A Different World: The Future and Fate of Equestria

by Riclo

Chapter 19 | An End of an Era

Author's Note:

Chapter 19 is here!

We could progressively feel the air around us getting colder as we ascended up towards the peak. The mountain wasn't visible at first due to the clouds and the fog, but as we got closer, it did - and we saw just how massive it really was. I had been around alot of mountains already, but they all paled in comparison to just how big this thing really was. It was gigantic. I looked in an attempt to see if I could spot anything - any tower or construction that Duston might be inside - but all I could see was a blanket of blinding white snow. If there was anything here at all, it probably would've been covered in it, but for the moment this place seemed like a barren, snowy wasteland.

It soon became apparent that we wouldn't be able to make it much further on the carriage; the royal guards' wings were beginning to frost up, and proceeding much further would've been a danger to both them and us. Seeing this, Princess Celestia instructed them to begin landing as soon as possible - it seemed as though we were going to have to trek the rest of the way. With the carriage on its way towards landing, I decided to quickly pull out a tablet that I had created that was connected to the base the clone was at. On it was a live video-feed displaying the inside, and from the looks of it, he appeared just fine - simply sitting there on a wheeled chair in-front of the control panel that managed the railgun. I changed the camera to one that showed his face, and it seemed alright too - no visible signs of brainwashing.

"We're about to land at Mount Everhoof. Be ready." I spoke to him. His head perked up, showing that he must've heard my voice, to which I heard his radio-filtered response afterwards.

"Got... Had to turn... thermal vision to see you past.. cloud layer. So far.. clear." His voice came out a bit garbled but still understandable. Was all the snow or the clouds causing interference? I hoped that wouldn't turn into more of a problem.

"You're coming out a bit shaky. If I unlock the gun, take that as a sign to shoot."

"Got it."

With that resolved, I put away the tablet in one of my inner leather jacket pockets - just like I always was, stuffing everything in my front jacket pockets. I noticed some of the ponies looking at me, which was understandable - I hadn't told anyone about this.

"Just a backup plan." I spoke as I zipped up the two wool jackets. I normally would've done even more to be prepared, but ever since recently I had just been too mentally distracted with everything that was going on. I didn't feel like I was putting a hundred percent of my effort against Discord like I had always done, and the more I thought about it, the more it bothered me. 'I mean come on, I should have like five other things on standby for this event. I guess not being able to use my base really takes alot out, so maybe it's just that.'

My thoughts were abruptly cut off when the carriage finally landed with a hard thud, where we were quick to open the doors. Immediately I was met with a blast of air so cold that I couldn't even fathom how it was possible for something to be so freezing, and the initial shock made me hesitate a bit as I stood inside the carriage. 'Holy fuck that's cold.' The other ponies were a little hesitant as well, but Celestia urged us to step out as soon as possible. When I did, I sunk down right into the snow all the way up to my knees - that stuff went down far. 'This is fucking freezing.'

"Oh my gosh I'm gonna turn into a popsicle!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed as she stood as tense as a statue. "This weather is FREEZING!"

Realizing I was actually still pretty unprepared, I quickly created some gloves for myself with my magic, where I fit them onto my hands that I already had pretty bad control over since they were so cold. Right afterwards I created a face mask, and them some long boots, where I struggled to put them on at first due to just how deep the snow was. 'Something's seriously wrong with me if I wasn't ready for this. Maybe it's not just in my head.' Perking my head up, I shivered as I watched Celestia doing something with the guards that had been hauling the carriage. They were surrounded in an orange glow from Celestia's horn, almost as if she was warming them back up. The other ponies were surrounding her as well, and I was about to walk over too until I suddenly remembered something kind of important. The backpack filled with C4 that I never used I had put in the carriage's trunk, and it was something that would've been a good idea to bring with me to blow up the presumed tower if it ever came to that. Plus, since when was carrying a bunch of bombs ever not a good idea?

