A Different World: The Future and Fate of Equestria

by Riclo

Chapter 11 | Rage Beyond Words

Twilight Sparkle's POV

Back at the hotel room, Rainbow Dash had gone over everything she knew about Klade's weapons and how they worked to the best of her knowledge. Apparently what the guns did was shoot a projectile at an extremely fast pace, so fast that it had the possibility of penetrating through an entire pony with just its mere velocity alone. This could of course mean death to any pony or animal in its vicinity, but unfortunately Rainbow didn't know just how they worked exactly, and I couldn't figure it out either through my ventures with the gun Klade dropped. I knew I remembered seeing more of them back when I looked at the trunk of Duston's golf cart, so the next time I was in Ponyville that was something I was going to have to take a look at in hopes that maybe they would shed more light on just how they worked exactly.

Right after we had returned from deactivating the tower, I sent a letter to Princess Celestia documenting everything that had happened during the trip. She had requested to meet with her the following morning, which is what we were currently working on - we were all packed in the carriage and on our way back at the moment. I at least felt a little better about this trip back; we had successfully made some progress against our enemies, as opposed to our other blunders previously. Our secondary goal of capturing Klade unfortunately didn't go through, much to Rainbow's annoyance, but the rest of us were still glad to at least have done something good. Either way, there was still nothing more I wanted to do other than just lay down not knowing what to do with myself. I didn't know how to handle all of the negative emotions I was experiencing, and I wanted it all to just go away... somehow. I felt horrible, but thinking that I didn't have a choice, I pressed on.

The carriage soon arrived at Canterlot, and we all stepped out, ready to seek out an audience with the princesses to find out just what we could do next. When we arrived at the planning room we saw only Celestia and Luna this time, and I was the first to speak up as we all trotted into the room.

"What is it that you needed to tell us?"

"There is more good news to be heard." Celestia replied. "As of yesterday, Los Pegasus' tower has stopped working. We're unsure why as of now, but we're hoping it will stay that way."

"Really? That's awesome! That means we're making even more progress!" Pinkie Pie cheerfully exclaimed.

"Hopefully that means those things ain't too reliable." Applejack remarked.

Celestia nodded lightly. "That would be desirable. There is one thing that I'd like to ask regarding the Elements of Harmony. I was told that their power was able to stop the tower in Twilight Sparkle's letter, which is something I hadn't considered, but... was this before or after it was activated?"

"Well... both, actually." I answered. "It was in the process of being activated when the elements and us stopped it. We could feel its effects pressuring against us initially, but after the magic was released, it seemed to break through effortlessly. At least.. that's how I remember it."

"It seemed to feel that way too." Rarity chimed in. "So I can agree with that sentiment." The rest of the mane 6 appeared to be nodding their head in agreement, which prompted Celestia to continue.

"If that's the case, then perhaps the elements can be used to put a stop to the remaining two towers in Baltimare and Manehattan."

"We could try." I responded.

"But what of Discord?" Princess Luna spoke up. "We are already aware that the Elements of Harmony no longer effect him. He is still roaming freely and a threat to be considered."

"Discord will have to be dealt with in another way." Celestia replied. "For the moment he seems to be sticking to the shadows, only appearing now and then. He's certainly planning something, but for now there isn't much we can do to him directly unless he changes his strategy."

"So then this could take awhile." Applejack attested. "We take down a tower, then he puts up another one, over and over again."

"That's possible, but we can't just not do anything." Celestia noted. "For now, our next goal it to take down one of the towers in either of those cities."

By now I had found myself unintentionally zoning out, simply staring ahead of me with a blank expression. This was usually something that would never happen when it came to something important like this, but I didn't even realize what was going on until I noticed just how silent it was. I blinked, perking my head up and suddenly feeling a shot of anxiety as I hoped that nobody was waiting on me. Everything seemed normal though, and I felt relieved at that as I heard somepony else speak up.

"Baltimare sounds fine to me then." Rainbow Dash expressed. "We've already been there and everything, so we'll know what it's like."

Celestia nodded. "Then that will be your next destination. I'll prepare a carriage to be ready as soon as possible." She paused for a second before looking directly at me. "Twilight Sparkle, I'd like to have a word with you in private for a short moment."

I didn't comprehend what she was telling me at first, until suddenly my eyes went wide at the realization. "M..me? O-of course Princess." I quickly nodded my head and felt waves of stress flowing through me. What could she possibly want with me? Was I in trouble? Did she notice me zone out? I glanced at my friends who were all looking at me with the same curious expression, before I began trotting forward up to Celestia. I followed her into the next room, where I breathed in deeply and tried my best to look attentive. "What is it Princess Celestia?"

