Equestria Guardians

by Jacoboby1


Chapter 13 "Discord Part 1"

Chapter 13

“Discord Part 1”

Or

“I’m Howling At The Moon”

This is Kitty Purric coming to you live from the park today. Local Law enforcement has been completely baffled by the disappearance of the local statue. The statue has long been a central feature to Canter City’s park and is one of the city's historical landmarks. Witnesses however are claiming that something burst forth from the statue and disappeared into the...wait is it starting to rain? Cut and get an umbrella over-wait...no...is this...chocolate milk?
________________________________________________________________

The girls had been getting ready to head home, after school had ended for the day, when they all received an emergency text from Principal Celestia saying to meet her in the gym. They all ran to the gymnasium, meeting up outside the doors.

“Do any of you know what’s going on?” Twilight asked, looking to the others.

“Haven’t the foggiest, darling,” Rarity replied.

“May as well go on in an’ see what’s up. Ah doubt she’ve used tha emergency code ifin’ she jus’ was wantin’ us ta work on our teamwork,” Applejack observed.

The girls filed into the gymnasium. Celestia was standing there, a tablet in her hand.

“You wanted to see us Professor Celestia?” Twilight said.

Celestia held the tablet, tapped on it a few times then turned to show him the news report. “This was taken while all of you were in class,” Celestia said, as the news report played. “Something has just been unleashed, and he is causing chaos. Clouds may be dropping chocolate milk now but…”

“Wait, hold up…” Pinkie said, suddenly drooling. “You’re saying there’s...CHOCOLATE RAIN!!!” Pinkie was about to take off before Rainbow held her back.

“Nu-uh! No chocolate rain for you!” Rainbow grunted.

“But… but… but… it’s chocolate rain, you guys!” Pinkie declared gesturing dramatically.

“You said… ‘he’... You know who’s been unleashed, don’t you, Professor?” Twilight asked.

For a brief moment, Twilight could see a flash of bitterness and hate in Celestia’s expression. She turned around trying to hide it from her students. Celestia then spoke as calmly as she could, “He is one of my oldest enemies. One who wields magic so powerful, it could destroy the entire world. He is a being without conscience or understanding, without fear and without reason… his name… is Discord.”

“Discord?” Twilight asked. “What kind of magic does he wield? You said something about him causing chaos…”

“His power is chaos,” Celestia explained. “Long ago he tried to unleash it upon the world. It took me and my sister everything we had to seal him away in stone for the first time. But thankfully now, we have an edge against him.” She turned back to her students. “With the power of your elements we sho-”

“My bracelet is gone!” Rainbow said, suddenly looking down at her wrist.

“So’s mine!” Aj said.

“Mine too! And I swear I didn’t eat it guys!” Pinkie panicked.

Twilight looked down at her wrist, and sure enough it was missing. “Darnit, I hate it when a villain is genre savvy…”

“Mine’s gone too…” Fluttershy added

“Who could do such a thing?” Rarity asked, feeling her own bare wrist.

They all stood still as the heard a creepy laugh ring throughout the gym.

“Discord…” Celestia said, clenching her fists.

“Well, well, so these are the Elements of Harmony? A bunch of little human girls? I must say Tia your standards have gone soooo far down since I was last sealed,” The owner of the laugh said.

“Show yourself! And return the Elements right now! I demand it!” Celestia said, yelling.

“Seems all the centuries I’ve been away has done little to stave off that rude tongue of yours. Very well, if you really want to see me in all my beautiful chaotic glory...I suppose I can throw you a bone…”

A flash of light appeared over the basketball hoop, and everyone stared at the creature sitting on it. He had a long, brown-furred snake-like body, with a tail that was red and scaly. His head was gray with a stiff black brush-style mane, a face that looked somewhat goat-like but with one protruding fang, and mad yellow eyes. Atop his head was one goat-like horn, and one branching antler. On his back was a pair of mismatched wings, one of which was feathered the other bat-like and leathery. Lastly, all four of his limbs were different. His legs consisted of a green scaly lizard-like claw and a light brown furry leg that ended in a hoof. His arms looked to be made up of a lion-like paw and the claw of some kind of bird of prey.

