Camaraderie is Sorcery

by FireOfTheNorth

Chapter 2:17.1 - Hunting Discord

Author's Note:

Translations

Chapter 2:17.1 – Hunting Discord

“Spike! Spike! Get up!” Twilight called as she entered his bedchamber, levitating a lantern.

As Spike pried his eyes open reluctantly, he eyed the lantern warily. It had been many years since Twilight Sparkle had dropped something she’d been levitating by floundering the spell, but that wasn’t the only danger. Spike had lived with the sorceress his entire life and knew that she was prone to becoming distracted. All it would take was for her to accidentally release her spell, and the lantern could send Golden Oak’s laboratory up in smoke. At least their previous residence in Cant’r Laht Castle had been made of nice nonflammable stone.

Spike may have acted more mature than many ponies his own age—he was younger than those three fillies who’d caused all kinds of trouble in town a few days earlier, while the Brave Companions were busy caring for Rainbow Dash and seeking the lindwurm—but he was still little more than a hatchling by dragon standards. He needed his rest and was starting to resent not getting it. He’d been up late the night before last, returning from the Everfree Forest with the Brave Companions after defeating the lindwurm, and last night Rainbow Dash had broken into the laboratory to steal a book of tales, of all things. Was it too much to ask for one good night of sleep? Apparently so.

“Can’t it wait until morning, Twilight?” the dragon asked as he rolled over and tried to shut out the light.

“No, it cannot,” Twilight Sparkle replied, “There has been another Awakening.”

Spike absently wondered which piece of Discord it was this time. They’d already found shards of his soul representing Greed, Treachery, Chaos, and Dourness. According to Twilight’s notes, Deceit, Cruelty, and one other unknown remained.

“We need to awaken … the Brave Companions,” Twilight said, pausing as she realized the word she’d chosen, and nodded when she decided it was fitting, “Find Ream and Baldavi,n and send them out for Applejack and Fluttershy. Fluttershy can retrieve Rainbow. After that, find Rarity. I will wake Pinkamena myself once I have gathered my notes and supplies.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to leave first thing in the morning?” Spike asked as he begrudgingly climbed out of bed, grabbing clothes as he followed Twilight out through her bedchamber and into the laboratory’s study.

“No, Spike,” Twilight replied, “Each of the last possessed ponies we found had been Awakened for days, and they were powerful with Discord’s chaos magic. It will take us days just to reach this new pony, and we cannot risk waiting a single unnecessary moment.”

“Okay, Twilight, I’ll get them,” Spike said with a sigh as Twilight set the lantern down and started sorting through her notes on Discord.

The sorceress found what she was looking for: a map of Equestria where she’d marked each of the points that she’d detected an Awakening and where Discord’s soul shards had been found. She added a sixth point to the map, north of the White Tail Wood, within the Kingdom of Vanhuv’r. There were no borders between nations on this map, but still she knew what was unwritten. One, and exactly one, shard had been found in each Equestria’s nations now except for Manehattan and Stalliongrad. Seven shards, seven nations. Was there a deeper meaning, or was in all just glorious coincidence? With Discord, it probably was a glorious coincidence, but no coincidence with Discord was ever just a coincidence. Twilight rolled up the map and tucked it into her saddlebags. Agonizing over the remaining soul shards and why Discord has scattered them across Equestria would have to wait until they dealt with the one right in front of them.

***

“There’s another blacksmith in Ponieville now,” Rarity mentioned as the Brave Companions neared their destination, “I’ve seen his work, and it is quite good. Some of my regular customers have started going to him for their needs. Not that I’m too put out by it, I’m busy enough making attire for Hoity Toity to sell in Cant’r Laht, but it is most undoubtedly due to my long absences from Ponieville.”

Twilight was well aware of the impact their absences were having on her friends. Applejack’s drama around Dodge’s Crossing was merely one way it had surfaced, and now Rarity was telling her about how she was losing business because of it. It affected the others as well, she knew. Master and Mistress Cake were unhappy about Pinkamena leaving at a moment’s notice when they needed help in the bakery, so they’d rescinded her free board at Sugar Cube Corner and she’d had to take on a second job. Rainbow Dash was hurting for coin, though she was less affected than Applejack or Rarity since she would typically take on some Hunter contracts during the day and catch up to them at night when they were traveling. She wasn’t doing that now, what with her wing still healing and her nose buried in the Tales of Daring Do at night. Fluttershy hadn’t said anything, but that was her way. Twilight suspected that she was in hot water with the Ponieville druids’ circle for coming and going so much.

