Previous Chapters Next
Close
Prologue2,258 words
Doubt6,868 words
The Journey7,132 words
The Proposal9,875 words
The Tour14,216 words

The Journey

"Do hurry up, girls!" Discord called from the golden chariot flying through the air. He wistfully waved a handkerchief in the air. "We're losing daylight and I wish to arrive at our destination sometime today."

Rainbow streaked hair whipped through the air as the blue pegasus flew through the air with the harness strapped to her back. She glared back at her back seat driver. "Shut up, you lazy bum! I don't see you helping us any." She countered. "Twilight isn't used to flying with weight on her so back off!" She turned to her partner, a sweating Alicorn princess dutifully trying to keep up.

Twilight gave the blue mare a tired smile. "It's okay, Rainbow. I'll be fine." She reassured, panting. "This is good for me. I can't just stay cooped up all the time. I have wings so I should definitely practice more."

Rainbow grimaced, looking conflicted. "Y-yeah but...."

"Besides," The purple mare interrupted. "I don't have the luxury of taking it easy. We aren't flying in a very... safe part of Equestria." She stated, staring down at the surface with dismay. Rainbow looked down as well and looked just as uncomfortable. Below them, laid the desert lands that resided just outside their kingdom. There were no trees or sources of water for miles. Despite that, the surface was teeming with life. Lounging on top of rocks and slithering through the sand, several Tazel worms could be seen by the pair.

Rainbow Dash shook off her initial fear of the sight and focused solely on flying forward. Twilight tried to do the same but couldn't help but think about how they had been placed in this situation.

*Before*

"You want us to do what?!" Rainbow dash cried, hovering above her friends. Discord stared at her as he leaned against the golden chariot he had created. Interestingly, it looked less like the one he'd made back when he was sick, Twilight noticed. She didn't recognize it but Rarity did. It was almost an exact, if not considerably larger copy of the one she had created when under the influence of the Inspiration Manifestation spell. But how did Discord know about it? Before she could ask, Rainbow continued on with her complaints. "We are not going to pull the stupid thing!" She stated, glaring at Discord.

"I don't see why you can't." He retorted, rolling his eyes. "We need someone to pull it and the only ones with the strength to do that is you and Twilight. Do you not want us to get there anytime soon?" He countered, raising an eyebrow at the Pegasus. "Are we to walk there? It is quite far." He pointed out.

"No, but can't you think of a better way to get there?!" Twilight cried, wanting to speak as well. "I know you chose this method of transportation just to mess with Cadence and I before but I know you have a better means." She argued.

"Do I?" He challenged, starring the two down. After a short glaring match, Discord held his hands up, smirking. "Okay, okay, relax, my dears! I will admit that there is a better way to get there." He looked away, looking doubtful. "Kind of..."

Rarity was the first to grab at his unspoken words. "In what way is this other method only 'kind of' better?" She asked, confused.

"Well, we could go there by land but you all would still have to pull the cart." He answered, laying back on the chariot. "Or I could just make something that doesn't have to be pulled or pushed at all." He provided, staring up at the ceiling. "Or I could try a teleport us there but I'd rather not go by land if it can be avoided. It's not safe."

The mares looked at each other, wondering about the device he spoke of. A cart that didn't need to be pulled or pushed? Like a train? But there would need to be railroad laid out first. Or, was he speaking of a train without rails? Was such a thing possible? But before any of them could ask, Twilight spoke up.

"You mean the Tatzel worms, don't you?" She guessed, scowling. Discord grinned, rolling over onto his stomach.

"Oh good! You do remember!" He chuckled, smiling despite the fact that said worms had nearly killed her and Cadence. Or perhaps because of that. Either way, he continued on. "Yes, those worms litter the outskirts of Equestria. Traveling by land is suicidal with those things crawling about. Though, traveling by air is by no means entirely safe in itself, it is safer than going on hoof." He explained, showing off a hand puppet version of the Tatzelwurm, its mouth moving to match his words.

The mares looked at one another, weighing their options. Though only Twilight and Cadence had experienced the attack, all the more felts at least a little fear at the thought of dealing with such creatures. Two Alicorns had nearly died from just one of them. If a whole herd of them attacked their group....

