//------------------------------// // Back Into the Woods // Story: The Princess that Equestria Never Had // by rillegas08 //------------------------------// If remembering her friends was going to work, it would take more than just remembering their first journey together. Twilight closed her eyes and started recalling everything she could think of about her friends. Mare Do Well, the Grand Galloping Gala, the Equestrian Games, Discord, Cheese Sandwich, the Flim Flam Brothers, King Sombra and the kingdom of the Crystal Ponies, saving Princess Cadance and stopping Queen Chrysalis, the Breezies. She thought back to as much as she could remember, hoping it was enough. When Twilight opened her eyes, she found that the five Elements had already reformed, but were still in their spherical forms, although the spheres now had the faint colors of her friends. Perhaps it was working after all. "Okay," she began, "I know this is crazy. I'm talking to the Elements of Harmony, but there's something I need to know, and I have no idea how else to find out. The prophecy stated that when all five elements were brought together, a spark will ignite and reveal the sixth Element, the Element of Magic. I see the Elements of Laughter, Honesty, Loyalty, Generosity, and Kindness, but I don't see Magic. Do you know where I can find the sixth Element?" She hung her head. "What am I doing? Even though they're magical, I'm still talking to rocks! That's something only Pinkie would do." Suddenly something sparked inside her. "Of course! Just like the incident with the parasprites when we all thought Pinkie was out of her mind asking for instruments instead of helping us figure out how to stop them in time for Princess Celestia's visit to Ponyville! It doesn't matter if it's crazy as long as there's a chance that it'll work! And I guess it's also similar to how Fluttershy calmed the Manticore and befriended Discord. The rest of us would never have thought that any of that would work." "Although now that I think about it, the sixth Element in my timeline didn't appear the exact moment the spark ignited in me, but soon after. How did I put it? "When the sixth Element is ignited by the spark in us all" or something like that. And as far as I know, it appeared out of nowhere above all of us. It's not enough for me to know and believe it; all of them have to believe it too. I have to go back to the barn!" Hurriedly, Twilight gathered up the five orbs, put them in her satchel, and started on her way back. She'd barely left the castle when she remembered that Fluttershy's burrowing friends were still digging toward Zecora's hut. Twilight was sure Zecora could help her, at the very least provide some insight on her vanishing cutie mark, which, now that she thought about it, was nearly opposite the problem that Applebloom had had when she'd taken a potion that gave her the cutie pox. Getting Zecora's opinion was getting to be a more attractive option, and she started on her way towards Zecora's hut. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It had taken a while, having had to find a way up the first chasm she'd encountered (not the one with the bridge), but she'd finally managed her way back up onto stable ground. From the precipice she turned her head, trying to find a landmark that would help her find Zecora's hut. Not finding one immediately, she followed the path back to where she had left the tunnel. Hopefully by now Fluttershy's burrowing friends would have dug closer to Zecora's hut. Twilight started making her way back to Fluttershy's pet shop, the place she could get to the easiest where she knew there was a tunnel entrance. As she made her way back toward town, she found herself looking up at the moon. Its surface was smooth, and the craters that had given the image of the Mare in the Moon for a thousand years had vanished the night that Nightmare Moon had returned. In her timeline, it was comforting to know that ponies all across Equestria would never have to fear the Mare in the Moon. Now, however, a shiver ran down her back, as this timeline is exactly what it would have been like if she and her friends hadn't stopped Nightmare Moon several years before. A long, snaking shadow passed in front of the moon, paused, and disappeared as the figure snapped. She'd recognize that figure anywhere: Discord. She knew it would be pointless to try and hide from the master of chaos, so she just stopped walking as the chimeric dragon appeared near her, wrapping around her body. "My my, what do we have here? A pony who isn't afraid to go out at night? Whatever could have given her so much courage against Nightmare Moon?" "Hello, Dischord," Twilight said nonchalantly with a somewhat annoyed expression on her face, and Discord unraveled and stood beside