar with, doors shut and blocked by a solid steel beam. And, like every night, two of Princess Celestia’s soldiers stood by them, one on each side of the sealed entryway. 
Twilight approached the guards. “Hi, Sharpeye! Hi, Javelin!” she greeted them.
Javelin, the guard on the righthand side of the door, widened his eyes. “Well hello, Ms. Sparkle!” he said pleasantly returning her greeting. 
“Not used to seeing you here this late. What’s up?” asked Sharpeye.
“Oh this can’t wait any longer,” said Twilight. She tilted her head and directed the guards’ attention to the satchel she was carrying. “It’s ready,” she whispered excitedly. 
“You don’t say!” exclaimed Javelin. He turned to his partner, “Let’s get these doors open!”
“You said it!” said Sharpeye. 
“Would you two be able to follow me in just in case, you know, something happens?” asked Twilight humbly. 
“Absolutely, Ms. Sparkle,” Javelin assured her as he and Sharpeye turned to face the doors they were guarding. “Trove and Whitehoof are on the other side as well.” He turned his head and looked Twilight in the eyes.  “You’re in good hands. You’ll be safe.”
Twilight returned his gaze. “That’s good to know. Thank you.”
Slowly and synchronously, the two guards lifted the heavy steel beam off of the ominous doors and set it aside. They then very cautiously pushed the doors open. 
On the other side, the aforementioned other two guards, Trove and Whitehoof, were waiting. 
“Oh, hello Twilight!” greeted Trove.
“Good Evening!” said Whitehoof. “What brings you to the Greenhouse at this hour?”
Behind Trove and Whitehoof was the room itself. It was enormous, closer to the size of a warehouse than a hospital unit. Perhaps more unusual, though, was the decor. The floor was coated with a green, well-maintained grass — yes, grass —and a plethora of trees and plants of all types were scattered throughout. It was the great outdoors captured inside four walls, and since one of those walls was transparent and showing a view of the beautiful countryside bordering the hospital, it was difficult to tell that this area was even indoors at all. That is why the hospital staff as well as the guards gave this curious room the nickname The Greenhouse.
Such an unusual room would likely have been a major attraction and source of notoriety for the hospital. However, there was one glaring problem with this place, a problem that made the hospital all but deny the room’s very existence: it’s occupant. 
“That you, Smarty Mare?” a pony called out to Twilight, her head popping up from a bush a short distance away from the Greenhouse’s entrance. Even with her head fully exposed, she was still barely visible to her guest. Her body was a light green and her hair a darker green, perfectly blending in with the Greenhouse’s foliage. The darkness of the evening sky seeped through the room’s transparent wall and cloaked the pony even further. The only thing that gave her position away was the pair of large yellow eyes that were fixed on Twilight and the others.
        When Twilight’s eyes finally met the camouflaged pony’s, she jumped. However, she quickly regained her composure upon realizing who it was. She closed her eyes and sighed. “Willow, I really wish you would stop doing that.”
        Willow laughed as she emerged from the bush and approached her visitor, her long green hair dragging on the ground as she walked. “Mare, I would but that look on your face is always so priceless.” 
        Twilight didn’t respond, but her facial expression was one of mild scowling. 
        Willow cleared her throat. “So, you’re hangin’ here a little later than usual. What’s up?”
        Twilight’s scowl transformed into a smile. She lifted open the flap of the satchel that she was carrying. She then pulled out a small black box from the bag. “This is what’s up!” She answered enthusiastically as she levitated the black box over to Willow, stopping just shy of her face. She commanded the box to open in front of Willow’s eyes and reveal its sole contents.
It was a large collar, golden in color but otherwise very plain. It was sized just right for putting around a pony’s neck, a very specific pony’s neck.
“Mare, is-is this it?” Willow asked excitedly, “Is this what you’ve been workin’ on — the thing I’ve been waitin’ for?”
Twilight smiled and nodded. “Yup. This is it!”
Willow stared at it for a moment, then looked back up at Twilight with one eyebrow raised. “Looks tacky.”