"Why in the hay are these ponies you want us to save living in such a dangerous place!?" Applejack demanded, stomping her hoof in annoyance. "I get that they can't come to us but who in the right mind would live in that place?" All the mares turned to discord, who was stealing playing with his puppet. Noticing the scrutiny, he tossed the toys aside and smiled.

"They have always lived a... nomadic lifestyle, these ponies." He explained, picking his teeth with a claw. "But they can no longer migrate due to the loss of their main food source. That and the predators in the outskirts makes migrating difficult.” He opened his mouth to continue but stopped, staring into space. The mares waited for him to continue but he remained silent. After a minute, Rainbow opened her mouth, about to demand that he finish before he let out a sudden and loud sneeze, blowing the mare out of the air and into the cart.

“You…” Rainbow growled just as Discord conjured up a hankie to wipe his nose.

“My apologies, I always get the sniffles when around hay.” He stated, snapping his fingers to summon a giant brush and pushed the hay away from him. As he pushed the hay surrounding him every which way, Applejack ran up to him, complaining about how much of a mess he was making.

“Discord! Don't go sweepin them hay around like that, yer creating a huge mess.” Applejack shouted, stopping in front of Discord who kept sweeping. “Discord…” She growled.

“Oh fine,” Discord said, puffing the broom away only to summon two large wind-up screw. Tossing the screws to either side, the screws landed on the floor in the middle of a large hay pale. Discord watch with glee as the screws started to spin at high speed, sucking in all the hay in the surrounding. As the screw spun, the surround hay whirled with it. Once it was done, there was now two large hay bales left in it place. “Ah, much better if I do say so myself. So Twilight, Rainbow, about our transportation?” Discord asked with a raised brow, smiling. Rainbow only look at the chariot before groaning loudly.

*Present*

Twilight flew, sweat dripping down her brow from the heat. She had realized before that the desert was hot but flying in this heat was torture. She couldn’t imagine anypony, nomadic or otherwise, being able to stand this heat. Maybe a dragon, actually, now that she thought about it.

Looking back, she saw her assistant waving a fan toward them, trying to cool them off. Smiling, she turned back to study the area. Sand, a couple rock formations and more sand. Riveting. There was the odd Tatzelworm that could be seen from above but they didn’t remain on the surface long enough to worry about them. The one thing that did stick out was the fact that there were a lot more of those things that she had expected. The one she had seen with Cadence was huge but those… they looked even bigger, despite being so far below them.

Shivering at the thought, Twilight turned her attention to the conversation going on behind her. Good call on her part, since their conversation been steered in a direction she liked.

“So...” Spike began, sounding a bit tired still but alert enough to speak clearly. “Um, would anyone mind explaining what is going on? So… Like, where we’re going or why!?” Twilight could feel his grumpiness even without looking at him. Waking up a dragon, even babies like Spike, tended to get them in a bad mood. Luckily, Spikes favorite pony was there to cool him off.

“Oh, right, you weren’t around when we were discussing this, were you?” Rarity stated, doing something that sounded like she was messing with some fabric. Was she sewing? Despite her desire to look, Twilight kept her eyes forward as she listened in. “Well, don’t worry. I’m sure Discord would be more than willing to explain himself in detail, especially since we have finally gotten rid of that pesky hay he’s allergic to. Right?”

“Subtle.” Discord snorted, slightly amused. He yawned before continuing. “But yes, we’re… far enough away, so ask away.”

And with that, a plethora a questions was let loose. Apparently, her friends had just as many questions as she did. But that meant that their words kind of started to blend into each until one could barely tell one question from another. All except for Fluttershy and Spike, apparently, since she heard them talking just behind her. From the sound of it, her friend seemed to be explaining the situation to Spike. That was good. Despite all noise, Discord waited until they had exhausted themselves, which took a minute or so, before addressing them.

“My, you girls are really impatient, aren’t you?” He chuckled, snagging a small piece of cloud as they past. “Well, since you girls can’t do things like proper ladies, I’ll have to take over this question and answer game.” He exclaimed, his words followed by a weird clanking sound. Curious, Twilight turned her head to look behind her only to see Discord dressed in a suit and tie while standing in front of a large spinning wheel. She could vaguely see the faces of her friends on the wheels segmented parts. The wheel stopped and landed on Applejacks face. “You first, AJ.”