“Wait… You look like that statue in the park!” Twilight exclaimed looking shocked.

“Yes, an astute observation for the latest model of Celestia’s personal student.” Discord mocked. “See when Luna went all crazed and Tia caused the Witching to come about, my statue still remained.”

“Enough Discord!” Celestia yelled. “Return those Elements right now!”

“I got this Celestia!” Rainbow yelled, and started running towards Discord. “Give back our elements you-” She suddenly stopped mid air, “Freak…?”

“Such a temper this one,” Discord said, and with a wave of his hand, launched Rainbow into the nearby wall.

“Rainbow!” Fluttershy yelled, running towards her friend.

Twilight was thinking hard. It was obvious a frontal attack wasn’t going to work.

“Dear Tia, is this who you send to stop me? How truly pathetic…” Discord mocked.

“Enough of this, if I have to destroy you myself, then I will!” Celestia said, her hands glowing brightly.

“Oh, but if your dearly beloved couldn’t take me down, what chance do you have….?” Discord said with a cruel smile.

Celestia, with a fury nobody had ever seen, unleashed a terrible barrage of magic at Discord. Twilight and the others stood stark still, not used to seeing Celestia go all out like this. Celestia continued her barrage until she was out of breath, and nothing remained of the basketball hoop but charred metal.

Pinkie blinked, and turned frightened eyes to her friends. “Remind me never to get on her bad side…” she said nervously.

Celestia then looked around for Discord...then screamed as lightning hit her hard. She contorted in pain...before falling over onto the ground.

“Tsk Tsk Celestia, you spent all that energy you barely had enough magic to defend yourself...your father would be sooo disappointed…” Discord said, suddenly appearing, leaning against a wall.

“So… We’re dealing with a Mad God… Slightly more sane than Sheogorath, possibly with the delusion that he’s a Magnificent Bastard,” Twilight said thoughtfully.

“What did you do to her!?” Rainbow yelled as Fluttershy helped her to her feet.

“Oh relax, I didn’t kill her that would be too easy.” Discord said dismissively. “I simply put her out of the way, because she would’ve made hanging on to these more difficult…” He flicked his wrist, summoning the six bracelets onto one of his hands.

“You can’t destroy them can you?” Twilight said, crossing her arms. “Otherwise you would’ve done it by now.”

“How astute, give this girl a gold star.” Discord said, snapping his fingers and causing a gold star sticker to appear on Twilight’s nose.

“Cute,” Twilight observed taking the star off. “It’s obvious you’re toying with us. It’d be too boring if you just took us all down, outright. What fun would that be, if you just killed us? So… What do you want?”

“Well if we want to get into specifics I’m thinking ice cream, a puppy and total power over all the universe, I’m a simple Draconequs,” Discord snarked. “But if you really want to know what I want. You see I’m in a touch bit of a spot. These Elements are the only thing that could seal me up again. But as you just figured out I can’t destroy them, no one can because they are bonded to you body and soul. Anybody who would be stupid enough to try and steal an Element will find there are quite a few safeguards keeping them from using it without going totally mad as me.”

“... By turning them into raging she-demons?” Twilight snarked back raising an eyebrow.

“An oddly specific snark…” Discord said, then shrugged. “So, I was thinking we’d make this more...fun…”

“Fun? Somethin’ tells me we ain’t gonna like yer kind of fun.” Aj said, glaring at him.

“Oh, but come to the park and see, it’ll be a jolly good time…. unless you want me to just unleash my powers now and wipe everything within a square block…” Discord said, his tone jovial but threatening.

“That wouldn’t be much fun, either. Just wiping everything out in a square block means less for you to play with,” Twilight observed.

“But what would happen if your loved ones were caught… in that terribly beautiful chaos… So I suggest you come to the park, alone and without any outside help, lest I wipe the entire city out…” He snapped his fingers and teleported away.

“Let’s find him and beat his face in!” Rainbow yelled.

“Darling if we don’t play along… he’ll destroy everything…” Rarity said, coming to grips with how dangerous Discord was.