        Twilight looked like she had just won second place at the science fair. “Oh no! Is it really!?” Quickly, she levitated the collar over out of the box and yanked back it towards herself, letting the box itself drop to the floor. She stared at it with wide open eyes while rotating it in the air anxiously in every direction possible. “I-I tried! I’m so sorry! Maybe I should have had Rarity touch it up a bit..”
        Willow put her hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “Chill, mare. It’s all good,” she said while chuckling. “After all this time, I wanna know more about its function than its fashion.”
        Twilight continued to stare at the evidently tacky piece of jewelry floating in front of her, but at least the rotations had slowed. “Well, I wish I could say that I know it’ll work, but I’ve never made anything like this before. I don’t think anypony has.”
        Willow’s mouth bared its tiny smile. “If anypony can do it it’s you, smarty mare,”
        Twilight returned Willow’s smile. “Thanks. And yes, let’s stay positive. If this does work, you’ll be yourself as long as you have it on. You’ll be able to leave the hospital, to finally live a normal life!”
        “I can dig that,” said Willow. She shook her head and let out a small giggle,  “Mare, can I ever dig that!”
        “I know it’s been hard for you, Willow,” said Twilight consolingly. “You’ve been in here a very long time.”
Willow nodded. She paused, then blurted out, “Well, what’re we waitin’ for!?” As quickly as Twilight had ever seen her move, Willow reached out and snatched the collar out of the air. She shook her head to get her hair out of the way and began to wrap the golden piece of jewelry around her neck. 
As it neared her throat, the collar lit up like a faint glowstick and sparks of magical power could be seen dancing around it. Twilight smiled. The collar’s magic was reacting. 
But suddenly, there was a loud, screeching voice yelling “No!” and the green pony thrusted the collar into the air. It landed somewhere out of sight amongst the Greenhouse’s brush. 
The guards tightened their stances and Twilight jumped as her jaw dropped at the Willow’s unexpected behavior. Her eyes tried to follow the collar in the air, but soon lost sight of it among the trees and plants. They quickly turned their attention back to the pony that had thrown it. She gasped. 
The pony’s eyes had turned a hot white and the pupils had vanished. The color of both her mane and body had darkened. Her teeth had changed from flat to jagged and were being displayed inside a wide, malicious grin.  
“Nice. Try. Nerd!” the pony taunted in a sharp, piercing voice. It was as loud as it was screechy. 
Twilight backed up against the nearest wall. “D-Despise!” she cried, trembling.
“Time to finish my circus act!” Despise quipped. Then she charged towards the cornered unicorn.
The guards returned the demented pony’s charge. Javelin moved directly in front of her to protect Twilight, but Despise drove through him like a battering ram. However, the impact with the guard slowed her down just enough for the other three. Quickly, each guard grabbed the leg of Despise closest to him and held onto it with all his strength. Javelin, springing to his hooves joined them and grabbed the final flailing limb. Despise let out one glass-shattering scream after another as four of Celestia’s finest wrestled her to the ground. 
Javelin turned his head towards Twilight, who was still pinning herself to the wall nearest the double doors. “Ms. Sparkle! Go! Now!” he shouted.
Twilight didn’t move at first. She stood frozen in her defensive position, her teeth clenched and her eyes shifting back and forth. Then suddenly, the look of fear on her face began to give way. Her eyebrows lowered and her trembling settled. She pulled herself away from the wall and marched deliberately to the double doors. 
Javelin’s eyes stayed fixed on Twilight as he continued to help the others hold Despise down. As soon as Twilight turned to face the double doors from where they had entered, the soldier’s face showed a small hint of relief.
        But then Twilight’s horn lit up and the two doors flew back into position, slamming themselves shut. The sound of a large metal object being placed on doors’ hooks could be heard coming from the other side. 
        “Ms. Sparkle! What are you doing? Get out of here!” Javelin pleaded to the now locked-in unicorn.
        Twilight turned around and looked the guard calling out to her in the eyes. “No! This ends now!”
        Twilight’s horn lit up and a long purple beam shot out of it, pointing at the far left corner of the room. Then it started moving, creeping over the Greenhouse’s flora like a shadow. It passed over Despise still struggling to free herself of the guards and continued on to the opposite side of the room. When it had almost reached the far wall, the beam of lavender light stopped and aligned itself with one particular bush. 
