The Big Finale
-*-The Royal Pony Sisters-*-
Celestia looked out over the Appleoosian Mountain range, frowning to herself as she thought about the trouble her student and friends were likely going through. Handing the reins of Equestria to the Element bearers, and her niece, while the two of them were searching for Discord had not sat well with her.
But she had a hunch that as long as they were present, Discord wouldn’t dare try and mess with the Element Bearers, or the Elements themselves. Leaving had been necessary, even if lying to her student left a sour taste in her mouth.
Not to say she nor Luna were just meandering about. Celestia had just finished speaking with Chief Thunderhooves, personally relaying the news that Discord was free once again and that the chief should prepare his people, should the Element Bearers fail.
A whisper, softer than any other creature would have noticed, drifted close to the edge of the giant boulder that Celestia was perched upon.
“So, were you able to inform Under-King Iron Tooth of what has occurred?”
Luna shifted from her shadow form and back into her equine one, looking somewhat tired and ruffled. “Yes… the Diamond Dogs within our borders have sworn to uphold the ancient agreement to not side with Discord. They’ll stay inside their own territory where Discord didn’t bother them last time.”
"Oh, but why would I toy with some mangy dogs when ponies are so much more fun?" Discord exclaimed, appearing before them in a flash of light as a paper crown sat lopsided upon his head.
Luna promptly fired an orb of charged magic at him which he easily avoided, much to her annoyance.
"YOU FIEND, WE WILL NOT LET YOU HURT OUR BELOVED SUBJECTS!"
"Oh Woona, you were so much more fun when you were small." Discord snickered, snapping his claws, shrinking Princess Luna into a very young filly, almost to the point of being a baby again.
Which was rather apt, as the little filly began crying before rushing over and wrapping her hooves around her big sister.
"Discord, you will not-" Princess Celestia began, before suddenly realizing she had lost her voice. She opened her mouth, but no words came out.
"You talk far too much Celly, so I saved us both the time and just rendered you speechless, muahahaha.” He rolled in mid-air, holding his sides as he laughed at his own antics, ignoring the glare she was sending him.
“Of course, just getting rid of your voice isn’t enough. No, I have to make sure you won’t be able to interfere like you did last time.” Another flash of his damned magic, and Celestia found that she was no longer the Alicorn many would have recognized.
Instead, she had been turned into a pink Pegasus, with a smiley face for a cutie mark and golden locks flowing down her sides.
She hadn’t thought Discord would be so bold as to try something like this… but then she had also been basing that on the idea he hadn’t learned anything from his previous defeat. It seemed she had been mistaken.
"There, now you two will be out of the way for a while. Do enjoy the walk back to the soon-to-be-new and improved Canterlot, Chaos Capital of the world!” With that, he vanished in a puff of smoke, leaving the two princesses stuck at the edge of Equestria without most of their powers… and no way to reach their friends in time.
Now… they were on their own. Celestia could only hope that they would be able to stop him… before all was lost.
-*-Cain and Company-*-
I certainly hadn’t expected I’d be running through the halls of Canterlot with such a motley crew, but then that was only because Discord’s magic had turned them into such. We soon rounded a corner, ending up in a familiar looking hallway.
Stained glass windows were set into the wall to my right and left, all of them depicting memorable, historic moments in Equestrian history. I didn’t recognize most of them, but there were a few I did.
Of course, my thoughts were soon pulled away from the painted windows, and towards a rather odd sight. Taking up a fair bit of space in the room was a large pink Dragon, who I at first thought might have been Pinkie Pie… but then I noticed the color scheme of her spines, and quickly did the math.
“Well… at least she’s a pretty dragon.” I muttered as we drew close, spotting a slightly stooped purple mare with greying hair trying to rub one of Cadance’s new arms soothingly. When she saw us approaching, her wizened eyes sparkled with hope.
“Girls… Cain… I’m glad you’re here. Maybe now we can get things moving in the right direction.” Twilight croaked, coughing for a moment before looking up towards me.
“Geez… the old man did a number on all of you didn’t he?” Strife mumbled as Twilight beckoned for us to come closer. We did so, dropping to our legs as Strife asked the obvious “So, what exactly is the game plan Smarty Pants? You didn’t let us out just to be nice after all.”
She nodded. “You’re right Strife… we let you out hoping that you and Cain could help us beat Discord. It was originally Pinkie’s idea.” She cast her eyes downward for a moment, murmuring “By Celestia’s grace, I hope Discord hasn’t done anything to her or the foals.”
Giving her head a brief shake, she glanced back up to us as she continued. “Now though we have a bigger problem. The elements are locked within the Vault, and with the Princesses gone, Cadance is the only one who knows how to open it. Which… she can’t really do right now.”
“No, really? What clued you into that little fact Sparklebutt?” Strife asked, rolling her eyes when Cadance started to growl at her. “Oh calm down, it’s not like we can’t figure something out to fix this.”
“The question darling, is how? Cadance told Twilight how to perform the spell, but she doesn’t have enough energy right now to pull it off.” Orangejack said, casting her eyes towards the vault doors as she added “And before you ask, we already had Cadance try to open it the old fashioned way.”
“I think when this is all over, we really need to have a chat with Celestia about how we can get easy access to the Elements.” Rainbow Dash added, earning a giggle from Strife when we heard her higher pitched voice. “Hey! What’re you laughing at?”
“Nothing, absolutely nothing.” Strife replied, a smirk on her face even as I drew the conversation back to the matter at hand.
“So, what’s the plan then? Do we try and contact the Princesses and hope they can come here and bust them out for us?”
This suggestion had both Twilight shaking her head, and Strife joining in as well. “I don’t think that’ll work. I can’t send them a letter without Spike, and even then, they might not get here in time before Discord manages to lay a trap out for them.”
Strife nodded at this. “Assuming he hasn’t already done something to render them unable to help.”
“Yes… I was trying not to think about that.” Twilight said, giving Strife a frown before going on. “I was actually hoping that you might be able to help me change Cadance back into her normal self. I know you don’t have any practice with Magic, but perhaps you can give me the power I need to perform the spell.”
“It’s either that, or we throw you back in the cell.” Rainbow Dash added, giving us a stern glare as she said “If you can’t help us, there’s no way we can just let you off the hook after what you did.”
“Rainbow Dash!” Orangejack declared, giving her a glare of her own as Rainbow Dash fluttered a bit lower. “Now that is not the way to be speak to somepony whose help you are trying to receive!”
“Pfft, and that’s assuming you could put us back in. I’m out, and I’ll fight to stay as far away from that cell as I can.” Strife replied in kind, talon glowing with golden colored magic for a moment before she dispelled it. “So grandma Sparkle, how are we doing this? I give you a magical booster shot or something?”
"Hiya gals!" Pinkie Pie shouted, appearing out of nowhere and startling Strife, who looked ready to blast Pinkie with a ray of chaos magic as she took in several steadying breaths, her glare drilling into the oblivious pink party mare.
"Hey, why haven’t you been changed? All of us got messed up by Discord, but you still look like you always do!" Rainbow Dash protested as she buzzed about angrily.
Pinkie Pie looked at everyone with a curious expression "Hmm… who exactly all are of you? I feel like I should remember, but… oh! Wowy wow wow, look at that!” Pinkie exclaimed, her attention suddenly shifting to Cadance, who gave her an odd look as she raced up to the top of her head.
