Twilight breathed slowly and shallowly. Her limbs felt numb, her eyelids were heavy and she had a constant ringing for her ears. She could feel the ground shake beneath her. She felt the blood pounding through and out of her pained broken leg and with every beat the pain felt stronger. Her mind was scrambled, she couldn’t focus. What was happening? Why was she here? She wanted to open her eyes, but they wouldn’t respond. The ringing for her ears slowly dampened and she could hear muffled screams and crashes. Twilight wanted to stay down, let her tired and beaten body rest, but she felt like she had something to do. Almost as if she had forgotten something. A ear shattering roar pierced through the ringing in her ears and out of shock, Twilight rose her head and her eyes instantly opened.
The sight before her juggled her memory and her thoughts became clear. 20 feet away from her, laid her friends, unconscious atop of the stairs to her castle. In front of them stood Chrysalis and her captain with terror in their eyes at what they were looking at. Twilight turned her head to the sight and her blood froze. There he was, Deathwing. Twilight could see what Discord had meant with that he wasn’t like any equestrian dragon. His long body was black with his scales and his dark plating that covered most of it. Fiery liquid coursing through him in between the plating, some of it dropping on the ground, turning the ground it hit black. Two black and red wings adorned his back. Each of them easily the size of himself. On his tail was a long spear tip made of the same metal that covered most of his body. He was swatting away changelings and sometimes swept his tail through the air, crushing the changelings it hit.
Twilight watched in horror as his tail also ran through several houses in Ponyville and scraped the upper side of her castle. First now did she focus on the screams. They weren’t coming from the changelings. She looked behind Deathwing and saw Ponyville’s villagers running from their lives while screaming. The earth was cracking beneath them as Deathwing’s tail violently hit the ground. At least they were out of range of his rampage.
“M-my queen, what do you want us to do?” Twilight turned her head back and saw it was Bloodfang who had asked while looking panicked at his queen.
Chrysalis merely looked back in shock and fear at her captain. She didn’t know what to do. How had the ponies gotten such a terrifying ally? She caught the first thought that came to mind. “W-we have to retreat!” She didn’t want to retreat, but it was either that or having her kin go extinct by a dragon. Bloodfang merely nodded in response and began calling for the changelings to retreat. They complied the second they heard the words and began flying out of Ponyville. Chrysalis turned her head back to Twilight and to her dismay she was awake. She snarled. “We will meet again, Twilight!” She then took flight with her captain out of Ponyville. They didn’t get far.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
Twilight watched in awe as Deathwing slammed his claw into the ground and the ground followed his command. Spikes emerged from the ground, impaling any nearby changelings, but they kept flying as fast as their wings could take them. Twilight’s awe turned into fear as Deathwing spread his mighty wings and took flight in pursuit of the changelings. black clouds spawning in a trail behind his wings. She had to follow, she had to stop him before things turned from bad to cataclysmically worse.
Chrysalis and her changeling eventually stopped in front of a tall mountain that was about three times the size of Deathwing. She was sweating and her blood felt colder as she heard massive wing beats behind them. “Fly around it!” Chrysalis commanded and the changelings followed her command. Chrysalis heard crashing rocks and began flying herself when all of her changelings had passed, but she didn’t get far as a dragon claw caught her.”ARGGH!” Chrysalis screamed as she felt the scorching hot scales and claws of the dragon searing her skin. Deathwing had landed on the mountain side and caught Chrysalis in his claws. Her kin looked in shock at their queen being captured by Deathwing. He began climbing the mountain and sat on the top with spread wings.
The changelings didn’t know what to do. They simply stared in fear of the beast that slowly tightened its grip around their queen. Bloodfang flew forward. “L-let our queen go!” Deathwing merely tightened his grip further causing Chrysalis to scream. He ignored the captain and rose Chrysalis to his head so she could stare into his eyes.
“Tell me, queen, what do you fear most in this world?”