        “There you are,” said Twilight to herself. 
        She raised her head and forced the beam coming from her horn upward. The bush it had settled on shaked and rustled as if something inside it was trying to escape. Then, once the ray of magic light had cleared the bush, that something was revealed. It was the collar. Twilight wrapped the magic beam around the shining object and began to pull it towards herself.
        But then Despise let out an even louder, more blood-curdling scream and Twilight’s focus was broken as Whitehoof’s body flew past her line of vision in the air and landed on the ground like a thrown rock. With her concentration shattered, the beam of light from her horn disappeared and the collar fell back to the ground, landing right beside the bush Twilight had just pulled it from.
Almost simultaneously she heard the sounds of three other large ponies being slammed into the dirt. Twilight nervously turned her eyes back to the spot where the guards first were, and where Despise still was. Her eyes widened. Despise was free and standing upright now, her glaring eyes and vicious grin aimed directly at Twilight. However, even that demonic face could not compare to the horror that was hovering above it. 
The hairs of Despise’s mane were floating above her head, as though she were underwater. The hairs grew longer and longer as they swayed like the waves of a flame. The hairs of her tail joined those of her mane in the swaying. Despise’s long, dark green hair was dancing in the air, almost as if it were...living.
Twilight began to shiver as Despise at last spoke a single word, “Run…”
A strand of the floating hair formed itself into a spike and launched at Twilight, stretching itself to cover the distance. Twilight jumped out of the way at the last the second. The hair stabbed the wall behind her which shook with the impact. Then another strand shot out, forcing Twilight to dodge again. Despise’s hair continued the assault, firing strand after strand like a barrage of arrows. The blades cut through any plant life that stood in its path, including the trees. Twilight was managing to stay unscathed, but it wasn’t easy.
Several seconds and countless dodges later, Twilight’s legs could take no more. Her movements slowed and one strand of hair finally made contact. Nicking her on the shoulder while in mid-jump with a powerful force, the sharp extension sent Twilight flying through the air. Her body flipped twice before hitting the ground with a loud thud.
 Struggling to get back to her feet after the hit, Twilight lifted her head and looked in Despise’s direction. Her eyes widened as she saw one last piece of hair coming straight towards her face. Instinctively she closed her eyes, as if that would somehow soften the blow.
But the blow never came. Less than a hoof’s length in front of Twilight, Whitehoof jumped in front of the projectile and blocked it. The collision dented his armor and sent him flying towards the ground once again. 
“Run, Ms. Sparkle!” a voice yelled from across the room. Twilight’s eyes shifted and she saw the three other guards back on their hooves and closing in on Despise’s position. The very second she laid eyes on them though, Despise’s tail stretched out and wrapped itself around Sharpeye and hoisted him into the air. 
        There wasn’t much time. With all the strength left in her, Twilight dashed straight towards the collar, which was still lying next to the bush she had found it in. Despise screamed as three more strands shot out in Twilight’s direction at once. They missed, but only just and Twilight was not about to stop running. As soon as she was in range of the collar she lowered her neck and scooped it up in her mouth, all while never ceasing to move her hooves.
        Despise whipped her tail with the captured guard still in it and sent him flying into the furthest wall, which he hit with the force of a cannon ball. Trove tried to grab her hind legs while the tail was distracted, but he only got kicked in the face and was immediately knocked down. Javelin made a leap aimed at tackling Despise from the torso, but Despise turned her head towards him and opened her mouth, catching him by his head with her teeth. The razor-sharp teeth sank into his helmet puncturing it and crushing it at the same time. Then she spat him out like an unsavory carrot and sent him to join Javelin on the farthest wall. 
        The distractions gone, Despise leaped into the air and came down directly in front of Twilight. Twilight collided with Despise’s right leg and fell back onto the ground. The collar fell out of her mouth and landed about a hoof’s length to her left. She tried to reach for it, but a large wall of green hair came crashing down right in front of the collar and blocked it off. 