“You look really saddy waddy, and Pinkie Pie has the cure for that right here!” Pinkie Pie then pulled a chocolate cake out of nowhere, promptly throwing it in Cadance’s mouth. Cadance chomped down on it, letting out a low growl of approval as she savored the chocolatey goodness.
“Pinkamena darling, we’re your friends… Discord just made us look a little different than we usually do.” Orangejack explained, earning a harrumph from Rainbow Dash.
“A little? Have you seen what he’s done to us?”
“Hmm…” Pinkie Pie murmured to herself as she sat down upon Cadance’s head, tapping a hoof to her chin. “That would explain why those sweet little fillies said I should go help my friends.”
"What an absolutely novel idea Pinkie.” Rarity muttered, her tone turning sour as she obviously tried to resist the urge to scratch herself.
"Right… so… what do you girls need help with?” Pinkie asked, but just as all of them were about to say something, she spotted us, and her eyes widened significantly. “Oh my gosh, a real life Draconequus!" Pinkie Pie shouted, promptly bounding over and tackling Strife and I to the ground. "Can I keep it? Can I? Pretty please?"
Shaking her head at Pinkie’s antics, Orangejack stepped forward and explained. "Well honey, we need help opening a magical vault, but only the princesses can do it, and we cannot open it by force. If we can’t get into the vault, we won’t be able to stop Discord.”
Strife meanwhile, was feeling really good. In large part, this was because a great deal of attention was now being lathered on her by Pinkie Pie, and she was drinking it up like a kitten with a bowl of cream. The fact that she herself had never been able to physically experience a hug before had something to do with it.
‘Hmhmh… Pinkie Pie hugs are best hugs...’ She thought to herself, spacing out slightly as she hummed happily, leaving me to actually pay a fair bit of attention for both of us.
Pinkie Pie meanwhile, despite her seeming lack of thought on what help the girls needed, suddenly said “Well, why don’t you have someone pretend to be one of the Princesses? You know, use some super duper illusion magic to be a Princess for a bit?”
“Hmm… you know, that might just work.” I said aloud, a lightbulb appearing over our head as Strife rolled her eyes and continued. “Yeah, and you could use Chrysalis to do it, assuming she’d even agree to such.”
"Oh, my baby is so smart!" Pinkie Pie started to give tummy rubs to Strife, which made her squirm about even as I chuckled softly at the scene.
“That despicable excuse for a Queen?” Orangejack exclaimed, shuddering as she thought back to seeing her and hearing what she had been planning to do. “Why in Equus would she help us, and how can we be sure she wouldn’t try to escape?”
“She doesn’t benefit from a world in which Discord rules any more than we do… and you could offer her and her swarm freedom if they help.” I replied, earning a nod from the increasingly tired looking Twilight.
“Indeed… since Celestia left myself and Cadance here in charge… we could offer her such a deal. But we should still try to see if we can help Cadance.”
"Hehehe… well then… go get Queen bug and offer her a deal… I… I’m a tad busy." Strife chuckled, still under the assault of the terrifying pink hooves. She was not at all used to dealing with affection, despite how much a part of her had longed for it in some shape or form.
"Well then girls… go on and go speak… ahhhah… with Queen Chrysalis. We’ll be… here trying to fix Cadance.” Twilight Sparkle slowly said, her eyes drooping a fair bit before finally closing. Soft snores were soon heard coming from the elderly unicorn, leaving the others to continue on their own for the moment.
"Well darlings, we best be off then. It’s a shame we are forced to deal with such a harridan, but, as they say, c'est la vie!" Orangejack said, and the girls, save for PInkie Pie, Cadance, Strife and Twilight, galloped on off towards the dungeons, a new haste instilled with them as they found a reason for hope.
In the meantime, Strife knew she should do something to help, but between the hugs, the tummy rubs and Pinkie Pie acting so motherly with her, she wasn’t exactly in a position to do much. She was feeling way way too good right now.
'You know that she is just doing this because Discord ditched us, right?' I murmured softly to Strife, watching the scene from within us with a fair bit of amusement.
'Shut up, you always got all the hugs and kisses, always got all the love. Now you’re just jealous because it’s my turn.' Strife mentally protested.
‘No, actually I’m not. I’m more concerned about the whole ‘Discord trying to keep us from kicking his ass bit.’ I replied, turning our head towards Twilight and watching as she seemed to be slowly aging before our eyes. 'Look at how old Twilight is getting, at this rate she will die of old age, she saved our life, don't you care at all?'
Strife groaned and hawed and hummed before finally relenting. "Uh… fine… I will save Granny Twilight…" Strife declared aloud and snapped her claws, Twilight Sparkle then went back to her normal self… except that she now looked like a Griffon.
"Uhn, what happened?" Twilight snapped, springing up and looking at herself in horror. “I’m a griffon? I-I can't cast spells like this, t-the element of magic won't work!"
"Oh, shut up whinny bird! I saved you and… oh… that feels good…" Strife complaints were drowned out by her purring, since Pinkie Pie was expertly scratching behind her ears.
'You turned her into a Griffon just because that way you could work with Discord's spell instead of fighting it, right?' I asked, curious as to how exactly Strife had pulled it off.
'No actually, in fact I was just trying to do something to shut you up. She’s no longer aging, that’s all that I cared to bother with.’
Twilight Sparkle meanwhile was taking calming breaks while Cadance consoled her.
"It’s okay Twily, calm down." It was a curious scene, to see the huge pink dragon hugging a purple griffon chick.
"But, but… my magic… the elements…"
"Shh, it will be alright." Cadance then started to sing a song that sounded similar to ‘you are my sunshine’, though I couldn’t be sure as Pinkie Pie had apparently finished up with her tummy rubs and hugs… and was now proceeding to blow raspberries on our stomach.
As we both pealed in laughter, I found myself wondering what was happening to the foals… and whether Diamond Tiara was doing okay...
-*-CMC, Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara-*-
"So… any clue what to do now?" Scootaloo asked, looking at the others as they sat in the middle of Diamond Tiara’s guest room, which had already been affected by Discord’s presence, seeing as the Mirror had gotten out of the vanity and ran off screaming about glass eating lipstick.
Diamond Tiara hadn’t, as it turned out, been all that surprised when they showed up. The process of apologizing hadn’t taken long either, as it seemed Diamond had been thinking about what had happened since waking up.
While Scootaloo at least didn’t exactly see her as a friend yet, the differences between them had for the moment been dealt with… now the only question was how to help everypony else.
"Ah dunno." Applebloom said, watching as a cabinet nearby proceeded to open and close its doors to the tune of Working on the Railroad. She really wanted to go and buck Discord, but she was smart to realize that would not help.
Plus, he’d probably turn her into a bowl of apple sauce.
"I hate feeling useless, but this is Discord we’re talking about, what can a bunch of fillies do against him?" Silver Spoon said, causing Diamond Tiara to give her a reassuring hug even as Sweetie Belle spoke up.
"Look, I know Discord can be scary, but he isn't invincible, otherwise he wouldn’t have been trapped in stone two times." Sweetie Belle said. "Plus I was able to resist him! That’s gotta count for something."