Applejack rolled her eyes and leaned against the side of the chariot. “Okay, then. Where are we going?” She asked simply.

“To the ponies shelter, of course!” He stated, smirking at the unamused (save for pinkie, who was leaning her head over the edge), mares staring him down. Chuckling, Discord relaxed and coiled his body around Fluttershy and rested his chin on his paw. “Oh, alright. Since you girls have been so understanding, I’ll be frank. The place has no name. It’s some makeshift shelter the ponies made to keep safe from predators. They’ve been there for some time, so maybe the place has a name but i can’t think of it now”

“If the place they’re staying at is so dangerous, why live there?” Spike asked as he stared up at Discord. “Why not go to one of the other countries?”

Twilight had wondered the same thing. While Equestria was a wonderful place, the other nations surround them were just as nice. The Zebra’s with their amazing though strange magic, the Griffins and their vast history. Even the bulls and their generous nature were better than staying out in the desert.

Discord shrugged. “They are very disliked by most ponies.” He explained, pulling a cloud out of the sky and playing with it like clay. “Apparently, they have some history and needed some neutral ground to rest. Something like that.”

Rarity cocked a brow and raised a hoof. “You don’t seem to know much about these ponies, yet you want us to go there?”

“I know it’s not safe, hence why I want us to go.” Discord sighed, looking over the edge.

“That doesn't make much sense.” Pinkie Pie chimed in, not turning her head from the sky. “What are we supposed to do there?”

“Hm?” Discord turned to them, blinking at them innocently. “Did I forget to tell you girls what our objective was?”

“There's a lot of things you ‘forgot’ to mention about this mission.” Applejack deadpanned.

Discord laughed, blowing his cloud sculpture toward Applejack. It was a apple and as expected, it couldn’t be touched by Applejack. “My bad. I’ll explain things better.” He was back in his suit and tie but now he had some glasses perched on his nose. There was no way he could see through those. “Ahem. A couple weeks ago, while I wandering the wastes, playing jump rope with licorice and piggy backing on hydras, I came across a pony in need of help. Of course, reformed as I was, I did. Eventually. Anyway, that pony told me all about the strife their tribe was going through and I thought I should help them.” He explained before adding. “Eventually.”

“Uh huh.” Twilight said, unconvinced. “And what were you doing before those ‘eventually’s?”

Discord waved her away, both figuratively and literally, for her head was pointed forward again despite her not moving. He continued on. “All that is important is that I didn’t harm anypony. I may be ‘good’ but I’m still allowed to have some fun without some princess breathing down my neck.”

“Discord….” Fluttershy warned, in the way that only she could. Gentle but scolding.

Discord sighed but sat back down. “Anyway, after meeting their leader, we came to an agreement. That I would help them.”

“Then why ask us?” Rainbow questioned, her gaze firmly on the ground but apparently still paying attention to the conversation. ”What are we supposed to do that you can’t?”

“There are a lot of things you girls can do that I can’t, but that's a conversation for another day.” Discord chuckled before continuing. “As for why I need you currently, I just need you to help them for a while. Feeding them, treating the sick, maybe adopt a pony or two. You know, normal charitable stuff you ponies are always going on about.”

“You sound doubtful.” Rarity asserted, her tone a bit annoyed. “Do you think we don’t want to help?” Discord remained silent, possibly picking his teeth or something. After a minute, he snorted, effectively annoying Applejack and Rarity, who glowered at him.

“What? Did ya think that because we’re nice, we’d just blindly walk into any situation you pointed us at?” She questioned, cocking a brow at him as he looked elsewhere. ”Especially with you.”

Discord was silent for a moment before letting out another laugh. “You do when it’s princess Celestia doing the pointing.” With a snap of his fingers, his head changed into a creepy, though slightly accurate imitation of Princess Celestia’s. Even his voice matched hers as he mocked her tone. “Go here, go there. Go and deal with a some vague problem over yonder. Oh, what? There was a wildebeest that tried to kill you. Oopsie. Well, you’re fine so whatever.” He said, his head returning to normal as he deadpanned at the ponies around him. “At least act as trusting with one god as you do with another.”