        Twilight turned her head back to see Despise grinning down at her. “That collar is tacky,” she sneered, “and so. are. you!” She fashioned a strand of hair from each of her bangs into two enormous needles and aimed both of them at Twilight's head. She reared them back. Twilight began to tremble.
        “Stop!” yelled a voice from across the room. Despise paused her attack and looked up. It was Javelin. He was standing upright, albeit with shaky legs, near the doorway, his helmet still half-crushed. His eyes were locked onto Despise, with a look that was void of fear. 
        Despise laughed with a cackle as piercing as metal scraping glass. “What did you just say?” she taunted. 
        Twilight got up, turned around and headed straight towards the guard challenging the demented pony. While her pace was quick, she kept her head low and her hoofsteps soft, attempting to avoid regaining the attention of the now distracted creature. 
        As she approached the guard, she noticed something that she hadn’t before. On the ground, near the doors and right where Javelin was standing was a small round button. It could easily have passed for a pebble to the casual observer. 
        The guard lifted his hoof. “In the name of Princess Celestia, I command you to stop!” he declared. He moved his hoof into position over the button and then forced it down. 
        A loud whirring sound could be heard, like working of a large machine. Despise’s eyes suddenly widened and her head twitched back and forth, “No! No! Noooo!” she screamed. 
        As Despise cried out, Twilight noticed two cone-shaped metal devices lower from the ceiling, one on each corner of the wall to her right. She looked to the left and saw two identical objects appear on the opposite wall as well. Before Despise could even stop screaming, they lit up like light bulbs.
        Suddenly, the hairs of Despise’s mane and tail were split down the middle and pulled in two different directions as if fillies were using them for tug-of-war. Despise started screaming. Her hairs were then all stretched until they became straight. Finally, the different parts of her hair were lifted upward, taking their host with them. Despise was now hovering a few hooves off the ground. She continued her blood-curdling screams as she writhed in the air, trying to escape from the nonexistent strings that hung her. 
        Twilight stared in amazement at the incapacitated creature while Javelin continued to look on with resolve. Eventually, the two turned their heads to face each other. The guard smiled. “She’s all yours, Ms. Sparkle.”
        With no further hesitation, Twilight lit up her horn and her magic connected once again with the collar. She levitated it over and upward, aligning it with the neck of the struggling Despise. She looked into Despise’s eyes, “The show’s over,” she said.  And with that she fired the collar straight at Despise faster than any of the projectiles Despise had shot at her. In the blink of an eye the collar was wrapped around the wailing monster’s neck and Twilight sent one final command with her magic that closed the collar and locked it in place.
        There was a nearly blinding flash of white light as Despise let out one last primal scream, a scream that still echoed well after it had been silenced. Once the flash cleared, Twilight and the guard could see that the pony suspended in the room was now completely still and quiet. Her eyes were closed and her hooves were dangling like wind chimes, though her hair was still stretched. 
        Twilight and Javelin waited several seconds, but eventually Javelin pressed the button on the floor again and the four cone-shaped devices all went dim. The green pony’s body fell to the floor as the cones retracted into the ceiling. The pony’s long green hair covered her like a deflated parachute.
        Twilight started to make a step toward the large mass of vine-like hair, but then hesitated. “Is-is everypony else alright?” she asked aloud. 
        Slowly and staggeringly, Sharpeye, Trove, and Whitehoof each arose one by one. All of them appeared to be fine, save for the limp in their walk as they approached Twilight. Trove was holding his head.
        Once the five of them regrouped, they slowly crept towards and then gathered around the green mound now splayed on the floor. Everypony stared down at it in silence. 
        Twilight ignited her horn and its magic began to slowly sift through the hair on the floor. She parted it very delicately, like Rarity on the mane of a very important client. Eventually though, Twilight did uncover the head of the pony the hair was attached to. 
        The collar was still around the green pony’s neck and still snapped together firmly. The pony’s eyes were closed and she looked to be sleeping peacefully. There was no sign of malice anymore.
        Twilight decided to get a little closer. She walked forward, stepping onto part of the scattered hair now in order to get nearer to the face that was now jutting out of it. Once she was right next to it, she bowed her head down and squinted her eyes to examine it better.
