The Haven

by Original Usermane

That Was Your Plan!?

“Anything?’ Twilight asked. A chorus of ‘no’s answered her. “There must be something in this library that can help me figure out how to open it. The answer’s in one of these books. I just know it.” ‘Look in the journal!’ Fluttershy thought. She was about to suggest this and later brush it off as a lucky guess when she saw Twilight’s magic pick up the journal and bring it over so she could read it. She smiled. ‘Now we’ll get some answers.’

Meanwhile, Discord had just gotten a pinpoint on Tirek’s location. ‘Here goes nothing,’ he thought. He turned himself into a unicorn pony and sat himself at the end of the alleyway that Tirek occupied. After all, he wasn’t going for stealth. Just when he knew Tirek was about to grab him, he turned his head, in normal draconequus form, back over his shoulder.

“Tirek, I presume?” Discord asked.

“Discord,” Tirek said. “You’re free?”

“As a bird,” Discord confirmed, turning into a large one to illustrate the thought.

“I commend you on your escape,” Tirek congratulated.

“I’m afraid the feeling isn’t mutual,” Discord said. He put chains around Tirek’s wrists. The way he saw it, the best way to get Tirek desperate was to make it seem like he was about to lose. The ‘turning evil again’ scenario only worked if Tirek tried to persuade him. Tirek tried shooting a beam of magic at his head, but he just split his head in half and avoided it before righting himself. That right there was why he couldn’t just take Tirek captive now. The magic he’d already taken in gave him the ability to do things like that, and ponies couldn’t split their heads in two like he could.

“Oh, I should have known you would want to have Equestria all to yourself,” Tirek said distrustfully. Discord gave himself a police uniform, hoping Tirek would get the idea that he was a good guy, now. He didn’t seem to get it, so Discord explained.

“Oh, I’m not doing this for me,” he said. “I’m doing this for my friends. Just between the two of us, it’s mostly for Fluttershy.” He whispered the last part conspiratorially.

“Fluttershy?” Tirek asked, confused. “You’re not saying you’re friends with… ponies?”

“Surprise!” Discord exclaimed, popping out of a cake.

“I am surprised that someone with your intellect does not see this friendship is but a new form of imprisonment.” He held up Discord’s chains for effect. ‘Ah. Here it comes.’ “Clearly you’ve had to abandon your true nature to stay in their good graces.”

“I have done nothing of the sort,” Discord dismissed truthfully, waving off his halo and getting rid of his harp. He’d caused just as much chaos as always, though in a contained area, and he hadn’t exactly ‘stayed in their good graces’, either.

“Ah, please, I’ve seen this before,” Tirek said. “But he was always weak-minded.” ‘He must be talking about his brother.’ “You are Discord, you are legend, you cannot fall into the same trap that claimed my brother. Help me to grow strong, and be rewarded with something far greater than ‘friendship’.” ‘I doubt that.’ “Freedom.” ‘I already have that, stupid.’ Discord pretended to think about it. “Once I have stripped these ponies of their magic, nothing will give me greater pleasure than to see their world turned upside down.” ‘Oddly enough, that wouldn’t bring me pleasure. Not anymore, at least.’ “Who better to do so than the master of chaos himself?” Discord ‘thought’ some more. “Join me, Discord, and reclaim your greatness. Unless, of course, pony errand boy is the role you’ve always wanted to play in this world?”

He looked back at his picture of Fluttershy for encouragement in what he had to do, then agreed.

“I will join you,” he declared.

“Wonderful,” Tirek purred.

Back at the Castle of the Two Sisters, Fluttershy stared patiently through a book while Twilight read through the passages of the Scrapbook of Friendship that Discord had bookmarked.

“I think I found something!” she said excitedly. “I’ve been reading our journal, and there’s something interesting about the sections that Discord bookmarked.” ‘Why else would he have bookmarked them?’ Fluttershy pointed out in her mind. “Applejack, do you remember when you had to tell everypony that the tonic Granny bought from the Flim Flam brothers didn’t really work?”

“How could I forget?” Applejack said, remembering it like it was yesterday. “It was one of the hardest things I ever had to do. But in that moment, I knew I had to be honest. I just knew it. But… what’s that got to do with openin’ the chest?”

“I found that each of you has had to face a situation where living up to the element of harmony you represent wasn’t easy. Fluttershy, it was when you realized that the way to show kindness to the Breezies was by forcing them to leave your home.” Fluttershy didn’t like to think about it too much.