"Yeah, but that was before he got free, now he can make anything he wants." Applebloom said and looked down.
"Girls, stop this! This.. this is just what Discord wants, don't you see?" Diamond Tiara said, quickly clambering atop a soapbox, a determined look appearing on her face. Sweetie Belle would have asked where it came from, but she figured it was easier to just blame Discord.
"When we’re separate, divided, he can take us one by one and do what he pleases. But when we work together… when we become friends and keep that friendship strong… he can’t stop you! That’s the power of Friendship, the power of Harmony, the power of MAGIC!”
Applause rang out amongst the pillows and cushions in the room, then returned to normal as the soap box vanished, Diamond splatting onto the floor as Scootaloo started pacing.
"Oh yeah, and that worked so well for us when we were in the train." Scootaloo said in a grumpy tone. "Face it Diamond Tiara, we’re just little fillies, what can we do to help anyway? I mean, three of us don’t even have our cutie marks yet, so how can we help the Elements of Harmony to stop a chaos spirit?"
"Well… uh…" Diamond Tiara mumbled, ears drooping down as she tried to think of an argument against that. When it was put like that… it really did seem-
No! She could do this, she knew they could find a way to help… she just had to show them that they had the power. "We do what we can, no matter how small it seems! Even the smallest act can make a real difference to somepony!"
They seemed to be warming up to the idea, glimmers of hope and determination shining in their eyes as Applebloom asked "Oh yeah? And just what do ya have in mind?"
"I had to deal with Discord for a while, so I know how he thinks… I think.” She shook her head, pushing any doubt aside as she continued.
“Discord cares only about himself, everything has to revolve around him somehow. He can't stand being ignored, he craves attention. Now tell me my fellow ponies, what's the best way to ignore somepony so much that they can’t help but notice?"
"Oh I know!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed, hopping about in place as she said "We’ll make a party and... not invite him?" Sweetie Belle deflated a fair bit, frowning as she scuffed a hoof along the floor. "Uh... it's a stupid idea, isn't it?"
"No, it will work! Ah remember how bad I felt once when Ah was sick and Ah couldn' go to a family reunion in Appleloosa. AJ and Big Mac’ told me all about the party they threw… they had a blast, but Ah felt like Ah’d been forgotten." Applebloom then looked down "But... Pinkie Pie lost her memory, how are we gonna throw one without her help?”
That was a good question. When you needed to throw a party on the spot, Pinkie Pie was the one to turn to. 'Come on Diamond Tiara you can do it, you are a leader, just lead! Think of something!’
"Okay, so throwing a party might be a no… but Discord loves games. Why don’t we start playing a game, it's gotta be really silly, and when he comes to play, we tell him he can’t play. He’ll beg us to let him in, and we’ll keep telling him no. Or maybe we’ll let him join in, either way he’ll be distracted and focusing on us. He won’t be able to bother the Elements of Harmony while he’s doing that, which will let them get the Elements so they can come blast his sorry flanks!”
"Really?" Scootaloo said raising an eyebrow "And why would he want to play a game with a bunch of fillies like us? Couldn’t he have more fun messing with other ponies?”
Sweetie Belle tapped a hoof on her chin, before offering "Uh… because he gets bored easily?"
"I dunno if this’ll work Diamond.” Silver Spoon said, her low tone making it clear how uncertain she was of this. “How are we going to come up with a game that’ll be interesting enough for Discord?”
Diamond Tiara was a bit stumped there, again wishing that Pinkie Pie was there to give them a helping hoof…
Suddenly, a strange memory flashed in Diamond Tiara’s head, one she wasn't familiar with. It had to be one of Cain’s, because she saw a younger version of him reading a comic book that had a small little boy and an orange tiger...
"Girls… have any of you ever heard of Calvinball?" Diamond Tiara asked, her voice a little bit louder than may have been necessary. She had a devious smile forming on her face, and she could see that it was spreading to her friends.
"Nope, but sounds fun, how do we play it?" Apple Bloom asked, Diamond spotting a familiar twinkle of excitement in her eyes, and those of her crusader friends.
“Let me tell you… and listen carefully, because I’m not repeating these.” She said as she carefully explained the rules… and allowed her friends to figure out the rest of the plan.
-*-Queen Cheese (HEY!)-*-
"I am sorry Queen Chrysalis, but you must understand that even if the Princesses put Miss Twilight Sparkle and Princess Cadance in charge until this crisis was resolved. We most certainly can not release you and your changelings and thus allow you and your swarm to feed and prey on other ponies to your heart’s content. That would just be outrageous!" Orangejack said, giving Chrysalis a rather stern frown that might have scared a meek filly, but did little to the Changeling Queen.
"And you recall that the spirit of Disharmony known as Discord is running rampant and doing whatever he pleases, the laws of reality be damned, do you not?" The changeling queen asked. "If you want my help, you’ll have to prove you’re willing to gain it.”
"Now be waitin' a darn minute, if Discord is allowed to do all he wants, then thar won't be much love going aroun', won't there?" Rarity said, too angry to care if she was sounding like a country bumpkin at the time. Her deeper voice certainly didn’t help.
Chrysalis tilted her head, reaching a hoof up to her ear as she said "I’m sorry, I don’t speak dog, or whatever that was. Perhaps someone can enlighten me?” This earned her a dangerous growl from Rarity.
"Now Rarity, calm down, you can’t maim the pony we’re trying to get help from.” Orangejack said soothingly, running a hoof up and down her back as Rainbow Dash translated.
“Rarity said that if that meanie pants Discord keeps being bad to everypony, then there won't be love for you and your bugs to feed on." Rainbow Dash the Flutterpony said, flinching as she muttered “Dangit, I can’t be cool if I stay like this for much longer!”
Chrysalis seemed to honestly consider this. "Hmm… I suppose that him being on the loose would make it difficult to harvest love… our food might get turned into a toaster or a wooden plank when we aren’t looking.” Chrysalis let out a sigh, not seeming to be happy about what she was about to say, but pushing on ahead as she declared.
“Very well, I will help you and your… friend… get the Elements of Harmony out. In exchange, I ask for a full pardon of me and my hive, and to have them released back into my custody once Discord has been dealt with.”
"Free? YOU WILL NEVER BE FREE OF THE WEED! MUAHAHAHAHA!" Fluttershy, now looking like a pegasus version of Poison Ivy, shouted to the heavens. Apparently Fluttercactus was too dull and boring for Discord after about twenty minutes.
"Uh… Fluttershy darling, I don’t mean to offend, but don't you think calling yourself the Weed is a… how to say it… a way for your enemies to think of you as a mere second rate villain instead of the amazing, bashing and beautiful evil flower that you truly are?" Orangejack said off hand, seeming to suddenly forget about everything and everyone else around her.
"Uh... maybe? I wasn’t sure if Poison Bark sounds, um, better?" Fluttershy said, hiding her face behind her now green streaked red mane.
"Ehem." An impatient changeling queen cleared her throat, regaining their attention. “I believe we have a more serious matter to discuss here.”
“Right… where were we?”
“Determining the terms of my release, in exchange for my help.”
“Oh yes, quite right.”