No one said anything. There was nothing to say. Despite that, Twilight felt like she should say something, anything, to respond to Discords words. But just as she opened her mouth to speak, Rainbow suddenly veered radically to the left, taking Twilight completely by surprise.

“Rainbow, what are you-” Her words were cut off as she saw a giant rock fly past them, right where they just were. “What’s going on-”

“Right!” Rainbow screamed as she shoved Twilight to the right as another rock flew past them. “Everypony, hold tight!”

Twilight struggled to keep up with the mare but was always just a second behind. She’d gotten better with her wings but Rainbow was an athlete. She fast, strong and flexible. Unfortunately, she was also greatly weighed down by the chariot. If she was by herself, dodging would be easy but now...

"Don't give me that look, Twilight." Rainbow scolded, smirking at her. "A pony as awesome as me won't be beat with just this." She assured, just as she pulled their cart sharply upward, eliciting a series of grunts from their passengers. Twilight looked back at her friends who clung to the chariot, side, concern and pain flashing across their faces. Discord, however, was nowhere to be seen. Had he abandoned them? Twilight's thoughts briefly entertained the thought of Discord watching them fly about eating popcorn before she heard a ‘boing’.

Beside them, Discord was blocking some of the rocks with a trampoline, redirecting them all over the place. Some of them nearly hit them and was always followed by a brief ‘my bad’. Distracted, just for a second, Twilight failed to follow Rainbows movements and ended up pulling against her just as a rock was about to hit their cart.

What followed was a single loud crack as the rock broke the bridle holding the two wings equines to the cart. In that single moment, Twilight saw the fear in her friend's eyes just before gravity regained control and forced them to the ground. Panicked, Twilight flew down after her friends, their screams echoing in her ears.

Could she catch them all? Rainbow could get at least two and she could perhaps catch spike and one other. Was Fluttershy flying or was she too shocked by the sudden impact that she too plummeted. All these thoughts and more raced in her head as she flew as fast as she was able.

Snap.

A clear bubble surrounded Twilight, surprising her into halting in place. Testing the surface, she frowned at its resilience. It was like a soap bubble but wouldn’t pop. Looking around her, she saw her friends sitting in similar bubbles, all colored to match their coat.

Discord, Twilight thought, using her magic to pop the bubble. Landing softly on the ground, she looked up at her friends. Everyone except for Rainbow was relaxed and waiting.

“Let them down.” Twilight ordered, scowling at Discord. She really should have been thanking him, not only for saving them from falling but for defending their cart. However, she couldn’t let go of the dread she felt seeing her friends like that. Something about that sight filled her with a kind of apprehension.

Seeing this, Discord let them down, making sure to drop Rainbow rather than lower her as he did with all the others. Smirking at the glare he received, he pointed to the hills around them. “It would seem that we have a bit of a problem.”

*****

“I cannot believe this!”

Applejacks exclamation was loud and filled Twilight with a sudden fear of Tatzelworms hearing them but she couldn’t deny that she felt the same as her friend. What had Discord suggested was crazy!

“I understand how you feel, Applejack but we have to trust him.” Rarity insisted, patting her on the back. She too look uncomfortable in the heat but hid it well with her smile. Spike had been the only one among them who looked completely fine with being in the heat but he was a dragon. He probably didn’t even feel it.

“Yeah, but asking us to wait out here is way too dangerous!” Rainbow stated, gesturing all around them. While the terrain had been clear of any creatures, the slight rumbling the mares had felt under their hooves every once in awhile made them highly aware of how dangerous a place they were. Though remaining in place seemed to make it difficult for their would be predators to locate them.

Their fall had not been without drawbacks. Other than the loss of their cart, they had also lost the food they had brought with them. While spreading out to find them would be a good plan usually, out here, it wasn’t. Discord had insisted on taking a few of their group out to find the missing food supply and return. He, Pinkie, Fluttershy and Spike had left almost a half hour ago while the rest of them waited out here for their return.

Twilight disliked the plan, not wanting them to get separated but weighed their options before agreeing. Her feelings toward Discord were complicated but in this, she trusted his word. Discord may be a trickster but he wasn’t going to risk their lives if he could help it.

