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Ponyville, one day after Discord's escape
Discord hummed a merry little tune as he turned the page of the friendship diary. He reached down from the hammock in which he was reclining and picked out another stem of Heart's Desire from Zecora's sharply limited stock to slip in as a bookmark.
He heard hooves approaching, and hummed just a little bit louder. The door to Zecora's hut opened, letting in the sounds of the Everfree for just a moment; and then the door was abruptly shut again.
There was some frantic whispering on the other side of the door, some of it in a rhythm that suggested rhyming speech. Discord caught his name a few times in amongst the whispers. He continued to hum and page through the friendship diary for a few moments, then he called out “I can hear you, you know.”
The whispering abruptly stopped, replaced with the fearful silence of several ponies holding their breath.
“Oh, now, there's no need to be like that.” he told the closed door. “Tirek took my magic too.”
The silence persisted.
“I can tell you how to defeat him.” continued Discord.
Somepony outside, unable to hold their breath any longer, took in a great big gasp of air.
“All you'll need to do is open the Harmony box.” continued Discord.
There was more rapid whispering, followed by one set of hooves galloping away at full speed.
Finally, the door swung open, revealing Zecora, flanked by two fillies; one earth pony with a bedraggled ribbon in her mane, and one orange pegasus wearing an eyepatch.
“We had tried what you suggest,” said Zecora, coldly, “but we were not successful in our quest.”
“Ah, yes,” said Discord, “but I know where the keys are.”
“Why did you do it?” asked Scootaloo, frowning. “Why did you help Tirek?”
“In hindsight,” sighed Discord, “it was a mistake. I did it mostly to try to prove that I was free, that I could do something like that if I wanted, that I wasn't merely trapped in a new sort of cage... but I was. I still am, in a way. Would you believe, I honestly think I might be starting to grow a conscience?”
Discord clicked his tongue and shook his head.
“The worst of it is,” he continued, “I don't think I can get rid of the thing. Not without excising several months worth of my most pleasant memories.” He flipped to a new page in the diary, and picked out Zecora's last Heart's Desire stem to use for his fifth bookmark. “Anyhow,” he continued, “I have two messages for you. The first is -” he tossed the diary to the ground in front of the three ponies - “take a look at the marked pages, that should lead you to five of the keys.”
“There's six keyholes.” said Applebloom.
“Quite.” said Discord. “I know exactly where the sixth key is, and I plan on getting it myself. The second message is that your little rebellion is really bothering Tirek -”
“Yeah!” said Scootaloo, waving one hoof victoriously.
“- to the point that he's sent an agent to kill you.” finished Discord.
Scootaloo's victorious gesture crumbled into uncertainty. “What?”
Discord twisted himself until he was sitting up on the hammock. “Do you remember,” he asked, “when I was freed from stone about... oh... a year ago? When I was turning ponies grey and making them act opposite to their natures?”
“Yeeeessssss....” said Applebloom, cautiously.
“Well, Tirek's got my magic, and he's been doing the same.” said Discord. “The agent's name is Daring Do, and the only reason she's not here yet is because she thinks you're in Manehatten.”
“Manehatten?” said Applebloom. “Cousin Babs!”
Discord winced. “Yes,” he said. “Daring's going to look for your headquarters and then try to bring Tirek your heads. If you're lucky, she'll be happy to try to bring them still attached to the rest of you.” He reached down to pick up a second book from next to the hammock, and tossed it to land by the diary. “If you can hold her down and read this to her,” he continued, “you've got a good chance of breaking the spell.”
Scootaloo glanced down at the cover of the book. “Daring Do and the Sapphire Sto- hey!” He glared up at the dragonequus. “You stole this from my room!”
“I did?” asked Discord, surprised. “Well, that's a coincidence. It was the twelfth house I broke into, I think. Nopony appreciates poorly-written adventure stories anymore, it seems.”
“Ah thought you hated reading.” said Applebloom.
“If it's cool enough for Rainbow Dash,” said Scootaloo firmly, “then it's cool enough for me!”
“Well, just in case one book isn't enough,” said Discord, “I do hope you know where to find the rest of the series.”
“Sure.” said Scootaloo. “Twilight's got the whole series in her library.”
“Which was destroyed in Tirek's war.” pointed out Zecora. “Do you know where any others are?”
“Rainbow Dash has the whole series in her cloud house.” continued Scootaloo.
“Perhaps someplace we can reach without having to fly?” asked Applebloom.
“Well, that's all my messages delivered.” said Discord, strolling to the nearest window. “I'm sure you understand, I don't particularly want to wait around until whoever you sent that little unicorn to fetch arrives; besides, I need to go pick up a photo album from the Crystal Empire.”
While his eagle claw fumbled with the latch, he waved with his lion paw. “Bye, now.”
The three ponies continued to glare at him from the doorway until he'd climbed out the window, pushed it shut from the outside, and wandered off into the Everfree.
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4899593
4894608
Tirek: "I won. I don't need to think any more."