'I must really be losing it if I almost forgot about that.' I quickly made my way to the back, where I opened the trunk and hauled out the explosives. I struggled to put it on at first due to just how much shit I was wearing - I was really over-clustering the fuck out of myself at this point. I was absolutely buried in weapons, clothes and equipment, and I groaned as I reached up to slam the trunk closed afterwards. 'If I fall I'm probably screwed.'

Making my way back to the front as fast as I could manage, I met up with the rest of the group just in time to see the carriage beginning to take off - with the help of Celestia's magic levitating it into the air at first. A strong gust of wind nearly made me tumble as the falling snow zoomed wildly around us, and Celestia proceeded to speak loudly over the howling winds.

"Gather up, everyone." She requested, to which we all obliged. Shortly after we were all bundled up, the princess's horn began to glow, which enveloped us all in a beaming orange sphere of magic - the same one that she had surrounded the royal guards with. Immediately we felt like the warmth of the sun was shining down right on us, and I was able to relax a little as the magic seemingly shielded us from the harsh outside elements. "I will try my best to keep us warm, but I cannot hold this magic without weakening myself. That will put us all in an even greater danger is Discord confronts us, and I cannot allow that to happen."

"If we can barely survive here, then how the hell does Discord do it?" Rainbow Dash replied.

"How does Discord do alot of things?" I spoke up. "For a guy who can die with just one bullet to the head, he sure can take on alot of shit."

After several more seconds passed, Celestia dispelled her magic, exposing us to the harsh elements once again. "I will warm us up again when needed. For now, I will put the crystal beacon in place that will show our ride where to land tonight." From there, I watched as Celestia levitated a curvy, triangular-shaped crystal onto the snow - something she must've taken out of the carriage while I was pre-occupied. "This will shine a bright light once the time approaches nine in the evening. We must look for it if we are to leave this place."

Understanding the situation, we all began to trot forward up the mountain, all while bundled up like a bunch of penguins. Extremities like my fingers soon felt numb and barely responsive as the minutes went on, and all I could really think about was the chance that Duston was actually here and alive. That thought made me press on with more determination than I'd normally have, despite the fact that each single step in the snow was its own challenge.

Our trek continued, where Celestia stopped to warm us back up every fifteen minutes or so. I kept looking around, trying to spot anything that wasn't just a sea of white, but I couldn't spot anything - and neither could anyone else apparently. This place was a barren shithole, but I still wasn't convinced that there wasn't anything here. There had to be something - it was too coincidental that Twilight had a dream about this mountain at the same time my clone confirmed that there was supposed to be a fifth tower up here. I was starting to get frustrated as the time went on, until eventually I perked up at the sound of Pinkie Pie's high-pitched voice.

"Guys! Do you see that over there? Look!" She pointed with her hoof, where we all immediately looked in that direction. Peering through the snowy fog, I was able to see what appeared to be an absolutely massive tower way off in the distance right in-front of us - nearly three times as big as all the other towers I had seen. I almost couldn't believe it at first, but the sight of finally seeing some proof that there was something here was making me more excited than ever. Discord was doing his bullshit here, and I was eager to put an end to it - I was sure we all were.

As we gazed in-front of us, though, the appearance of a strange, glowing black orb abruptly caught our attention. We stopped our trek momentarily as it floated several feet ahead of us, and I began to reach for one of my G18 pistols buried underneath fucktons of clothing - I already wasn't liking the look of this.

"What the heck is that?" Rainbow Dash spoke up. Before any of us could respond, however, a voice coming from the orb replied first - and I recognized it immediately.

"It's me! The big baddy Discord - oh nooo." The voice echoed out in a sarcastic tone. "What on Equestria are you all doing up here? And you too, Princess - that's a sight I wasn't expecting to see!" He paused for a few seconds before continuing. "You know, I'm so sick of you people. I really am, especially you Klade - why aren't you dead like you're supposed to be? I'm not letting that happen again." Something about the way he was acting seemed off. Discord was the type to always have fun at the expense of others - to play games and tricks that had no morals. His tone of voice seemed so serious though, as if he was bored or even stressed out. I really couldn't care too much to think about little things like that though, because there were more important matters at hand.