“This… This is way worse than any of the witching hours we’ve faced,” Twilight said looking to the others. “I mean none of the monsters we’ve faced ever threatened to wipe out the whole city… They weren’t even sentient enough to consider taking hostages. What’s worse… He’s operating outside of a witching hour… Everybody is in danger, not just from his threat, but from just his actions in general.”

“So we gotta play along…” Aj said, “Ah dun like this one bit. Ah smell a trap.”

“We don’t exactly have a choice in the matter, darling,” Rarity said sadly. “Even if I could contact Sweetie Belle and my parents, I wouldn’t know how to tell them a monster is going to destroy Canter City…”

Rainbow clenched her fists. “He’s not…” She said determinedly. “We faced Nightmare, and Sunset. We can take this guy down too. There is no way in hell I’m letting him hurt our city! Let’s kick his butt!”

“Also, we know it’s a trap. If we keep our eyes open, and mind clear, we should be able to avoid the trap before he springs it on us,” Twilight said nodding. “So let’s head to the park, before he decides we’re taking too long.”
________________________________________________________________

They arrived at the large park in the center of Canter City, each one of them worried about what the Mad God would do if he thought they were late. Rainbow was, obviously, determined and very ready for a fight. Applejack and Rarity were, understandably, worried about their respective families. Pinkie got distracted by several chocolate rain showers in route, before she had to be pulled forcibly along by one of the others. Fluttershy just looked like she’d rather be anywhere else but here. Twilight was worried about her family, concerned about everybody in the city, and wondering how she use her brain to outmaneuver Discord.

Discord appeared...in front of a large hedge maze that wasn’t there before. “Right on time, guess I won’t have to destroy a city block to make a point.” Discord said mockingly.

“All right. We’re here,” Twilight said, in serious mode. “We didn’t have a choice. So, what’s your game?”

“Well you see, I have your little elements here in this maze. All you have to do, is get to the center where my statue once was. Do that, and you can get your precious elements back,” Discord explained.

“Are there any hazards?” Twilight asked. “Monsters? Nasty traps?”

“Oh that would be telling,” Discord said with a laugh. “But to ensure that you don’t try any tricks…” He waved his hand, and suddenly everybody’s weapons appeared in his hands. “No magical tricks, none of your Earth tech, just your own ingenuity…”

“We could summon those without our Elements?” Twilight asked tilting her head. “I mean, I know regular Guardians could just summon their weapons at will, but I thought… Nevermind. Since we’re all operating with a handicap, how about you? I want to see both hands, and no summoning an extra arm, or using your tail, somehow to cross your fingers and no crossing toes either. No dirty tricks. No cheating. No going and and destroying a city block because we’re taking too long, because you made the maze too large.”

“Oh you can have my word on those things.” Discord said. “I simply wish to watch and enjoy…” He waved his hand and six entrances appeared in the hedge wall. “Now...let’s begin shall we?”

Twilight sighed, and looked to her friends as they all stepped to the entrances of the maze. “Everybody keep your eyes open, and try not to get distracted. We’re still expecting some form of trap, even if he’s agreed not to pull anything underhanded.”

“Let’s do this…” Rainbow said as each girl stepped into the maze.
_______________________________________________________

Applejack had been wandering around the maze for a while. The whole thing was getting on her nerves, and she was longing for the days when they were fighting regular non-sentient monsters. A monster who was a schemer was not something she was enjoying. She went through an opening, and found herself in a large round area, her bracelet sitting on a pedestal in the middle of it.

“What in tarnation?” She said as she steadily walked towards it. She reached up, and her hand passed right through the element, the image fading. “Figures…”

“Not so great when things aren’t what they seem, hm?”

Aj turned around and saw Discord leaning on an apple tree, smirking down at her.

“O’ course not! Ah don’ like dishonesty, an’ you are tha most dishonest thing Ah’ve ever met,” Applejack retorted. “Nevermind threatenin’ mah friends an’ family! That jus’ don’t sit right with me at all.”

“A fan of the truth are you?” Discord asked.