Chrysalis merely stared into his eyes in absolute fear. Her mind was completely blank as his eyes bored through her very being. She managed to glance to her kin who were looking with worry for their queen. Chrysalis tried to speak, but her mouth wouldn’t let her as her eyes were drawn back into the fiery pits of the dragon that held her.
“Aah, I see. You fear what any ruler fear. You fear for your subjects.”
Chrysalis gulped as Deathwing hit the nail on the head. She did fear for her subjects. They were all she cared about. She cared for their safety and their well being. If only she could have forgotten about the ponies, then none of this would have happened.
“RELEASE OUR QUEEN!” Bloodfang yelled with newfound courage as he looked at the beast that held his queen. His fellow changelings gathered around him, hissing and growling at Deathwing in an attempt to intimidate him. They were failing miserably. Bloodfang’s courage disappeared in an instant as Deathwing turned his head to him and growled.
“Make me.”
“Princess Celestia wait!” Razorscale called as Celestia and Luna leaped off the balcony towards Ponyville, The griffin and dragon following.
Celestia stopped midair and turned to her sister. “Luna, assemble the royal guard and get them to Ponyville.” She looked down at Ponyville and saw Deathwing now taking flight in pursuit of some black flying dots she couldn’t identify.
Luna nodded as she also looked at the colossal dragon in Ponyville. “But what about you, sister?” She turned her head and saw the look of determination on Celestia’s face.
“I’ll go on ahead and help the potential injured.”
Razorscale and Ironbeak caught up to them. “Then we’re coming with you.” Razorscale stated and Ironbeak nodded. A pop sounded behind them and a sudden voice made them jump.
“So am I.” Discord stated as he floated over to Celestia who were giving him an angry glare. He noticed and rolled his eyes. “You can burn me to a crisp later, but we need to get to Ponyville, now!” And so Discord flew past Celestia and towards Ponyville. Celestia followed and so did the two dignitaries.
Celestia flew up on the side of Discord and gave him a thankful smile. “Thank you, Discord.”
Discord gave her a sly grin. “Hey, somebody gotta play the hero, might as well me be me.” He started floating on his back in the same speed as before. “And who knows, maybe this is my ticket to becoming a princess myself.” Celestia rolled her eyes at his words and he noticed. “Eh, worth a shot.”
He snapped his claws and a meteor appeared beneath him with a lasso around it. He grabbed the lasso and snapped his claws once again. In his claws appeared a live chicken with his claws around its leg. It looked utterly confused and looked around in panic while beating its wings. “Bawk?”
“LEEROOY JENKINS!” Discord yelled as the meteor suddenly picked up in speed and hurled itself towards Ponyville.
“BGAAAWK!” The chicken screamed as it was pulled with Discord down as he swung it around.
The dignitaries behind them looked at the display in a mix of awe and shock. They looked at eachother for a moment before turning their attention back to the meteor. “Did I really just see what I think I did?” Razorscale asked as he looked at the meteor who just flew faster and faster.
Ironbeak shook his head. He had heard many stories in his childhood about the chaos spirit. Some stories included how it could drive any creature mad just with its presence alone. He shook his head. “Not even going to question it.” He said as he began flying faster towards the ravaged village of Ponyville.
“ARRRGH!” Twilight screamed as she tried to stand on her hind leg for the fifth time. She had managed to drag herself inside her castle, get her hind leg and wing bandaged and stabilize the broken bones. She had now dragged herself to the entrance, with her friends still unconscious, once more to try and go after Neltharion.
She looked out onto the ruined city of Ponyville. Many of the buildings had been ruined by the changelings and more by Neltharion. She could see ponies streaming towards her castle. It was almost the only building intact so it made sense they would come here seeking help, but as much Twilight wanted to help, she couldn’t stay. She had a dragon to find. Twilight took a deep breath and once again tried to put weight on her back leg when another loud dragon roar shook the ground of Ponyville and caused her to fall over once more. She looked up and her eyes widened as she saw black wings and a long dragon tail on a mountain in the distance outside Ponyville and tiny black spots swarming around them.