“I say,” Rainbow exclaimed, drifting beside their small group “we find those punks who attacked us and teach them a lesson!”

“And how would you propose we do that, darling?” Rarity asked, humoring her. She fanned herself with a fan she had apparently had in her saddlebag. The mare was prepared for everything, wasn’t she? “We don’t even know where they are.”

“I do.” Rainbow replied, smirking. “I saw them while we were flying. The rocks came from this hill kind of thing but the top wasn’t all pointy. It was flat.”

“So it was a plateau.” Twilight guessed. Interesting. So there were ponies, or at least some kind of sentient creatures, living out here? So why attack? Did they think they were enemies? But why be pointed at the sky rather than the ground?

“I don’t know about this, girls.” Applejack muttered, looking around. “While I want to keep going, what will we do if Discord and them come back and don’t find us?”

“All we’re doing is finding shelter and possibly the ponies we were looking for!” Rainbow insisted. “Besides, it's not that far from here. They can figure things out from there.”

The three mares looked at one another, weighing their options as their companion stared down at them expectantly. Should they go? Like Rainbow said, it wasn’t that far from here and the others could easily figure out their destination. Moreover, staying out in the open like this was just asking for trouble, especially without any supplies.

Rarity and Applejack looked to Twilight, clearly waiting for her to pitch in. Twilight knew they wanted to stay put. She kind of did too but Rainbow was right. They couldn’t stay here. They had to investigate, if for no other reason than to get to a safer place.

*****

The small group walked through the desert, wary of the dangers under their feet. Soon, the plateau came into view. The formation was a lot bigger from the ground than from the sky. It loomed like a great colossus, yet natural in its enormity. The mares stood there, gazing up at the structure in awe.

"This is the place, right?" Applejack asked, feeling a strange sense of trepidation at the structure. It felt off. All the mares could feel it but, knew they would have to go forward. There were ponies who needed their help and friends to wait for.

Twilight sighed, shielding her eyes with her hoof. "Yes, and we can't delay any further." She stated, taking a step forward. "We can't wait any longer for Discord. We'll meet him here." She stated, pointing to the cave.

"Huh? I think I see somepony over there." Rainbow Dash observed, shielding her eyes from the sun with her front legs. The figures were blurry from the heat but they were definitely there. Their shapes seemed to shift a little, as if they were just mirages but stopped, solidifying into a two single shapes.

"Excellent, then let's go and greet them." Rarity cooed, eager to get out of the hot sun. "It's rude to keep anypony waiting." The group nodded. Galloping toward it, they were met by two strange looking stallions, guarding the entrance. One was a grey with bat wings, black armor and green and gold eyes. His wings twitched and jerked at the his sides, as if nervous. His jet black mane was short and wild, like he had just fallen out of bed.The other was a gold unicorn with a navy blue mane and wearing similar armor to his companion. As the mares approached, the pair of bucks took up an offensive stance. Glaring, they ran at the mares.

The unicorn powered up his horn, looking quite fierce, though all he did was rush at the four mares. The girls scattered, taken by surprise. Rainbow Dash recovered first, flying up and diving down to tackle the unicorn who had yet to use any magic. But before she could touch him, the Pegasus stallion hit her from the side, knocking her to the ground. As the stallion stood over the disoriented pony, Applejack's lasso wrapped around the stallion's neck and jerked him back.

Applejack felt no pity for the now struggling stallion. Anyone who dared to hurt her friends would receive no remorse from her. The stallion soon recovered, rolled onto his feet and used his teeth to tug AJ forward with his superior strength and kick her in the face with his hind legs. AJ was knocked out cold by the strike but Rainbow had regained consciousness just in time to save Applejack from any further harm. The stallion was about to stomp on her head when Rainbow raced to her friends rescue by tackling the stallion to the ground. The stallion extended his bat wings out, pushing her away and stood up, glowering at her. Razor sharp teeth glinted in the sunlight as he snarled at her,

Meanwhile, Twilight and Rarity tried to stop the charging Stallion with their magic. Rarity used her magic to lift everything and anything that was solid and threw it at him. None of the projectiles managed to hit him as he zigzagged around the projectiles. Just as he got closer to Rarity, Twilight's energy blast hit him from the side, knocking him a couple of feet away. He skidded against the ground but stayed upright. Shaking it off, the stallion glared at the two mares and ran at them again. Both Twilight and Rarity used their magic to throw rocks and magical blasts at the stallions but missed. This time, the stallion used teleportation magic to dodge the attacked.