This year had seemed entirely composed of traveling to one place or another in Equestria and back to Ponieville. Between hunting down the fragments of Discord’s soul, the Hearth’s Warming Eve Pageant, and finding Applejack when she ran to Dodge’s Crossing, the Brave Companions had gone from one trip to another. And it wasn’t over yet. As more fragments of Discord’s soul were found, Twilight argued with herself whether everypony needed to come along on every trip. Surely now that the anti-Elements of Greed, Treachery, and Dourness had been found, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkamena could stay home. Still, there was that unknown seventh piece; what if it required everypony or was a repeat of a previous fragment? It wasn’t a risk worth taking.

If only the sorceress had the ability to create portals, like Celestia and Luna. She’d attempted to, more times this past year than before, but still she was unsuccessful. Unlike teleportation, portals were not more strenuous and did not require more energy the farther you traveled. The problem was that they were incredibly difficult and required a great quantity of magical energy in the first place. Twilight Sparkle had not yet grasped it, but someday she knew she’d have to. It was part of establishing one’s reputation as a truly powerful sorceress, and it would also make her friends’ lives much easier if she could whisk them across Equestria in an instant if necessary, instead of disrupting their time in Ponieville with weeks of trips.

“I am sorry, Rarity,” Twilight apologized, “I appreciate all of you taking the time for these trips. I know it has not been easy for you this past year.”

“I’m starting to get used to being woken in the middle of the night to go on ‘quests,’” Rainbow Dash jested.

“If this were a fairy story, I’d start wondering when Celestia is going to knight us for service to the realm,” Pinkamena chimed in.

“All joking aside, I really am grateful that you are here,” Twilight said genuinely.

“Ach, now, don’t get all sentimental wi’ us now, Twi’,” Applejack said, “Y’know there’s nowhere else we’d rather be. Besides, who else’d stop Discord if not for us?”

There was also that. Nopony else could wield the Elements of Harmony, so what chance did anypony else have against these pieces of the crazed Great One? They now accepted the mantle of the Brave Companions as if the six of them had always worn it, but it was hard to believe only a few years earlier that Twilight had never met them, and most of the others had had little more than brief meetings with each other. That they were together, they all now considered a blessing, but the responsibility and expectations of the Brave Companions sometimes felt like a curse.

“There it is!” Baldavin called out from up ahead, and the Brave Companions hurried to join him.

Honestly, there was little call for excitement. This region of the Kingdom of Vanhuv’r was all farmland, and pretty rocky farmland at that. With winter still holding on with a vengeance, the fields were all coated in snow and there wasn’t anything to see outside their destination, a tiny hamlet that made even Ponieville seem a proper town. Its name was Brightenfeld, a shoddy-looking muddy village with uneven wooden cottages and streets laid out at random within a wooden palisade.

North of Brightenfeld loomed a structure of stone and wood that looked like nothing more than a small, unfinished castle. It had four stone towers at the outer wall’s corners, though they were capped with wooden roofs, and the walls between them were only stone up to one-and-a-half times the height of an average pony. It wouldn’t keep out more than small bands of brigands or rioting townsponies, which was probably what it was built for.

Twilight had corresponded with Celestia to obtain whatever information she could on this village. There wasn’t really anything surprising about it: it was a poor farming community, like so many other poor farming communities that dotted Equestria. Count Stammer, whose fortress-like residence squatted north of Brightenfeld, was the local lord, a vassal to Margrave Orion Star, whose seat of Comethold was not far away, and who was a vassal to King Hyelliff. She had letters from Celestia addressed to all three (though the one to Vanhuv’r’s king would likely be unnecessary) to ensure their safety here, but Ream and Baldavin still kept a close eye out.

The two guards Celestia had left with the sorceress in Ponieville had never seemed to care during her first year there whether she made use of them or not. Twilight Sparkle wasn’t accustomed to protection other than her own sorcery, so they’d been perfectly content when she left them to their drinking in Ponieville’s taverns. However, now that she’d started including them in these increasingly frequent expeditions, they were taking their jobs seriously. The pair had actually seemed upset that they hadn’t been notified about the trip to fetch Applejack from Appleoosa that had turned into a quest to Fillidelfiyaa. Twilight, who for so long had simply ignored their presence in Ponieville, considering them unnecessary, now had to make a conscious effort to remember them.