“Oh, the looks on their poor little faces,” she fretted. “But I knew that, as difficult as it was, pushing them away was the kindest thing I could do.”

“Rarity, even after Suri took advantage of your generosity at fashion week in Manehattan, you didn’t let it cause you to abandon your generous spirit.”

“I simply couldn’t have lived with myself if I didn’t do something special for the friends who have always been so generous to me.”

Twilight proceded to point out Rainbow Dash’s and Pinkie’s experiences.

“It’s clear we’ve all had our moments to shine, Twilight,” Rarity agreed. “But I’m with Applejack. What does any of this have to do with the opening of the chest?”

“All of you had tough choices to make, but when you made the right one and embraced your element, it helped somepony else make the right choice, too. Each of you received something from the pony whose life you helped change. I know it sounds crazy, but maybe there’s something special about those objects that could lead us to the location of the keys,” Twilight explained. ‘Or… maybe the keys are metaphorical and the objects themselves might do something...’ Fluttershy mused thoughtfully, but didn’t say anything. “The chest is connected to the Tree of Harmony, the Tree is connected to the elements, and the elements are connected to all of us! There must be a connection!” ‘Besides all those ones you just said, you mean?’ Fluttershy thought, but caught herself. Spending so much time with Discord was making her inner self far more sarcastic than it ever had been before. She decided as long as it stayed on the inside it was fine. “I hate to admit it, but maybe Discord was trying to be a good friend after all.” Fluttershy wanted to burst out in happy sobs, but somehow managed to restrain herself. ‘Oh… and just before they’ll think he turned on them, too… I hope he’s safe...’ Fluttershy thought worriedly.

They all gathered their items and met up back at the tree.

“I don’t see anything on them that would give us a clue as to where the keys might be,” Twilight mused thoughtfully. “They’re just… ordinary everyday objects.”

“Come on, Boneless!” Pinkie said angrily, choking the rubber chicken. “Give us that key!” She started shaking it.

“I don’t think that’s going to work,” Twilight said carefully. Pinkie threw the chicken. It bounced off the chest and was then held up in midair by a ray of magic and turned into a key.

‘Hmm. I was right.’ She gasped alongside the others, anyway.

They all brought their objects over, as well, and sure enough they all turned into keys and fit themselves neatly into their corresponding locks.

“There’s still one key missing,” Twilight said dejectedly. “The key that represents the element of magic. My element.”

“Oh, but I’m sure that if we’ve gotten our keys, you have, too, Twilight,” Fluttershy tried comforting.

“Think, Twilight,” Rarity urged. “When have you completed a difficult magical task, and in doing so encouraged another pony to do the same?”

“I haven’t,” Twilight said. “If I had I would have written about it in the journal.”

“Don’t worry, Twilight,” Spike said. “I’m sure you’ll get your key eventually.” Suddenly his face screwed up and a scroll popped out. Twilight immediately took it and read it. “What’s it say!?” ‘Oh no, here it comes...’

“That I’m needed in Canterlot at once!” Twilight exclaimed. Fluttershy sighed in relief. It appeared Princess Celestia thought this was news best delivered in person. Fluttershy had to agree, since she wasn’t sure she could take all her friends’ concentrated rage at the draconequus, especially in light of how she felt for him… “I have to go!” She dropped the scroll and flew off as fast as she could, which was considerably faster than it had been when she’d first gotten her wings.

Discord watched in horrified fascination as Tirek drained another crowd of ponies. At this rate, catching him off-guard with Discord’s betrayal would be their only chance. But the time still hadn’t come… He’d been told to wait until Twilight had all of the Princesses’ alicorn magic, since only then would she stand a chance against Tirek, with Discord changing sides at the last moment and fighting alongside her.

He felt it the moment it happened. Tirek, who he was watching, hadn’t done anything large-scale, but there was a massive imbalance of power, greater than anything Tirek had done so far. Now all they needed was for Twilight to come after Tirek- or vise versa- so the combined powers of Harmony and Chaos could bring him down.

“That can’t be right,” he murmured when he felt how quickly the irregularity was put under wraps. He hadn’t realized how much raw magical talent Twilight possessed. Sure, a bit of the magic was escaping here and there, but considering she had the magical abilities of four alicorn princesses inside of her, well, it was nothing short of astonishing.