Shaking her head, Rainbow Dash flew between Orangejack and Chrysalis as she asked "What if we just let you and your children free and then escort all of you out past Equestria’s borders? I don’t think you’ll be able to get the pardon bit, since ya know, you tried to invade Canterlot.”
Chrysalis was silent for a moment, seeming to brood over this for a moment as she considered her options. Finally, she replied “Make it the Badlands and we have a deal.”
“And what makes you think-” Rarity began, but Orangejack pulled her close as she said whispered.
“The Badlands will work. That place doesn’t have any ponies save for a garrison of Equestria’s best, the Changelings are just as likely to end up eaten by monsters than bothering anypony.”
Rarity harrumphed at that, still not thinking any of this was a good idea… but she was very much desiring to return to her normal form, and the quickest way to ensure that was to defeat Discord.
“Fine, we agree to your terms.”
Chrysalis let out a pleased hum, her wings buzzing in excitement as she said “Excellent, then please make all due haste and release me from this dreary cell.”
“Hmm yeah… about that…” Rainbow Dash began, looking to the others who started whistling nervously to themselves. She rubbed the back of her head as she mumbled “W-We’re not exactly sure where the key is…”
The Queen’s eye twitched slightly when she heard that. “You came over here and bugged me… promised to release me… and you don’t have the key?”
“Now calm down… we didn’t procure it ahead of time because we were not certain we would be able to convince you to help us in this dire moment.” Orangejack said, frowning at the glaring Chrysalis as her wings buzzed about irritably.
“But you also don’t know where it is…” Chrysalis mumbled, rubbing her head with both hooves in exasperation.
“Hey now, it can’t be all that hard to find, it’s sure to be somewhere around this dinky dungeon…”
Chrysalis shook her head, groaning as the five of them set about trying to find the key. And these Ponies are supposed to save us from Discord? She took another look, watching as the yellow one grew a venus fly trap that began trying to snatch the Flutterpony.
I’m bucked.
-*-Cain, Strife, and Company-*-
Strife was busy eating cake, Pinkie Pie having decided it was Strife’s birthday again and was in the process of trying to throw her a private party. Deer Cadance and Wolf Sparkle had declined joining in after Strife had spent some time trying out her new powers…
Which, naturally, had involved trying to transform them into their normal selves, or so she had claimed. I and the two former ponies weren’t buying it, but there wasn’t much I could do about it.
I had been trying to figure out how to get Strife to stop, or to at least stop amusing herself long enough to actually HELP the two of them, but with Pinkie Pie playing the role of gushing nanny, Strife was too busy happily drinking in the attention that was being spoon fed to her… sometimes literally.
After a few minutes of pacing about in the mindscape, I started to formulate an idea. I wasn’t sure if it was going to work, but I figured, hey, something was better than nothing.
'You know Strife… if it’s attention you’re after, you could be doing a great deal better.'
Strife rolled our/her eyes as she dropped into the mindscape, even as she continued to play along with Pinks. “Oh? And what makes you think I’m not perfectly happy with the attention I have now?”
I smirked as I saw her, placing my hands over my chest for a moment as I replied “I may be the sort who wants to help people because it’s the right thing to do, but you are the one who has the megalomania, the idea of being bigger than life and becoming famous, legendary, of forever etching our names in history and all that.”
“Well of course! I mean, you just want to live a nice comfortable boring life, what fun is that? That’s what nobodies do… and I am certainly not a nobody.” Strife proclaimed, smirking as she gazed into space for a moment… perhaps seeing one of the many fantasies we’d shared of us doing just that.
“But yet here you are, playing party games with Pinkie Pie when you could be doing just that. After all, just imagine how much fame you could earn if you were the one to best Discord, to bring harmony and peace back to the lands of Equestria!” I chuckled, casting our eyes off towards the stain glass windows lining the hall of the Canterlot Tower.
“You might even get a multicolored glass window like the ones the Mane Six have.”
"Hmm… that would be nice." Strife said and rubbed her chin "Plus, I am a little miffed at dear old dad for leaving us like that..."
"A little?” I asked, incredulous at the thought. “You’re only a little miffed at Discord for bringing us here, forcing us to stick around in Diamond Tiara’s body for almost a week, for making us have to go through all those attempts to get free, and then when he does give us something, it’s a new body that gets to rot in a jail cell, and you’re only a little miffed?”
"If he hadn’t done any of that, we wouldn’t have our own body, heck we wouldn’t even exist!” Strife replied, sending a glare my way when I rolled my eyes at that last bit. “Listen, Discord was weakened when he was sealed in stone, and what's easier dear brother, making a copy of a human’s mind or transporting said human to Equestria?"
“And I refuse to believe either of us are just a copy of any sort. Now, what exactly does that have to do with you being just a little miffed at Discord? You should still be pretty damned mad at him.” I retorted, mind unwilling to accept such an idea.
Strife grunted, waving it off as she said “Fine, believe what you want. And the answer should be obvious mister.” She pointed towards herself, a wide smile on her face as she said “Regardless of what he did to me, to us, I got a body of my own out of it, more or less, and I finally get to be free to do as I please.”
Her response reminded me what I was trying to do, and I shook my head as I pulled up next to her. “Well, you’re free to do as you please alright… but here you are wasting that freedom eating cake and getting tummy rubs. That’s not the Strife I know.”
“Oh yeah? And just what do you think the ‘Strife’ you know would be up to then?”
I give her a wide smile as I reply simply “The Strife I know would be finding some way to stir up trouble with whoever is in charge, and making a name for herself.”
I left her to think about that as I pushed her out of the mindscape, Strife finding herself being rocked gently by a beaming Pinkie Pie.
“Oh hey you’re back! Now we can play some of those games I was talking about! I’m sure you’ll just love playing things like Pin the Tail on the Pony, Parcheesi, Who Can Find the Confetti Mines…”
Before I had spoken to her, Strife might have been willing to go ahead and do that, seeming to have been content enough, at the time anyways, to just relax and play with Pinkie Pie. But, as much as Strife hated to admit it…
I was right. She’d had some fun messing with me already, and it’d been great fun to see how Twilight and Cadance reacted to each new form she gave them. But that was small time stuff… she needed to do something big… and while she was a bit loathe to try and play hero…
Messing with Discord’s new reign was just too tempting an opportunity to pass up.
“Sorry Pinks, but I think I’ve got something far more entertaining in mind.” Strife said, pushing out of her hooves and standing tall and straight, a dark smile on her face as she gazed out one of the windows, feeling out Discord’s presence.
Pinkie Pie looked hurt at this, lowering her head and whimpering slightly, her hair shaking ever so slightly. Seeing this, Strife let out a groan and cupped her talon underneath the party pony’s chin, giving a cool smile as she said “Perhaps another time, when things aren’t as… exciting… as they are right now.”
“Wait, what are you up to now Strife?” Twilight Sparkle asked as she got up to her paws, frowning as Strife began to nonchalantly strut towards the door.
“I’m headed out to go mess with my beloved Daddy Discord… I don’t think it’s fair he’s running around and getting to mess with everything without ANY challenge…” She grinned as she waved her hand, the door opening… and showing that somepony had been about to push it open themselves.
“C-C-Cain? S-Strife?” Diamond Tiara stammered out, seeming to be surprised to see us standing there, and it was fair to say that we were as well. We also saw that the rest of the fillies were standing behind her, equally stunned.