She responded my lifting her hoof and placing it on my shoulder. "Please, relax. You have no need to be so burdened around me."

I nodded lightly and quickly replied. "It's nothing Celestia I.. well I just I.. am just surprised, is all!" I tried my best to force a smile. "I wasn't expecting this!" Was I really stumbling over my words now? This kind of thing usually never happened!

"You are unwell." She replied. "You're pushing yourself too hard and I'm becoming worried for your self-being. You've been through alot, Twilight, so I'll be willing to take your place for these next few endeavors so you can rest."

I blinked as I listened to her - I certainly wasn't expecting something like that. "I... you mean, you'll take my place?" I looked up at her in shock, to which she nodded.

"For the time being, yes. I'd be more than happy to do so."

I slowly lowered my head and stared in-front of me as I thought over what she was saying. Princess Celestia herself was offering to take my place! I felt the urge to just run up to her and suffocate her in a huge, tight hug for that, but... I didn't. Everything inside was screaming at me to say yes, but yet that wasn't what I was doing as I replied. "...Thank you Celestia, that really, really means alot, but um... I'll be fine." I looked back up at her and found myself staring into her eyes. She didn't seem to be convinced by that, but nodded her head after awhile anyway.

"I see." She replied. I didn't know why I was refusing her offer - I felt as if for some reason I would be disappointing her if I accepted. We continued to look at each other for a few more seconds in silence before I was the next to speak up.

"Um... is that all you needed to see me about?" She nodded silently, and from there I slowly began to turn around to leave the room. My steps were slow, and I felt like I should turn around and change my mind; everything in my mind was telling me to do that, but yet I kept walking forward and eventually out of the room. My friends were all looking at me with curious expressions, to which one of them spoke up.

"What did she have to say Twilight..?" Fluttershy asked. I looked at her and it took me a few seconds before I replied.

"It was nothing." Truth to be told, I felt like I had just made a mistake - why on Equestria did I say no? I turned my head to look back at the room I just walked out of, yet I felt as if I had already made my choice and it was over. Did I say no because I wanted to prove myself to her? I didn't even know, and my thoughts were interrupted by Rarity speaking out.

"That look on your face tells the complete opposite. What went on in there, if I may ask?"

I looked over at Rarity before sighing. "She just.. wanted to make sure I was alright. That's all."

"Well, you're not!" Spike replied. "Even I know that!"

"I'll be fine." I paused for a second and then quickly continued before anyone else could respond. "We have to get ready to go to.. Baltimare, right? Let's go!" I walked right past everyone, clearly not wanting to spend anymore time talking about that. I kept walking until I reached the room in the castle that I was staying in, and I went straight to my bed, laying down and letting out a muffled groan as I let my face press into the covers.

'What am I even doing? Why did I say no? I'm such an idiot sometimes! I just...' I rolled over and stared up at the ceiling. 'I think... Spike is right. I think everyone is right - there's something seriously wrong with me. I need to do something.. but I can't just keep doing this. I've never felt like this before and I.. I don't know how to handle it.' I felt like I couldn't relax, and eventually Spike's voice was the next thing I heard.

"What did Celestia tell you in there?"

I stared up at the ceiling, not even bothering to respond for the first several seconds. "She... offered to take my place. For the time being."

"Wait... she did?" Spike looked shocked at that. "And what did you say? Did you actually say no?"

"I.. yes I did, Spike!!!" I shot up from the bed and yelled at him. "I don't even know what I'm doing!! I don't know why I declined her offer, I'm just being so BUCKING stupid right now!!! I hate it! Why is all of this happening to me!?" I slammed my hoof down against the bed. "It's like I'm not even myself!!"

"Twilight... It's not too late to go back and talk to-"

"YES IT IS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I screamed at his face, glaring at him with wide, angry eyes. I panted softly and then sighed, throwing myself off the bed and going straight to my things. "Just don't even talk to me right now - please... before I do something stupid, I don't know." I grabbed my stuff and started forcefully packing it in my saddlebags. "I'm Princess Celestia's one and only student, right? Of course I can handle this! I can handle anything, right Spike?" Before he could say anything I responded for him, imitating his voice. "Oh yeah, you're right Twilight! You're the best! You can do anything!" I paused for a second and then continued again as myself. "You bet I can! I'm Celestia's only student and I can do-"

"TWILIGHT!!!!!" Spike yelled at me, interrupting my long, crazy rant. "Can you please... stop? You're scaring me! I've never seen you like this before."