“YAHOO!”
Twilight jumped, as much as she could without hurting herself, at the sudden voice and the sound of something coming crashing down. She didn’t get to see much as something large hit the ground 20 feet in front of her, creating a cloud of dust. Twilight could feel tears pressing in her eyes from all the dust and she went into a coughing fit. Eventually the dust thinned out, revealing a crater with a big rock in it. Twilight looked curiously at the rock as she coughed the last of the dust out of her lungs.
A lion paw rose dramatically in the air and yanked something up by the neck. It was Discord covered in dirt and a chicken on his head in front of his eyes, holding on for dear life. It was shaking and had wide eyes. Discord stretched. “Not my best landing, but i’ve had worse.” He said as he began dusting the dirt off of him. Without warming the chicken jumped off of Discord's head and ran into the castle.
Twilight’s mood beamed as she saw her friendly antagonist friend rise from the ground. “Discord!” She called as she limped towards him.
Discord turned to Twilight and his eyes widened as he saw her condition. “Twilight, what in Equestria happened here? Who did this to you?” He asked as he floated over to her, meeting her midway, and started inspecting her for injuries. “Two broken ribs, broken wing and who used your leg as a chew toy?”
Twilight’s breath was ragged and her limbs were aching from the small effort of limping over to Discord. She was so tired and all she wanted was her comfortable, if way too big, queen sized bed. “I-it was Chrysalis. She attacked--” Twilight’s mood became even brighter when she saw Celestia landing beside her and the two dignitaries landing a bit away. Celestia hugged her tightly and smiled. Twilight could feel tears pressing in her eyes. She had never been happier to see princess Celestia and she hugged her back tightly before breaking the hug and smiling at her former mentor, and Celestia smiled comfortingly back.
The sappy moment was ruined by a loud crash taking everyone’s attention. It was Deathwing, or Neltharion if you will, who had smashed his tail against the mountain side, causing it to crack and large chunks of rock fell to the ground. A loud roar followed and fire erupted behind the mountain, the light almost blinding them even from that distance, and several black dots disappearing or falling to the ground. The group could see hills in the distance catching on fire as well.
Twilight and the dignitaries gulped at the sight. Even if they couldn’t see what was going on directly, it didn’t make it less terrifying to watch. The sheer power being let loose at that mountain. Celestia and Discord shared a quick glance before turning back to Twilight.
“Go on, Twilight.” Celestia encouraged.
Twilight’s mind was racing. They didn’t have time for this, they had to stop him before he literally tore their world apart. But what could she do? They didn’t have the elements, she didn’t know how to use this new ‘Rainbow power’ and more importantly, her friends were out cold. Twilight took a deep breath. “ChrysalisandherchangelingsattackedPonyvillebecauseshewantedrevenge “ Twilight recieved some odd looks from her new companions. “AndthenNeltharionshoweduplookingallweirdandChrysalissentherchangelingsathimbutheslaughteredthem.” She pointed to a bloody pile of changeling limbs that had been spread out across the field around her castle. She was about to continue when Discord snapped his talon and Twilight’s mouth literally melted off and landed on the ground. She put a hoof to the place where her mouth used to be and started mumbling.
Discord looked to the rest of the people there. He received a disapproving glare from Celestia. “Did any of you understand anything of what she said?”
Razorscale scratched his chin with his blue claw. “Something about the changelings attacking Ponyville because they wanted revenge and something about a guy named Neltharion showing up and slaughtering them.”
“Okay then.” Replied Discord and snapped his talon, returning the mouth to Twilight who gave Discord an angry glare which he dismissed. “So, what do we do now?”
“We should wait for the guards and then take the fight to that dragon!” Ironbeak yelled. He didn’t want that dragon near his home and Equestria had the strongest magic known in the world. If anyone could beat that dragon, it was the ponies of Equestria.