“Okay, everypony, spread out and look for any sign of the possessed pony,” Twilight announced, causing the pair of guards to look to each other apprehensively, “Brightenfeld is small enough that I do not think being separated will be a problem.”

“What do we do if we find them?” Fluttershy asked nervously, no doubt playing out the worst possible scenario in her head.

“Call out or … fly,” Rainbow Dash said, lifting Fluttershy’s wing with her own, “If they notice you and start using their crazy chaos magic, though, we’ll know without you screaming.”

***

“Lilian, what are you doing here!?” Pinkamena exclaimed upon meeting her old acquaintance, and the bard nearly fell off the barrel he was perched upon.

“You know I like to travel around, Pinkamena,” Lilian said as he straightened the feather in his cap, “I was wintering in Los Pegasus, and thought I might head north for a while.”

“Whose wife or daughter was it this time?” Pinkamena asked.

“I resent that accusation,” Lilian objected, looking hurt, “Actually, I had the feeling I might find some good stories in the Principality of Stalliongrad.”

“What about here? Heard any good stories?” Pinkamena asked.

“Nothing that fits my style,” he said, waving a hoof through the air dismissively, “The local rumor mill seems to be obsessed with the idea that some evil force is stealing ponies in the night.”

“Ooh, do tell,” Pinkamena said as she pulled up another barrel and jumped up onto it.

Lilian gave her a skeptical look. Why would you want to know about something like that? Pinkamena continued to stare at him, and eventually he had to sigh and admit defeat. Part of understanding Pinkamena was understanding that you’d never understand Pinkamena. He shook his head before telling her what he’d heard.

***

“To each their own kind” seemed to be the theme of this search in Brightenfeld. Twilight had seen Rainbow Dash run off after a fellow Hunter, Applejack was jawing with some farmers who’d come in from the surrounding countryside for the day, Rarity had gravitated to the local blacksmith, and Fluttershy had disappeared to who-knows-where looking for druids. Now the sorceress was approaching the home of a hedge wizard. Not that she’d normally consider a hedge wizard to be equivalent to a sorceress, but he was a fellow Source at least, no matter how weak.

His home looked just as poor and run-down as the rest of Brightenfeld, the only difference being that it was painted in bright colors that had mostly peeled off. A sign was nailed over the door: Friedrich, _Wizard Extraordinaire. It didn’t take a very attentive eye to tell that the sign had once extended farther left and had been hacked short, nor that something over the word Wizard had recently been painted over. Twilight Sparkle knocked on the upper half of the divided door.

“For the last time, I don’t thaw frozen wells. That was Gavel’s-,” Friedrich ranted as he opened the top door and stopped when he noticed Twilight, Spike, and the two guards standing behind them, “Oh, madam sorceress. I’m not in trouble, am I?”

Like the majority (though not the entirety) of mages, he was a unicorn, with a coat the color of melted butter. Stained and threadbare robes in imitation of a true sorcerer’s robes, embroidered with moons and stars, draped his body. A floppy hat with a rounded top in a close, but not quite matching color hung from a hook just inside.

“Should you be?” Twilight Sparkle answered the sorcerer’s question with a question.

“No, of course not,” Friedrich said, giving a smile full of crooked teeth, “I don’t suppose you’ve come to take me away to … Cant’r Laht, have you?”

“I am afraid not,” Twilight replied.

“Just my luck,” Friedrich moaned, “We had a good thing going here—Gavel and I—then she goes off to be court sorceress for Lord Wessin in Comethold. Pah! She’s no better than I am, yet she still gets to live the high life and I don’t, just because I was off healing sheep when Wessin’s retinue came through town.”

“Lord Wessin of Comethold? He is Margrave Orion Star’s steward?” Twilight asked.

“Yes, the margrave, may his life be short and profitless, can’t be bothered to leave Vanhuv’r,” Friedrich said, spitting onto the street near Twilight as he cursed Orion Star’s name, “While he’s busy using King Hyelliff’s tail as a mane, Lord Wessin is the one who really rules this march.”