"You're fucked Discord. Where the fuck is Duston?" I loudly spoke up over the wind. There wasn't a response for the first couple seconds, but he did reply.

"Are you delusional now too Klade? He's dead - I killed him. Well, technically you killed him; I used your own clone, with your own weapons." He abruptly laughed a little afterwards. "What, did you think you were gonna get him back if you found me? I can't revive a rotting corpse, Klade. His brain is probably all mushy and deteriorated by now."

I stood in silence as what he said left me feeling practically paralyzed. My first instinct was to not believe him, but he didn't sound like he was lying - and why would he lie anyway? Why did he ever do anything? I could feel my rage building up as I glared at the glowing orb in-front of us, when somepony else from the group spoke up to replace my silence.

"Then why did Twilight have a dream about him being up here?" Pinkie Pie asked. "We know he's here Discord! And we're gonna get him back, our way or no way!"

"As much as I'd like to see you all wander around this forsaken mountain looking for something that doesn't exist, I really can't be helped with that right now." He replied. "Although, you did all arrive at the perfect time to see something legendary. This is an era-defining moment happening right now, and that gets me so excited just thinking about it! The Equestria as you all know it will be totally different after today. Isn't that just enthralling? I never even wanted to do that, but heck, I can't say I don't like being a part of history."

'What the hell is he going on about?' I thought to myself as I listened as rationally as my angered mind could. I was shaking - whether it was from the cold or anger, I didn't know - and I was just waiting so impatiently for the chance to kill him the instant the opportunity presented itself. I gripped the pistol in my hand even tighter, feeling tempted to shoot at the orb even though I knew it wouldn't do anything.

"What's happening, Discord?" Celestia spoke up.

"I'm glad you asked, Princess! How lucky of you to be here right now. You all fought pretty valiantly to take down those towers, although that was mainly my mistake by putting them up one at a time. They're all back up now, and I should say, Klade has been a very good help - his clones have been excellent handymen! They've been working themselves to death, and I mean literally - there's only like two or three left now?"

"Wait wait, they're back up?" Rainbow inquired in disbelief. "All of them? But we just took them down!"

"You can thank Klade for that." He replied. "But enough talking. It's time that the gates of Tartarus are opened up! Oh man, the chaos - its going to be an absolute cluster-fuck!" I could feel the ground beneath us begin to rumble, to which I already had my tablet pulled out to contact my clone. The tower should've been visible to him, and I was about to stop this madness before it even started.

"Discord..." Celestia looked shocked at what she was hearing. "Truly you are out of your mind. How, and why would you ever do such a thing?"

"Princess, I'm always out of my mind - you should know that by now!" He laughed manically after saying that. "Once all the towers are activated, the gates will open, and what are you gonna do about it up here? You're all going to freeze to death - and that wasn't even part of my plan!" As the ground shook more violently, I tried to talk my clone, deactivating the lock on the railgun. He appeared fine through the video cameras, but he couldn't seem to hear me apparently - not like he needed to. Why wasn't he getting the memo? A sudden, extremely loud screeching sound went off where the huge tower was, to which I saw a bright cyan green light beam out from the orb located at the top - it had been activated.

"This ain't good!" Applejack yelled out over the rumbling. "Ah think we got a problem coming straight for us!"

Looking up from the tablet, I noticed that all of the shaking had created a huge avalanche, and it was all coming down straight toward us. Discord's laughter rang out even louder as the snow beneath my feet shook and got loose, causing me to lose my balance and fall over.

'This isn't fucking happening.' I started screaming at the tablet. "Why the fuck can't you hear me!? Shoot the god damn tower, the gun is unlocked!" I looked up, and just in time to see a huge clump of snow ram into half the group, making them disappear from sight immediately as they no doubt went barreling down the mountain. I struggled to stand back up as I looked ahead of us again, only to see more snow coming right in my direction. I braced for impact, covering my arms with my head right before being hit head on by the flurry of snow.