“Darn tootin’ Ah am! So Ah know not ta trust a word that comes outta that twisted mouth o’ yours!” Applejack said, crossing her arms, and glaring at the mish-mashed creature.

“Oh I’m sure you don’t believe anything I say. But, what about others words?” He asked with a cruel smirk. “Like those of certain...relatives of yours…”

Aj suddenly stiffened, stepping back as an image appeared before her. It was of a young version of herself, no more than six or seven, peeking in through a set of double doors. Inside was a bunch of her relatives gathered for a family reunion...well...not a reunion...a funeral...for Aj’s parents…

Young Aj closed her eyes, trying to hold back the tears and was about to enter when she overheard some of them speaking.

“Hard to believe Applebuck and Lilyblossom are really gone.” One of her relatives said, sadly.

“A horrible accident, left them both without any hope of getting better.” Another one explained.

“Did you hear what Granny Smith said?” Another added. “Apparently, she’s going to groom Applejack to take over the farm.”

“That little girl?” the first one said, “Hardly fit for running a farm.”

“Isn’t there a boy? Surly he’s more fit. No woman can possibly run a farm. They’re just not strong enough.”

“Little Macintosh has barely spoken since their deaths. Can really only answer yes or no questions…”

“So the girl is being chosen out of necessity, how pathetic.”

“She’s shown that she’d be willing to just run off. True she came back, but she has no loyalty to the farm.”

“Never mind she’s such a dullard in her school work. Her teachers despair of ever teaching her anything.”

“I know they live in the country, but the girl takes the whole ‘country hick’ thing too far. How is she supposed to run a business sounding like some inbred Southerner?”

“Never mind how hard it is to get that little hellion to take a bath…”

“She should’ve stayed in Manehatten...away from here…”

“Nothing but a burden upon everybody…”

Aj blinked in real life, and looked away from the picture. Discord sang, “Soo many little truths. So much doubt and distrust in your abilities…”

“Ah’ll prove ‘em wrong,” Applejack said, clenching her fists. “Ah’ll show ‘em that I’m more’n capable.”

“Oh, it’s sweet that you think you can hide from the truth...when it hurts just...so..much…” Discord mocked. “Perhaps it would simply be easier to...make one's own truth…”

“Ya mean lie?” Applejack said glaring at Discord. “Ah ain’t a liar! I make my truth by hard work an’ determination! Not lyin’!”

“It isn’t lying...if you say it isn’t…” Discord said, suddenly appearing before Aj and tapping her forehead. Applejack’s eyes go dull for a long moment, before awareness coming back to them. However… They seemed… a more grayed out version of their vibrant green.

The illusion then fades, alongside Discord as Aj just stands there. Twilight moved through the maze, and saw her friend just standing in the middle of an open area.

“Applejack? I’m so glad to see you! I was getting worried that Discord may still try something,” Twilight said, coming up to her friend.

“Applejack?!” Aj said, suddenly turning to her. “Ah ain’t Applejack!” Her face suddenly scrunched and her eyes moved from one direction to the other.

“Huh?” Twilight uttered, confused. “Uh… What are you doing? Why would you just say you’re not yourself?”

“Ah dun know what yer talkin about!” Aj shouted. “And Ah jus want’cha tah know Pears are the best fruit!” She did the facial tic again.

“... Discord did something, didn’t he?” Twilight asked frowning. “I should have known he’d not keep his word.” Twilight sighed. “Come on… We’ve got to get to the center of this maze… for what it’s worth.”

“Ah dun wanna follow ya,” Aj said...as she started following Twilight. “And Ah dun have any emotionally confusin’ dreams about me and Rarity!”

“You don’t or you do?” Twilight asked, then sniggered. “I am so going to remember you said that, by the way.”

“Ah dun have any of them dreams! Especially ones ‘bout you, me, Rarity, and a-”

“TOO MUCH INFORMATION!”
_________________________________________________________

Pinkie gleefully bounced through the maze. Sure the threat was bad, but that was no reason not to keep a positive outlook. There was chocolate rain, a fun maze, her friends somewhere inside it, and once they got their elements back, they’d turn things back to normal. She’d miss the chocolate rain, but that’s a small sacrifice to make for the safety of the world.

