Chapter 4: Harmony
Applejack wiped the sweat off of her brow, sighing in satisfaction after a hard day’s work of toil. Oddly her body seemed to be more tired than it normally would be, but surely she’d be able to fix that soon enough.
“Yo!”
The mare turned, seeing a Pegasus who was at one unfamiliar, and yet...some part of her mind tingled with recognition. She tilted her head as she looked over the visitor. “Do Ah know ya, pardner?”
Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Probably not...say, would you mind helping me with something?”
Applejack raised a brow. “Ah dunno, it depends on what favour Ah’m doin’...Ah’m pretty swamped with work here an’ all.”
Rainbow looked around. “You don’t seem too busy; I just need to get some ponies together at the Golden Oaks Library.”
“An’ why the hay do ya need that? An’ why ask me, Ah ain’t one fer books an’ such.”
Rainbow Dash sighed and rolled her eyes. “look, just come along, please? Just going to the library once isn’t gonna hurt anything. Please. Just...trust me on this.” She gave the earth pony a serious gaze. “We NEED you.”
Applejack frowned but shrugged. “Fine, sure. Ah’ll help, ain’t nopony said Ah ain’t one fer helpin’ out ponies. So, what’s yer name anyhow? It’s kinda rude askin’ a favour of somepony without tellin’ ‘em yer name.”
“Name’s Rainbow Dash.”
The earth pony chuckled, eyeing Rainbow’s mane. “Of course it is.”
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Fluttershy cowered in her cottage, refusing to budge an inch (except for bathroom breaks, food and drink). She was all alone, not even animals bothered her. Noone liked her, she was useless, a spineless coward, it was best for everypony if she stayed here, alone. Forever.
Her angsting was interrupted by her door being kicked down.
“O-oh no!” She eeped, eyes widening as she spotted a manically smiling figure.
“Hi! I’m Pinkie Pie, but I’m supposed to be called Pinkamena!” The pink mare grinned, picking the cowering Pegasus up in her hoofs and skipping off with her. Literally skipping, one should add.
“n-no I have to stay in my cottage w-w-where I can’t bother anypony...” Fluttershy quietly argued.
“oh hush hush, Rainbow Dash needs everypony at the library and that includes you!” Pinkie grinned. “It’ll be fun!”
Fluttershy froze. Something about this mare’s demeanour, while frightening, was...reminding her of something. She couldn’t quite place it but for some reason...it calmed her down, if only a tad bit and just for a brief moment.
But in that brief moment, her calm also came with a sense of longing and nostalgia.
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Twilight smiled as she read her book. Oddly it wasn’t all too familiar to her, but it was quite interesting, a mystery/adventure story starring a stage magician who solved various crimes. She grumbled to herself as she was interrupted by her reading by a rather loud knock, turning to look at the door, horn glowing in preparation to open it.
Instead, the door was slammed off its hinges as several ponies (and one dragon) came traipsing in.
“Oh no, don’t wait for me to open the door.” Twilight responded snarkily, rolling her eyes. “It’s not like repairing broken doors is expensive or anything.”
Spike, who had brought in Rarity, simply walked over to the mostly empty shelves, looking desperately at the scattered few that were left behind. “Okay, he definitely didn’t get ALL of them, so maybe it’s here...”
Twilight growled in annoyance as she got to her hooves. “Spike, what are you looking for? And why did you bring all these ponies in here with you!? You know I prefer to read in solitude!”
Rarity scoffed. “This place is so drab, darling, you could really do with an interior decorator...” She frowned in thought. “I still don’t see why I have to be here myself, and with such...inelegant company.”
Fluttershy whimpered and tried to hide her face behind her mane as PInkamena grinned and continued to carry her aloft.
Rainbow rubbed her temple with her hoof. “Look, I’m not sure if you noticed, but Equestria’s gone completely loony! Spike says we’re all connected to the Elements of Harmony, so we need to find them to fix everything.”
“The Elements of Harmony are a myth.” Twilight rolled her eyes, horn glowing. “Now, could whoever you girls are kindly leave and let me get back to reading?”