        Then the eyes opened and the head yanked up. “Ah! What happened!?” Willow screamed 
        Willow raising her head caused the hair that Twilight was standing on to lift up with it. Twilight tumbled backwards as if a rug had been pulled out from under her. Her backside collided with the Greenhouse’s floor. “Willow!” Twilight shouted angrily once she caught her breath.
        “Woah, oops!” exclaimed Willow, “I swear that one wasn’t on purpose, Smarty Mare.”
        Twilight got back up onto her hooves and dusted herself off.
        Willow looked around and saw the four guards surrounding her. She saw that all of them were injured, and staring very contemptuously at her.
        Willow’s eyes widened, “Oh, oh no. It happened again, didn’t it?”
        “Yes,” said Twilight emphatically, “it did.”
        Willow’s lower lip began to curl. She lowered her head and her eyes met the collar around her neck. “So..it-it didn’t work…?”
        Twilight smiled, “Are you kidding? It worked great!” 
        Willow’s expression suddenly flipped. “Wha...!?”
        “Well, Despise really didn’t want us to put it on, but once we got it on, she was finished!” 
        The Greenhouse’s sole resident jittered as her draw dropped. “This-this is-far...out!” Willow shouted joyously. 
Quickly, she turned around and ran to the nearest bush and plucked a leaf out of it. Then, she went over to a palm tree and yanked off a second leaf from it with her teeth. After that, she ran over to the maple tree and snapped a leaf off of it as well.
Twilight raised one eyebrow, “Uh, Willow, what are you doing?”
Willow, now some distance from Twilight gently laid the leaves that were in her mouth on the ground and turned to look at her inquirer. “I’m nabbin’ all my favorite greens. After that, I. Am. Out, mare!”
“Whoah, slow down there,” commanded Twilight. 
“Why? What’s up?” asked Willow.
“Well, whether or not this means you get to leave the Greenhouse isn’t my decision, it’s Princess Celestia’s. We have to get her permission before we can release you.”
The guards all nodded in agreement.
Willow stood frozen for a moment at this news, then slowly lowered her head. “Mare, you really know how to kill a pony’s buzz, ya know?”
“I’m just telling you the truth,” said Twilight plainly as she walked over to the now-gloomy pony. She put her hoof on her shoulder. “Don’t worry. I’m sure you’ll check out with the Princess. Besides, she can probably be here tomorrow so you won’t have to wait long.”
Willow sighed. “Okay,” she consented. Then, her spirits audibly lifted, “Okay! I’ll chill in this pad for one more night, then I’m hittin’ the road!”
“That’s the spirit!” encouraged Twilight. 
After some talk, Twilight mentioned that it was getting late and she should be leaving. A proud Twilight and a hopeful Willow said their goodbyes and the four guards escorted Twilight out of the Greenhouse. 
Once they were outside, Twilight and Willow waved goodbye to each other as two of the guards shut the doors between them. Twilight could vaguely hear Willow saying something to the effect of “No hard feelings?” to the two remaining guards. 
As soon as they were closed and the steel bar replaced, Twilight turned to her escorts.
“So I gather that’s the ‘anti-Despise’ security system you two were telling me about?”
“Yup,” said Sharpeye, “Pretty cool, huh?”
        “It sure is,” agreed Twilight.
        “I just wish we could’ve used it from the beginning,” said Javelin. “but it takes all of the hospital’s power while it’s on. Our orders are to not use it unless there’s no other choice.”
“I see,” said Twilight before she changed the subject. “Have-have you ever seen Despise suddenly appear like that?” 
“No, Ms. Sparkle,” said Javelin in a tone that conveyed his own astonishment. “Willow normally goes into that trance state first.”
“That’s what I thought,” said Twilight. “That has me really concerned.”
Sharpeye shrugged. “Well, I think it may be a good sign.”
“What do you mean?” asked Twilight. 
“Well, Despise came out faster because she knew that collar meant trouble. She was scared to death of it. I think that thing was her Achilles’ Hoof and she knew it.” 
“I hope you’re right,” said Twilight.