“Well now, isn’t this interesting. What in Equestria are the five of you doing here in Canterlot Tower?”
"W-We’re all sorry!" Sweetie Belle blurted out, causing Strife to take a step back as she explained "Discord messed with our heads and we… we insulted you two and Diamond Tiara for no good reason!"
"Yeah… Sweetie Belle kept telling us something was wrong, but we were too stubborn to listen." Applebloom said, then looked over Strife and Cain’s new body . "Is that really the two of ya?"
"Wow, you look awesome, not as cool as Rainbow Dash of course but… it works for you." Scootaloo said, making me blush, and Strife… well, Strife naturally lapped up the attention, standing a bit taller as her smile widened.
"It is alright, all is forgiven." Strife assured them... before snapping her claws and putting dunce hats over three of the fillies’ heads, while Sweetie Belle got a wizard’s hat with a big smiley face that said ‘star pupil’.
"Hey, not funny!" Scootaloo protested
"What, no hat for me?" Diamond Tiara asked, which earned a hum from Strife. A moment later, we had swooped her up into her arms and were giving her a warm hug…
I thought for a moment that it might have been me doing it… but then Strife gave her an incredibly wet and sloppy kiss on the stomach, followed by several raspberries.
Reasserting at least a minimal amount of control, I set Diamond back down and asked "So, what were you guys doing here? Shouldn’t you be somewhere safe?”
Strife harrumphed at that. “With Discord on the loose, nowhere is safe… then again, I’m on the loose too, so it’s doubly unsafe.”
"Uh…well... I came up with a plan for the five of us to play Calvinball and not invite Discord to play.” Diamond replied, scuffing a hoof on the ground as she added “We figured since Discord likes games, we might be able to trick him somehow.”
“O-Of course, we wanted to check with Twilight and see if they’d beaten him first or not… or if he was even here.” Sweetie Belle murmured, eyes shifting about a bit nervously as she said “No point in playing the game if he isn’t around.”
“No point? I think it still sounds like an awesome game!” Scootaloo interjected, laughing “Heck, any game where you can make up the rules as you go along? That’s gotta be fun!”
A game of Calvinball, one of the most chaotic and unpredictable games known to anyone... actually wasn’t that bad of an idea. "Really? Well, I suppose it could work… if he decides to play along of course."
'Yes it might.' Strife snapped her claws, and in a flash small circular pendants flashed into being. They seemed to be based off the one Luna had given us before… but these had a serpentine ‘S’ on them instead of Luna’s moon. "Okay team, are you ready for some chaos?"
The fillies seemed surprised by this, and they weren’t the only ones. 'I’m surprised you just decided to go with DT's plan, just like that.'
'I’ve always wanted to play Calvinball!' Strife yelled in my head, and to be honest, I wanted to play that too ever since I learned of its existence. Too bad I’d been fifteen by that point.
And with that in mind... "Five points for rubbing Scootaloo’s tummy and making her laugh!" I yelled, jumping over the surprised pegasus filly as I did just that, using our tail to tickle her underside. A peel of embarrassed giggles erupted from her, and as we were already darting down the hall, the other fillies quickly followed suit.
"I got the ball, so that makes me the princess of the cosmos and you cannot touch me until you all spin three times in the same place!" Diamond Tiara declared, seeming to pull a ball out of nowhere as she dashed past me and Apple Bloom, who had been leading the pack.
From there, the game was on, and nothing short of Discord or the end of the universe was going to stop us from having a hell of a good time!
The rules and what we did just got even sillier after that, spiraling into a pit of nonsense and swimming deeper and deeper. We jumped, tackled each other, we fought for the ball, we did silly rhymes and we kept making up rules as we played. Like having to play Granny Smith singing the Ponyville Town song while on three hooves.
It was actually quite fun. We even used pink living flamingos to hit the ball for a minute or two and I had Twilight Sparkle, who was now a llama (and also an unwilling participant in the madness) wearing an Alice in Wonderland dress just to fit the theme. Cadance was sometimes the flamingo Strife used… much to her agitation.
Thankfully, none of the foals noticed those last two bits… they were too busy having fun.
I also got the chance to make Sweetie Belle sing a version of "Who is afraid of the big bad Wolf", though with ‘Discord’ in the place of the wolf. At some point we even forgot that the whole thing was a trap to get Discord to come and we just enjoyed the game.
So of course, Discord took the bait. Heck, I would have taken it, and I knew the plan!
Just as we had managed to finagle five giant cheetortises (cheetah+tortoises), and were ready to start playing things polo style, Discord appeared before us in a flash, his chuckle preceding him as he asked "Well, well well, what do we have here? You six look like you’re having fun..."
Discord had a cool, nonchalant expression on his face, but I could see that he was barely hiding his eagerness. He seemed to be itching to join in on the mad fun we were up to.
Strife decided to set the plan in motion then and there. "New rule everypony! Discord can’t play until the Princesses get here!"
"Oh, like that is ever going to happen…" The Spirit of Disharmony muttered, waving a paw dismissively at us. But when he looked back to us, we were already back in gear, sending the Calvinball flying off to smack Twilight in the head.
Discord turned, a scowl on his face as he harrumphed "Oh fine, like those two would make any difference... the last time they defeated any serious danger was nearly a thousand years ago." With a snap of his claws, a pink pegasus that resembled Princess Celestia, with a smiley face cutie mark, and a baby alicorn that looked like Luna appeared in before him.
Without any hesitation, Strife snapped her own claws, changing the two princesses into fillies like the others, though both of the royal pony sisters maintained the other alterations Discord had already made.
"Royal Flush, tag the two princesses and get a free pie!" I crowed, flapping my wings and surging forward, only to earn a face full of hooves as Sweetie Belle did an excellent Luigi impression, stomping me into the floor and giggling as she charged towards the two, who each squeaked, racing off in opposite directions.
"Catch me if you can!" Luna (or in this case, Woona) shouted as she ran off, while everypony else, even Discord, tagged a surprised filly pegasus Celestia.
Snatching the ball from Diamond, I lobbed it at Twilight and shouted "Twi, ya get a ten minute time out, or until Cadance becomes an alicorn again." That was to give her time to get her element and meet the others while we kept Discord distracted.
Luna, even with her power reduced and being filly sized, was surprisingly hard to catch, and I soon lost track of everything else. If I was that distracted, then Discord must have been even more so, since he lacked a "sane" extra personality to balance his chaos.
After nearly five minutes of chase, during which I crashed repeatedly into Discord, not even acknowledging him as I did so, it was Silver Spoon who managed to pin Luna to the ground.
To everypony’s surprise, rather than a pie, a slate grey pony with a straight, simple mauve colored mane appeared wearing a plain blue everyday dress. She looked around blankly at everypony, then wandered over to one of the garden ponds, where she proceeded to stare intensely at the rocks lining the edges of the shallow pool.
'Should we even ask?' I pondered softly as we all stared at her for a moment, before resuming the game, dashing away as the five fillies decided we were the one to be tagged now.
'It’s chaos, you better not.' Was all Strife said as we dropped flat, Scootaloo yelping as she sailed overhead and crashed into a hedge.