"Really?? Me neither!!" I let out a loud giggle and smiled. "I'm perfectly fine Spike, don't worry. Just make yourself comfortable while me and everyone are gone." I reached out and patted his head with my hoof. "Celestia must've been a genius when she picked me out to be her student. Don't worry about a thing, I've got this!!" From there I walked straight out of the room with my saddlebag, leaving Spike behind to just stare at me as I left. I searched for my friends, and once everyone was ready, we set off straight for Baltimare.

---

I spent the trip there mostly in silence, although I did get alot of questioning looks from my friends. Even Pinkie wasn't as talkative as she usually was during these trips, but every time someone asked if I was alright, I would always just dismiss it saying I was fine. The atmosphere of the carriage ride was a bit unsettling thanks to me, but I really couldn't even care about that right now. All I wanted to do was focus on one thing, which was deactivating the tower.

The carriage arrived at Baltimare soon enough, and we all stepped out, where I was the first to speak up.

"Come on, lets go. We can put the elements on when we arrive at the building." I proceeded to walk straight towards the direction of the tower, where Pinkie was the next to speak up.

"Um... Are you sure that's a good idea though? I mean, usually the elements only work if we're all like, really getting along and everything. I'm not sure if I feel that way right now!"

I paused my walking as I felt rage coursing through me - I really didn't want to deal with any criticism right now. I breathed in deeply, trying my best not to yell at her before turning my head and smiling a huge, unnatural grin. "You know what Pinkie, you're absolutely right!!!!!!!! Thanks for reminding me!!" I turned around and walked back towards my friends. "How about we all have one big group hug before we head over to the tower together??"

"Yeah! I like that idea." Pinkie smiled, and in an instant she grouped us all into a circle. "We're in this together!"

"You're right Pinkie!! We're in this together!" I wrapped my hooves around the friends that were next to me and vented out my rage through a much tighter than necessary hug. Once everyone was done, I let go and continued. "Lets go everypony, follow me. If you have any more questions or concerns, please don't mind asking me!" I breathed in deeply and smiled wider. "I would absolutely love to answer any of your questions!!!!!!"

No one seemed to voice any concerns, and from there I began walking towards the building the tower was located at, this time with my friends following close behind me. We eventually arrived after around fifteen or so minutes, and just like last time, the stallion was still guarding the entrance. He blinked when he saw us and then spoke up.

"You six again?" He asked. "I hope that means good news!"

"You bet it does!!!" I responded with a smile. "We're here to try and stop that tower." I turned my head to look back at my friends. "Aren't I right girls??"

"Yeah!" Pinkie happily replied. "I'm surprised to see you still here though mister. It's been days!"

"I know, I know." The stallion replied. "I wasn't planning on it either, but apparently I ain't got a choice - not when pony lives are on the line. I'm here to stay 'til the tower is no more."

"Well, hopefully today is your last day then." I exclaimed. From there I levitated out the Elements of Harmony from my saddlebag, and I brought them over to each of their respective ponies. "Let's go!"

"Twilight, wait!" Rarity spoke up. "There is no need to be in such a hurry. I think we should make sure that the Elements of Harmony are, at the very least, are working properly before we walk into that.. dreadful building."

I paused my walking, feeling my eye twitch as I turned to look at her. "Brilliant thinking Rarity!!!!!!!!!! Let's do that right now." I walked back over to my group of friends, where I concentrated to try and create another unison of our magic - just like when we used the elements before. I could feel the power of the elements resisting the blockade the tower was emitting, and before long we had managed to create a glowing magical shield around us. Seeing as the magic was working, I stopped it nearly immediately afterwards. "It works!! Lets go now." I turned around and started walking straight towards the building again, not even bothering to check behind to see if anyone was following.

Walking into the building and up each flight of stairs that led to the floor above was reminding me of the last time I was here - and conveniently traumatized. I sure loved experiencing that! I kept walking forward though, not even caring about that or if I was going to walk into any traps. At this point I didn't even feel any fear towards death; I couldn't remember the last time I had ever cared so little before, if ever. It was almost exhilarating, and if I was going to die in this building, at least then maybe I would finally have an escape from all these feelings. I felt done with it all.

My steps continued until I eventually began reaching up to where I had been last time. I could feel the wet, squishy flesh of the dead ponies against my hooves as I walked; they must've been here for days by now, and I could definitely tell by the smell. It was horrendous, and it was a wonder I was still walking through it all with no hesitation. I made my way up the steps until I reached the exact floor I was at last time, where I could see the spotlight shining towards us in the distance and the figure still standing there just like before: I was here. I stood there at the entrance, feeling cold shivers throughout my body as I stared at the ominous-looking figure. My hooves planted firmly onto the floor below as I tried my best to ignore the fearful feelings that were suddenly sprouting up, and I stared directly at the figure with a gaze so intense it would make anyone wonder if I was alright. I watched him raising his gun up towards me, and I gritted my teeth, simply standing there and showing no outward signs of dismay. If for whatever reason the elements wouldn't work, I was practically fine with it. My thinking had gotten so narrow-minded at this point that I simply didn't care what the outcome was.