“Is that why you’re really here?” Friedrich asked, eyes narrowing, “You here to spy on us, sorceress, maybe so Celestia knows how to invade?”

“No, not at all,” Twilight Sparkle said calmly, “I am here to ask if you know of any strange happenings around recently, especially magical ones.”

“I’m a hedge wizard, not the town gossip,” Friedrich sneered, “You want hearsay, go ask somepony else.”

He didn’t dare slam the door shut on a proper mage, but Twilight knew that their conversation was at an end. She thanked him for his time before turning to go, fuming with frustration inside. Hopefully the others were having better luck.

***

“Fluttershy!” Rainbow Dash called out, hovering in the air, “Over here, everypony!”

Fluttershy was surrounded by a group of druids from Brightenfeld’s circle, who she’d found congregated near a farm close to Brightenfeld itself. The circle of ponies in rough robes weren’t very enthused to see the rest of the Brave Companions approaching, disturbing their conversation with a fellow druidess.

“I think we may ‘ave found somethin’,” Applejack said, “Ponies ‘ave been disappearin’, an’ if they’re ever found, then there’s not much left o’ ‘em.”

“Yeah, the Hunters I talked to said the same thing,” Rainbow Dash said, “The townsponies tried to put together money to hire them to slay the monster responsible, but it didn’t take them long to figure out that it was a monster of a different kind. It’s a pony doing this.”

“Cruelty, it must be,” Twilight Sparkle said.

“But who could it be?” Rarity asked, “There aren’t that many ponies in Brightenfeld, and I didn’t see any with peculiar eyes.”

“I-” Fluttershy started to say, but Pinkamena had already started talking.

“They could’ve left,” the bard said, “Lilian said ponies have been moving through the town for a while now.”

“Th-” Fluttershy tried to get a word in again.

“If that’s true, then how are we supposed to find them?” Rainbow Dash asked, “They could be anywhere.”

“If they are still close, I will be able to sense if they use their chaos magic,” Twilight said, “If they are still taking ponies, then they cannot be very far away.”

“Ahem,” Ream cleared his throat, surprising everypony, since the guards so far had never intruded on their conversations, “I believe the druidess has something to say.”

Fluttershy shrank back as all the Brave Companions fixed their eyes on her intently.

“Um,” she said, gesturing to the druids that were hanging back from the Brave Companions.

“We have seen these ponies taken; we know who is responsible,” an elderly mare among the druids stepped forward and announced, “They are taken to Count Stammer’s manor. The count is the one who is doing these unspeakable things.”

“Alright, let’s take care of it, then,” Rainbow Dash said, making to take off for the manor immediately.

“Just a moment, Rainbow,” Twilight stopped her, “Let us think about this. If we burst into the manor, Count Stammer may entrap us without effort using the chaos magic he now has at his disposal. We need to take him by surprise. I do not wish to have a repeat of our fights with Scalai or King Alhert. We will go tonight … quietly.”

***

That night, under the pale moon, the Brave Companions assembled outside of Count Stammer’s manor. Rainbow Dash had at least been allowed to scout the manor from above, but now she was on the ground with the rest of them. She wouldn’t be carrying any of them over the walls tonight, not with her wing still on the mend, even if she insisted it could take it. With her magic, Twilight melted a pile of snow into a pool of water and used it to scry out the inside of the manor at that moment. None of the guards were looking at the spot by the well, so she released her spell.

With only the slightest of flashes, the sorceress teleported them into the manor, the eight ponies and dragon bunched between the well and the wall. She may not have been able to create portals, but she had gotten really good at teleportation. She’d also picked up a new spell that would help them tonight. Everypony shuddered as the enchantment settled over them. While they were still standing there, there was no noticeable effect, but as they began to move and become less aware of the ponies around them, it became harder to look at each other. They were all still completely visible, and anypony who noticed that would have no trouble staring, but the spell she’d placed over them made it hard for anypony to notice. One’s eyes just slid right past without taking note. After bumping into each other a couple times, she began to wonder if it had been worth it, but no guards had taken notice of their presence despite walking in view of several of them.