Pinkie stepped through an opening in the hedge, and found herself in an open area within the maze.She saw her element sitting on a pedestal, and a bunch of balloons hanging around the area. All of them sported rather cruel looking smiles on their faces.

“Oooh!” Pinkie cheered. “Balloons! I love Balloons! Who doesn’t love them? Well, I guess Porcupines because they would pop them all the time but whatever!” She then happily skipped into the clearing. Pinkie went up to her element, about to take it when it, and the pedestal, faded away.

“What the?” Pinkie said in shock. “Discord! You said no tricks!”

“Look at her!” One of the balloons suddenly said. “She’s too stupid to notice that the element was never there!”

They all started laughing uproariously.

“Hey! Why’re you all laughing? I didn’t say anything funny!” Pinkie said, looking around at the balloons. “And why does your laughter sound so… mean?” She asked looking around at them.

“Oh poor Pinkie Pie, always the butt of the joke.” Discord’s voice echoed through the grove.

“And heeeere’s Discord!” Pinkie said giggling. “Yanno, if you weren’t such a meanie, you’d be cool to have around.”

The balloons only continued to laugh nastily.

“You seem to really like laughter! But how much do you like it when they’re laughing at you.” Discord’s voice rang.

“Oh, come on. My friends laugh with me not at me,” Pinkie said nodding.

“Of course they do...but they don’t seem to love you laughing all the time…” Discord’s voice rang.

Pinkie began hearing her friends’ voices coming out of the balloons.

“Pinkie will you stop I’m trying to do my homework!”

“You’re so annoying Pinkie!”

“Don’t you ever take anythin’ seriously?”

“But… but… M-my friends have never said anything like that to me…” Pinkie said, horrified at the mean things being said.

“They may not have said it, but you know it’s what lies in their hearts,” Discord said. “Of course you don’t listen because you’re too busy laughing… maybe it’s time you gave laughter up…”

“But… I like laughter,” Pinkie murmured. “There… I… But…”

“I think anger is a better choice…” Discord’s voice spoke as one of the balloons came up to Pinkie’s face. It’s eyes glowed and Pinkie’s eyes soon turned grey just like Aj… Slowly her expression changed from one of happy-go-lucky smiles to a deep formidable scowl.

“Pinkie? Is that you? Oh thank goodness. Please don’t let Discord have done something to you too…” Twilight said, as she came up to her friend, having finally found her.

“Oh hello, Twilight. Here to make a snarky quip about TVtropes to hide the fact you think you’re such a smarty pants?” Pinkie said, glaring at Twilight.

“That wasn’t mean at all,” Aj said, doing the facial tic again.

“Uh… No… No I wasn’t… I was actually worried about you,” Twilight said looking a touch disturbed. “Okay… Note to self… stop bringing up tropes… People find it annoying...”

“Yeah! Well maybe you should just buzz off because you’re so annoying!” Pinkie yelled at Twilight.

“Man she just ain’t acting mean at all, and Ah dun like wearin’ dresses and pretenden’ Ah’m a pretty lady named Applejewel,” Aj said, doing the tic.

Twilight stared at Pinkie, looking hurt. “Do… I… Pinkie, I really hope that this is just the brainwashing talking…” she said quietly.

“Ya wanna hear about how I don’t have dreams about Big Mac an-”

“NO!”
_____________________________________________________

Rarity moved tentatively through the maze. However as she went on, the corridor just seemed to get darker and more narrower. The color of the hedges seemed to have darkened as well, adding to the ominous and oppressive atmosphere.

“I am so glad I changed to my more practical shoes for this outing, but honestly this place is a nightmare,” Rarity said to herself.

She rounded a corner and came face to face with a dead end. Rarity would’ve turned around if not for the three beautiful diamonds embedded in the rock. It greatly resembled her own personal symbol.

“My goodness, what are these doing here?” Rarity asked, looking at the gems.