Razorscale turned to Ironbeak with wide eyes. “Are you out of your mind?!” He yelled. “You’ve seen the size of it, we are going to have a lot more casualties if we try and fight him. No, we should try and reason with him, maybe get him to calm down."
Celestia cut in between them and spoke with a sharp and serious voice. “We will wait for Luna to arrive with the royal guard, attend to the villagers of Ponyville and then we will discuss what we do about Neltharion.” She was sweating and she was forcing herself to not panicking. Everything that could have gone wrong had gone wrong and she honestly didn’t know what to do. They couldn’t fight Neltharion, it would only result in a pointless battle that they were unlikely to win and maybe a much worse fate for Equestria. Maybe waiting for Luna was the best solution? In any case they should try and help the injured and scared villagers of Ponyville.
Discord was standing on the side, contemplating their options as the three started argueing. He agreed they should help the villagers but that didn’t solve the problem of a gigantic dragon potentially about to on a rampage when he had finished the changelings. He also looked, concerned, to the rest of Twilight’s friends, but mostly to Fluttershy. They had all sustained quite a few injuries. Rainbow Dash and Applejack had it worst, but they both paled compared to Twilight’s condition. Rainbow Dash had a broken wing, a large bulge at her eye and she had sprained her left foreleg. Applejack had a broken fore and hind leg, but other than that, she was unharmed. Pinkie Pie had three broken ribs and several cuts across her legs and sides. She had probably been beaten with something or thrown through a window. Rarity had no physical injuries, but her mane was colored green with changeling goo and she had probably fainted when it happened. Fluttershy had a cut and a sprained foreleg, but that was about it. It didn’t make Discord any less angry. Nopony hurts his friends even if he thought some of them slightly deserved it, but not Fluttershy or Twilight. His angry thoughts were interrupted by Twilight, yelling.
“We don’t have time for this!” She cried. “If we don’t stop him now, there’s no telling of what will happen to Equestria so stop arguing!” Her yelling stopped them from bickering and she looked angrily at them.
Discord shot her a smirk. “I agree with princess Twilight.” He patted her on her back. “So what do you want us to do, princess?”
Twilight looked over across the ruins of her precious Ponyville, then to the oncoming villagers and then to the mountain where she could still see the tail, wings and sometimes a claw whisking around the top of mountain. “You two!” She pointed to the dignitaries. “You’ll both stay here and guide the everypony inside the castle.” Twilight then looked to Discord and Celestia. “And we three go and try to reason with Neltharion. I know it’s a long shot, but we have to try before things get worse.”
“But, Twilight.” Celestia began. “You’re injured. You can stay and rest, let us take care of--”
“NO!” Twilight interrupted, much to everyone’s surprise. “I know him better than any of you do--”
“You do?” Both dignitaries asked between her talking and shot a questioning glare at Celestia.
Twilight continued. “He will listen to me, so please princess.” She looked pleadingly at Celestia.
Celestia herself was first shocked by her words, then proud of Twilight. She had come so far since she first became a princess with so many questions and doubts. Celestia had always known Twilight was a born leader and this only proved her right. She gave Twilight an approving nod and a smile and looked at Discord who was scratching his chin in thought.
“Hmmm… Very well then. But you can’t fly in your condition.” He snapped his talon and a cotton candy cloud appeared beneath her with a rope attached to it. Discord took the rope. “We all know our assignments, now lets go and try not to get the world blown up for that’s one mess I don’t want to clean up.” He then began floating and started pulling the rope, attached to Twilight on a cloud, with him.
Celestia began to flap her wings and looked to the dignitaries. “When my sister gets here, inform her of where we are. She should be arriving in a few minutes.” She then flew after Discord and Twilight.
Razorscale and Ironbeak looked at each other awkwardly. Ironbeak was about to speak up when Razorscale interrupted him. “No, We are not going to follow them. We are going to do what the princess said and help the villagers.”