A door set into the main gates opened and admitted several ponies, most with hoods and one with a sack over their head. The Brave Companions followed the procession to the manor’s main building, nopony there noticing them even when they glanced over their shoulders. Into the manor house they went and down into the basement below. Ream and Baldavin looked about nervously as they descended. They trusted Twilight, but there weren’t many places worse to fight in than a basement.

It looked like they’d found what they’d come for. Almost the entirety of the basement was packed with torture equipment (the remainder containing kegs of ale). The floor was stained with old blood, and the place had a foul air about it. In the middle of it all stood a pony wearing a rough and bloodstained cloak over fine clothes. Count Stammer was a short and pudgy earth pony who watched with anticipation as his cronies strapped his newest victim down.

“Get him!” Twilight yelled, and the group pounced on those in the basement.

Applejack knocked down one of the hooded figures before they realized more ponies than just Twilight were here. The other two managed to look through the spell as it faded, but they dropped their swords as Rainbow Dash and Ream held their own blades to the ponies’ throats. Baldavin retreated back up the stairs to cover their way out and made sure the door was secure. Rarity and Pinkamena knocked the stunned Count Stammer against a table, sending wicked utensils flying.

“Fluttershy, his head,” Twilight announced as she pulled a gem from her saddlebags and prepared to cast the spell to extract Discord’s soul.

“Wh-what is this? Who a-are you?” Count Stammer stammered as Fluttershy wrapped the Element of Compassion’s cord around his head, “I’ll see you all hang for this! No, that’s too good for you! You’ll come to know the pain only I can inflict!”

“Be quiet!” Twilight commanded, her voice magically augmented, which cowed the count, “Elf ikrin tur rei siss, hy Ye broci noya!^[1]”

Twilight Sparkle concentrated on the spell, but nothing seemed to be happening. Impossible! Could he have found some way to counteract it? The sorceress opened her eyes and stared deeply into the count’s. They were just normal eyes, with none of the yellowing or other color changes that marked a pony as possessed by Discord.

“Let him go,” she said as she stepped back, “He is not the one.”

“Maybe not, but he’s still got a lot to answer for,” Rainbow Dash said, gesturing to the torture equipment around them.

While Twilight had been concentrating on her spell, the Hunter, Ream, and Applejack had secured Count Stammer’s cronies. The pony that had been brought here to be tortured had been released, and there was no sign of her. That was going to make things difficult.

“We cannot do anything,” Twilight said with regret, “He is not ours to deal with.”

“What are you saying?” Rarity said.

“I wish we could, but if we assassinate a subject of Hyelliff without provocation, it will mean war between Vanhuv’r and Cant’r Laht,” the sorceress explained, “Word will spread about what has been happening here, and it will be up to his subjects or his liege to decide what to do with him, not us.”

“You expect to just trot out of here after this?” Count Stammer asked, regaining some of his confidence.

“Yes, because if you attempt to stop us, then we will be compelled to defend ourselves, and I have no qualms about killing you in self-defense,” Twilight said, looking at the count coldly.

Stammer couldn’t help but to swallow hard. Those eyes were so set, so determined, so frigid and fiery at the same time, that he had no illusions that the sorceress didn’t mean what she said. Somepony as low as him had never seen the great Celestia, but he could imagine she were like this, only many times more. He had heard stories of the ancient sorceress, and also of her apprentice. This was her, he had no doubt. Why she and the Brave Companions were here, he had no clue, but he didn’t care.

“Get out,” he said, but the quavering of his voice made it sound less of a command.

***

“I can’t believe it wasn’t him. I can’t believe the things he did were done without Discord behind them,” Rarity said, shivering as she thought about the stories of terribly mutilated bodies.

The Brave Companions were having breakfast in the common room of Brightenfeld’s one and only inn. The ponies around them kept their voices hushed as they talked about the revelation of what was going on beneath their local lord’s manor. Mostly it was just revulsion, but a few wanted to do something about it. In the minority were those who wanted to storm the manor and drag Count Stammer out to be punished. The others were in favor of sending a delegation to Lord Wessin in Comethold.

“Ponies are capable of incredible cruelty without the intercession of a Great One,” Twilight Sparkle mused, “We should leave Brightenfeld before Count Stammer changes his mind about letting us leave.”

“I almost hope he does,” Rainbow Dash said gruffly as she partially unsheathed her sword.

“He’s gone! He’s gone!” Pinkamena said frantically as she hurried up to the table, dropping a lute onto it as she arrived, “Lilian disappeared last night without paying for his room!”