“No, listen!” Rainbow snapped. “Look, you’re all here because we’re FRIENDS, because Equestria needs us to remember who we are to fix all the damage Discord did...you...no...WE all need to fight this and remember!”
Twilight responded by trying to push Rainbow towards the door, only for a rainbow glow of magic to push back against her, generated by Rainbow’s wings.
“See?” Rainbow grinned as she fought back. “I only remembered a little, but look how amazing I am already...just think of what we can do if we win, what we could all be capable of if we just remembered how everything is supposed to be!” She looked to Spike. “Spike! Did you find anything?”
Spike shook his head sadly. “No books that could conceivably help us...Supernaturals, History of the Two Princesses, not even the Magical Artifact Almanac. Discord made sure all that was left were rather inconsequential...”
Applejack shook her head. “Look, Ah only came along because ya’ll said ya needed help, but if ya just some crazy pony with some cockamamie story about us bein’ friends, well I ain’t gettin’ ta be a part of that.” The mare turned to leave, only for Rainbow’s magic to pull her back by the tail.
“look at you! Just up and trying to leave us!” Rainbow huffed. “You’re supposed to be the loyalist pony around, sticking by your friends through thick and thin! You’re NOT somepony to just turn and leave, especially not your friends!”
Applejack looked a little confused and disheartened, for a moment, before shaking her head. “Look, don’t try an’ confuse me here! Ah have important work at the farm!”
“What, by yourself, nopony to help you? If you had some friends, they could help lighten the workload, give you more time for yourself. You could even have time to work on making dresses.”
The earth pony shook her head at that, scrunching up her face in disgust. “Ah ain’t some pampered priss who only cares about looking pretty in some glittery, frou-frou outfit!”
Spike slammed his fast on the shelves. “You aren’t! You made all sorts of different clothes, for different ponies and different occasions! You had such passion for it, for trying to bring out the best in a pony through their looks! But you were also strong, steadfast and loyal! Your passion, your loyalty, how you stood by your beliefs no matter what anypony said, no matter what hardships you faced, those were all things I admired in you!”
Twilight scoffed. “Ugh, we’re going to be here all day going in circles! What else could go wrong?”
Rainbow grindingly turned her head towards the unicorn, glaring daggers. “Why. Why did you say that. Why, in all the name of the sun and moon, did you think saying THAT PHRASE was an excellent idea!?”
Pinkamena giggled as she looked out the window. “Oh hey! It’s my sister, the crazy prankster Limestone Pie!”
Spike facepalmed. “Gosh darnit Twi...” He sighed. “Alright, you girls just keep discussing this, maybe try to figure out where Discord hid the Elements, I’m gonna go deal with this joker...”
Rainbow frowned at the dragon. “You sure you’ll be okay?”
Spike shook his head. “No clue, she was a handful even BEFORE teaming up with Discord, but I’m not going to be much help otherwise and you girls don’t need the distraction.” Before more could be said, he walked out through the open door towards figure standing a few metres from the tree.
Dr Prankie Pie grinned wide, wearing spiral patterned glasses, a fake moustache, a red clown nose and a large plaid patterned top hat, an accordion between her forehooves. “Oh wow, if it isn’t Raibow Dash’s sidekick! Move aside, compadre, I’m here to get my revenge!”
“Not happening, I’m not letting you through!”Spike folded his arms, glaring.
Dr Prankie shrugged...and began playing her accordion, creating a sonic boom that sent spike flying bodily backwards into the house.
“Spike!” Rainbow cried out in concern as she rushed to the dragon’s side.
Rarity frowned as she looked over the purple dragon. “Is...is he alright...?”
As the group looked Spike over, several clones of Dr Prankie spontaneously appeared, surrounding the tree house as they played their accordions, beginning a cheerful song.
“So this is it
You’re in a fix
Why not just give uuuup~?
Your mind’s unwound
out of your element
and everything’s gone belly uuup!
But that’s just fine!
The world is dull, the world is lame!
The world’s a goner, it’s so insa-ane!
Can’t you see that the world needs a little bit of
DISCOR-OR-OR-ORD!?
