28
Chaos reigned over Ponyville as everything from the weather to the plants went out of control. From the cotton candy clouds to the oversized apples everything was out of whack and none of the efforts of the ponies involved could fix things. It was odd for Aegis Flare to see all this after leaving the Everfree Forest which was as normal as it usually was. Seeing her friends gathered together she waved to them but paused as what she was just thinking fully registered. “The Everfree is normal? I really have been in there too much.”
As she joined up with the others Spike belched up a letter requesting the presence of all seven of them in Canterlot right away. On the train the other six caught their friend up in what had been happening that day while she was off in the Everfree. “So all of that started this morning after I left? I didn't see anything odd, well odder than usual, when I was in the Everfree. Of course I wasn't in very deep but that would be the area where it is easier to notice something.”
Twilight looks thoughtful as she looks out the window before she blinks in confusion at the winged clock making faces at her through it. “That is rather interesting but I don't see how it will help with the current situation. I just hope that the princess has some answers for what is going on.” With a sigh the group goes back to waiting for their arrival at the mountain city.
When they arrive they are quickly escorted through the city to the palace where the princess was waiting for them. After exchanging greetings they were all lead to another room filled with stained glass windows, a few of which showed some of the recent adventures of the seven mares. After a quick explanation from the princess, a meeting with the new enemy, and a new plan for them to follow the seven soon found themselves separated from each other and with their horns and wings taken.
While the others were off in their own parts of the maze, Aegis Flare walked along her own path as she pondered everything that had happened. “Something just doesn't seem right about all of this. That Discord creature went through all the effort of hiding the Elements but then tells us where he hid them. This all just seems to easy that he would put it this close as well, and there is still that other half of the riddle.”
Glancing at an umbrella that was running by as well as a dancing gingerbread pony the mare rolled her eyes with a sigh. “I wonder if he had anything to do with how strange the Everfree is once you go deep enough. They aren't as confusing as the sky rivers and the inverted forests I've been through in there.”
As she focused her mind on the problems she didn't notice a pair of eyes following her through the maze above her. Discord had an easy time with the others but something just didn't feel right with this one to him. Fading into view he rubbed his front limbs together as an idea came to him that was just perfect for this mare.
Taking his time the draconequus floated down until he was flying along next to the orange mare. “Well what do we have here. The loner of the little group of friends that is supposed to stop me.”
Aegis Flare just continued on walking without giving any sign of having heard the chaos lord even with him right next to her. This annoyed the mismatched chimera as he was not used to being ignored by others, especially one such as this lowly unicorn. Pulling out a variety of instruments and playing them in the mare's ear also produced no effect and he let out a growl.
“What is with this unicorn?” Discord pulls out a magnifying lens and looks over the unicorn closely. “Hello, what have we here?” Reaching down he pulls on a thread from the mare's back that was invisible until he came into contact with it. “Well no wonder something was off when I saw her. Not even I am crazy enough to mess with that temple and yet she was right in the middle of it? If that didn't drive her crazy then I'll have to step up my game a bit.”
He thought over his options while snapping his claws causing random things to appear in the area including a timberwolf. Even the sight of one of her greatest fears wasn't enough to phase the mare as she just leapt onto it's back when it tried to pounce her and absentmindedly bucked it in the back of the head. Watching the unicorn, Discord had a thought wiggling in the back of his mind that he couldn't quite grasp. There was something familiar about her but Discord couldn't quite place it until he spotted a pegasus off in the distance. “Now I wonder...”
Pushing the thought into the back of his mind the chimeric being decided to take a more direct approach to getting the mare's attention. Pulling out a kazoo he took a deep breath before blowing into it next to the ear of the Element of Courage creating the sound of an air horn. The loud sound, combined with the shock wave from the air pressure, blasted the mare off of her hooves and into the maze wall. Shaking her head she poked her head out of the foliage with a look of annoyance. “Pinkie! How many times do I have to tell you... Oh wait, it's you.”
Seeing that it was Discord that had interrupted her train of thought the mare let out a light huff before pulling herself out of the hedge and continuing on her path. The draconequus was flabbergasted at how fast he was blown off by the mare causing him to narrow his eyes at her retreating form. “Well how rude just ignoring me like that. And after I came out here to check on your progress, too.”
Sparing a short glance at him, Aegis Flare spoke over her shoulder as she continued on. “Well I highly doubt that anything you have to say will be all that important, especially since you can't even follow your own rules of no magic or flying.” She flicks her tail back at the floating chimera to emphasize her words.