Discord was beginning to grow annoyed though, proving the plan was working. We made certain that we left him little room to try and interfere in the game, and even when he turned one of the bushes into a large, snapping tentacle monster, we simply ducked and swerved around it, ignoring it completely.
In fact, he seemed to have gotten tired of us ignoring him, because a moment later, he shouted “FREEZE!” and in a flash, we were all firmly rooted to the exact spots we were in… which left Sweetie Belle floating in mid air while Silver Spoon had the pleasure of being frozen mid-splat with the ground.
Then a Freezer fell from the sky and smacked him square in the head, flattening him and knocking whatever spell he used on us out.
"Really?" Discord said looking at us seconds later as he opened the fridge door and walked out, pulling a slice of cheese off his antler while using his tail to flick off the mutant mystery meat attempting to chomp his wings off.
"Chaos tends to be like that, ‘daddy’. Not so fun when you’re the victim, is it?" Strife replied, unconcerned by the angry glare being sent her way.
Discord paused at that, then shook his head in amusement, chuckling as he murmured "Oh, you are growing up so fast. It seems as if it was only yesterday when you…"
"It was yesterday you git."
"But I’ve still got baby pictures!" Discord replied, pulling out a rather haphazardly decorated photo album entitled ‘Strife’s baby years’. Without any input from the others, he snatched us up and pulled them in close to to show everypony baby pictures of our new body… which would have been embarrassing for either of us if they were real.
“Look, if you want to join in Discord… you’re going to have to level things out a bit.” I replied, snatching the book out of his hands and zapping it, a pile of ashes being all that remained of it as Strife reformed them into the Calvinball.
Strife smirked as she leaned in, while I noticed the others glancing off in the distance… and slowly backing away from the two of us.
“Yes Daddy dear, all powerful ‘master’ of Equestria… if you’re going to play in OUR game… you’re gonna have to pay a price to get in on the fun.”
"After all, if you just use your powers, the game gets too easy, so new rule, no pony can use powers!" After all, we were just distracting him. It didn’t really matter if we could use any powers or not… not that it really applied to anyone besides the two of us.
Discord hummed, stroking his beard in consideration. "No powers you say? Well, I suppose I could… but only if you do something for me first."
Strife wasn’t having any of that. "No dice, no powers or no playing with us."
"Oh come on, tis only a very simple thing."
"What's it it?" I asked with a suspicious tone
"Well, I wouldn’t be a very good Father if I didn’t take an interest in the life of my precious daughter” Discord replied, smirking as he slithered forward, mirth glimmering in his eyes as he asked “So do tell me, is there anypony who has caught your eye?"
"Uh, what?" Strife asked confused, blinking in stunned confusion even as I subtly moved our eyes… this time taking very careful note of the fact that the others weren’t around now.
"Do you love somepony? Young love is so special." Discord asked again, pulling us into his arms and holding us tight, further confounding Strife.
"Uh… I don't think I… I am old enough for that yet."
I could hear something in the distance… familiar voices… and a familiar hum of magical energy. ‘Strife… Strife… Equestria to Strife...’ I started mumbling, even as Discord kept the pressure on.
"Oh come now, surely even you have a silly little crush on somepony here. I can start listing names if you’d like."
“A-And why the heck is it that you want to know about something like that?” Strife stammered out as the hum grew louder, a soft whine beginning to mingle within it.
‘Strife… get away from Discord! Now!’ I shouted in the mindscape, working to try and assert control, to no avail. We were stuck in Discord’s grasp.
"Well, I am your father after all, and all good fathers have to make sure their daughters aren’t hanging out with bad sorts, guahahaha…”
The hum vanished, and a loud whine filled the air as I felt the hairs on the back of our neck begin to stand up. I was finally able to get some movement, tilting our head up and watching as an arc of multicolored light ascended skyward… before beginning a sharp dive towards us.
“Hmm… well, this doesn’t bode well. And here I was looking forward to making so many cherished family memories with you…” Discord murmured softly, a dark chuckle spilling out as he held us tight against him, glaring up at the rainbow of light with a mad gleam in his eyes.
We however, found nothing about this to be amusing, turning as one to stare Discord in the face as we growled out “What in Equestria are you doing?! Let us go!”
Discord chuckled, holding us tighter against him as we felt our magic being dampened, the Spirit of Disharmony not seeming to take any chances as he said “Isn’t it obvious? I mean, after all, if I’m going to end up encased in stone once more, I might as well have some company. A next of kin who I can spend an eternity with as we are gawked at by random tourists!”
So… this was it then? Was this really how it was going to end? This wasn’t at all how either of us wanted to go out. I would have preferred slipping off into a deep sleep that I never awoke from, while Strife longed to out with a brilliant bang… primarily of her own design.
Strife struggled viciously against Discord’s grip, trying to even use her magic to get away, but all that did was just make dozens of random and odd things pop into being around us.
There seemed to be nothing we could do though as the beam of multi-colored light drew closer. I wasn’t sure if this counted as going out with a bang, but Strife's desire on how her end would come was the least of our concerns.
With the mad cackle of Discord echoing in our ears, we braced ourselves for what was to come, Strife screaming in indignant and defiant rage while I simply resigned myself to the idea of being a lawn ornament.
I’m not sure what I was really expecting. A repeat of the last time we got hit I suppose. So I was rather surprised that, when the beam struck us, I felt a strange sense of peace washing over me… as if all my worries were slipping away and the knowledge that everything would be alright flowed into me.
Strife, on the other hand, seemed to be in a great deal of discomfort, twisting and snarling and screaming as the magic of harmony washed over us. Even if she had been improving, she was still the darker half of me, and had an element of Discord’s magic inherent in her very being. Naturally it wouldn’t be nearly as pleasant for her.
The light had blinded the both of us, neither able to see anything or anyone around us, but a moment later we both felt the power of the magic fading as something pushes us away. Our vision swam, our mind spun, and our senses became a jumbled mess as we staggered about, eventually banging our head on something before falling to the ground.
Now we could barely see a thing, and our head was pounding like a herd of wildebeests were doing a tapdance in our head… maybe they were, everything was so twisted up that I didn’t know left from right, up from down, or periwinkle from pea green.
‘Ugh… Cain...’
I let out a groan, trying to focus on Strife’s voice as I heard… or perhaps sensed it echoing in my mind. ‘Yeah Strife?’
There was no reply for a moment, but as a dark fog began to gather at the edge of my senses, I managed to hear Strife one more time.
‘Just for… the record… if we end up as a lawn ornament… I blame you.’
I would have laughed maybe, or snarked back at her, but darkness took us before I could do so.
-*-
For a time, we felt nothing. We saw nothing, heard nothing, we smelled nothing…
Strangely enough, nothing tasted like salt water taffy dipped in gravy.
After a while though, we could both hear… something. It was incredibly distant, like it was coming through a few feet of water…
It sounded familiar… and comforting. We could both sense a feeling of friendship and love emanating from that sound… no… it wasn’t just a sound… it was a voice…
And we both knew whose voice it was…
Dia… Diamond… Diamond Tiara…
We still couldn’t speak, at least not aloud, but soon feeling began to return to us. Where the voice of Diamond sounded like it was having to travel through water, the feeling we were experiencing as we tried to pull ourselves from this dark nothingness was more akin to trying to swim through a thick, cloying pool of mud.