“Why, this is one of the most pure diamonds in all the world, not to mention biggest,” Discord’s voice said, and he suddenly appeared in the diamond’s reflection. “And it’s quite real as someone with your exquisite taste can tell…”

“Indeed I can… What I don’t understand is what they’re doing here, of all places. Canter City Park isn’t known for its gem deposits…” Rarity observed.

“Well to be perfectly honest it’s just sitting here, collecting dust,” Discord explained. “Just sitting here waiting for somebody to claim it, truly a waste to leave such a pure diamond stuck in the wall.”

“How will I ever get them out?” Rarity asked. “My nails are hardly up for the task, never mind I just had them manicured...”

Discord snapped his fingers and a large pick ax appeared in Rarity’s hands. “Oh, but maybe I shouldn’t just give it to you. After all you’re just going to give it away anyways,” Discord said thoughtfully.

“Perhaps, but they’d be out in the world where they could be appreciated, admired, adored… But I appreciate them… Admire them… Adore them…” Rarity murmured.

“Oh yes...and it will all be yours...forever…” Discord said, grinning evilly.

“I MUST HAVE THEM!” Rarity uttered, digging frantically with the pickaxe.She dug faster than a Minecraft player. By the time she managed to get the diamond out, she saw it was about as big as she was, if not bigger. “My goodness! And it’s MINE all miiiine!”

“Uh… Rarity?” Twilight asked having, somehow, found her, too. She was looking positively frazzled, too, having had to deal with a lying Applejack and an abusive Pinkie Pie. “What are you doing with that huge rock?”

“This beautiful creature is named Tom!” Rarity said, draping herself over the diamond. “He’s such a wondrous diamond, and he’s all MINE!!” She yelled.

At least...a diamond is what Rarity saw...Twilight on the other saw that the beautiful diamond Tom was actually…

“Rarity...that’s a rock,” Twilight pointed out. “A boulder to be precise, but still a large chunk of solidified earth. There may be some quartz somewhere in it, but it bears no resemblance to any form of crystallized carbon…”

“TOM IS NOT A ROCK!” Rarity yelled. “He is a gorgeous hunk of diamond and I will not hear otherwise! He’s MINE! You hear!? MINE!!”

“Still as selfish as ever huh…” Pinkie grumbled.

“Hmph!” Rarity huffed. “You just want Tom for yourself Pinkie!”

“I don’t want yer crummy diamond!” Aj yelled.

“Applejack stop lying! You’ve always been jealous of my gems...AND MY LOOKS!!” Rarity yelled.

“This is going to be a long maze,” Twilight groaned, as she began to trudge onwards.
________________________________________________________

Fluttershy moves quietly through the maze. She looks around in fear. “Rainbow…? Twilight…? Applejack…? Anybody…?” She asks quietly. “Where is everybody…?”

“Ooooh. Poor Fluttershy. So helpless and useless to her friends,” came an eerie chorus of high-pitched voices.

“Who’s there?!” She asked, fearfully. Then she saw a trio of butterflies come fluttering over, flitting hither and yon.

“Oooh, are you lost my little friends?” Fluttershy asked, relaxing at the sight of creatures.

“Oh… Maybe? But we were talking to you… Don’t your friends find you to be completely useless when the chips are down?” they asked, sounding a bit confused at first.

“Oh but I am helpless. That's why I have such good friends who understand and help me on the way," She said, with such a beautiful sweetness.

“But doesn’t it get on your nerves how they constantly point out your flaws? Doesn’t that make you… angry?”

"Oh, but if they do point out my flaws, that just means I can improve upon them. They are good friends like that," She said, smiling cutely.

“Oh for the love of sour cream cannolis!” the butterflies uttered, before they were mushed together, and spun into the serpentine form of Discord. He poked her forehead, glaring at her, using his magic to change her mind. “You have been kind for far too long, my dear. Try being cruel, instead. Arrivederci!” After the brainwashing, he promptly disappeared.

“Uuuuhh…” Fluttershy said, her eyes all swirly.

“Fluttershy? Are you alright?” Twilight asked, bracing herself. So far three out of three friends she had found had been altered. She wasn’t all that hopeful that Discord would leave Fluttershy alone, either. “Did… anything happen?”