“Based on th’ stories y’ve told about ‘im, that seems about right,” Applejack said disapprovingly.

“No, you don’t understand. Lilian wouldn’t have done that. Well, maybe he would’ve, but he’d never have left this,” Pinkamena said, tapping the lute with her hoof.

“Could it be … the Discord-possessed pony took him?” Fluttershy asked timidly.

“Perhaps,” Twilight said, and Fluttershy blinked in surprise that somepony had heard her, “Yes, stealing ponies where they were already being taken and tortured provides a good cover. However, where is this culprit? Pinkamena, could I have a string of that lute to locate Lilian?”

At first, the bard clutched the instrument close to her, as she would her own lute, but loosened her grip after a second or two.

“I suppose Lilian would rather replace a string than body parts,” Pinkamena said morosely as she removed a string and slid it across the table to Twilight.

The sorceress carved a magic circle into the table, much to the horror of the inn’s owner. Grabbing Rarity’s bowl of unfinished oatmeal, she poured it over the circle and cast an incantation on it. A slight glow came from the oatmeal, and it seemed to pulse as Twilight split the lute string into two pieces and cast a spell on them that caused them to stand out straight. She stabbed the strings into the oatmeal, lit them on fire, and the mound of meal began to undulate, rearranging itself into a topographical map of the surrounding area; it was relatively flat, but had enough detail that Twilight could compare it to her maps. The strings burned down to stubs, one of them located where Brightenfeld was, the other the current location of Lilian.

“Comethold,” Twilight Sparkle said as she released the spell and the oatmeal returned to a lumpy, formless mass. They now knew where to find the Discord-possessed pony, and Twilight had a pretty good idea who it was.

***

Comethold was a castle town with the castle from which it took its name incorporated into the northwestern walls. The entire town was built upon on island where one of the rivers that eventually flowed into the Equestry River split and merged. Upon arrival at the town gates, Twilight Sparkle presented one of her letters from Celestia to the guard. The pony who examined it couldn’t read much, but he recognized Margrave Orion Star’s name and Celestia’s seal. They were allowed to enter the town and hurried through the twisting streets to the castle. There, they had a little more trouble. Getting into a Vanhuv’rite town was one thing, but entering the central stronghold of a march that had specifically been created to guard against the Dominions of Cant’r Laht was entirely another. A line of guardsponies blocked their path at the gate as their commander examined the letter and considered whether she ought to let them through.

“Lord Wessin!” Twilight called as she spotted a pony in fine clothing leading a procession of others across the castle’s ward, “Lord Wessin, we must speak to you!”

“What’s all this then?” the steward asked, peering past the guards, “I’m not accepting any petitioners today.”

“Aye, milord,” the guard commander said, giving Twilight her letter back, “You ‘eard ‘im, move along.”

Twilight knew what she was considering was rash, but she couldn’t allow their quarry to get away just because a puffed-up administrator didn’t feel like meeting with them today. The guards gasped their exclamations as she teleported past them, appearing right in front of Lord Wessin.

“I say!” the steward exclaimed, “Who do you think you are?”

“I am Twilight Sparkle Haltrotsun, personal protégé of Celestia,” the sorceress said as some of the guards spun around and rushed toward her with weapons drawn, “I believe you have a dangerous pony in your employ. When did you hire your court sorceresses?”

“Five days ago,” Wessin said, looking at Twilight with skepticism, but he waved his guards to stand down, “I was passing through some muddy little hamlet with the most odious local lord. For the life of me, I can’t remember where it was.”

“Brightenfeld?” Twilight asked.

“Ah yes, that’s it,” Wessin said.

“Where is she? Where is Gavel?” Twilight asked urgently.

“Oh, I don’t know. In my employ or not, you sorceresses do whatever you please, don’t you?” Wessin said, “You might try her study. She demanded the privacy of a section of the dungeons. Odd, I always thought your kind preferred towers.”

“We need to find her,” Twilight said, drawing the steward’s attention to the others still outside the castle.

“Why? What did she do?” Wessin asked.

“I do not know for sure what she has done, though there is ample reason to suspect ponynapping and torture. My concern is more on what she might do if not stopped,” Twilight Sparkle said, “She is possessed by the partial soul of the Great One Discord, and so possesses within herself the ability to tear the world apart in chaos.”