"Teleportation? But how?!" Twilight cried. But before she could question it any further, the stallion teleport right in front of her. She only had enough time to move out of the way. His horn cutting her cheek but otherwise missed.

Stallion fell over, hitting the ground hard. He must have not expected to get that close so fast. From the look of the sloppy way he used that spell, Twilight figured he wasn't very good at it or was new to it. But how did he know the teleportation spell in the first place? The two mares waited for anymore attacks but saw that he wasn't moving. He must have hit the ground harder than than either had thought. They carefully walked closer, wanting to be sure he was out cold. Just as they drew close enough to see that his eyes were close, his eyes snapped open, revealing eerie green eyes. He hissed at them, slowly getting up and moved to attack them once more but-

“What is going on here?!” Everyone turned around to see Discord, looking annoyed. Well, he was cocking a brow at a the four mares. Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy stood beside him, staring at the mess in front of them with concern in their eyes. Spike was the only one to approach the mess, bee lining straight for Twilight as he weaved past the fallen stallion. Some of the ponies were bleeding. “I leave for a few minutes and everyone gets into a fight? Who knew you girls could be so violent.” He mocked, snickering. Rainbow dash was the first to confront him, glowering at the draconequus.

“Us? These jerks are the ones who attacked us!” She exclaimed. “What were we supposed to do? Let them?!”

Discord shrugged. “I suppose not, if you are already here but I told you to wait for our return.” He started, pinching Rainbow’s cheek. “Is it my fault that you refused to listen to my instructions?” The mares scowled at Discord, clearly very angry about how he just brushed off their treatment. The only ones who didn't seem mad were Fluttershy and Pinkie. The two stood back, watching everything happen. Actually, Pinkie was bouncing in place, a curious smile on her face. She seemed to be quite amused by the conversation.

Twilight stepped forward, wiping the blood from her cheek as she glowered at Discord. "You couldn't have expected us to stay where we were." She stated. "As you said, Tatzelwurm are littered about the desert and we didn't want to be sitting ducks. We had to find shelter. From both the predators and the sun."

"Oh, were you too hot?” Discord pulled out a parasol and placed it on Twilight's back, smirking mockingly. “I apologize, I should have known better than to expect a princess to suffer a couple of minutes in the sun. Whatever was I thinking?" He derided, lifting the sack on his back onto his shoulder. "Here we are, carrying this heavy weight in the same hot sun and I had the gall to forget that poor Princess Twilight Sparkle can't stand to wait a couple of minutes in the sun doing nothing. The audacity of myself." He said, in mock distress.

"But..." She tried to speak but was stopped by the sudden appearance of a mirror before her eyes. Twilight stared at her haggard expression. She was covered in dirt and there was a bit of blood on her cheek from the being cut by that stallions horn. Twilight looked away, looking contrite as her ears flattened in shame. He was right. She should have done what he asked. Not only had she endangered her friends by walking into an unknown situation, but even her excuse sounded weak. They hadn't been attacked the whole time they had remained in one place. If the Tatzelworms were underground dwelling creatures, them staying still would probably have kept them away.

Rainbow growled and rushed over to Discord in a rage. "Don't mock us, Dipcord!" She shouted, indignant. "We aren't so spoiled as to think anything like that!" She defended.

Discord raised an eyebrow at her, crossing his arms over his chest. "Are you so sure? Cause based on what you said before, I am having quite the hard time believing you." Rainbow glared daggers at the smirking Discord before anyone stepped in.

With a pout, Pinkie jumped between Rainbow Dash and Discord and screamed. “Stop it!” The two stared down at the earth pony, curious and confused. She let out a breath, her expression more childishly annoyed than actually annoyed. “Stop being all quietly mad and hurtful! All is well so I see no reason to worry about it.” She claimed, looking confident.