DISCOR-OR-OR-ORD!”
At this, other instruments replaced the accordions as sonic vibrations buffeted the treehouse.
Rainbow wrapped a wing protectively around Spike. “She’s trying to destroy us with the power of music! NOW do you girls see what I’m on about!?”
Twilight held her hooves over her head. “This is CRAZY! What they HAY have you roped me into!?”
“This is MOST unseemly!” Rarity huffed in annoyance. “All I wanted to do was make some dresses today...”
“WHAT!?”Applejack yelled out. “Did somepony say something!?”
“WHAT!?” Rarity cried out. “I DIDN’T HEAR THAT!”
“WHAT!?”
Rainbow rolled her eyes, desperately trying to think of something. Words weren’t getting through, however, and even she was only dimly aware of the truth. They needed something more to remind these girls of who they were, then they could locate the elements.
Outside, Dr Prankie continued her song, the many instruments carried by her clones sending out stronger vibrations as their music grew louder.
“You girls are so annoying!
I don’t really see the fuss!
You say we’re crazy and chaos isn’t fun
Well I say you’re just a grumpyguss!
Oh don’t be sad, don’t be glum!
Don’t be mad, My little Chums!
Everything’s a lot more fun with a little bit of
DISCOR-OR-ORD!
DISCOR-OR-ORD!”
Fluttershy peeked out from the bottom of the nearest window. “I-I don’t know why...but for some reason that pony seems very familiar...a-and her song bothers me a little...”
“Me too!” Pinkamena declared cheerfully. “It’s very annoying and I want to toss a rock at her face!”
Spike groaned as he rose up. “Ughh...I could try something...I’m not sure if I can even do it though...”
Rainbow looked at him, brow raised in puzzlement, however she nodded in approval.
Rarity shook her head. “Darling you might have gotten seriously injured, I don’t think you should strain yourself with whatever you’re thinking.”
“It’s the only thing I can think...after all, somehow Prankie has Discord’s powers too, so we need the elements to deal with her too.” He scrunched his eyes shut, soon opening his mouth wide and making loud gagging noises and belches.
Rarity narrowed her eyes in disgust. “...I don’t see how performing such disgusting noises is supposed to help anypony.”
“Ah have ta agree.” Applejack got to her hooves. “An Ah say we get out there an’ charge! Surely we can overwhelm her!”
Spike’s eyes rolled back as he continued to gag and cough, small bursts of flames sparking from his mouth.
“When she alone outnumbers already?” Rainbow questioned. “That’s not a good plan. In fact, I’d say that’s not a good plan at all. It’s bad, it’s a bad plan.”
“It’s better waitin’ here ta get destroyed, cowerin’ like scared little prairie dogs, or trying to throw up like this crazy dragon here!”
Suddenly, a blast of green flame sent rolls of parchment flying everywhere, striking some of the assorted mares or falling to the floor.
Rainbow opened one, eyes widening in recognition. “This is...”
Applejack opened one up herself, drawn by curiosity and...a strange sense of nostalgia. “’Dear Princess Celestia...’” Her eyes widened as she read, the letter detailing how she travelled to Appleoosa with her friends to deal with her family.
A memory flashed in her mind.
Applejack fiddled with the pretty dress she wore, feeling uncomfortable as she walked around the high society crowd as they stared at her. She could just FEEL their disapproval of her.
“Hey! What’s your name?”
She turned to the filly who just spoke to her. “A-Applejack..”
“You look so cute in that dress!” The filly cheered. “Did you make it yourself?”
“No Ah didn’t...”
“Oh that’s okay, not a lot of ponies do either, come along, I got some friends you can introduce yourself to, I’m sure lots of ponies would love to hear more about yourself!”
“A-Ah don’t really think so...Ah ain’t exactly part of this...’scene’.”
“Oh don’t be silly! Cute mares like yourself need to have more confidence!” The filled lead her over to a small group of ponies their age. “All that matters is you don’t be afraid to be yourself!”
Applejack shook her head. “W-wha...?”She flexed her hoof. “A-Ah...Ah was ‘cute’...?”