Glancing down to see the empty space between him and the ground, Discord lets out a humph as he crosses his arms in front of him. “I never said that the rules of the game were something that were for me. As if I would ever be bound by something so pedestrian as rules.”
With a snort Aegis Flare smirked to herself. “Just like every storybook villain I've read about, can't even bother with their own rules. They always have to find a way to cheat whenever they have a chance to. Why I bet that the Elements aren't even in here especially since you didn't even state a goal of the game or what's we'll find in this maze.”
Discord narrows his eyes at the mare's back as she compares him to a common storybook character but holds his anger. Bringing up his clawed hand to stroke his beard he observed the orange mare and wondered why she wasn't reacting as the other ponies were as well as how she was able to guess some of what was going on. Seeing that she was now paying attention to him he snapped his claw a few times causing a manticore to dance through the area in front of her but she barely even spared a glance at it. “You act as if nothing is strange about any of this. I've never had that reaction before from a pony. Now you're really starting to interest me.”
With a sigh and a roll of her eyes Aegis Flare mutters to herself just loud enough for the being of chaos to hear her. “Well it's not like it's anything special after having to kill myself multiple times before. After that hardly anything surprises me anymore when it doesn't involve Pinkie.”
His eyebrow rising in interest, Discord pulls out a toilet brush and start peering through it closely at the unicorn. “How fascinating. You look marvelously alive for somepony that should be dead then. You must tell me who does your mane and...” He pauses as he passed over something that had an odd shine and he moves back to focus on it before plucking an odd thread from nowhere. “Well, well. Somepony has been a naughty mare, going to a place like that. Not even old Swirly was crazy enough to mess with that place even if he could find it. It appears I might have to bring in something special to deal with you.”
It took a few more steps for his words to really hit her causing her to stop in confusion. “Now what nonsense are you babbling abou-” Turning back to Discord her eyes narrowed when she noticed the orange figure being held in his claws wrapped up in black licorice. Seeing her sister in his grasp her whole demeanor changed as she takes and aggressive stance. “Discord what are you doing with her? If you don't let her go so help me I'll-”
She was cut off when Discord he grasped the filly's head in his claw and started to twist it sharply to the side and started speaking in a malevolent tone. “Now now, none of that if you don't want her to have an accident. Of course if you want me to let her go all you have to do is leave this game and just run off. “Now what do you say to tha-”
It was Discord's turn to be cut off as a rock struck him between the eyes, having been launched there by a buck of the unicorn's hooves. After recovering he looked around for the mare but soon felt a disabling pain from below as Aegis Flare bucked him as hard as she could in the fork of his legs, sending him to the ground curled up. With him incapacitated the mare grabbed her sister and took off running deeper into the maze until she felt she had lost the chimera before setting her sister down again.
“That should be far enough for now. I don't know where he found you Scootaloo but you need to hide until we somehow deal with him and-” Her words froze in her throat as a giant lollipop came down from the sky and split her sister in half in front of her. Not believing what she just saw her eyes shrank into pinpricks as a hoof reached feebly towards the body next to her. Her eyes quickly changed from ones of shock to that of burning rage when she heard laughter from behind her of the cause of her torment.
“You should see the look on your face! I've never seen anything like it before and- ACK! Not the face, NOT THE FACE! The teeth, THE TEETH!” Discord's laughter was broken off as the pony started mauling him with the fury of a dozen starving crazed weasels that didn't give any sign of stopping soon. With a quick snap of his claws he disappeared to the other side of the hedge to catch his breath and recover from the scratches and tooth marks that now covered his form.
After a moment he peeked under the hedge to see that the mare was furiously looking around the area for him and had taken on a slightly grayer color than before. Putting a few more walls between himself and her he rubbed at his beard while wincing at his minor injuries. “Odd, she wasn't supposed to react like that. She should have been hiding from everything like her pegasus friend always does. How rude of her to beat me to the punch before I could even finish toying with her. Speaking of her she didn't react like I wanted to either.”
Pausing a moment to ponder the unicorn and pegasus he eventually just shrugs and snaps his claws opening a path between the grayed out mare and her friends. “Well no time to bother with that any more. I still have one more to deal with. Now where did Miss Loyalty get off to.” Vanishing while leaving the scent of mint behind the lord of chaos went in search of his next victim as the friends united and grass grew over the pinata that was left behind in a pile of red jelly beans.