Ironbeak shot him an annoyed glare. “You dragons are so thickheaded. Isn’t it concerning you that the princess knew he was here and didn’t tell us?”
“Of course it does.” Razorscale answered. “But these ponies need our help for now.”
Ironbeak sighed. “I suppose you’re right.” He put a claw to his chin in thought. “Although…”
“Yes?”
“We could just wake up those five--” He pointed to nearby unconscious previous elements of harmony. “And make them direct the ponies inside instead.”
Razorscale grinned, revealing his sharp teeth. “I like your way of thinking, but how do we wake them up?”
Ironbeak chuckled and pulled out a small brown bottle and opened it, savouring the strong smell of liquor that burned in his nostrils. “I got just the thing.”
Chrysalis watched in horror from Deathwing’s grasp as he swatted more of her army out of the air. They had started attacking him after he wouldn’t give them back their queen and it wasn’t exactly going well. He had been swatting them away with his free claw but had also tried to swat them with the claw he held Chrysalis in. Her skin was completely burnt from being in Deathwing’s claw for this long and it hurt. Her nerves were screaming at her to get out of his grasp, but she couldn’t, he held her tightly in his grasp with no intention of letting go.
Chrysalis’ eyes widened as she heard him take a deep breath. She turned her attention to her army. “Leave me! Get away from here!” She cried, but her army wouldn’t leave their queen in Deathwing’s grasp and ignored her command.
A mix of a roar and growl sounded from Deathwing as he opened his metal jaw wide and a massive stream of fire and lava erupted from his mouth towards the changeling army, enlightening the mountain side and nearby hills making it seem like daytime. Most of them avoided the stream of fire and lava, but some got caught in it. Those who were caught in the center were completely reduced to dust and the rest, even if only barely hit, fell towards the ground as burnt carcasses. His molten breath also hit the ground and some hills, engulfing both in fire and molten rock.
Chrysalis could only watch as her kin was obliterated in front of her eyes. It was horrifying and she could feel tears pressing in her eyes. She kept pleading for them to leave her, but they wouldn’t listen. She could also feel Deathwing getting angrier as he had been ever so slowly tightening his grip on her and breathing faster. As a changeling Chrysalis was able to sense all of the swirling emotions that were circling around her, and Deathwing’s rage was overwhelming. It was like a maelstrom of negative emotion that sucked everything in, leaving nothing but empty husks of the one it was directed at. It was hard to believe that anything could be this powerful and have so much hate inside of it.
Despite her changelings relentless attacks, both magical and physical, it caused no damage to Deathwing’s skin or armor, It looked almost impenetrable. Physical attacks had only resulted in changelings getting their skin, wings and even sometimes limbs burned off and magical attacks didn’t even graze him.
Deathwing spread his wings massive in a threatening manner, blocking out the moonlight and making the fire in the distance the only light source. If he had been any other dragon, he would have looked quite majestic in that pose on the mountain, but because of his appearance and the darkness, it only made him look even more terrifying. Chrysalis could see the veins and the molten liquid running through them. She saw a beginning fire starting at his bony appendages and spreading onto the tattered and thin skin that was his wings. The fire had completely engulfed his wings. The mountain itself rumbled as he spoke.
“This ends, NOW!”
And with that he flapped his wings once towards the swarm of changelings in front of him, creating the wind of a hurricane, sending them towards the ground, but that wasn’t it. The fire that had engulfed his wings fell of with the flap, sending a torrent of fire towards the spiraling and disoriented changelings. Chrysalis could only watch in horror as her army, her people, crashed into the ground of a nearby hill and they watched with wide eyes as the torrent of fire washed over them.