Si-nt Nig-t, H-y N-gh-t…
We kept heading upwards towards the voice, which seemed to be singing something that sent warm, safe feelings through both of us. It was a song… a song our mom had sung when we were little back on Earth.
I wasn’t concerned about how Diamond knew the song… and figured it was something to do with how we had shared minds. Instead, the only thing I cared about was following that sweet, lilting voice…
~Sleep in heavenly peaacccee, sleeep in heavenly… peace…~
It was only as the song ended that we both seemed to break through, a myriad of feelings and stimulation attacking us all at once. Our head spun and we groaned softly as we discovered what it’s like to wake up with a hangover.
My body felt like it had been run over by a rhinoceros, and my head had at least a dozen tap dancing donkeys banging about in it. Every single bit of me was aching in some way or another, and I wanted to just keep my eyes closed and pretend the world outside of my head didn’t exist.
“Ugh… well, I suppose this is better than waking up as a statue…” I muttered softly to myself… which was followed by stirring to my right, and a gasp of surprise from DT.
And then not even a second later, I got to add attempted strangulation to the list of “Today’s physical discomforts” as Diamond Tiara wrapped her hooves around my neck, excitedly exclaiming “They’re awake they’re awake they’re awake!”
Strife was also struggling against the pink hooves of crushing evil. “Help help we’re being repressed!”
Diamond Tiara giggled as we heard the nearby door opening up, a chorus of hooves plodding along the stone floor as the Princesses, the Mane Six, and the Crusaders, walked in. All of them had soft smiles on their faces as they took in the sight before them.
“Diamond Tiara, Ah think ya’ll should tone down the hug there… they’re starting to turn blue.” Applejack said, snickering to herself as the Crusaders also charged forward, adding to the dogpile and earning an ‘oomph’ from us.
Diamond chuckled, letting our neck go as he hacked and coughed, Strife trying to push the fillies back a bit to give us some breathing room as she growled “Sheesh, I know I’m so awesome and everything, but there’s no need to smother me in affection.”
Princess Cadence rolled her eyes as everyone else took a spot around our bed. “I think it has less to do with how awesome you are, so much that they were worried about you.”
“You’ve been out of it for a few days Cain… and uhm Strife.” Fluttershy said as she used a hoof to help pull the foals back. “We were all worried the Elements had put you in a coma.”
“You’re not the only ones who were worried. I was starting to wonder if I’d been turned into a lawn ornament like Discord.” I said, rubbing at my head as we were finally liberated of the beaming Crusaders, and what I could only assume at this point were the two newest additions, given all that had taken place. “What happened to him anyways? Is he still on the loose?”
Princess Celestia shook her head. “He is once more imprisoned inside stone, and my sister and I have studied it thoroughly to ensure that he did not manage to escape somehow once more.”
“We are still remaining vigilant though… his capture seems to me to have been far too easy given our past experiences.”
"I bet two hundreds bits that he just faked being turned to stone somehow, and needed to use us as a shield to do it." Strife said "He got access to our memories about the human world after all, and a villain faking their defeat is a classic."
Pinkie Pie then poofed from her spot besides Rainbow Dash and appeared in front of us, her hooves placed around our body as she sternly said "No bets with money, that's bad!"
We both blinked at that… as did everypony else in the room. "Uhm... ooookayy?" I asked, very much confused, even more so when she smiled tenderly and wrapped us in her hooves. “Uh, Strife… what’s going on?
"You expect me to know what's going through this Pink pony’s mind?" She replied as she squicked at the feeling of the hug… even if I could sense her enjoying it.
Pinkie Pie stuck her tongue out at Strife, giving her a noogie before a more serious and somber look dawned on her face as she said “I already discussed it with everypony else… and even though they all think I’m crazy... I’ve made up my mind.”
She scooped us up in her front hooves as she stood up, which was no mean feat given we probably weighed a bit more then her… then again, this was Pinkie Pie. With both of us giving her lost, obviously curious looks, she booped us on the snout as she said “I’m adopting you!”
We both sat there, staring at her blankly for a moment… before Strife opened our mouth to ask "WHAT?!"
Pinkie giggled nervously, setting us back down as she tried to explain. "Hehe… Uh… I remembered all that stuff I thought about when Discord made me think I was your mommy and… well... I liked it. Really really really really liked it!” She put extra emphasis on the last one, even miming out the words being underlined and slanted as we stared at her in utter amazement.
“Plus you two need adult supervision, or at least a guardian to keep an eye on you. That’s what Celestia said.” She added a moment later, the solar Princess nodding her head in agreement.
Amazingly there was no snark from Strife mocking Pinkie Pie for thinking she could be our mother… instead she simply felt… strangely happy.
I unfortunately chose that moment to bring things down as I said “W-Wait a minute… I… I still have a mom… and a family back on Earth. I… I may be like this now… but… I… I can’t take Discord of all people’s words when he says I’m a copy. Can’t we find a way for me to get back home?”
Pinkie Pie looked down at that, and at first I assumed it was because she was thinking I didn’t want to be adopted by her… but then… I looked around and noticed that everypony in the room was doing their best not to look at me. A sickening feeling began to form in my gut as I gulped.
“W-Why are you all looking like that? D-Don’t tell me you…”
Celestia raised a hoof, before levitating something out of a desk nearby. It was a mirror, made out of silver and containing a black, empty looking center… though a quick tilt of it revealed that it wasn’t empty, and merely that the glass was obsidian.
“While you were unconscious, Luna, Twilight, and I looked through everything we could, recalling the promise we made to you to try and reach your family. We… were afraid we would have to send them a message saying you had passed on… or would never awaken.” Celestia said as she looked us in the eyes… sympathy and sadness clear in them. “We didn’t find any spell that would allow us to send you back home… but…”
It was then that I noticed the mirror shimmering with the color of Luna’s magic as it was set into our hands, Strife gazing at the object with clear interest while dread began to flood into me. “We found this artifact in Starswirl the Bearded’s Archives… it’s a special mirror he created to allow him to gaze into other worlds.”
The mirror began to ripple and glow as I lifted it up, gazing into its swirling abyss as Luna added “We… found your world… your family… and…”
“You.”
I barely heard her as the image in the mirror coalesced into a solid view of my home, the trailer back in that little farm town I had been stuck in. The old black Kia was pulling into the driveway… and I watched in growing horror as I saw first my mother… and then… myself, wearing my uniform for work as they both headed up the steps and inside.
I sat there for a moment… watching myself… my human self go through the same patterns I did as he dropped my stuff off on the counter, slipped into my computer chair and started browsing the net… it… it was me… but it couldn’t be… could it?
I felt Pinkie’s hooves slipping around me, one hoof reaching up to wipe away a tear that I hadn’t realized was falling. Even Strife was silent… sensing that now was not the time to say anything.
“We don’t know if that’s the real you or not Cain…” Twilight spoke up after a moment, looking us in the eye as she saw the pain I was going through. “He could be the copy that Discord left behind…”
I absently nodded my head, even as I felt more tears falling… my arms latching around Pinkie and pulling her into a tighter hug as I let my emotions flow.