<><><><><><><>
Twilight Sparkle just watched in horror as most of her friends just abandoned her after everything they went through to find the Elements of Harmony just to have them fail at the last moment. After watching her friends all storms off while insulting her she sadly turned to the last one that hadn't left her. “Well? Aren't you going to say something as well?”
When she turned around she was downcast to find that Aegis Flare had also vanished until she saw a tail sticking out of a nearby bush. Peering into it she found her friend cowering away from something which caused her to raise an eyebrow at her. She noted that she was a tad grayed out like her other friends, but nowhere near the extent they were after finding the Elements of Harmony. “Aegis Flare? What are you doing in there?”
The mare in question peeked out from under her hooves and, upon seeing the lavender mare, leapt out of the bush to tackle her in a hug. Twilight's confusion only grew at her friend's unexpected behavior. “What is going on with you? You haven't been yourself since we were split up in Canterlot along with the others. Well you aren't as mean as them but...”
Twilight trails off as she thinks back to how the other unicorn was acting since that point and realized that there was a trend to her reactions. She hadn't said a word since that point and it was always in a way that didn't match what she knew of her. Suddenly she made the connection to what was bugging her as she remembered the words she said a while back.
“'Courage isn't about fear but about not letting it control you.' Discord got to you to and now you can't control your emotions at all can you.” She looked saddened as she realized that her friend wouldn't be as much help as she thought as she started to walk away. Aegis Flare started following after her and started bouncing around her as she walked off much to the librarian's displeasure.
After walking past a few of the buildings that were affected by Discord's power Twilight started to get annoyed before she turned on her friend. “Can you just go somewhere else and leave me alone!? With the Elements not working and the others off doing whatever there's no reason for you to follow me! We've lost and you're worse than useless now!”
Aegis Flare cringed away from Twilight as she rounded on her and started whimpering as as she got up in her face. As the lavender mare continued her eyes started to tear up until she got to the end of her rant. With a final sniff she took off running and crying as the last of the color faded from her. As she ran off Twilight sighed and dropped her head as she walked off while the color faded from her as well.
Twilight eventually made it back to the library where she found Spike spitting up scrolls from the princess. As she read through them and found that they were all the friendship reports that she had sent and as she read through them her color started to reinstate itself. As she finished reading the last one her eyes lit up as she realized what she needed to do as she ran off leaving Spike to recover.
She decided to start with the last friend that she saw, especially after what she said to her. Finding her was relatively easy enough as she was sitting outside of her home with tears dripping down their face. On seeing this Twilight's steps slowed as she remembered that she was that reason why her friend was like this. As she got closer the grayed out mare heard her coming and turned enough to see her before she let out a gasp and dove into a nearby bush.
With a sigh Twilight walked over to the shivering bush before aiming her horn at it and casting the memory spell that she hoped would work to cure her friends. She wasn't sure if it was working but she knew something was happening as the bush slowly stopped shaking and instead Twilight heard growling coming from it. One of her eyebrows rose as Aegis Flare pulled herself out of the foliage looking much like her old self but with a strained look on her face as she turned to Twilight. “Where. Is. He?”
The purple mare's head jerked back a bit at the anger in her friend's voice but she just shook her head and explained what happened and what she was doing. Soon the two were off to collect the rest of their friends before facing the draconequus. After easily gathering and curing them, with Rainbow Dash being the only difficult one, they found the mismatched creature in the center of town on a throne.
The end result was rather anti-climatic as Discord just sat there and did nothing as they activated the Elements of Harmony and turned him back into a statue once again. A wave of energy surrounded Ponyville as this happened before exploding outwards across the landscape dispelling the changes made by the Lord of Chaos. After the town recovered the ponies that had recovered from Discord's terror or were in hiding came out to cheer for the seven as they rose to their hooves after the exhaustion from using the Elements.
They didn't have a chance to start up a party before a white figure appeared from above causing the entire town to bow before her. As Princess Celestia advanced on the bearers she had a small smile on her face as she looked over her student and her friends.
<><><><><><><>
“Ugh, I can't believe that we have to deal with all this now after everything we went through with Discord. Can things get any worse?” Rarity chuckled as she touched up on her looks while listening to Aegis Flare's ranting.