Twilight frowned at her own letter, reading through it, this one detailing how she generously catered for one of Fluttershy’s parties without requiring any pay.
Twilight whistled cheerfully as she telekinetically plucked some apples from the trees. She noticed a timid little filly walking nearby looking hungry and so threw her four apples she picked. “Here!”
The filly yelped as she just abrely managed to catch the apples. “U-um...th-thank you Miss Twilight...!” she dashed off hurriedly.
A lanky, moustachioed stallion trotted over. “Why are you so willing to give away our hard grown products, Twilight? That stuff doesn’t grow on trees you know!” He paused in realization. “....wait.”
Twilight giggled. “Well, when I was a filly, my family lost everything because of ponies being greedy, so I came to the conclusion that I should not be like those ponies! I decided I will always give whenever I am able and never take what I do not need or deserve. Besides, it just feels wonderful giving somepony something without expecting anything in return, the simple act of giving to somepony is all I need to feel fulfilled!”
Twilight blinked, taken aback by those words and seeing herself in a farm rather than the cosy treehouse. Hearing those words come out of her own mouth however...made her feel warm...whole.
Fluttershy eeped as a letter fluttered over her face, her eyes instantly taking in the words written within.
A greyish mare with a purple mane looking like a large sample of cotton candy grinned wide at her.
“I know it can be scary and its not nice when ponies are mean to you, but that’s okay! Here’s what I think: go back tomorrow, smile and sing them a song! Even if SOME of them still act mean and all you names, I’m sure if you just sing from the heart and show them some cheer most ponies will side with you, because most ponies are just friends who don’t know they want to be friends yet! And if they’re still mean, then that’s okay too, cause if you smile and sing you won’t be able to listen and they won’t hurt you anymore! Plus its way more fun to smile and laugh then to sit alone and cry!”
Fluttershy’s eyes widened, taken aback by the simplicity of the advice. “Just...smile...and sing...”
Rarity looked around and shrugged, daintily reading her own letter.
Rarity stood on a rooftop, grinning wide, before leaping off....and crashing on top of a pony below her.
“Oh no I’m sorry!” Rarity gasped and got to her hooves, hurrildy pulling out some disinfectant and a bandaid from her first aid kit. “I’ll fix that up in a jiffy!”
“I...I was more concerned about hurting somepony that I never even thought about being injured myself...” Rarity softly muttered to herself.
Pinkamena grinned excitedly as she looked at a letter that had her name on it, excitied to see what was written-
‘Dear Princess Celestia, my friend acquaintance pony I have interacted with frequently is very honest. She is...a pony with a good interest in rocks.
Sincerely, Rainbow Dash.’
Pinkamena’s grin evaporated into an annoyed frown instantly, eyes glaring, before sighing in relief. “That’s better.”
Back outside, Dr Prankie continued her song, her clones jumping in the air to combine into a massive balloon shaped like a cannon, pointed right as the treehouse.
“So now it comes to an end
Your friendship!
Harmony!
The world as you know it!
So when it’s all said and done
Chaos rules, number one!
But don’t feel too bad, after all I’m now a bit of
DISCOR-OR-OR-ORD!
DISCOR-OR-OR-ORD!
And now that I’m done, SO ARE YOU!”
She laughed wildly as she leapt up, ready to strike her cannon, only for a surge of light to rise up from the tree shot up and struck her, destroying her wapon and sending her crashing to the ground. As she got to her hooves, her eyes widened in disbelief at the ponies trotting towards her.
“N-No way! Th-that’s impossible! Your Elements were taken away, your friendship’s destroyed, you couldn’t even SEE Discord’s chaos! HOW WERE YOU ABLE TO DO THAT!?”
Rainbow smirked at the mad prankster pony. “Discord didn’t destroy our friendship, merely covered it with falsehood. The Elements weremerely the catalyst to connect us to their power, we’re as much the Elements as the actual artefacts! All we needed was to remember who we were, our friendship and the natures that bound us to the Elements, and we were able to tap into a power that was within us all along.” Rainbow smirked. “And now that we have that connection again, I know exactly where the artefacts themselves are...”