Fluttershy blinked her now grey eyes, and suddenly turned to glare at Twilight. “Well, well, well if it isn’t Twilight. Thinking you’re so smart. Well if you were so smart you’d think to lose weight to get rid of your thunder thighs!” Fluttershy said with a cruelty that did not match her at all.

“Something happened,” Twilight sighed. “We’re in trouble… Onward, I suppose… Let’s hope he doesn’t get to Rainbow Dash… I don’t know how much more of this I can take...”

“Hopefully your tolerance won’t be as small as your boo-” Fluttershy started to say before Aj covered her mouth.

“Ah think we totally need to hear that come outta yer mouth Shy.” Aj said, doing her tic.
___________________________________________________________________

Rainbow, unlike her friends, threw caution to the wind a long time ago. She just started running through the maze to try and find a way out. She kept saying to herself, “Gotta get out, gotta get out, gotta get out.”

“Why the hurry, Rainbow Dash? Worried about someone?” Discord asked as Rainbow turned into a small area. He sat there, lounging on...a cloud of all things between two trees.

“I’m in a hurry alright! In a hurry to kick your face in!” Rainbow yelled, putting up her fists and punching them in a way that would make Donald Duck proud.

“But why pummel me, when you have an important choice to make. You will either make the right selection or a big mistake. If the wrong choice you choose to pursue, the foundation of home will crumble without you,” Discord said, showing an image of her apartment building, and that building simply crumbling to dust.

“DAD!” Rainbow yelled, knowing that her dad would be home around this time.

Discord waved his hands and conjured a box. “In this box is your flight power. You can take it to go and save your Father, or you can continue to aimlessly wander around in this maze. Your choice,” he said holding the box out to her.

“Dad..but...he’s the best...but my friends they..” Rainbow said, looking from the box to back into the maze.

Suddenly, Discord spoke in a mature woman’s voice, with a sassy smile: “Life’s fulla tough choices, innit?”

Rainbow….took the box…
_____________________________________________________________

Twilight trudged onwards, spirit about broken from the altered personalities of her friends. The bickering, the verbal abuse, the insistence of Rarity to bring that stupid boulder along… It has all been getting on Twilight’s nerves. She had never been that social a person, before, and sure her friends had been great, but this constant negativity was grating.

“Rarity..” Twilight groaned. “It’s hard enough to carry the rock as is...but do you really have to sit on it too?” She groaned, looking at Rarity holding onto it with a vice grip.

“It’s to make sure you don’t run off with him Twilight,” Rarity said.

“It’s… Freaking… Heavy. I can’t exactly run off with your blasted rock,” Twilight griped, glaring at Rarity. “Now let’s find Rainbow Dash before something else happens!”

“Why do you wanna find that lesbian tramp anyways?” Fluttershy grumbled.

“... If she was a lesbian, she’d have been trying to date you, not mister J-pop superstar,” Twilight said with a huge sigh. “We’ll find her...we work best as a team...she won’t let us down.”

“Oh dear though,” Discord said…coming out of Pinkie’s hair. “Wow it’s spacious in there. You could fit a house inside that hair…”

“What do you want Discord?!” Twilight said, tossing Tom aside for Rarity to fret over.

“Just to inform you that your dear friend Rainbow Dash has, how do they say, taken off?” He said, pointing towards the sky. Twilight looked over, horrified to see Rainbow Dash with her wings flying into the sky. “And with that..she broke the rules of our little game…” Discord said with a laugh.

“No… No… Rainbow, how could you?” Twilight said, staring at the retreating form of Rainbow Dash. The hedges disappeared seeming to sink into the ground, the maze, obviously, no longer needed. In the center was just the pedestal where Discord’s statue had been. The Elements weren’t there at all. It was possible they were never there in the first place.

“And with this dear Twilight, my victory is assured…” Discord said cruelly. Discord laughed as dark clouds covered the entire park. “Time to let a little...chaos reign…” He said, his laughter echoing through the city...as Twilight fell to her knees in total shock.