Then, in an instant, gunfire rang out, so loud and so fast that it made me jump as in an instant I felt paralyzing fear - as if all the narrow-mindedness had suddenly gone away with the threat of death now becoming more apparent than ever. Fortunately, the elements seemed to work; the same pink, glowing shield sprung up like before, blocking the bullets from reaching us. I hadn't even noticed that my friends had followed me in this far until now, and it was a good thing too, otherwise I would've been part of those bodies on the floor. Once again I had displayed a stunning display of stupidity in my actions, but I still couldn't care enough to think over all the things I had done wrong and could've done better. Things were at least working out so far, so that's what I was focusing on.

The figure continued firing until the gun clicked empty, and similar to back at Vanhoover, he dropped it and stepped backwards. The rest of us simply waited though as he pulled something out in both hands, and just like back at Vanhoover, bullets rang out at a very fast, high-pitched pace. This continued for a short time until it stopped, when I noticed Rainbow Dash suddenly zoom forward right afterwards. My eyes went wide and I gasped at this, but it was already too late to do anything since she had made contact with the figure by now, pummeling him to the floor.

"Rainbow!!!" I called out to her. The magical shield went away as the rest of us ran over to her, and we watched at the perfect time to see her hoof slamming right against the human's face.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS YOUR PROBLEM!?!?!?" Rainbow screamed out at him - she was very clearly not happy. "Are you out of your fucking mind Klade!? Why are you trying to kill us?? You better have a GOOD explanation for all of this!!"

"Fuck you." The human replied. That really seemed to set Rainbow off, and we watched as she picked him up, throwing him across the room and against a wall. She proceeded to slam right into him before he could even fall to the ground, and not wanting things to get out of hoof, I quickly trotted up to them. I had to admit, it was surprising seeing Rainbow go off on him like that considering how she had been nearly constantly defending him, but I decided not to bring that up.

"Rainbow, stop. We can bring him back to Canterlot and question him there."

She turned to look at me for a couple seconds, before looking back at the human laying on the floor, glaring at him and then sighing. "Fine."

"Yeah, we've gotta deactivate that tower next too." Pinkie spoke up. "That was pretty fun when we did it the last time!"

Rainbow proceeded to grab the human's body, hauling him up onto her back. She noticed us looking at her in curiosity, to which she spoke up about it. "I'm not going to just leave him here so he can escape while we're all messing with that tower. We finally got him, so I'm not giving him any chances. Not while I'm around." I liked that train of thought, and from there we all proceeded to continue up the stairs.

We could hear the whirling of the tower getting louder as we approached the top, and soon enough we had stepped onto the roof, where we could see the black metal contraption right in-front of us. We looked up across it, seeing the glass orb at the top with the cyan-green light spiraling around, and from there I turned to look at the rest of my friends. I opened my mouth to speak, but then paused for a moment, taking the time to try and think of something less rash to say. I had already done enough stupid things on the way here, so I didn't want to ruin anything now by having a negative, 'get this over with' kind of attitude. "Alright, everypony, let's do this. Together." The words probably sounded forced, but at least they had the right thought behind them.

I turned my head back to look at the tower, and from there I concentrated my magic, where I felt the magic of the others feeding in with my output. We let the elements amplify our magical power as they glowed a bright light, steadily building up our power and resisting against the tower's emissions. I was so glad to almost be done with this stupid task - to finally go back and then only have one more tower left to deactivate. If I remembered correctly, the only one left still active after this would've been in Manehattan, which was most likely going to be our next task. Then all the towers would be destroyed, and I would hopefully be done with all of this stuff for at least a little while. I didn't even know what I was going to do - I wasn't thinking that far ahead. I just wanted everything I was experiencing now to go away, somehow, without realizing that I really had no clue how to make that happen.

By now I felt our magic peaking, and we shot off the rainbow beam towards the orb at the top right afterwards. Everything seemed like it was going along smoothly, until I noticed just who had intercepted our rainbow beam of magic. There, floating between us and the orb, was none other than Discord himself. The beam of magic absorbed into him and began to surround him, but unlike what it should do, it was only making him glow radiantly with magical power. I could already feel my rage building up as I glared up at that monster, and I only felt my anger multiplying when I heard him start laughing.