Pinkamena punched her sister hard in the stomach, causing her false teeth to be spat out...along with the Elements of harmony, which glowed and hovered over to place themselves on their respective owner.
Applejack gagged and winced in disgust. “Oh how revolting...after we save the world we really need to clean these things thoroughly..”
Fluttershy laughed. “Oh can you believe how weird that was!? Your hooves were so dirty Aj! And Rarity sounded so silly trying to sound like an upperclass pony!” She gasped. “Oh! And the best part! Pinkie was SMILING!”
PInkamena sighed. “Yeah you’re not gonna shut up about that anytime soon are you?”
“NOPE!”
Prankie grinned as the group was distracted, rising high as her hooves transformed into giant, white gloved hands, a pie in one hand and a cartoon bomb in the other. “Oh no, you’re not ruining my fun THAT fast!” Her body lengthened to incredible, serpentine lengths as her wide grin grew into a massive set of pearly white chompers, her hat changing into a massive cannon. “We’re gonna party FOREVER!”
“Oh no how terrifying.” Pinkamena deadpanned. “Whatever shall we do? If only we had some sort of magical artefact that could instantly defeat our enemies OH WAIT.”
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Yeah Pinkamena, we get it. Okay girls, remember, concentrate.”
The group closed their eyes, elements glowing as they rose to the air, Prankie laughing as she threw a custard pie at the six mares...however the pie disintegrated before it could connect and a magical aura grew around the group.
“Huh.” Dr Prankie remarked. “Well, try this on for size!” She threw the bomb at them as it exploded into confetti, the aura of magic surrounding the girls growing bigger and brighter. “Well I still have this!” Prankie aimed her cannon, firing volleys of pineapples in a row...until, suddenly, a massive burst of rainbow coloured energy flew straight towards her and struck her down, her body returning to its normal proportions as a strange, chaotic purple mass of energy was forced out of her mouth and she was sent flying to the distance.
As the group floated down to terra firma, Pinkamena raised a brow. “You know, I get the feeling we’ve forgotten something in all this nonsense.”
A snap rang through the air as their Elements vanished in a flash of white light, the girls gasping in shock (save Pinkamena who merely acted uninterested and Fluttershy who clapped and demanded an encore), eyes looking around until they spotted the Elements...swirling midair above the massive paw of Discord who hovered several miles in the air above them.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk, I’m SO disappointed in you lot.” Discord sniggered, smirking mockingly. “All I wanted was to show you just how boring and painful your lives would be without a little chaos to spice things up, and what do you do? Spit in my face and toss it all aside for dull order, despite the fact you girls should be on MY side! Oh well, good thing I had a backup plan in case things didn’t work out, and now I have the Elements. Again. What game shall I have you girls play next...perhaps I could think up a riddle for you to misinterpret and then get lost...”
“That’s enough Discord!” Rainbow Dash declared, pointing at the chaos spawn accusingly. “All you have proven is that you’re a vile, sadistic MONSTER and well will end your reign here and now!”
“A monster, moi?” Discord gasped in mock hurt. “I’m simply FLABBERGASTED by such an accusation! What have I done to deserve such SLANDER!”
“You messed around in our minds and almost trapped us in a living nightmare.” Pinkamena growled.
“Yeah, that wasn’t very fun at all!” Fluttershy pouted, crossing her hooves. “I thought you were fun, but you’re just MEAN!”
“Oh, please, what have I done to you RECENTLY?” The chaos being turned his head aside.
“That was MINUTES ago, you jerk!”
Discord waved his bony arm dismissively. “Semantics! No matter, even though you somehow returned to your former selves, you don’t have the elements, you cannot defeat me! NOONE can!”
The others looked worried (save Pinkamena), however Rainbow Dash smirked. “Really? You think you have the Elements of Harmony?”
Discord looked at her disparagingly, gesturing to the artefacts floating near him. “Um, uh duh?”
Rainbow shook her head. “No, what you have are objects made of gold and gemstone. Those were merely catalyst, a...conductor. The Elements...are within US!” Her body began to glow, as did those of her friends. “And you can NEVER take them away from us, no matter how much you mess with our heads, change our memories, blind us to what is going on, or take the physical Elements!"