“Oh darling, how can you say that being made a baroness is a problem? I've always dreamed of this day since I was a filly.” Her eyes filled with stars as she thought of all the things she could do now while the others just shook their heads at her. Applejack just sighed at the two before putting in her own two bits.
“Ah don't see how this changes anything really. It's not like any of us will do anything different once we get back to Ponyville. Unless ya can think of anything that we missed, Viscountess Twilight?” The farm mare smirked at the librarian as she blushed at being called by her new title having been given a higher one for her role in saving the others before stopping Discord.
“Well I don't think there is anything that we have to worry about. At least I don't remember my parents having to go through anything odd over the years. Unless you count all that mail that they throw out all the time without reading it.” The others looked from Twilight to the orange unicorn with looks of curiosity as she slammed her head into the table by her.
“You all know my dislike of a large portion of the nobility so this just... Ugh, I don't even know how to explain it.” She let's out a sigh as she moves over to a window to look out at the garden to watch her sister playing with her friends. “I just don't know how to react to all of this happening so rapidly. I'd rather things just go back to the way they were before he showed up.”
Her friends glance each other in surprise at the amount of emotion that the orange unicorn is showing until Fluttershy steps up and sets a hoof on her shoulder. “Nothing really has to change, unless you really want it to. We'll always be together if something happens and I don't think Ponyville will really care about all of this.”
Aegis Flare just sighs again as she looks out the window until her gaze is drawn to a few pegasii carefully flying a statue into the garden causing her eyes to narrow as she recognizes it. Seeing Discord once again she spoke once more but to quietly for any of the others to hear. “Maybe I can actually make it so things won't ever change like that again.”
Hmm, a month since last update. Really need to remove some of those distraction. Oh well have a birthday present from me to you and I hope you enjoy your Single's Awareness Day as well as the awesomeness of the Deadpool movie. 
Where's a PinkiePool emote when you need one.
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wait.. what place is discord talking about again? i cant remember
6937437 It was never mentioned before. So don't fear for not remembering.
Nice chapter, just discovered this story not long ago and you just updated, awesome
Looking forward for your next update 
Well, i don't know where to find one of those,
so.... take this instead! 
img03.deviantart.net/5281/i/2015/115/5/c/deadpool_meets_pinkie_pie_by_arisaka420-d4o3nlg.jpg
What about Fluttershy?
Wait, so she wasn't ignoring him, she just didn't notice him the whole time?!
Wow. Never thought he would go for such an extreme tactic.
That's sooo sad. I like it.
That's a little disappointing. I expected her to apologize and have a heartwarming moment, as well as her talking about her 'dead' sister, only to find out that she was ok. The whole spell thing was just...too easy in my opinion. I mean what happened to her was extreme. She thought she saw her sister die and was then abandoned and yelled at by her friend. So...I guess I'm more than just a 'bit' disappointed. In my opinion this scene had so much more potential that could have been used...
She caused Aegis Flare to fall deeper into corruption and hasn't even apologized for saying these horrible things! I don't think she deserves a higher title. Aegis would deserve one! She was sticking with Twilight after all, even after she thought she saw her little sister die!
Sorry, but I can get rather emotional about things like this. It is just bugging me with no end that Twilight is not even apologizing for her extreme behaviour and instead seems to get rewarded! I mean, it wouldn't have been too much for her to apologize. And I guess it is also bugging me that the spell worked. I don't really understand how it could. Main incentive for her character change was the thought that her sister died. The spell couldn't change that memory in which she saw it happening. Discord did pull off a pretty good show with the replacement after all. And Twilight being a jerk is also a memory that changes nothing since it happened. So how did the spell even work? The way I see it, it should have been completely useless for her case.
Well now I'm interested in reading the next chapter!
GOAL!
thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/american-football-goal-field-concept-as-team-sport-kicked-ball-going-posts-as-metaphor-offense-success-48239608.jpg
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Flip it upside down. And put pants on it. Then you'll get the quote
7077353 I agree none of the others had anything close to dealing with death with Discord not to mention that he had to directly corrupt Flare and Shy.
So what the hell? That chapter went so quickly I barely knew what was happening. They were summoned to Canterlot in a few paragraphs, then they were instantly in the maze. After that, we had a but of writing, then time skip to Ponyville and a few paragraphs after that Discord's defeated with nobody saying anything about it.
7077353
Do remember twilight ever saying sorry to anyone. I certainly don't remember those 2 little words coming out her mouth even in the show.
I think I know what was in those letters