Deathwing huffed and beat his mighty wings once more, extinguishing the fire and revealing the battered and seared changelings. They were completely pinned to the ground, their burned skin and intense pain not allowing them to use their sore bodies. He raised an eyebrow. He was surprised they hadn’t been reduced to bones, but they were more durable than he thought. He huffed again and raised his free front claw and the ground obeyed his command, detaching itself from the earth. He raised every single changeling up to eye level, but a reasonable distance away. Every single changeling tried to move, but they couldn’t, their nerves were screaming in protest whenever they tried to move their burnt carapace. The ground around them was burying them into the dirt with violent force through the holes in their legs and into their seared skin, worsening their pain. Deathwing looked down at Chrysalis who was fearfully looking back at him.
“Is this your mighty army? Is this the might of the changelings? They are pathetic.”
“P-please just let us go.” Chrysalis pleaded the giant dragon. “W-we won’t harm anypony ever again.” She really hoped he would just let them go. She meant what she said. If she was let go, she would use this opportunity to forget about the ponies and just keep her hive safe. After all, ponies didn’t kill and if this dragon was a friend of the ponies, he wouldn’t kill them, though Chrysalis wasn’t so sure. Deathwing tightened his grip on Chrysalis and she felt a rib or two break underneath the pressure. She gasped from the pain as her lungs didn’t have room to let out a scream.
“Do you think I care about your empty promises? Your kind is weak, fragile and undeserving of life. It is a gift that has been wasted on your pitiful kin and now I will take that gift away.”
He opened his free claw completely, pointing it towards the broken changelings and a screech of grinding metal sounded. Small pieces of Elementium started breaking off his plating and began gathering in front of him, creating a spread wall of thousands of sharp metal pieces pointed towards the incapacitated changelings.
Chrysalis knew what he was going to do and she watched in horror as the elementium shards split into even smaller pieces and sharpened in front of her eyes. “B-but aren’t you friends w-with those ponies? What will they say if you kill them? They will never forgive you and you will lose their friendship!” Chrysalis started to feel even smaller in comparison to the dragon that was holding her as he brought his claw up to his face. Chrysalis could feel his searing hot breath and, watching closely, she could see spikes on his metal jaw.
“Do you think I care about their precious friendship?”
He started flexing his outstretched claw and the wall of elementium started gaining a hot red color going as far as becoming glowing white at the tips.
“They are nothing to me. Setbacks, distractions. They are insignificant! They know nothing of me, they are bugs trying to tame a volcano. Their approval means nothing!
Chrysalis was getting desperate. She needed to do something, anything that could save her hive, but her mind was completely blank.
“STOP!”
A sudden voice drew the attention of both Chrysalis and Deathwing. In front of the wall of fiery metal spikes floated Celestia, majestic as ever, wanting to protect the helpless changelings. Deathwing also noticed Discord floating at the side, out of harm’s way. Beside him was Twilight on a pink cloud. Discord waved awkwardly.
“STOP THIS MADNESS, NELTHARION!” Celestia yelled at the dragon in question, who simply rolled his eyes in annoyance and growled.
“Get out of the way.”
Celestia felt slightly compelled to comply, but she didn’t move. She would protect those changelings if it was the last thing she’d ever do. “N-no!”
Discord and Twilight kept silent. Discord was mostly interested in the outcome of this. He didn’t care if the changelings were all killed, but he was interested in what was going to happen to Celestia. Twilight sat on the cloud, trying to come up with a strategy as to how she could stop Neltharion. She thought of bringing up their friendship, but she knew it wasn’t solid enough to stop him. The tiredness running through her head and body plus the pain from her injuries didn’t help though, it made it hard for her to think. She needed more time.
“C-Celestia!” Chrysalis began, seeing an opportunity to save her changelings. “You have to stop him, he said that he’d… ARRGH!” Her upcoming lie was cut short by Neltharion, or Deathwing if you will, tightening his grip on her.
“Silence.”
Deathwing turned his attention back to Celestia.
“These pathetic creatures do not deserve to live.”
Celestia stood strong, or floated if you will. She needed to persuade him to let them go. “Every creature deserves to live. Even the ones that has done terrible things in the past.” She shot Chrysalis a comforting smile. She saw potential in the changelings and their queen. Potential for good.