Discord gasped as the Elements were pulled from his grasp. He snapped his fingers to teleport them to him again, only for them to be pulled away each time back to their respective owner. “I-Impossible!”
“What’s the matter, Discord?” Rarity blew a raspberry as she mocked him. “I thought you liked surprises, a bit of chaos?”
“NOT WHEN IT’S NOT ME DOING IT!” Discord roared in fury, eyes literally turning ablaze. “How DARE you cheat me!?”
Rainbow smirked as the energy gathered around them, preparing to blast Discord and end the nightmare.
“Oh? OH!? You think I’ll just LET you do that then!?” Discord snapped his fingers, the mares crying out as a burst of light sent them crashing to the ground and pushed apart from each other. “Do you have ANY idea what I’m like WHEN! I’M! MAD!?”
Rainbow glared and charged towards Discord’s head, spreading her wings as they glowed. Her glare turned to a look of astonishment as a herd of oxen in ballerina outfits danced towards her threateningly. Rainbow leapt high, gliding over the entourage, only for a snap to ring out and her wings to vanish in a burst of white light. Rainbow Dash cried out as she began to fall towards the charging herd, only for Twilight to dive in and grab her, cushioning her fall with her body as they landed past the line of ballerinas.
Rainbow gasped and got to her hooves as she turned to her friend. “Twilight, are you alright!?”
Twilight got up, dusting herself off. “Yeah I’m fine Rainbow, don’t worry, I’ve had a scrape or two, I can handle it.”
“We need to get the girls together, we have to try again!”
Twilight nodded. “I agree.”
The pair heard a sizzling sound as they leapt back, the ground where they once stood replaced by boiling lava, Discord’s bone claw reclining on an inflatable chair atop the mass,wagging it’s bony finger. “Oh no no no no, we can’t have that!”
Rainbow and Twilight ran in opposite directions, giant candy canes tearing out through the ground as they ran. “Girls! We need to regroup, he’s trying to keep us apart so we can’t use the Elements!”
Pinkamena dropkicked through a huge pair of pearly white teeth as she dodged a swipe from Discord’s massive Ursa arm, looking around herself, sighing as she saw fluttershy. “Lousy goshdarn group based magical powers...flippin’ pain in the flank...” She ran over to Fluttershy, who grinned wide as she rode on Discord’s train tail which bucked like a bronco.
“YEEEEE HAWWWWW!” Fluttershy giggled, leaping off the...appendage to glide over and pick up Pinkamena in her hooves, gliding along....only for her wings to vanish and the two of them to crash to the the bouncy ground.
Pinkamena sighed as the paired bounced along, an avalanche of bowling balls heading towards them as Discord’s torso dropped them from thin air.”I hate Mondays...” she muttered as Fluttershy cheered in excitement, neither pony noticed the glow surrounding their bodies.
Rarity eeped as a horde of books knocked itself against her head, a whole hoard of them flapping overhead like butterflies, surrounding Discord’s legs. “Ugh, hardbacks! Why did they have to be hardbacks!”
Applejack frowned. “How wasteful, I can sympathise with Rainbow, a fine book is a terrible thing to waste...you know you could possibly try to get out of this...”
Rarity shook her head. “No, I couldn’t. You’re all my friends, you need me, you might get hurt and I couldn’t stand the thought...not to mention how many ponies Discord has likely hurt already...”
Applejack smirked daintily. “And I wouldn’t abandon my friends to no matter what...no matter how ridiculous or dangerous the situation becomes.”
They blinked in surprise as they began to glow.
Discord laughed as his neck lengthened, trailing along the sky as he twisted the landscape to his mad will, throwing whatever he could at his enemies. “That’s right, it’s so much more fun when you try to struggle, when you think you can beat me! BUT YOU CAN’T!” He laughed loudly.
Rainbow Dash spread her wings as Twilight stood beside her. “We won’t give up! My friends are with me and I am with my friends, we do not fear you!” Her body began to glow, along with her element.