“What can’t be right?” Tirek snapped.

“Uh, nothing, carry on,” Discord said quickly.

It wasn’t until after Twilight had raised the sun an hour late the next morning that Tirek decided to go after the alicorns. Discord caught a glimpse of Shining Armor, one of the few Royal Guards who knew anything about his reformation, and went over at once, stealing his helmet.

“Shining Armor!” he greeted mischievously. “Why whatever are you doing here?”

“Back off, traitor,” Shining Armor spat. So, evidently he hadn’t been filled in on the plan. Ah well.

“The only one Discord betrayed was himself,” Tirek boomed, marching over heavily. He sucked out a guard’s unicorn magic. “Abandoning his true nature to make friends with weak-minded equines who offer him nothing.” Shining Armor gritted his teeth and tried firing a blast at Tirek, but only succeeded in getting his magic taken away.

“How could you do this?” Shining Armor asked weakly before collapsing to the ground weakly. ‘Well, Celestia asked me to, actually, if you must know,’ Discord thought irritatedly. ‘Everypony just assumes that I’m evil, after everything I’ve done for them! Goodness.’

“Why don’t you go and have a little fun?” Tirek suggested, gesturing out into Equestria. “I won’t stand in your way.” Tirek walked away as Discord laughed. Time for a little Princess-sanctioned fun. Of course, it’d all have to go back to normal the second this was over, but that wouldn’t stop him from enjoying it while he could. A few minutes later, he heard Tirek below.

“WHERE IS YOUR MAGIC!?” Discord snickered and retreated inside to watch.

“Getting rid of your magic so that I can not take it from you? That was your plan!?” Tirek exclaimed in disbelief. The princesses gave him defiant looks.

“Well, how does it feel?” Tirek asked. “Knowing that soon every pegasus, unicorn, and Earth pony will bow to my will! And that there is nothing that you can do to stop it!”

“You will not prevail, Tirek,” Celestia said confidently. After all, their two biggest weapons were a) sitting right behind her and b) supercharged with alicorn magic.

“Give my regards to Cerberus,” Tirek stated coldly, sending the three Princesses down to Tartarus.

“You meant our will, didn’t you?” Discord asked. If Tirek was planning anything underhanded, then he needed to get him within Twilight’s firing range as soon as possible.

“Of course,” Tirek assured. “Here, I want you to have something.” He pulled off his necklace. “This was given to me by someone very close to me. I give it to you as a sign of my gratitude and loyalty.”

“Oh my! I do love a good accessory,” Discord admired, looking at the necklace around his neck. For now, it appeared that Tirek still trusted him and respected him enough not to double-cross him. “I suppose that’s Rarity’s influence,” he joked, since he hadn’t spent anywhere near enough time with Rarity to pick up on anything. Tirek noticed one of his stain glass windows and chuckled.

“Amusing,” Tirek said. Discord had a sudden idea for getting Tirek to Twilight and hurriedly put one of the windows to normal. “But we have no time for such things! With the princesses out of the way, we can now-” he noticed the full-window-sized picture of Princess Twilight and froze. “Is this meant to be humourous!?”

“Oh, no, I haven’t touched that one, yet,” Discord laughed.

“There is a fourth!?” Tirek demanded. “And you did not tell me this!?”

“I just needed some assurance that you truly considered this a team effort,” Discord said. ‘That way you won’t be expecting it when I turn on you.’ “And now I have it,” he continued, holding up the necklace.

“Then where can we find this fourth princess?” Tirek demanded. “Where is her castle?” Discord laughed.

“Castle? Oh ho ho no, Princess Twilight lives above a library in Ponyville,” Discord corrected. “Castle?” He laughed again.

“Not for much longer,” Tirek said darkly, and began walking off. Discord smiled. Everything was going nicely…

Comments

[TheGreatEater]

“I found that each of you has had to face a situation where living up to the element of harmony you represent wasn’t easy.

The key that represents the element of magic. My element.”

capitalize
__________

Okay this has been bugging me for chapters. In a work of fiction. When you switch PoV's you need some kind of page break. In your writing style a line seperating one PoV from another would suffice. Otherwise it messes up the flow of the fic.

[EmeraldRing]

Discord, fluttershy and celestia are the master minds behind all of this (unfortunately there are no discord emojis)