"Oh, yes! And I thought this felt incredible when I was barely living entrapped in that cursed statue, but to actually happen to me now... I feel beyond words!" The magical rainbow had completely absorbed into him by now, and he grinned widely as he leaned his head down to look at us. "Aww, what's with the pouty little faces? Did poor little old me put a big boo-boo in your pl-"

"DISCORD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I didn't even know how to throttle all of the anger and the un-restrained insanity. I was shaking from it all, and it felt like my body couldn't even properly handle all of these feelings to a satisfying degree. "You... I've had enough of you.. I.. ahahaha!!!!!" I started laughing - I didn't even know why I was. Even my own friends were looking at me in confusion at this point, and Discord only looked more intrigued as he watched me.

"Well, this is interesting." He levitated over to me and patted my head - I didn't know how I managed to hold back from doing anything after that. "Do I need to remind you that you, quite literally, can't do anything about me right now? No amount of shaking and laughing is going to fix that!"

"Thinkin' like that is why you're gonna lose." Applejack remarked.

"Yeah!" Pinkie chimed in. "Plus we're all the good guys, which means we're supposed to win. That's how it works, right?"

"What did you do to Klade!?" Rainbow spoke up. "If you don't answer me, I'll just kill you myself! There's no reason why he would ever act like this!!!"

"Klade? You girls still care about that loser?" Discord replied. "I thought you would've long-forgotten about him now - I know I did. Ugh, what an opportunity wasted too." He facepalmed. "I've just been so occupied - really, I have. But, when there's just so much to do, well.. I suppose I could have a little fun right now with your punishments - you've all been awfully annoying, stopping my towers and such. After all, you're all right here in-front of me - I shouldn't miss out on that opportunity too!"

"WE AREN'T YOUR BUCKING TOYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I screamed out at him, so loudly that my voice even echoed in the wind.

"Oh dear, Twilight, try not to blow out your vocal chords in that little temper tantrum of yours. I sure would hate not to hear you-"

"ENOUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"I shouted out as I immediately barrelled a magical explosion towards him. The entire surrounding area was lit up with a purple light from my anger-fueled magic, and I panted, gritting my teeth as I glared at where Discord just was. I wasn't going to expect him to still be there when the magic went away - I was sure he just dodged it like he always did - so I was ready for that. I stood prepared to send off another blast the instant I heard his hideous, wicked voice laugh out in his taunting demeanor, which is exactly what he did.

"Someone's sure aw-" Before he could even get past a few words, my body spasmed and I screamed as I shot off the magical blast right in the direction of where I heard his pitiful voice. I could feel the strain all this powerful magic was putting on me, but I was so angry at this point that I didn't even care - I wanted nothing more than to make this heartless bastard suffer. The area was lit up in a brighter purple explosion, and I could feel my entire body shaking as I turned to look at where I heard his voice. When the light went away, however, I saw Discord still floating there, much to my dismay.

"THIS ISN'T OVER DISCORD!!!!!!!!!!!! I'M FINISHED WITH YOU!!!! THE CRIMES YOU'VE DONE TO US AND EQUESTRIA WILL NOT GO UNPUNISHED!!!!!"

"Oh?" Discord frowned and rolled his eyes. "That sounds all nice and dandy, but it's shame that you can't do anything about it. I mean, you don't even stand a chance against me as my normal self, but to think you do right now, when I'm infused with all of this elemental power? You're more delusional than I thought you were! But I have to say, your anger outbursts are pretty entertaining though."

I didn't know what to say; I was feeling so much anger, which was only amplified by the fact that he was right. I really couldn't do anything, but I didn't want to accept that. "Discord..." I lowered my head and stared in-front of me. I could see all of my friends looking at me in my peripheral vision - I was sure they had never seen me acting like this before. I panted as I let the rage take control of my actions once again, and I pressed my four hooves firmly against the floor, feeling as my horn began to glow again. I felt much more magical power than I had ever allowed previously flowing through me, and the strain would normally be unbearable by now, but I was simply filled with so much hatred that I was able to force myself through it. The light at my horn only grew brighter and brighter - even more so than when I had blown up my library - and it had gotten so bright at this point that my friends had to squint and look away. My head felt like it was about to explode from the pressure and the pain, and I looked upwards toward the sky, ready to push through one last time and finish this. My entire body was shaking and I was barely able to keep standing at this point, but I was filled with so much fury that I pushed on through anyway, past what was probably safe for me to handle so I could unleash the magic. I was finished and ready to end it all right now.

"...AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Author's Note:

Twilight is kind of mad