So… even if Discord had lied to me… even if I was the real Cain… it wouldn’t matter. They wouldn’t believe me if I somehow managed to get a message through… assuming they would even give me a moment to speak seeing as I was a Draconequus now…
My home… my family… it was still there… but for me, for all intents and purposes… it was gone. Ripped out of my grasp by the God of Chaos.
I felt over a dozen smaller hooves clamber over me as the Crusaders, DT and Silver Spoon joined Pinkie Pie in trying to comfort me, all of them giving me sad smiles as Diamond spoke.
“It’s… it’s going to be okay Cain… you aren’t alone here. You don’t have to be sad…” She said, her smile widening slightly as she said “Our time together has left me with some of your memories… and I can see how much you love and care for your family. But since you can’t be with them… you can at least be with us. We’ll be your family.”
“Ugh… that’s sooo cheesy and ooey gooey…” Strife said, even as a smile formed on my face, moving the eagle claw of a hand to my eyes and wiping the rest of the tears away.
“Oh shut your mouth Strife… you’re enjoying every moment of this.” I muttered as I looked at all the smiling, loving faces around me. Diamond Tiara, who I could almost call a sister now after all we had gone through… the Crusaders, Silver Spoon, all who had worked alongside me to help make up for my own mistake of letting Discord free…
Twilight and the others, who had been willing to do everything they could to help the three of us out in our time of need… Pinkie Pie even willing to go as far as adopt us to help us feel welcome here… in our new home.
Yes… that’s what Equestria was now… even if a part of me still wasn’t too keen on the idea. Whether I entirely liked it or not, I was stuck here in Equestria… and it would be better to embrace my new home and these wonderful friends I had made than to isolate myself… to push them away and wallow in my depression at the inability to ever step foot in my old home… to hold my mom and sister in my arms again…
It would be tough… but with friends like these…
“Yuck… come on, someone get me outta here, I’m going to be sick!”
I shook my head, sticking my tongue out at ourself as a giggle, then a chuckle, and finally a laugh echoed out of my mouth, the others soon joining in as the tension and the sadness were washed away.
Everything was going to be okay… as long as I took everything day by day, I would manage. And with my darker half and these loving ponies at my side… it certainly wouldn’t be a problem.
-*-
Sitting atop a nearby tower, watching through the windows as Pinkie Pie sped off into a rapid fire gasps of all the things they needed to do in the coming days, Cain and Strife trying and failing to calm her down so they and everypony else could understand her, was a lonely, mismatched figure. The figure was smirking as he munched on some popcorn, tossing the last few pieces in the air and expertly snatching them with his tongue when they transformed into candy cane butterflies.
“Hmhmhm… I can see you’re putting on a brave face my boy… we’ll see in time whether you’re really that eager to embrace your new life.” Discord chuckled to himself as he ever so briefly locked eyes with the mismatched offspring of his down below, gazing into the blue and red eyes of his son and daughter respectively.
“As for you daughter dear, Daddy expects a lot from you… make me proud while I’m gone! Make sure to make these silly ponies lives as interesting as you can, guahahahaha!!”
With these final words, the Lord of Chaos powered up his magic for one final act, confident in the knowledge that his progeny would be more than up to the task of creating Chaos wherever they went. He in the meantime would go have some fun elsewhere… perhaps one day he would return to see how well his work had gone.
And so with a wink and a flash… the Lord of Chaos vanished away. Leaving only a pair of dueling personalities inside a single body to take up the mantle.
Stats
Page generated in 0.027 seconds
Total duration
779 users online
959,058 hits today, 1,822,946 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Normally I'ts sad to see a story end. But this site is filled with so many stories that are suck in update limbo, actually seeing the word 'epilogue' at the end of a story has become a rare, and welcome, novelty.
It sure beats getting into one only to see the last chapter end on a cliffhanger that was posted two years ago...
Some of this story was rough around the edges. There was a bit of whiplash at the midpoint when it felt the story was changing direction, and the seams of this transition were pretty visible.
Nonetheless, I loved this story. It had enough fun elements to keep me coming back, and I think you gave it a good finale.
As soon as you mentioned playing a game, my thoughts turned to Calvinball.
6253436
That's because about halfway the story started to get written by the two authors. Most of my influence in the story is Luna helping the trio behind Celestia's back, and DT becoming a better pony. The part were Cain and Strife free Discord went by a lot of versions, but I am happy with the one we ended posting.
Strife developing into her own being apart from Cain came as a result of getting Diamond Tiara more involved in the story.
I admit the story could have gone better, but neighter of us is that good at editing and I think it still went pretty good.
Considering this story was basically gonna be canceled before I got involved I think we did a good job.
Say what do you guys think about how Diamond Tiara changed and grew in this fic?
I am happy about that, sure she suffered a lot, but in the end became a stronger and better person because of it.
I enjoyed this story greatly.
Also, I totally envision Discord as having paffed into the Star Trek world from Cain's memories.
6253436
6254052
It must be remembered that sometime around... chapter 3 or 4 I believe, that I started getting help from HoneyHoneyHoney... who while I do appreciate the help he gave, as time went on we began to disagree more on a number of things that eventually lead to him leaving the fic. At that point I was left on my own, and I've discovered from this fact that, at least for longer stories, I do better with a co-author.
Had I decided to continue by myself (and ever actually managed to finish the story) the ending would likely have been different. As it was, I am overall happy with how things have gone, and for that I have a deep amount of appreciation and gratitude to Pinklestia for the help he has given.
6254091
The thought in my head was perhaps that he puffed into other MLP universes, or just other universes in general.
This certainly was fun~
6254273
Personally I see him trolling the world of Equestria Girls before the whole Crown incident but after Sunset arrived there.
6254920
I can go with that, since I have no intention to touch the world of Equestria Girls in my stories. Not out of dislike for the movies, simply because that could mess things up.
Heh, gotta say, this have been a wacky fun chapter. Sad to see what Cain learned about involving the human world, but happy to see that both of them can get a happy ending regardless of the sadness. That was pretty clever with the Calvinball idea, but it seems Discord is showing some cleverness as well. Now, we are getting close to the ending...can't wait to see how everything ends. Good luck with it.
C&Cs will be PM.
It's nice to see this story end. I felt that, for lack of a better term, the ball was never dropped. For a complete story, that is a pretty rare thing. Now onto the ending!
6283441 I'm sorry, I just can't help myself sometimes.
It's just too irresistable.
Well, that wrapped things up nicely. I'm glad that this fic is all nicely finished with closure because the NEXT one ohohohohoho yeah idk
Oh. My. Moon! I loved this story!!!!!
I hope there is a sequel. If not then my imagination will be going into overdrive to make up stuff that will happen. And now Pinkie is a mother!
I would have never thought that Pinkie would be a mother!!! I am rambling. I am sorry. But I can't help it! The story was just that well written and I am at aw with how good it is. 
Hmm…free pie…Maud shows up.
*Processing*
*Processing*
*Ding* OOOOOOOOH! I see what you did there. A free 'Pie'. (That actually made me smile as I got what they meant by that)
I know for a fact that I wasn't the first person to immediately think 'Calvinball' when a game was mentioned. Also, damn what a journey it's been. This version of discord is much more insidious and really made the story that much better. I'm no critic, so I can't really give you a quantifiable rating other than this: Good job!
Yes it is.