Applejack, having recovered from the fight, stepped forward, limping slightly. “Pinkie, I don’t think you understand.” She claimed, her tone motherly. “You can’t expect us to just calm down after all this. We were attacked by them stallions over there.” She said, pointing at the two Stallions, whom were staring between Discord and the mares with some confusion.

Pinkie rolled her eyes. “Applejack, you really need to relax.” Pinkie said, shaking her head. “I don’t see any reason to worry about it. We made it out fine so I say we put it behind us.” The four mares looked at each other, noting the injuries they all had. Granted, they all mostly had only bruises and a cut or two but they couldn't help but feel some anger toward the stallions. "Besides, you girls are at fault too."

This drew everyone's eye. What was pinkie saying now? "How was this our fault?!" Rainbow demanded. "They attacked us!"

"Of course they did." Pinkie replied, rolling her eyes. She looked at them as if they had missed some important fact. "Why wouldn't they? They were the one who shot us down before. It's not like this place is all that safe considering." She explained, like this was obvious and they should have figured this out themselves. The four mares stared at their pink mare friend in shock. They knew pinkie was astute but...

Discord burst out laughing, greatly amused by this. "It never ceases to amaze me how it is almost always Pinkie that figures things out the fastest among you mares." He howled with laughter. "Maybe it should have been her that became an Alicorn instead of the spoiled princess Twilight."

"Discord!" Fluttershy scolded gently. "Don't be rude now. Twilight was just tired from flying the whole way here. You can't expect her to want to sit out in the sun even longer." She explained, looking a little annoyed on Twilight's behalf. Discord sighed and raised his hands in the air in defeat.

"Fine, fine, I'll let it go." He said, snapping his fingers and a producing a small tiara and tossed it to the side. "But I think the princess should apologize to the bucks over there." He stated, walking past Twilight and her three companions. Rarity was about to give him a warning about the bucks as the chaotic being moved closer but noticed that the bucks weren't attacking anymore. In fact, they looked absolutely contrite as they bowed their heads toward the draconequus.

"Are you bucks alright?" He asked, sounding concerned but looking bored. The stallions looked up at Discord in utter reverence, as if he had hung the moon and dotted the sky with stars. The two nodded, smiling up at him. "Good. Then help with the luggage. I'm tired of carrying this stuff." He stated, holding the sack of apples in front of him and letting them fall. Just as the bag left his claw, a green magic field surrounded the sack, lowering it gently onto the unicorn's back.

Again, both stallions bowed their heads toward Discord, clearly revering him as somepony worthy of such treatment. “But of course, My Lord. Anything you wish we shall strive to fetch for you.” The bat pony said, looking up. “We have been eagerly awaiting your arrival for quite some time, Lord Discord.” He said, smiling in relief.

The mane six froze, completely taken by surprise by the two stallion’s reverence of Discord. “L-Lord Discord?!” They all exclaimed, clearly shocked but curious enough to let the conversation continue.

“I know. My bad.” Discord replied, scratching his horn. “Things took much longer than I anticipated and changes had to be made post haste. It couldn't be helped.” He explained. "I did manage to get some food for you ponies. Is that enough?" He asked, sounding more concerned.

The unicorn nodded, looking staring up at Discord with a look of contentment. He hadn't even looked into the bag yet. "It shall serve us well, my lord." He replied. "I... I pray to the goddess that it shall last us until your plan can be fulfilled."

"Speaking of which, was your trip successful, Lord Discord?" The bat pony asked, looking up slightly concerned. "Did you manage to convince the princess to help us?! The Tazelworms are getting more violent as their mating season grows nearer. We... I don't think we can survive another season with how dire things have gotten." He said, taking a step forward, his ears drooping contritely. “W-we apologize, my lord. Had we known it was you entering our airspace we wouldn't have dared-" Discord waved it off, silently excusing their actions. They looked away, still feeling ashamed but saying nothing more.

“How is she doing?” He asked, looking concerned. "Is she doing any better than when I last came by?"