“If you truly believe that, then your kingdom is doomed. One day you will come across something that you either kill or it will slaughter everything you have ever cared about. To some, I was that something and I will not make your mistakes!”
Deathwing clenched his claw together and the shards started flying towards the changelings. Celestia lit her horn and put up a gigantic golden shield that protected all of the changelings and herself. But it didn’t do anything. Celestia’s eyes widened as she saw the metal shards pass through her shield like a knife through hot butter.
“CELESTIA!” Twilight and Discord screamed as they saw the shards go through. Celestia closed her eyes and awaited the shards to pierce through her skin, but they never came.
“NOOOO!” Chrysalis managed to scream through her pain as she watched the shards go through each of her subjects with deadly precision, either going through their head, throats or chests. She couldn’t bare to watch it. Her body went into shock and she passed out. Deathwing felt the changeling queen had ceased struggling and laid her onto the mountain side. She had been beaten, humiliated and broken. She was not a threat anymore.
Celestia opened her eyes and saw herself unharmed. The shards had gone around her and only hit the changelings behind her. She turned with a look of sadness at the dead carcasses of the changeling army. Why did she think she could stop it? She knew that Neltharion was ancient compared to her and probably knew things her mind couldn’t even comprehend. If only she had been quicker, if only she had seen the commotion happening in Ponyville then none of this would have happened. Celestia looked on as the earthy islands the dead changelings were laying on caught on fire, soon there was nothing left but ash in their place.
Twilight sat on the cloud, mouth agape, at what had happened. She couldn’t believe Neltharion would do this. This wasn’t the Neltharion that had been living with her for almost a week. This was that thing she had fought and yet… He seemed to be in control. Had he let it take over?
Discord stood, stroking his beard. He was surprised at how much control Neltharion had over his powers. Redirecting hundreds of projectiles around a single target must have taken a lot of concentration. He didn’t care for the changelings and was actually glad they were gone. He understood what Neltharion had done was, to some people, horrific, but the changelings needed to go. They were not good for anything and were just evil in nature. He heard two pairs of wings flap behind him, one pair much bigger than the other. “About time you two showed up.” Discord said smugly to the two dignitaries behind him.
“H-how could you!” Celestia screamed furiously at Neltharion as the ash, that used to be changelings, began swirling through the air around her. “You’ve just killed hundreds and for what?!” Neltharion raised an eyebrow and then shook his head lightly.
“My reasons are my own. But through my life I have killed thousands upon thousands of different creatures. I don’t care about a few hundred more.”
Celestia screamed and flew up into Neltharion’s face, but Discord teleported up in front of her, stopping her on the spot. “Now there, Celestia. Calm down.” Discord said while waving his arms in a soothing manner. “There’s no need to go into a hissy fit.”
“Calm down? CALM DOWN?! You saw what he did to them and you want me to calm down?!” Celestia fumed, her mane starting to turn into one made of fire, but Discord, to her surprise, didn’t even flinch.
“Yes calm down, there’s no need to repeat it.” Discord rolled his eyes. “Although it might not have been pretty or particularly merciful, I agree with Neltharion’s actions.” Both dignitaries and princesses jaws dropped at Discord’s words.
“WHAT!?” Discord heard Twilight scream from her cloud. Hoboy, you’ve done it now, Discord. He thought to himself. But don’t back down. What is it Fluttershy says? Stand for what you believe in? No that’s not it, eh who cares, i’m probably going to get a long lecture after this anyway.
“Uh.” Ironbeak began, looking to Twilight, who was trying her best to be mad despite her tired and pained limbs. “What did we miss and where are the changelings?” He asked as a wave of ash washed over him, throwing him into a coughing fit.
Twilight gave him an annoyed look, her left eye twitching, and pointed to some ash on her cloud. “That’s what’s left of them…”
Razorscale and Ironbeak’s eyes widened and Ironbeak gagged in disgust. They both cast their attention to Discord.