4899628
Well, Manehatten may be in the tyrant's grip, and the inhabitants may have all lost their magic... but they're still ponies. Still herd animals, their instincts in times of trouble telling them to band together, keep their heads down, and not stand out too much. I think they'd still be peaceful, right up until the food shortages hit... which the wouldn't, not in the first three weeks. (A couple of months down the line, there could be trouble).
4899672
I have no current plans to include any original crusaders in this story. Babs probably won't even make another appearance, unfortunately...
4902565
You are right. You are so very, very right that, after reading your comment, I went back and edited that scene, and I think it's a lot better now than it was.
Thank you very much for pointing out that missed opportunity. Now that I know about it, I don't know how I could possibly have missed it in the first place.
4899648
I, too, hope that it does not disappoint.
Oh gosh, I hope Discord teams up with the CMC in the end, but him leaving them gives me a bad feeling... please don't kill him!
And so the resistance builds. Still, shouldn't five of the keys already be in the box? That's where they left them in the baseline, so they should probably still be there. On the other hand, even with Zecora, the Crusaders are going to need at least two others to help turn the things. Discord might work, and if they can restore Daring Do, that's the full compliment... but that assumes that Discord will be able to operate an artifact of capital-H Harmony. Hmm.
In any case, looking forward to more.
Planz.
4911020
It's called being drunk with power.
5670145
The more power, the more drunk with it he gets. And he has a lot of power...
Discord hummed a merry little tune as he turned the page of the friendship diary.
-That was some pretty quick travel despite presumably hostile conditions...
He reached down from the hammock in which he was reclining and picked out another stem of Heart's Desire from Zecora's sharply limited stock to slip in as a bookmark.
-That could be one of the key ingredients in the potion I mentioned... if DD really WASN'T working with the rest of the resistance... also this is when it occurs to me that Twilight may have been purely altruistic in the short term, no matter what her reason told her about the long-term when it came to freeing Discord instead of herself, or she may have felt she had a better chance of not being punished by Tirac, OR she may have thought that Discord would be more valuable as a general for the resistance than as a liar to Tirac. Twilight's good, but she is probably better at planning defense than attack and hasn't had to think strategically much, as opposed to tactically. Discord actually was in Tirac's position until he got turned to stone the first time, so he might better understand how to defeat him.
“I can tell you how to defeat him.” continued Discord.
-Thought so... also, it seems that They are leading from the Everfree, or at least travelling between their actual headquarters (perhaps in another city, perhaps just using the clubhouse and there... or maybe they aren't leading anypony, just inspiring them, and they are just harrassing the guard in Ponyville for what they actually DO? Also, I wonder if they will get captured, at which point Tirac will find that an idea is bigger than the Ponies wearing the mask? I've never actually SEEN "V for Vendetta" but I have seen the old version (only major film version?) of "Spartacus".
“Ah, yes,” said Discord, “but I know where the keys are.”
-Will those work without the bearers to turn them? And in any case, I don't think he has the amulet... still, it would be easier to get the amulet than six ponies... the box might even prove movable so they could bring it to the castle, rather than having to race back with the key. I do wonder if the other keys will prove difficult to obtain... I could see them getting packed away if people were tidying up rooms/houses for their absent residents... the Bit might prove especially troublesome if Big Macintosh or Granny dropped it into their funds while going through a drawer.
I know exactly where the sixth key is, and I plan on getting it myself.
-Ah...
If you're lucky, she'll be happy to try to bring them still attached to the rest of you.
-Seems a bit rules-lawyer-y for the behavior we have seen so far, but that could be the way that they have been resisting, rather than sheer willpower to not be as loyal to Tirac as they should be...
He reached down to pick up a second book from next to the hammock, and tossed it to land by the diary.
-Ah, so Twilight's spell was just a shortcut? Actually, that makes sense if one assumes that the way that Twilight was Discorded was functionally equivalent to the way the other five were, rather than only being subject to the letters because it happened without Discord actually there to cause it and without swirly eyes.
“Perhaps someplace we can reach without having to fly?” asked Applebloom.
-Really long step ladder? Probably not. Probably more like hunting through Ponyville, or even travelling to another town. Could be interesting if the first one is partially effective, for instance making her decide to try to capture rather than kill, or becoming neutral and trying to run off to hide for the rest of her life, or maybe going "Jekyll and Hyde" rather than "Always Hyde".
besides, I need to go pick up a photo album from the Crystal Empire.”
-Wedding photos to break the mind control on Shiny?
7129505
She really wasn't. The "resistance" consists of thousands of small, individual groups with almost no overall coordination, each doing their own stuff, with the CMC and Zecora (so far) doing little more than enthusiastically fanning whatever flames they can find and mailing out a lot of potions
Eeyup. That's it precisely.
Pretty much this, only Ponyville's small enough not to have its own guards to harass. (The CMC's early inspirational articles were not exactly true).
Yes, precisely!
Your guesses have greatly improved in accuracy in this chapter!