“H-Her majesty? She..... She grows weaker by the day.” The unicorn sadly reported, raising his head once more. "We feared you wouldn't arrive in time to save us, my lord but...." He stopped, seeing the mares walking toward them. He stared at them inquisitively as if only just then remembering they were there. “Who are they? Are these the ones you claimed would help us?” He asked. Discord nodded.

The two stallions flinched, looking at each other with dismay. They galloped over to the mares and bowed their head to the ground. No, that wasn't right. It was more like they collapsed onto the desert floor and groveled before them. The mares took a step back from the prostrating pair. “Please forgive us, my ladies.” They both said in unison, their tone a bit urgent.

The unicorn rose his head first. “W-we didn't realize you were the ones Lord Discord spoke of.” He explained, looking guilty. “H-had we known, we would have never dared to attack you as we did. Please forgive us.” He pleaded desperately, as if their lives depending on the mares forgiveness.

The bat pony looked away, digging into the dirt with his hoof. “We beg that you don’t reconsider helping us.” He muttered, staring at the ground. “We realize that we have no right to ask this of you after all we have done but you are our only hope for survival. Please!” The group turned to one another, silently weighing their options. They could easily just leave now. No one would blame them seeing as they were greeted so harshly. But to abandon a group of starving and desperate ponies....

“Why did you attack us anyway? When we flew over.” Pinkie asked, always the odd one out. No one complained since it was a valid concern.

The stallions looked at one another and then back to them. “This land is very dangerous, as you must have noticed since coming here.” The unicorn replied. “We are the sole defenders of our kingdom's gate. As such, we are to attack anyone in our air space since we have to assume every outsider is a threat." He explained. He slowly rose to his hooves, staring out toward the waste land. "The Tatzelworms are not the only threat in these parts."

"Kingdom? But all I see is a plateau and a cave.” Rarity noted, looking around. “Where's your kingdom's castle?"

"Castle?" The bat pony echoed, clearly confused. "What's a 'castle'?" The mares stared at him in shock, wondering how it was that he didn't know what a castle was.

The unicorn nudged a hoof against the Bat Pegasus' shoulder and explained. "Remember that large building where the queen lived for a time?" The Pegasus nodded. "That's a castle. In Equestria, a castle is where their ruler lives."

"I see." The Pegasus whispered, nodding in understanding.

Rarity looked around and raise a hoof to her muzzle in confusion. "I'm sorry but you are just protecting a cave entrance. Surely you are not saying your kingdom is a simple cave, are you?"

The two stallion stared at her with a mix of annoyance and hurt. "Are you saying that since we lack a castle, what we are protecting is not worth it?" The unicorn demanded, looking furious.

"W-what?" Rarity stammered, confused at the sudden outburst. "N-no, that's not at all what I was-" But her words were cut off as the unicorn continued.

"I apologize, My lady, but this 'simple' cave, shelters my friends and family as well as my queen." He growled, glaring at her. She took a step back. "So I humbly ask that you stop insulting my home just because it isn't as fancy as your precious princess's castle is!"

"Blitz!" The bat pony growled, regaining the attention of his companion. "Stop it. I'm sure she wasn't saying anything like that." He placed a hoof on the unicorns shoulder. "You should apologize."

"What?! But I-"

"I agree." Discord stated, tapping a hoof. "These girls might not be perfect but they don't deserve to be shouted at before they can explain themselves."

The stallion looked between the two, pleading with his eyes for them to side with him. He apparently found no alliance with them so he turned back to Rarity. Scowling, he mockingly lowered his head and rolled his eyes. "I apologize, My lady." He growled.

The mare in question reached out, opening her mouth to speak but the stallion stood straight once more and turned to trot back to the cave. Within seconds, he was out of sight. Rarity grimaced, feeling bad for the stallion. She had wanted to apologize herself but perhaps later, when his ego had recovered some.

The silence that followed was stifling. Even Pinkie remained quiet, probably trying to think of a smooth way to transition to a lighter mood. After a moment, the bat pony coughed, drawing everypony's attention.

"U-um... We should probably get inside now." He muttered, his gaze drifting from the mares to the ground. "It will be dark soon and it isn't safe out in the dark."

Author's Note:

For those willing to look, there is a Kingdom Hearts and Frozen reference hidden within this chapter. Anyone who finds it, gets an internet cookie.

823 views