“How can agree with what he’s done?!” Razorscale yelled at Discord who paid no attention whatsoever to him. “He’s reduced them to ash!”
Ironbeak also started yelling at Discord, him paying just as little attention. “That monster just killed hundreds and you’re supporting his actions?!”
Celestia could only stare at Discord in disbelief at his words. How could he be okay with this? She thought he cared about every creature's survival. She thought that was why he had never killed anypony. Her heart was beating faster and she became angry. She was about to scream at Discord when he spoke.
“Think about it, Celestia.” He began, with a surprisingly serious facial expression. “The changelings have only caused Equestria pain. They FEED off of love and they are some pretty bad mannered, foul looking, and also smelly, creatures that would only cause Equestria more trouble in the future. I say--” He floated over and patted Neltharion on the shoulder, gaining a raised eyebrow from Neltharion. Discord retracted his hand quickly as he realised just how hot Neltharion’s skin is. “JAUW!” He began shaking it and snapped up a icecube around his burnt hand, which quickly melted. “Where was I? Ah, yes. I say he did us a favor.”
As much as Twilight and Celestia wanted to defy that logic, they knew he was right. The changelings had shown no sign of remorse towards their actions before they had come back to bite them in the flank.
Celestia retaliated. “It is still an awful crime and I will not tolerate it. He must be punished for his--” Celestia was interrupted by a growl from Neltharion and she gulped. She knew she couldn’t force him to do anything he didn’t want.
Discord felt a shiver go down his spine as he heard the growl as well. “Yeah, I don’t think you could punish him even if you wanted to.”
Celestia spoke once more. “Then I will refuse him the help to get home.” A low rumble sounded through the mountain and ground as Neltharion spoke.
“Is that a threat?”
Celestia began to sweat nervously as a low growl followed Neltharion’s words. “N-no. But you need to be taught that there are consequences f-for your actions.”
“I could make you to help me.”
Neltharion’s cold and menacing tone was a sign for Discord to step in. “Calm down, you two. There’s no need for threats.”
“Her empty threats doesn’t touch me. I don’t need this.”
Neltharion began to spread his wings and looked to be taking off to who knows where, but his action was stopped by Twilight’s voice. “Neltharion, wait!” She had managed to use her magic to force the cloud over to Discord and Celestia. “You don’t need to leave. Just… Come back to Ponyville with us and we will sort this out.” She looked pleadingly at Neltharion. So much had gone wrong already, she at least wanted her newest friend to come back to his temporary home. Twilight was scared of him and, in a way, she understood his reasons for killing the changelings, but the very concept of killing another creature was weird and foreign to her. It was so barbaric to her and ponies never killed, but she didn’t know Neltharion’s culture or the world he was from, only a few bits and pieces. Neltharion sighed deeply. It sounded more like a crocodile growl than a sigh, but she could hear it was a sigh despite it.
“Very well, Twilight.”
He then spread his wings and flew towards Ponyville. Twilight found it kinda majestic in a way that something so big could take off with such grace. Discord appeared beside her on the cloud and shot her a mischievous smile. “Wouldn’t it have been a good idea to ask him to change back into a pony before going back to Ponyville? I don’t think the villagers will approve of the dragon that destroyed most of their village coming back.”
Twilight realised her mistake and grew pale in color. “Oh, no.”
Discord put his talon to his chin in thought. “Hmmm… If I were them, I would think he was coming back to eat me.” His smile brightened even more. “Oh, I can’t miss this!” He flew past all of them in pursuit of Neltharion before realising something and teleporting back to Celestia, who was standing slightly uneasy by the whole situation. “You’ll need this.” He snapped his talon and a rope connected to Twilight’s cloud appeared around Celestia’s neck. Discord waved and gave her a quick smile. “See you back in Ponyville, Tata!” He then snapped his talon and disappeared.