her, scratching his chin. "I don't recognize you, and since I was released a few years ago I've gotten to know each pony in Ponyville, and many in Equestria. How do you know me?" "I'm from a different timeline, so it doesn't surprise me that you don't recognize me." "Ah, I'd wondered why I could detect some of Princess Celestia's magic on you! She hasn't been seen nor heard from since the night Nightmare Moon returned and I was freed." "You can sense magic?" Twilight's eyes lit up momentarily before realizing that he'd said Princess Celestia hadn't been heard from since the Summer Sun Celebration. "You said she hasn't been seen or heard from. Since you can sense magic, would you be able to find her?" "Now, just telling you just like that wouldn't be fun, would it?" When Discord said "that", he'd snapped his fingers and shrunk down, standing on Twilight's shoulder. "You'll have to play a little game to answer the riddle first. When--" he began his riddle and teleported them to somewhere else, she interrupted him, angry. She'd forgotten how annoying the non-reformed Discord was. "I don't have time for riddles. My wings have disappeared, my cutie mark is disappearing, and I have to find a way back to my own timeline before I disappear. You're the master of chaos. Can't you move between timelines?" "Believe me, child, I wish I could. Just imagine all the chaos I could bring about in more than just this one! This single timeline where the only chaos I can bring about is limited by how much Nightmare Moon, Queen Chrysalis, and King Sombra will allow in their kingdoms..." His face darkened, and although Twilight couldn't be sure, she thought he was genuinely sad that he wasn't free to do anything he wanted. "In my timeline you would sometimes fake being sad or sick to try and get us to play along. I don't think this is one of those times, is it?" "You'd be right. By the way I never got your name." "Twilight Sparkle." "Why should I want to help you out, Twilight Sparkle?" he asked, with a slight grin, and Twilight was taken aback. She hadn't counted on him asking why he would want to help her, and she hadn't thought of the reasons why other than that he had powers she didn't, especially the one about being able to sense magic, which she never knew about before this encounter. Why did, she want him to help? "Because I'm afraid that if I teleport using my magic I'll have less time to get back to my timeline because I'll disappear faster. Because I have no idea where to look for Princess Celestia, and can only guess, and although it's been helpful so far, guessing can't get me all the way. Because in my timeline," she continued, taking a risk on whether or not this Discord had the same desires as her Discord, "you were willing to give up your evil ways because you've never had friends before." Discord kept silent for a moment. "Is having friends really worth giving up so much power? I don't like being limited by the other rulers; why should being limited by friends be any different?" "Because they all have powerful magic, it's true. Magic even more powerful than Celestia's at times. But the strength I find when I'm with my friends is so much more powerful than any of theirs. My friends and I defeated them all in our timeline." Discord shook his head. "You keep saying this is a different timeline, but parallel timelines cannot have one with a pony living and one with a pony not living. This is a separate universe, dear." "Whatever it is, I need to get back to my own. Who knows what'll happen if I'm not there to help the ponies of Equestria?" "Tirek..." Discord said quietly. "What was that? I didn't hear that." "Oh, nothing. Just an expression." Twilight looked at him, almost sensing that he wasn't being entirely truthful, but decided not to bring it up. She felt sure that whatever he was hiding could be brought to light later on. "All right, I'll help you," he told her, returning to his larger form. "It'll be fun to mess with all of them again. Which ruler shall we start with? Nightmare Moon? Queen Chrysalis? King Sombra?" "None of them. We should go to Zecora's hut first. I have a feeling she'll know something about my disappearing cutie mark." Discord looked at her cutie mark. "Is it really disappearing? A six-pointed star surrounded by three evenly-spaced stars. No, wait, there's a fourth. It's just really faint." "Okay, it's been almost an hour and a half since I started keeping track. Which means we have four and a half hours before all the small stars are gone and the big star starts disappearing, and I have no clue if it'll disappear all at once or one point at a time." Her words seemed calm, but her nervousness showed through how unsteady she said them. Now was not the time to wast time freaking out. She had to figure this out.