Her barrage of dire warnings and grand terms had had the desired effect, leaving Lord Wessin stunned. He ordered the guards to let the others in, and together the Brave Companions followed the guard commander to Gavel’s “study.” When the commander tried to open the heavy door, it wouldn’t budge. Twilight felt out the spell holding it in place and shattered it, causing the door to erupt in splinters that she deflected with a shield.

The door creaked open as they entered, the rooms emitting a foreboding sense as well as many colorful curses from Lilian. The bard was stretched out over a fire, though it looked like he’d suffered no harm yet. Gavel stood nearby atop a pile of mice summoned involuntarily, watching as Lilian’s clothes began to heat.

“Mrinessen’r torrisal!^[2]” Twilight chanted before the former hedge witch realized she was there.

An icy prison engulfed Gavel and the mice, and the Brave Companions rushed toward her. Pinkamena bounded toward her friend, overturning a bucket of water onto the fire as Lilian ceased his cursing and watched his rescue. The ice surrounding Gavel turned to butterflies before the Brave Companions reached her, and the entire castle seemed to tilt, forcing them to climb a slope to approach the possessed pony.

“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight ordered, and the Hunter dashed upwards with her wings toward Gavel, looping around to the right.

Gavel waved a hoof dismissively, and Rainbow Dash was suddenly confined in an invisible box and sent tumbling down the floor. She didn’t notice Fluttershy swooping around from the other direction, though. The druidess looped the Element of Kindness around her horn so that it hung down in front of her eyes, a jeweled butterfly twirling in place and blocking her chaos magic. Suddenly the room righted itself and Rainbow was freed. Twilight, Rarity, and Applejack rushed forward, the latter two restraining Gavel. Twilight Sparkle first blocked Gavel from casting any conventional spells before taking the jewel she’d tried and failed to use on Count Stammer from her saddlebags.

“Elf ikrin tur rei siss, hy Ye broci noya^[3],” she incanted, and the soul of Discord began to flow out of Gavel and into the gem.

Gavel jerked involuntarily as the process progressed, her eyes gradually returning to their normal appearance. She collapsed into unconsciousness as the soul fragment was completely removed, the gem that now contained it glowing brightly. Twilight tucked it into her saddlebags before confirming that everything had returned to normal.

“Well, I guess our work is done here, right?” Rainbow Dash asked, striding past and ignoring the shocked guard commander looking at Gavel’s unconscious body that he was sure he’d just seen the life sucked out of.

“Here, yes,” Twilight said as she suddenly froze, “However, we cannot return home yet.”

“Why not, Twi’?” Applejack asked.

“I just detected a surge of chaos magic to the east,” the sorceress said, “Another pony has Awakened.”

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[FireOfTheNorth]

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It's been a while since I was active on FimFiction, so I'm happy to answer the question even if I may have already (especially since I have a better idea now). The plan is to adapt all 9 seasons, though as time goes on I expect the ratio of original chapters to adapted episodes to continue to rise and the overall chapter count per season to continue to decrease. I've actually completed Seasons 1-3 and am writing Season 4 now, I just have a really long backlog of chapters to publish. For this story, I expect the chapter count will top out around 200-240. With the accompanying 11 side stories I'm writing in this universe as part of the overall story, the total will be closer to 320-360 across them all.

[TasermonsPartner]

Glad to see that you are back! And you're uploading individual chapters with tie between, rather than all at once as a pack! Hopefully that will give this relatively underrated story some more views! I'm personally also glad to hear that you plan on continuing the story for the foreseeable future, including through all nine seasons plus your own materials! I very much love the world-building and lore that you've developed with your story, and how almost each new chapter enriches it even more. Plus, your attention to detail, the interactions between the charaters and the realistic interactions with others that sometimes seemed to be glossed over in the show ( for instance, here you point out the time constraints of traveling is having on the Companions, whereas in the show they have full-time jobs, part-time teaching jobs, and still go on adventures and have personal lives with no strain?) It makes this a story worth reading.

This chapter was good. I think it's one of, if not the, shortest and most anti-climatic battle with a Chaos Element yet, and fairly straight-forward as far as action, but it looks as if more is on the horizon!

[ShiningBeacon]

Uh oh