“Aghh!”
The draconequus pressed on his back as he stood up and a highly noticeable cracking noise could be heard. He then continued to rub his back to help ease the pain and stiffness.
“That was uncalled for!”
He shouted at the princess who merely replied with, “But at least you’re awake now.”
He grumbled to himself while still rubbing his back, “Are we there?”
The alicorn gave him a reassuring nod.
“Yes Discord. That rock was actually most likely part of your statue.”
“Good, good. Now if... you’ll excuse me... I have to remember where I buried the element.”
He paused at every other step with the limp he now possessed. He found a twig on the ground and used his tail to pick it up and place it in his left hand for use as a cane.
After a number of slow steps that were only observed by the pony group he reached the scorch mark on the ground where his statue once stood and turned towards what remained of the castle and looked around at the ground.
“What exactly are ya doin’?”
“Quiet! I’m thinking here.”
Alright Discord. You were standing here when you were a statue. You broke free and made the Elements of Disharmony and decided to scatter them. You then decided that it would be best to keep one close. So where would I put it if I wanted it close by?
He looked to his right hand which seemed to automatically point on its own accord a short distance away from him, “Of course! Right next to me.”
He hobbled over to where his hand pointed and began to slowly draw a circle in the dirt with his stick about eight inches across across. When he finished he stepped out of the circle and pointed down to it and said, “Get digging.”
“What?!”
“Don’t blame me for having to get dirty. I’d dig it up myself if my back wasn’t killing me right now!”
He pressed his free hand against his back and a small crack could be heard. The white unicorn turned her head away in disgust, “I refuse to do any such thing! Applejack, you do it!”
“Sure.”
Immediately the orange farmhand began digging into the dirt circle, leaving a few small piles of turned up soil around it.
After digging a few inches she stopped to ask, “How far down is it?”
The draconequus made a casual glance down at the hole, “A little further.”
“Awright.” she continued to dig deeper until she hit something really solid, solid enough to bounce her hoof back, “What the?”
The former god of chaos motioned her aside as he slowly slid down the side of the hole, “Alright now step aside everypony. I got it.” he prodded around the edges of it with his makeshift cane to loosen up the dirt around it. After what felt like a few minutes of this he jammed his foot underneath the red-orange gem that was slowly emerging from the dirt and pried it out, almost falling over in the process. He threaded his tail through one of the openings in the gem to pick it up. It looked an earth pony crying in pain, “Here we go. Now to climb out of this... hole.” his shoulders went limp as he realized he just trapped himself in the chest-deep hole, “Could somepony help me out here? I’m sorta stuck.” he attempted to climb out as the ponies stared at him.
You should have expected this Discord. He thought as he continued to struggle in his attempt to climb out. Perfect! Just perfect! You’re stuck in a hole and and they do is stare at you! In his mental outrage he failed to notice that he was slowly being pushed out of the hole until he fell forward on his chest, “Ow. Hey I’m out!” he then felt a hoof slowly rub his back, “Are you alright?”
It was the voice of the yellow pegasus.
“More thankful than okay.”
She then suddenly pressed down uncomfortably hard and his back made yet another cracking noise, “Owwoooww that actually feels pretty good.” he felt the stiffness and pain in his back swiftly disappear as she gave him what he would describe as the most surprisingly pleasant massage ever, “There you go Discord. Your back shouldn’t hurt as much anymore.”
Her statement was proven correct when he sprung to his feet and began stretching, “Are you kidding? It’s never felt this good EVER!” he would done a jig if he wasn’t interrupted by the alicorn.
“Is that the Element of Disharmony?”
“Huh? Oh yes. Yes it is.”
“Then shouldn’t we continue looking for the other five?”
He gave her a look that said, “What?” he then nodded to himself remembering that she knew nothing about them, “Riiiiight. That won’t be necessary. Plus there are more than six total.”
She raised an eyebrow, “Really now?”
“Oh yes. The Elements of Disharmony can be used individually, and there are eight in total: Pain, anger, sadness, chaos, lies, greed, quarrel, and betrayal.” he took the gem from his tail with his right hand and held it towards the sun, “And this right here is the Element of Pain!” he took a closer look at the gem and squinted, “Wait a sec... this thing’s not even charged!”
The lavender unicorn spoke up with a hint of distress, “What do you mean ‘not charged’?!”
“I mean even if I did have them before I was previously sealed they would have been no use!”
Everyone gasped and spoke in tandem, “You’re saying that we can’t use them?!”
“Now now don’t fret everypony. We just need to charge them.”
The princess looked at the pint-sized being.
“Charge them? How would one go about charging elements?”
“I’m just gonna throw this out there. I made up the name “Elements of Disharmony” on the spot. They’re not actually elements as per se.”
“That still doesn’t answer the question of “How do we charge them?”.”
He looked at the gem, then back to the ponies, “Well for this one... anypony mind getting kicked in the gut multiple times? Yes? Well then I guess we need to find someone already in pain.”
The white unicorn pieced this together rather quick, “So what you’re saying is that each element can be charged by their respective namesakes?”
“Indeed that is the case young miss Rarity.”
Suddenly the sound of a massive explosion and screaming filled the air. And it’s direction of origin was... from Ponyville.