“And I will give my all to help my friends and everypony in the world!” Twilight added, her own element glowing. “I will give up everything to ensure the world is safe and as it should be!”
Discord laughed, beginning to retort, only to notice the ponies glowing as they stood in groups of two. “No...no! What are you doing!? STOP IT!”
A burst of rainbow light and the separate groups were pulled together, hovering in the air in a circle. In a trance, they raised hooves high as magical energy twirled and spun around their bodies.
Discord snarled, snapping his fingers, a white flash appearing around the group...only for it to be frozen and shattered as they rainbow beam of magic came flying towards him, striking him in the face. The magi began to take effect, his head slowly freezing to stone...only for his eyes and mouth to fly off, attaching themselves to his disembodied wings. “Not again! I won’t let it happen again!”
However, rather than dissipating, the beam of magic followed after him, striking his wings. Again, his eyes and mouth fled to his massive ursa arm, which swung down towards the ponies. “You IDIOTS! You have no idea what’s waiting for you! I’m offering you something great, something INTERESTING!” Again, the raced to his current host, turning it to stone as it was knocked away from the mares.
Discord once again fled his torso, making it spin to form a tornado, however the winds calmed as the beam of magic tore through, sending him fleeing to his left and right legs, one eye on each as his mouth was attached to both, attempting to stomp down, fleeing once more as the magic gave chase.
His face attached itself to the front end of his tail, charging forward at full speed. “You think you’re ‘saving your world’, but if you knew about HIM, about what HE’LL do, you’d wish you kept me around! I’m the only one who can stop him! He’s coming BACK, you idiots, and without me around to hold him back, he’ll eat EVERYTHING alive!”
The magic finally enveloped him completely, his facial features futilely leaping off to escape, already turning to stone midflight, dropping to the ground one by one.
With a final burst of rainbow magic, harmony spread throughout the world, returning the world to its original form, free of Discord’s chaos.
----------------------------
The six mares and Spike stood in the town square. They group would be resting, were it not for the fact that Ponyville had two very special guests: the princesses themselves. Behind the pair, the royal guard was being directed by their Captain as they set to work retrieving the separate, petrified parts of Discords body.
“Why was he turned to stone...?” Rarity wondered. “Last time the elements turned Nightmare Moon good...” She blanched and grimaced. “I-I mean Princess Luna, of course!”
Luna shook her head. “it’s quite fine, it will be a long time yet before Equestria will forget my transgressions...as for why it happened differently, we are no experts as I only truly wielded the Elements once and my sister twice, and neither of us fully know or understand them or their origins completely. However, if I had to hazard a guess, I’d say the difference was the Elements removed a foreign entity possessing my form and allowing me to be who I truly am, while Discord...while not only is he chaos personified, he is also a genuinely cruel and selfish creature.”
Celestia nodded. “I concur, I doubt there is a shred of kindness, generosity, loyalty, honesty or friendship in his heart...and what laughter he spread was for his own hedonistic whims.” She shook her head. “The royal guard is still searching for the miscreant who began this nightmare in the first place...”
Rarity frowned. “I’m more worried about all the ponies this affected...who knows how many will need therapy after this...”
“Too many...” Celestia lowered her head. “we only mitigated him the first time because we took him by surprise and we got him early...sadly we were too late...because we had to wait to give you the Elements...twice now, an enemy managed to take the Elements when they were supposedly safe in our hooves. Not again, this WILL NOT happen again.”
Rainbow raised her eyebrow. “Princess...?”
“From this day forth, the safety of the Elements Harmony shall be kept in the hooves of their bearers, to be used at the bearer’s discretion.” Celestia smiled at the ponies. “Equestria no longer needs us to solve all its problems...”
Rainbow stared in awe. “That’s...uhh...are you sure Princess...?”
Luna chuckled. “WE are positive this is for the best...and once more, we’ll need to hold a ceremony to reward you properly for the service you’ve done our country...perhaps some actual medals this time...”
Twilight shook her head. “Oh that’s not necessary at all, Princess.” Applejack, Rarity and Pinkamena glared at her. “Besides, we wouldn’t have done it without Spike...he’s the real hero today...”
The purple dragon looked away sheepishly. “It was nothing...really...”
Rainbow smirked at him. “Don’t sell yourself short, Spike, you saved EVERYPONY’s bacon today. Not that I’m surprised, you’re my Number One Assistant after all!”
Spike blushed and looked away in embarrassment.
Celestia smiled. “Then you shall all get medals! And Spike shall have the biggest one!” She chuckled as she and Luna turned to oversee clean up of the town that was at the centre of Discord’s madness
“Wait now hold on!” Applejack raised a hoof to object. “Now Ah think you’re being a bit too hasty deciding who gets the...bigger...medal...” She lowered her hoof as her plea fell on death ears, the Princesses already moving along. “Darnit...”
Rarity frowned. “I don’t know about you girls...but something still troubles me...Discord was trying to warn us about something...”
“He was...probably jsut trying to trick us...to...save himself...probably..” Rainbow Dash lamely replied. “Let’s not worry about something said by a crazy demigod while he was in the midst of getting his flank kicked.”
Pinkamena gazed at her. “You better hope you’re right...otherwise we’re in a bigger mess if DISCORD was the preferable choice...”
Rainbow gulped, pale faced as she gazed ahead, hoping to the sun she was...
------------------
Sunset Shimmer sat in a dark cave in the frozen north, horn glowing as she focused her magic. She smirked as she felt...something. Something out there...calling to her...no, calling to HIM.
“You shall become whole...” She muttered, smirking grimly.
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So, in addition to the many differences between this 'verse and the mane one that exist already...
1. The mane 6 get constant custody of the elements LONG before they do in canon.
2. There's likely not going to be a "Keep Calm and Flutter On" like situation.
3. Sunset's still in Equestria and trying to resurrect Sombra for revenge.
4. Thanks to that author's note, I assume that the adventures in the Daring Do equivalent are all made up... or are they real and Trixie is merely the one who writes about them?
I AM looking forward as to what's next in this world, though I feel like some of the older fics that haven't been updated should be continued first...especially the one about Diamond Tiara.
And one last thing that I'm going to put here to save up on comments:
Have you ever considered doing a crossover fic where somehow this world's mane 6 and the canon mane 6 meet?
I think that would be a VERY fun story.
8180552 yes, this universe's equivalent to Daring Do (The Great and Powerful Jinx, for reference) is wholly fictional and created by Trixie.
Sombra is quite different in this verse, and that's all I'm gonna say.
I do intend to get back to my older stories, its just some of them do have their progress on the hard drive of my old computer so yeah....still working on it though, just...need to work up the motivation >.<
and I do have plans for a crossover, there's just a fic I have planned that needs to happen first
8180728
Naturally, he'll be different.
I see.
I'd ask what it's about but that's probably spoilers.
8181138 it involves what I at least assume to be popular villains, the Bad Apples
8182731 I see.
So, Sombra is actually going to be competent in this 'verse. In my headcanon Sombra is a great villain, he is just more devious than he is given credit for.
8187483 I will say he will be a more active threat than in canon once I get to him. The way I have things structured in my head, he'll have to wait a bit.
any other thoughts on this cchapter, if you don't mind my asking?
8187952
Classic Villain Mistake; underestimation.
I love how Spike was the one that got the ball rolling in order for Discord to be defeated.
Murphy: And thanks for giving me more work. *sigh* The paperwork on this is going to be a mess.
8188120 The spike thing was completely intentional I assure you : 3 and well, spoilers, its gonna be revisited later on too
So Discord won't be reformed in this version of Equestria?
8577456
nope! this Discord is a huge asshole!
8577472
Fair enough
I get the feeling Discord was reffering to a certain centaur.
8956488
actually Discord has never met Tirek in this continuity
a chapter for Spectrum of the Rainbow (which I have unfortunately left neglected for a while >.>;) has a bit more detail regarding Discord's backstory. Just a bit.
8957982
Oh. Well I thought it was Tirek. Boy I have some catching up to do.
8958975
XD its fine
I do have plans for Tirek incidentally but they have no real connection to discord.